Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 12/11/2012 09:21 AM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 12/11/2012 09:22 AM
Expires: 01/01/2017 12:00 AM
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New Melones Fishing Report for December 10th~by Melanie of Glory Hole Sports
New Melones, CA....Water Conditions New Melones Lake is currently holding 1,540,308 acre-feet of water. The lake level rose 3ft. this week, and is currently at 1008ft. above sea level and 80ft. from full. Water temperature has cooled a bit and is 56-59 degrees. The lake is clear, to slightly stained. The lake will "turn over" when surface water cools to the same temperature as the deeper water- around 53-54 degrees. This usually happens around Thanksgiving, few weeks late this year. Soon the trout bite should really turns on for bank-anglers and trollers alike. Good news, the middle ramp on Glory Hole Point is open, which makes for an easy walk......
Trout: Good. Department of Fish and Game is now planting rainbow trout weekly at New Melones. Trolling anglers caught a few limits this week. The fish are in shallow water near the shoreline. A great way to target these fish is top-lining, or using a side-planner. Gold, silver, and blue seem to be the colors they are responding to best. Try using Rapalas, Excels, and Kastmasters in these colors. Another way to catch them is trolling a crawler/flasher rig. Be sure to use a worm threader to put the worm on the hook. When your crawler is on the hook straight it has a more natural appearance and will draw more strikes. Bank fishing was good this last week. Most anglers are catching planted fish with a few nice holdovers in the mix. There are fish feeding on the surface near the shore line, in the early morning. Try using to rods, (make sure to get a second rod stamp on your fishing license) fan cast a Kastmaster while your bait is soaking. For bait, garlic scented Power Bait, Power Eggs, or a Mallow/crawler combo will catch them. Also, try fishing small feeder creeks and inlets whenever we get some rainfall. Cooler running water attracts fish, and also washes nutrients and insects into the lake.
Kokanee: Done for the season.
Bass: Good. There are a lot of fair to nice fish being caught. The spotted bass are gorging themselves on shad. This is a good time to fish a vertical presentation. Try locating these balls of shad suspended over the main creek channels (Morman, Angels, Coyote, etc.) and target the fish feeding above and below these shad. 1/2oz. and 3/4oz. spoons in shad patterned colors are good choices. The nice thing about a spoon is you can draw a reaction strike from the fish. Another great and more subtle approach is a 1/4oz. tube. Tubes are great little baits that are easy to fish. Cast into deep water and let them spiral slowly to the bottom. Then drag and hop them back to the boat. The fish will hit them on the initial fall, or pick them up off of the bottom. Again, shad and crawdad patterned baits are hard to beat. There continues to be a good jig bite on main lake points and secondary points. We carry a large selection of jigs made by California Reservoir Lures. The nice thing about these jigs is they are design for our Mother Lode lakes. Like the color Melones craw. It has a perfect blend of crawdad colors. Try using a Zoom Baby Brush Hog or a Yamamoto Fat Baby Craw as trailer. Remember to practice catch and release! If you do keep a bass, please keep the spotted bass and release the big female (largemouth) black bass. Glory Hole Sports can teach you the difference, so you can practice good conservation of the species.
Catfish: Fair. The water is still fairly warm, and the catfish are very active. This is usually the best time of the year to catch big cats. Melones catfish tend to be fish-eaters rather than bottom foragers, so use live minnows, frozen shad, mackerel, or anchovies for best success. Move/drag your bait slowly across the bottom to cover more water and target fish that are aggressively feeding. Generally cats will feed in shallow flats or areas with large chunk rock near deep water.
Crappie: Slow. There are fish in 15-40 foot of water, in the backs of creek channels near submerged timber. Live minnows or red worms fished under a slip-float, with a bobber stop is a good way to target these fish. Also, try using red/white mini jigs, small grubs, and 4" soft plastic worms. Crappie too, will gorge themselves on shad. Try to locate the bait in shallow areas and the fish shouldn't be far.
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