General Conditions
Striped bass continue to provide the best action with a few big catfish, trout and largemouth bass mixed in.
The water temperature is now at 59.5 degrees and water level is currently at 50.5%.
On Friday April 1, 1200lbs of Calaveras Trout Farm fish were planted averaging about 1.5lbs each.
As the water level goes down the shoreline can become very muddy. It is recommended that you wear some old shoes or boots. One fishing pier is open and has been a good spot to catch stripers. When the sun is out the shoreline is drying surprisingly well. The last 2 feet of shoreline to the water can still be soft and muddy in some places.
Trout
Trout fishing is fair. A 5lb range beautiful Brown trout was caught last Friday by an unidentified angler.
There is still is a need to mix things up. Move locations and try different depths until you find some fish. Boaters might try jigging plastic minnows in 25 feet of water off of points. Trollers need to change depths and locations until you find some fish.
Nightcrawlers are a very good choice this time of year. You can float them with a marshmallow, inflate them or fish them under a bobber. If you are bait fishing from a boat try the backs of coves and cast close to shore.
Largemouth Bass
We had several regulars report that they caught fish in Howden and Peninsula Coves. Senko’s were the bait of choice. Bass fishing will improve with the warmer weather. Please practice catch and release of the larger bass.
Stripers
We would rate trolling for stripers as excellent for experienced anglers. Well over 75 stripers were weighed in this week. Probably another 75 keepers were caught and released. Many anglers also reported releasing lots of shakers. Anglers caught fish on bait as well as trolling. As always some fisherman did well while others struggled. Trolling rattle traps, Rapala’s or sp minnows were good choices. Lures should be in the 6 to 9 inch range. Silver or rainbow patterns seemed to work well. It was important to troll well behind the boat and to cover lots of water. After a fish is caught it is important to focus on that area. Fish ranged from undersized shakers to 20lbs.
Here are a few of the outstanding catches:
- Lowell King 16.5lbs on an anchovy in the South Cove
- Daniel Brown – limit to 13lbs, trolling
- Noah Brown – limit with top fish 13.5lbs, trolling
- Ryan Pera caught a 17.9lb striper trolling
- Ryan Pera caught a 16.8lb striper trolling
- Jake Boswell caught a limit trolling with top fish 6.5lbs
- Robert Kim caught a 13.7lb striper trolling
- Alex Christenson caught a 16.5lb striper on anchovies at Oak Point
These are just a few of the outstanding catches as there were numerous other fish in the 10 to 15lb range.
Salmon
We did not get reports of any salmon this week although we did not have any anglers targeting them.
Catfish
Several big catfish were caught this week:
- Terry Linhsamout caught a 19.6lb catfish on an anchovy off of Oak Point
- Alex Bolghand caught a 23.7lb catfish on an anchovy in the South Cove
- Kenny Khuu caught an 11.2lb catfish from a boat off the East Shoreline
Several other big catfish were reported caught and released. They were estimated to being over 25lbs.
Click here to see some photos of Los Vaqueros Reservoir.
