The Weekly Fishing Report
Wednesday, August 19 – Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Central Valley · Sierra · Eastern Sierra · Delta · Coast | Issue 26-33
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ROCKFISH AND LINGCOD STILL WIDE OPEN, 330 ON ONE BERKELEY BOAT • SALMON: 13 DAYS LEFT, ONLY 2 OF 10 TRIPS AT LIMITS • BLUEFIN COOLED IN THE COUNTS, THREE BOATS MONDAY, NONE POSTED TUESDAY • PINE FLAT 20.2%, DOWN 10.2 FT IN EIGHT DAYS • LOWER KINGS RELEASE BACK UP TO 2,174 CFS • FALL STRIPER RUN FLOODING THE DELTA
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The bottom is still the best thing going. Monday and Tuesday the boats out of Berkeley, Emeryville, Half Moon Bay and Monterey came in with 330, 260, 230, 210, 150 and 130 rockfish, limits on every one of those trips, and the lingcod are riding along with them: 56, 42 and 12 on three of those same runs. If you want a full sack and a short argument about it, that is your week.
The salmon kept sliding. Across the ten salmon trips posted Monday and Tuesday, two came in at limits, Bodega’s Dragonfly and Emeryville’s Scallywag, both six-rod loads. Everything else ran between half a fish and one and a third per rod. And the clock is short: San Francisco and Monterey are the only two areas still open, and both close August 31, thirteen days from this morning.
Two things changed inland. The fall striped bass run is on in the Delta, the first guide reports we have had out of Central California in a month, and they are good ones. And on the water side, Pine Flat has now dropped 10.2 feet in eight days while the lower Kings release went back up. That reverses three straight weeks of cuts. Details below.
Two sections in this issue are here because you asked for them. The Eastern Sierra coverage, June Lake Loop up through Bridgeport, and the Southern California dock totals covering San Pedro, Long Beach, Newport, Dana Point and San Diego, along with the Catalina block, both went in after readers wrote in and requested them. Keep it coming: there is a button near the bottom of this issue for telling us what water we are still missing.
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◉ This Week’s Best Bets
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● No. 1, Ocean
Rockfish and Lingcod, Still Limits
California Dawn II 330 rockfish on 33 rods Monday. New California Dawn 260 rockfish and 56 lingcod on 26. New Huck Finn 210 and 42 ling Tuesday. Queen of Hearts 230 on 23. Every one of those is ten a rod. This is the most dependable fishery on the coast right now.
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● No. 2, Delta
The Fall Striper Run Has Started
Alan Fong is taking linesides to 13 pounds on topwater in the shallows at Liberty Island and moving west toward Sherman Lake. Water temperature has dropped about eight degrees. Frank’s Tract, the Shoals and Prisoner’s Point are all holding fish. First real Delta report we have had in a month.
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● No. 3, Central Sierra
Kokanee at Shaver and New Melones
Dick Nichols took nearly four limits of kokanee on one Shaver trip, running pink at 80 to 90 feet. Kyle Wise is finding limits of up to 20 kokanee by 10 a.m. at New Melones over island tops at 90 feet. Fish are in full spawn colors. Pressure is heavy at Shaver ahead of the Sept 7 derby.
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● No. 4, Moon & Tide
Wait for the Back Half
First quarter lands Thursday morning, the flattest tides of the month. Today’s range at the Gate is 2.7 feet. It builds every day after that to a 6.0-foot high Tuesday night and the first minus tides since Aug 14. Full moon is Thursday the 27th. Front half: skip it or fish the bottom. Back half: plan around it.
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⚠ Water Watch
Pine Flat: 10.2 feet in eight days. From 770.68 ft and 229,111 acre-feet on August 10 to 760.47 ft and 202,375 acre-feet at midnight Tuesday, 26,736 acre-feet gone. The lake is now 20.2% of gross pool, and it is still coming off at roughly 2,400 acre-feet a day. Every ramp, every rockpile and every waypoint you set in July is wrong.
And the lower Kings went back up. After three straight weeks of cuts, 4,226, then 3,071, then 2,003 cfs, the Pine Flat release is back to 2,174 cfs. We told you last week that one more cut would change the conversation. It did not come. Still bank or boat below the dam, still not a wading flow, and do not take last week’s trend line as a promise.
Above the dam it is thinning too. Kings natural flow into Pine Flat is down to 422 cfs from 587 a week ago, and the Kern at Kernville has slipped to 207.6 cfs from 223.7, the first drop there in three weeks. Kernville is still the most comfortable wading water on our list. It is just no longer rising.
Two small pieces of good news. Hensley’s change columns, which were physically impossible last week, are back to sane values this cycle, storage off 3 acre-feet on 3 cfs of inflow. And Nacimiento and Lopez both refreshed to today after weeks of stale readings. Nacimiento is holding 285,131 acre-feet at 109% of normal for the date; Lopez 48,679 at 129%.
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◉ Lakes & Reservoirs
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Reservoir Levels
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District, data ending midnight Aug 18, report generated this morning at 07:00, except rows date-stamped as of Aug 17. Percent full is against gross pool.
| Water |
Elev (ft) |
Storage (AF) |
% Full |
Trend |
| Pine Flat | 760.47 | 202,375 | 20.2% | ↓ 2,439 AF/day |
| Millerton (Friant) | | 254,611 | 48.9% | As of Aug 17 |
| Kaweah (Terminus) | 606.90 | 24,655 | 13.3% | ↓ 242 AF/day |
| Success (Schafer)† | 608.41 | 18,133 | 22.0% | ↓ 144 AF/day |
| Isabella | 2,563.90 | 191,623 | 33.7% | ↓ 1,422 AF/day |
| Eastman (Buchanan) | 466.88 | 10,581 | 7.1% | Outflow 0, flat |
| Hensley (Hidden) | 454.04 | 6,875 | 7.6% | ↓ 3 AF/day, flat |
| New Hogan | 673.09 | 172,319 | | ↓ 395 AF/day |
| New Melones | | 1,579,217 | 65.8% | As of Aug 17 |
| Don Pedro§ | 798.50 | 1,652,315 | 81.4%§ | ↓ 3,322 AF/day, as of Aug 17 |
| McClure (New Exchequer)§ | 803.45 | 643,242 | 62.8%§ | ↓ 2,882 AF/day, as of Aug 17 |
| Shaver | | 89,506 | 66.2% | As of Aug 17 |
| Bass Lake (Crane Valley) | | 38,304 | 84.4% | As of Aug 17 |
| Huntington · Florence · Edison · Redinger · Mammoth Pool | Huntington 87,510 AF · Florence 26,090 · Edison 60,449 · Redinger 24,409 · Mammoth Pool 80,235. All as of Aug 17. No gross-pool figures published for these, so no percentages. |
§ Don Pedro and McClure percentages are calculated against the commonly cited gross pools of 2,030,000 AF and 1,024,600 AF. Those capacities are not printed on the Corps sheet, the elevation and storage are. Treat the percentage as our arithmetic, not theirs.
† Success capacity shown as 82,300 AF gross pool. A dam raise may have added roughly 28,000 AF, verify with the Corps before quoting the percentage.
