The Weekly Fishing Report
Wednesday, November 11 – Wednesday, November 18, 2026
Central Valley · Sierra · Eastern Sierra · Delta · Coast | Issue 26-45
★ Veterans Day Edition ★
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HAPPY VETERANS DAY: THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE • FISH THURSDAY: 25–30 FT SURF FRI. NIGHT, SIERRA STORM WATCH FRI.–MON. • CRAB & ROCKFISH LIMITS ON THE BAY BOATS • CRAB CLOSURE NOW READING ROCK TO TEN MILE • TROUT PLANTS: KINGS, McCLURE, McSWAIN, SUCCESS, KERN • PINE FLAT UP 3,418 AF TO 18.8% • EASTERN SIERRA SEASON ENDS SUN. NOV. 15
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★ Veterans Day · Wednesday, Nov. 11 ★
To everyone who served: thank you.
This issue goes out on Veterans Day. If you wore the uniform, or you’re waiting on someone who still does, this one is for you. We hope you get a few hours on the water this week. Thursday is the day to do it, before the weather turns.
A license that costs about ten dollars. CDFW sells a reduced-fee sport fishing license for $10.54 from license agents ($10.04 at CDFW offices) to any honorably discharged veteran with a service-connected disability rating of 50% or more, resident or nonresident, and to recovering service members. You prequalify once: veterans send CDFW a letter from the VA; recovering service members send one from their commanding officer or a military doctor. After that you can buy it anywhere licenses are sold. Details on CDFW’s licensing page.
The boats are full today. Fish Emeryville posted this morning that its whole fleet is out and sold out for the holiday, with a “THANK YOU to all those that serve/served to protect this country.” We’ll second that. If you know a veteran who hasn’t been out in a while, take them fishing.
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Fish Thursday, because the weekend is getting weather. The National Weather Service has a High Surf Warning for 25 to 30 ft breakers on the San Francisco, Peninsula, Point Reyes and northern Monterey Bay coast from 6 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Sunday, and 25 to 35 ft on the Mendocino and southern Humboldt coast, with Eureka calling for a second big swell late Sunday into Monday. The Hanford office has a Winter Storm Watch for the Sierra above 6,000 ft from Friday afternoon through late Monday night, 6 to 12 inches and gusts to 50 mph, and Fresno’s forecast has showers and thunderstorms Friday. Fish Emeryville posted this morning that a few boats have already cancelled Friday through Sunday trips. If you’re booked, call the landing before you drive.
The crab opener delivered. From Saturday through Tuesday the Bay Area boats listed crab-and-rockfish combo limits almost every trip: Lovely Martha (San Francisco) 270 crab and 270 rockfish on 27 Saturday, California Dawn II (Berkeley) 270 and 270 on 27 Sunday, and Fish Emeryville’s six boats 1,170 crab on 117 anglers Tuesday, a limit for every rod. CDFW widened the north coast closure on Nov. 5: recreational crab is now closed from the Reading Rock State Marine Protected Areas (41°17.6′ N) south to the Ten Mile State Marine Reserve (39°33.3′ N) over domoic acid. Traps are still restricted from the Oregon border to Point Conception; hoop nets and snares are allowed.
The trout trucks found our side of the Valley. This week’s CDFW list (Nov. 8–14) has the Kings below Pine Flat Dam, Lake McClure, Lake McSwain, Lake Success, Huntington Lake, Yosemite Lake in Merced and Kern River Sections 4, 5 and 6. Last week it was Bass Lake and Donner. And the Eastern Sierra’s general trout season ends Sunday, Nov. 15, two days after the east-side storm watch is due to end.
Offshore, the San Diego local tuna faded and the long-range boats picked up the slack. The Seaforth full-day boat San Diego went from 88 yellowfin on 36 Saturday to none on Tuesday, while Polaris Supreme came back from a 4-day trip with 240 yellowtail, 166 yellowfin and 17 wahoo on 24 rods. Morro Bay’s Endeavor put 7 bluefin to 70 pounds on the boat Sunday and 7 more Tuesday. Inland, Pine Flat is up again, +3,418 AF to 18.8%, and the Kings release is up to 180 cfs. The final CDFW salmon tally is in: 14,717 kings against the 20,000-fish guideline through Oct. 31.
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◉ This Week’s Best Bets
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Bet No. 1 · Berkeley, Emeryville, San Francisco, Bodega Bay
Crab Combos, Limits Both Ways
Lovely Martha 270 crab + 270 rockfish on 27 Saturday and 150 and 150 on 15 Tuesday. California Dawn II 270 and 270 on 27 Sunday. Surf Scooter (Bodega) 210 crab to 3 lb + 210 rockfish on 21 Monday. Fish Emeryville’s fleet: 1,170 crab on 117 Tuesday. Get out Thursday; the surf goes big Friday night.
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Bet No. 2 · Morro Bay & Avila Beach
Bluefin and Big Lingcod
Endeavor (Morro Bay) 7 bluefin to 70 lb plus rockfish on 19 Sunday, then 7 bluefin on 16 Tuesday. Saturday it had 26 lingcod to 21 lb and limits of rockfish on 31. Patriot (Avila) 25 lingcod on 18 Sunday, 1.39 a rod. Starfire 280 rockfish on 28 Saturday.
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Bet No. 3 · Fresno, Tulare, Mariposa & Merced Counties
Fresh Trout, Close to Home
On CDFW’s Nov. 8–14 list: Kings below Pine Flat, McClure, McSwain, Success, Huntington, Yosemite Lake and Kern Sections 4–6. Plants post by the week, so a truck can come any day of it. The Kings release is 180 cfs; Thursday is the dry day before the storm.
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Bet No. 4 · San Diego Long-Range & Long Beach
Go Long for Tuna, Close for Yellowtail
Polaris Supreme 240 yellowtail, 166 yellowfin, 17 wahoo on 24 (4-day trip, so 10 yellowtail a rod for the whole trip). Pacific Voyager 95 yellowfin on 15 (4-day). Closer in, Long Beach’s Eldorado had 46 yellowtail on 31 on an island overnight Saturday.
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⚠ Water Watch
Pine Flat is still climbing, and the release went up. The Corps sheet (data through Tuesday midnight, generated 8 a.m. today) has the lake at 188,015 AF, 18.8% full, up 3,418 AF since last Tuesday, against 3,385 the week before, and up 706 on Tuesday alone. The Corps’ hourly report has the release at 180 cfs every hour since Monday morning, up from the 149 to 150 we printed last week. The Kings below the North Fork, at the head of the lake, reads 250 to 259 cfs, and the daily sheet’s natural-flow line came back this week at 241 cfs.
The south Valley rise has run its course. Kaweah at Three Rivers (CDEC daily mean) dropped every day from 104 cfs last Tuesday to 80 cfs this Tuesday. Kaweah lost another 151 AF, to 10.2%; Success gained 584 to 10.8%; Eastman slipped 23 to 6.8%; Hensley gained 112 to 7.7%. Isabella lost 210 AF again, to 24.4%, with the release down to 273 cfs from 322. Merced near Snelling is 215 cfs.
