Water temperature has cooled a bit and is in the mid to upper 70s.  Fair! The fish are a little harder to find, but when you do find them they are chunky 2-4 pound fish. Trolling anglers are catching a few limits in the main lake and in the mouths of major creek arms. We have had reports of fish being caught from 30-90 feet of water. On cooler night the fish are moving toward the surface, and on hotter days they got deep to the comfort of cool water. Pay close attention to your fish finder, the fish are following bait and moving locations constantly. The lure of choice has been a shad pattered Excel. Try tying two lures in tandem to draw more strikes. Bank fishing has been slow. There is a good bite on the Stanislaus River. Kokanee: Slow. There are still some fish being caught. We have had reports of some larger fish holding tight to the bottom.  Try to fish as close to the bottom as you can without loosing your gear. Or, some brave anglers will bounce/drag their ball. This is a very effective way to trigger fish. Try using a bladed hootchie behind a sling blade or dodger.  Another great setup is a double Sockeye Slammer rig. The two baits swinging back and fourth behind a large sling blade will coax those finicky fish into biting. Most of the fish are schooling in 40-60' of water and traveling upriver. 

Bass: Good. Spotted bass are ambushing balls of shad on main lake points and in main lake pockets.  Try using top water baits, like Gunfish and poppers in the morning. Then as the sun comes up, switch to jerkbaits and flukes. Largemouth bass are in shallow water in the morning and move to 25-45 feet later in the day. In the a.m. hours try using a Super Spook in areas that have wood and rock. Once the sun starts beating down use a 3/8oz. or 1/2oz. football head jig with a matching Yamamoto twin-tail grub. Brown/brown, brown/purple, and green pumpkin are all good choices. While fishing down the bank keep an eye on your graph. If you see fish below you try dropping a 4" Roboworm on a drop-shot rig. Or, use a 1/2oz. spoon to draw a reaction strike.

Catfish:  Good.  use live minnows, frozen shad, mackerel, or anchovies for best success.  Move/drag your bait slowly across the bottom to cover more water and target fish that are aggressively feeding. Use heavy weights to stir up the bottom and cause more commotion. This will attract fish from far away. Larger cats will also feed on natural bait like crawlers, so to target large cats try using a big ball of crawlers- many anglers use a weightless set-up.  Generally cats will feed in shallow flats or areas with large chunk rock near deep water.

 Crappie: Good. Anglers that are night fishing, using submersible lights in the backs of coves are catching some nice crappie. The fish are in 15'-30' of water near standing timber and brush. Live minnows are working well. Also, try using red/white mini jigs under a slip-float rig.   Glory Hole Sports  (209) 736-4333, (209) 586-2383