A note on conflicting numbers. A widely read regional fishing column this week lists Pine Flat at 842.42 ft and 47% of capacity, Eastman at 537.48 ft and 50%, and Hensley at 490.32 ft and 32%. Those elevations and percentages do not reconcile with the Corps daily sheet, which is what we print here and which is internally consistent week to week. Don Pedro is the one where the two agree closely (798.50 ft here, 800.49 ft there). We are not going to guess which basis the other column uses, we are telling you the two exist and that ours comes straight off the USACE report.
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Central Coast, Reported as % of Normal
Different metric. These are percent of the historical average for the date, NOT percent of capacity. 148% does not mean over-full.
| Water | Storage (AF) | % of Normal | As of |
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| Nacimiento | 285,131 | 109% | Aug 19 |
| Lopez Lake | 48,679 | 129% | Aug 19 |
| Lake San Antonio* | 270,863 | 148% | Jul 26* |
| Santa Margarita | Still no current figure, the feed shows the station but returns no storage or elevation. Check with San Luis Obispo County Parks before you tow a boat. |
Nacimiento and Lopez both refreshed to today after weeks of stale readings, a real improvement over last week’s issue, where Nacimiento’s last posted storage was ten weeks old. For scale: Nacimiento’s gross capacity is about 377,900 AF, so 285,131 works out to roughly 75% of capacity, that is our arithmetic, not the source’s.
* San Antonio has not updated since July 26. Directional only.
One gage oddity: the USGS reading for the Nacimiento River below the dam came back 400 cfs on one page of the source and 292 cfs on a sister page read the same morning. We are printing the range rather than picking one.
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Bite Report
Good news: after three weeks of blank sheets, the Central California regional column filed again, with named guides, quotes and numbers. Everything below attributed to a person came from that report or from a landing’s own post. Everything in the Conditions column is measured water off the Corps sheet.
| Water | Conditions (measured) | Pattern to Work |
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| Kings & Tulare Basin |
| Pine Flat |
20.2% full, off 10.2 ft in eight days. Releasing 2,174 cfs against 968 cfs inflow. |
Michael Crayne reports the best bass action is in the river arm above Sycamore on shaky-head, Texas-rig and jigs, finesse on the bottom. Trout at 40 to 50 feet on Needlefish or Kastmasters behind a big dodger; kings around 100 feet. The shad are thick and everything is chasing them. Fresno Bass Club is back Aug 29–30. |
| Kaweah |
13.3% full, off 242 AF/day. Three Rivers 47.3 cfs. |
A puddle by August standards. What structure is left is holding everything. Verify ramp access by phone before you tow. |
| Success |
22.0% full, off 144 AF/day. Both Tule gages back “-NR-” again this cycle. |
Low and warm. Early and late windows only, catfish after dark. Golden Empire fishes it Sep 19. |
| Isabella |
33.7% full, off 1,422 AF/day. Kern at Kernville down to 207.6 cfs. |
Still the biggest steady drawdown on the list. The river above it is the better bet, 207 cfs is comfortable wading water, though it has stopped climbing. American Bass has the lake Sep 19. |
| San Joaquin & Madera |
| Millerton |
48.9% of gross pool, 254,611 AF, as of Aug 17. Friant-Kern Canal 1,449 cfs, Madera Canal 559, San Joaquin below Friant 355. |
Crayne’s verdict is blunt: the bass are small, a pound at best, holding on deep shad. Catfishing from the bank is the better play. Sycamore Island open 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. BASS 101 fishes it Oct 4. |
| Eastman |
7.1% of gross pool, outflow held at 0 cfs, essentially flat. |
The sleeper on this page. Michael Crayne reports numbers days of 80 to 100 largemouth, but the ratio of small fish to a three-pounder is about 15 to 1. Topwater, big worms on a Texas-rig, creature baits, jigs. Anything dragging bottom. Go for the bend, not the weight. |
| Hensley |
7.6% of gross pool, off 3 AF/day. Fresno River above: 0.0 cfs. Change columns sane again this week. |
Bass are on the rockpiles and they are small. Catfish and carp are the solid bet. Thin water, concentrated fish, no inflow. Boat access is the question, call first. |
| Bass Lake |
84.4%, still the fullest water on this page, but that figure is two days old. |
Mike Beighey: fat trout to 5 pounds stacked in the dam area at 20 to 35 feet, nine hookups for thirteen on a recent trip with orange Dick’s Trout Busters. Hot one day, slow the next. Bass fishermen work first light. Kerman Bass Club Oct 10. |
| Foothill & High Country |
| New Melones |
65.8% full, 1,579,217 AF, as of Aug 17. Stanislaus natural flow 475 cfs. |
Kokanee water. Kyle Wise is taking early limits of up to 20 fish by 10 a.m. over island tops at 90 feet, mixed grade with some to 18 inches and in full spawn. Night trips producing catfish on beef liver and rainbows to 4 pounds under lights, the lake is loaded with threadfin. Bass are suspended deep; drag plastics slowly on the bottom. |
| Don Pedro |
81.4% of gross pool at 798.50 ft, as of Aug 17. Tuolumne natural flow 220 cfs. |
River Bank Bass Anglers fish it this Saturday, Aug 22. Monte Smith reports good kokanee at 100 to 120 feet on big Apex lures behind a 5½-inch dodger, fish coloring up. Rainbows to 4 pounds above them and a few large kings at kokanee depth. Bass suspended deep; limited early topwater. |
| McClure & McSwain |
McClure 62.8% of gross pool at 803.45 ft, as of Aug 17. Flow below McSwain 1,485 cfs. |
McSwain got about 2,000 pounds of CDFW catchable rainbows on Aug 16 and the bank bite improved within days, Power Bait, nightcrawlers or Kastmasters off the brush pile, the handicapped docks or the peninsula. Trollers working the river arm. McClure itself is slow; bass suspended deep over humps. |
| Shaver & Huntington |
Shaver 66.2% of gross pool, 89,506 AF, as of Aug 17. Huntington 87,510 AF. |
Dick Nichols: kokanee limits plus trout limits on one trip, nearly four limits of kokanee on the next, running pink Mountain Tubes, Koke Busters or Mountain Candy tipped with corn behind dodgers at 80 to 90 feet. Water has dropped 3 to 4 feet and pressure is heavy ahead of the Sept 7 derby. Huntington is loaded with small kokanee starting to color. |
| Wishon & Courtright |
No USACE reporting, PG&E projects. |
Both stocked last Thursday. Kelly Brewer at Wishon RV Park reports excellent trout fishing at both. Trollers on Rapalas, blade-and-crawler or spoons at three colors of lead core; bank anglers on Power Bait or inflated nightcrawlers. Note Courtright is being drained slowly into Wishon for dam and gate repairs. Ward Lake, up the same road system, got planted this week. |
| Edison, Florence & Mammoth Pool |
Edison 60,449 AF · Florence 26,090 · Mammoth Pool 80,235, all as of Aug 17. |
Edison remains the best of the Kaiser Pass lakes for both bank anglers and trollers. All three are releasing. Fire danger is extreme in the high country, check the High Sierra Ranger Station for road conditions. |
| Central Coast |
| Nacimiento |
285,131 AF, 109% of normal, current as of today. River below the dam 292–400 cfs. |
SLO County Bass Ambushers on the water Aug 29. White bass and the deep summer pattern. Local advocacy group notes 780 ft is the practical floor for good recreation and below 760 ft many ramps go unusable, worth asking about before you drive. |
| Lopez |
48,679 AF, 129% of normal, current as of today. Lopez Creek inflow 2 cfs. |
Good water year here and the number is fresh for once. Kern County Bassmasters Sep 19. |
| San Antonio |
148% of normal, but as of Jul 26. |
Biggest and healthiest water on the Central Coast list, on a three-week-old reading. SLO County Bass Ambushers Sep 19. |
| Santa Margarita |
No current level available. Again. |
Orange County Bass Club Sep 19–20. Quiet until then, and still unmeasured as far as we can tell. |
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◉ Eastern Sierra
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From Fresno it is roughly five hours over Tioga Pass to the June Lake Loop, six to Bridgeport. Thinner reporting over there this week than last, only one new filed report came through the regional feed, from Bridgeport. What is solid is the stocking list, and CDFW put fish in three Mono County waters this week.
