"We had a few cold days and some strong north winds early in the week, but the bite has actually been pretty good," reported Bob Higgins at Limit Out Bait and Tackle. "The minnow bite is still producing the best numbers, but we're starting to the a good rip bait bite as well."

According to Higgins, the north end of the lake has been most productive, especially near the entrances to the State and County parks. "The fish were up tight to the tules and docks in about 4 feet of water before the cold weather hit," he explained. "It seems like they've backed off to deeper water now, maybe 6 to 10 feet."

The top rip baits have been Lucky Craft minnows in the Staycee and Pointer 100 models. "The hot colors are ghost minnows and chartreuse shad," said Higgins. "We've also had some good reports from anglers drop-shotting Senkos in the Narrows and at the south end near Red Bud. The top Senko colors have been watermelon/ black, natural shad and green pumpkin."

Catfish action remains slow at Clear Lake. "Our catfish guys have been working hard for a few fish a day at best," said Higgins. "No reports of crappie have come in yet. Look for the crappie bite to kick into gear around late February. Fish medium minnows in Rodman Slough, the Clear Lake Oaks Keys or the County Park."

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"With the quality and amount of fish were catching at Punta Gorda, I'm still surprised at the lack of fishing pressure for water located only 60 miles north of Fort Bragg," explained Captain Tom Johnson aboard Rumblefish of Noyo Fishing Center. "On our last two trips, we caught full limits of assorted rockcod, including lots of vermillion and black rockfish weighing 4-7 pounds. Also, we ended up with 1 to 2 lingcod per rod.

Johnson noted that anglers found the best action fishing just south of the Mattole River mouth. "Since the fish receive such light fishing pressure, they will hit on just about everything that is dropped down," he added.

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"The lower stretch of the Rogue River is loaded with 8 to10 pound winter steelhead and the majority of anglers trying for them are hooking fish," indicated Jim Carey from Rogue Outdoor Store. "Another productive spot for bank anglers has been around Huntley Bar. Anglers are finding the most consistent fishing using Spin-Glos and salmon roe."

"We are seeing tons of steelhead entering the Rogue and Chetco rivers, and most boaters on the Rogue are catching limits of hatchery fish in the 8-10 pound slot," reported Mike Hoefer of Rogue Sportfishing. "However, it may take awhile to catch a limit because there are a lot of wild fish in the river that has to be released."

For the top fishing on the Rogue, Hoefer suggested using Hot Shots and Wee Warts in black and white or metallic.

"I've also fished on the Chetco lately," said Hoefer. "On my last trip, we hooked 8 fish, landing 6 of them. The fish fell for side drifted roe and puff balls. Although the lower river is loaded with fish, there is more boat traffic than on the upper river, which is also producing limits."

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"The bite has been very good this week," reported Steve Barnett of Phil's Props. "We're seeing good numbers of fish and increasing numbers of quality fish in the 2 to 4 pound class."

According to Barnett, anglers are bagging fish on Yamamoto Hula grubs, plastic worms, spinnerbaits and crankbaits. "Stick to the brown and red colors for the plastics," he added. "As for the spinnerbaits, white has been the top color and crawdad patterns have been working best for the crankbaits."

The majority of the action has been taking place on the main body and the Squaw Creek arm. "You can catch fish from the bank down to 40 feet deep," said Barnett. "Stick to the main points and steep walls."

Trout action has been on the slow side at Shasta. "I went out on Sunday and worked hard for 5 rainbows to 17 inches," reported Gary Miralles of Shasta Tackle and Sportfishing. "I covered a ton of water including the McCloud, Squaw Creek, Backbone and Waters Gulch. We caught 3 of the 5 fish in Backbone. The 17 incher hit a rainbow jointed Rapala and the rest were taken on red/gold Cripplures."

Lake Shasta is currently 36.88 feet from maximum pool.

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"One fishermen nailed a 5 pound wild rainbow at Baum this week, while another angler took a 4 pounder," reported Steve Vaughn at Vaughn's Sporting Goods. "They fooled both fish while tossing Kastmasters from the bank."

Bait fishing with nightcrawlers and Power Bait is also productive for the trout. "The key is to target places on the lake with current flow," added Vaughn.

Fly fishermen are finding trout success with pheasant tail, Copper John and hare's ear nymphs in sized #16 to #22 and brown and olive Wooly Buggers. If you want to fish dry flies, Vaughn advised tossing out midge and callibaetis patterns.

"I haven't heard any reports on Iron Canyon Reservoir over the past two weeks," said Vaughn. "My last report was that you couldn't get a vehicle past the dam because of heavy snow."

