Posted by: thepinetree on 09/18/2012 09:49 AM
Updated by: thepinetree on 09/18/2012 09:55 AM
Expires: 01/01/2017 12:00 AM
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New Melones Lake Fishing Report from Glory Hole Sports
Angels Camp, CA...Water Conditions: New Melones Lake is currently holding 1,526,154 acre-feet of water. The lake level dropped one foot this week and is currently at 1006 ft. above sea level and 82 ft. from full. Water temperature has cooled a bit and is in the mid to upper 70's. The lake is stained, with mud lines forming around the shore on windy days, and days with a lot of boat traffic. Good news, the lower ramp on Glory Hole Point is open, which makes for an easy walk....
Mel Caldwell of Stockton caught this impressive limit of rainbows on shad patterned plugs.
Trout: Good! We are seeing and hearing of a lot of quality fish being caught. Trolling anglers are catching their limits in 70-90' of water in the main lake. The shad are staging in deep, cooler water and getting ready for their fall migration up the creek channels. The shad move around a lot, and will suspend over deep water. The key is to find the bait and there will be trout nearby. The best thing you can do right now is "match the hatch" by using shad patterned baits. Excel, Needlefish, and Slim fin spoons are producing many limits. Also, plug baits like Rapalas, Speed traps, and Rattle Traps are working too.
Andrew Palleschi of Oakdale is the winner of The Glory Hole Sports Big Fish of the Week Contest. He caught a beautiful 7-pound 2ounce brown trout while trolling a kokanee lure near the Tuttletown boat launch. Night fishing under a submersible lightis really good right now, and should be for the next couple months. Most anglers that are targeting fish at night are bringing in limits of fat 2-3 pound rainbows. Try fishing the main lake by the dam or spillway. Or anchor near the mouth of Carson Creek or Coyote Creek. The light will attract plankton, bait fish feed on plankton, and larger fish will feed on the bait fish. Be patient, it can take a few hours for this feeding cycle to occur. Bank fishing has been slow. Your best bet is to head to Spicer Reservoir or Lake Alpine and try your luck there.
Charlene Winkler brought in a 4-pound 4-ounce brown trout she caught while trolling a green Uncle Larry's spinner.
Kokanee: Fair. There are still a few limits being caught. Kokanee are very aggressive now, and are starting to lose their scales as they get ready to spawn. Try using a bladed hootchie behind a sling blade or dodger. Another great setup is a double Sockeye Slammer rig. The two baits swinging back and fourth behind a large sling blade will coax those finicky fish into biting. Most of the fish are schooling in 40-60' of water and traveling upriver. Orange has been the hot color for a few weeks. Be sure to add plenty of Pro Cure Scent to your dodger and your bait. Garlic, anise, carp spit, and kokanee special have all been producing. Don't forget to bring corn soaked in these same scents.
Bass: Fair. The fish are a little harder to find, but they are still biting. The water has been dropping each week for the last four months. This means the fish are being pushed out of their shallow water haunts. Try fishing vertical banks with a 1/8oz. darthead or a 1/4oz. jig. Most fish will strike on the initial fall, so lighter weighted baits will stay in the strike zone longer. Natural crawdad and shad patterns are good choices. It is a good time to fish at night. Try using Spooks, Jitterbugs, and Poppers to draw them to the surface. Also, try using the Alabama Rig to create your own school of fish. This will trigger fish that aren't feeding. Remember to practice catch and release! If you do keep a bass, please keep the spotted bass and release the big female (largemouth) black bass. Glory Hole Sports can teach you the difference, so you can practice good conservation of the species.
Catfish: Good. Melones cats tend to be fish-eaters rather than bottom foragers, so use live minnows, frozen shad, mackerel, or anchovies for best success. Move/drag your bait slowly across the bottom to cover more water and target fish that are aggressively feeding. Use heavy weights to stir up the bottom and cause more commotion. This will attract fish from far away. Larger cats will also feed on natural bait like crawlers, so to target large cats try using a big ball of crawlers- many anglers use a weightless set-up. Generally cats will feed in shallow flats or areas with large chunk rock near deep water.
Crappie: Fair. Night fishing has been good for some anglers. They are using submersible lights in the backs of coves. The fish are in 15'-30' of water near standing timber and brush. Try using live minnows or mini jigs fished on a slip-float rig. Adjust the bobber stop to the depth you want to fish, let it sit for a few minutes and give the bobber a little shake. This action will attract fish and coax them into biting.
Guides' Reports
Hello,
Enjoyed another fantastic week fishing on New Melones. Rainbows are on a feeding frenzy, just gorging on threadfin shad as are the Spotted Bass out in open water. For the spots any shad like lure trolled around 20' to 30' will result in some chunky spots, remember they have to be 12" to be keepers. As for the bows, rolling shad or trolling cop-car(158) or blue/silver(102) Ex-Cel lures at 60' to 75' seems to be the right depth this past week. Expect some of the bows to be 20" and three plus pounds.
Saturdays clients Steve Goodrich (Cedar Ridge) and Joe Fernandez (Sonora) boated a ten fish limit that top the scales at 28.5 pounds with four fish over three pounds and big fish caught by Goodrich at 3.85 lbs. Open water from the dam to the spillway was the targeted area.
As a side note a lot of King salmon were pushing up river past Vieira's on the Sacramento River this past week.
Ralph Murphy (Copperopolis) scored on a 12 lb. Chrome bright Hen this past Thursday. A double bladed (silver/chartreuse) Silvertron spinner did the trick and I expect the run of Chinooks to keep building till mid October.
Regards,
Danny Layne
Fish'n Dan's Guide Service
Twain Harte, Ca.
209 586 2383
The trout fishing this past week at New Melones was great up until Friday.
Clients on Wednseday were Keith and Renee Cargil and Doug Mutoza, they were greeted with some big bold rainbows to over three pounds while fishing from 45 to 80 feet deep out in open water. Their was no shortage of fish as they lost an amazing nine big rainbows while trying to get them to the boat, but were not successful, however they were able to get fourteen fish to the boat for the day.
Fridays trip was a tough one as clients wanted a later start on the day and they missed the first hour and a half of prime fishing, the bite has seemed to shut down somewhat as they struggled to get four fish to the boat, loosing two and missed four strikes, other people I had talked had the same kinda results with low fish counts. Sundays trip was supposed to be at Melones also, but I called my clients and told them how tough the bite was on Friday, and that we needed to fish another lake, so we headed to Don Pedro.
Clients Charles Wuilson Jr. and Mike Abourezk found some quality rainbows nearing the three pound mark while fishing open waters. The water temps are hovering around the 74 to 76 degree mark and with cooler weather predicted that will start to cool the waters. Most of the fish we caught at both Reservoirs were stuffed with shad in their bellies.
Thank you
Monte Smith
www.Gold Country Sportfishing.com
209-581-4734
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