June Lake Loop & Mono Basin
| Water | Latest | What’s Working |
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| Saddlebag & Tioga Lakes | Planted this week |
Both got CDFW rainbows the week of Aug 16–22. Highest drive-to water in the state at over 10,000 ft, cold all day when everything below is cooked. Right off Tioga Pass on the way over, which makes them the easiest add to a June Loop trip. |
| Grant Lake | No new report |
Largest and lowest of the Loop lakes, best trolled. Cutthroat and browns are the draw here rather than planters. No report filed inside this window; pattern, not fish count. |
| Silver & Gull Lakes | No new report |
Both stocked with trophy rainbows that go deep once the surface warms. Intermediate sinking lines, leech and scud patterns. Gull is the smallest of the four at about 60 acres with the easiest shoreline access. Nothing dated inside this window. |
| June Lake | No new report |
About 320 acres, one of the few natural lakes in the region, and the best trolling water on the Loop. Fish the inlet early. Nothing dated inside this window. |
| Rush Creek | |
Connects the whole Loop and drains to Mono Lake. A genuine trophy-brown fishery, and low, clear and technical in late August, small flies, long leaders, early light. |
Crowley, Owens & the Mammoth Side
| Water | Latest | What’s Working |
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| Upper Owens (above Crowley) | Planted this week |
CDFW planted Owens River Section 3 Upper the week of Aug 16–22. Meadow water, sight fishing, and the run-up fish out of Crowley. Fish early, it warms fast. |
| Owens River Section 2 | Planted this week |
Also planted Aug 16–22. Easy access, catchable trout, good water for kids and a sensible first stop coming over the hill. |
| Crowley Lake | No new report this week |
The standout water in the region, but nothing new filed in the feed we track since last week’s issue. Read the regs box below before you go, the August rules here catch valley anglers out every single year. |
Bridgeport & the Walkers
| Water | Latest | What’s Working |
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| Bridgeport Reservoir | Aug 17 |
The one Eastern Sierra report filed this week. Ken Hoffman’s BFEF program posted an update dated Monday, the tagged trophy trout program is running and the boats are working the channels up in the East Walker, Buckeye and Robinson arms. |
| Twin Lakes (Bridgeport) | No new report |
Last week’s pattern held: lead core or downriggers, because the fish are down. Trout and kokanee both. Nothing new filed since. |
| Virginia Lakes | No new report |
High, cold and reliable through mid-August. Big Virginia was posting good days a week ago. Nothing new filed since. |
| East & West Walker Rivers | No new flow reading |
The East Walker was running 151 cfs as of Aug 16, a fishable, wadeable tailwater flow, but we have no reading inside this window and are not going to reprint an old one as current. Call Ken’s Sporting Goods in Bridgeport before you commit. The West Walker was described as hit and miss last week. |
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⚠ Before You Drive Over, Different Rulebook
Special regulations are the norm over there, not the exception. Individual Eastern Sierra waters carry their own gear restrictions, size limits, reduced bag limits and seasonal closures. Several run barbless-only or catch-and-release stretches, and Crowley in particular fishes under tighter August rules than the statewide standard, restricted baits and a reduced limit with a size minimum. Look up the specific water in the current CDFW freshwater regulations before you launch. Do not assume the five-fish valley rulebook travels with you.
Getting there from the valley: Tioga Pass (Highway 120) is the direct route to the June Lake Loop and it is a seasonal road, open now, but check Caltrans before an early start. Figure roughly five hours from Fresno to June Lake, six to Bridgeport. Sonora Pass (108) and Monitor Pass (89) are the northern alternatives.
Altitude is real. Saddlebag and Tioga sit above 10,000 feet. If you drove up from 300 feet that morning, take it slow, drink more water than you think you need, and do not plan a hike-in on day one.
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◉ Delta, Rivers & Aqueduct
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The Delta, The Fall Run Is On
This is the section that changed most this week. Striped bass are flooding back into the Delta. Alan Fong has been taking linesides to 13 pounds on topwater in the shallows at Liberty Island and is moving west toward Sherman Lake. On the bass side he is flipping Brush Hogs in green pumpkin or watermelon red, and D-Bombs in Delta Red, on a one-ounce weight in one to two feet of water: “The current is ripping, and the northern largemouth bass are hunkering down on the shallows. They are transitioning to wood as the water temperature has dropped around 8 degrees.”
Johnny Wang at Turner’s in Stockton puts the stripers on the San Joaquin side at the Shoals, Frank’s Tract and Prisoner’s Point, with mostly undersized fish in downtown Stockton. South of the Mossdale Bridge, Omega Nguyen reports the river loaded with threadfin and the best window two hours before high tide into the peak, blood worms, pile worms or fresh shad, with the larger fish coming on shad. Randy Pringle’s read from running two tournaments last weekend: wind is your friend. Spinnerbaits and bladed jigs when it blows, prop baits worked with long pauses when it lays flat, and flip wood with big profiles on the high tide.
On the tide book, the front half of this window is a proper neap at Port Chicago, lows of 0.9, 0.8 and 0.6 ft, highs barely clearing 3.6. By Monday the lows are back to 0.1 ft and Wednesday the 26th brings a 4.9 ft high at 12:44 a.m. against a 0.0 ft low at 8:22 a.m. That is the swing worth planning around.
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Sturgeon news worth knowing. The Fish and Game Commission voted 3–2 at its August 15 meeting to allow catch-and-release only for white sturgeon, with the fishery expected to reopen within about three weeks. No harvest. The opening date is not set, it depends on the Office of Administrative Law. Do not put a card in your pocket on the strength of this paragraph; confirm with CDFW that the regulation is actually in effect before you fish.
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California Aqueduct, San Luis & O’Neill Forebay
San Luis and O’Neill are Reclamation and DWR facilities and appear on neither Corps sheet, so we still have no independently measured storage here. What we do have is people on the water. Josh Mesa reports the main lake kicking out limits of striped bass from the banks around Dinosaur Point on jumbo minnows, anchovies or blood worms, and the forebay slow because the grass is thick and limiting bank access. Roger George called the week tough for trollers between wind storms, seven fish to 23 inches on a guided trip, but then went scouting and landed a 44-inch, 30-pound striper on electric scales, his biggest of the year, released with a Seaqualizer. Water temperature 74 to 78 degrees.
