The Weekly Fishing Report
Wednesday, October 14 – Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Central Valley · Sierra · Eastern Sierra · Delta · Coast | Issue 26-41
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18 DAYS OF SALMON LEFT, PIGEON POINT TO POINT REYES • 8,960 FISH LEFT ON THE GUIDELINE THROUGH SEPT. 30 • 326 KINGS ON 208 RODS, FRI–MON • PINE FLAT UP 7,247 AF TO 17.1% • MONTEREY SHELLFISH WARNING LIFTED OCT. 12 • FIRST-QUARTER MOON SUNDAY, OCT. 18
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Salmon is open, with 18 days left on the calendar. From Pigeon Point up to Point Reyes the season runs through Oct. 31, which is 18 days counting today. The stretch south of Pigeon Point has been closed since Oct. 1. CDFW’s in-season changes page and its Marine Management News blog still show Aug. 21 as the newest salmon action, with no change to the fall season. CDFW’s catch tracker, which we read directly this morning, now runs through Sept. 30: 11,040 caught, 8,960 left on the 20,000-fish guideline, so 55.2% is gone. The Sept. 16–30 stretch added 3,455 fish, about 230 a day by our arithmetic. At that pace the 8,960 would outlast the 18 days on the calendar, but that is our math on one fortnight, not a CDFW forecast, and the Oct. 1–15 estimate hasn’t posted yet.
The Bay boats are still finding kings. Friday through Monday the boats the count service listed landed 326 kings on 208 rods, about 1.57 a rod. California Dawn II posted 24, 24, 23 and 25 kings on four straight days, with fish to 35 pounds Sunday. Tuesday is a thin day to judge: only New Easy Rider was listed, with 18 kings on 19 rods, to 24 pounds. Those are the boats the count service listed. It may not list them all.
Bluefin cooled off. Sorta Salty out of Bodega Bay listed 12 bluefin to 45 pounds on six rods Friday. San Diego and Oceanside boats listed 13 bluefin over four days, against the 145 we summed a week ago, and yellowfin is carrying the south. And the Monterey County shellfish warning was lifted Monday, Oct. 12. The statewide sport mussel quarantine still runs through at least Oct. 31.
No minus tides this week, and the moon is in its weak quarter. The lowest low at any of our four stations is 0.11 ft at the Golden Gate tonight at 8:45 p.m. The moon reaches first quarter at about 9:12 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, the almanac’s slowest stretch, with the full moon Oct. 25. Pine Flat is up 7,247 acre-feet on the week, to 17.1% full, but the gain has slowed to about 400 acre-feet a day from last week’s 1,300.
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◉ This Week’s Best Bets
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Bet No. 1 · Golden Gate & Sausalito
Kings, 18 Days on the Calendar
Friday through Monday, 326 kings on 208 rods. Sunday California Dawn II landed 23 on 12 rods, fish to 35 lb. New Rayann (Sausalito) had 26 on 13, and Saturday Hog Heaven had 20 on 10, both limits. Monday Lovely Martha’s full-day boat listed 19 to 29 lb. Open Pigeon Point to Point Reyes through Oct. 31 unless the guideline fills first. Call (707) 576-3429 the morning you go.
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Bet No. 2 · Emeryville & Bodega Bay
Lingcod Limits, Bay and Bodega
Sea Wolf (Emeryville) listed 36 lingcod and 180 rockfish on 18 rods Monday, limits of both. Surf Scooter (Bodega Bay) had 29 lingcod to 27 lb and 180 rockfish on 18. Rockfish limits came easy all week from Emeryville to Monterey. Bay Area and north stay open at all depths through Dec. 31.
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Bet No. 3 · Morro Bay & Avila
Rockfish Limits, and Odd Visitors
Endeavor (Morro Bay) Saturday: 300 rockfish-group and 23 lingcod to 14 lb on 30 rods, a 10.00 average. Starfire posted 220 on 22 and 9 lingcod Tuesday on a half-day. Saturday’s Avenger half-day listed a 25-lb yellowtail and an 80-lb mako. At Avila, Patriot had 150 on 15. Central Coast rockfish stays open at all depths through December.
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Bet No. 4 · Newport & San Diego
Yellowfin Still Biting
Patriot (Newport) listed 278 yellowfin on 39 rods Tuesday on a 3/4-day, about 7.13 a rod, with a striped marlin in the mix. In San Diego, Sea Watch had 230 yellowfin on 30 Saturday and Producer 137 on 18 overnight. The yellowfin limit is 10 a day.
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⚠ Water Watch
Pine Flat is still gaining, more slowly. The Corps sheet (data through Tuesday midnight) has the lake at 171,370 AF, 17.1% full, up 7,247 AF since last Tuesday and up 394 on the day, well under last week’s 1,312. The release is back to about 250 cfs; the hourly report shows it between 246 and 343 over the last 48 hours, with one noon hour on Oct. 12 at 343. The sheet’s computed inflow is 460 cfs, while the gauge on the Kings below the North Fork, at the head of the lake, reads 196. That gap is far smaller than last week’s 927 against 184, but we still can’t reconcile the two, and the Corps itself warns its computed inflow is erratic.
The south Valley lakes keep sliding. Isabella lost 3,558 AF on the week, to 25.2%, releasing 411 cfs against 216 coming in. Success lost 1,157 and is now 9.9%, just under 10%. Kaweah lost 584, to 10.3%. Eastman is 6.8%. Hensley reported nothing on today’s sheet; its last reading was 7.4% on Oct. 6.
The foothill lakes are all dropping, Millerton excepted. The Corps’ Section 7 sheet again carries nothing for Don Pedro, McClure or the Big Creek lakes, so we went to the state’s California Data Exchange Center (CDEC). Through Monday: Don Pedro 74.4%, down 10,362 AF in a week; McClure 51.6%, down 12,116; Shaver 53.5%, down 3,638. New Melones is 63.3%, down 6,565. Millerton is 44.1% and up 2,165 AF, the only one of the group that gained. Bass Angler Inc. has Don Pedro Friday through Sunday, River Bank has McClure and Ducks Unlimited has Success, both Saturday and Sunday. Expect trailers at all three.
