Water Conditions: New Melones Lake is currently holding 1,605,921 acre-feet of water. The lake level dropped one foot this week, and is currently at 1014 ft. above sea level and 73 ft. from full. Water temperature warmed a little and is 50-54 degrees. The lake is clear, to slightly stained with some debris floating on the surface. The lake has turned over.

Joey Ray, pictured above caught a nice 2-pound, 6-ounce rainbow while bank fishing with a crawler/mallow combo.

Trout: Slow. Department of Fish and Game is now planting rainbow trout weekly at New Melones. The lake has turned over. The trout are still scattered throughout the lake from 0-30' deep. Trolling anglers caught a few fish trolling the main lake and upriver. The fish are hard to find. The anglers that are catching them are spending the entire day on the water to get them. A crawler trolled behind a flasher our sling blade continues to be the most productive setup. Generally in past years this is a great time to target brown trout. We have had reports of brown trout being caught this week. The DFG is no longer planting brown trout so we will no longer be recognizing them for the weekly big fish contest. Try using large plugs or rolling shad to catch these big fish. It looks like we will be getting a bit of warm weather. Hopefully this will help the overall bite. Bank fishing was a little slow this week with only a few fish being caught per angler. The standard bait rig with a long leader seems to be your best bet. Use a sliding sinker with a 3-4' leader and a light wire hook. A crawler/mallow combo is a proven fish catcher. Another good setup is a Berkley Pinched Crawler with a pink or white Gulp, or Power Egg. Also, try using a shad patterned casting spoon on main lake points. Kastmasters and Krocodiles are great baits because you can cast them a long distance. Fan cast from deep to shallow to locate were the fish are feeding. Don't forget to add scent to your bait. Garlic, shad, and anise are all good scents for trout.

Jeff Mikkelson, Photo #1 of Escalon is this weeks winner of The Glory Hole Sports Big Fish of the Week Contest. He caught a beautiful 4-pound holdover rainbow while bank fishing on the Glory Hole side of the lake.

Kokanee: Done for the season.

Bass: Fairly tough. Most anglers are having trouble locating quality fish. The water temperature drastically dropped over the last few weeks. The fish seemed to have moved into deep water for the winter. They are feeding on main lake points throughout the day. But, with such cold water they will feed a lot less than normal due to a slower metabolism. Now is a good time to fish finesse style presentations, such as a drop-shot rig. Small, slow moving baits will trigger more bites. Anglers should try using 3-4" hand poured worms in natural shad and crawfish hues. Bass will feed heavily on crawfish at this time of the year. Try using a heavy 1/2oz. or 3/4oz. football head jig fished in deep water 40-60'. Try using darker colors in deep water such as, black/blue, and brown/purple. California Reservoir Lures' jigs are designed for Mother Lode lakes. A great color is "Cash Call." It is green pumpkin, purple, with gold flake, and matches Yamamoto color (331). The swim bait bite is getting better. Try using smaller swim baits to catch spots and nice largemouth. If you want to catch a huge fish throw an 8" rainbow trout swim bait. We have been seeing a lot of big spotted bass being caught and we possibly have a world record swimming around out there. The current state record and world record was caught May 3, 2001 out of Pine Flat Lake. It weighed 10-pounds, 4-ounces. If you catch a fish that is larger, and want it to be recognized as a state record, it must be weighed on a certified scale. The post office or the grocery store meat department has a certified scale. 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: 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.