The Weekly Fishing Report
Wednesday, September 16 – Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Central Valley · Sierra · Eastern Sierra · Delta · Coast | Issue 26-37
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PINE FLAT CUT FROM 1,690 CFS TO 626, THE LOWER KINGS IS BACK • AND CDFW PLANTED IT THE SAME WEEK • SALMON HOLDING NEAR A FISH A ROD, 35-POUNDER OUT OF SF MONDAY • 46 DAYS LEFT NORTH OF PIGEON POINT, 15 SOUTH, 20,000 FISH SHARED • SAN DIEGO PUT 940 YELLOWFIN ON THE DOCK IN ONE DAY • STRAIGHT 10-FISH ROCKFISH LIMITS FROM BODEGA TO AVILA • NO MINUS TIDES THIS WEEK • CORPS SHEET BLANKED DON PEDRO AND McCLURE AGAIN, WITH TOURNAMENTS ON BOTH
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For two months we have told you the lower Kings was unfishable, and this week that changed in one line on a Corps sheet. Pine Flat’s release went from 1,690 cfs last Wednesday to 626 cfs this morning, a 63% cut in seven days. Irrigation demand is coming off. And in the same week, CDFW planted rainbows in the Kings below the dam in all three counties it runs through, Fresno, Kings and Tulare. Fresh fish and a flow you can finally work. That is the best inland news we have had to print since spring.
Offshore, the salmon bite came down off last week’s peak and then just… stayed. We reported 1.90 a rod last Tuesday. Since then the northern fleet has run 1.05, 0.96, 1.38 and 1.15, four straight days within striking distance of a fish a rod, which is a perfectly good salmon fishery and a lot more durable than a spike. Lovely Martha put 14 kings on seven rods Monday with a 35-pounder, the biggest fish we have seen reported this season. New Easy Rider went 24 on 12 Tuesday. Straight limits, twice in two days.
South of us the ocean has gone silly. San Diego landings put 940 yellowfin on the dock on Tuesday alone, plus 270 dorado. Pronto out of Oceanside went 120 yellowfin on twelve rods; Blackfish went 40 on four. Both of those are ten fish a rod on a day trip. Skipper Michael Potvin, running out of 22nd Street, called it “this 2026 El Niño” and said he sees it “getting better and better going into fall.” And from Bodega down to Avila, rockfish boats are hitting straight ten-fish limits, boat after boat, day after day.
Two cautions before you go. First, there are no minus tides at all this week at any of our four stations. If you were planning around drained water, plan again. Second, the Section 7 sheet blanked Don Pedro, McClure, Shaver, Huntington, Edison, Florence and the McSwain release for the second week running, and there are permitted tournaments on Don Pedro and McClure this Saturday. We print last week’s numbers for those, date-stamped and starred. We do not print them as current. Details in Water Watch.
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◉ This Week’s Best Bets
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Bet No. 1 · Fresno & Tulare
The Kings Below Pine Flat
The release dropped from 1,690 cfs to 626 in seven days, and CDFW planted rainbows below the dam in Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties the week of Sept. 13–19. Fresh fish, and for the first time since spring a flow a person can read. Nightcrawlers, salmon eggs and small spinners in the softer water behind structure. 626 cfs is still moving water; pick your crossings or stay on the bank.
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Bet No. 2 · Golden Gate
Fall Kings, While They Last
Four straight days between 0.96 and 1.38 a rod, a 35-pounder on Lovely Martha Monday, and straight limits on New Easy Rider both Monday and Tuesday. 46 open days left north of Pigeon Point, 15 south of it, but both areas share one 20,000-Chinook guideline and either can close inseason. Book it and call the hotline the morning you go.
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Bet No. 3 · San Diego to Newport
Yellowfin, Wide Open
940 yellowfin across San Diego landings on Tuesday alone, plus 270 dorado. Pronto out of Oceanside: 120 yellowfin on 12 rods. Up the coast at Newport, Blackfish out of Davey’s went 40 on four. Both exactly ten a rod on a day trip. Grande ran 4.24 a rod, Old Glory 5.00 overnight. Wahoo and striped marlin are showing on the longer boats. It is a long tow from the Valley; it is also the best tuna fishing in years.
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Bet No. 4 · Morro Bay & Avila
Rockfish, Limits Every Trip
Thirteen separate trips we counted came in at exactly ten fish a rod, the legal aggregate. Patriot out of Avila did it twice, Starfire and Endeavor out of Morro did it three times between them, and Morro is stacking lingcod to 12 pounds on top. Closest reliable saltwater limits to the Valley, about three hours out of Fresno. Watch the sublimits: copper 1, canary 2, vermilion 4.
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⚠ Water Watch
The Pine Flat release is the story. 1,690 cfs last Wednesday, 626 cfs this morning, down 63%. Storage barely moved as a result: the lake gave up just 491 acre-feet in seven days against 13,651 the week before. Pine Flat sits at 158,996 AF, 15.9% of gross pool, which is still very low, but it has stopped falling off a cliff. Below the dam, the Kings near Trimmer reads 211.5 cfs.
Isabella took the week’s biggest hit, off 6,456 acre-feet to 159,506, or 28.1%. Success gave up 1,334 AF and Kaweah 853. The Kaweah at Three Rivers is down to 37.5 cfs and the Kern at Kernville to 175.2 cfs. The Fresno River above Hensley reads a flat zero.
And the blanks are back, in the worst possible week. The Section 7 sheet published “No Project Data Available at this Time” for Don Pedro and McClure and “-NR-” for Shaver, Huntington, Edison, Florence and the flow below McSwain. There are permitted bass tournaments on Don Pedro Friday through Sunday and on McClure Saturday. Every starred number in the table below is from last Tuesday, Sept. 8, and it is the newest thing published. Call the marina before you tow.