Millerton gave back what it gained. It lost 4,483 AF to 42.6% (CDEC; the Corps’ Section 7 sheet dropped Friant this week). New Melones went the other way, +4,383 AF to 62.9%, and McClure edged up 496 to 49.0%. Shaver and Huntington are still draining, about 300 and 520 AF a day: Shaver 47.9% and Huntington 58,016 AF as of Monday.
Then the storm. Friday into Monday is the first real Sierra system of the season on the forecast. Expect the Kings, Kaweah, Kern and the foothill creeks to come up and color up after it, and treat every gauge in this issue as a pre-storm number. Check the flow again Sunday or Monday before you wade.
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◉ Lakes & Reservoirs
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District. Corps sheet: data ending midnight Nov. 10, generated Nov. 11 at 08:00. Section 7 sheet: data ending midnight Nov. 10, generated Nov. 11 at 07:01, and from our list it carried only New Melones; Friant (Millerton), Crane Valley (Bass Lake), Don Pedro, McClure, Shaver, Huntington, Florence, Edison and the flow below McSwain all read “no project data” or not reported. Rows marked § come from the state’s California Data Exchange Center (CDEC): Millerton, Don Pedro and McClure through Nov. 10, Shaver, Huntington and Florence through Nov. 9, and elevations for Millerton, Don Pedro, McClure and New Melones. Change is against last week’s printed figures. Percent-full uses gross pool.
| Lake | Elev (ft) | Storage (AF) | % Full | Change |
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| Pine Flat | 754.69 | 188,015 | 18.8% | +3,418 |
| Millerton (Friant) | 501.99§ | 221,543§ | 42.6% | −4,483§ |
| Don Pedro | 781.64§ | 1,473,655§ | 72.6%§† | −1,014§* |
| New Melones | 1,004.23§ | 1,510,332 | 62.9% | +4,383 |
| McClure (New Exchequer) | 772.38§ | 502,281§ | 49.0%§† | +496§ |
| Merced R. near Snelling (below McSwain) | n/a | n/a | n/a | 215 cfs§ (212 last week) |
| Eastman (Buchanan) | 466.07 | 10,186 | 6.8% | −23 |
| Hensley (Hidden) | 454.10 | 6,896 | 7.7% | +112 |
| Kaweah (Terminus) | 598.44 | 19,008 | 10.2% | −151 |
| Success (Schafer) | 593.95 | 8,899 | 10.8% | +584 |
| Isabella | 2,554.86 | 138,798 | 24.4% | −210 |
| Shaver | n/r | 64,840§ | 47.9%§ | −2,077§ |
| Bass Lake (Crane Valley) | n/r | n/r¶ | n/r | no reading this week¶ |
| New Hogan | 665.56 | 150,431 | n/p | −777 |
| Huntington / Edison / Florence | n/r | 58,016§ / n/r¶¶ / 6,125§ | n/p | −3,655§ / n/r / −36§ |
| Wishon / Courtright | n/r | 113,233 / 2,684§ (Nov. 3 only)¶ | n/p | no reading since Nov. 3¶ |
§ CDEC provisional daily data. Where the Corps and CDEC both report a lake this week (Pine Flat, Kaweah, Success, Isabella, Eastman, Hensley, New Melones) the storage figures match. *Don Pedro: CDEC now shows the same 1,472,235 AF every day from Nov. 2 through Nov. 8, then 1,471,223 and 1,473,655; that run of identical values looks like a stuck or filled-in sensor, and CDEC has also revised its Nov. 3 figure down from the 1,474,669 we printed. Read Don Pedro as “about flat,” not as a 1,014 AF loss. ¶ Bass Lake: neither Corps sheet nor CDEC gave a figure this week; last week’s was 29,824 AF (65.7%). Wishon and Courtright: CDEC has a reading for Nov. 3 and nothing since. Courtright’s 2,684 AF is far below the 7,491 we last printed on Oct. 20, and we can’t confirm it, so treat it as unverified. ¶¶ Edison: no figure we could confirm; the last we printed was Sept. 22. † 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; 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
No dated bite report again. The weekly NorCalFishReports aggregator lists no reports this week for Central California, the Central Sierra, the Delta or the Central Valley rivers, and the Hurley and George columns our searches turned up were from August, so we didn’t use them. What follows rests on verified levels, plants, permits and the usual November pattern. Where we describe a pattern, it’s a pattern, not a report.
| Water | What We Know |
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| Pine Flat | 18.8%, up 3,418 AF on the week. The usual November setup: kings and rainbows under the shad off main-lake points early and late, bass on ledges, brush and bluff walls. The Kings below the dam is on this week’s plant list. Saturday, Nov. 14: BTuff Magazine & Cope’s Tackle and Rod Shop has an approved event, storm or not. Next: CA B.A.S.S. Nation, Nov. 27. |
| Millerton | 42.6%, down 4,483 AF after last week’s gain. Spotted bass on finesse gear as the water cools; catfish from the bank after dark. Not on this week’s plant list. No permitted event this window. Next: BASS 101, Nov. 21. |
| Don Pedro & McClure | Don Pedro about flat at 72.6%, McClure 49.0% (CDEC, our percentages). McClure and McSwain are both on this week’s CDFW plant list; Don Pedro is not. Fall pattern: trout and kings on the shad, bass deep. Don Pedro, Nov. 13–15: Bass Angler Inc., 3 days. McClure, Saturday, Nov. 14: Gilroy Bassmasters and Sierra Bass Club. |
| New Melones | 62.9%, up 4,383 AF, the biggest gain on our list. Not on this week’s plant list. Kokanee are finished as a target. No permitted event this window. |
| Eastman & Hensley | Eastman 6.8%, Hensley 7.7% (6,896 AF, up 112). Eastman is the bass lake of the two; Hensley is catfish and carp. At these levels your first problem is getting the boat in. No permitted event this window. |
| Kaweah & Success | Kaweah 10.2%, Success 10.8% and gaining. Lake Success is on this week’s plant list, a valley-floor lake getting trout now that the water has cooled. Small-water fishing otherwise: finesse plastics, minijigs for crappie, dip bait for cats after dark. No permitted event this window. |
| Isabella | 24.4%, releasing 273 cfs against 276 coming in. Kern River Sections 4, 5 and 6 are on this week’s plant list (the list files them under Tulare County). The permit database lists no Isabella bass event through Dec. 31, only a Kern County “various waters” filing for Dec. 1–31 with no sponsor named. |
| Bass Lake | No storage reading this week from either agency. It was on last week’s plant list, not this week’s, so those fish are still in the lake. We have no report on how they’re biting. No permitted bass event this window. |
| Shaver & Huntington | Shaver 47.9% and Huntington 58,016 AF as of Monday, losing roughly 300 and 520 AF a day (CDEC, Nov. 2 to Nov. 9). Huntington is on this week’s plant list; Shaver is not. Huntington sits near 7,000 ft, inside the Winter Storm Watch (above 6,000 ft) from Friday afternoon; Shaver is a little below that line. If you go, go Thursday. |
| Wishon & Courtright | No state reading since Nov. 3, and no fishing report we could date. High-country trout water, and both are above 6,000 ft, where the weekend forecast calls for 6 to 12 inches of snow. Call ahead on access, and expect the gates to close for the season at some point after this storm. |
| Yosemite Lake, Modesto & Woodward Reservoirs | Yosemite Lake (Merced) is on this week’s plant list. Modesto and Woodward are not. We have no report on how any of them are biting. |
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Central Coast
Lopez and Santa Margarita are straight from San Luis Obispo County’s live sensors this morning and report percent of capacity. Nacimiento and San Antonio are from the USGS gauges, elevation only: the gauges don’t give a percentage, and we hold no storage curve we trust, so we print the elevation and nothing else. All four dipped slightly on the week: Lopez was 77.8% and Santa Margarita 86.4% last week, Nacimiento 741.26 ft and San Antonio 737.67 ft.
