Surface temps rising to 39 degrees. Clarity is very poor on the east side, about 6 inches. Better on the west, averaging about 5 to 6 clarity. The ice is long gone. Mt. Lassen is packed with snow and looking better than it has in the last 3 years.

East Basin Super Bowl Brownout
Winter has taken a timeout. After 2 storms per week for the last 6 weeks, it appeared El Niño was living up to its expectations. And it was great, but now its looking like blue skies for awhile. Super warm weather in the forecast for the next 10 days in northern Calif. With highs pushing into the low 50,s . That’s rather warm for Feb. But Ill take it. Lake levels are rising quickly. The rub is, all the muddy runoff has brown water flowing into the north end of the east basin via the Hamilton Branch. So much muddy brown runoff flowing down the Branch has Almanor looking like a chocolate lake in a Willy Wonka movie set. If your going to fish Almanor anyway? here,s where I have been heading for hook ups. Prattville to Almanor West has thee best clarity to be found around Lake Almanor as the North Fork of the Feather River is running clear and cold, making the West basin clarity the ticket. Fish are here, naturally moving into these much cleaner inflows. The bite has picked up with Rainbows running from 2 pounders to over 4 lbs.. Threaded slow action crawler along the top 10 ft. of water early, and fast action lures in the Afternoon. 1/6 oz. Speedy Shiners in silver, blue and silver and red and gold have work best here. Another thing about the west side is with a warming trend developing expect a few pre-mature insect hatches to pop off as the sunshine fools a few bugs into reproduction mode. The west side is much shallower and will warm faster than any other spot on this big lake. Bottom line is winter is far from over, and we are hoping for another round of snow and rain after this warm spell passes. As always, check the forecast and road conditions before making the trek up here. Ramps at Canyon Dam, Rec.1 and 2 are open with docks. The USFS ramp near Prattville is accessible but there,s no dock in place. I am headed for the east side in the next hour as today high is forecasted to be 48 degrees.