The Weekly Fishing Report
Wednesday, October 21 – Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Central Valley · Sierra · Eastern Sierra · Delta · Coast | Issue 26-42
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11 DAYS OF SALMON LEFT, PIGEON POINT TO POINT REYES • 231 KINGS ON 232 RODS, FRI–TUE, DOWN FROM 1.57 A ROD • FULL MOON SUNDAY, OCT. 25, MINUS TIDES TO −1.10 FT BY WEDNESDAY • PINE FLAT UP 6,300 AF TO 17.8% • MONTEREY BAY BLUEFIN: 16 ON 9 RODS SATURDAY • FALL TROUT PLANTS REACH MCCLURE, MODESTO RES. AND WOODWARD
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Salmon is open, with 11 days left on the calendar. From Pigeon Point up to Point Reyes the season runs through Oct. 31, which is 11 days counting today. The stretch south of Pigeon Point has been closed since Oct. 1. CDFW’s salmon page and its Marine Management News blog, both read this morning, show no change to the fall season; the newest salmon action on the blog is still Aug. 21. CDFW’s catch tracker, read directly, still runs through Sept. 30: 11,040 caught, 8,960 left on the 20,000-fish guideline, and the Oct. 1–15 estimate hasn’t posted. At September’s pace of about 230 fish a day, all 31 days of October would take roughly 7,100 fish, short of the 8,960 left. That is our arithmetic, not a CDFW forecast, but it says the calendar, not the guideline, is the likelier thing to end this season.
The kings are thinning. Friday through Tuesday the boats the count service listed landed 231 kings on 232 rods, about 1.00 a rod, against 1.57 a week ago. Friday ran 1.17, Saturday 0.90, Sunday 0.74, and no salmon boats were listed Monday. The standouts: Oakland Anglers II with 26 on 17 Friday, Lovely Martha with 23 on 22, fish to 27 pounds, Sunday, and Hog Heaven with 16 kings to 28 pounds Friday. Tuesday is one boat: New Easy Rider, 14 on 7 rods, a limit for everyone aboard. Fish Emeryville’s Tuesday post said “Salmon is still on the menu!!” The count service may not list every boat.
Bluefin turned up in Monterey Bay, and the south went to yellowtail. New Horizon, a Monterey half-day boat, listed 16 bluefin on nine rods Saturday morning. At Newport, Western Pride had 185 yellowtail on 44 rods Sunday. San Diego and Oceanside boats listed 3,207 yellowfin and 24 bluefin Friday through Tuesday, and two 3-day boats came in Monday with bluefin to 200 pounds. The statewide sport mussel quarantine ran through at least Oct. 31 as of the Oct. 12 notice; we did not re-read CDPH this week.
The full moon brings minus tides back. It is full Sunday, Oct. 25, at about 9:11 p.m. The Golden Gate low goes below zero Sunday at 5:34 p.m. (−0.34 ft) and reaches −1.10 ft at 7:52 p.m. next Wednesday. Pine Flat is up 6,300 acre-feet on the week, to 17.8% full, the only reservoir of the group that gained. And CDFW’s trout plants have reached the foothills: this week’s list shows McClure, the Merced River, Modesto and Woodward Reservoirs, Yosemite Lake, Shaver and Bass Lake.
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◉ This Week’s Best Bets
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Bet No. 1 · Berkeley, Emeryville & Sausalito
Kings, 11 Days on the Calendar
Friday through Tuesday, 231 kings on 232 rods, down from 1.57 a rod last week. Oakland Anglers II (Emeryville) had 26 on 17 Friday. Pacific Dream (Berkeley, Marin coast) had 20 on 12 Saturday. Lovely Martha landed 23 on 22 to 27 lb Sunday and Hog Heaven 16 to 28 lb Friday. 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 · Monterey
Bluefin in the Bay
New Horizon (J&M, Monterey) listed 16 bluefin on 9 rods, about 1.78 a rod, on a half-day Saturday morning. Kahuna had 3 bluefin on a Friday half-day and 2 on a Saturday full day. The rockfish are still easy there: Caroline had 230 on 23 and Check Mate 220 on 22 Saturday, limits both.
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Bet No. 3 · Emeryville to Morro Bay
Rockfish and Lingcod Limits
Sea Wolf (Emeryville) listed 50 lingcod and 250 rockfish on 25 rods Friday and 46 and 230 on 23 Saturday, limits of both. Starfire (Morro Bay) had 310 rockfish-group on 31 rods Sunday with 14 lingcod. Fish Emeryville says its half-day and rockfish-only trips finish for the year Nov. 5. North of Point Conception stays open at all depths through Dec. 31.
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Bet No. 4 · Newport, San Pedro & San Diego
Yellowtail Take Over
Western Pride (Newport) listed 185 yellowtail on 44 rods Sunday and 135 on 38 Monday. Triton (San Pedro) had 125 yellowtail and 61 yellowfin on 25 Sunday. San Diego’s Liberty came in with 125 yellowfin on 18 rods on a 2.5-day trip, and New Lo-An had 5 bluefin to 200 lb on a 3-day. Yellowfin limit is 10 a day.
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⚠ Water Watch
Pine Flat is climbing faster again. The Corps sheet (data through Tuesday midnight) has the lake at 177,670 AF, 17.8% full, up 6,300 AF since last Tuesday and up 1,180 on Tuesday alone, against last week’s gain of 394 on the day. The release was 182 to 192 cfs for most of the last 48 hours, then stepped up to 216 cfs by 6 a.m. today; it was about 250 cfs a week ago. The sheet’s computed inflow is 792 cfs, while the gauge on the Kings below the North Fork, at the head of the lake, reads 193. We still can’t reconcile the two, and the Corps itself warns its computed inflow is erratic. The storage gain comes from the elevation gauge.
The south Valley lakes keep sliding. Isabella lost 3,080 AF on the week, to 24.6%, releasing 298 cfs against 211 coming in. Success lost 224 and is now 9.6%. Kaweah lost 67, to 10.3%. Eastman is 6.7%. Hensley reported nothing on today’s sheet; its last reading was 7.4% on Oct. 6.
