Lake Oroville water level dropping fast
Not surprisingly, the rapidly dropping water levels are making things difficult for anglers on Lake Oroville, reported Fil Torres at Oroville Outdoors. "The falling water is a big deal, it's going down as much as two feet per day", observed Torres. "Start by fishing down at 30 feet, and keep going deeper until you find fish. The mouths of the arms in the main lake have been the best areas. Once the water level drops below the thermocline, it will be like fall turnover and fishing should be very good again.

"Right now anglers should drag tubes, jigs and dropshot-rigged plastics for mostly slot-size fish, although a five-pound spotted bass was caught over the weekend. The extremely tough conditions mean that releasing five or ten fish per day is about all you can expect.

"Not many anglers have been fishing at night, but the bass should be up close to the shoreline during the dark hours. Catfishing should also be good for night-time anglers. We have not heard of any cohos being caught lately."

Torres tipped, "We did hear of some nice largemouth being caught in the Thermalito Afterbay on crankbaits, but watch out for rattlesnakes down near the water due to the hot weather."