In the aqueduct proper, Bill Sterling reports tough daytime action in the northern reaches and says it will be a month before temperatures cooperate, but plenty of largemouth in the local irrigation canals on crankbaits and plastic worms. Omega Nguyen adds a decent morning striper bite at Clifton Court Forebay on fresh shad. In the south aqueduct in Kern County, striper action has improved with cooler water, cut sardines, anchovies or jumbo minnows.
Rivers, Measured Flows
| River / Gage | Flow (cfs) | Read |
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| Kings, Pine Flat natural flow (above the lake) | 422.0 | Down from 587. The upper Kings is thinning out on schedule. Still healthy, no longer generous. |
| Kings, below North Fork nr Trimmer | 273.8 | Off slightly from 282.9. Good for the hike-in stretches. |
| Kings, Pine Flat release (lower Kings) | 2,174 | Back up from 2,003. Three weeks of cuts just reversed. Bank or boat below the dam, do not wade it. |
| Mill Creek nr Piedra | 0.0 | Dry. |
| Kaweah at Three Rivers | 47.3 | Down from 49.1 and low. Early morning only. |
| Kern at Kernville | 207.6 | Down from 223.7, first drop in three weeks. Still the best wading water on this list. |
| Fresno River above Hensley | 0.0 | Zero, again. |
| Stanislaus natural flow at New Melones | 475 | Real cold water moving into the lake, good news for the kokanee. As of Aug 17. |
| Tuolumne natural flow at Don Pedro | 220 | As of Aug 17, unchanged. |
| Goodwin release to river | 225 | Steady below Tulloch. As of Aug 17. |
| Merced below McSwain | 1,485 | As of Aug 17. The regional column has it at 1,633 at Merced Falls, different gage, different day. |
| San Joaquin below Friant | 355 | As of Aug 17. The regional column reports 442 cfs and calls it stable, we print the Corps number. |
| Bear Creek at McKee Road | 217.4 | Reporting again this cycle. |
| Tule (both gages) · Kaweah at McKay Point · Yokohl · Dry Creek nr Lemoncove · Cross Creek | | All “-NR-” again this cycle. Second week running with no Tule numbers at all. |
| East Walker at Bridgeport (Eastern Sierra) | | No reading inside this window. Last known was 151 cfs on Aug 16. Call Ken’s. |
USACE Sacramento District. Gages read at 0700 Aug 19 or as the Aug 18 daily value, except where date-stamped as of Aug 17.
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◉ Ocean Report & Charters
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Dock Totals, Boat by Boat
Monday Aug 17 and Tuesday Aug 18 for the northern ports. Central Coast and Southern California run Aug 17 and 18; San Diego is Aug 18. Fish-per-rod is calculated from reported angler counts, on multi-day trips it is per angler for the whole trip, not per day.
| Boat / Landing | Anglers | Score | Per Rod |
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| ★ R O C K F I S H & L I N G C O D ★ |
| California Dawn II, Berkeley, Mon 17 | 33 | 330 rockfish, biggest single score of the week | 10.0, limits |
| New California Dawn, Berkeley, Mon 17 | 26 | 260 rockfish, 56 lingcod, plus sanddabs | 10.0, limits |
| Queen of Hearts, HMB Sportfishing, Tue 18 | 23 | 230 rockfish, 1 lingcod, 1 halibut, 1 wolf eel | 10.0, limits |
| New Huck Finn, Fish Emeryville, Tue 18 | 21 | 210 rockfish, 42 lingcod | 10.0, limits |
| Kahuna, J&M, Monterey (1/2 day AM), Mon 17 | 15 | 150 rockfish | 10.0, limits |
| Bass-Tub, San Francisco, Mon 17 | 13 | 130 rockfish, 1 bluefin tuna | 10.0, limits |
| Caroline, Chris’ Fishing Trips, Monterey, Mon 17 | 10 | 100 rockfish, 8 lingcod | 10.0, limits |
| Reel Steel, Eureka, Mon 17 | 6 | 60 rockfish, 12 lingcod | 10.0, limits |
| Riptide, Half Moon Bay (Martins Beach), Mon 17 | 5 | 50 rockfish, 15 released | 10.0, limits |
| Salmon, Ten Trips, Two at Limits |
| Dragonfly, Reel Obsession, Bodega Bay, Mon 17 | 6 | 12 king salmon | 2.0, limits |
| Scallywag, Fish Emeryville, Tue 18 | 6 | 12 king salmon | 2.0, limits |
| New Easy Rider, Berkeley, Mon 17 | 14 | 22 king salmon, to 26 lb | 1.6 |
| Lovely Martha, San Francisco, Tue 18 | 14 | 18 kings, 1 lingcod, 2 bonito, 2 rockfish | 1.3 |
| Lovely Martha, Mon 17 | 18 | 18 kings, 1 lingcod, 2 bonito | 1.0 |
| Argo, Argo Sportfishing, SF (1/2 day AM), Tue 18 | 5 | 5 chinook salmon | 1.0 |
| Pacific Pearl, Emeryville (1/2 day AM), Tue 18 | 8 | 7 kings, 3 lingcod, 1 bonito, 1 rockfish, 1 striped bass | 0.9 |
| New Easy Rider, Berkeley, Tue 18 | 12 | 9 kings to 20 lb, 7 bonito | 0.8 |
| C Gull II, Fish Emeryville, Mon 17 | 14 | 9 king salmon | 0.6 |
| Salty Lady, Sausalito, Tue 18 | 20 | 12 king salmon, to 22 lb | 0.6 |
| Bluefin Tuna, Monday Only |
| Lady K, Fish Emeryville, Mon 17 | 6 | 3 bluefin tuna | 0.5 |
| Salty Lady, Sausalito, Mon 17 | 10 | 2 bluefin tuna, to 25 lb | 0.2 |
| Bass-Tub, San Francisco, Mon 17 | 13 | 1 bluefin tuna (with the 130 rockfish above) | 0.1 |
| ▼ C E N T R A L C O A S T ▼ Aug 17–18 |
| Starfire, Morro Bay Landing (1/2 day AM), Mon 17 | 21 | 170 rockfish, 30 red, 10 copper, 10 lingcod to 10 lb | 10.0, limits |
| Avenger, Morro Bay Landing (1/2 day AM), Tue 18 | 15 | 139 rockfish, 5 copper, 5 red, 3 lingcod, 1 cabezon | 9.9 |
| Thin week on the Central Coast feed. Only those two boats posted counts for Aug 17–18, no Patriot, Flying Fish, Endeavor or Sunny Day entries out of Avila this cycle. The regional column separately reports 26 anglers on two Morro Bay boats Monday for 130 assorted, 15 copper, 27 vermilion, 3 bocaccio and a lingcod, and the Fiesta out of Virg’s with 14 anglers Saturday for 61 assorted, 6 vermilion, 5 lingcod and 3 petrale. Those are second-hand to us; we list them but did not verify them against a count feed. |
| ▼ S O U T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A ▼ Aug 17–18 |
