New Melones Reservoir's current lake level is 1051.50 and 36.50 ft. from full. Water temperatures and lake levels have remained the same for the last couple weeks. Currently temps are 60-63d. Water clarity is excellent. Angels Cove launch ramp is closed, and the fish cleaning station remains closed at Angels Cove with water line breaks interfering with operations.

A word of caution when traveling from the rangers station towards Glory Hole Point. If your hauling any trailer over 10 ft. in height, be aware the Bureau of Reclamation has many oak trees that need to be trimmed to meet Federal Highway Administrations minimum vertical clearance on local roadways which is 14'. The trees overhang the road are creating hazardous driving conditions for you and your trailer/boat/rv having to often drive in the opposite lane of traffic to avoid these trees and prevent damage to your property.

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
Kokanee Power once again has come thru this year with another plant of trout for the 2020 fishing season. These healthy 1lb. plus trout were transported from the Moccasin fish hatchery on Nov. 16 and placed in a holding pen to be raised for the next 6 months. In speaking with Jeff from Moccasin hatchery he indicated there were 25000 trout planted at the beginning of the year, and there will be a plant scheduled for Melones in the near furture.
 
KOKANEE
Done for the season.

BASS
Most anglers reporting on Bass have reported a challenging bite on the water with small bass and low numbers. Being very unusual for this time of the year, we are anticipating a good bite to be on soon. Using spoons, Pline Lazer minnows and drop shot techniques. Late fall bass on Melones can be found in all water depths from topwater, 30, and 60 ft. making it challenging to pattern them.

CATFISH
No reports of Catfish
 
CRAPPIE
Crappie may be far and few between this time of year, but when you find them expect the unexpected which Josh Parris of San Andreas found out last week hauling in a new lake record for Melones, coming in at 3.47 lbs. See Josh Parris guide report for more.

NEW MELONES GUIDE REPORTS:

New Melones lake fishing report by
Josh Parris guide service
(209) 217-7368

Melones lake has been fishing tuff for bass the last few months. There are definitely still fish to be caught but the overall numbers we are used to seeing this time of year just haven't been there. Not sure if it's due to water levels and unusually warm weather but it's definitely affecting the fish.
Most of the big fish we've been coming across have been shallow falling for big Swimbaits and jigs. There have been a few small windows across the lake to find shallow schooling fish typically in the mornings but they are far and few. For the schooling fish a rigs, top water, spy baits, and crank baits have been our best productivity.

For numbers we've been having to go deep, really deep for this time of year. Using my electronics to find active schools of fish chasing bait is key. Then flipping around to catch a few. Most of the time you either get bit right away or they don't want to play, most schools will only cough up 5-10 fish before they shut down. Once the shut down I move on to find a new school. The best baits for these deep fish have been spoons, drop shot, a rigs, and small swimbaits. If you want to learn deep spooning now is a great time to book a trip!

Xperience Fishing Guide Service

With the weather conditions soon changing, we anticipate the bite to begin to pick up. The water temperature is incredibly warm (60-64 degrees) for this time of year and the clarity is gin clear. The fish are spread out in practically every fishable water column, there are fish up shallow, out really deep and everywhere in between. This makes it tough to find a consistent pattern to try and duplicate. On top of that they are being very finicky and shying away from even the most subtle finesse presentations. However, things are improving as the bait and bass begin to school up, leaning more towards a fall/winter bite. Jigs, Ned's, shakeyhead and dropshot will get bit. The swimbait fishing begins to look more promising each week. Last weekend was the California Swimbait Trail tournament and Rob Betsch and I took second place with 8.59-pounds. Under extremely tough conditions, the two key bites on the 8" Huddleston managed to bring home a check. Since then I have seen much more activity on the big baits and the next giant is only a cast away.

Xperience Fishing Guide Service
www.xperiencefishing.net
xperiencefishing@yahoo.com
John Liechty (209)743-9932