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◉ Lakes & Reservoirs
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District. Data ending midnight Sept. 15; sheets generated Sept. 16 at 08:00 and 08:01. Week-over-week compares against the Sept. 8 sheet. Percent-full uses gross pool.
| Lake | Elev (ft) | Storage (AF) | % Full | 7-Day |
| Pine Flat | 742.25 | 158,996 | 15.9% | −491 |
| Millerton (Friant) | n/r | 229,798 | 44.1% | −3,408 |
| Don Pedro | 792.57* | 1,588,010* | 78.2%*† | no data |
| New Melones | n/r | 1,546,430 | 64.4% | −7,872 |
| McClure (New Exchequer) | 792.12* | 588,875* | 57.5%*† | no data |
| McSwain (release below) | n/a | n/a | n/a | no data |
| Eastman (Buchanan) | 466.37 | 10,328 | 6.9% | −70 |
| Hensley (Hidden) | 453.60 | 6,722 | 7.5% | −38 |
| Kaweah (Terminus) | 602.83 | 21,808 | 11.8% | −853 |
| Success (Schafer) | 602.47 | 13,800 | 16.8% | −1,334 |
| Isabella | 2,558.63 | 159,506 | 28.1% | −6,456 |
| Shaver | n/r | 89,463* | 66.1%* | no data |
| Bass Lake (Crane Valley) | n/r | 36,282 | 79.9% | −1,497 |
| New Hogan | 669.27 | 161,017 | n/p | −2,445 |
| Huntington | n/r | 87,615* | n/p | no data |
| Wishon & Courtright | Not published on either Corps sheet (PG&E projects). We have no verified level for either this week. |
* Figure is from the Sept. 8 sheet; the Sept. 16 sheet published no data for this project. Nine days old and printed only because nothing newer exists. † Percent-full for Don Pedro and McClure is our own arithmetic against 2,030,000 AF and 1,024,600 AF gross pool; the Corps does not print a percentage for these two. n/r = the agency reported no value. n/p = we hold no published gross-pool figure we trust for that project, so we are not going to estimate one.
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Bite Report
A straight word about this table. The weekly regional aggregator filed “no reports for this week” for Central California, Central Sierra, Sierra Foothills and the Delta, and the most recent Pine Flat guide post on that service is from November 2024. So what follows is built on verified flows, storage, stocking records and September pattern, not on somebody else’s fresh fish story. Where we have no basis, we say so.
| Water | What We Know |
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| Pine Flat |
Stocked with Chinook in June and rainbows through the spring. At 15.9% the fish are concentrated and the thermocline is shallow. Kings and rainbows both follow the shad; troll deep off the main-lake points and bluff walls early and late. Bass have pulled off the flats, work ledges and brush. Ramp conditions are the risk, not the bite. |
| Millerton |
Rose on the week in percentage terms relative to its neighbors and is the healthiest Valley-floor reservoir on this page at 44.1%. Spotted bass on finesse, catfish off the bank after dark. Cools and improves from here as boat traffic drops. |
| Don Pedro & McClure |
No published level for the second week running. Both fisheries are shad-driven in September, trout and kings on the bait schools, bass deep. There are tournaments on both this weekend, so ramps will be busy and the operators will know the water. Call them. |
| New Melones |
Off 7,872 AF, at 64.4%, the largest absolute drawdown on the sheet, but off the biggest lake. Stanislaus natural inflow is down to 79 cfs and Goodwin is releasing 202. Trout and kokanee are moving toward spawn; bass are a grind. |
| Eastman & Hensley |
The two thinnest lakes we cover: 6.9% and 7.5%. The Fresno River above Hensley is at zero cfs. Eastman is the better bass water of the two by a wide margin; Hensley is catfish and carp. At these levels both are launch-first problems. |
| Kaweah & Success |
Kaweah 11.8%, Success 16.8%, and the Kaweah at Three Rivers is down to 37.5 cfs. Both fish small: finesse plastics for spotted and largemouth, minijigs for crappie, dip bait for cats after dark. Golden Empire Bass Club is on Success this Saturday. |
| Shaver |
No published storage this week. Last figure is 89,463 AF on Sept. 8, 66.1%. Mid-September is when kokanee stop being a target and head for the inlets, and the holdover rainbows follow them in for the eggs. That is pattern, not a report; nobody filed one. |
| Wishon & Courtright |
Neither appears on any Corps sheet, and we could not verify a level or a current report for either. Both are high-country trout waters that fish well into the fall. Call ahead; Courtright in particular has had access work in recent seasons and we have nothing current on it. |
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Central Coast
Read this metric carefully. These are reported as percent of the normal storage for this date, not percent of capacity. 148% does not mean over-capacity; it means half again what this lake usually holds in mid-September. Third-party aggregator, dated Sept. 16.
| Lake | Storage (AF) | % of Normal for the Date |
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| Lopez | 48,679 | 129% |
| San Antonio | 270,863 | 148%, near its record max of 277,990 |
| Nacimiento | 285,131 | 109% (about 75% of its 377,900 AF capacity) |
| Santa Margarita | No storage published. The aggregator returned an empty record this morning. |
This is the one region on the page with water to spare, and the tournament clubs know it: Lopez, San Antonio and Santa Margarita all have permitted events this Saturday. One caveat worth your knowing: the same source page that reports Lopez at 129% of normal also displays a contradictory “30%” badge and a record-max figure that is larger than the lake. We are quoting the storage and the normal-comparison, both of which check out against its own seasonal average, and flagging the rest as unreliable.