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◉ Lakes & Reservoirs
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District. Corps sheet: data ending midnight Oct. 13, generated Oct. 14 at 07:00. Section 7 sheet: data ending midnight Oct. 13, generated Oct. 14 at 07:01. Rows marked § come from the state’s California Data Exchange Center (CDEC), daily data through Oct. 12 (Merced flow Oct. 13), because the Corps sheets reported nothing for them. Change is seven days against last week’s Oct. 6 figures (Oct. 5 for the CDEC rows). Percent-full uses gross pool.
| Lake | Elev (ft) | Storage (AF) | % Full | Change |
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| Pine Flat | 747.69 | 171,370 | 17.1% | +7,247 |
| Millerton (Friant) | n/r | 229,524 | 44.1% | +2,165 |
| Don Pedro | 785.31§ | 1,511,117§ | 74.4%§† | −10,362§ |
| New Melones | n/r | 1,518,370 | 63.3% | −6,565 |
| McClure (New Exchequer) | 778.56§ | 528,309§ | 51.6%§† | −12,116§ |
| Merced R. near Snelling (below McSwain) | n/a | n/a | n/a | 252 cfs§ |
| Eastman (Buchanan) | 465.96 | 10,129 | 6.8% | −61 |
| Hensley (Hidden) | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r§§ |
| Kaweah (Terminus) | 598.62 | 19,117 | 10.3% | −584 |
| Success (Schafer) | 592.22 | 8,115 | 9.9% | −1,157 |
| Isabella | 2,555.65 | 142,982 | 25.2% | −3,558 |
| Shaver | n/r | 72,438§ | 53.5%§ | −3,638§ |
| Bass Lake (Crane Valley) | n/r | 30,724 | 67.7% | −855 |
| New Hogan | 666.86 | 154,076 | n/p | −1,488 |
| Huntington / Edison / Florence | n/r | 74,941§ / n/r‡ / 6,428§ | n/p | −4,683§ / n/r‡ / −135§ |
| Wishon / Courtright | n/r | 106,328¶ / 28,750¶ | n/p | stale¶ |
§ CDEC provisional daily data. Where CDEC and the Corps both report a lake (Millerton and New Melones on Oct. 13) the two match exactly. §§ Hensley: the Corps reported no pool or storage today and an outflow of 0 cfs; its last reading was 6,629 AF, 7.4%, on Oct. 6. ‡ Edison: neither Corps sheet nor CDEC gave us a figure we could confirm; the last number we printed was Sept. 22, three weeks ago. ¶ Wishon and Courtright: CDEC’s newest reading is Oct. 6, eight days old. † 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. Success uses the Corps’ 82,300 AF gross pool; we haven’t verified whether a dam raise has changed that figure. n/r = the agency reported no value. n/p = we hold no published gross-pool figure we trust for that project, so we don’t estimate one.
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Bite Report
Same straight word. The weekly regional aggregator lists no reports this week for Central California, the Delta, the Central Sierra or the Sierra foothills. Searches turned up only Central California fishing columns with no date we could confirm, and ones that read as earlier years, so we didn’t use them. What follows rests on verified levels, plants, permits and the usual mid-October pattern. Where we describe a pattern, it’s a pattern, not a report.
| Water | What We Know |
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| Pine Flat | Up 7,247 AF on the week and still only 17.1% full, so the fish are crowded. The usual October setup: kings and rainbows under the shad off main-lake points early and late, bass on ledges, brush and bluff walls. No approved event this window. The permit database shows an Oct. 18 filing that is still pending, with no sponsor named, so don’t plan around it. Next approved: BTuff Magazine and Cope’s Tackle, Nov. 14. |
| Millerton | 44.1%, up 2,165 AF on the week. Spotted bass on finesse gear as the water cools; catfish from the bank after dark. No permitted event this window. Next: Kerman Bass Club, Nov. 7. |
| Don Pedro & McClure | Don Pedro 74.4% and McClure 51.6% as of Monday (state CDEC data, our percentages), down 10,362 and 12,116 AF on the week. Fall pattern: trout and kings on the shad, bass deep. Bass Angler Inc. has Don Pedro Friday through Sunday, Oct. 16–18. River Bank Bass Anglers has McClure Saturday and Sunday. McClure and McSwain each show a rainbow plant on the Oct. 4–10 list (1,120 and 2,240 lb), credited to the lakes, not CDFW. |
| New Melones | 63.3%, down 6,565 AF on the week. Kokanee are finished as a target and moving to spawn. Trout and bass stay tough until the surface cools. No permitted event this window. |
| Eastman & Hensley | Eastman 6.8%. Hensley reported nothing today; its last reading was 7.4%. Eastman is the bass lake of the two; Hensley is catfish and carp. At these levels your first problem is getting the boat in. A Nov. 8 Eastman filing is pending. |
| Kaweah & Success | Kaweah 10.3%, Success 9.9% and still dropping, about 1,200 AF a week at Success. Small-water fishing: finesse plastics, minijigs for crappie, dip bait for cats after dark. Ducks Unlimited has Success Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 17–18. |
| Isabella | 25.2%, releasing 411 cfs against 216 coming in. No bass event is permitted on Isabella through Nov. 30. No Kern section is on the plant list posted so far for Oct. 11–17. |
| Bass Lake | 67.7% (30,724 AF) and down 855 on the week. No permitted event this window. It’s the one Sierra lake of the group with a current level. |
| Shaver & Huntington | Shaver 53.5% and Huntington 74,941 AF as of Monday, losing roughly 500 and 650 AF a day (CDEC, Oct. 6–12). Kokanee are in the inlets to spawn and holdover rainbows follow them for the eggs. That’s the usual pattern; we have no report confirming it this week. |
| Wishon & Courtright | State data stops Oct. 6 (Wishon 106,328 AF, Courtright 28,750). We found no current fishing report we could date. High-country trout water that fishes into October, weather allowing. Call ahead on access and the seasonal gates before you make the drive. |
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Central Coast
Levels straight from the operators’ own live gauges this morning. San Luis Obispo County’s sensors report percent of capacity. Monterey County’s two lakes come from USGS elevation gauges, which give elevation only, so we show the change in feet since last week’s printed reading rather than guess at a percentage.
| Lake | Level | Who to Call |
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| Lopez | 78.5% of capacity, 38,838 AF, elev. 510.22 ft | SLO County Public Works |
| Santa Margarita | 86.5% of capacity, 19,308 AF, elev. 1,299.18 ft | SLO County Public Works |
| Nacimiento | Elev. 742.35 ft, down 0.41 ft on the week | Monterey County Water Resources Agency |
| San Antonio | Elev. 737.88 ft, down 0.12 ft on the week | Monterey County Water Resources Agency |
Santa Margarita’s capacity was cut to 22,320 AF by a 2024 resurvey, and the county’s percentage uses the new figure. Nacimiento (Gilroy Bassmasters) and Santa Margarita (SLO County Bass Ambushers) both have permitted events this Saturday, Oct. 17. Next at Nacimiento: Golden Empire, Nov. 7–8.