| Lake | Level | Who to Call |
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| Lopez | 77.5% of capacity, 38,328 AF, elev. 509.58 ft | SLO County Public Works |
| Santa Margarita | 86.2% of capacity, 19,237 AF, elev. 1,299.08 ft | SLO County Public Works |
| Nacimiento | Elevation 740.89 ft (USGS, 7:30 a.m.); no percentage | Monterey County Water Resources Agency |
| San Antonio | Elevation 737.58 ft (USGS, 7:45 a.m.); no percentage | 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 any Central Coast lake this window. Nacimiento’s next dates are American Bass, Nov. 21–22, and 805 Bass Addicts, Nov. 27.
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◉ Eastern Sierra
Last weekend of the general season, and the weather picked it. The general trout season in Inyo and Mono runs through Sunday, Nov. 15. The National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office, which covers the east slope, has a Winter Storm Watch from Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon: 5 to 10 inches above 7,000 ft, up to a foot near the crest, and Mammoth’s forecast has snow Friday night with gusts to 30 mph. Thursday and Sunday look like the fishable days. We found no dated report this week for Bridgeport, Twin Lakes, the June Lake Loop, Crowley or the Owens.
Plants: no Eastern Sierra water is on the CDFW list for Nov. 8–14. Big Virginia is a drinking-water lake, so no swimming, no gas motors, and no float tubes or boards without full waders. Carry chains, check Caltrans before you go over Sonora or Tioga, and expect the lake access roads to close behind the first real snow.
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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 correction to what we’ve printed. We said in earlier issues that the East Walker stays open year-round. Ken’s Sporting Goods in Bridgeport says on its East Walker page that the river is closed from Nov. 16 through the last Friday in April, and open the rest of the year to artificial flies and lures only, 2 fish, 18 inches minimum. Western Outdoor News has also reported the East Walker as closed to winter fishing. So the last day on the East Walker this year is Sunday, Nov. 15.
Some waters do stay open after the 15th, mostly catch-and-release, barbless, artificial only; Western Outdoor News names the Lower and Upper Owens, Hot Creek and Pleasant Valley Reservoir among them. We took the Nov. 15 date and these winter waters from Ken’s and Western Outdoor News, not from CDFW’s own pages, so read the Sierra District entry for your water in the current regulations booklet before you fish past the 15th.
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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. The minus tides are fading out: at Port Chicago the late-evening low is −0.07 ft at 10:08 p.m. tonight and −0.01 at 10:47 p.m. Thursday, then sits right at zero after midnight the rest of the window. Midday highs drop from 5.1 ft today to 3.9 ft by next Wednesday, so the current slackens as the week goes on. Sturgeon: Fish Emeryville’s Heisen-Sturg is running catch-and-release trips out of Pittsburg Marina and says spots this week are nearly gone. Events: Tracy Oasis Marina today and Nov. 19; Saturday, Nov. 14: Bass Anglers of Northern California (Contra Costa side) and Oro Madre Bass Anglers (San Joaquin side). |
| Upper Kings, above Pine Flat | Below the North Fork: 250 to 259 cfs on the hourly report since Monday morning (252.9 on the 7 a.m. daily sheet), with the water running 51.8 to 56.0°F, cooler again than last week’s 53.5 to 57.4. The daily sheet’s natural-flow line reads 241 cfs. Low, clear freestone water before the storm; fish it early, small and quiet, and expect it to rise and color after Friday. |
| Lower Kings, below the dam | Release 180 cfs on the Corps’ hourly report, steady since at least Monday morning, up from 149 to 150 last week. The Kings below Pine Flat Dam is on this week’s plant list (the list files it under Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties). Wading: it’s cold tailwater over slick cobble, the release is set at the Water Master’s request and can change overnight, and rain this weekend can bring up every side drainage below the dam. Check the flow before you step in. |
| Merced River | Merced near Snelling ran 215 cfs (CDEC daily mean, Tuesday), between 210 and 223 all week. The river itself isn’t on this week’s plant list, but McClure and McSwain upstream are. |
| Kaweah & Tule | Kaweah at Three Rivers 80 cfs (CDEC daily mean, Tuesday; 78.4 on the Corps’ 7 a.m. reading), down from 104 a week ago; Terminus is releasing 95 cfs. The Tule gauges came back this week: 31.9 cfs near Springville and 8.3 on the South Fork near Success. Creek fishing, not river fishing, until the rain. |
| Kern River | At Kernville, 177.5 cfs on the Corps’ 7 a.m. reading today, down from 217.5 last week. The release below Isabella is 273 cfs, down from 322. Kern River Sections 4, 5 and 6 are on this week’s plant list. |
| San Joaquin below Friant | No flow published; the Friant block on the Corps sheet reads not-reported again. The last number we trust is 375 cfs on Sept. 17, eight 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, Nov. 7–10 (Saturday through Tuesday), from the NorCalFishReports, SoCalFishReports and SanDiegoFishReports count pages, each date pulled separately; Fish Emeryville’s fleet totals are the landing’s own posts, and they match the count page. 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. Dungeness crab limit is 10 a person. “YFT” = yellowfin, “YT” = yellowtail, “WSB” = white seabass, “BFT” = bluefin.