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◉ Eastern Sierra
Mono County got the best plant list in the state this week. CDFW stocked rainbows in Big Virginia Lake, Little Virginia Lake, Convict Creek and Rock Creek sections 1 and 2 for the week of Sept. 13–19. That is the June Lake Loop corridor and the Rock Creek drainage, fresh fish in cold water at elevation, at exactly the time the crowds thin out and the aspens turn.
Two guides filed from Silver Lake on Sept. 14: Scott Champion at (760) 648-7756 and Andrew Jones at (760) 648-7525. Those are the only two current Eastern Sierra reports on the wire this week; nothing filed out of Bridgeport, Crowley or the Owens. Call them rather than take our word for it.
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⚠ The Regs Up Here Are Not the Regs Down Here
This is the part of the state where “I checked the statewide rules” gets people a citation. Inyo and Mono waters carry special regulations that change reach by reach on the same river; the Owens above a bridge is not the Owens below it, and Hot Creek, the East Walker and the Upper Owens each have their own gear and take rules.
A handful of Mono County waters, including the East Walker, are open year-round, and during the off-season those waters are catch-and-release, barbless, artificial lure or fly only, no bait. Most of the rest of the district runs on the general season, which closes in mid-November.
We could not confirm the exact 2026 general-season closing date on CDFW’s own pages this morning, so we are not going to print one. If you are planning a late-season trip, open the current CDFW regulations booklet to the Sierra District pages and read the entry for the specific water, not the summary.
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◉ Delta, Rivers & Aqueduct
| Water | Conditions & What We Can Verify |
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| The Delta |
No fresh regional column filed this week. What we can tell you is the calendar: nine permitted bass tournaments launch on Delta water this Saturday alone, across Contra Costa, Sacramento and San Joaquin counties, plus two-day events running into Sunday. Ramps at Ladd’s, Russo’s, B&W and Tracy Oasis will be stacked at first light. If you are a weekend angler who does not like company, go Friday or go Sunday afternoon. No minus tides this week to swing the striper bite; the Port Chicago range is modest all week and the lowest water of the cycle does not arrive until next Wednesday morning. |
| Upper Kings, above Pine Flat |
The gauge below the North Fork near Trimmer reads 211.5 cfs this morning: low, clear, wadeable freestone water. The Corps published no natural-flow figure for the Kings above the lake again this week, and Mill Creek near Piedra came back “not reported.” Fish it small and light and stay off the skyline. |
| Lower Kings, below the dam |
The headline of the issue. Release cut from 1,690 cfs to 626 in seven days, and CDFW planted rainbows in the reach across Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties the week of Sept. 13–19. The classic stretch is the roughly five miles from below the dam down toward Alta Weir. Nightcrawlers, salmon eggs and small spinners. Wading warning: 626 cfs is a great deal friendlier than 1,690 and it is still not a stroll. Water this cold pushes harder than it looks. Wear the vest, use a staff, and if you are alone, fish from the bank. |
| Kaweah & Tule |
The Kaweah at Three Rivers is at 37.5 cfs, skinny. Every Tule River gauge on the Corps sheet came back “not reported” this morning: South Fork near Success, near Springville, and Deer Creek at Trenton Weir. We have nothing verified on the Tule this week. |
| Kern River |
At Kernville the river is down to 175.2 cfs. CDFW planted Kern River sections 5 and 6 in Tulare County this week. Low, clear and freshly stocked, a good weekend if you want moving water without a tow. |
| California Aqueduct, San Luis & O’Neill Forebay |
We have no verified current report for the aqueduct system, San Luis or the forebay this week; no regional column was filed and these are not on the Corps sheets we pull. September pattern is catfish on cut bait and dip bait along the canal, with stripers around the check gates early. The standing warning does not depend on a report: aqueduct water is swift, cold, steep-sided and has no way out. Wear a PFD, fish with somebody, and stay off wet concrete. |
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◉ Ocean Report & Charters
Boat-by-boat dock totals, Sept. 12–15. Fish-per-rod is our arithmetic from the published angler and fish counts. On multi-day trips the per-rod figure is for the whole trip, not per day; a 1.5-day boat has had three shots at it.