The foothill lakes all dropped. The Corps’ Section 7 sheet carries nothing for New Melones, Don Pedro, McClure or Shaver this week, only Millerton and Bass Lake, so we went to the state’s California Data Exchange Center (CDEC). Through Sunday, Oct. 18: Don Pedro 73.7%, down 14,415 AF in six days; McClure 50.7%, down 8,954. Through Monday, Oct. 19: New Melones 62.8%, down 10,373 in six days, and Shaver 52.7%, down 1,146 in seven. Millerton is 43.6%, down 2,437. Pine Flat is the only one that gained. Oro Madre Bass Anglers has Don Pedro Saturday and the Delta is crowded with events Saturday and Sunday. Expect trailers.
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◉ Lakes & Reservoirs
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District. Corps sheet: data ending midnight Oct. 20, generated Oct. 21 at 07:00. Section 7 sheet: data ending midnight Oct. 20, generated Oct. 21 at 07:01, and it carried only Millerton (Friant) and Crane Valley (Bass Lake) from our list. Rows marked § come from the state’s California Data Exchange Center (CDEC), because the Corps sheets reported nothing for them: Don Pedro and McClure through Oct. 18, New Melones, Shaver, Huntington and Florence through Oct. 19 (Merced flow Oct. 20). Change is against last week’s printed figures (Oct. 13 for the Corps rows, Oct. 12 for the CDEC rows). §§ marks CDEC rows where that is six days for Don Pedro, McClure and New Melones and seven for Shaver, Huntington and Florence, not a full week. Percent-full uses gross pool.
| Lake | Elev (ft) | Storage (AF) | % Full | Change |
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| Pine Flat | 750.38 | 177,670 | 17.8% | +6,300 |
| Millerton (Friant) | n/r | 227,087 | 43.6% | −2,437 |
| Don Pedro | 783.88§ | 1,496,702§ | 73.7%§† | −14,415§§ |
| New Melones | n/r | 1,507,997§ | 62.8%§ | −10,373§§ |
| McClure (New Exchequer) | 776.46§ | 519,355§ | 50.7%§† | −8,954§§ |
| Merced R. near Snelling (below McSwain) | n/a | n/a | n/a | 248 cfs§ |
| Eastman (Buchanan) | 465.86 | 10,082 | 6.7% | −47 |
| Hensley (Hidden) | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r‡ |
| Kaweah (Terminus) | 598.51 | 19,050 | 10.3% | −67 |
| Success (Schafer) | 591.70 | 7,891 | 9.6% | −224 |
| Isabella | 2,555.07 | 139,902 | 24.6% | −3,080 |
| Shaver | n/r | 71,292§ | 52.7%§ | −1,146§§ |
| Bass Lake (Crane Valley) | n/r | 30,310 | 66.7% | −414 |
| New Hogan | 666.42 | 152,842 | n/p | −1,234 |
| Huntington / Edison / Florence | n/r | 71,106§ / n/r¶¶ / 6,238§ | n/p | −3,835§§ / n/r¶¶ / −190§§ |
| Wishon / Courtright | n/r | 108,635¶ / 19,868¶ | n/p | stale¶ |
§ CDEC provisional daily data. Where CDEC and the Corps both report a lake (Millerton on Oct. 20) 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, two weeks ago. ¶¶ Edison: neither Corps sheet nor CDEC gave us a figure we could confirm; the last number we printed was Sept. 22, four weeks ago. ¶ Wishon and Courtright: CDEC’s newest reading is Oct. 13, eight days old. Compared with the Oct. 6 figures we printed two weeks ago, that is Wishon up 2,307 AF and Courtright down 8,882 AF, a swing we can’t explain from the data. † 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, and New Melones, Shaver, Bass Lake and the rest use the gross-pool figures we hold. Success uses the Corps’ 82,300 AF; we haven’t verified whether a dam raise has changed that. 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 on the bite. The weekly regional aggregator lists no reports this week for Central California, the Delta, the Central Sierra or the Sierra foothills, and our searches turned up only fishing columns with no date we could confirm, so we didn’t use them. What follows rests on verified levels, plants, permits and the usual late-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 6,300 AF on the week and still only 17.8% 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. Next approved: BTuff Magazine and Cope’s Tackle, Nov. 14, then CA B.A.S.S. Nation, Nov. 27. The Kings below the dam is not on this week’s plant list (it was planted Oct. 4–10). |
| Millerton | 43.6%, down 2,437 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, Kings VIII, Nov. 8, and BASS 101, Nov. 21. |
| Don Pedro & McClure | Don Pedro 73.7% and McClure 50.7% as of Sunday (state CDEC data, our percentages). Fall pattern: trout and kings on the shad, bass deep. Oro Madre Bass Anglers has Don Pedro Saturday, Oct. 24. McClure and the Merced River are both on this week’s CDFW plant list (rainbow trout; pounds not posted). Next: Modesto Ambassadors on McClure and SAF/Oakdale High on Don Pedro, Nov. 1. |
| New Melones | 62.8%, down 10,373 AF in six days. 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 6.7%. Hensley reported nothing today; its last reading was 7.4% on Oct. 6. Eastman is the bass lake of the two; Hensley is catfish and carp. At these levels your first problem is getting the boat in. The Nov. 8 Eastman filing now shows as approved in the permit database, with no sponsor named. |
| Kaweah & Success | Kaweah 10.3%, Success 9.6% and still dropping, about 224 AF on the week at Success. Small-water fishing: finesse plastics, minijigs for crappie, dip bait for cats after dark. No permitted event this window. |
| Isabella | 24.6%, releasing 298 cfs against 211 coming in. The permit database lists no Isabella bass event through Nov. 30, though it does list a Kern County “various waters” filing for Nov. 1–30 with no sponsor named. No Kern section is on this week’s plant list. |
| Bass Lake | 66.7% (30,310 AF) and down 414 on the week. Bass Lake (Madera County) is on this week’s CDFW plant list, rainbow trout, pounds not posted. No permitted bass event this window. |
| Shaver & Huntington | Shaver 52.7% and Huntington 71,106 AF as of Monday, losing roughly 160 and 550 AF a day (CDEC, Oct. 12–19). Shaver Lake is on this week’s plant list, rainbow trout. Kokanee are usually in the inlets to spawn this time of year with holdover rainbows behind them; that’s the pattern, and we have no report confirming it this week. |
| Wishon & Courtright | State data stops Oct. 13 (Wishon 108,635 AF, Courtright 19,868). 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. |
| Modesto & Woodward Reservoirs, Yosemite Lake | All three are on this week’s CDFW plant list, rainbow trout, Stanislaus and Merced counties. Pounds and dates aren’t posted, only the week of Oct. 18–24. These are the first valley and foothill plants we’ve seen on the list this fall. Call the lake office before you 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. Lopez was 78.5% and Santa Margarita 86.5% last week.