| The count feeds report by home port, not by island, there is no Catalina column to pull. See the block below for what the skippers themselves said. Everything here is listed by the port the boat came home to. |
| New Lo-An, Point Loma, San Diego (2 day), Tue 18 | 25 | 205 yellowtail to 32 lb, 5 dorado, 3 sheephead | 8.2 yellowtail |
| Blackfish, Davey’s Locker, Newport (full day), Tue 18 | 6 | 41 barracuda, 30 calico, 7 yellowtail | 6.8 barracuda |
| Fortune, Fisherman’s Landing, San Diego (1.5 day), Tue 18 | 18 | 120 yellowtail, 6 dorado | 6.7 yellowtail |
| Coral Sea, Santa Barbara Landing (3/4 day), Mon 17 | 23 | 115 bonito, 23 rockfish, 22 whitefish, 1 sheephead | 5.0 bonito |
| Stardust, Santa Barbara Landing (3/4 day), Mon 17 | 14 | 70 bonito, 41 rockfish, 22 whitefish, 2 kelp bass, 1 lingcod | 5.0 bonito |
| Freelance, Davey’s Locker, Newport (3/4 day), Mon 17 | 48 | 202 sculpin, 33 bonito, 12 vermilion, 3 sand bass | 4.2 sculpin |
| Speed Twin, Channel Islands, Oxnard (1/2 AM), Mon 17 | 35 | 127 whitefish, 37 calico, 22 rockfish, 7 sheephead, 4 sculpin | 3.6 whitefish |
| Apollo, Seaforth, San Diego (2 day), Tue 18 | 19 | 68 yellowtail, 1 bluefin, 2 dorado | 3.6 yellowtail |
| Aloha Spirit, Channel Islands, Oxnard (full day), Mon 17 | 30 | 105 calico bass, 5 yellowtail, 1 dorado | 3.5 calico |
| Producer, H&M Landing, San Diego (overnight), Tue 18 | 25 | 77 yellowfin tuna, 5 skipjack, 1 mako released | 3.1 yellowfin |
| Pursuit, 22nd Street Landing, San Pedro (full day), Mon 17 | 38 | 109 bonito, 51 calico, 31 blue perch, 11 sheephead, 8 barracuda, 4 yellowtail | 2.9 bonito |
| Western Pride, Davey’s Locker, Newport (1/2 AM), Mon 17 | 22 | 57 calico bass, 7 sand bass | 2.6 calico |
| Blackfish, Davey’s Locker, Newport (full day), Mon 17 | 6 | 13 barracuda, 9 calico, 6 yellowtail | 2.2 barracuda |
| Monte Carlo, 22nd Street Landing, San Pedro (1/2 AM), Mon 17 | 48 | 103 calico, 10 rockfish, 8 whitefish, 7 bonito, 5 yellowtail | 2.1 calico |
| Mission Belle, Point Loma, San Diego (Coronado Islands), Tue 18 | 31 | 64 yellowtail, 2 sand bass | 2.1 yellowtail |
| Premier, H&M Landing, San Diego (1/2 AM), Tue 18 | 18 | 37 rockfish, 17 sculpin, 3 bonito, 2 sheephead, 2 rock sole | 2.1 rockfish |
| Dolphin, Fisherman’s Landing, San Diego (1/2 AM), Tue 18 | 13 | 75 rockfish, 4 sculpin, 1 sheephead, 1 calico, 1 sand bass | 5.8 rockfish |
| Point Loma, Point Loma Sportfishing (1/2 AM), Tue 18 | 13 | 22 barred sand bass, 20 bonito, 2 halibut, 2 yellowtail, 2 rockfish | 1.7 sand bass |
| Grande, H&M Landing, San Diego (full day offshore), Tue 18 | 39 | 56 yellowfin tuna, 2 skipjack | 1.4 yellowfin |
| Daily Double, Point Loma, San Diego (1/2 AM), Tue 18 | 11 | 14 barred sand bass, 5 bonito, 3 calico, 1 whitefish | 1.3 sand bass |
| Clemente, Dana Wharf, Dana Point (1/2 AM), Mon 17 | 38 | 40 bonito, 10 calico, 8 sand bass, 5 yellowtail, 3 whitefish, plus 70 released | 1.1 bonito |
| New Del Mar, Marina del Rey (3/4 day), Mon 17 | 95 | 101 calico, 95 whitefish, 60 rockfish, 12 sand bass, 7 sheephead | 1.1 calico |
| Patriot (Newport), Newport Landing (3/4 day), Mon 17 | 52 | 56 calico, 5 bonito, 3 sand bass, 2 sheephead, 1 rock sole | 1.1 calico |
| Current, Dana Wharf, Dana Point (full day), Mon 17 | 6 | 6 yellowtail, 1 sand bass | 1.0 yellowtail |
| Tribute, Seaforth, San Diego (1.5 day), Tue 18 | 30 | 6 bluefin, 30 yellowtail, 115 whitefish, 15 rockfish, 6 bonito, 2 dorado | 1.0 yellowtail |
| Pacifica, Seaforth, San Diego (1.5 day), Tue 18 | 28 | 26 yellowtail, 1 dorado | 0.9 yellowtail |
| San Diego, Seaforth (full day offshore), Tue 18 | 35 | 26 yellowfin tuna, 1 skipjack | 0.7 yellowfin |
| Spitfire, Marina del Rey (3/4 day), Mon 17 | 22 | 9 yellowtail, 4 calico | 0.4 yellowtail |
| Excalibur, H&M Landing, San Diego (2 day), Tue 18 | 27 | 6 dorado, 6 yellowfin, 1 skipjack | 0.2 yellowfin |
Catalina & the Island Boats
Straight answer this week: we could not verify a single new island-attributed report. We checked the landings’ own pages again, and here is exactly what is there:
| Boat / Landing | Date | What the skipper actually said |
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| Monte Carlo, 22nd Street, San Pedro | Aug 17 | Newest post on the page. “Please summer don’t stop. Steven Konrady having a great day today. The Monte Carlo is a go all month long. Show up.” No counts, and the island is not named. |
| Pursuit, 22nd Street, San Pedro | Aug 13 | Gus Gutierrez: “Split the day between fishing locally in the morning and the island in the afternoon.” 38 anglers, 42 yellowtail, 75 bonito, 38 sand bass, 10 calico, 2 sheephead, 2 sculpin. Same post we carried last week; it is still the most recent one that names an island. |
| Blackfish, Davey’s Locker, Newport (6-pack) | Aug 15–18 | Four straight full days with yellowtail: 6, 7, 6 and 7 fish on six anglers, plus barracuda and calico. This is the kind of boat and trip that typically runs the island, but the count page does not say where it fished, so we are not saying it either. |
What we can say honestly: the SoCal boats working island and near-island water are on yellowtail, calico, barracuda and bonito, and the yellowtail grade is good. What we cannot say is how many of those fish came off Catalina, because the sources do not report it that way. Aggregator sites are running upbeat Catalina summaries this week that we could not trace to a named skipper or a dated count, so we left them out. Sources checked Aug 19: 22ndstreet.com fish reports, Davey’s Locker fish count page, SoCalFishReports.com landing pages, Western Outdoor News islands report (last updated Aug 13, no Catalina detail in the free portion).