| Boat / Port | Date & Trip | Count | Per Rod |
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| Bay Area & North: Crab & Rockfish Combos (opening week) |
| Lovely Martha · San Francisco | Nov. 7 / 8 / 10, full day | 270 crab + 270 rockfish on 27; 250 + 250 on 25; 150 + 150 on 15 (plus 1 ling, 4 bonito) | 10.00 crab, 10.00 rockfish every trip |
| California Dawn II · Berkeley | Nov. 7 / 8 / 9, full day | 260 + 260 on 26; 270 + 270 on 27; 250 + 250 on 25 (plus 2 ling) | 10.00 / 10.00 every trip |
| New California Dawn · Berkeley | Nov. 7 / 9 / 10, full day | 50 crab + 220 rockfish on 22; 250 + 250 on 25; 157 + 190 on 19 | 2.27 / 10.00 / 8.26 crab; rockfish 10.00 each trip |
| Happy Hooker · Berkeley | Nov. 7 / 8, full day | 239 crab + 260 rockfish + 2 ling on 26; 250 crab + 215 rockfish + 1 ling on 25 | 9.19 / 10.00 crab; rockfish 10.00 / 8.60 |
| Fish Emeryville fleet (six boats) | Nov. 8 / Nov. 10, full day | 1,127 crab + 930 rockfish on 115; 1,170 crab + 1,028 rockfish on 117 | 9.80 / 10.00 crab; rockfish 8.09 / 8.79 |
| TigerFish · Emeryville | Nov. 7, full day | 260 crab + 290 rockfish on 29 | 8.97 crab, 10.00 rockfish |
| Surf Scooter · Bodega Bay | Nov. 7 / 8 / 9 / 10, full day | 220 crab on 22 (no rockfish listed); 180 + 180 on 18; 210 crab (to 3 lb) + 210 on 21; 200 + 200 on 20 | 10.00 crab every trip |
| Outer Limits · Sausalito · Bass-Tub · San Francisco | Nov. 7, full day | Outer Limits 200 + 200 on 20; Bass-Tub 138 crab + 230 rockfish on 23 | 10.00 / 10.00; Bass-Tub 6.00 crab, 10.00 rockfish |
| Queen of Hearts · Half Moon Bay | Nov. 7 / 8 / 9 / 10, full day | 126 crab + 200 rockfish on 20; 98 + 180 on 18 (plus 4 ling, 1 WSB); 92 + 120 on 12; 60 + 60 on 6 | 6.30 / 5.44 / 7.67 / 10.00 crab; rockfish 10.00 every trip |
| Caroline / Check Mate · Monterey | Nov. 7 / 8, full day | Caroline: 190 rockfish + 2 ling on 19; 120 rockfish + 58 bonito on 12. Check Mate: 190 rockfish + 5 ling on 19; 115 rockfish + 80 bonito on 14 | Rockfish 10.00 / 10.00 and 10.00 / 8.21; bonito 4.83 and 5.71 |
| Kahuna · Monterey (J&M) | Nov. 7, 1/2 day AM / Nov. 10, full day | 220 rockfish on 22; 100 on 10 | 10.00 / 10.00 |
| Lingcod nearly vanished from the Bay counts once the boats switched to crab combos: two or fewer per boat on most trips. Oakland Anglers II listed full crab limits but light rockfish (240 crab, 62 rockfish on 24 Monday). Monterey boats listed no crab. |
| Central Coast: Morro Bay & Avila Beach |
| Endeavor · Morro Bay | Nov. 7, full day | 235 rockfish, 45 red, 25 copper, 5 bocaccio (310 rockfish-group) + 26 lingcod to 21 lb on 31 | 10.00 / 0.84 ling |
| Endeavor · Morro Bay | Nov. 8 / Nov. 10, full day | 7 bluefin to 70 lb + 200 rockfish-group + 1 ling on 19; 7 bluefin on 16 (nothing else listed) | 0.37 / 0.44 BFT; rockfish 10.53* |
| Starfire · Morro Bay | Nov. 7, 3/4 day | 280 rockfish-group + 4 lingcod on 28 | 10.00 |
| Avenger · Morro Bay | Nov. 7 / 8, 1/2 day AM | 290 rockfish-group on 32; 296 + 1 ling + 1 mako on 35 | 9.06 / 8.46 |
| Patriot · Avila Beach | Nov. 7 1/2 day AM / Nov. 8 & 10, 3/4 day | 218 rockfish-group on 29; 25 lingcod + 6 rockfish-group + 1 halibut on 18; 65 rockfish-group + 2 ling on 12 | 7.52 / 1.39 ling / 5.42 |
| Flying Fish · Avila Beach | Nov. 7 1/2 day AM / Nov. 8, 3/4 day | 141 rockfish-group on 22; 200 rockfish-group + 6 bonito + 1 ling + 1 mako on 20 | 6.41 / 10.00 |
| “Rockfish-group” is our sum of the rockfish, rockcod, bocaccio, bolina, copper, canary and red rockfish lines the landings list separately, which all count toward the 10-fish aggregate. *Endeavor’s Nov. 8 line (72 bocaccio, 90 rockfish, 38 red rockfish on 19) adds to 200, which is 10.53 a rod, over the aggregate; treat it as a listing or headcount error. Copper is limited to 1 a person: Endeavor listed 25 on 31, Patriot 10 on 12, both under it. |
| Southern California: San Pedro, Long Beach, Newport, Dana Point |
| Eldorado · Long Beach | Nov. 7, overnight (listed “Island Freelance”) | 46 yellowtail, 65 bonito, 38 sheephead, 158 rockfish + 40 vermilion on 31 | 1.48 YT |
| Eldorado · Long Beach | Nov. 10, 1.5 day / overnight (both “Island Freelance”) | 34 yellowtail, 60 sheephead, 139 rockfish + 60 vermilion on 30; 15 yellowtail, 40 sheephead, 202 rockfish + 55 vermilion on 28 | 1.13 YT, trip / 0.54 YT |
| Pursuit · San Pedro (22nd St.) | Nov. 7 / 8, full day | 7 yellowtail, 46 bonito, 40 calico on 37; 16 yellowtail, 57 calico, 51 bonito on 30 | 0.19 / 0.53 YT |
| Freedom · San Pedro (22nd St.) | Nov. 8, overnight | 20 lingcod, 296 rockfish, 74 red snapper, 37 sheephead, 2 yellowtail on 37 | 0.54 ling |
| Victory / Enterprise · Long Beach | Nov. 8, 3/4 day | Victory 150 bonito, 51 calico, 19 sand bass on 42. Enterprise 130 bonito, 6 yellowtail on 27 | 3.57 / 4.81 bonito |
| El Patron / Toronado · Long Beach | Nov. 8, full day / overnight | El Patron 12 yellowtail, 60 bonito, 100 rockfish on 16. Toronado 11 yellowtail, 26 red snapper, 110 rockfish on 20 | 0.75 / 0.55 YT |
| Freelance · Newport (Davey’s) | Nov. 8 / Nov. 10, 3/4 day | 1 yellowfin, 67 bullet tuna, 42 bonito on 50; 167 bonito on 64 | 0.02 YFT / 2.61 bonito |
| Western Pride · Newport (Davey’s) | Nov. 8, 1/2 day AM | 95 sand bass, 18 calico on 46 | 2.07 sand bass |
| Dana Pride / Clemente · Dana Point | Nov. 7 & 8 | Dana Pride (Nov. 8, 3/4 day): 6 white seabass kept, 15 released, on 62. Clemente (Nov. 7, 1/2 day PM): 21 calico kept, 270 released, on 45 | 0.10 WSB kept |
| Sport King / Triton · San Pedro | Nov. 10, twilight lobster | 70 spiny lobster kept (66 and 55 released) on 10 each | 7.00, a limit each |
| San Diego & Oceanside |
| San Diego · Seaforth | Nov. 7 / 8 / 9 / 10, full day | 88, 23, 4 and 0 yellowfin on 36 each day (11 dorado Nov. 8) | 2.44 / 0.64 / 0.11 / 0.00 YFT |
| Malihini / Grande · H&M | Nov. 7, full day | Malihini 105 yellowfin, 32 skipjack on 20; Grande 58 yellowfin on 41 | 5.25 / 1.41 YFT |
| Pronto · Oceanside | Nov. 10, full day | 65 yellowfin, 12 dorado, 75 skipjack on 11 | 5.91 YFT |