| Boat / Port | Date & Trip | Count | Per Rod |
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| Bay Area & North: Salmon |
| Lovely Martha · San Francisco | Sept. 14, full day | 14 kings on 7 anglers, to 35 lb | 2.00 |
| New Easy Rider · Berkeley | Sept. 15, full day | 24 kings on 12, to 28 lb | 2.00 |
| Diamond · Emeryville | Sept. 14, full day | 10 kings on 5 | 2.00 |
| TigerFish · Emeryville | Sept. 13, full day | 21 kings on 12, to 20 lb | 1.75 |
| Outer Limits · Sausalito | Sept. 14, full day | 18 kings on 11, to 28 lb | 1.64 |
| New Easy Rider · Berkeley | Sept. 12, full day | 28 kings on 20, to 31 lb | 1.40 |
| Oakland Anglers II · Emeryville | Sept. 12, full day | 22 kings on 16 | 1.38 |
| Bass-Tub · San Francisco | Sept. 12, full day | 26 kings on 21 | 1.24 |
| Northern fleet daily average | Fri 1.05 · Sat 0.96 · Mon 1.38 · Tue 1.15 | ≈1.1 |
| Bay Area & North: Groundfish |
| Surf Scooter · Bodega Bay | Sept. 13, full day | 140 rockfish + 28 lingcod to 18 lb on 14 | 10.00 limits |
| Sea Wolf · Emeryville | Sept. 14, full day | 110 rockfish + 22 lingcod on 11 | 10.00 limits |
| Check Mate · Monterey | Sept. 13, full day | 230 rockfish + 10 lingcod on 23 | 10.00 limits |
| Caroline · Monterey | Sept. 12, full day | 170 rockfish + 12 lingcod on 17 | 10.00 limits |
| Riptide · Half Moon Bay | Sept. 12, deep reef | 150 rockfish on 15, plus 13 bonito to 18 lb | 10.00 limits |
| Central Coast: Morro Bay & Avila Beach |
| Patriot · Avila Beach | Sept. 11, 3/4 day, Pecho Rock | 248 rockcod + 2 bocaccio on 25 | 10.00 limits |
| Patriot · Avila Beach | Sept. 12, 1/2 day AM | 165 rockcod + 5 copper on 17 | 10.00 limits |
| Starfire · Morro Bay | Sept. 12, 3/4 day | 240 rockfish-group on 24, 12 lingcod to 12 lb | 10.00 limits |
| Endeavor · Morro Bay | Sept. 13, 3/4 day | 260 rockfish-group on 26, 4 ling, 15 bonito | 10.00 limits |
| Avenger · Morro Bay | Sept. 13, 3/4 day | 150 rockfish-group on 15, 6 ling, 20 bonito | 10.00 limits |
| Neither Morro Bay nor Avila posted counts on Sept. 14 or 15. These are the four most recent reported days. |
| Southern California: San Pedro, Long Beach, Oxnard, Newport, Dana Point |
| Pride · San Pedro (22nd St.) | Sept. 15, 1.5 day | 120 yellowfin, 36 bullet, 9 dorado, 1 wahoo, 3 marlin released, on 10 | 12.00 trip |
| Ghost · San Pedro (22nd St.) | Sept. 15, full day | 26 dorado + 21 yellowfin on 6 | 7.83 |
| Fury · Dana Point | Sept. 14, overnight | 103 yellowfin, 46 bullet, 23 skipjack, 16 yellowtail on 22 | 8.55 trip |
| Clemente · Dana Point | Sept. 15, full day | 62 yellowfin, 27 bullet, 12 yellowtail, 4 dorado on 21 | 4.90 |
| Speed Twin · Oxnard | Sept. 14, 1/2 day AM | 83 yellowtail + 12 calico on 25 | 3.32 yellowtail |
| Indicator · Oxnard | Sept. 15, full day | 42 yellowtail, 29 yellowfin, 34 sand bass on 14 | 7.50 |
| Freelance · Newport (Davey’s) | Sept. 15, 3/4 day | 280 bonito + 88 sand bass on 56 | 6.63 |
| Blackfish · Newport (Davey’s) | Sept. 15, full day | 40 yellowfin on 4 | 10.00 |
| Triton · San Pedro | Sept. 15, 3/4 day | 14 yellowtail to 32 lb, 41 bonito on 22 | 3.05 |
| San Diego & Oceanside: Sept. 15 |
| All San Diego landings, one day | 940 yellowfin, 270 dorado, 374 bonito, 241 bullet tuna | n/a |
| Pronto · Oceanside | Sept. 15, full day | 120 yellowfin, 11 dorado, 8 skipjack on 12 | 10.00 YFT |
| Old Glory · San Diego (H&M) | Sept. 15, overnight | 80 yellowfin on 16 | 5.00 trip |
| Grande · San Diego (H&M) | Sept. 15, full day offshore | 140 yellowfin + 1 striped marlin on 33 | 4.24 |
| San Diego · Seaforth | Sept. 15, full day | 132 yellowfin, 3 dorado, 3 yellowtail on 35 | 3.77 |
| Polaris Supreme · Seaforth | Sept. 15, 2 day | 93 dorado, 11 yellowtail, 2 wahoo on 23 | 4.61 trip |
| Horizon · San Diego (H&M) | Sept. 15, 2.5 day | 80 dorado, 43 yellowfin, 4 wahoo, 80 calico, 5 yellowtail on 20 | 10.60 trip |
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Catalina & the Island Boats
One skipper named the island in his own words this week. Michael Potvin, running the Pride out of 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro, filed this on Sept. 13 off a 1.5-day charter:
“The weather conditions were not in our favor. We started at the island for a handful of yellowtail, Bonita, excellent sheepshead fishing and bags full of taco meat; we ran away from the weather and went offshore in search of kelps and managed a handful Dorado and some wide open mini yellowfin fishing.”
His count for the whole trip: 48 yellowfin, 6 dorado, 5 yellowtail, 28 sheephead, 31 calico bass, 29 bonito, 64 rockfish, 2 bullet tuna. Read that split the way he wrote it: the island produced the yellowtail, sheephead, bonito, calico and rockfish. The tuna and the dorado came after they left the island and ran offshore. We are not going to credit Catalina with 48 yellowfin it did not produce.
The next night Potvin came in from another 1.5-day with a wahoo, 120 yellowfin, 9 dorado and three marlin released, and wrote: “you wanna get in on this 2026 El Niño, I see this Fishing getting better and better going into fall!!!” That trip he did not place at the island, so we are not placing it there either.
If you want a boat that is actually going to the island: 22nd Street Landing has the Pursuit scheduled on Full Day Limited Load Catalina Island Freelance trips on Sept. 17, 21, 22, 23 and 24, (310) 832-8304. The Pursuit’s recent full-day counts are strong on the mixed-bag species the island produces: 18 yellowtail, 33 calico and 130 bonito on 38 anglers Tuesday; 17 yellowtail, 31 calico and 141 bonito on 39 Monday. Fair warning: the count service does not break those out by location, so we can tell you what the landing schedules and what the boat caught, but not that every one of those fish came off Catalina. Davey’s Locker’s count page was checked as well and attributed no trip in this window to the island.