| Lake | Level | Who to Call |
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| Lopez | 78.1% of capacity, 38,630 AF, elev. 509.96 ft | SLO County Public Works |
| Santa Margarita | 86.0% of capacity, 19,205 AF, elev. 1,299.02 ft | SLO County Public Works |
| Nacimiento | Elev. 741.94 ft, down 0.41 ft on the week | Monterey County Water Resources Agency |
| San Antonio | Elev. 737.76 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. No permitted bass event is on Nacimiento, Santa Margarita or the other Central Coast lakes this window. Next at Nacimiento: Golden Empire, Nov. 7–8, then American Bass, Nov. 21–22.
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◉ Eastern Sierra
One dated report this week, from Bridgeport. The weekly aggregator lists a single Eastern Sierra item. The Bridgeport Fish Enhancement Foundation (BFEF), in a post dated Oct. 20, says Michael Royere was shore fishing Bridgeport Reservoir and landed a 5 lb 7 oz BFEF tagged trophy trout, and that “the shore bite is definitely picking up.” The same angler had a 3 lb 14 oz tagged fish in a post dated Oct. 16. Those are individual catches the foundation chose to post, so read them as a sign the shore bite is on, not as a full report. We found nothing dated this week for Twin Lakes, Saddlebag, Virginia Lakes, Crowley, the Owens or the June Lake Loop.
Plants: no Eastern Sierra water is on the CDFW list for Oct. 18–24. A 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. Check road and weather before you go over the passes; this is late-season country and the aspens are past peak.
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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. The lowest lows come after dark all window, 0.15 ft at 7:57 p.m. Saturday, then below zero from Sunday night: −0.03 ft at 8:43 p.m. Sunday, −0.15 at 9:31 p.m. Monday, −0.19 at 10:21 p.m. Tuesday and −0.18 at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday. Highs build all week, to 5.76 ft at 3:08 p.m. next Wednesday, so the swings grow to nearly 6 ft by then. Sturgeon: Heisen Sturg (Fish Emeryville) listed 17 white sturgeon released on four rods Friday and 12 on four Saturday. Fish Emeryville says it will run catch-and-release sturgeon trips out of Pittsburg Marina through the winter, to the end of April. Events: Tracy Oasis Marina Thursday; then Saturday Manteca Bassin Buddies, NorCal Bass and Anglers Press Outdoors (San Joaquin County; Press runs Saturday and Sunday), and Delta Bass Club, 17-90 Bass Club and The Bass Hole (Contra Costa; the Hole runs Saturday and Sunday). Tracy Oasis is back Oct. 29. |
| Upper Kings, above Pine Flat | Below the North Fork: 193 cfs on this morning’s 7 a.m. reading, and 181 to 193 on the hourly report over the last 48 hours, with the water running 58.6 to 65.3°F. That is the same 58 to 65 we reported a week ago. Low, clear freestone water. Fish it early, small and quiet. The daily sheet’s natural-flow line was not reported. |
| Lower Kings, below the dam | Release 182 to 192 cfs for most of the last 48 hours on the Corps’ hourly report, stepped up to 216 cfs by 6 a.m. today. A week ago it was about 250. The Kings is not on this week’s plant list; it was planted Oct. 4–10. 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 changed overnight. Check the flow before you step in. |
| Merced River | Merced near Snelling ran 248 cfs (CDEC daily mean, Tuesday), steady at 238 to 248 since Saturday. The Merced River is on this week’s CDFW plant list in both Mariposa and Merced counties, rainbow trout, pounds not posted. |
| Kaweah & Tule | Kaweah at Three Rivers 40.8 cfs on the Corps’ 7 a.m. reading today (CDEC’s daily mean for Tuesday was 40), and 17 cfs at McKay Point. The Tule gauges weren’t reported. Creek fishing, not river fishing. |
| Kern River | At Kernville, 195.9 cfs on the Corps’ 7 a.m. reading today, against 206.5 on last week’s sheet. The release below Isabella is running about 298 cfs, down from 411. No Kern section is on this week’s plant list. |
| San Joaquin below Friant | No flow published; the Friant additional-data block reads not-reported again. The last number we trust is 375 cfs on Sept. 17, five 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. 16–20 (Friday through Tuesday), from the NorCalFishReports, SoCalFishReports and SanDiegoFishReports count pages. Monday and Tuesday are 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, “YT” = yellowtail, “WSB” = white seabass.