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◉ Eastern Sierra
No new Eastern Sierra reports this week. The weekly aggregator lists none, and our searches turned up only old posts, one of them a Virginia Lakes report from 2010. The newest we can date are last week’s, and they’re now one to two weeks old. The Bridgeport Fish Enhancement Foundation (BFEF) logged Tom Harp’s 5 lb 7 oz tagged trophy trout on Oct. 5 and Michael Royere’s 4 lb 9 oz on Oct. 6. Twin Lakes logged a 4 lb 5 oz rainbow on Oct. 2 and a CDFW-tagged 3 lb 14 oz rainbow on Oct. 1. At Saddlebag, a 7 lb 7 oz trout was reported Sept. 30. Those are individual catches the resorts and the foundation chose to post, so read them as proof the big fish were there, not as a report on this week.
Virginia Lakes Resort (Carolyn Webb, Oct. 5) said the aspens were gold and the leaves had been falling for a couple of weeks. Dress for the season. Reminder from earlier reports: Big Virginia is a drinking-water lake, so no swimming, no gas motors, and no float tubes or boards without full waders. We have nothing newer from Crowley, the Owens or the June Lake Loop. No Eastern Sierra water is on the plant list posted so far for Oct. 11–17. Last week we listed Bishop Creek, Middle and South Forks, for Oct. 4–10; we couldn’t find that plant again in either state listing this week, so treat it as unconfirmed.
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⚠ The Regs Up Here Are Not the Regs Down Here
Inyo and Mono waters carry special regulations that change reach by reach on the same river. The Owens above a given 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. Checking the statewide rules doesn’t cover you here.
A handful of Mono County waters, the East Walker among them, stay open year-round, and in the off-season those are catch-and-release, barbless, artificial lure or fly only. Most of the district runs on the general season, which closes in mid-November.
We still haven’t confirmed the exact 2026 closing date on CDFW’s own pages, so we’re not printing one. If you’re planning a late-season trip, read the Sierra District entry for your water in the current regulations booklet.
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◉ Delta, Rivers & Aqueduct
| Water | Conditions & What We Can Verify |
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| The Delta | No regional report again this week. What we can verify is the tide. Port Chicago has no minus tide all window; the lowest low is 0.14 ft at 4:40 a.m. Tuesday and 5:19 a.m. Wednesday, so the water is near bottom before first light and building as the sun comes up. Swings run 4.6 ft tomorrow and ease to about 3.5 ft by Monday as the moon goes to first quarter. Events: Tracy Oasis Marina Friday; then Saturday Anglers Press Outdoors (San Joaquin County), Bay Area Bassbusters (Contra Costa), Sacramento Bass Wranglers, and Fresno Bass Club Saturday and Sunday (both Sacramento County). Tracy Oasis is back Oct. 22. |
| Upper Kings, above Pine Flat | Below the North Fork: 195.6 cfs on the daily sheet, and 184 to 196 on the hourly report through 8 a.m. today, with the water running 58 to 65°F over the last 48 hours, cooler than the 66 to 73 we reported a week ago. Low, clear freestone water. Fish it early, small and quiet. One hour on Oct. 12 reads 6,225 cfs on that gauge; we treated it as a sensor glitch and ignored it. The daily sheet’s natural-flow line was not reported. |
| Lower Kings, below the dam | Release about 250 cfs on the Corps’ hourly report, unchanged from last week, with a single 343 cfs hour at noon Oct. 12. Planted a fourth straight week on the Oct. 4–10 list in Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties; nothing is posted yet for Oct. 11–17. Wading: low flow doesn’t mean safe. It’s cold tailwater over slick cobble, the release is set at the Water Master’s request, and it can change with little notice. Check the flow before you step in. |
| Kaweah & Tule | Kaweah at Three Rivers 45.6 cfs on the Corps’ 7 a.m. reading today (CDEC’s daily mean for Tuesday was 43), and 12 cfs at McKay Point. The Tule gauges weren’t reported. Creek fishing, not river fishing. |
| Kern River | At Kernville, 206.5 cfs (Corps, Tuesday’s daily value), up from the 121 we printed last week from a CDEC reading. The release below Isabella is running about 411 cfs. No Kern section is on the plant list posted so far for Oct. 11–17. |
| San Joaquin below Friant | No flow published; the Friant additional-data block reads not-reported. The last number we trust is 375 cfs on Sept. 17, four weeks old. Don’t plan around it. |
| California Aqueduct, San Luis & O’Neill Forebay | No verified current report. The usual fall pattern: catfish on cut bait and dip bait along the canal, stripers in the boils and around the check gates early. This warning holds whatever the reports say: aqueduct water is swift, cold and steep-sided, with 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, Oct. 9–13 for the Bay and north, Oct. 10–13 for the Central Coast, Southern California and San Diego (Friday or Saturday through Tuesday). Tuesday is thin everywhere: the count services had only a handful of boats posted when we pulled them this morning. 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 2-day boat had two days’ limits to work with. “YFT” = yellowfin only.
