 The calendar says spring, but the weather says summer. Beautiful sunrises, warm temperatures, bright sunny skies and light winds and a great bite have dominated the Almanor Basin. The lake level continues to slowly rise it currently sits at 4489 or 5 feet below full pool. Flows on the tributaries are still elevated but lack of recent precipitation has them on the decline. Hamilton Branch has cleared significantly and is running green as PGE has installed boards at the Mountain Meadows dam upstream. Remember when fishing Hamilton or any other location, pack out what you pack in. Water temperature is now running in the low to mid 50’s depending on time and location some days ending up in the high 50’s due to unseasonably warm weather and almost zero wind. The trout are on the grab all over the lake. The dam, east shore, west shore and the peninsula are all giving up fish. The lake’s population of pond smelt continues to be the primary food source, however the warm conditions have kicked off some of the early aquatic bug hatches bringing a second course to the table. Trollers are focusing their attention from the surface to 20 feet with a variety of offerings and techniques to temp fish. Slow trolled (1.5 mph or less) worms, plastics and trolling flies are all solid choices especially in baitfish patterns. Running flies and Rapalas faster also brought fish to the net over the last week. The catch is a mixed bag of Browns than Bows ranging from small to very large. The coves of the west shore are providing shore anglers with some action. The top bait offerings continue to be crawlers and mice tails for a catch made up of mostly Rainbows and an occasional Brown. Recent activity has a slight edge to crawlers with garlic scent. The bass are beginning to get active, and the warmer temps have some moving to the shallows. The Canyon Dam boat ramp is open and useable. The outlook calls for a slight cool down over the next few days, but temperatures will remain above average. Signups continue for this year's Veteran's Fishing Day event. See the flyer below, Click Here to register. 
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 The last significant storms brought low snow then higher elevation rain causing a large amount of runoff, bringing the lake level up about two feet in the last two weeks, it currently sits at 4488.25 or a little less than 6 feet below full pool. Flows on the tributaries are elevated due to snow melt; most have cleared but Hamilton Branch is still running extremely muddy bringing plenty of brown water into the lake. Areas from the mouth of Hamilton Branch all the way to the tip of the peninsula are impacted by this heavily stained water. (see the picture included with this report) Water temperature is now running in the low to mid 40’s depending on time and location. The trout are spread throughout the entire lake feeding on the pond smelt population. The east shore, from the dam to Hamilton Branch along with various spots along the west shore have been providing action for trollers. It has been a mixed bag of slow and fast trolling that has been yielding fish. Slow trolled (1.5 mph or less) worms, plastics and trolling flies are all solid choices especially in baitfish patterns. Running flies and Rapalas faster also brought fish to the net over the last week. Recent outings have shown results with baits trolled in the top 20 feet of the water column. The catch is a mixed bag of Browns than Bows ranging from small to very large. Some pockets between the dam and Lake Cove were kicking out good numbers of salmon from 13 to 17 inches. The coves of the west shore are providing shore anglers with some action. The top bait offerings continue to be crawlers and mice tails for a catch made up of mostly Rainbows and an occasional Brown. The Canyon Dam boat ramp is open and should continue to be available subject to access being blocked by snowfall. In spite of recent cells that brought brief heavy downpours, wind, hail and lightning to the basin, the weather man indicates that we are entering a warming trend with more stable conditions which should only improve the bite here at the lake.
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