| Polaris Supreme · Seaforth | Nov. 10, 4 day | 240 yellowtail, 166 yellowfin, 17 wahoo on 24 | 10.00 YT / 6.92 YFT, trip |
| Pacific Voyager · Seaforth | Nov. 10, 4 day | 95 yellowfin, 59 yellowtail on 15 | 6.33 YFT / 3.93 YT, trip |
| New Lo-An · Point Loma | Nov. 9, 3 day | 113 yellowfin to 80 lb, 31 yellowtail, 100 skipjack on 20 | 5.65 YFT, trip |
| Liberty · Fisherman’s | Nov. 9, 2.5 day | 69 yellowfin, 28 yellowtail on 18 | 3.83 YFT, trip |
| Sea Adventure 80 · H&M | Nov. 8, overnight | 75 yellowfin, 8 dorado on 18 | 4.17 YFT, trip |
| Pacifica / Tribute · Seaforth | Nov. 8, 2 day / 1.5 day | Pacifica 54 yellowfin on 24; Tribute 43 yellowfin to 60 lb on 30 | 2.25 / 1.43 YFT, trip |
| Electra / Producer · H&M | Nov. 10, 2 day / Nov. 9, overnight | Electra 48 dorado, 93 skipjack on 25; Producer 34 dorado on 17 | 1.92 / 2.00 dorado, trip |
| Standouts only; the count service lists many more San Diego and Oceanside half-day trips, mostly calico, sand bass, barracuda and bonito (Sea Watch: 96 calico kept and 200 released on 32 Monday, 83 barracuda on 21 Tuesday). The count service doesn’t say where the multi-day boats fished; Old Glory’s 2-day trip (37 yellowtail on 25) is the only one it tags “Mexican waters.” Twilight lobster trips out of H&M kept posting fish, with far more released than kept. |
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Catalina & the Island Boats
Again this week, nobody named Catalina, so neither will we. 22nd Street Landing’s report page has one new post, from Capt. Gus Gutierrez on Pursuit Sunday: “Double digits on the yellows so far and really good big bass fishing,” with plenty of bonito. It doesn’t say where, and the count service has Pursuit at 7 and 16 yellowtail Saturday and Sunday. Davey’s Locker’s count page names Catalina only in its menu. We also searched the newest skipper posts on SoCalFishReports for the island and found none.
The best island-style counts are again Long Beach’s Eldorado, which the count service tags “Island Freelance”: 46 yellowtail on 31 on Saturday’s overnight, and 34 yellowtail on 30 on a 1.5-day trip back Tuesday. It never says which island, and we won’t guess. Santa Barbara’s Coral Sea posted Sunday about “another gorgeous day at the islands” (260 whitefish, 80 rockfish, 9 lingcod on 26), also without naming one. If you’re planning an island trip, ask whoever you book with where their boats have been fishing.
Rockfish rules for every SoCal boat, island trips included, re-read this morning on CDFW’s groundfish summary: from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, south of Point Conception, nearshore rockfish, cabezon and greenling are closed, and shelf rockfish and lingcod may only be taken seaward of the 50-fathom line. Vermilion is 2 a person down here; Eldorado’s Tuesday 1.5-day listing (60 on 30) sits exactly at it. 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: closed, final tally in. Crab: open, with a bigger north coast closure.
Salmon: Pigeon Point to the Mexican border closed Sept. 30, and 38°02′ N (near Point Reyes) to Pigeon Point closed Oct. 31. There are no open ocean salmon days left in 2026 (0 as of today, Wednesday Nov. 11). CDFW’s salmon page, read this morning, lists no later action, and the newest salmon item on its Marine Management News blog is still Aug. 21. CDFW’s Sport Ocean Salmon Tracker, read this morning, puts the fall catch at 14,717 kings against the 20,000-fish harvest guideline, 5,283 under, with data through Oct. 31, the last day of the season. Seasons for 2027 aren’t set, and we won’t guess at them. Salmon hotline: (707) 576-3429.
Dungeness crab, recreational: open since Saturday, Nov. 7, 10 a person. Traps are restricted from the California/Oregon border to Point Conception (Fishing Zones 1–5) until at least Jan. 1, 2027 (CDFW, Oct. 30); hoop nets and crab snares are not affected, and hoop nets must be serviced every two hours. New on Nov. 5: the closed area now runs from the southern boundary of the Reading Rock State Marine Protected Areas (41°17.6′ N) to the southern boundary of the Ten Mile State Marine Reserve (39°33.3′ N), after state health agencies found elevated domoic acid from Reading Rock to Cape Mendocino. Take and possession are prohibited there until they clear it. Domoic acid line (831) 649-2883. The commercial season is delayed to at least Jan. 1.
Groundfish Limits
10 rockfish, cabezon and greenling per day, aggregate. Within that: copper 1, canary 2, and vermilion/sunset 4 per person combined in the Northern Management Area (north of Cape Mendocino) and 2 everywhere else, as CDFW’s groundfish summary (updated June 23, 2026) reads this morning. Lingcod 2 a day, 22-inch minimum. No retention at any time of quillback, cowcod, yelloweye or bronzespotted.
Depths: the Northern and Mendocino areas are open at all depths through Dec. 31 (re-read this morning), and the San Francisco and Central areas are open at all depths as we last read them. Southern area: nearshore species closed; shelf and slope rockfish and lingcod seaward of 50 fathoms only, Oct. 1–Dec. 31 (re-read this morning). Carry a descending device. Cordell Bank: all groundfish fishing is prohibited. Check the boundaries on CDFW’s Ocean Sport Fishing interactive map 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, Nov. 11–18. MLLW datum, local standard time, heights in feet. H = high, L = low. Minus lows show in red. These are astronomical predictions; storm surge and swell are not in them.
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The last of the minus tides, and the highs are running above the table. At the Golden Gate the evening low is −0.44 ft at 6:37 p.m. tonight, −0.29 at 7:17 p.m. Thursday and −0.10 at 8:00 p.m. Friday, then the lows stay above zero for the rest of the window. Tonight’s swing is the biggest left: 5.93 ft at 11:35 a.m. down to −0.44, 6.37 ft in about seven hours. Monterey bottoms at −0.31 ft at 6:06 p.m. and Port San Luis at −0.21 at 5:36 p.m. tonight; both dip just below zero again Thursday (−0.16 and −0.04) and stay above it after that.