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Landing & Charter Directory
Numbers are published landing lines. Boats sell out on a bite like this one. Call, do not just show up.
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⏳ The Season Clock
Salmon: 46 days north of Pigeon Point. 15 days south.
38°02′ N (near Point Reyes) to Pigeon Point: open Sept. 1 – Oct. 31. Counting today, 46 open days left.
Pigeon Point to the U.S./Mexico border: open Sept. 1 – 30. Counting today, 15 open days left.
Both areas share a single 20,000-Chinook fall harvest guideline, and CDFW states plainly that inseason action may close open days when harvest approaches it. Two salmon a day, any species except coho, 20-inch minimum. No filleting on the boat. North of Point Conception: two single-point single-shank barbless hooks, one rod per angler.
Here is the honest part. We checked the CDFW Sport Ocean Salmon Tracker this morning. It shows the full 20,000 still remaining, but it is stamped “Data updated through: 8/30/2026,” which is two days before the fall season opened. Catch estimates post by half-month period and the Sept. 1–15 numbers are not out yet. So nobody outside CDFW currently knows how much of the fall guideline is gone. Given what the fleet has been landing, assume more than zero.
Call the hotline the morning you go: (707) 576-3429. Last month federal inseason action shut San Francisco a week early on a Thursday announcement. The same mechanism is live right now.
Groundfish Limits
10 rockfish per day, aggregate. Within that: canary 2, copper 1, vermilion 4 north of Point Conception. No retention at all of quillback, cowcod, yelloweye or bronzespotted. Thirteen trips this week came in at exactly ten a rod; that is the aggregate, not a target to beat. Know your copper from your vermilion before you drop, and confirm current sublimits with CDFW; they move.
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◉ Tide Tables
Pulled directly from the NOAA CO-OPS prediction API this morning: MLLW datum, high/low interval, local time with daylight saving. First-hand API pulls, not a second-hand tide table. Heights in feet. H = high, L = low.
A few days below show three entries instead of four, and Friday the 18th at Port San Luis shows only one. That is not a transcription error on our end; it is what NOAA returned. When the tide flattens out the way it has this week, consecutive extremes merge and the high/low filter stops resolving them as separate events. It is another way of telling you the same thing the box below says: there is very little tide this week.
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There is not a single minus low at any of the four stations this week. That is worth saying plainly, because it is the opposite of last week. The tide flattens out through the weekend and only starts building again toward next Wednesday. The lowest water of the whole cycle is Port Chicago at 0.08 ft next Wednesday morning, and even that is above zero. If you were planning the week around drained flats for clamming, striper current or Bay halibut, plan a different week.
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San Francisco / Golden Gate · NOAA station 9414290
| Day | Highs & Lows |
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| Wed Sep 16 | 4:26a H 4.24 · 8:59a L 3.00 · 3:16p H 5.59 · 10:19p L 0.76 |
| Thu Sep 17 | 5:52a H 4.07 · 9:55a L 3.44 · 4:02p H 5.38 · 11:26p L 0.86 |
| Fri Sep 18 | 7:32a H 4.12 · 11:21a L 3.67 · 5:01p H 5.20 |
| Sat Sep 19 | 12:38a L 0.85 · 8:44a H 4.29 · 12:52p L 3.63 · 6:11p H 5.12 |
| Sun Sep 20 | 1:43a L 0.73 · 9:28a H 4.45 · 1:58p L 3.38 · 7:20p H 5.17 |
| Mon Sep 21 | 2:36a L 0.55 · 10:00a H 4.60 · 2:48p L 3.03 · 8:20p H 5.29 |
| Tue Sep 22 | 3:18a L 0.39 · 10:26a H 4.76 · 3:29p L 2.63 · 9:13p H 5.42 |
| Wed Sep 23 | 3:54a L 0.31 · 10:49a H 4.94 · 4:06p L 2.19 · 10:01p H 5.51 |
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Port Chicago / West Delta · NOAA station 9415144
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Sep 16 | 12:43a L 0.60 · 6:52a H 3.63 · 11:35a L 1.84 · 5:20p H 4.83 |
| Thu Sep 17 | 1:45a L 0.65 · 8:03a H 3.53 · 12:23p L 2.15 · 6:00p H 4.71 |
| Fri Sep 18 | 2:52a L 0.63 · 9:13a H 3.56 · 1:24p L 2.38 · 6:53p H 4.52 |
| Sat Sep 19 | 3:57a L 0.53 · 10:18a H 3.67 · 2:40p L 2.44 · 8:04p H 4.33 |
| Sun Sep 20 | 4:55a L 0.36 · 11:12a H 3.81 · 3:57p L 2.31 · 9:29p H 4.25 |
| Mon Sep 21 | 5:43a L 0.20 · 11:59a H 3.94 · 5:02p L 2.03 · 10:42p H 4.27 |
| Tue Sep 22 | 6:24a L 0.09 · 12:38p H 4.04 · 5:58p L 1.69 · 11:40p H 4.33 |
| Wed Sep 23 | 6:59a L 0.08 · 1:12p H 4.12 · 6:46p L 1.36 |
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Monterey · NOAA station 9413450
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Sep 16 | 3:30a H 3.55 · 7:41a L 2.88 · 2:09p H 5.08 · 9:53p L 0.87 |
