Lake Oroville Oct 28-29

[Pat Dilling]

   So excited that we can finally put a boat on Lake Oroville!  Record low water conditions have kept boaters off the lake since early August.  The big storm that dumped over 10 inches of rain in the Feather river water shed has brought the water level up about 30 feet!  We are still not up to the proper concrete launch ramp, but we can launch on the single lane gravel ramp.  I went with my friend Fred Preston in his boat on  10/28 and then my wife Kate and I went on 10/29.   To say the fishing is good is an understatement!  It's off the hook.  Or rather ON the hook.     On both days we caught over 60 fish, Fred had 4lb 10 oz spot and I had a 3.2 largemouth.  A couple other friends actually used a clicker counter and say they caught 104 fish in a day.  These fish have not seen a lure for months.  They are pretty dumb and aggressive right now.  You really only need one rod and one lure: a medium diving crankbait.  The water is stained because of the inflows so a darker color crankbait works best.  We were using red craw color, having some orange in it works even better.  Norman Deep little N and Strike King 3XD worked great for us.  If you want some variety, a 3" swimbait on an underspin, a chart/white spinnerbait or a jerkbait also caught some fish.  Bottom bouncing baits were much less productive.  They seem to want to chase.  You can catch fish just going down the bank, but concentrating on points, especially with some rock, is more productive.  Once the lake comes up another 5-6 feet, a concrete ramp should be available.  Caution when boating is needed as there are unmarked hazards as well as many "floaters"  because of the rising water.  Continue to pray for rain, the lake is still 240 feet down!

[Donald Garner]

Pat congrats on the catching and tks for sharing the trip report with us. 

[Mike Cork]

Great news that the lake is on the rise and hopefully the raining season will start. Seems like Halloween was a turning point when I lived there all those years ago...


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[Oldfart9999]

Congrats on the catching Pat!!! Hope the water keeps rising for you.
Rodney