| Boat / Port | Date & Trip | Count | Per Rod |
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| Bay Area & North: Salmon (kings) |
| California Dawn II · Berkeley | Oct. 9 / 10 / 11 / 12, full day | 24 on 12; 24 on 14 (to 22 lb); 23 on 12 (to 35 lb); 25 on 19 (to 27 lb) | 2.00 / 1.71 / 1.92 / 1.32 |
| New Rayann · Sausalito | Oct. 11, full day | 26 on 13 (listed as Chinook) | 2.00 |
| Hog Heaven · Sausalito | Oct. 10, full day | 20 kings on 10 | 2.00 |
| Top Gun SF (Hookd Up) | Oct. 12, Bay combo | 12 kings on 6, to 26 lb | 2.00 |
| Diamond · Emeryville | Oct. 12, full day | 12 kings on 6 | 2.00 |
| Queen of Hearts · Half Moon Bay | Oct. 9, full day | 12 kings on 6 | 2.00 |
| Scallywag · Emeryville | Oct. 9 / 11 / 12, full day | 12 on 6; 12 on 6; 11 on 6 | 2.00 / 2.00 / 1.83 |
| Reel Addiction 1 · Berkeley | Oct. 9, full day | 15 kings on 8 | 1.88 |
| C Gull II · Emeryville | Oct. 9, full day | 24 kings on 14 | 1.71 |
| Lady K · Emeryville | Oct. 12, full day | 12 kings on 8 | 1.50 |
| Outer Limits · Sausalito | Oct. 9, full day | 21 kings on 18, to 28 lb | 1.17 |
| Lovely Martha · San Francisco | Oct. 12, full day / 1/2 day AM | 19 on 17, to 29 lb; 7 on 10 | 1.12 / 0.70 |
| New Easy Rider · Berkeley | Oct. 13, full day | 18 kings on 19, to 24 lb | 0.95 |
| Oakland Anglers II · Emeryville | Oct. 11, full day | 15 kings on 17 | 0.88 |
| Northern fleet daily average (boats listed) | Fri 1.69 (6 boats) · Sat 1.83 (2) · Sun 1.58 (4) · Mon 1.36 (7) · Tue 0.95 (1, thin day) | Fri–Mon 326 on 208 ≈ 1.57 |
| Bay Area & North: Bluefin Tuna |
| Sorta Salty · Bodega Bay | Oct. 9, full day | 12 bluefin to 45 lb on 6 | 2.00 limits |
| Bay Area & North: Groundfish |
| Sea Wolf · Emeryville | Oct. 12 / Oct. 11, full day | 36 lingcod + 180 rockfish on 18; 6 ling + 220 rockfish on 22 | 10.00 limits (ling 2.00 Oct. 12) |
| Surf Scooter · Bodega Bay | Oct. 12, full day | 29 lingcod to 27 lb + 180 rockfish on 18 | 10.00 limits (ling 1.61) |
| New Huck Finn · Emeryville | Oct. 11 full day / Oct. 9 1/2 day AM | 16 ling + 210 rockfish on 21; 1 ling + 170 rockfish on 17 | 10.00 limits |
| Round 2 (Right Hook) · Berkeley | Oct. 9, full day | 12 ling + 60 rockfish on 6 | 10.00 limits (ling 2.00) |
| Reel Addiction 2 · Berkeley | Oct. 9, full day | 13 ling + 80 rockfish on 8 | 10.00 limits (ling 1.63) |
| New Rayann · Sausalito | Oct. 9, full day | 18 ling + 130 rockfish on 13 | 10.00 limits |
| Shauna Lee · Bodega Bay | Oct. 9, full day | 60 rockfish + 27 bonito on 6 | 10.00 limits |
| Queen of Hearts · Half Moon Bay | Oct. 12, full day | 120 rockfish + 22 bonito + 1 ling on 12 | 10.00 limits |
| Riptide · Half Moon Bay | Oct. 12, full day, deep reef | 100 rockfish + 38 bonito on 10 | 10.00 limits |
| Check Mate · Monterey | Oct. 9 / 10 / 11 / 12, full day | 190 + 8 ling on 19; 220 on 22; 150 on 15; 110 on 11 (rockfish) | 10.00 each day |
| Kahuna / Caroline · Monterey | Oct. 11 / Oct. 10, full day | 200 rockfish + 1 ling on 20; 121 rockfish + 1 ling on 13 | 10.00 / 9.31 |
| Skipper words: Fish Emeryville, Monday, “SALMON IS STILL GOING!!” and Lovely Martha’s Mike Rescino, Oct. 12, titled his post “Great late season bite.” All groundfish fishing is prohibited at Cordell Bank (see the Season Clock). |
| Central Coast: Morro Bay & Avila Beach |
| Endeavor · Morro Bay | Oct. 10, full day | 300 rockfish-group + 23 lingcod to 14 lb on 30 | 10.00 limits (ling 0.77) |
| Starfire · Morro Bay | Oct. 13, 1/2 day AM | 220 rockfish-group + 9 ling on 22 | 10.00 limits |
| Starfire · Morro Bay | Oct. 10, 3/4 day | 130 rockfish-group on 14 | 9.29 |
| Avenger · Morro Bay | Oct. 10, 1/2 day AM / PM | 150 rockfish-group, 1 yellowtail to 25 lb, 1 mako to 80 lb on 30; 187 + 1 yellowtail (16 lb), 2 bonito on 22 | 5.00 / 8.50 |
| Avenger · Morro Bay | Oct. 12, 3/4 day | 75 rockfish-group + 3 ling + 2 bonito on 9 | 8.33 |
| Patriot · Avila Beach | Oct. 10, 1/2 day AM | 150 rockcod-group + 1 ling on 15 | 10.00 limits |
| Flying Fish · Avila Beach | Oct. 10, 1/2 day AM | 119 rockcod-group + 1 ling + 4 bonito on 21 | 5.67 |
| “Rockfish-group” is our sum of the rockfish, bocaccio, copper and red rockfish (or rockcod) the landing lists separately; cabezon and greenling count toward the same 10-fish aggregate. Within it, copper is limited to 1 a person; Endeavor listed 15 copper on 30 rods. No white seabass were listed at Avila or Morro Bay this week. |
| Southern California: Ventura, Oxnard, San Pedro, Long Beach, Newport, Dana Point |
| Patriot · Newport | Oct. 13, 3/4 day | 278 yellowfin, 24 skipjack, 7 dorado, 1 striped marlin on 39 | 7.13 YFT |
| New San Mateo · Dana Point | Oct. 10, full day | 96 yellowfin, 23 skipjack, 13 bullet, 4 dorado on 12 | 8.00 YFT |
| Current · Dana Point | Oct. 10, 3/4 day | 41 yellowfin + 1 skipjack on 6 | 6.83 YFT |
| Blackfish · Newport (Davey’s) | Oct. 13, full day | 34 yellowfin + 4 yellowtail on 6 | 5.67 YFT |
| Amigo · San Pedro (22nd St.) | Oct. 13, 1.5 day | 44 yellowfin, 26 red snapper, 8 skipjack, 85 rockfish on 13 | 3.38 YFT, trip |
| Freedom · San Pedro (22nd St.) | Oct. 13, 1.5 day | 75 yellowfin to 50+ lb on 28 | 2.68 YFT, trip |
| Patriot · Newport | Oct. 12, 3/4 day | 119 yellowfin, 6 skipjack, 3 dorado on 33 | 3.61 YFT |
| Sum Fun · Dana Point | Oct. 10, 3/4 day | 187 bullet, 78 yellowfin, 7 skipjack on 44 | 1.77 YFT |
| Thunderbird · Newport | Oct. 13, overnight | 27 yellowfin, 12 skipjack, 3 dorado on 29 | 0.93 YFT |
| Aloha Spirit · Oxnard | Oct. 10, full day | 264 skipjack, 12 calico, 4 white seabass, 2 yellowfin, 2 yellowtail on 26 | n/a |
| Victory · Long Beach | Oct. 12, 3/4 day | 80 calico, 74 sand bass, 31 whitefish, 29 barracuda, 8 yellowtail on 33 | n/a |
| San Diego & Oceanside |
| All boats listed, four landings plus Oceanside | Yellowfin: Sat 692 · Sun 14 · Mon 156 · Tue 141
Bluefin: Sat 12 · Sun 1 · Mon 0 · Tue 0 | 1,003 YFT, 13 bluefin |
