Leo Briones of Whittier, California and his 9-year-old and 13-year-old sons caught and released around 16 fish while using 4 inch Berkley Power Worms, observed Hemphill. The fish were a colorful mixture of spotted, largemouth and smallmouth bass.

"The two largest fish were a 17 inch and 2-1/4 lb. spotted bass caught by the 9-year-old and a 16-/18 inch spot nailed by the 13-year-old," said Hemphills. "The dad also bagged 4 largemouths in the 1-3/4 lb. class."

In addition to using green pumpkin Power Worms, the trio also split shotted with Robo Worms in red crawler and oxblood patterns at 20 feet deep. "We caught all of the fish in the Narrows," he noted. "That area had a better water color with all of the boating activity."

Trollers are catching a mixture of kokanee salmon, king salmon and rainbow trout on Berryessa. "I've been taking anywhere from 7 to 9 fish per trip," said Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan's Guide Service in Elk Grove.

Rich and Rick Mitchell landed 2 kings to 19 inches, one 14 inch rainbow and a 5 kokanee to 17 inches while trolling with Villanueva on Sunday, July 6. "We fished with Uncle Larry's Mad Irishman and Pink Passion spinners at 55 to 65 feet deep in the main body near the Big Island," said Villanueva. "We trolled at 1.5 mph over 101 feet of water."

A trolling adventure by Villanueva on July 4 yielded 9 fish for Kyle Dawson and Missy Globermen of San Francisco. "They landed 8 kokanee in the 17 inch range and one 15 inch king," noted Villanueva.

Les Ehler of Vacaville ended up with a limit of kokanee on Villanueva's previous fishing trip. In addition, Villanueva bagged 2 rainbows to 18-12 inches.

“We’ve had great weather and good fishing recently,” reported Randy Thornton of Telstar Charters. “We are beginning to see more and more school fish in the form of blues and blacks showing up and that has resulted in faster action. On average I’d say we are boating about ¾ limits of rockfish on each trip, but the guys that put in a strong effort are generally scoring limits.”

There have not been a lot of lingcod showing up. “In general, we are scoring about 1 per trip, but today we did a little better, scoring 3 for 12 anglers.”

“On our last trip we fished up to the north near Virgin Creek in 110 feet of water and we did well. On other days I’ve gone down to the south and we’ve found good action down there too. We crabbed twice this week and ended up with 3 to 4 keepers per angler,” added Thornton.

Fish Sniffer staffer Paul Myer headed out on the Trek II recently and nailed a bunch of rockfish, despite the chilly 46 degree water temperature.

“We got a good mix of rockfish including gophers, chinas, blues, blacks and vermilions. The top fish of the trip was a handsome 8 pound vermilion rockfish,” said Myer.

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“We fished three days on the river last week, in an effort to get some fishing in as it was blowing 40 outside,” reported Mark Lottis of Five Star Charters. “Jeff got one fish the first day and we each had one bite for zip on the next two days. The water temperature raised 4 degrees and when we fished on Thursday it was 68.5. We even tried side drifting for summer steelhead for a bust as well.”

“The gale broke Friday night and we got in a halibut make-up day Saturday for a really good bite on an okay ocean. We got limits of 35 to 50 pound fish for both boats and an 80 pounder was our largest. We tried silver salmon, but the water was too cold and clean. Sunday we went bottom fishing out of Port Orford for a slow ling bite and fair to good on rockfish. This week it's back to Gold Beach for silvers, lings and rockfish,” added Lottis.

According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, fishing pressure has dropped off. Spring chinook are still on the move, but anglers need to fish the first few hours of the morning or late in the evening. Steelhead are also spread throughout the lower river and anglers have been hooking them mostly while trying to catch spring run kings.

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Chase Baro from Chilcoot also bagged his limit of rainbow trout with a Dick Nite while fishing the southwest side of the lake near the old boat ramp.

“Trollers are going deep – about 25 feet down,” added Wiggin. “Troll nightcawlers and flashers early in the morning or just before sunset.”

Trout fishing has improved for shore fishermen at Lake Davis. "For the first time this year, decent numbers of fish are being caught by anglers fishing from shore at Mallard Cove and the south point at Honker Cove," said Jerry Dollard at Dollard's Sierra Market in Portola. "Power Bait and or inflated nightcrawlers have been the baits of choice."

Dillard’s Guided Fishing has produced limits for their three charters this week. The depth of 12 feet is critical and surprisingly the best bite has been 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The most successful lure is the Dick Nite in copper and red.