Before the latest snow storms, anglers fishing Kastmasters and nightcrawler/marshmallow combos from the bank reported nailing rainbows measuring 12 to 17 inches long.

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"We planted 1,000 pounds of rainbows the week of January 15 and stocked another 2,000 pounds the last week of January," reported Dennis Redfern at the American River Fish Hatchery. "We plan to stock 9,000 pounds in the lake this season."

Shore anglers can find success on the rainbows with Power Bait, nightcrawlers and a variety of lures. Trollers can fool the trout with Needlefish, Cripplures, Sparklefish, Rapalas and other minnow imitation lures or nightcrawlers behind flashers.

Fishing pressure is still very light at Bullards Bar Reservoir, but the fishing for both rainbow trout and kokanee salmon is expected to pick up with the arrival of warmer weather.

"We plan to stock 75,000 kokanee fingerlings and 50,000 rainbow fingerlings in Bullards Bar this season, probably in late April or early May," said Redfern. "Mike Harris, DFG fishery biologist, is currently doing a tagging study on the success of different strains of kokanee - Taylor Creek, Stampede and Oregon strains - planted in the lake."

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For example, Ken Hicks and Paul Boudreau won a recent "turkey shoot" sponsored by the Folsom Bass League with a five fish limit weighing 15.20 pounds. Their largest fish was a 3.4 pound spotted bass, according to Greg Dixon at the Fishin' Depot.

"They found their best action dragging morning dawn leeches in 20 feet of water," stated Dixon. "They fished the leeches while both split shotting and Carolina-rigging."

"The fish are scattered from 2 to 30 feet," said Dixon. "Try fishing the shallows with rip baits and other lures in the morning, then drop shot with plastics in deeper water in the middle of the day. Then go back to the flats in the evening."

The rainbow trout and king salmon fishing has slowed down with the onset of cold, freezing mornings. "I keep telling the bank fishermen to keep moving until they find the fish," said Dixon.

One angler who kept moving until he found the fish was Jim Streeter, who took a 22 inch king salmon while fishing an inflated nightcrawler from the bank.

Trolling for salmon and trout has also been very spotty. However, Chris Jimerson had a great day when he reported catching and releasing 19 rainbow trout to 17 inches and one king salmon while trolling Hum Dingers and Uncle Larry's spinners. "He caught the salmon at 25 feet deep and the trout in the top 10 feet of water," said Dixon.

Folsom's water level continues to rise. The lake is holding 595,000 acre feet of water, 61 percent of capacity, and the water level is 38 feet from full.

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"The two words that would some up black bass fishing right now are: very tough," reported Mark Lassagne of Gone Fishing. "Not only has the water been very cool, averaging 49-50 degrees, but the clarity is also bad, as we can only see down about 1-2 feet at best."

"Since it's so cold and visibility is poor, you need to fish very slow and stay out of the current in dead end sloughs," said Lassagne. "On my last trip, we only caught one largemouth fishing deep and slow with a 6 inch green worm."

"The barometer has continued to drop over the last four days, and as a result, the bass bite shut off," confirmed Randy Pringle, The Fishing Instructor. "On my last outing, we didn't do too much fishing because we were moving around a lot looking for warmer, clear water."

"Through the day we had a few bites here and there, but at the end of the day, we caught one largemouth and two stripers to 22 pounds while using crankbaits," he added. "The key to getting bit is to make numerous casts along structure."

Ken Dyer of Valley Bait & Tackle said that many local anglers are now focusing on sturgeon. "It's been a long and rough week for bass anglers, but boaters in Cache and Montezuma sloughs are catching some sturgeon in the muddy water," said Dyer. "The Sacramento River at Rio Vista is also producing diamondbacks. The top baits for sturgeon now are salmon roe, eel and shrimp."

A few persistent anglers are bagging stripers in the sloughs, added Dyer. Trollers are nailing fish with deep-diving broken back Rebels, while bait anglers are doing best on shad and sardines.

For a complete Delta Report, click here.

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"The water is up and rising daily," stated Merritt Gilbert of Valley Rod and Gun in Clovis. "The ramps are ok, except for Trimmer, and the trout fishing is excellent. Limits are being reported and the trout are coming in at 13 to 15 inches with a lot of fish in the 16 to 17 inch range."

The action has been hot around the Trimmer Arm with trollers working cop car Needlefish, blue silver Hum Dingers, Wedding Rings with worms or night crawlers behind blades or dodgers. The fish are holding in the top 25 feet of water.

Action for king salmon has picked up. The fish are averaging 3 to 4 pounds and falling for trolled shad in Rotary Killers or silver/blue Needlefish. Most of the action is happening at depths of 40 to 50 feet around the Windy Gap area.