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What the numbers say. The bottom is carrying the fleet. Nine trips at full limits of rockfish across two days, with lingcod at 56, 42 and 12 on the same boats, that is a healthy, dependable fishery and it is where the boats are putting their trips. Salmon is the other direction: ten trips, two at limits, and only Bodega and one six-rod Emeryville load managed it. Bluefin, which led this newsletter last week, showed up on three boats Monday for a combined six fish and posted nothing at all Tuesday, though Fish Emeryville’s own Tuesday morning post said the captains were “killing it with Bluefin.” Those two things can both be true if the counts have not caught up. We are printing the counts and flagging the gap.
Down south, it is still a yellowtail story. The San Diego fleet posted 523 yellowtail and 165 yellowfin Tuesday. New Lo-An came in with 205 to 32 pounds on 25 rods off a two-day. Nine hours from Fresno and a different kind of trip, but the grade is worth knowing about.
Three source oddities we are noting rather than repeating. The New California Dawn entry again lists “200 Sandab, 200 Sanddab” plainly one number entered twice under two spellings, so we have not totalled it. Its 56 lingcod on 26 anglers works out to 2.2 a rod against a 2-fish limit, likely crew fish; we show it as reported. And Davey’s Locker’s own page and the SoCal count feed disagree on the Freelance’s Aug 17 three-quarter day, the feed says 202 sculpin and 33 bonito, the landing says 192 sculpin, 19 rockfish and 3 barracuda. We used the count feed and are telling you the other exists.
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⏰ The Season Clock, Verify Before Every Trip
Ocean Salmon, Recreational
| Area | Status | Harvest Guideline |
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| Point Arena – Pigeon Point (San Francisco) | OPEN, 13 days left | 34,900 Chinook |
| Pigeon Point – Mexico border (Monterey & south) | OPEN, 13 days left | 21,800 Chinook |
| 40°10′ – Point Arena (Fort Bragg) | CLOSED through Aug 31 | 5,100 Chinook |
| OR/CA border – 40°10′ (KMZ) | CLOSED, guideline attained | 3,900 Chinook |
Thirteen days. Counting today through August 31 inclusive, that is what is left of the summer season in the two areas still open. Verified against the CDFW ocean salmon page this morning, no inseason action has been taken since July 28, when NMFS closed the KMZ and cut Fort Bragg back to Aug 9. A further closure can land with a day’s notice if a guideline fills, and this is exactly the point in the season when that happens.
Bag limit 2 salmon, no coho. Minimum size 20 inches. Two barbless single-point single-shank hooks north of Point Conception; barbless circle hooks required when fishing bait by any means other than trolling between 40°10′ and Point Conception. No filleting on the boat.
Fall season opens Sept 1, 38°02′N to Pigeon Point through Oct 31, Pigeon Point south through Sept 30. Fall guideline 20,000 Chinook, 20-inch minimum.
Salmon hotline: (707) 576-3429. Call it the morning you go.
Rockfish, North of Point Conception
10 fish per day aggregate. Within that: canary rockfish 2, copper rockfish 1, vermilion rockfish 4.
No retention: quillback, cowcod, yelloweye, bronzespotted. With boats putting up 200 and 300 fish a trip right now, the sub-limits are what will bite you, know copper and vermilion on sight before you drop. Depth restrictions apply and vary by management area; check the current groundfish regulations for the water you are fishing.
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◉ Tide Tables, Aug 19–26
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NOAA harmonic predictions, MLLW datum, local time. Minus lows in red. Predictions run about ±10 minutes and ±0.5 ft; sustained wind and river flow move them further. The source publishes two highs and two lows per day, so a late-evening high occasionally falls off the end of a row.
San Francisco / Golden Gate, Station 9414290
| Date | High 1 | High 2 | Low 1 | Low 2 |
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| Wed 19 | 6:01a, 3.9 | 5:03p, 5.6 | 10:30a, 2.9 | |
| Thu 20 | 7:51a, 3.9 | 5:56p, 5.6 | 12:23a, 1.0 | 11:41a, 3.4 |
| Fri 21 | 9:18a, 4.1 | 6:55p, 5.5 | 1:31a, 0.8 | 1:04p, 3.6 |
| Sat 22 | 10:11a, 4.4 | 7:55p, 5.6 | 2:31a, 0.6 | 2:13p, 3.5 |
| Sun 23 | 10:49a, 4.5 | 8:49p, 5.8 | 3:22a, 0.4 | 3:07p, 3.3 |
| Mon 24 | 11:19a, 4.7 | 9:37p, 5.9 | 4:03a, 0.2 | 3:50p, 3.1 |
| Tue 25 | 11:46a, 4.8 | 10:21p, 6.0 | 4:39a, 0.0 | 4:28p, 2.8 |
| Wed 26 | | 12:10p, 4.9 | 5:11a, −0.1 | 5:04p, 2.5 |
Port Chicago / West Delta, Station 9415144
| Date | High 1 | High 2 | Low 1 | Low 2 |
|---|
| Wed 19 | 8:17a, 3.4 | 7:15p, 4.8 | 2:22a, 0.9 | 12:59p, 1.7 |
| Thu 20 | 9:34a, 3.4 | 8:03p, 4.8 | 3:32a, 0.8 | 1:53p, 2.1 |
| Fri 21 | 10:45a, 3.6 | 9:03p, 4.7 | 4:40a, 0.6 | 2:59p, 2.4 |
| Sat 22 | 11:46a, 3.8 | 10:08p, 4.8 | 5:39a, 0.4 | 4:12p, 2.5 |
| Sun 23 | | 12:37p, 4.0 | 6:29a, 0.2 | 5:18p, 2.5 |
| Mon 24 | | 1:21p, 4.1 | 7:12a, 0.1 | 6:15p, 2.3 |
| Tue 25 | | 2:00p, 4.2 | 7:50a, 0.0 | 7:05p, 2.1 |
| Wed 26 | 12:44a, 4.9 | 2:33p, 4.2 | 8:22a, 0.0 | 7:49p, 1.8 |
Monterey, Station 9413450
| Date | High 1 | High 2 | Low 1 | Low 2 |
|---|
| Wed 19 | 5:08a, 3.2 | 4:08p, 5.1 | 9:11a, 2.7 | |
| Thu 20 | 7:17a, 3.3 | 5:06p, 5.0 | 12:01a, 1.0 | 10:02a, 3.1 |
| Fri 21 | 8:51a, 3.5 | 6:07p, 5.1 | 1:10a, 0.8 | 11:32a, 3.3 |
| Sat 22 | 9:33a, 3.6 | 7:06p, 5.2 | 2:06a, 0.5 | 12:55p, 3.3 |
| Sun 23 | 9:59a, 3.8 | 7:56p, 5.4 | 2:50a, 0.3 | 1:52p, 3.2 |
| Mon 24 | 10:22a, 3.8 | 8:40p, 5.5 | 3:28a, 0.1 | 2:36p, 2.9 |
| Tue 25 | 10:43a, 3.9 | 9:19p, 5.6 | 4:01a, −0.1 | 3:16p, 2.7 |
| Wed 26 | 11:04a, 4.1 | 9:57p, 5.6 | 4:30a, −0.1 | 3:55p, 2.4 |
Port San Luis / Avila, Station 9412110
| Date | High 1 | High 2 | Low 1 | Low 2 |
|---|
| Wed 19 | 4:33a, 3.1 | 3:38p, 4.9 | 8:28a, 2.6 | 11:38p, 1.1 |
| Thu 20 | 7:00a, 3.1 | 4:40p, 4.9 | 9:11a, 3.1 | |
| Fri 21 | 8:42a, 3.4 | 5:46p, 4.9 | 12:50a, 0.8 | 11:07a, 3.3 |
| Sat 22 | 9:11a, 3.6 | 6:46p, 5.1 | 1:46a, 0.5 | 12:34p, 3.3 |
| Sun 23 | 9:31a, 3.7 | 7:36p, 5.3 | 2:29a, 0.3 | 1:32p, 3.1 |
| Mon 24 | 9:50a, 3.8 | 8:19p, 5.5 | 3:05a, 0.0 | 2:14p, 2.8 |
| Tue 25 | 10:10a, 3.9 | 8:56p, 5.6 | 3:36a, −0.1 | 2:52p, 2.5 |
| Wed 26 | 10:31a, 4.1 | 9:32p, 5.7 | 4:04a, −0.2 | 3:28p, 2.3 |
Clam diggers: nothing for you until the very end of this window. The first minus tides since August 14 arrive Tuesday the 25th at Monterey and Port San Luis and Wednesday the 26th at all three ocean stations, bottoming at −0.2 ft at Port San Luis at 4:04 a.m. Port Chicago does not go minus at all this window, 0.0 ft is as low as it gets, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Modest by this month’s standards, but it is the leading edge of a bigger run that peaks with the full moon on the 27th. Confirm the current health advisory and any closures before you dig.