| Boat / Port | Date & Trip | Count | Per Rod |
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| Bay Area & North: Salmon (kings) |
| California Dawn II · Berkeley | Oct. 16, full day | 11 kings on 15 (to 26 lb) | 0.73 |
| New Easy Rider · Berkeley | Oct. 16 / 17 / 20, full day | 10 on 15 (to 24 lb); 15 on 18; 14 on 7 | 0.67 / 0.83 / 2.00 |
| Hog Heaven · Sausalito | Oct. 16 / 18, full day | 16 kings on 8 (to 28 lb); 7 on 16 (to 20 lb) | 2.00 / 0.44 |
| New Rayann · Sausalito | Oct. 16, full day | 14 on 10 (listed as Chinook) | 1.40 |
| Oakland Anglers II · Emeryville | Oct. 16, full day | 26 kings on 17 | 1.53 |
| Pacific Dream · Berkeley (Marin coast) | Oct. 17, full day | 20 kings on 12 | 1.67 |
| Lovely Martha · San Francisco | Oct. 16 / 18, full day | 17 on 16; 23 on 22, to 27 lb | 1.06 / 1.05 |
| Scallywag · Emeryville | Oct. 16 / 17, full day | 8 on 6; 7 on 5 | 1.33 / 1.40 |
| KingFish · Emeryville | Oct. 17, full day | 13 kings on 17 | 0.76 |
| New California Dawn · Berkeley | Oct. 18, full day | 8 kings on 8 | 1.00 |
| Pacific Pearl · Emeryville | Oct. 17 / 18, full day | 7 on 12; 5 on 12 | 0.58 / 0.42 |
| Diamond · Emeryville | Oct. 17, full day | 5 kings on 6 | 0.83 |
| C Gull II · Emeryville | Oct. 17, full day | 5 kings on 10 (plus a striped bass) | 0.50 |
| Northern fleet daily average (boats listed) | Fri 1.17 (7 boats) · Sat 0.90 (7 boats) · Sun 0.74 (4 boats) · Mon none listed · Tue 2.00 (1 boat) | Fri–Tue 231 on 232 ≈ 1.00 |
| Bay Area & North: Bluefin Tuna and Sturgeon |
| New Horizon · Monterey (J&M) | Oct. 17, 1/2 day AM | 16 bluefin on 9 | 1.78 |
| Kahuna · Monterey (J&M) | Oct. 16 half-day / Oct. 17 full day | 3 bluefin on 17; 2 bluefin on 20 (rockfish, lingcod and a bonito too) | 0.18 / 0.10 |
| Here We Go Fish · Emeryville | Oct. 17, full day | 3 bluefin on 6 | 0.50 |
| Heisen Sturg · Emeryville | Oct. 16 / 17, full day | 17 white sturgeon released on 4; 12 released on 4 | 4.25 / 3.00 released |
| Bay Area & North: Groundfish |
| Sea Wolf · Emeryville | Oct. 16 / 17 / 18, full day | 50 lingcod + 250 rockfish on 25; 46 + 230 on 23; 24 + 160 on 16 | 10.00 limits (ling 2.00 / 2.00 / 1.50) |
| New Huck Finn · Emeryville | Oct. 16 / 17 / 18, full day | 30 ling + 150 rockfish on 15; 19 + 220 on 22; 70 rockfish on 7 | 10.00 / 10.00 / 10.00 |
| Lady K · Emeryville | Oct. 16 / 17, full day | 20 ling + 100 rockfish on 10; 16 + 80 on 8 | 10.00 limits |
| Oakland Anglers II · Emeryville | Oct. 17 / 18, full day | 12 ling + 170 rockfish on 17; 10 ling + 140 rockfish + a white seabass on 20 | 10.00 / 7.00 |
| California Dawn II · Berkeley | Oct. 17, full day (57 anglers) | 114 lingcod + 570 rockfish + 500 sanddab on 57 | 10.00 rockfish, 2.00 ling |
| Surf Scooter · Bodega Bay | Oct. 16, full day | 11 lingcod (to 24 lb) + 100 rockfish on 10 | 10.00 rockfish |
| Queen of Hearts · Half Moon Bay | Oct. 17 / 18 / 19, deep reef | 120 rockfish + 31 bonito + 1 ling on 12; 60 + 16 + 2 on 6; 90 + 25 + 1 on 9 | 10.00 each day |
| Riptide · Half Moon Bay | Oct. 17, deep reef | 200 rockfish, 90 bonito, 7 ling on 18 | n/a (see note) |
| Caroline / Check Mate · Monterey | Oct. 17, full day | 230 rockfish + 1 ling on 23; 220 + 1 on 22 | 10.00 / 10.00 |
| Kahuna / New Horizon · Monterey | Oct. 18, 1/2 day AM | 130 rockfish + 5 ling on 13; 80 + 1 on 8 | 10.00 / 10.00 |
| Mega-bite · Santa Cruz | Oct. 17, full day | 60 rockfish on 6 | 10.00 |
| Skipper words: Fish Emeryville, Tuesday, “Salmon is still on the menu!!” and, Monday, “Dungeness Crab starts 11/7!!” We haven’t checked that opener against CDFW. Riptide listed 200 rockfish on 18 rods, over the 10-fish aggregate, so we print no per-rod figure for it. All groundfish fishing is prohibited at Cordell Bank (see the Season Clock). |
| Central Coast: Morro Bay & Avila Beach |
| Starfire · Morro Bay | Oct. 18, full day | 310 rockfish-group + 14 lingcod on 31 | 10.00 limits (ling 0.45) |
| Endeavor · Morro Bay | Oct. 16, 3/4 day | 230 rockfish-group + 17 lingcod (2 mako) on 23 | 10.00 limits (ling 0.74) |
| Avenger · Morro Bay | Oct. 17, 1/2 day AM | 290 rockfish-group + 4 ling + 9 bonito on 29 | 10.00 limits |
| Avenger · Morro Bay | Oct. 18, 1/2 day AM | 179 rockfish-group + 8 ling + 85 bonito on 18 | 9.94 |
| Starfire · Morro Bay | Oct. 17 3/4 day / Oct. 19 1/2 day AM | 194 rockfish-group + 41 ling on 25; 214 + 6 ling on 25 | 7.76 / 8.56 |
| Avenger · Morro Bay | Oct. 16, full day (13 anglers) | 160 rockfish-group, 9 ling, 1 mako on 13 | n/a (see note) |
| Flying Fish · Avila Beach | Oct. 16, 1/2 day AM | 200 rockcod-group + 5 bonito on 20 | 10.00 limits |