| Sea Watch · Seaforth | Oct. 10, full day offshore | 230 yellowfin, 5 skipjack, 4 dorado, 1 yellowtail on 30 | 7.67 YFT |
| Producer · H&M | Oct. 10, overnight | 137 yellowfin, 45 bullet, 17 skipjack, 2 dorado on 18 | 7.61 YFT |
| Voyager · Seaforth | Oct. 13, 1.5 day | 70 yellowfin, 12 yellowtail, 1 dorado on 13 | 5.38 YFT, trip |
| Old Glory · H&M | Oct. 12, overnight | 70 yellowfin, 80 bullet, 5 skipjack, 2 dorado on 16 | 4.38 YFT |
| Aztec · Seaforth | Oct. 12, overnight | 86 yellowfin, 52 yellowtail, 6 bullet on 27 | 3.19 YFT |
| Horizon · H&M | Oct. 10, 2 day | 5 bluefin, 57 yellowfin, 30 skipjack, 6 yellowtail, 1 wahoo on 22 | 2.59 YFT, trip |
| Ranger 85 · H&M | Oct. 13, 2.5 day | 54 yellowfin, 7 skipjack, 4 yellowtail, 2 halibut on 23 | 2.35 YFT, trip |
| San Diego · Seaforth | Oct. 10, full day | 6 bluefin, 73 yellowtail, 16 sand bass on 37 | 1.97 yellowtail |
| Ocean Odyssey · H&M | Oct. 13, 1.5 day | 35 dorado, 3 wahoo on 27 | 1.30 dorado, trip |
| Tradition · H&M | Oct. 10, lobster twilight | 70 spiny lobster kept, 25 released, on 10 | 7.00 lobster |
| San Diego daily totals are our sum of the boats listed on the count services, not the services’ own totals. Sunday and Monday had very few listings and Tuesday was still filling in when we pulled it. The per-rod figure for multi-day boats covers the whole trip. The count service listed Freedom’s 1.5-day trip under both Oct. 12 and Oct. 13; we counted it once, on the date of 22nd Street’s post. Inshore half-day boats are on sand bass, calico, barracuda and bonito. |
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Catalina & the Island Boats
Nobody named Catalina in writing again this week, so neither will we. The newest 22nd Street reports are all from the Freedom, and all are tuna and yellowtail trips. Tuesday, Oct. 13: “Yellowfin up to 50 plus pounds!”, 75 on a 1.5-day for 28 anglers. Oct. 10, overnight: 5 yellowfin, 41 yellowtail and “limits of taco meat.” None says where the boat fished. Davey’s Locker’s count page lists Newport boats and attributes nothing to the island, and SoCalFishReports’ skipper-post page returned no posts when we opened it this morning.
Oxnard’s boats keep posting island-style mixed bags: Aloha Spirit listed 264 skipjack, 12 calico, 4 white seabass and a couple of yellowtail on 26 Saturday, and Island Tak 50 calico on 10 rods Monday. The landing’s own name carries “Channel Islands,” but the count service doesn’t say where those fish came from, and we won’t guess. If you’re planning an island trip, ask whoever you book with where their boats have been fishing.
Rockfish rules changed Oct. 1 for every SoCal boat, island trips included. From Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, south of Point Conception, nearshore rockfish, cabezon and greenling are closed to boat anglers, and shelf rockfish and lingcod may only be taken seaward of the 50-fathom line. Shore anglers and divers are exempt. Yellowtail, calico, bonito and tuna aren’t affected. We re-read CDFW’s groundfish summary this morning for that. Also in force as of CDFW’s Sept. 17 notice, which we did not re-read this week: yellowfin 10 a day within the 20-fish general limit, bluefin 2 on top of it, and the emergency rule from Pigeon Point south: no hooks over 1½ inches and no wire leaders for shore anglers or anyone within 1,000 yards of shore.
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⏳ The Season Clock
Salmon: 18 days on the calendar, Pigeon Point to Point Reyes.
Pigeon Point to the U.S./Mexico border: was open Sept. 1–30. Closed since Oct. 1.
38°02′ N (near Point Reyes) to Pigeon Point: open Sept. 1 – Oct. 31. Counting today, Oct. 14 through Oct. 31, 18 days on the calendar, if the guideline holds out.
How many fish are left? CDFW’s Sport Ocean Salmon Tracker, read directly this morning, is updated through Sept. 30: 11,040 caught, 8,960 remaining on the shared 20,000-fish guideline, 55.2% used across all open areas. That is up from 7,585 caught through Sept. 15, so the second half of September added 3,455 fish. CDFW says estimates post after each half-month period ends, so the Oct. 1–15 figure isn’t out yet. At the late-September pace of roughly 230 fish a day, 8,960 would last about 39 days, longer than the 18 left. That is our arithmetic on one fortnight, not CDFW’s, and effort changes. CDFW’s in-season changes page and Marine Management News blog, checked this morning, list no change to the fall season. Treat Oct. 31 as a ceiling, not a promise.
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.
Call the hotline the morning you go: (707) 576-3429. Inseason closures can come with only a few days’ notice. That’s what happened to San Francisco in August.
Groundfish Limits
10 rockfish, cabezon and greenling per day, aggregate. Within that: copper 1, canary 2, and vermilion/sunset 2. The vermilion limit is 4 only in the Northern Management Area, north of Cape Mendocino, and 2 everywhere else (re-checked this morning against CDFW’s groundfish summary, updated June 23, 2026). Lingcod 2 a day, 22-inch minimum. No retention at any time of quillback, cowcod, yelloweye or bronzespotted.
Depths: Northern, Mendocino, San Francisco and Central areas (everything north of Point Conception) are open at all depths through Dec. 31. Southern area: nearshore species closed; shelf and slope rockfish and lingcod seaward of 50 fathoms only from Oct. 1. You must carry a descending device. Cordell Bank: all groundfish fishing is prohibited there, per CDFW. Check the boundary on CDFW’s Ocean Sport Fishing interactive map and the NMFS compliance guide before you go.
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◉ Tide Tables
Source note: every prediction below is a direct pull from the NOAA CO-OPS prediction API, read as raw data this morning for the four stations, Oct. 14–21. MLLW datum, local daylight time, heights in feet. H = high, L = low. Minus lows would show in red; there are none this week.
