Wild West Bass Trails brought an awesome event to Angels Camp, with the PRO/AM (Pro/Amateur) fishing 5 days on New Melones, with two days of practice and three days of hard fishing. 143 boats, 286 anglers vying for the $25,000 first prize money on the Pro side of the event. The last day brought back the top ten on each side of the PRO/AM. When the smoke cleared, 20 year old Luke Johns of Folsom came out on top of the Pro side with a final weight for the three day tournament of 44.41 lbs. On the Amateur side, first place went to Jesse Martin, walking away with a $10,000 check. Jesse weighed in a three day bag, of 39.63 lbs. Congratulation to all who were lucky enough to get into the top 28 places which all were paid a check for their efforts. 

We want to thank Wild West Bass Trails for allowing us to be a supporter of the event.           

New Melones Reservoir's current lake level is 1045.25, dropping 3.52  feet in the last two weeks. New Melones is 42.75 ft. from full. Water temperature has reached a balmy 61.0 d. this last weekend sparking bass to spawn on the lake. Water clarity is excellent. Angels Cove launch ramp is closed, and the fish cleaning station remains closed at Angels Cove with water line breaks interfering with operations. 

A word of caution when traveling from the rangers station towards Glory Hole Point. If your hauling any trailer over 10 ft. in height, be aware the Bureau of Reclamation has many oak trees that need to be trimmed to meet Federal Highway Administrations minimum vertical clearance on local roadways which is 14'. The trees overhang the road are creating hazardous driving conditions for you and your trailer/boat/rv having to often drive in the opposite lane of traffic to avoid these trees and prevent damage to your property.

Anglers FYI: For anyone with a potential lake record please call us at the store and hopefully we can send someone to weigh, photograph and measure the catch at the lake. GHS is the unofficial recorder of lake records for New Melones, and we understand there is sometimes conflicting interest in the welfare of the catch, whether or not to release the potential record, sacrificing your place as a record holder for the lake.

We do promote catch and release. For potential lake records, record the statistics of the fish... length, girth, weight and photographed at the lake before releasing her. If indeed we can verify the information that is provided, such as a witness, comparing the scale used with ours, a photograph with the fish hanging from the scale and can see the scale weight, etc...then we can accept this as proof. If your catch has expired then indeed bring it in to GHS so we can record it here, and you can have it mounted!
 
TROUT
Trout remain elusive and a slow bite the last couple weeks. Anglers fishing the banks are having luck with the power baits in different scents and colors. Angels cove, and Glory Hole parking area in the cove. Anglers trolling should try rolling shad at 1.5 MPH. You can also dye the shad to a chartreuse, pink and several other colors using High Octane Fire Dye that we stock here in the store.

KOKANEE
No reports of Kokanee this month. This year we are anticipating another good Kokanee season, usually getting started end of April/early May.

BASS
With the water temps hitting 60 degrees, the bass are in spawn mode, on beds, and many being caught have that soft belly indicating they have already spawned out and occasionally seeing a bloody tail on female and males both due to fanning and females just dragging their tails on rocks with the heavy bellies.

With a steady increase in the bass bite anglers are getting bit on different presentations and you should be ready to change it up, fish the mudline along shore from boat traffic, try using a chatterbait or spinner bait. In windy conditions with some chop on the water, try topwater, swimbait, or glidebait. The most successful presentation during the Wild West Bass Trail had to be the soft plastics, Robo Worms, Yamamoto Senko's, Baby Brush Hogs, and Grubs on shakey heads, jigs, and dropshot along with success using underspins and a 2.5" Keitech trailer.

Congratulations to Aaron Cole, local angler who landed in the money zone with a top 20 finish and his big fish payout with 8.19 lbs.

CATFISH
No reports of Catfish
 
CRAPPIE
Crappie are coming up and can be seen in the shallows, possibly going after the eggs from the bass spawn. Live minnows are the ticket for crappie.