"Fly fishermen continue to enjoy a very strong damsel hatch in the South Cow Creek area," Dollard observed. "The hatch comes off most days from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The hatch is strong and the number of fish working them is amazing. Now the bad part: the fish have become extremely selective in the last 10 days, to get them grab an imitation is lucky. Water surface temperatures are running between 70 to 72 degrees."

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“Tinker, captain of the Checkmate, had no problem catching limits of rockfish off Carmel today, July 7,” said Chris Arcoleo of Chris’ Fishing Trips. “The Checkmate, Caroline and Star of Monterey came in with full limits of rockfish, along with a few lingcod, over the July Fourth weekend. They fished off both Point Sur and Carmel.”

“The rockfish action continues to be very good,” said Pete Bruno at Randy’s Fishing Trips. “We’re catching a mixed bag of olive, yellowtail, blue, vermilion, starry and other quality rockfish, as well as a few lingcod. There have been a few days with rough weather when we were short of limits, but otherwise anglers have been taking limits every trip.”

Rockfish anglers are enticing their fish with Super Flies, other shrimp fly rigs, King’s Tackle jigs, Diamond Bars, Fish Traps and other lures.

Off Santa Cruz, the fishing for halibut and rockfish has been “going good for some and slow for others,” reported Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine.

“The halibut are being caught from the Mile Buoy to Natural Bridges in 30-55 feet of water,” rated Fraser. “There are some nice lingcod and rockfish coming in from 100 feet of water off Davenport. The big fish in the First Annual Bayside Fourth of July Tournament. was a 23.95 lb. halibut that Josh Kendall caught the first day.”

The Velocity has been going on both day trips and weekend twilight trips. A twilight trip on Saturday, July 5 produced 208 assorted rockfish for 26 fishermen, according to Ken Stagnaro at Stagnaro’s Fishing Trips in Santa Cruz.

Friday’s fishing adventure aboard the Velocity yielded limits of red, yellowtail and blue rockfish. “The 28 fishermen on board fished on the south side of the bay,” said Stagnaro

A trip by 18 passengers aboard the Velocity on July 3 produced limits of copper, red and gopher rockfish. They fished a variety of jigs, shrimp flies and bars, tipped with swim baits, off Davenport in 100 feet of water.

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Bait fishermen seem to prefer crawlers or Power Bait, while lure fishermen are using Panther Martins and Roostertails for a mixture of rainbows, browns and brookies.

The Cassel area is also yielding excellent hatches, with PMD's, caddis, spinners and callibaetis appearing. Fly fishermen are taking quite a few fish on dries, according to Vaughn. Bait fishermen are using crawlers and salmon eggs, while lure enthusiasts are buying any lure with a trout pattern for good results.

Lake Britton crappie are still on the bite with the best results reported in shady areas near structure. Anglers are tossing out an array of small jigs or mealworms.

“The wild trout section of Hat Creek is yielding good hatches of PMD's, caddis, callibaetis and spinners during the mid-day hours,” stated Vaughn. “Nymph fishermen are doing best with hare's ear and copper johns patterns in red or green.”

The Pit River is kicking out wild rainbows in the 10 to 20 inch class. “The river is still fishing well for the majority of fishermen,” advised Vaughn. “Try using black AP's, black stones and rubber-leg prince patterns.”

The Fall River is hosting “decent” hatches of PMD's and rusty spinners, with fishermen hooking wild rainbows on dry flies. “The hex hatches have been affected by the smoke, plus some wind in the evenings, but they are still coming off and fish are being caught,” noted Vaughn.

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“Davis was stocked with 900 rainbows that were 6 lbs. each, three thousand fish that weighed 2 lbs. each and eleven brood fish with the largest being a female weighing 17 lbs,” said Jerry Dollard of Dollards Sierra Market. “When and if this big fish is caught, it will be a new lake record.”

Fly fishing for rainbow trout is “as good as it gets” at Davis, due to the damsel fly hatch that is in progress now, said Dollard. Anglers using damsel fly patterns are nailing trout on the west shore from Jenkins north to Freeman.

“We’ve had many reports of trout being caught on a variety of things this week at Frenchman Lake,” said Shirley Wiggin of Wiggin’s Trading Post in Chilcoot. “Jenea Logan caught a 19 inch rainbow with a purple wooly bugger while trolling the lake’s east side at 18 to 25 feet deep.”

Bob Parry of Chilcoot says trolling is good with nightcrawlers and flashers at Big Cove. “Beadhead flashback pheasant tails and black midges are worth trying also,” she added.

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“We have caught 12 to 15 fish on the average night, though one night produced just 5 fish,” reported Bob Sparre of Rocky River Guide Service. “You can fish from noon to 6 p.m. and not get a bite. Then you might get one or two bites from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.”

