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California fishing
News-desk briefs whose primary water is California. The homepage feed mixes all states; pick one in the dropdown to stay on Latest.
Allen Bushnell’s Sept. 11 Santa Cruz report says tanker white seabass are thick on live bait from the Westside to Moss Landing, with rockfish, lingcod, and sandy-flat halibut still producing.
Fish Emeryville’s Friday AM update tallied 29 Chinook, 160 rockfish, and 32 lingcod across four boats on Sept. 10, with Scallywag and Here We Go near salmon limits.
Capt. Brian Woolley’s Sept. 11 Dana Point Times week recap says yellowtail rebounded on hard bottom and mud, water cooled into the low-to-mid 70s for calicos, and jumbo bonito to 10 pounds ripped the boats — with random yellowfin and dorado mixed offshore.
A Sierra Wave Sept. 8 Convict Lake brief says the resort dropped 600 pounds of trophy rainbows (about 4.5 lb average) the same weekend as a State plant — south shore fish to 5 pounds, with Ambush at the Lake running through mid-November.
Tackle Express’s Sept. 6 Castaic report, via guide Jim Taibi, says cooler nights flipped the lake into an almost all-surface pattern — largemouth on shad in the coves, stripers hitting topwater in as little as three feet.
Toronado Sportfishing’s Sept. 10 return from a 1.5-day trip out of Pierpoint Landing logged three bluefin to 150 pounds plus yellowtail, bonito, and a rockfish/whitefish bag.
Guide Scott Caldwell’s Sept. 7 Shasta report says 2- to 4-pound rainbows — and some browns — are still on baby shad at 80–110 feet, with trolled plugs and spoons the ticket.
Lovely Martha, California Dawn, Hog Heaven, and Fish Emeryville all reported strong Chinook days on Sept. 10 as California’s fall ocean salmon window stays hot.
Don Moir’s Sept. 1 Ukiah Daily Journal 4Reel column says early buzzbaits and frogs are producing on Clear Lake, Lake Mendocino, Lake Sonoma, and Lake Pillsbury as midweek pressure eases.
Kenny Priest’s Sept. 3 North Coast report says fall kings are leaving the estuary and staging upriver after cool Lewiston Dam releases, rain, and a BOR flow bump — Trinity quotas also opened Sept. 1.
Fish Emeryville’s Sept. 9 scores show multiple salmon boats near limits, with New Huck Finn to 30-pound kings, while Oakland Anglers II mixed rockfish, sanddab, and lingcod.
The Log’s Sept. 10 South Coast report from Dana Wharf Sportfishing says quality yellowtail continue close to home while ¾-day boats mix skipjack and yellowfin offshore.
ESA, with ICF and DWR, published a five-year acoustic-tracking study of nearly 600 striped bass at Clifton Court Forebay — five movement types meant to sharpen predator management for listed salmonids.
Bass Angler Magazine’s Sept. 8 Delta playbook says late-summer largemouth are still keyed on punching matted vegetation on moving tides, with topwater and finesse filling low-light and slack windows.
Orange County Parks’ 2026 schedule lists Laguna Niguel, Mile Square, and Tri-City regional parks for channel catfish stocking the week of Sept. 7–11 — a California fishing license is required for anglers 16 and up at those waters.
On Sept. 8 the Hoopa Valley Tribe and CDFW dedicated a single jointly run selective-harvest weir near Tish Tang Campground, folding Willow Creek monitoring and tribal harvest into one Lower Trinity site ahead of the fall run.
CDFW’s Sacramento Fishing in the City program is still planting channel catfish through September at seven metro ponds, with a youth Learn to Fish clinic at Hagan Community Park on Sept. 12.
With heat still hanging over the Valley, CDFW and partners are tracking shallow winter-run redds below Shasta and warning that about one in five eggs could be lost if river temperatures climb — just as a strong fall Chinook return gears up.
Western Outdoor News reports party and private boats from Bodega to Half Moon Bay found limits to near-limits of hard-fighting Chinook after the Sept. 1 fall opener — shared 20,000-fish fall guideline still in play.
CDFW reopened recreational razor clamming in Del Norte County after August samples fell below the federal action level — Humboldt County stays closed, and the first 20 clams dug still count.
CDFW shut the popular spit fishery at the mouth of the Klamath on Sept. 2 after anglers reached the area’s share of the basin recreational fall Chinook allocation — the rest of the river stays open until its own quotas fill.
CDFW says inland Chinook fishing is back on key California rivers after three closed years, with quotas and bag limits meant to keep the rebound going.