Lake Level: 162 Ft from crest
Afternoon water temp: 74 degrees
Water clarity main body: 5 Ft
Water clarity up arms: 2 Ft
The fish are on the move. The lake is being dropped 1/2 to 3/4 of a foot a day. We are starting to see small balls of shad getting busted by fish all over the lake. The main lake has clearer water. Then as you move up the arms the water gets muddy. Early morning the shad are still a little deeper. Fish can be caught on JB Customs, spooks, crankbaits, senkos in baby bass and green pumkin and hula grubs in those same colors. After around 9:30 you will start to see a lot more activity on the surface. I’ve been driving the boat around slowly until I see a school of fish busting and then I’ll run over there and start chucking spinnerbaits, lipless crankbaits, super spooks, A-rigs or flukes.
The balls of shad are only going to get a lot bigger from here on out and the size of the shad will keep increasing through the fall. Right now even with all of the bait everywhere the fish are still extremely skinny. My theory is they are skinny because they are chasing these little tiny shad, using all this energy for little reward. They need to eat a lot of shad and spend a lot of energy to get full.
Right now we have 3 operable boat ramps on Lake Shasta. Bridge Bay is 1 lane and you need to have 4 wheel drive to pull trailers out. Jones Valley Resort is at the low low water ramp. 20 min drive down deep powder dirt road with a trailer. Dirt ramp, no dock, kinda sloshy and 4 wheel drive needed to pull trailers out. Centimundi boat ramp is paved. 2 wheel drive is ok.
Hopefully this helps. The lake is dropping very fast and will continue to drop until December would be my guess, so we have much further to go. Be careful out there, there are hundreds of unmarked islands just under the surface and hazard trees everywhere. Hopefully this report helps and you can take the family out to catch some fish. Thanks again and if your looking for a local guide Matt Atkins Guide Service targets specifically bass and is on the water guiding 7 days a week. Please call (530) 510-3752 and we will get you booked. Thanks again
