New Melones Lake level is currently at 1031.06 and 56.94 ft. from absolute full. Lake level has begun to rise, climbing 30" in the last 30 days. Water clarity is clear, water temperatures are 56-57 degrees and falling. Tuttletown middle ramp is currently in use for lake elevations from 1036.00-942.00. Glory Hole Point side of the lake has the high ramp working and doesn't appear that the middle ramp will be in use this year. Angels cove ramp also in use. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife once again has raised the price of a hunting and fishing licence to $49.94, yet they still decline to issue the fishing licences for 1 year from date of purchase which is the case for many other states. 

TROUT
Trout bite has been slow as the lake is still in a transition stage. Anglers trolling on Melones are setting their gear between 20 and 40 ft. with reports of lots of targets on the fish finder with just mild results. Excel Lures have been landing trout as Ken Capitavich & Barbara landed this nice 6 lb. Rainbow on 11/24.

KOKANEE
Done for the season or at least we thought. Frank Enos had this gnarly Kokanee attack his Apex lure with a flasher attached.

BASS
With the turn of the weather bass angling went to a slow bite with anglers reporting challenging outings and tournament fishing on the lake were coming in with small bags. However... between our first couple storms Michael Alaga was on Melones and had this 12.6 lb largemouth bass smash his bait. Thanks for sharing the photo Michael. With the cooler water temps bass are becoming lethargic and looking for an opportunity for a meal with minimum effort on their part. Look for bass opportunity using finesse techniques over deeper submerged trees and rocky cover (30-50'). Pline laser minnow can be a lure used, or hit the bottom with texas rigging,  ned rig, or wacky rig with the VMC Neko Skirted Nail Weight.