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• LAKE DON PEDRO — Guide Monte Smith said the kokanee bite is still going strong with boaters catching quick limits in Middle Bay at 90 to 110 feet on larger Vance's hootchies behind the 8-inch Shasta Tackle's Sling Blades. He says larger lures and dodgers attract larger fish in deeper water. Smith said females are developing larger eggs, but the males "are still bright with their scales intact. This is a good sign since the kokanee are Don Pedro are generally among the first to turn." Guide Dan Layne confirmed the good kokanee bite, saying the fish are schooling and going deeper to find cooler water. He has been scoring off Hatch Creek, in Middle Bay and off Six Bit Gulch in Upper Bay using silver Apex lures tipped with corn scented with garlic or vanilla behind a Shasta Tackle Sling Blade. Layne said king salmon to 4 pounds are sitting 100 feet down and will bite rolled shad or anchovies, glow hootchies or a 4-inch pearl Apex behind a 6-inch Sling Blade. He said they are "not very aggressive" and they will steal bait unless anglers are attentive. Mike Gomez at the Bait Barn in Waterford said the bass bite is "tough" with the best action on the bottom with Berserk or TNT jigs in brown/purple on a football head trailed by a Zoom or Yamamoto twin-tail in green pumpkin. The early morning top-water window is very small. Call: Monte Smith (209) 581-4734; Danny Layne (209) 586-2383; Gary Vella (209) 652-7550; The Bait Barn (209) 874-3011.
• McCLURE RESERVOIR — The Bait Barn's Mike Gomez said there's a good top-water bite for bass in the early morning with Super Spooks in bone or Okie Shad, Lucky Craft Gunfish in Chartreuse Shad, or Black Dog's 5-inch Lunker Punker in rainbow trout. But after 9 a.m. the fish move to the bottom where they might hit brown/purple jigs, or plastics on a drop shot or shaky head. The Berserk Insane in cinnamon/purple on a shaky head has been producing at 35 to 50 feet. Diana Mello at A-1 Bait in Snelling said the bass up to 7½ pounds are biting on a 6-inch Robo Worm Hologram Shad SR-M 13h. Green/red Senkos are also working. Kokanee fishing has been strong at 60 to 100 feet near the dam with blue hootchies or Excel lures. The kokanee schools are small and scattered, and anglers have to find the right spots. Crappie fishing has improved on small minnows in Cottonwood Creek and near Bagby, while catfishing has gotten a lot better on anchovies off the banks near McClure Point. Call: A-1 Bait (209) 563-6505, Bub Tosh (209) 404-0053.
• McSWAIN RESERVOIR — Stephanie Powell at the marina reported excellent trout action for trollers in the river arm above the floating restrooms with broken-backed Rapalas, Wedding Rings tipped with a night crawler behind a dodger, or night crawlers behind a Sep's Dodger. Bank fishing has been best around the dam or the campgrounds using Power Bait in garlic/salmon peach or "anything with garlic." Calaveras Trout Farm will plant this week and the DFG will plant next week. Call: McSwain Marina (209) 378-2534.