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◉ Moon Phase & Best Days
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Phase computed from a 29.530588853-day synodic month against the January 6, 2000 reference new moon. First quarter falls Thursday morning the 20th, around 10 a.m. and full moon Thursday evening the 27th, around 7 p.m. The almanac convention brackets new and full, which means the window opens on the 25th, the last two days of this coverage period, and runs on into next week. This one starts flat and finishes strong.
| Date | Illumination | Rating | Notes, Solunar Majors vs. Sunrise & Tide |
|---|
| Wed 19 | 44% waxing | ★☆☆☆☆ Slow |
Bottom of the neap. The Gate’s whole range today is 2.7 feet and the “low” is 2.9 ft, barely a low at all. Majors land near 6:35 a.m. and 6:35 p.m., which at least puts the morning one on sunrise. Fish structure, or run bottom fish where the tide matters less. |
| Thu 20 | 54% waxing | ★☆☆☆☆ Slow |
First quarter about 10 a.m. Quarter moons are the weakest tides of the cycle. Majors near 7:25 a.m. and 7:25 p.m. the evening one lands right on sunset, which is the day’s one redeeming feature. |
| Fri 21 | 65% waxing | ★★☆☆☆ Fair |
Range starting to rebuild. Low 0.8 ft at 1:31 a.m., so the useful outgoing is overnight. Majors near 8:15 a.m. and 8:15 p.m. Ordinary day fishery. |
| Sat 22 | 75% waxing | ★★★☆☆ Good |
First weekend day worth taking. Low 0.6 ft, high 5.6 ft at 7:55 p.m. The 9 p.m. major sits just past that high, so fish the last of the incoming and the last of the light. |
| Sun 23 | 83% waxing | ★★★☆☆ Good |
Low 0.4 ft at 3:22 a.m., 5.8 ft high in the evening. Swing widening daily. Majors near 9:50 a.m. and 9:50 p.m. Better than Saturday if you can fish late. |
| Mon 24 | 90% waxing | ★★★★☆ Very Good |
Low 0.2 ft, high 5.9 ft, a 5.7-foot swing at the Gate. Majors near 10:40 a.m. and 10:40 p.m. Waxing gibbous, evening bite. |
| Tue 25 | 96% waxing | ★★★★☆ Very Good |
Almanac window opens. Low 0.0 ft at 4:39 a.m. at the Gate, 6.0 ft high that night, the biggest high of the window, and the first minus tides of the run at Monterey and Port San Luis. Both ends of the day are live. |
| Wed 26 | 99% waxing | ★★★★★ Best |
−0.1 ft at 5:11 a.m. at the Gate, the first minus tide there since August 14, plus −0.1 at Monterey and −0.2 at Port San Luis. Near-full moon, hard outgoing through sunrise. Best day of the week, and it keeps improving into the 27th. |
Sunrise at the Gate runs 6:29 a.m. Aug 19 to 6:35 a.m. Aug 26; sunset 7:57 p.m. to 7:48 p.m. Central Valley times run a few minutes earlier at sunrise and later at sunset. Illumination is the mean-synodic value at evening and can differ two or three points from published almanacs, the tide station data for today, for instance, shows 47% where our calculation gives 44%. Solunar major timing is estimated from lunar transit, not measured, treat the times as approximate and the rating as a tiebreaker, not a guarantee.
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◉ Fish Stocking Report
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Same pattern as every August: cold tailwater and high country, nothing on the valley floor. CDFW put rainbows in Ward Lake in Fresno County, up the Kaiser Pass road above Florence, at about 7,300 feet, and in three Mono County waters. That is it for anywhere near the valley. The reason is simple: the valley floor will not hold catchable trout alive right now. If you want planted fish in August, you drive up. The one exception worth knowing about is not on the CDFW list, McSwain took about 2,000 pounds of catchable rainbows on Aug 16, and Wishon and Courtright were both stocked last Thursday.
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CDFW posts plants as week ranges, not specific dates. Week of Aug 16–22, 2026. All rainbow trout. Pound totals were not published for any of these waters.
| County | Waters Planted | Species |
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| Fresno | Ward Lake, Kaiser Pass road, above Florence Lake | Rainbow trout |
| Mono | Saddlebag Lake · Tioga Lake · Owens River Section 2 · Owens River Section 3 Upper (above Crowley) | Rainbow trout |
| Trinity | Carrville Dredge Pond · Coffee Creek · Trinity River (above Clair Engle, East Fork, Stuart Fork) | Rainbow trout |
| Humboldt | Trinity River (above Clair Engle, East Fork, Stuart Fork) | Rainbow trout |
| Tulare, Madera, Kern, Merced, Stanislaus, San Joaquin: no plants reported this week. Expected for August. |
CDFW regional plant lines:
Central Region, (559) 243-4005 ext. 151
North Central Region, (916) 351-0832
Bay Delta Region, (707) 944-5581
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◉ Tournament Board
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This Coverage Window, Aug 19 through Aug 26
| Date | Water | Host |
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| Wed Aug 19 | Folsom Lake | Folsom Rats |
| Wed Aug 19 | Delta (San Joaquin Co.) | Open event, no sponsor listed |
| Thu Aug 20 | Delta (San Joaquin Co.) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| Fri Aug 21 | Delta (San Joaquin Co.) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| Aug 21–23 | Clear Lake | Yak-A-Bass |
| Sat Aug 22 | Don Pedro Reservoir | River Bank Bass Anglers |
| Sat Aug 22 | Delta (Contra Costa Co.) | Delta Bass Club · Gilroy Bassmasters |
| Sat Aug 22 | Lake Sonoma | Bass N Tubes |
| Sat Aug 22 | Casitas Lake | American Bass |
| Sat Aug 22 | Lake Piru | California Bass Contenders · West Coast Bass Anglers |
| Aug 22–23 | Diamond Valley Lake | American Bass |
| Sun Aug 23 | Delta (Contra Costa Co.) | The Bass Hole, LLC |
| Wed Aug 26 | Delta (San Joaquin Co.) | Open event, no sponsor listed |
A regional column separately lists several club events inside this window that do not appear in the CDFW permit database this cycle, a Wednesday night shootout out of Ladd’s Marina, Valley Backlashers at Tulloch Aug 24–25, Oro Madre at New Melones Aug 24, and 805 Bass Addicts at Santa Margarita Aug 24. Some of those dates also do not line up with the calendar. We list only permitted events above. If you are fishing one of the others, confirm directly with the club.