| Thu Sep 17 | 5:16a H 3.42 · 8:15a L 3.24 · 2:59p H 4.88 · 11:07p L 0.89 |
| Fri Sep 18 | 7:17a H 3.53 · 9:22a L 3.48 · 4:06p H 4.72 |
| Sat Sep 19 | 12:19a L 0.79 · 8:16a H 3.69 · 11:26a L 3.51 · 5:22p H 4.69 |
| Sun Sep 20 | 1:18a L 0.63 · 8:44a H 3.82 · 12:48p L 3.29 · 6:31p H 4.78 |
| Mon Sep 21 | 2:03a L 0.46 · 9:06a H 3.95 · 1:42p L 2.97 · 7:27p H 4.93 |
| Tue Sep 22 | 2:40a L 0.33 · 9:26a H 4.10 · 2:24p L 2.59 · 8:15p H 5.05 |
| Wed Sep 23 | 3:12a L 0.29 · 9:45a H 4.30 · 3:03p L 2.17 · 8:58p H 5.12 |
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Port San Luis (Avila / Morro Bay) · NOAA station 9412110
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Sep 16 | 2:47a H 3.46 · 6:57a L 2.81 · 1:33p H 5.05 · 9:24p L 0.98 |
| Thu Sep 17 | 4:49a H 3.29 · 7:16a L 3.19 · 2:20p H 4.80 · 10:46p L 1.00 |
| Fri Sep 18 | 3:34p H 4.60 |
| Sat Sep 19 | 12:01a L 0.88 · 8:13a H 3.68 · 11:08a L 3.55 · 5:02p H 4.58 |
| Sun Sep 20 | 12:59a L 0.68 · 8:27a H 3.84 · 12:32p L 3.29 · 6:12p H 4.72 |
| Mon Sep 21 | 1:44a L 0.49 · 8:43a H 3.99 · 1:23p L 2.93 · 7:08p H 4.92 |
| Tue Sep 22 | 2:19a L 0.35 · 8:59a H 4.17 · 2:03p L 2.53 · 7:54p H 5.10 |
| Wed Sep 23 | 2:49a L 0.30 · 9:17a H 4.39 · 2:39p L 2.10 · 8:35p H 5.21 |
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◉ Moon Phase & Best Days
Phase computed from the synodic month (29.530588853 days) against the reference new moon of Jan. 6, 2000, 18:14 UTC. Sunrise and sunset computed for Fresno (36.75°N, 119.77°W), PDT. Solunar majors are moon overhead and underfoot. Almanac convention: the best fishing brackets the new and the full moon.
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By phase alone this is the weakest week of the month, and we are going to say so. The new moon was Friday the 11th; that bracket is behind us. The full moon is Saturday Sept. 26 at about 8 a.m.; that bracket starts after this issue’s window closes. We spend the whole week walking from 25% lit up to 91% lit, passing straight through first quarter, which is the part of the cycle the almanac likes least.
The solunar timing says something different, and it is worth hearing. We are three days off the equinox, so sunrise and sunset sit almost exactly twelve hours apart, and on Friday the 18th and Saturday the 19th the two majors land right on top of them. Friday the moon is underfoot at 6:32 a.m. against a 6:45 sunrise and overhead at 6:32 p.m. against a 7:04 sunset. Saturday it is 7:21 a.m. and 7:21 p.m. against 6:46 and 7:03. You very rarely get both majors bracketing both light changes on the same day. Phase says middling. Timing says fish Friday and Saturday, first light and last.
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| Day | Moon | Majors (AM / PM) | Sun | Rating |
|---|
| Wed Sept. 16 | Waxing crescent, 25% | 4:55a / 4:55p | 6:43a – 7:07p | ●●○○○ Fair |
| Thu Sept. 17 | Waxing crescent, 35% | 5:44a / 5:44p | 6:44a – 7:06p | ●●●○○ Decent |
| Fri Sept. 18 | First quarter, 45% | 6:32a / 6:32p | 6:45a – 7:04p | ●●●●○ Best of week |
| Sat Sept. 19 | First quarter, 56% | 7:21a / 7:21p | 6:46a – 7:03p | ●●●●○ Best of week |
| Sun Sept. 20 | Waxing gibbous, 66% | 8:10a / 8:10p | 6:47a – 7:01p | ●●●○○ Decent |
| Mon Sept. 21 | Waxing gibbous, 76% | 8:57a / 8:57p | 6:47a – 7:00p | ●●●○○ Decent |
| Tue Sept. 22 | Waxing gibbous, 84% | 9:46a / 9:46p | 6:48a – 6:58p | ●●●●○ Building |
| Wed Sept. 23 | Waxing gibbous, 91% | 10:34a / 10:34p | 6:49a – 6:56p | ●●●●○ Building |
Major times are computed from lunar transit and are approximate to within about fifteen minutes. Ratings are the almanac convention applied honestly, not a promise. Next week is the better moon week: the full moon on the 26th puts the strong bracket on the weekend of the 25th through the 29th.
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◉ Fish Stocking Report
CDFW plants are posted as a week range, not a date. This is the list for the week of Sept. 13–19, 2026. All rainbow trout, all CDFW.
| County | Water |
|---|
| Fresno | Kings River, below Pine Flat Dam |
| Kings | Kings River, below Pine Flat Dam |
| Tulare | Kings River below Pine Flat Dam · Kern River sections 5 and 6 |
| Madera | Rock Creek, sections 1 and 2 |
| Mono | Big Virginia Lake · Little Virginia Lake · Convict Creek · Rock Creek sections 1 and 2 |
| Shasta | Rock Creek, sections 1 and 2 |
Notice what is not on that list: a single valley-floor lake. That is not an oversight and it is not a budget problem; it is policy. Through the warm months CDFW plants only cold tailwaters and high country, because a hatchery rainbow dropped into 80-degree water in September is a dead fish that cost the state money. Millerton, Kaweah, Success, Eastman and Hensley will not see trout again until the water cools. If you want planted fish right now, you go to the Kings below the dam, the Kern above Kernville, or you go up.