| Patriot · Avila Beach | Oct. 17 / 18, 1/2 day AM | 186 rockcod-group + 1 canary on 21; 107 + 10 ling on 27 | 8.86 / 3.96 |
| “Rockfish-group” is our sum of the rockfish, bocaccio, copper, canary 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. Avenger listed 16 copper on 13 rods Friday, and Patriot 23 copper on 21 Saturday, over that limit, so we print no per-rod figure for Avenger’s Friday trip and take the dock totals as listed. No white seabass were listed at Avila or Morro Bay this week. |
| Southern California: Ventura, Oxnard, San Pedro, Long Beach, Newport, Dana Point |
| Western Pride · Newport (Davey’s) | Oct. 18 / 19, full day | 185 yellowtail, 14 yellowfin, 7 skipjack on 44; 135 yellowtail, 16 yellowfin on 38 | 4.20 / 3.55 YT |
| Triton · San Pedro (LA Waterfront) | Oct. 18, 3/4 day | 125 yellowtail, 61 yellowfin, 3 dorado on 25 | 5.00 YT / 2.44 YFT |
| Gail Force · San Pedro | Oct. 18, 3/4 day | 100 yellowtail, 30 yellowfin, 15 bullet, 8 skipjack on 20 | 5.00 YT |
| Freelance · Newport (Davey’s) | Oct. 18 / 19, full day | 137 yellowtail, 2 yellowfin on 54; 81 yellowtail, 27 bullet, 5 yellowfin on 53 | 2.54 / 1.53 YT |
| Blackfish · Newport (Davey’s) | Oct. 17 / 19, full day | 21 yellowfin, 1 striped marlin on 4; 39 yellowtail, 12 yellowfin on 6 | 5.25 YFT / 6.50 YT |
| Clemente · Dana Point | Oct. 16, 1/2 day AM | 52 yellowfin, 7 skipjack, 2 yellowtail on 8 | 6.50 YFT |
| Helena · Dana Point | Oct. 17, 3/4 day | 67 yellowfin, 3 dorado, 2 skipjack on 25 | 2.68 YFT |
| Fury · Dana Point | Oct. 18, 2 day / Oct. 19, overnight | 86 yellowfin, 16 yellowtail, 22 bullet on 22; 79 yellowfin, 64 yellowtail, 47 bullet on 25 | 3.91 YFT, trip / 3.16 YFT |
| Endeavor · Ventura | Oct. 19, 2.5 day | 70 yellowfin, 33 yellowtail, 71 calico, 50 sheephead on 17 | 4.12 YFT, trip |
| Patriot · Newport | Oct. 17, 3/4 day | 64 yellowfin, 62 yellowtail, 8 dorado on 42 | 1.52 YFT |
| Island Fox · Oxnard | Oct. 17, full day | 18 white seabass, 61 calico, 6 sheephead on 16 | 1.13 WSB |
| Eldorado · Long Beach | Oct. 18, 2 day | 73 yellowtail, 1 bluefin, 87 bonito, 59 sheephead, 135 calico on 28 | 2.61 YT, trip |
| Victory · Long Beach | Oct. 18, 3/4 day | 75 bonito, 52 calico, 41 sand bass, 38 barracuda, 3 yellowtail on 25 | n/a |
| San Diego & Oceanside |
| All boats listed, four landings plus Oceanside | Yellowfin: Fri 834 · Sat 586 · Sun 1022 · Mon 563 · Tue 202
Bluefin: Fri 7 · Sat 1 · Sun 0 · Mon 7 · Tue 9 | 3,207 YFT, 24 bluefin |
| New Lo-An · Point Loma | Oct. 19, 3 day | 5 bluefin to 200 lb, 15 yellowfin, 2 yellowtail on 12 | 1.25 YFT, trip |
| Pacific Queen · Fisherman’s | Oct. 19, 3 day | 2 bluefin to 200 lb, 18 yellowfin (to 60 lb) on 17 | 1.06 YFT, trip |
| Pacifica · Seaforth | Oct. 20, 2 day | 8 bluefin, 25 yellowtail, 19 dorado, 9 yellowfin on 18 | 0.50 YFT, trip |
| Liberty · Fisherman’s | Oct. 18, 2.5 day | 125 yellowfin, 38 skipjack, 7 yellowtail on 18 | 6.94 YFT, trip |
| Sea Adventure 80 · H&M | Oct. 17, overnight | 160 yellowfin, 28 yellowtail, 10 dorado on 27 | 5.93 YFT |
| San Diego · Seaforth | Oct. 16 / 18, full day offshore | 162 yellowfin on 35; 181 yellowfin on 36 | 4.63 / 5.03 YFT |
| Producer · H&M | Oct. 16 / 18 / 19, overnight | 145 yellowfin on 29; 130 + 130 bullet on 29; 100 + 200 bullet on 29 | 5.00 / 4.48 / 3.45 YFT |
| Pegasus · Fisherman’s | Oct. 16, overnight | 93 yellowfin, 12 dorado on 21 | 4.43 YFT |
| Pacific Voyager · Seaforth | Oct. 16, 4 day | 134 yellowfin, 59 dorado, 8 wahoo on 11 | 12.18 YFT, trip |
| Apollo · Seaforth | Oct. 17, 2.5 day | 78 yellowfin, 69 yellowtail, 1 bluefin on 17 | 4.59 YFT, trip |
| Pronto · Oceanside | Oct. 18, full day | 12 white seabass, 5 sand bass, 4 barracuda, 3 yellowtail on 11 | 1.09 WSB |
| Tradition · H&M | Oct. 18, lobster twilight | 70 spiny lobster kept, 298 released, on 10 | 7.00 lobster |
| San Diego daily totals are our sum of the yellowfin and bluefin the boats listed on the count services, not the services’ own totals; several listings were blank, and Tuesday was still filling in when we pulled it. The per-rod figure for multi-day boats covers the whole trip. Inshore half-day boats are on sand bass, calico, barracuda and bonito, and Sunday’s lobster twilight was good. |
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Catalina & the Island Boats
We found no dock total or skipper post this week that names Catalina, so neither will we. The count service tags two of Long Beach’s Eldorado trips “Island Freelance” (a 2-day Sunday and an overnight Monday) without saying which island, and we won’t guess. We have no fish counts to give for Catalina.
