TROUT: The trout bite throughout the Eastern Sierra region remains excellent and access to more high elevation waters have opened up this past week. Top picks in a region filled with good fishing would be Crowley Lake, Bridgeport Reservoir, the entire June Lake loop, and the Twin Lakes at Bridgeport. The entire Bishop Creek drainage is also a very good bet, especially South Lake with a plant of huge Alperís fish. In urban Southern California plants have ended most places and the bites have gone in the tank quickly. Top bet is Jess Ranch in Hesperia (which is continuing to get weekly plants). In the local mountains, Big Bear Lake remains very good along the north shore and in most bays, and Jenks Lake and Gregory are getting DFG fish now. Lake Hemet and Lake Cuyamaca have also been excellent, mostly on pan-sized fish.
BLACK BASS: The bass action remains good most places with the fish still in the shallows, but the spawn is over most places. The bite is hot on plastics, reaction baits, and swim baits. Good surface action is also starting most places. Top bets include Perris, Diamond Valley, Skinner, Casitas (the shad were up for the third week in a row), and the whole lower Colorado River. Cachuma and Santa Margarita, and even the higher elevation waters like Piru, Pyramid, and Silverwood are also good.
STRIPED BASS: The wiper bite at Lake Elsinore took off this week with fish to 12 1/2-pounds reported. The fish are up on top early busting shad. With the California aqueduct near Taft slowing to just fair this past week, the top bet for a quality fish is Lake Silverwood and the best bet for volume catches of two to five-pound fish is either Diamond Valley or Skinner. Elsewhere, the striper bites all are very spotty right now. On the Colorado River, the Willow Beach bite cooled a little but should come back on during the new moon. Mojave and Havasu are both starting to turn on as the fish start to move around and move upriver for spawning.
PANFISH: Henshawís crappie bite is the easy top pick, but the crappie bites at Piru and Elsinore are both worth noting. The Isabella bite is no ìcrappie maniaî but thereís a fair bite in deeper water on minnows. Crappie bites at Sutherland, Otay, and Hodges are worth watching with fish to nearly three pounds. Casitas has been just fair, but some pigs to three pounds have been caught on live shad. Silverwood remained just fair with some bluegill joining the crappie. The Salton Sea tilapia bite has been excellent with the full ice-chest mode the rule much of the past week. The bluegill and redear bites really exploded in a lot of places this past week. Top bets for nice stringers are Lake Perris, Lake Skinner, Diamond Valley Lake, Otay, and Hodges. The bite on the all four of the Central Coast lakes ñ Lopez, Santa Margarita, Nacimiento, and San Antonio ñ are good, in about that order.
CATFISH: While fishing pressure is light, the flathead catfish bite on the Colorado River seems to be getting better by the day. More and more 12 to 30-pound fishing are being landed each week in the lower river from Havasu south. This weekendís new moon should really kick this bite off. The channel cats are also on a pretty good bite. Outside of the river, Santa Ana River Lake, Corona Lake, and Hesperia Lake are the top bets for planted fish (all three are planting weekly), and Elsinore is turning on for wild fish.