It's hard to believe it's been a month since my last fishing report.  A lot has changed in a month.  We have gone from smoky skies and 85 degree weather to something much more comfortable.  We are now under clear skies and daytime highs reaching into the upper sixties.  Morning lows can be freezing.  I even heard a report of snow a couple days ago as an isolated cumulus cloud blew over and shared some winter white with us before daylight.  Mount Lassen got a fresh dusting last Monday.  Tuesday the wind blew so hard it began to break apart the log booms at Plumas Pines Marina.  Today we're starting out our morning at 39 degrees, a steady barometer and and an expected high of about 55 degrees.

The fishing has been spotty.  There are a lot of small fish being taken with a mix of rainbows, browns, salmon and small mouth bass.  The fish are scattered across the lake and being found increasingly shallow on the wire.  We've been lucky to land at least one 5lbs + fish on all of our trips lately.  We're happy about this, but it's hard to compare it to a month ago when we were we catching 5 or more fish a day in the 5 lbs + category.  It's still a great time when you can boat a handful of 16" to 20" fish for the barbecue and then lug a 25" brown to the boat for photos, high fives and a release.

If you're looking to book a trip, now is a great time to do it.  As the weather cools and the days shorten the rainbows will begin to feed voraciously and provide plenty of excitement on our light tackle.  We are mostly fishing pond smelt imitations at slow speeds and moving around the lake looking for consistency.  The public boat ramps are still closed.  Plumas Pines Marina is the primary entry point for boats from outside of the area.

Hope to see you on the water.