Oxnard’s boats keep posting island-style mixed bags: Island Fox listed 18 white seabass and 61 calico on 16 rods Saturday, and Oceanside’s Pronto 12 white seabass on 11 Sunday. The landing’s own name carries “Channel Islands,” but the count service doesn’t say where those fish came from. 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: 11 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. 21 through Oct. 31, 11 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 still updated through Sept. 30: 11,040 caught, 8,960 remaining on the shared 20,000-fish guideline, 55.2% used across all open areas. CDFW says estimates post after each half-month period ends, and the Oct. 1–15 figure hasn’t posted. At the late-September pace of roughly 230 fish a day, 8,960 would last about 39 days, far longer than the 11 left. That is our arithmetic on one fortnight, not CDFW’s, and effort changes. CDFW’s salmon page and Marine Management News blog, checked this morning, list no change to the fall season; the newest salmon action is still Aug. 21. 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). 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. 21–28. MLLW datum, local daylight time, heights in feet. H = high, L = low. Minus lows show in red; this week they return.
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Minus tides are back, and they grow every day after the full moon. At the Golden Gate the evening low goes below zero Sunday, −0.34 ft at 5:34 p.m., then −0.78 at 6:17 p.m. Monday, −1.04 at 7:02 p.m. Tuesday and −1.10 at 7:52 p.m. next Wednesday, the lowest at any station. Wednesday’s swing is the biggest of the window: a 6.67 ft high at 12:56 p.m. falling to −1.10 ft, 7.77 ft in under seven hours. Before that, the Gate’s lows are still above zero Saturday (0.23 ft at 4:55 p.m.).
Monterey bottoms at −0.17 ft at 4:52 p.m. Sunday and −0.91 ft at 7:20 p.m. Wednesday; Port San Luis reaches −0.79 ft at 6:53 p.m. Wednesday. Port Chicago stays shallower, to −0.19 ft at 10:21 p.m. Tuesday. Every minus low falls between 4:52 p.m. and 11:15 p.m., so the low water you want for tide pools, rock fishing and the Delta flats comes late in the day and after dark.
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San Francisco / Golden Gate · NOAA station 9414290
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Oct 21 | 2:20a L 0.64 · 9:23a H 4.96 · 3:04p L 2.12 · 8:46p H 4.75 |
| Thu Oct 22 | 2:58a L 0.74 · 9:47a H 5.25 · 3:41p L 1.51 · 9:43p H 4.84 |
| Fri Oct 23 | 3:34a L 0.95 · 10:12a H 5.58 · 4:18p L 0.86 · 10:37p H 4.92 |
| Sat Oct 24 | 4:09a L 1.26 · 10:39a H 5.91 · 4:55p L 0.23 · 11:31p H 4.98 |
| Sun Oct 25 | 4:44a L 1.65 · 11:07a H 6.23 · 5:34p L −0.34 |
| Mon Oct 26 | 12:25a H 4.99 · 5:21a L 2.08 · 11:39a H 6.49 · 6:17p L −0.78 |
| Tue Oct 27 | 1:21a H 4.95 · 6:01a L 2.50 · 12:15p H 6.65 · 7:02p L −1.04 |
| Wed Oct 28 | 2:19a H 4.86 · 6:44a L 2.87 · 12:56p H 6.67 · 7:52p L −1.10 |
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Port Chicago / West Delta · NOAA station 9415144
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Oct 21 | 5:19a L 0.14 · 11:46a H 3.98 · 5:34p L 1.13 · 11:15p H 3.73 |
| Thu Oct 22 | 5:53a L 0.24 · 12:14p H 4.15 · 6:24p L 0.74 |
| Fri Oct 23 | 12:12a H 3.79 · 6:23a L 0.45 · 12:37p H 4.40 · 7:11p L 0.41 |
| Sat Oct 24 | 1:05a H 3.84 · 6:52a L 0.73 · 12:57p H 4.72 · 7:57p L 0.15 |
| Sun Oct 25 | 1:58a H 3.86 · 7:24a L 1.06 · 1:20p H 5.09 · 8:43p L −0.03 |
| Mon Oct 26 | 2:52a H 3.86 · 8:00a L 1.40 · 1:50p H 5.44 · 9:31p L −0.15 |
| Tue Oct 27 | 3:48a H 3.83 · 8:41a L 1.70 · 2:26p H 5.68 · 10:21p L −0.19 |
| Wed Oct 28 | 4:48a H 3.79 · 9:28a L 1.94 · 3:08p H 5.76 · 11:15p L −0.18 |
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Monterey · NOAA station 9413450
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Oct 21 | 1:39a L 0.63 · 8:25a H 4.44 · 2:07p L 2.19 · 7:45p H 4.37 |
| Thu Oct 22 | 2:13a L 0.76 · 8:44a H 4.76 · 2:48p L 1.60 · 8:38p H 4.41 |
| Fri Oct 23 | 2:44a L 0.97 · 9:05a H 5.13 · 3:28p L 0.98 · 9:29p H 4.42 |
| Sat Oct 24 | 3:14a L 1.27 · 9:29a H 5.53 · 4:09p L 0.37 · 10:20p H 4.38 |
| Sun Oct 25 | 3:46a L 1.63 · 9:57a H 5.91 · 4:52p L −0.17 · 11:13p H 4.30 |
| Mon Oct 26 | 4:19a L 2.01 · 10:28a H 6.22 · 5:37p L −0.58 |
| Tue Oct 27 | 12:10a H 4.17 · 4:54a L 2.39 · 11:03a H 6.41 · 6:26p L −0.84 |
| Wed Oct 28 | 1:11a H 4.01 · 5:32a L 2.73 · 11:43a H 6.43 · 7:20p L −0.91 |
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Port San Luis (Avila / Morro Bay) · NOAA station 9412110
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Oct 21 | 1:19a L 0.69 · 8:02a H 4.54 · 1:45p L 2.21 · 7:23p H 4.47 |
| Thu Oct 22 | 1:50a L 0.78 · 8:21a H 4.88 · 2:24p L 1.61 · 8:13p H 4.53 |
| Fri Oct 23 | 2:19a L 0.96 · 8:41a H 5.27 · 3:02p L 0.99 · 9:01p H 4.54 |
| Sat Oct 24 | 2:48a L 1.22 · 9:04a H 5.68 · 3:42p L 0.40 · 9:49p H 4.49 |
| Sun Oct 25 | 3:17a L 1.56 · 9:30a H 6.06 · 4:24p L −0.13 · 10:40p H 4.36 |
| Mon Oct 26 | 3:48a L 1.93 · 10:01a H 6.36 · 5:09p L −0.52 · 11:36p H 4.18 |
| Tue Oct 27 | 4:21a L 2.30 · 10:36a H 6.52 · 5:59p L −0.74 |
| Wed Oct 28 | 12:38a H 3.98 · 4:58a L 2.66 · 11:16a H 6.52 · 6:53p L −0.79 |
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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; a day with one major has the other just past midnight. Almanac convention: the best fishing brackets the new and the full moon.