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◉ Tournament Board
Pulled this morning from the CDFW Fishing Contest permit database, black bass category, approved events only. This is the permit record; every one of these has a state permit on file. Dates and venues can still change at the club’s end.
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Saturday the 19th is the busiest tournament day we have printed all year: twenty-seven permitted events across the state, nine of them on Delta water. If you fish for fun and want a ramp to yourself, Saturday is not your day. Friday, Sunday afternoon and Monday are.
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On the Water This Window: Sept. 16 to 23
| Date | Water | Sponsor |
|---|
| Wed 16 | Folsom Lake | Folsom Rats |
| Wed 16 | Clear Lake | Wednesday Night Shootout |
| Thu 17 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| Fri 18 – Sun 20 | Don Pedro, 3 day | Bass Angler Inc. |
| Fri 18 – Sun 20 | Clear Lake, 3 day | Yak-A-Bass |
| Fri 18 | Delta (Sacramento) | Calvary Christian Center |
| Fri 18 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| Saturday Sept. 19: Central Valley & Southern Sierra |
| Sat 19 | Don Pedro | All American Bass Club |
| Sat 19 | McClure | Sonora Bass Anglers |
| Sat 19 | Lake Success | Golden Empire Bass Club |
| Sat 19 | Isabella | American Bass |
| Sat 19 | Oroville | Folsom Bass Team |
| Sat 19 | Shasta Lake | Pacific Service Employees Assn. |
| Saturday Sept. 19: Central Coast |
| Sat 19 | Lopez Lake | Kern County Bassmasters |
| Sat 19 | San Antonio | SLO County Bass Ambushers |
| Sat 19 – Sun 20 | Santa Margarita, 2 day | Orange County Bass Club |
| Saturday Sept. 19: The Delta (nine events) |
| Sat 19 | Delta (Contra Costa) | Bay Area Bassbusters · Delta Bass Club · Contra Costa Bass Club · Bass N Tubes |
| Sat 19 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club · El Dorado Bass |
| Sat 19 – Sun 20 | Delta (Sacramento), 2 day | Great Basin Bassers · Fresno Bass Club |
| Sat 19 | Delta (Sacramento) | Sacramento Bass Wranglers |
| Rest of the window |
| Sat 19 – Sun 20 | Clear Lake · Sonoma · Havasu · Davis | Gilroy Bassmasters · Tri Valley · Hidden Valley · N. Nevada |
| Sat 19 | Diamond Valley · Lower Otay · San Vicente · Castaic Lagoon | Temecula Valley · Camp Pendleton · SoCal Jr. · North County Bass · Friends of Castaic |
| Sun 20 – Mon 21 | Oroville, 2 day | Fairfield-Suisun Bass Reapers |
| Sun 20 | Trinity · Shasta · Delta (San Joaquin) | Shasta Cascade · Red Bluff · Student Angler Federation |
| Wed 23 | Clear Lake | Wednesday Night Shootout |
Mark the Calendar
| Date | Water | Sponsor |
|---|
| Sept. 25–27 | Clear Lake & Shasta, 3 day each | American Bass |
| Sept. 26 | McClure | 17-90 Bass Club |
| Sept. 26–27 | Don Pedro, 2 day | Sierra Bass Club |
| Sept. 26 | Don Pedro | Oro Madre Bass Anglers |
| Sept. 26–27 | Delta (Sacramento), 2 day | Cen Cal Elite Bass Tournaments |
| Oct. 3 | Pine Flat | BASS 101 |
| Oct. 4 | Millerton | BASS 101 |
| Oct. 3 | Isabella | Copes Tackle and Rod |
| Oct. 10 | Pine Flat | Golden Empire Bass Club |
| Oct. 10 | Bass Lake (Madera) | Kerman Bass Club |
| Oct. 11 | McClure | Kings VIII Bass Club |
| Oct. 16–18 | Don Pedro, 3 day | Bass Angler Inc. |
| Oct. 17–18 | Lake Success, 2 day | Ducks Unlimited |
| Oct. 17 | Nacimiento | Gilroy Bassmasters |
| Oct. 17 | Santa Margarita | SLO County Bass Ambushers |
| Oct. 17–18 | McClure, 2 day | River Bank Bass Anglers |
| Nov. 1 | McClure · Don Pedro | Modesto Ambassadors · SAF/Oakdale HS Bass Team |
We do not print last week’s weights. Host clubs post results on no verifiable schedule and half of them never post at all, so a results table here would be part fact and part guess. Upcoming permitted events only, that we can stand behind.
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Did We Miss Your Water?
Tell us about water we are not covering. The Eastern Sierra section, the Southern California dock totals and the Catalina block are all 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
A lower flow on the Kings is good news and a new hazard at the same time. 626 cfs looks walkable from the bank in a way 1,690 never did, and that is exactly the problem. It is still cold, pushy tailwater on a slick cobble bottom, and there are fresh planted trout in it giving people a reason to take one more step. Wear the vest. Use a staff. If you are by yourself, fish from the bank. More people drown in water they thought was fine than in water that scared them.
Pine Flat is at 15.9% and Kaweah is at 11.8%. The storage has stabilized but the water is still down where it was, and every rock, stump and old roadbed that cleared your hull in July is at prop depth now. Throw out every waypoint you set before this summer. Idle in, watch the sounder, and expect at least one ramp to end in dirt.
Seven projects on this page have no published level, and two of them have tournaments this Saturday. Don Pedro, McClure, Shaver, Huntington, Edison, Florence and the McSwain release all came back empty for the second straight week. A blank row is not a safe row; it means nobody has said where the water is. If you are towing to Don Pedro or McClure this weekend, call the marina or the operating agency first. Every time, not just this time.