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No minus tides this week, and the swing shrinks toward Sunday. The biggest range of the window is today at the Golden Gate: a 5.72 ft high at 1:46 p.m. falling to 0.11 ft at 8:45 p.m., a 5.61-ft drop in seven hours, which is the lowest low at any of the four stations. By Sunday’s first quarter the Gate is at neap: its mid-day low is still 3.54 ft at 12:25 p.m., so the water barely moves between the 7:47 a.m. and 5:21 p.m. highs. At Port Chicago, the lows slide toward dawn late in the week: 0.21 ft at 3:54 a.m. Monday, 0.14 ft at 4:40 a.m. Tuesday and 0.14 ft at 5:19 a.m. Wednesday, with the flood building through the morning. Monterey’s lowest is 0.27 ft tonight at 8:15 p.m. and Port San Luis’s 0.40 ft at 7:43 p.m.
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San Francisco / Golden Gate · NOAA station 9414290
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Oct 14 | 3:19a H 4.51 · 7:44a L 3.14 · 1:46p H 5.72 · 8:45p L 0.11 |
| Thu Oct 15 | 4:21a H 4.34 · 8:29a L 3.46 · 2:24p H 5.48 · 9:34p L 0.32 |
| Fri Oct 16 | 5:32a H 4.24 · 9:28a L 3.67 · 3:11p H 5.21 · 10:32p L 0.51 |
| Sat Oct 17 | 6:48a H 4.25 · 10:56a L 3.72 · 4:10p H 4.95 · 11:38p L 0.63 |
| Sun Oct 18 | 7:47a H 4.35 · 12:25p L 3.54 · 5:21p H 4.75 |
| Mon Oct 19 | 12:42a L 0.65 · 8:27a H 4.51 · 1:31p L 3.17 · 6:35p H 4.67 |
| Tue Oct 20 | 1:35a L 0.63 · 8:57a H 4.71 · 2:22p L 2.68 · 7:44p H 4.68 |
| Wed Oct 21 | 2:20a L 0.64 · 9:23a H 4.96 · 3:04p L 2.12 · 8:46p H 4.75 |
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Port Chicago / West Delta · NOAA station 9415144
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Oct 14 | 5:43a H 3.74 · 10:19a L 2.02 · 3:51p H 4.97 |
| Thu Oct 15 | 12:14a L 0.27 · 6:43a H 3.66 · 11:04a L 2.22 · 4:28p H 4.84 |
| Fri Oct 16 | 1:06a L 0.33 · 7:45a H 3.62 · 11:58a L 2.34 · 5:13p H 4.59 |
| Sat Oct 17 | 2:03a L 0.35 · 8:45a H 3.62 · 1:03p L 2.35 · 6:09p H 4.27 |
| Sun Oct 18 | 3:01a L 0.30 · 9:40a H 3.66 · 2:18p L 2.22 · 7:19p H 3.96 |
| Mon Oct 19 | 3:54a L 0.21 · 10:29a H 3.74 · 3:33p L 1.93 · 8:46p H 3.75 |
| Tue Oct 20 | 4:40a L 0.14 · 11:11a H 3.84 · 4:38p L 1.54 · 10:09p H 3.70 |
| Wed Oct 21 | 5:19a L 0.14 · 11:46a H 3.98 · 5:34p L 1.13 · 11:15p H 3.73 |
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Monterey · NOAA station 9413450
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Oct 14 | 2:20a H 3.75 · 6:24a L 3.03 · 12:33p H 5.34 · 8:15p L 0.27 |
| Thu Oct 15 | 3:37a H 3.62 · 6:55a L 3.30 · 1:10p H 5.08 · 9:11p L 0.45 |
| Fri Oct 16 | 5:10a H 3.61 · 7:37a L 3.50 · 1:58p H 4.80 · 10:14p L 0.58 |
| Sat Oct 17 | 6:33a H 3.70 · 9:03a L 3.61 · 3:04p H 4.54 · 11:18p L 0.63 |
| Sun Oct 18 | 7:17a H 3.83 · 11:05a L 3.51 · 4:24p H 4.36 |
| Mon Oct 19 | 12:15a L 0.61 · 7:44a H 3.99 · 12:28p L 3.18 · 5:41p H 4.31 |
| Tue Oct 20 | 1:01a L 0.59 · 8:05a H 4.18 · 1:23p L 2.73 · 6:47p H 4.33 |
| Wed Oct 21 | 1:39a L 0.63 · 8:25a H 4.44 · 2:07p L 2.19 · 7:45p H 4.37 |
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Port San Luis (Avila / Morro Bay) · NOAA station 9412110
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Oct 14 | 1:37a H 3.70 · 5:41a L 2.96 · 11:59a H 5.42 · 7:43p L 0.40 |
| Thu Oct 15 | 2:55a H 3.52 · 6:05a L 3.25 · 12:34p H 5.13 · 8:41p L 0.60 |
| Fri Oct 16 | 1:18p H 4.81 · 9:50p L 0.75 |
| Sat Oct 17 | 2:24p H 4.50 · 11:00p L 0.78 |
| Sun Oct 18 | 7:08a H 3.84 · 10:48a L 3.61 · 4:00p H 4.31 · 11:57p L 0.73 |
| Mon Oct 19 | 7:27a H 4.03 · 12:11p L 3.24 · 5:23p H 4.31 |
| Tue Oct 20 | 12:42a L 0.68 · 7:44a H 4.25 · 1:03p L 2.76 · 6:27p H 4.38 |
| Wed Oct 21 | 1:19a L 0.69 · 8:02a H 4.54 · 1:45p L 2.21 · 7:23p H 4.47 |
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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, and checked against the moon’s true position; illumination below is the true figure at local noon. Sunrise, sunset and lunar transits computed for Fresno (36.75°N, 119.77°W), PDT. Solunar majors are the moon overhead and underfoot, listed in the order they fall in the day. Almanac convention: the best fishing brackets the new and the full moon.
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This is the quiet stretch between brackets. The new-moon bracket ended last weekend, and the moon reaches first quarter at about 9:12 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18 by its true position (about 11:25 a.m. by the mean synodic month). The almanac calls the quarters the slowest days of the cycle. The next bracket, the full moon, falls on Oct. 25 at about 9:11 p.m. (8:35 p.m. by the mean month), so it opens late in next week’s issue.
The clock lines up better than the phase does. With the moon in the afternoon sky, the majors drift into first and last light this weekend. Saturday’s evening major is 6:32 p.m., 13 minutes after the 6:19 sunset, on a falling tide at the Golden Gate (high 4.95 ft at 4:10 p.m., low 0.63 at 11:38 p.m.). Sunday’s morning major is 6:57 a.m., 12 minutes before the 7:09 sunrise, on a rising tide toward the Gate’s 7:47 a.m. high, and Port Chicago is mid-flood at the same hour (low 0.30 ft at 3:01 a.m., high 3.66 at 9:40 a.m.). That is the tide-and-moon overlap of the window, and it comes at first light.