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The bracket opens. The moon is full at about 9:11 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25 by its true position (about 8:35 p.m. by the mean synodic month), and the almanac calls the days on either side the best of the cycle. Thursday and Friday are the build, Saturday through Tuesday the bracket itself.
This week the tide lines up better than the clock does. The solunar majors fall mid-day and mid-night, not on first or last light: Monday’s are 12:44 a.m. and 1:11 p.m., Tuesday’s 1:40 a.m. and 2:10 p.m. What does line up is the water. Monday’s Golden Gate low is −0.78 ft at 6:17 p.m., nine minutes after the 6:08 sunset, with the moon one day past full and rising near sunset. Tuesday’s is −1.04 ft at 7:02 p.m. That is the overlap of the window: a big ebb draining right through last light.
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| Day | Moon | Majors | Sun | Rating |
|---|
| Wed Oct. 21 | Waxing gibbous, 79% | 9:13a / 9:35p | 7:12a – 6:14p | ●●●○○ Building |
| Thu Oct. 22 | Waxing gibbous, 87% | 9:57a / 10:19p | 7:13a – 6:13p | ●●●○○ Building |
| Fri Oct. 23 | Waxing gibbous, 93% | 10:41a / 11:04p | 7:14a – 6:12p | ●●●●○ Bracket opens |
| Sat Oct. 24 | Waxing gibbous, 97% | 11:28a / 11:52p | 7:15a – 6:10p | ●●●●● Bracket, low tide at dusk |
| Sun Oct. 25 | Full moon (9:11p), 100% | 12:17p | 7:16a – 6:09p | ●●●●● Full moon, first minus tide |
| Mon Oct. 26 | Waning gibbous, 99% | 12:44a / 1:11p | 7:17a – 6:08p | ●●●●● Minus tide at sunset |
| Tue Oct. 27 | Waning gibbous, 96% | 1:40a / 2:10p | 7:18a – 6:07p | ●●●●○ Minus tide after dark |
| Wed Oct. 28 | Waning gibbous, 91% | 2:41a / 3:13p | 7:19a – 6:06p | ●●●●○ Biggest tide swing |
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 the tide does something. Next week’s issue picks up with the waning moon.
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◉ Fish Stocking Report
CDFW plants are posted as a week range, not a date. The list for this week, Oct. 18–24, 2026, is posted on NorCalFishReports, and it is the first fall list that reaches the foothills and the valley floor. All rainbow trout, source CDFW. Pounds are not posted for any water, so we print none.
| County | Water |
|---|
| Fresno | Shaver Lake (CDFW) |
| Madera | Bass Lake (CDFW) |
| Mariposa | Lake McClure · Merced River (CDFW) |
| Merced | Merced River · Yosemite Lake (CDFW) |
| Stanislaus | Modesto Reservoir · Woodward Reservoir (CDFW) |
| Alpine / Amador / Calaveras | Caples Lake · Silver Lake · White Pines Lakes (CDFW) |
| Kings / Tulare / Kern / Inyo / Mono | Nothing on this week’s list. (The Kings below Pine Flat was on the Oct. 4–10 list.) |
The list also files three Trinity River waters under Humboldt County, repeats them and Coffee Creek and Carrville Dredge Pond under Trinity County, and shows a Bass Lake under Siskiyou County, which is a different lake from Bass Lake in Madera County. Those are outside our coverage. We read this list on NorCalFishReports alone; we did not get a CDFW planting-database record for the week, so treat the table as one source.
What changed: through the warm months CDFW planted only cold tailwaters and high country, because a hatchery rainbow dropped into a warm valley lake doesn’t live long. Modesto and Woodward Reservoirs and Yosemite Lake are the first valley-side waters we’ve seen on the list this fall. Water is cooling, and the foothill lakes (McClure, Shaver, Bass Lake) are on it too. Plants are listed by week, so a lake can be stocked any day of it. 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 (93 listed). Events are approved unless marked pending. Dates and venues can still change at the club’s end.
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Saturday, Oct. 24 is the big one. The database lists 15 approved bass events running that day statewide, 8 of them one-day and 7 two-day. In the Valley: Oro Madre Bass Anglers on Don Pedro, and six Delta events out of Contra Costa and San Joaquin counties, two of them running Saturday and Sunday. Expect crowded Delta ramps. Nothing approved is on Pine Flat, Millerton, Isabella, McClure, New Melones or Bass Lake this weekend, and nothing on the Central Coast lakes.