The National Weather Service has a Coastal Flood Advisory for the Bay shoreline through 4 p.m. Friday. It expects the San Francisco gauge to run about 1.3 to 1.5 ft above the predictions, which puts today’s 11:35 a.m. high near 7.2 ft and Thursday’s near 7.1, with up to 1.5 ft of water possible in low spots along the shoreline and tidal sloughs. Launch ramps, low docks and shoreline parking near the noon highs are the places to watch.
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San Francisco / Golden Gate · NOAA station 9414290
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Nov 11 | 1:27a H 4.64 · 5:41a L 3.30 · 11:35a H 5.93 · 6:37p L −0.44 |
| Thu Nov 12 | 2:15a H 4.55 · 6:21a L 3.48 · 12:10p H 5.74 · 7:17p L −0.29 |
| Fri Nov 13 | 3:04a H 4.46 · 7:06a L 3.60 · 12:49p H 5.49 · 8:00p L −0.10 |
| Sat Nov 14 | 3:56a H 4.39 · 8:01a L 3.64 · 1:34p H 5.20 · 8:48p L 0.11 |
| Sun Nov 15 | 4:47a H 4.39 · 9:14a L 3.59 · 2:27p H 4.87 · 9:39p L 0.31 |
| Mon Nov 16 | 5:33a H 4.49 · 10:38a L 3.37 · 3:31p H 4.53 · 10:32p L 0.52 |
| Tue Nov 17 | 6:12a H 4.68 · 11:49a L 2.95 · 4:44p H 4.26 · 11:24p L 0.75 |
| Wed Nov 18 | 6:45a H 4.94 · 12:45p L 2.37 · 6:03p H 4.11 |
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Port Chicago / West Delta · NOAA station 9415144
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Nov 11 | 3:44a H 3.81 · 8:13a L 2.27 · 1:40p H 5.10 · 10:08p L −0.07 |
| Thu Nov 12 | 4:35a H 3.80 · 8:57a L 2.38 · 2:15p H 5.01 · 10:47p L −0.01 |
| Fri Nov 13 | 5:26a H 3.77 · 9:45a L 2.38 · 2:56p H 4.81 · 11:27p L 0.01 |
| Sat Nov 14 | 6:16a H 3.71 · 10:39a L 2.31 · 3:44p H 4.51 |
| Sun Nov 15 | 12:08a L 0.01 · 7:05a H 3.66 · 11:40a L 2.16 · 4:39p H 4.13 |
| Mon Nov 16 | 12:51a L 0.01 · 7:51a H 3.65 · 12:47p L 1.93 · 5:44p H 3.74 |
| Tue Nov 17 | 1:35a L 0.04 · 8:33a H 3.72 · 1:58p L 1.61 · 7:04p H 3.43 |
| Wed Nov 18 | 2:17a L 0.13 · 9:10a H 3.86 · 3:06p L 1.22 · 8:31p H 3.27 |
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Monterey · NOAA station 9413450
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Nov 11 | 12:28a H 3.81 · 4:17a L 3.16 · 10:23a H 5.66 · 6:06p L −0.31 |
| Thu Nov 12 | 1:25a H 3.75 · 4:51a L 3.32 · 10:56a H 5.44 · 6:49p L −0.16 |
| Fri Nov 13 | 2:26a H 3.70 · 5:30a L 3.44 · 11:34a H 5.17 · 7:35p L 0.02 |
| Sat Nov 14 | 3:29a H 3.72 · 6:22a L 3.52 · 12:17p H 4.86 · 8:25p L 0.20 |
| Sun Nov 15 | 4:24a H 3.81 · 7:41a L 3.55 · 1:12p H 4.51 · 9:15p L 0.37 |
| Mon Nov 16 | 5:04a H 3.95 · 9:23a L 3.40 · 2:21p H 4.17 · 10:04p L 0.55 |
| Tue Nov 17 | 5:33a H 4.17 · 10:53a L 3.02 · 3:42p H 3.89 · 10:48p L 0.76 |
| Wed Nov 18 | 5:57a H 4.45 · 11:57a L 2.46 · 5:02p H 3.72 · 11:28p L 1.01 |
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Port San Luis / Avila & Morro Bay · NOAA station 9412110
| Day | Highs & Lows |
|---|
| Wed Nov 11 | 3:35a L 3.04 · 9:51a H 5.76 · 5:36p L −0.21 |
| Thu Nov 12 | 12:41a H 3.65 · 4:05a L 3.23 · 10:24a H 5.52 · 6:19p L −0.04 |
| Fri Nov 13 | 1:45a H 3.58 · 4:40a L 3.37 · 11:00a H 5.23 · 7:06p L 0.17 |
| Sat Nov 14 | 3:03a H 3.61 · 5:29a L 3.50 · 11:43a H 4.89 · 7:58p L 0.36 |
| Sun Nov 15 | 4:07a H 3.73 · 6:48a L 3.59 · 12:36p H 4.53 · 8:53p L 0.53 |
| Mon Nov 16 | 4:46a H 3.91 · 8:54a L 3.50 · 1:48p H 4.16 · 9:44p L 0.68 |
| Tue Nov 17 | 5:13a H 4.15 · 10:33a L 3.10 · 3:18p H 3.89 · 10:28p L 0.84 |
| Wed Nov 18 | 5:36a H 4.46 · 11:35a L 2.53 · 4:40p H 3.75 · 11:07p L 1.05 |
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◉ Moon Phase & Best Days
Illumination is the moon’s true figure at local noon, and the phase times, sunrise, sunset and lunar transits come from an astronomy-library calculation (ephem) for Fresno (36.75°N, 119.77°W); we cross-checked the phase against the 29.530589-day synodic month from the Jan. 6, 2000 new moon, and the mean calculation runs about 15 hours behind the true new moon of Nov. 8, which is normal. Solunar majors are the moon overhead and underfoot, 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 in-between week. The new moon was Sunday, Nov. 8 at 11:02 p.m.; the moon is first quarter at 3:48 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17 and full at 6:53 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24, just past this window. By the almanac, today and Thursday are the tail of the new-moon bracket, and the quarter-moon days in the middle are the weakest. The weather agrees with the almanac this time: Thursday is the last calm, dry day before the storm.
Where the majors fall. The moon is crossing overhead later each afternoon, so by Saturday the overhead major (4:14 p.m.) lands right on the last half hour of daylight, sunset 4:50 p.m., and by Sunday and Monday it falls just after dark. The underfoot major moves the other way toward dawn: 6:06 a.m. Tuesday and 6:49 a.m. next Wednesday, right at the 6:39 and 6:40 a.m. sunrise. Next Wednesday’s dawn major also lands on the morning high, 6:45 a.m. at the Golden Gate.
