States·CA
California fishing
News-desk briefs whose primary water is California. California and Alaska also keep their category desks.
Don Moir’s Sept. 17 4Reel column: north-end Lake Sonoma bass are chewing a KDV Square-build crankbait at Yorty, Cherry, and Skunk; landlocked salmon at the dam; Mendocino chartreuse topwater before 8 a.m.; Clear Lake wolf packs 15–20 ft with a frog at first light.
Jim Taibi’s Sept. 13 Tackle Express Castaic report: largemouth, smallmouth, and spots sharing shallow grass on abundant bait, 30–50 fish half-days on live shad, surface still the program. Off the water by 7 p.m. — earlier than prior weeks.
Fish Emeryville’s 4:08 p.m. Sept. 14 update: Diamond 5 anglers / 10 kings (limits of big-belly salmon), Oakland Anglers II 7 / 9 kings, and Sea Wolf 11 / 110 rockfish plus 22 lingcod. Pacific Pearl is a light-load salmon trip Sept. 15.
Lost Coast Outfitters’ Sept. 11 Delta fly report (Capt. Bryce Tedford, Sept. 9) calls September the crossover month — all three bass species on the table, sometimes the same day. October–November striper books are full.
H&M Landing’s Sept. 14 fish-count page: Old Glory 93 yellowfin on a 1.5-day, Sea Adventure 80 with 250 yellowfin and 77 dorado on a 3.5-day, and Producer still on the water after 105 yellowfin.
Seaforth’s Saturday, Sept. 12 sheet put Tribute on 55 yellowtail, 53 dorado, 36 yellowfin, and 1 wahoo, while San Diego, Sea Watch, and New Seaforth mixed yellowtail, bonito, and local bass.
Fish Emeryville’s Saturday dock: 6 trips, 92 anglers, 64 king salmon, 200 rockfish, 3 lingcod, and 1 halibut. Oakland Anglers II led with 22 kings; New Huck Finn had fish to 28 pounds. Lovely Martha and California Dawn added 22 and 34 salmon.
CDFW’s first 2026 in-season weir update, reported by Siskiyou News, counted 35 adult Chinook at the Shasta River through Sept. 10, zero at Bogus Creek, and set Shovel, Scott, and Jenny Creek stations earlier than the post-dam years.
Capt. Brian Woolley’s Sept. 11 Dana Point Times week recap says yellowtail rebounded on hard bottom and mud, water cooled into the low-to-mid 70s for calicos, and jumbo bonito to 10 pounds ripped the boats — with random yellowfin and dorado mixed offshore.
A Sierra Wave Sept. 8 Convict Lake brief says the resort dropped 600 pounds of trophy rainbows (about 4.5 lb average) the same weekend as a State plant — south shore fish to 5 pounds, with Ambush at the Lake running through mid-November.
Tackle Express’s Sept. 6 Castaic report, via guide Jim Taibi, says cooler nights flipped the lake into an almost all-surface pattern — largemouth on shad in the coves, stripers hitting topwater in as little as three feet.
Allen Bushnell’s Sept. 11 Santa Cruz report says tanker white seabass are thick on live bait from the Westside to Moss Landing, with rockfish, lingcod, and sandy-flat halibut still producing.
Fish Emeryville’s Friday AM update tallied 29 Chinook, 160 rockfish, and 32 lingcod across four boats on Sept. 10, with Scallywag and Here We Go near salmon limits.
Toronado Sportfishing’s Sept. 10 return from a 1.5-day trip out of Pierpoint Landing logged three bluefin to 150 pounds plus yellowtail, bonito, and a rockfish/whitefish bag.
Lovely Martha, California Dawn, Hog Heaven, and Fish Emeryville all reported strong Chinook days on Sept. 10 as California’s fall ocean salmon window stays hot.
The Log’s Sept. 10 South Coast report from Dana Wharf Sportfishing says quality yellowtail continue close to home while ¾-day boats mix skipjack and yellowfin offshore.
Don Moir’s Sept. 1 Ukiah Daily Journal 4Reel column says early buzzbaits and frogs are producing on Clear Lake, Lake Mendocino, Lake Sonoma, and Lake Pillsbury as midweek pressure eases.
Fish Emeryville’s Sept. 9 scores show multiple salmon boats near limits, with New Huck Finn to 30-pound kings, while Oakland Anglers II mixed rockfish, sanddab, and lingcod.
Guide Scott Caldwell’s Sept. 7 Shasta report says 2- to 4-pound rainbows — and some browns — are still on baby shad at 80–110 feet, with trolled plugs and spoons the ticket.
Kenny Priest’s Sept. 3 North Coast report says fall kings are leaving the estuary and staging upriver after cool Lewiston Dam releases, rain, and a BOR flow bump — Trinity quotas also opened Sept. 1.
ESA, with ICF and DWR, published a five-year acoustic-tracking study of nearly 600 striped bass at Clifton Court Forebay — five movement types meant to sharpen predator management for listed salmonids.
Bass Angler Magazine’s Sept. 8 Delta playbook says late-summer largemouth are still keyed on punching matted vegetation on moving tides, with topwater and finesse filling low-light and slack windows.
Western Outdoor News reports party and private boats from Bodega to Half Moon Bay found limits to near-limits of hard-fighting Chinook after the Sept. 1 fall opener — shared 20,000-fish fall guideline still in play.
On Sept. 8 the Hoopa Valley Tribe and CDFW dedicated a single jointly run selective-harvest weir near Tish Tang Campground, folding Willow Creek monitoring and tribal harvest into one Lower Trinity site ahead of the fall run.
CDFW reopened recreational razor clamming in Del Norte County after August samples fell below the federal action level — Humboldt County stays closed, and the first 20 clams dug still count.
Orange County Parks’ 2026 schedule lists Laguna Niguel, Mile Square, and Tri-City regional parks for channel catfish stocking the week of Sept. 7–11 — a California fishing license is required for anglers 16 and up at those waters.
CDFW’s Sacramento Fishing in the City program is still planting channel catfish through September at seven metro ponds, with a youth Learn to Fish clinic at Hagan Community Park on Sept. 12.
With heat still hanging over the Valley, CDFW and partners are tracking shallow winter-run redds below Shasta and warning that about one in five eggs could be lost if river temperatures climb — just as a strong fall Chinook return gears up.
CDFW shut the popular spit fishery at the mouth of the Klamath on Sept. 2 after anglers reached the area’s share of the basin recreational fall Chinook allocation — the rest of the river stays open until its own quotas fill.
CDFW says inland Chinook fishing is back on key California rivers after three closed years, with quotas and bag limits meant to keep the rebound going.