The bite picks up from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and then reaches its peak from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., according to Sparre, who was on his way to a vacation in Alaska at press time.

Sparre has been using 1/16 ounce white jigheads with champagne tails in the Sunrise area of the river.

Some striped bass, mostly small schoolies, are also showing throughout the American from Sailor Bar to the mouth. Anglers fishing for shad with Sparre nailed a 19 inch striper on his last fishing trip to Sunrise.

Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan’s Guide Service also reported good shad fishing on the American in the evenings.

“I’m averaging 7 to 10 shad per outing,” said Villanueva. “We’re using pink 1/32 ounce jigheads with pink champagne curly tails and homemade pink flies in the stretch from Arden Bar to Howe Avenue. The shad range from 1 to 2-1/2 pounds.”

Releases to the American River below Nimbus Dam are now 3,000 cfs.

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“We are not catching a whole lot right now simply because the wind is not allowing us to fish where most of the fish are concentrated,” reported Captain Barry Canevaro of Fish Hookers Sportfishing. “The Mothball Fleet is holding a lot of fish, but we just have not been able to get out there much. Today we’ve tried the area near Light 34 at Pittsburg and then moved into Montezuma Slough. So far we’ve landed a small striper and a catfish.”

Kevin Yost of Lucky Strike Charters has been spending most of his time fishing for halibut and sharks in South San Francisco Bay, but he’s been getting reliable reports from anglers fishing the West Delta.

“From what I’ve been hearing the sturgeon bite is picking up out near the Mothball Fleet. The bite has been the most productive during the incoming tide for anglers fishing grass shrimp in 25 to 30 feet of water,” related Yost.

Black bass anglers fishing locations in the West Delta are experiencing and good level of success on fish averaging 2 to 5 pounds and ranging up to 10 pounds while working several different baits. The top offerings include wake baits, plastic frogs, Senkos and large plastic worms.

For a complete Delta Report, click here.

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“Guys are going out to the main lake early in the morning to catch stripers,” reported Ly Tu at Ly’s Sporting and Fishing Goods. “If you get out there before sunrise the topwater action is really good and you can catch a limit of stripers pretty fast. Most of the bass are small with the largest fish going about 5 pounds.”

Poppers, walking baits and prop baits are all drawing strikes for bank anglers. The key to success is being at the lake, ready to fish at the first crack of dawn.

According to Tu, later in the day once the sun hits the water the bass go deep, but the bait bite for boaters has been very good. They are catching their fish while soaking bait in 60 to 80 feet of water near the dam. Anchovies, shad and live jumbo minnows are all good bets for drawing strikes.

“There have been quite a few catfish being landed by guys fishing at Check Point 12 at night. The catfish are large, averaging about 6 or 7 pounds each. They are hitting on mackerel,” added Tu.

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Over the weekend, anglers nailed a number of these large fish. Gary Cronhardt bagged a 5 lb. rainbow, as well as a 2-1/2 pound and 3 smaller rainbows while using crawlers and Power Bait on the West Fork in the Hope Valley area. Another angler nailed two rainbows weighing 3 and 5 pounds in the West Fork.

The East Carson from the “broken” bridge to the Hangman’s Bridge also yielded good numbers of rainbows. Anglers fooled the fish with Pautzke green label salmon eggs, baby nightcrawlers and chartreuse Power Bait. The top lures were Panther Martins and Rooster Tails, while the best flies were prince nymphs, Wooly Buggers with green flash and some caddis patterns.

Although rainbows predominate in East Carson catches, Walker Bush of San Jose managed to bag a 2 lb. brook trout in the East Fork, along with some rainbows.

The DFG recently stocked 300 cutthroat trout from Heenan Lake in Indian Creek Reservoir. “Anglers are catching rainbows and cutthroats in the lake while using Power Bait and nightcrawlers,” said Fodaro. “Float tubers using a variety of flies are also doing well from float tubes.”

At Silver Lake, Fodaro recommended trolling with Triple Teazers and nightcrawlers behind small Ford Fenderse for a mixture of browns, rainbows and mackinaw.

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“The fishing at all of our local waters has been pretty good early and late in the day,” related Jeremy Ross at Ernie’s Tackle. “At June Lake trollers and bait anglers are catching plenty of fish. Power Bait is the best bait, while trollers are having the best success while pulling Thomas Buoyants behind 7 or 8 colors of lead core line.”

“I fished Grant Lake yesterday and we hooked 4 trout in about 10 minutes. Grant is fishing like June in that both trollers and bait guys are getting fish,” said Ross.

