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Millerton Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Sep 4, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Fresno’s front-yard reservoir: Millerton’s granite banks trade spotted bass all year and shad boils all summer.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
383 cfs
Air / High
79 / 82 F
Wind
W 9 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 11251000, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
4
September 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.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Millerton Lake stays in its summer rhythm: early magic, midday siesta, evening reprieve. The river is running 383 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind W around 9 mph, rising pressure near 1012 hPa and a high of 82. Water sits around 84 F for the season (estimated). With the last quarter, the solunar majors run 5:39 AM-7:39 AM and 5:39 PM-7:39 PM: plan around them and beat the heat.

The plan, species by species

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Anchor on 20-30 ft baited holes with punch bait or cut shad. They keep biting through the heat when everything else quits.

Largemouth bassFair

Topwater at first light on points and seawalls, then slide out to 12-25 ft brush and points with a Carolina rig, deep crank or drop shot. The bite is dawn, dusk or deep.

White bassFair

Early schooling action over humps; slabs and small spinners under the birds.

CrappieSlow

Straight down on bridge pilings and deep brush at 15-25 ft. Minnows outfish jigs in hot water; move until the graph shows them stacked.

Tomorrow: Warmer at 88 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Sep 5, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Water and weather

Live readings from San Joaquin River below Friant.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 11251000.

384393401383 cfs08/0508/1508/2509/04

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp79 F
High / Low82 / 61 F
WindW 9-9 mph
Pressure1012.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset06:32 / 19:22
MoonLast Quarter, 50%
Water temp (seasonal)~84 F est.

Bite planner

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

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Next 7 days

Tap a day for the detailed outlook.

Fri Sep 4 · Partly cloudy, 82/61 F, wind 10 mph, rain 0%

Fair or better. A 10 mph breeze puts a working chop on the banks it hits: fish the wind-blown side.

Species guide

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

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: spring and fall

The headline act on most American reservoirs. Relates to cover: docks, brush, grass edges and points. Topwater at first light on points and seawalls, then slide out to 12-25 ft brush and points with a Carolina rig, deep crank or drop shot. The bite is dawn, dusk or deep.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: Nov-Mar

Brush piles, bridge pilings and standing timber. The fish fry favorite. Straight down on bridge pilings and deep brush at 15-25 ft. Minnows outfish jigs in hot water; move until the graph shows them stacked.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Good year-round

The most reliable bite on most southern waters. Blues run big; channels fill the cooler. Anchor on 20-30 ft baited holes with punch bait or cut shad. They keep biting through the heat when everything else quits.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: Mar-May run

River-run spawners and open-water schoolers. Fast limits when you find them. Early schooling action over humps; slabs and small spinners under the birds.

When to come: the Millerton Lake 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)
White bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 84 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovSep, ~84 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 Millerton Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Sep 3

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Catfish (blue, channel) led the card at excellent. High of 84 F, wind to 9 mph.

Wed, Sep 2

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Catfish (blue, channel) led the card at excellent. High of 83 F, wind to 10 mph.

Tue, Sep 1

3/5 Fair. Fish early or late. Heat pins the bite to the dawn and dusk windows. Catfish (blue, channel) led the card at good. High of 81 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used to send you this water's report each week. No spam, ever.

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 license. Standard bass limits: check CDFW. State park day-use fees; boat inspections for mussels in effect.

Access

Friant-side and Winchell Cove ramps in Millerton Lake SRA; bank access along the south shore day-use areas.

About this water

A 4,900-acre reservoir on the San Joaquin River at Friant, Madera/Fresno counties, California, held by Friant Dam since 1942.

Fishing Millerton Lake: the full guide

The San Joaquin’s first stop

Millerton pools the San Joaquin River where it leaves the Sierra foothills north of Fresno: 4,900 acres of clear water over granite, with Friant Dam’s releases feeding the river below. It is a bass lake first: spotted bass colonized the rock and now dominate, with largemouth in the coves and enough shad to keep everything fed. American shad even run into the upper lake in late spring, and the winter months bring a quiet striper bite for those who look.

Spotted bass on granite

The spots school on the main-lake points and bluff walls: work drop-shots, Ned rigs and small swimbaits from 10 to 40 feet by season, following the shad on your graph. Summer mornings bring boils in the big coves off Winchell Bay: keep a walking bait tied. Largemouth prefer the flatter Fine Gold Creek and Temperance Flat ends: flip the flooded brush when the lake is up. Fall turns the whole lake into a chase-the-bait game.

Beyond the bass

Stripers (river-descended) roam in modest numbers: winter trolling near the dam finds them. Crappie stack the few brushy pockets in wet springs. Below the dam, the San Joaquin’s restoration flows have rebuilt a modest trout reach open seasonally: a separate trip worth checking rules for. Summer weekends hand the lake to skiers: fish first light or midweek.

State-park simple

Millerton Lake State Recreation Area wraps the lake: ramps on both shores (Friant side and Winchell Cove), campgrounds, and the historic Millerton courthouse above the north shore. Afternoon wind is reliable: mornings are glass. Fresno sits 25 minutes south: this is the valley’s after-work bass lake, and it fishes like it: pressured but productive.

Common questions

Spots or largemouth: which should I target?

Spots rule the rock and bite year-round: numbers with the occasional four-pounder. Largemouth are the cove specialists: fewer, bigger, cover-oriented.

When are the shad boils?

June through September, early mornings in the main-lake coves: find birds, cast anything that walks or spooks.

Is bank fishing viable?

Yes on the south-shore points at dawn: granite drops fast into fishable depth. Weekday mornings before the heat are the window.

Is fishing good at Millerton Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Shaver Lake23 miPine Flat Lake23 miLake McClure51 miLake Kaweah57 miDon Pedro Reservoir62 miNew Melones Lake80 mi
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