New Melones Reservoir's current lake level is 1051.93 and 36.07 ft. from full, down from the high level of 1057.05 on March 9. With March coming to an end it has brought warmer water to the lake and we have seen wakeboard boaters on the lake braving the water.  The Tuttletown upper ramp is operational as well as the Glory Hole Point side of the lake which has the high ramp working. Angels Cove ramp is also in use.

We would like to thank ALL the anglers, tournament directors, and staff who participated in the Wild West Bass Trail event. Economic impact to the Angels Camp community for this 3 day event with 123 boats was felt beyond our borders here at Glory Hole Sports. The importance of supporting anglers coming to New Melones for tournaments should be on the mind of all businesses in the community who are impacted with the influx of these anglers and their families in tow. Many of the business owners welcome these men and women, but don't seem to grasp the idea of supporting them by offering them any perks, discounts, and make them feel they are appreciated for coming to our town in an otherwise slow time of the year. These tournament directors do have a choice as to where they fish and we as a community do want them to schedule additional tournaments in the future.

We like to promote catch and release on New Melones. If you do so, provide us a picture and bring it in for a copy or email it to us at gloryholesports@yahoo.com so we can put it on the board or in the newsletter.

Anglers FYI: For anyone with a potential lake record please call us at the store and hopefully we can send someone to weigh, photograph and measure the catch at the lake. GHS is the unofficial recorder of lake records for New Melones, and we understand there is sometimes conflicting interest in the welfare of the catch, whether or not to release the potential record, sacrificing your place as a record holder for the lake.

We do promote catch and release. For potential lake records, record the statistics of the fish... length, girth, weight and photographed at the lake before releasing her. If indeed we can verify the information that is provided, such as a witness, comparing the scale used with ours, a photograph with the fish hanging from the scale and can see the scale weight, etc...then we can accept this as proof. If your catch has expired than indeed bring it in to GHS so we can record it here, and you can have it mounted!
 
TROUT
Once again this year local angler and resident Dennis Lee will be planting trout in Angels Creek at Tryon Park, and what the old timers in the community know as Millie's Hole, where in days past an old gal named Millie, sat by this fishing hole on a regular basis fishing for trout. Dennis Lee growing up as a child on this year around fresh water creek shared some good memories of his younger days fishing Angels Creek and wants to have locals and people coming up here to fish to have some of the same fun experiences he enjoyed. The trout will be planted in time for the trout opener here in Calaveras County for rivers and streams which is the last Saturday in April. 
The trout bite finishing off the month of March has been good for anglers fishing off the bank casting Gitzit, at least for Ted Campbell who landed these two nice 6.12, and 3.13 oz. rainbows up river in 20 ft of water.

KOKANEE
After a couple weeks of anglers landing Kokanee on Melones, things have tapered off this week possibly due to bass mania on the lake. This year should produce quality koks as this is the 3rd season for the land locked salmon that were planted in 2016 as fingerlings.

BASS
Many bass in the pre spawn and also laying on beds now make for the best time of the year for bass angling. With fluctuating water levels, you may find the bass between 10 and 40 ft. Swim baits, ned rigs and shakey heads are working, if you want to keep it simple green pumpkin color for your plastic baits.
Angler participating in the WWBT day one shows off part of his bag for the day.G

CATFISH
No reports of catfish being caught.

CRAPPIE
There has been lots of reports that the Crappie bite on Melones is picking up and one report was of a nice 2.7 pounder. Crappie have been netted but do not have any anglers that have posted fish with us at this time. Live minnows from Glory Hole Sports are what the anglers have been using.

NEW MELONES GUIDE REPORT

John Liechty -xperiencefishing.net

New Melones and most Mother Lode lakes are experiencing some changing conditions from day to day. With the water levels falling and the unstable weather the fish have been hesitant to commit to shallow water. A few fish are slowly moving up, but seem to be there one day and gone the next. Regardless of the fluctuating conditions we have been able to stay on top of the bite and put our anglers on some great fishing. The key has been to look for ambitious fish first and then back off to deeper water to target the ones that are holding back. When fishing for active bass, swimbaits, A-rigs and sight fishing is the name of the game. To catch the finicky fish a NED rig or shakeyhead has been the ticket. The water temperature is warming and the fishing should only get better each week. The next couple months are among my favorites, join me on the water for a great fishing Xperience. Thanks- John