“If you want a shot at a big fish, Gull and Silver are probably your best bets. A 12 pound trout just came out of Gull and one of my clients got a 5 pound rainbow out of Silver this morning. She got the rainbow while fishing with Power Bait,” added Ross.

“Bridgeport Lake is stellar,” exclaimed Jim Reid at Ken’s Sporting Goods. “The fishing is as good as can be, either for bait fishing, fly fishing or even a little trolling.”

For the bait folks, the best action has been either over the ledge near Rainbow Point, or right out in the middle of the lake between Rainbow and the marina, Gulp Eggs, Power Bait, Crave Bait and crawlers are the order of the day.

For the fly fishermen, it’s been the same areas and for patterns they’ve been doing the best with mini leeches, damsel patterns, and either red or black zebra midges. Lots of indicators plunking! The shore fishing isn’t all that hot on Bridgeport, but that’s pretty typical for this time of year.”

“The Virginia Lakes are also doing great. The tubers are probably doing the best, fly anglers are using buggers, soft hackles and zugs underneath, and on the surface it’s beetle and ant patterns. Bait anglers are doing the best with gulp eggs and crawlers. Lots of fish being caught, and we hear they planted some Alpers fish in there yesterday so there’s definitely some hogs cruising around today,” continued Reid.

“The East Walker River is still producing pretty good numbers of fish, though I’d say it’s been a little tougher this past week. The flows are still good at 175 or so. There’s tons of bugs in the water, every thing from mayflies to caddis to midges to damsels etc. It’s mainly a matter of switching up your flies regularly until you figure out what those fish want to take,” added Reid.

“The fishing is good almost everywhere, with the exception of the Lower Owens,” reported Dan Farris at Brock’s Sporting Goods. “The flows on the Lower Owens are up around 400 cfs and that makes for pretty tough fishing. The worst thing about fishing in the Bishop area right now is the warm 100 plus degree daytime temperatures and all the smoke in the air.”

“The best lakes for anglers using flies, baits and lures have been North Lake and Sabrina. The best streams have been Rock Creek and the upper section of the Owens. Dry flies in the 16 to 18 size range are the best offerings on the creeks,” added Farris.

For Tom Loe's Sierra Report, click here.

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“The fish ranged in size from 14 to 22 inches,” said Doucette. “Most of the fish were caught in the main body of the lake just south of the Hendricks arm.”

Other anglers have reported catching nice trout in this same area fishing a couple of hundred feet off of and trolling parallel to shore, noted Doucette.

Lininger also bagged some yellow perch just north of the state park, throwing worms out from shore into deep water and letting them settle on the bottom. So the perch are starting to show up now.

“We haven’t received any reports of bass being taken, but they should start showing up in the creel,” added Doucette. “You may not keep any black bass until July 1, but you may keep one wiper 15 inches or larger.”  

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“I’ve had limits of stripers all week long,” disclosed Captain Jim Smith of Happy Hooker Sportfishing on July 6. “Today we had 21 limits of bass to 14 pounds by 9:30 in the morning and so far we’ve got 4 keeper halibut. Yesterday we had 68 striper to 16 pounds by 12:30 and then added 19 halibut to 26 pounds.”

“The fishing has been excellent,” related Captain James Smith of California Dawn Sportfishing. “Both stripers and halibut fishing have been excellent. On July 2, we took out 18 anglers and they landed 42 halibut and 7 stripers. On July 3, we had 29 anglers aboard and they boated 49 halibut and 4 stripers. On July 4, our 28 anglers caught 20 stripers and 20 halibut. On July 5, we took out 29 anglers and ended up with 48 stripers and 16 halibut.”

“The halibut fishing has been really consistent on the Berkeley Flats and as the big tides we are seeing right now the bite should get even better. We didn’t get any huge fish this week, but a lot of good size were caught including halibut in the 20 to 25 pound class,” added Smith.

Captain Joe Gallia of New Easy Rider Sportfishing has also been achieving great results while fishing San Francisco Bay. According to Gallia, his 11 anglers busted 28 halibut to 20 pounds and added a pair of stripers to 18 pounds. On the next day, 24 anglers ended up with 28 halibut to 21 pounds and 11 stripers to 18 pounds.

Charter boats out of the Emeryville Marina have been getting their share of halibut and striper out of San Francisco Bay as well.

On July 6, the C-Gull II cancelled their rockfish trip on the ocean and opted to stay inside the bay, while the New Huck Finn proceeded with their preplanned live bait potluck trip. There was a combined total of 49 anglers aboard the two boats. They scored 98 stripers to 15 pounds and 42 halibut to 13 pounds.