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| Day | Moon | Majors | Sun | Rating |
|---|
| Wed Oct. 14 | Waxing crescent, 17% | 3:34a / 4:00p | 7:05a – 6:23p | ●●●○○ Between brackets |
| Thu Oct. 15 | Waxing crescent, 24% | 4:25a / 4:51p | 7:06a – 6:22p | ●●●○○ Between brackets |
| Fri Oct. 16 | Waxing crescent, 33% | 5:17a / 5:43p | 7:07a – 6:20p | ●●●○○ Fading |
| Sat Oct. 17 | Waxing crescent, 42% | 6:08a / 6:32p | 7:08a – 6:19p | ●●●○○ Dusk major |
| Sun Oct. 18 | First quarter (9:12a), 51% | 6:57a / 7:21p | 7:09a – 6:18p | ●●○○○ Dawn major, rising tide |
| Mon Oct. 19 | Waxing gibbous, 61% | 7:44a / 8:07p | 7:10a – 6:17p | ●●○○○ Weakest stretch |
| Tue Oct. 20 | Waxing gibbous, 70% | 8:29a / 8:51p | 7:11a – 6:15p | ●●●○○ Building |
| Wed Oct. 21 | Waxing gibbous, 79% | 9:13a / 9:35p | 7:12a – 6:14p | ●●●○○ Building |
Major times are computed from lunar transit and are good to within about fifteen minutes. Ratings apply the almanac convention straight, and they’re not a promise; the notes beside them mark where a major lands on first or last light. Next week’s issue takes us through the full moon on Oct. 25.
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◉ Fish Stocking Report
CDFW plants are posted as a week range, not a date. The list for this week, Oct. 11–17, is nearly empty so far: CDFW’s planting database shows one plant, Greenhorn Reservoir in Siskiyou County, which is outside our area. Lists usually fill in as the week goes. Below is the last full list we can read, the week of Oct. 4–10, 2026, from NorCalFishReports. All rainbow trout.
| County | Water |
|---|
| Fresno | Kings River, below Pine Flat Dam (CDFW) |
| Kings | Kings River, below Pine Flat Dam (CDFW) |
| Tulare | Kings River, below Pine Flat Dam (CDFW) |
| Mariposa | Lake McClure, 1,120 lb · Lake McSwain, 2,240 lb (listed as sourced to the lakes, not CDFW) |
| Trinity | Trinity River above Clair Engle, East Fork and Stuart Fork · Coffee Creek · Carrville Dredge Pond (CDFW) |
| Inyo / Mono / Kern | Nothing on that list. (Bishop Creek, listed here last week, could not be re-confirmed.) |
The list also files the three Trinity River waters under Humboldt County and shows Lake Tahoe plants credited to Nevada’s wildlife agency. They’re outside our coverage, so we list the Trinity waters once. CDFW’s own database returned no records for Oct. 4–10 when we searched it, so the table above rests on the NorCalFishReports list alone.
Still no valley-floor lake on the list. Through the warm months CDFW plants only cold tailwaters and high country, because a hatchery rainbow dropped into a warm valley lake doesn’t live long. That changes as the water cools later in the fall, but we haven’t seen a valley-floor plant posted yet. For now, closest to home: the Kings below Pine Flat, planted again the week of Oct. 4–10 and now running about 250 cfs. Call the regional lines below before you drive.
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◉ Tournament Board
Pulled this morning from the CDFW Fishing Contest permit database, black bass category, every record read. Events are approved unless marked pending. Dates and venues can still change at the club’s end.
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Saturday, Oct. 17 is the big one. The database lists 21 approved bass events statewide that day. In the Valley: Bass Angler Inc. on Don Pedro Friday through Sunday, Ducks Unlimited on Success and River Bank on McClure Saturday and Sunday, and Gilroy and the SLO County Bass Ambushers on Nacimiento and Santa Margarita Saturday. Expect crowded ramps. Nothing approved is on Pine Flat, Millerton, Isabella, New Melones or Bass Lake this weekend. The database shows a pending Oct. 18 Pine Flat filing with no sponsor named and a pending Nov. 8 Eastman filing; neither is an approved event.
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On the Water This Window: Oct. 14 to Oct. 21
| Date | Water | Sponsor |
|---|
| Wed 14 | Clear Lake | Wednesday Night Shootout |
| Fri 16 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| Fri 16 – Sun 18 | Don Pedro, 3 day | Bass Angler Inc. |
| Weekend Oct. 17–18: Central Valley and Central Coast |
| Sat 17 – Sun 18 | Lake Success, 2 day | Ducks Unlimited |
| Sat 17 – Sun 18 | McClure, 2 day | River Bank Bass Anglers |
| Sat 17 | Nacimiento | Gilroy Bassmasters |
| Sat 17 | Santa Margarita | SLO County Bass Ambushers |
| Sat 17 – Sun 18 | Delta (Sacramento), 2 day | Fresno Bass Club |
| Sat 17 | Delta (Sacramento) · Delta (San Joaquin) · Delta (Contra Costa) | Sacramento Bass Wranglers · Anglers Press Outdoors · Bay Area Bassbusters |
| Rest of the window |
| Sat 17 – Sun 18 | Clear Lake, 2 day (two events) | Bass Anglers of Northern California · Tri Valley Bassmasters |
| Sat 17 – Sun 18 | Oroville · Shasta · Almanor · Skinner, 2 day | Folsom Bass Team · Rogue Valley Bassmasters · Great Basin Bassers · Temecula Valley Bass Anglers |
| Sat 17 | Clear Lake · Oroville · Shasta · Trinity | Contra Costa Bass Club · Basin Bassmaster Loomis · Paradise Bass Club · Westside Anglers |
| Sat 17 | El Capitan · Lower Otay | SoCal Jr. Bass Anglers · Hidden Valley Bassmasters |
| Sun 18 | Trinity | Shasta Cascade Bass Anglers |
Mark the Calendar
| Date | Water | Sponsor |
|---|
| Oct. 22 · 29 · Nov. 5 · 11 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| Oct. 24 | Don Pedro | Oro Madre Bass Anglers |
| Oct. 24 | Delta (San Joaquin) | NorCal Bass · Manteca Bassin Buddies · Anglers Press Outdoors (Oct. 24–25) |
| Nov. 1 | McClure · Don Pedro | Modesto Ambassadors · SAF/Oakdale HS Bass Team |
| Nov. 7 | Millerton · Don Pedro | Kerman Bass Club · Sonora Bass Anglers · Manteca Bassin Buddies |
| Nov. 7–8 | Nacimiento, 2 day | Golden Empire Bass Club |
| Nov. 8 | Millerton · Don Pedro | Kings VIII Bass Club · River Bank Bass Anglers |
| Nov. 13–15 | Don Pedro, 3 day | Bass Angler Inc. |
| Nov. 14 | Pine Flat | BTuff Magazine & Cope’s Tackle and Rod Shop |
| Nov. 14 | McClure | Gilroy Bassmasters · Sierra Bass Club |
| Nov. 21 · 22 | Millerton · McClure | BASS 101 · Fresno Bass Club |
| Nov. 27 | Pine Flat · Nacimiento | CA B.A.S.S. Nation · 805 Bass Addicts |
We read the full permit database this morning, all records, in the browser rather than through a summarizing tool. Nothing is permitted on Isabella through Nov. 30.