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| Day | Moon | Majors | Sun | Rating |
|---|
| Wed Nov. 11 | Waxing crescent, 6% | 1:18a / 1:44p | 6:33a – 4:52p | ●●●○○ Tail of the new-moon bracket; −0.44 ft at the Gate at 6:37p |
| Thu Nov. 12 | Waxing crescent, 12% | 2:09a / 2:35p | 6:34a – 4:51p | ●●●○○ Last calm day before the storm. −0.29 ft at 7:17p |
| Fri Nov. 13 | Waxing crescent, 18% | 3:00a / 3:25p | 6:35a – 4:51p | ●●○○○ Rain, Sierra storm watch from afternoon; high surf from 6p |
| Sat Nov. 14 | Waxing crescent, 26% | 3:50a / 4:14p | 6:36a – 4:50p | ●●○○○ Afternoon major at dusk; surf warning through 4a Sunday |
| Sun Nov. 15 | Waxing crescent, 35% | 4:37a / 5:00p | 6:37a – 4:49p | ●●○○○ Last day of the Eastern Sierra general season |
| Mon Nov. 16 | Waxing crescent, 44% | 5:23a / 5:44p | 6:38a – 4:49p | ●○○○○ Quarter-moon lull; Sierra watch runs through late tonight |
| Tue Nov. 17 | First quarter (3:48a), 54% | 6:06a / 6:27p | 6:39a – 4:48p | ●○○○○ Weakest by the almanac; dawn major just before sunrise |
| Wed Nov. 18 | Waxing gibbous, 63% | 6:49a / 7:10p | 6:40a – 4:47p | ●●○○○ Dawn major on sunrise and the 4.94 ft Golden Gate high at 6:45a |
Major times are computed from lunar transit and are good to within about fifteen minutes; sunrise and sunset to a minute or two. Ratings apply the almanac convention straight, and they’re not a promise; the notes beside them mark where the tide or the weather does something.
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◉ Fish Stocking Report
CDFW plants are posted as a week range, not a date. The list for this week, Nov. 8–14, 2026, is posted on NorCalFishReports. All rainbow trout; source CDFW unless noted. Pounds are not posted for any water, so we print none. With the water cooled off, the valley-floor and foothill lakes (Success, Yosemite Lake, McClure, McSwain) are back on the list.
| County | Water |
|---|
| Fresno / Kings / Tulare | Kings River below Pine Flat Dam (listed under all three counties) |
| Fresno | Huntington Lake |
| Tulare | Lake Success; Kern River Sections 4, 5 and 6 (as the list files them) |
| Mariposa | Lake McClure; Lake McSwain |
| Merced | Yosemite Lake |
| Alameda / El Dorado | Quarry Lakes, Shadow Cliffs Reservoir; El Dorado Dam Forebay |
| Shasta / Trinity | Nora Lake, Whiskeytown Lake; Ewing Reservoir, Lewiston Lake |
| Sacramento | Rancho Seco Pond (a private plant by Rancho Seco Recreation, not CDFW) |
| Madera / Tuolumne / Calaveras / Stanislaus / Kern / Inyo / Mono | Nothing on this week’s list. |
We read this list on NorCalFishReports alone. CDFW’s own Fish Planting Schedule is a search form we did not work through this week, so treat the table as one source.
What changed: last week’s list was Bass Lake (Madera), Donner and Bass Lake (Siskiyou). This week the Central Region got most of it. Plants are listed by week, so a lake can be stocked any day of it, and the weekend storm may move a truck. 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 (669 records on the feed in all; we filtered to events starting Nov. 11 or later). Events are approved unless marked pending. Dates and venues can still change at the club’s end, and with a storm forecast for the weekend, check with the host before you tow.
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Saturday, Nov. 14 is the busy day, and it’s a storm day. Pine Flat has BTuff Magazine & Cope’s Tackle, McClure has two club events, the Delta has one on each side, and Don Pedro has Bass Angler Inc. Friday through Sunday. Nothing approved is on Millerton, New Melones, Eastman, Hensley, Kaweah, Success, Isabella, Bass Lake or the Central Coast lakes through Nov. 18.
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On the Water This Window: Nov. 11 to Nov. 18
| Date | Water | Sponsor |
|---|
| Wed 11 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| Fri 13 – Sun 15 | Don Pedro, 3 day | Bass Angler Inc. |
| Saturday, Nov. 14 |
| Sat 14 | Pine Flat | BTuff Magazine & Cope’s Tackle and Rod Shop |
| Sat 14 | McClure (two events) | Gilroy Bassmasters · Sierra Bass Club |
| Sat 14 | Delta (Contra Costa) · Delta (San Joaquin) | Bass Anglers of Northern California · Oro Madre Bass Anglers |
| Sat 14 – Sun 15 | Elsewhere: Berryessa (two), Shasta, Clear Lake, Casitas (2-day events); Oroville (two), Collins, Perris (two), Diamond Valley (two), San Vicente, Lower Otay (Saturday only) | 19 events start Saturday statewide, counting the Valley ones above |
| Sunday, Nov. 15 |
| Sun 15 | Oroville · San Vicente · Skinner · Shasta (pending) | Oroville Bassmasters · National Bass Association West (two) · Phil’s Propellers Teams |
| Mon 16 – Wed 18 | No events in the database. |
Mark the Calendar
| Date | Water | Sponsor |
|---|
| Nov. 19 · 27 · Dec. 3 · 10 | Delta (San Joaquin) | Tracy Oasis Marina |
| 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 |
| Dec. 5 | Pine Flat · Don Pedro (two events) · McClure | Kerman Bass Club · Sonora Bass Anglers · Best Bass Tournaments · Manteca Bassin Buddies |
| Dec. 6 | McClure (two events) · Delta (Contra Costa) | Fresno Bass Club · Hughson High School Bass Fishing Club · The Bass Hole |
| Dec. 12–13 | Pine Flat (Sierra Bass Club 2-day, plus a filing with no sponsor named Dec. 12) · McClure (three) · Don Pedro · Nacimiento · Delta (Contra Costa, two) | Sierra Bass Club · Gilroy Bassmasters, River Bank Bass Anglers, Modesto Ambassadors · Kings VIII Bass Club · American Bass · Delta Bass Club, Tri Valley Bassmasters |
Nothing is permitted on Isabella through Dec. 31; the database does list a Kern County “various waters” filing for Dec. 1–31 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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⚠ Water & Weather Safety
Stay off the rocks and jetties this weekend. The National Weather Service has a High Surf Warning, 25 to 30 ft breakers, from 6 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Sunday on the Point Reyes, San Francisco, Peninsula and northern Monterey Bay coast, and 25 to 35 ft on the Mendocino and southern Humboldt coast, with a second large swell due late Sunday into Monday up north. Before it, from tonight through Friday evening, a Beach Hazards Statement warns of sneaker waves and rip currents with 15 to 20 ft breakers. Waves that size sweep people off jetties and rocks. If you were planning a rock or surf trip, move it.
Bay shoreline flooding through Friday afternoon. A Coastal Flood Advisory runs to 4 p.m. Friday, with the midday highs forecast 1.3 to 1.5 ft above the tide table and up to 1.5 ft of water possible in low-lying areas near shorelines and tidal waterways. Watch the ramps, low docks and parking lots around the noon high tides.
