Wow, what a great March we had on Shasta Lake fishing for big brown trout this year! March was one of the better brown trout months I’ve had since I started fishing Shasta Lake. April has come and is nearly gone at the time of this report and it was definitely slower than last month. The main reason for the slow down was the changing lake conditions. We were fishing in water that was pretty cold at 48-49 degrees, but now the lake is reaching the mid 60’s most days by late afternoon. My last temp check showed that the 49 degree water is now down at about 100’. The warming water starts the crawfish migrations and we see some pretty big bug hatches on the lake as well. This provides a temporary distraction for the trout and salmon and they tend to focus on food close to the shore or bugs on the surface in open water. I haven’t seen Shad balls down in the lower lake yet, but when we do, we should start to see a good bite again.
We spent most of April trolling in the top 30’ feet of the water column and we still are for the most part. Trolling speeds averaged 2.5 mph again in April and we mostly trolled 2-3” spoons and some rolled some Shad when we had it. I’m expecting to see similar bite patterns in May, but I’m hoping that the unseasonably warm weather will jump start the summer bite pattern and we’ll have some fast action trout fishing very soon!
I learned a lot again this April season and will definitely look at the dates we book next year with similar weather and water conditions. Every year seems to be a little bit different on Shasta Lake, especially the migration pattern and timing. It has everything to do with the water temps and no two consecutive years are the same.
