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Lake Nacimiento Fishing Report

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

An 18-mile Monterey County Water Resources Agency reservoir in northern San Luis Obispo County, home to white bass planted in 1965 and under their own California rule.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Flow
63 cfs
Air / High
63 / 69 F
Wind
NNE 7 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 11149400, 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.

4/5Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Lake Nacimiento sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. The release below the dam is running 63 cfs, steady over the week. Today brings a mixed sky, wind NNE around 7 mph, steady pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 69. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:43 AM-11:43 AM and 10:11 PM-12:11 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

White bassGood

Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

Tomorrow: Similar 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 white 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 from Nacimiento River below Nacimiento Dam.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 11149400.

8914319763 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 69 years of October 23

At 63 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 11149400 (Nacimiento River below Nacimiento Dam) is at the 36th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 69 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 106 cfs; the highest was 490 cfs and the lowest 0 cfs.

p10 10median 106p90 365

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 11149400; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp63 F
High / Low69 / 52 F
WindNNE 7-9 mph
Pressure1017.0 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain54% cloud, 5%
Sunrise / Sunset07:17 / 18:17
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 Nacimiento this week

Today is the pick of the week on Lake Nacimiento, at 4 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 β€” good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Good

Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Solunar majors
9:43 AM-11:43 AM and 10:11 PM-12:11 AM
Minor period
4:07 AM-5:07 AM
Sun
07:17 to 18:17
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 14 mph
Rain chance
5%

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

Species guide

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

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

When to come: the Lake Nacimiento 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
White bass
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 Nacimiento 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. White bass led the card at good. High of 63 F, wind to 11 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. White bass led the card at good. High of 66 F, wind to 15 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. White bass led the card at good. High of 75 F, wind to 10 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 required. CDFW white bass rule (T14 CCR 5.90): open all year, no limit; no live white bass may be possessed or transported; at Lake Nacimiento any white bass caught must be released immediately or killed by removing the head or cutting through the gills. OEHHA has a fish consumption advisory for Lake Nacimiento. See the current CDFW freshwater regulations for bass and other species.

Access

Recreation is part of the reservoir's managed purposes; check the Monterey County Water Resources Agency reservoir data for current elevation before launching.

About this water

A Monterey County Water Resources Agency reservoir on the Nacimiento River in northern San Luis Obispo County, California: dam completed 1957, 18 miles long and about 165 miles of shoreline at full pool. Below-dam flow: USGS gauge 11149400, Nacimiento River below Nacimiento Dam.

Fishing Lake Nacimiento: the full guide

The reservoir

Nacimiento Dam, an earthfill dam completed in 1957, is owned and operated by the Monterey County Water Resources Agency together with San Antonio Dam, and both reservoirs are managed for flood protection, water conservation and recreation. At full pool (elevation 800 feet) Nacimiento Reservoir stores 377,900 acre-feet, runs 18 miles long and has about 165 miles of shoreline, according to the agency. It lies in northern San Luis Obispo County, about 20 miles from the coast.

White bass

California Department of Fish and Wildlife planted white bass in Lake Nacimiento in 1965, as the Legislature recorded in a 2017 bill on the Interlake Tunnel to Lake San Antonio. Statewide, no live white bass may be possessed or transported, and any white bass caught must be killed at once; Lake Nacimiento is the one exception, where a white bass may instead be released immediately back into the water. There is no limit on white bass.

Water level

The agency holds and releases water through the year for flood control and Salinas Valley water supply, so the shoreline and launch conditions change with storage. Check the agency's reservoir data before a trip.

Common questions

Can I take white bass home alive?

No. California prohibits possessing or transporting live white bass. At Lake Nacimiento you must either release a white bass immediately or kill it on the spot by removing the head or cutting the gills.

When were white bass introduced?

The Department of Fish and Wildlife planted them in Lake Nacimiento in 1965.

How big is the reservoir?

At full pool, 18 miles long with about 165 miles of shoreline and 377,900 acre-feet of storage, according to the Monterey County Water Resources Agency.

Is fishing good at Lake Nacimiento right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.

Nearby waters

Monterey Bay80 miSan Luis Reservoir90 miMillerton Lake109 miPine Flat Lake113 miLake Kaweah115 miLake Casitas130 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 11149400 β€” Nacimiento River below Nacimiento Dam
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 35.7700, -120.8800 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.