Fat September trout keep biting deep on Shasta Lake

September has not cooled Shasta’s trout bite. Guide Scott Caldwell’s Sept. 7, 2026 report on NorCal Fish Reports says the month opened like the rest of summer: fat, hard-fighting fish still keyed on baby shad all over the lake.

The school is deep. Caldwell is marking them 80 to 110 feet and putting most of his fish on trolled plugs and spoons. Size has been a 2- to 4-pound class, mostly rainbows, with browns still showing — just fewer of them in the last week of that report.

Historically September is a strong Shasta trout month, and this one is tracking as a continuation of the summer pattern, not a fall shutdown. Confirm current bag and gear rules before you keep fish, and watch the weather before you run the big water.

Photo: Scott Caldwell / NorCal Fish Reports.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: NorCal Fish Reports — Fat September Trouting on Shasta Lake (Scott Caldwell, Sept. 7, 2026).