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New Melones Lake Fishing Report

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

The Mother Lode’s deep blue vault: New Melones stacks bass on submerged mine country and kokanee over 300-foot water.

4/5
Good. Solid day ahead.Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up.
Water temp
~62 F est.
Air / High
58 / 67 F
Wind
N 5 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.

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

New Melones Lake feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. Today brings cloud cover, wind N around 5 mph, falling pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 67. Water sits around 62 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:42 AM-11:42 AM and 10:10 PM-12:10 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Largemouth bassExcellent

In spring, pre-spawn bass push shallow as the water climbs through the mid-50s; in fall they feed actively until the water cools into the low 50s, then drop back toward deeper structure.

Smallmouth bassExcellent

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Rainbow troutExcellent

This band overlaps Vermont's 54-66°F stream preference: fish feed across riffles, runs and pocket water, and in lakes WDFW says spring and fall bring them near the surface.

CrappieGood

Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Tomorrow: Similar at 70 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

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 →

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.

4050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~62 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp58 F
High / Low67 / 52 F
WindN 5-7 mph
Pressure1017.0 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain91% cloud, 22%
Sunrise / Sunset07:18 / 18:13
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~62 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 New Melones Lake this week

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

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Good

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

Solunar majors
9:42 AM-11:42 AM and 10:10 PM-12:10 AM
Minor period
4:06 AM-5:06 AM
Sun
07:18 to 18:13
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 11 mph
Rain chance
22%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on New Melones Lake: 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. In spring, pre-spawn bass push shallow as the water climbs through the mid-50s; in fall they feed actively until the water cools into the low 50s, then drop back toward deeper structure.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

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. This band overlaps Vermont's 54-66°F stream preference: fish feed across riffles, runs and pocket water, and in lakes WDFW says spring and fall bring them near the surface.

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. Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

When to come: the New Melones 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
Smallmouth bass
Rainbow trout
Crappie
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 62 F (estimated, not a reading).

4050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~62 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 New Melones Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 65 F, wind to 8 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 70 F, wind to 8 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 75 F, wind to 9 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 license. Standard black bass limits, kokanee counted within trout limits: check current CDFW rules.

Access

Glory Hole and Tuttletown ramps (Bureau of Reclamation recreation areas), New Melones Marina rentals.

About this water

A 12,500-acre Reclamation reservoir on the Stanislaus River, Calaveras and Tuolumne counties, California, in Gold Rush country.

Fishing New Melones Lake: the full guide

Gold-country reservoir

New Melones floods the Stanislaus River canyon with 12,500 acres of clear Sierra-foothill water: one of California’s largest and, quietly, one of its best all-around fisheries. The flooded oaks, mine tailings and river channel of the old canyon hold largemouth and spotted bass in numbers, the cold depths carry a serious kokanee program plus holdover rainbows and browns, and the crappie schools around the submerged timber produce the slabs that fill Angels Camp freezer bags each spring.

Bass on the drop

Spring pushes bass shallow onto the flats and flooded brush of the Carson and Angels arms: jigs, spinnerbaits and wacky rigs do standard work. The rest of the year is a graph game: spots and largemouth suspend off the steep main-lake points and follow shad balls: drop-shot and spoon them at 25-60 feet. Night fishing in summer around the marinas and rocky banks beats the heat and the wakeboats. Ten-pound largemouth show every season.

Kokanee and the cold story

Kokanee troll the thermocline from April (25-40 feet) into August (60-plus): dodgers with pink hoochies at 1.2 mph, and the fish run bigger than most California lakes in good cycles. Rainbows and browns hang the river arms in winter: trolled minnow plugs near the surface when the water cools. The reservoir yo-yos dramatically between wet and dry years: the shoreline moves, the fish just follow the channel.

Two-county logistics

Glory Hole (Angels Camp side) and Tuttletown recreation areas hold the main ramps, campgrounds and the marina: low-water ramps extend at both. Houseboating is big: anglers do well renting slips midweek. Summer heat tops 100: fish dawn, dusk and dark. Angels Camp, Sonora and Columbia State Historic Park frame the trip in Gold Rush scenery.

Common questions

What makes New Melones special for bass?

Depth plus cover: flooded timber and mine-era structure over a clear, food-rich lake grows both numbers and true trophies, with far less pressure than the Delta or Clear Lake.

When is kokanee season?

April through August, deepening with the thermocline: mid-summer fish are the fattest. Cycles vary: check recent reports for size expectations.

How does the water level affect fishing?

Swings of 100-plus feet between years relocate the banks, not the fish: follow the old river channel and the bite stays consistent.

Is fishing good at New Melones Lake 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

Don Pedro Reservoir18 miNew Hogan Lake21 miMokelumne River27 miLake McClure29 miLake Camanche31 miLake Amador37 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 37.9500, -120.5250 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.
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 guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be 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.