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Lake Kaweah Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Terminus Dam's reservoir below Sequoia: Lake Kaweah's bass, crappie, catfish and winter-planted trout.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
64 / 66 F
Wind
SW 10 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Lake Kaweah offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. Today brings a mixed sky, wind SW around 10 mph, steady pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 66. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:35 AM-11:35 AM and 10:04 PM-12:04 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutExcellent

The top of this band is already stressful. In rivers fish mornings and evenings; in lakes WDFW notes rainbows turn sluggish and go deeper, so troll or suspend bait near the bottom.

Largemouth bassGood

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

CrappieFair

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Tomorrow: Warmer at 73 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

California requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $64.54 for residents. What a California licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with CDFW before you keep anything. The season dates for California, read off the agency, are on the California seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp64 F
High / Low66 / 55 F
WindSW 10-11 mph
Pressure1016.7 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain34% cloud, 13%
Sunrise / Sunset07:10 / 18:09
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Lake Kaweah this week

The best day on Lake Kaweah this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:35 AM-11:35 AM and 10:04 PM-12:04 AM
Minor period
3:59 AM-4:59 AM
Sun
07:10 to 18:09
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Rain, 10 mph
Rain chance
13%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Kaweah: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. The top of this band is already stressful. In rivers fish mornings and evenings; in lakes WDFW notes rainbows turn sluggish and go deeper, so troll or suspend bait near the bottom.

When to come: the Lake Kaweah calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Crappie
Catfish (blue, channel)
Rainbow trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Kaweah today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 70 F, wind to 15 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 67 F, wind to 16 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 7 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

California requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

California fishing license; CDFW regulations apply. Corps fees: $10 day use, $20 camping, $40 Corps annual pass.

Access

Launch ramps at the Kaweah, Lemon Hill and Slick Rock recreation areas; Lake Kaweah Marina at Lemon Hill (rentals, fuel, tackle); Horse Creek Campground with 84 sites.

About this water

A Corps of Engineers reservoir behind Terminus Dam on the Kaweah River, off Highway 198 east of Visalia near Lemon Cove, Tulare County, California.

Fishing Lake Kaweah: the full guide

A flood-control lake

The Corps of Engineers built Terminus Dam on the Kaweah River in 1962 for flood risk management and water conservation, and the water it stores is agricultural supply for the south-central San Joaquin Valley. The river comes down from the Sierra Nevada at Sequoia National Park, and its forks join a few miles upstream at Three Rivers.

What lives here

The Corps lists largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, catfish and rainbow trout, plus stream fishing on the river. CDFW's planting schedule shows trout plants at Kaweah Reservoir in the cooler months, for example in November 2025 and January 2026.

Changing levels

Some campgrounds flood when the lake is high, so the Corps asks visitors to call before camping; it also posts the current lake level. When the water drops, foundations of homes from the early settlement era can show.

Common questions

Are there trout?

Yes: CDFW plants trout at Kaweah Reservoir during the cooler months, and the Corps lists rainbow trout among the lake's gamefish.

Where can I launch?

The Corps lists ramps at the Kaweah, Lemon Hill and Slick Rock recreation areas.

Can I camp at the lake?

Horse Creek Campground has 84 sites with showers; reserve through Recreation.gov and confirm with the Corps when the lake is high.

Is fishing good at Lake Kaweah right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Pine Flat Lake35 miShaver Lake54 miKern River55 miMillerton Lake57 miLake Isabella59 miOwens River60 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 36.4053, -118.9777 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.