📅 Mark the Calendar, Central Valley & Central Coast
| Date | Water | Host |
|---|
| Aug 28–29 | Lake Amador | Oro Madre Bass Anglers (permit pending) |
| Aug 29 | Lake Nacimiento | SLO County Bass Ambushers |
| Aug 29–30 | Pine Flat Lake | Fresno Bass Club |
| Sep 5 | New Hogan Lake | Manteca Bassin’ Buddies |
| Sep 5–6 | Pine Flat Lake | BASS 101 |
| Sep 13 | Bass Lake (Madera Co.) | Kings VIII Bass Club |
| Sep 18–20 | Don Pedro Reservoir | Bass Angler Inc. |
| Sep 19 | Lake Success | Golden Empire Bass Club |
| Sep 19 | Lopez Lake | Kern County Bassmasters |
| Sep 19 | Isabella Lake | American Bass |
| Sep 19 | Lake McClure | Sonora Bass Anglers |
| Sep 19 | Don Pedro Reservoir | All American Bass Club |
| Sep 19 | San Antonio Lake | SLO County Bass Ambushers |
| Sep 19–20 | Santa Margarita Lake | Orange County Bass Club |
| Sep 26 | Lake McClure | 17-90 Bass Club |
| Sep 26–27 | Don Pedro Reservoir | Sierra Bass Club |
| Oct 3 | Pine Flat Lake | BASS 101 |
| Oct 4 | Millerton Lake | BASS 101 |
| Oct 10 | Pine Flat Lake | Golden Empire Bass Club |
| Oct 10 | Bass Lake (Madera Co.) | Kerman Bass Club |
| Oct 11 | Lake McClure | Kings VIII Bass Club |
Source: CDFW Fishing Contest permit database, black bass events, pulled Aug 19. All events are Approved status except where noted. Permits get amended and cancelled, confirm with the host club before you tow a boat anywhere.
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Did We Miss Your Water?
Tell us about water we are not covering. The Eastern Sierra section and the Southern California dock totals, San Pedro, Long Beach, Newport, Dana Point, San Diego, are here because readers wrote in and asked. Say the word and yours could be next.
Rather talk it through? (559) 816-3889.
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⚠ Heat & Water Safety, Late August
Pine Flat has dropped ten feet in eight days. That is the most dangerous number in this issue. Rock, stump and old roadbed that were well under your hull two weeks ago are at prop depth now, and ramps are ending in dirt. Idle in, watch the sounder, and throw out every waypoint you set before August.
The lower Kings went back up to 2,174 cfs. If you were waiting for it to drop into wading range, stop waiting. Bank or boat below the dam, and wear the vest.
Fire danger is extreme in the high country. That is the ranger district’s wording, not ours. If you are headed to Edison, Florence, Mammoth Pool, Wishon or Courtright, check road and fire status before you leave and know your second way out.
Eastern Sierra? Different risks. Altitude above 10,000 feet at Saddlebag and Tioga, afternoon thunderstorms that build fast over the crest, and no cell coverage in the canyons. Tell somebody your route and be off exposed water when the clouds stack up.
Heat. Valley afternoons are still the real risk on this list. Off the water by mid-morning or fish the evening. Water, shade, a hat, and somebody who knows where you went.
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Two things to act on. If you want one more king before the season shuts, you have thirteen days, and the honest read is that it is getting harder, not easier, two limit trips out of ten. And if you would rather fill a sack than chase one, the rockfish and lingcod bite is the best it has been all year and it is not fussy about the tide.
Inland, the news is the Delta. The fall striper run is on, the water has cooled about eight degrees, and for the first time in a month we have real reports from people who were actually out there. Save the ocean plans for the back half of the week when the tide finally builds, but the Delta is worth a morning right now.
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Tight lines
Bryan Mello
B Mello Ag Services · Central Valley, California
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(559) 816-3889
bryan@bmelloag.com
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Sources used for this issue: Tide predictions are NOAA CO-OPS harmonic predictions retrieved through US Harbors for stations 9414290 San Francisco, 9415144 Port Chicago, 9413450 Monterey and 9412110 Port San Luis, the NOAA data API was not reachable from our tooling this week, and the NOAA station pages render their tables in the browser rather than in the page source, so we used the US Harbors monthly tables and spot-checked San Francisco against a second published chart · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District daily reservoir reports, data ending midnight Aug 18, generated Aug 19 at 07:00, except figures date-stamped as of Aug 17 · NorCalFishReports.com boat-by-boat dock totals for Aug 17 and Aug 18 · SoCalFishReports.com dock totals for Aug 17 and Aug 18 · SanDiegoFishReports.com boat-by-boat counts for Aug 18 · landing-level skipper reports from 22ndstreet.com and the Davey’s Locker fish count page for the Catalina block, read Aug 19 · NorCalFishReports.com weekly regional reports for the week of Aug 17 · the Central California fishing report compiled by Dave Hurley and edited by Roger George, published for Aug 21–27, for all named guide quotes, lake bite reports and the sturgeon item · CDFW Marine Management News and the CDFW Ocean Salmon Fishery Information page, both checked Aug 19, latest inseason action remains July 28, 2026 · CDFW fish plant listings for the week of Aug 16–22 · CDFW Fishing Contest permit database, black bass, pulled Aug 19 (upcoming events only, we no longer carry a results table, because host clubs do not publish weights on a schedule we can verify) · Snoflo reservoir reports for Lopez, Nacimiento, San Antonio and Santa Margarita · NRWMAC for Nacimiento capacity and recreation elevations · Western Outdoor News islands and offshore report, last updated Aug 13. Moon phase computed from the synodic month against the Jan 6, 2000 reference new moon.
Please read: Conditions, seasons, bag limits and closures change, sometimes with a single day’s notice, and ocean salmon seasons in particular close inseason when quotas fill. Eastern Sierra waters carry their own special regulations that differ from statewide rules, and the white sturgeon catch-and-release decision described above is not in effect until the Office of Administrative Law acts. Everything here is a snapshot of what the public data said when this was written on Wednesday morning. Confirm current regulations with CDFW at wildlife.ca.gov, call the salmon hotline at (707) 576-3429 before an ocean trip, and verify ramp access and lake levels with the operating agency before you travel. Where a figure was stale, missing, or in conflict with another published source, we said so and date-stamped it rather than guessing.
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