No minus tides is its own kind of trap. Last week the hazard was people out on drained reef in the dark. This week it is the opposite mistake: anglers who fished a rock or a bar a fortnight ago at a minus low going back to it now and finding two or three more feet of water over it, moving differently. Rocky shorelines, jetties and surf perch beaches all fish differently on a flat tide. Check the table above for your station before you commit, and never turn your back on the ocean.
Fire danger stays extreme in the high country. If you are headed to Shaver, Huntington, Edison, Florence, Mammoth Pool, Wishon, Courtright or over the hill to the June Lake Loop and Rock Creek, check road and fire status before you leave and know your second way out. One closed road is a far bigger problem at 8,000 feet than it is on the valley floor.
And the heat. The equinox lands Tuesday and this valley has not read the calendar. Off the water by mid-morning or fish the evening, take more water than you think you need, take shade and a hat, and tell somebody where you went and when you will be back.
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Two things to act on this week, and for once they do not pull in the same direction. First, the lower Kings. We have been telling you to stay out of it since June. The release is down 63% in a week and CDFW has put fresh rainbows in it across three counties. If you have been waiting for a reason to fish close to home, this is it, and it may not last: the release schedule is somebody else’s decision and it can go back up as fast as it came down.
Second, the salmon clock. The bite has settled into something sustainable, around a fish a rod, four days running, with a 35-pounder in there. The calendar says 46 days north of Pigeon Point and 15 south. But the guideline is 20,000 fish shared between both areas, the last published catch estimate predates the season opener, and federal inseason action shut San Francisco a week early last month on a Thursday announcement. Do not plan on October. If you want a fall king, book one in the next two or three weeks and call (707) 576-3429 the morning you go.
And if you only have one day: take Friday. Both solunar majors sit right on sunrise and sunset, it is the day before twenty-odd tournaments hit the water, and the ramps will still be yours.
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Tight lines
Bryan Mello
B Mello Ag Services · Central Valley, California
Every issue we have ever published is free at bmelloag.com/reports: field conditions, ag crime, markets, fuel and fishing.
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(559) 816-3889
bryan@bmelloag.com
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Sources used for this issue: Tide predictions came directly from the NOAA CO-OPS data API: stations 9414290 San Francisco, 9415144 Port Chicago, 9413450 Monterey and 9412110 Port San Luis, MLLW datum, high/low interval, local time. First-hand API pulls, not second-hand tide tables · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District daily reservoir reports, Corps and Section 7 sheets, data ending midnight Sept. 15, generated Sept. 16 at 08:00 and 08:01, with the Sept. 8 sheets pulled for week-over-week comparison and for the starred figures · NorCalFishReports.com boat-by-boat dock totals for Sept. 12, 13, 14 and 15 · SoCalFishReports.com dock totals for Sept. 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15, source of the Morro Bay and Avila counts · SanDiegoFishReports.com boat-by-boat counts for Sept. 15 · NorCalFishReports.com weekly report for the week of Sept. 14 · 22ndstreet.com landing reports for Sept. 13 and 14, read in full this morning, the only island-attributed skipper account we could find; daveyslocker.com’s count page was also checked and attributed no trip in this window to Catalina · CDFW ocean salmon regulation page, the CDFW Sport Ocean Salmon Tracker and CDFW Marine Management News, all checked this morning; the most recent salmon post remains “Inseason Ocean Salmon Changes Announced for August,” Aug. 21, 2026, and no inseason action has been taken on the fall season · CDFW fish plant listings for the week of Sept. 13–19 · CDFW Fishing Contest permit database, pulled this morning, black bass category, approved and upcoming events only · Central Coast storage from a third-party reservoir aggregator dated Sept. 16, cross-checked against its own published seasonal averages. Moon phase, solunar transit, sunrise and sunset all computed from first principles.
What we could not get, and what we threw out: No current storage for Don Pedro, McClure, Shaver, Huntington, Edison, Florence or the McSwain release; the Section 7 sheet published none of them for the second week running; the starred figures in the table are from Sept. 8 and are labelled as such · No Kings natural flow, no Mill Creek reading, and every Tule River gauge came back “-NR-” · No storage published for Santa Margarita, and Wishon and Courtright appear on no Corps sheet at all · No verified current report for the California Aqueduct, San Luis or O’Neill Forebay · The fall Chinook harvest tally is effectively unknown; CDFW’s own tracker is stamped through Aug. 30, two days before the season opened · We could not confirm the 2026 Eastern Sierra general-season closing date on CDFW’s pages, so we printed none · No fresh regional freshwater column exists inside this window; the weekly aggregator filed “no reports” for Central California, Central Sierra, Sierra Foothills and the Delta, so the inland bite notes here are built on flows, levels, plants and season pattern rather than on somebody else’s fish stories. And one we discarded outright: a syndicated Central California column surfaced in search carrying a September date, but its reservoir elevations, percentages and river flows conflicted with this morning’s Corps sheet on every single line, and its tournament dates fall on days of the week that do not exist in 2026. It is an older year’s report being served with a current date. We did not use a word of it.
Please read: Conditions, seasons, bag limits and closures change, sometimes with a single day’s notice. Last month federal inseason action closed San Francisco salmon a week early, and the identical mechanism applies to the fall season described above. The 20,000-Chinook fall guideline is shared between both open areas and either can close early. Eastern Sierra waters carry their own special regulations that differ from statewide rules and vary reach by reach on the same river. Rockfish sublimits change by species and by area. 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, from a second agency or in conflict with another published source, we said so and date-stamped it rather than guessing.
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