This would actually be the third pre-fish day for my partner and I but the first we had together. Oroville is currently at 699.77 feet a 3 foot drop from the last day I fished, the water temp is currently 49.9 a 4 degree drop in the same time. Previously we broke the lake into four parts Main Body, North, South and middle, he took two parts and I took two then compared notes and came together today to find what is hopefully the final pattern.
Oroville Spots
We started the day in the middle basin focusing on wood, hoping to stumble into some of Oroville’s scares largemouth population, worked for about an hour with no results except one broken off fish. Next we moved to the south fork switching our attention to spotted bass. Found a few here and there but never found any great size fish just the same ones we have found over the past month. Slowly but surely we worked our way back to the main body spot to spot. The only thing we secured in our pattern is that the reaction bite is nonexistent for us, soft plastics in shad patterns seemed to rule the day a slight change from the crawdad pattern we have been focusing on. One of the other big changes that has taken place is the number of fish we are catching is diminishing, two weeks earlier 30-40 fish a day was easy today was 15-20. The fish are moving slightly deeper with the cooling water, we had been catching fish in the 18-20 foot depth range now its 20-25 feet. Dropshots with 3-4 inches between weight and hook, Dartheads and shakey heads were the best producers. Colors in your favorite shad patterns will work, 4-6 inch seemed to have the best results. Rocky shores facing East produced more fish but if you pull up to a bank and don’t see fish on the graph move on. I can honestly say we will need to do more work to find the fish it will take to win but maybe this can help you have some fun and catch a few good fish next time you head out to Oroville.
See you on the water,
Big Ed