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On the Water This Window: Oct. 21 to Oct. 28
| Date | Water | Sponsor |
|---|
| Thu 22 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| Weekend Oct. 24–25: Central Valley and Central Coast |
| Sat 24 | Don Pedro | Oro Madre Bass Anglers |
| Sat 24 | Delta (San Joaquin) | NorCal Bass · Manteca Bassin Buddies |
| Sat 24 – Sun 25 | Delta (San Joaquin), 2 day | Anglers Press Outdoors |
| Sat 24 | Delta (Contra Costa) | Delta Bass Club · 17-90 Bass Club |
| Sat 24 – Sun 25 | Delta (Contra Costa), 2 day | The Bass Hole, LLC |
| Rest of the window |
| Sat 24 | Clear Lake · Sonoma · Murray Reservoir | American Bass · Redwood Empire Bass Club · Summit Bass Anglers |
| Sat 24 – Sun 25 | Clear Lake, 2 day (two events) | Sierra Bass Club · El Dorado Bass |
| Sat 24 – Sun 25 | Berryessa · Shasta · Colorado River, 2 day | Yak-A-Bass · Shasta Cascade Bass Anglers · California Bass Contenders |
| Sun 25 | Diamond Valley · Oroville | American Bass · Red Bluff Bass Anglers |
Mark the Calendar
| Date | Water | Sponsor |
|---|
| Oct. 29 · Nov. 5 · 11 · 19 · 27 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| Oct. 31 | Clear Lake | B2B Hawg Handlers |
| 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 · Eastman | Kings VIII Bass Club · River Bank Bass Anglers · no sponsor named |
| 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 · Delta (San Joaquin) | Gilroy Bassmasters · Sierra Bass Club · Oro Madre Bass Anglers |
| Nov. 20–22 | Delta (San Joaquin) · Millerton · Nacimiento · McClure | NorCal Bass (Nov. 20–21) · BASS 101 (Nov. 21) · American Bass (Nov. 21–22) · Fresno Bass Club (Nov. 22) |
| 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; the database does list a Kern County “various waters” filing for Nov. 1–30 with no sponsor named.
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
Minus tides mean fast water at dusk. From Sunday the Golden Gate drains 6 to 8 feet in under seven hours, and the flood comes back just as fast over rocks, jetties and bars you walked out to on the ebb. If you’re on the rocks, a flat or a sandbar after dark, know when the tide turns, carry a real light, and give yourself a way back before it does.
The Kings release stepped up overnight. The Corps’ hourly report has the flow below Pine Flat at 216 cfs by 6 a.m. today, after two days near 190. It’s still cold tailwater over slick cobble, and the release is set by request, so it can change again. Wear the vest, carry a staff, and check the flow before you cross back.
Shellfish: we did not re-read CDPH this week. As of the Oct. 12 notice the Monterey County warning was lifted, and the statewide sport mussel quarantine ran through at least Oct. 31, so no mussels anywhere until you’ve checked. We also saw no notice lifting CDFW’s Sept. 11 order making anchovy taken from Pigeon Point to Point Lobos bait only, so treat that as still in force. Shellfish line: (800) 553-4133.
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 17.8%, Success 9.6%, Kaweah 10.3%, Eastman 6.7%, and Don Pedro, McClure, New Melones and Shaver all lost thousands of acre-feet. Every stump and roadbed that cleared your hull in July is closer to prop depth now, and the Delta and Don Pedro will be crowded Saturday. 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, 11 days counting today. CDFW’s tracker still runs only through Sept. 30: 11,040 caught and 8,960 left on the 20,000-fish guideline, so the calendar, not the count, will probably end the season. But the Bay boats are thinning, with 231 kings on 232 rods since Friday, about 1.00 a rod, down from 1.57. Call (707) 576-3429 the morning you go.
Second, the full moon and the minus tides. It’s full Sunday night, Oct. 25, and the Golden Gate goes below zero every evening from Sunday, to −1.10 ft next Wednesday. Mind the water coming back over the rocks.
Third, the lakes. Pine Flat is up 6,300 AF, to 17.8% full, and it’s the only one of the group that gained. The south Valley lakes and the foothill lakes kept dropping. The good news is trout: CDFW’s plant list reaches McClure, Modesto and Woodward Reservoirs, Yosemite Lake, Shaver and Bass Lake this week. We also couldn’t get a usable freshwater bite report beyond Bridgeport, 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. 21–28 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. 20, generated Oct. 21) and the Pine Flat hourly report · California Data Exchange Center (CDEC) daily storage through Oct. 18 for Don Pedro and McClure, through Oct. 19 for New Melones, Shaver, Huntington and Florence, Wishon and Courtright through Oct. 13, and the Merced near Snelling flow through Oct. 20 · 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. 16–20, and Fish Emeryville’s skipper posts there · Bridgeport Fish Enhancement Foundation (post of Oct. 20) · CDFW Sport Ocean Salmon Tracker (data through Sept. 30), CDFW’s salmon page and Marine Management News blog · CDFW Summary of Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulations · the NorCalFishReports.com plant list for Oct. 18–24 · 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 beyond Bridgeport this week, so we printed none · Don Pedro and McClure are Oct. 18 figures, New Melones, Shaver, Huntington and Florence Oct. 19, so their changes are six or seven days, not a full week; Hensley had no reading (last was 6,629 AF on Oct. 6), Edison was last printed Sept. 22, and Wishon and Courtright are Oct. 13 figures with a swing we can’t explain · No San Joaquin flow below Friant (last trusted figure Sept. 17) 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 · The Pine Flat inflow figures on the Corps sheet and at the head of the lake still disagree · We couldn’t confirm the 2026 Eastern Sierra general-season closing date, so we printed none · Monday and Tuesday dock totals are thin, with one Bay salmon boat listed Tuesday and none Monday · We found no catch attributed to Catalina, so that block carries no fish counts · We did not re-read the CDPH shellfish notice, the CDFW Sept. 17 shark notice, or the Sept. 11 anchovy order this week, and we found no notice lifting the anchovy order · The Dungeness opener of Nov. 7 and the Nov. 5 end of Emeryville’s half-day trips come from Fish Emeryville’s own post, not CDFW · This week’s plant list rests on NorCalFishReports alone, without pounds · CDFW’s tracker still stops at Sept. 30 · Success’s percent-full uses a gross pool we haven’t verified · 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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