We don’t print last week’s weights. Host clubs post results on no verifiable schedule, and many never post at all, so a results table here would be part fact and part guess. Upcoming permitted events only.
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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
Low water on the Kings still makes people bold. The release below Pine Flat is running around 250 cfs, so you’ll see crossings and bars you couldn’t reach a few weeks ago. It’s still cold tailwater over slick cobble, and the release is set by request, so it can go back up. Wear the vest, carry a staff, and check the flow before you cross back.
Correction: the Monterey County shellfish warning is lifted. The state health department ended it Oct. 12, so last week’s “don’t eat it” no longer applies to Monterey County. The statewide sport mussel quarantine still runs through at least Oct. 31, so no mussels anywhere. Anchovy taken from Pigeon Point to Point Lobos was bait only by CDFW order since Sept. 11, and we saw no notice lifting it, so treat it as still in force. Shellfish line: (800) 553-4133.
No minus tides, but the Delta flats drain at dawn. Port Chicago’s lows run 0.14 ft at 4:40 a.m. Tuesday and 0.14 ft at 5:19 a.m. Wednesday. If you’re wading a shallow flat or running a slough in the dark, carry a real light and watch the sounder.
Young white sharks may still be close to shore. CDFW’s Sept. 17 notice set an emergency rule from Pigeon Point south that bans big hooks and wire leaders from shore and within 1,000 yards of it. We didn’t re-read the notice this week, so check CDFW before you fish that stretch. If you hook one, cut the line. Don’t try to land it.
Low lakes, and a blank row isn’t a safe row. Pine Flat 17.1%, Success 9.9%, Kaweah 10.3%, Eastman 6.8%, and Don Pedro, McClure and Shaver each lost thousands of acre-feet this week. Every stump and roadbed that cleared your hull in July is closer to prop depth now. Idle in, watch the sounder, and call the marina before you tow.
Wind and fire season aren’t over. Check road, fire and wind before you head for Shaver, Huntington, the Kaiser Pass lakes, Wishon, or over the hill to the Owens, and know a second way out. Tell somebody where you went and when you’ll be back.
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Three things this week. First, salmon. Pigeon Point to Point Reyes is open through Oct. 31, 18 days counting today. CDFW’s tracker now runs through Sept. 30: 11,040 caught and 8,960 left on the 20,000-fish guideline. The last half of September added about 230 fish a day, and at that pace the rest lasts about 39 days, so the calendar will probably end the season before the count does. The Bay boats put 326 kings on 208 rods over the last four days. Call (707) 576-3429 the morning you go.
Second, the quiet stretch of the moon. First quarter is Sunday morning, the almanac’s slow part of the cycle, and there are no minus tides to help. What we do have is a dusk major Saturday and a dawn major Sunday on a rising tide. The full moon is Oct. 25.
Third, the lakes. Pine Flat is up 7,247 AF and still only 17.1% full, Success is under 10%, and Don Pedro, McClure and Shaver all dropped again. We also couldn’t get a usable freshwater bite report this week, so the bite table says so. Call the marina before you tow.
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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 for Oct. 14–21 are direct pulls of the raw NOAA CO-OPS prediction data for stations 9414290 San Francisco, 9415144 Port Chicago, 9413450 Monterey and 9412110 Port San Luis (MLLW, local time) · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District: Corps reservoir sheet and Section 7 sheet (data ending midnight Oct. 13, generated Oct. 14) and the Pine Flat hourly report · California Data Exchange Center (CDEC) daily storage through Oct. 12 for Don Pedro, McClure, Shaver and the other lakes shown, and the Merced near Snelling flow through Oct. 13 · San Luis Obispo County Public Works reservoir sensors (Lopez, Santa Margarita) and USGS gauges (Nacimiento, San Antonio) · NorCalFishReports.com, SoCalFishReports.com and SanDiegoFishReports.com boat-by-boat dock totals for Oct. 9–13 · 22ndstreet.com and daveyslocker.com for Catalina; none attributed a trip to Catalina · CDFW Sport Ocean Salmon Tracker (data through Sept. 30) and CDFW’s in-season salmon changes page · CDFW Summary of Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulations (page updated June 23, 2026) · CDPH shellfish notice SN26-021 (Oct. 12) and the CDFW Sept. 11 anchovy order · CDFW planting database and the NorCalFishReports.com plant list for Oct. 4–10 · CDFW Fishing Contest permit database, black bass category, every record read. Moon phase, solunar transits, sunrise and sunset computed astronomically for Fresno and checked against the moon’s true position.
What we couldn’t get, and what we corrected: No usable freshwater bite reports for the Central Valley lakes, the Delta, the Sierra or the Eastern Sierra this week; the ones we found were undated or from other years, so we printed none · Hensley had no reading today (last was 6,629 AF on Oct. 6), Edison was last printed Sept. 22, and Wishon and Courtright are Oct. 6 figures · No San Joaquin flow below Friant and no Tule flow from any source · No percent-full for Nacimiento or San Antonio; their gauges report elevation only · No verified current report for the California Aqueduct, San Luis or O’Neill Forebay · We couldn’t confirm the 2026 Eastern Sierra general-season closing date, so we printed none · Tuesday’s dock totals are thin, with only one Bay boat listed · We found no catch attributed to Catalina, so that block carries no fish counts · Last week’s Bishop Creek plant could not be re-confirmed · We didn’t re-read the CDFW Sept. 17 shark notice or find a notice lifting the anchovy order · CDFW’s groundfish page limits vermilion rockfish to 2 outside the Northern Management Area, and we printed that.
Please read: Conditions, seasons, bag limits and closures change, sometimes with a single day’s notice. The 20,000-Chinook fall guideline can close the remaining area early by inseason action. Groundfish depth rules and sublimits change by area and month, and the Southern Management Area changed on Oct. 1. Eastern Sierra waters carry their own special regulations that differ from statewide rules and vary reach by reach on the same river. 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 check ramp access and lake levels with the operating agency before you travel. Where a figure was stale, missing, from a second source or in conflict with another published source, we said so and dated it rather than guessing.
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