The first Sierra storm. Winter Storm Watches cover the Sierra above 6,000 ft from Friday through Monday, with 6 inches to a foot of snow, up to 2 feet on the northern peaks, and gusts of 50 to 60 mph; on the east slope, 5 to 10 inches above 7,000 ft Friday afternoon into Saturday. Huntington, Wishon, Courtright, the Kaiser Pass lakes and everything over the hill are inside it. Carry chains, tell somebody where you’re going, and don’t count on the road you drove in on staying open.
Rivers will rise after the rain. Every flow in this issue is a pre-storm number. The Kings below Pine Flat is running 180 cfs of cold tailwater over slick cobble, and rain this weekend can bring up the side drainages below the dam; the Kaweah, Tule and Kern foothill reaches will come up and color up too. Wear the vest, carry a staff, and check the flow again before you cross back.
Crab gear and whales. CDFW has a fleet advisory for every zone: keep gear out of areas where whales are present. Traps are restricted from the Oregon border to Point Conception, so if you set a hoop net, tend it every two hours, and pull it before the swell arrives Friday. The north coast closure now runs from Reading Rock to Ten Mile; closure line (831) 649-2883.
Shellfish advisories, and two orders we did not re-read. As of CDPH’s Oct. 28 release, the statewide sport mussel quarantine ended Oct. 31, while the Northern Channel Islands advisory for sport-harvested mussels, clams, scallops and oysters and the Del Norte and Humboldt razor clam notices stay in place. Check CDPH before you gather anything: (800) 553-4133. We did not re-read CDFW’s Sept. 11 order making anchovy taken from Pigeon Point to Point Lobos bait only, or the Sept. 17 white shark gear rule from Pigeon Point south, and saw no notice lifting either, so treat both as in force. If you hook a young white shark, cut the line.
Low lakes and early dark. Pine Flat 18.8%, Success 10.8%, Kaweah 10.2%, Eastman 6.8% and Hensley 7.7%: every stump and roadbed is closer to prop depth than it was in July. Sunset is 4:47 to 4:52 p.m. this window. Idle in, watch the sounder, and plan the drive home around the dark and the weather.
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To every veteran reading this: thank you for your service. We don’t take it for granted, today or any day.
Three things this week. First, the weather. Thursday is the day. From Friday the coast gets 25 to 30 ft surf and the Sierra gets its first real snow, and the landings are already moving trips. Call before you drive, and stay off the jetties.
Second, the crab. The opener was as good as anyone hoped, limits of crab and rockfish on most Bay boats. Note the bigger north coast closure CDFW added Nov. 5, Reading Rock to Ten Mile. Salmon is in the books at 14,717 kings for the fall, under the 20,000 guideline; the hotline is (707) 576-3429 for when 2027 is set.
Third, trout close to home. The Kings below Pine Flat, McClure, McSwain, Success, Huntington, Yosemite Lake and the Kern are all on this week’s plant list, and Pine Flat is up again to 18.8%. If you’re headed east instead, the general season ends Sunday, and we’ve corrected what we said about the East Walker. We still couldn’t find a dated freshwater bite report, so the bite table says so.
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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 Nov. 11–18 are direct pulls of the raw NOAA CO-OPS prediction data (read in the browser, not through second-hand tables) 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 (generated Nov. 11, 08:00) and Section 7 sheet (generated Nov. 11, 07:01), data ending midnight Nov. 10, and the Pine Flat hourly report · California Data Exchange Center (CDEC) daily storage for Millerton, Don Pedro and McClure (through Nov. 10), Shaver, Huntington and Florence (through Nov. 9), Wishon and Courtright (Nov. 3), elevations, and Merced and Kaweah daily flows · San Luis Obispo County live reservoir sensors for Lopez and Santa Margarita and USGS gauges for Nacimiento and San Antonio elevation · NorCalFishReports.com, SoCalFishReports.com and SanDiegoFishReports.com boat-by-boat dock totals for Nov. 7–10; Fish Emeryville, California Dawn and Lovely Martha skipper posts via NorCalFishReports; 22nd Street Landing’s report page; Davey’s Locker’s count page; SoCalFishReports skipper posts · CDFW: salmon regulations page, Sport Ocean Salmon Tracker, Marine Management News blog, the Oct. 30 and Nov. 5 Dungeness crab releases, and the groundfish summary · CDPH Oct. 28 mussel-quarantine release, as carried from last week · National Weather Service forecasts and active alerts (High Surf Warnings, Coastal Flood Advisory, Beach Hazards Statement, Winter Storm Watches) read this morning · Ken’s Sporting Goods’ East Walker River page and Western Outdoor News for the Eastern Sierra season dates · CDFW’s Sport Fishing Licenses page (disabled veteran and recovering service member reduced-fee licenses) · NorCalFishReports.com fish plant list for Nov. 8–14 · CDFW Fishing Contest permit database, black bass · Moon, sun and solunar figures computed with the ephem astronomy library for Fresno.
What we couldn’t get, and what we corrected: No dated freshwater bite reports for the Central Valley lakes, the Delta or the Sierra this week; the Hurley and George columns we found were from August, so we printed none · The Section 7 sheet carried only New Melones from our list, so Millerton, Don Pedro, McClure, Shaver, Huntington and Florence are CDEC figures, and Bass Lake has no reading at all · Don Pedro’s CDEC storage repeats the same value for seven days and CDEC revised last week’s figure, so its weekly change is unreliable · Wishon and Courtright have only a Nov. 3 reading, Courtright’s is unconfirmed, and Edison has none · Nacimiento and San Antonio are elevation only · No San Joaquin flow below Friant (last trusted figure Sept. 17) · No verified report for the California Aqueduct, San Luis or O’Neill Forebay · Success’s gross pool is unverified · Endeavor’s Nov. 8 rockfish listing exceeds the aggregate (flagged in the table), and there is no Catalina-attributed catch · Correction: earlier issues said the East Walker stays open year-round; Ken’s Sporting Goods says it closes Nov. 16, and the Nov. 15 general-season date comes from Ken’s and Western Outdoor News, not from CDFW’s own pages · We did not re-read the Sept. 17 shark order, the Sept. 11 anchovy order, CDPH’s shellfish notices, or the San Francisco and Central groundfish depth tables this week; they are carried from earlier readings and labeled that way · The vermilion/sunset limit of 4 applies only in the Northern Management Area by CDFW’s summary, 2 elsewhere, which is not the same as “4 north of Point Conception” · The fish plant list rests on one source and shows no pounds · Weather alerts change; the surf, flood and snow figures are the National Weather Service’s as of this morning.
Please read: Conditions, seasons, bag limits and closures change, sometimes with a single day’s notice. Crab trap restrictions and domoic acid closures can change with a risk assessment or a health notice, and one already did this week. Groundfish depth rules and sublimits change by area and month. 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, check the National Weather Service before any coast or mountain 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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