Water Conditions

New Melones Lake is currently holding 530,168 acre-feet of water. The lake level dropped one foot this past week and it appears more water is being held and less is being released. It is currently at 864 ft. above sea level and 221 ft. from full. The water clarity is clear in most of the lake with a slight stain in some areas. The water temperature is slightly cooling, with the average being 69-74 degrees. The concrete ramp is CLOSED and longer in use. There is also a courtesy dock on the dirt launch which will be in place for the remainder of the summer and until the concrete ramp is open again.

Guide Gary Burns has been catching some of these large fall rainbows. These 2 to 3-pound fish are very healthy and fun to catch.

Trout

The fall trout bite is starting to pick up and anglers are bringing in some nice 2 to 4-pound rainbows. The bite is not red hot and it takes some time and patience to hook into a few of these hefty fish on each outing. As the water temperature drops the shad will start to move up in the water column and the trout will follow. Trolling anglers are targeting fish in deep water and dropping down 65' to 85' to catch them. With shad being the primary food source, anglers are using shad patterned spoons, plugs and lipless baits to draw strikes. Trolling at a faster speed from 2.8 to 3.6 mph will also help trigger bites. Speedy Shiners are a great spoon of choice when trolling at faster speeds. Also, a tandem spoon rig will tempt fish that are accustomed to feeding on multiple shad at a time. When trolling in deep water, ball trolls, flashers and slingblades will help draw fish from a distance. Night anglers have been few, but dropping a submersible light at night will work at this time of the year. Look for areas with deep water nearby, or drift the main lake over the deep schools of shad and pull the fish up to the light. Minnows and jigging spoons work best when drifting. Bank anglers will start to catch a few trout in the next month or so as the water temperatures continue to drop. Once the lake turns over, the trout will move shallow and the bite from the bank should really pick up, this usually happen sometime in November.

Glory Hole Sports Big Fish of the Week goes to Bob James of Murphys. He caught a couple really nice trout while trolling shad patterned spoons in deep water. His biggest weighed 2-pounds, 14-ounces.

We do encourage catch and release for the brown trout as The Department of Fish and Game will no longer be planting them. Carefully measure, weigh and photograph trophy fish and send us pictures and information.

Kokanee

The season has pretty much come to an end. It has been a couple weeks since we've heard of any kokanee being caught. They will be on the move and working their way upriver to spawn.

Bass

The bass bite has been good and most anglers are catching some chunky spotted bass. The shad are schooling in deep water and the bass will be hunting them in wolf packs. The best bite has been in the early mornings and late in the evenings, but there are plenty of fish to be caught during the day as well. Try using reaction type baits to locate feeding fish and then switching to a slower moving presentation to continue catching them. Topwater has been hit and miss, but it is a good idea to have one tied on. When it is calm the fish will push bait to the surface and small topwater baits will coax them into biting. Small swimbaits and rip baits are also a good choice for finding active fish in the fall. Use your electronics to locate schools of bait and fish and use a vertical presentation to catch them. A small shad patterned worm fished on a dropshot is hard to beat. Prism shad, hologram shad and any of the Wright Bait 101 colors are all good choices. There are fish that will not key in on shad as much and will preffer to eat crawdads and other bottom dwelling creatures. A shakeyhead worm or football jig bounced along the bottom will trigger these fish into biting.

Glory Hole Sports employee Sherryl Van Sanden caught a beautiful 3-pound, 4-ounce largemouth while fishing a Roboworm on a darthead upriver.

PLEASE PRACTICE CATCH AND RELEASE. Take photos and carefully release the fish back into to the lake to maintain a healthy fish population for generations to come.

Catfish

We are very excited to be bringing back the Glory Hole Sports Fall Catfish Contest which will be going for the entire month of November. Sign-ups will start October 1st. Some of the largest catfish will move shallow once the water starts to cool. The fall months are great for hooking into some giants. The bite has been good and we have been receiving reports of many 6 to 12-pound fish being caught. The catfish on New Melones will feed on trout, kokanee, sunfish and baby bass making shad, mackerel and anchovies a good choice for bait. Dough baits and artificial bait work well for catching numbers, but the largest fish are usually caught on frozen fish. A large ball of crawlers fished weightless is also a good choice. Without weight the bait will be able to drift freely making it more appealing to those larger cats.

Crappie

The crappie bite has slowed and there are very few anglers targeting them. They will be holding in tall standing timber near deep water and feeding on schools of shad that swim past. Live minnows and mini jigs fish under a slip-float will work.