"The spotted bass action is very slow," Gilbert stated. "A few anglers are picking up fish around the main lake points tossing jigs or plastics in brown or purple. Yamamoto Hula grubs in brown have been good. The fish average 1 to 1.5 pounds. Landing 6 to 7 fish per day is the norm."

Catfish anglers are finding 2 to 5 pound acts around Deer Creek, Sycamore Creek and near the dam. The fish are striking stink baits or chicken livers.

"Below the reservoir, action on the Kings River is outstanding," said Gilbert. "Loads of brooder trout have been planted and fishermen are catching 2 to 5 pound fish daily. Free drifting salmon eggs, soaking yellow Power Bait or tossing small silver spoons results in limits by mid day."

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"We are seeing a lot of limits. The fish are hitting throughout the day and most of the fishermen are happy," reported Linda Fields of Topaz Lake Marina.

Rainbows averaging 2 pounds have been slamming rainbow or chartreuse Power Bait, inflated night crawlers Sierra Gold. The fish are holding in good concentrations about 40 to 50 yards offshore. Sliding sinker rigs with 4 pound test line and 1 or 2 hooks have been the hot setup.

Fishermen tossing lures from the bank are picking up a few fish with perch Kastmasters, Thomas Buoyants in silver/blue and panther martins in silver/red. The bank action has been tops around the southern shoreline. Boaters are picking up limits while trolling night crawlers behind blades or dodgers, small trout pattern Rapalas, or Power Bait behind a small dodger. The majority of the action is coming from the southwestern area at depths of 5 to 15 feet. Free drifting night crawlers around the drop-offs has been productive.

Fly fishermen are finding a good bite on wooly buggers or matukas in brown or black. The surface action has been good late in the day.

The large holdover fish and the big tiger trout have yet to be caught, but the warming weather should bring these fish up to the surface.

For Wiza's Sierra's report, CLICK HERE.

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"We've been enjoying great weather," reported Dave Smith of Culver's Sporting Goods. "The action of the Owens River and Pleasant Valley Reservoir has been excellent."

Bank anglers are tossing rainbow Power Bait, Sierra Gold, lime Crave or inflated night crawlers to entice trout in the 12 to 16 inch class. The hot areas have been around the dam. Landing 3 to 5 fish per outing has been common.

"Fishermen working lures are finding success with Panther Martins in red/gold, Roostertails in pink/silver and Kastmasters in the perch color," noted Smith.

Float tubers are landing limits with salmon eggs, night crawlers, Thomas Buoyants in red/gold and while working midges along the bottom. Bead headed zebras and tiger patterns are hot, according to Smith. Matukas in brown or wooly buggers in olive are picking up surface fish late in the day.

"The Lower Owens River is cranking out limits of pan-sized trout," added Smith. "The fish are falling for salmon eggs, worms and Trout Teasers. Drifted night crawlers, rainbow Power Bait and Sierra Gold baits are working well."

Action on the catch and release section has been good for fly fishermen. Landing 5 to 10 fish per outing is the norm. "The best action is coming off the bottom with midges in tiger or zebra patterns," he explained.

For the SouthEast Sierras Report, click here.

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"The bite is starting to pick up," reported George Molino at the Pyramid Lake Store. "I spoke to several bank fishermen today and most of them had decent success and trollers are also catching quite a few fish."

According to Molino, two bank fishermen reported catching 10 fish in the 17 to 18 inch class while tossing spoons at Blockhouse. "They said the fish were feeding very shallow just under the surface," he added. "They didn't have much luck with the heavier spoons they normally throw, but once they switched over to lighter lures they started catching fish."

While spoons are still the top getters for bank anglers, fly fishermen are catching decent numbers of fish on wooly buggers in black and purple. "The dark patterns have been most productive for fly fishermen," said Molino. "For the hardware, firetiger has been the best color."

"I was out two days last week and landed 16 fish the first day and 14 fish the next day," said Molino. "All of our fish were taken on Apexes from the top down to 20 feet deep. We fished from Fox Bay to Red Bay the first day, and from the Needles to Pelican the next day."

The only available launch ramp at press time is at Pelican, although small aluminum boats may be able to navigate the shallow water at Sutcliffe.

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"We've been forced off the water for most of the week due to winds over 30 knots, but the coming weekend we are planning on a few crab trips," reported Gary Freedman of Berkeley Marina Sportfishing. "Also, with weather permitting, we will offer sturgeon trips on Saturday."

"Fishing pressure has been very light lately, mainly due to the cold fronts passing through the region," said Craig Stone of Emeryville Sportfishing Center. "This coming weekend, we are offering sturgeon trips aboard New Huck Finn."

Stone noted that anglers will be targeting San Pablo Bay for the sturgeon.