Fish Reports

🎣 California Fish Plants for 1/25/2026 - 1/31/2026 Perfect temps and conditions across California for trout fishing California anglers are in for a treat with winter’s cool embrace keeping trout hungry in lakes and rivers. The weather this coming week looks steady with mild chills that should continue to favor active trout fishing. This week California is expected to have 23,135 lbs of trout planted across 35 locations. With unannounced plants included last week saw a revised total of 26,875 lbs of trout across 37 locations.

🎣 Mid-week Fish Plants for 1/18/2026 - 1/24/2026 Couple of additions, but trout are biting hard “Hey anglers, here’s your midweek update. 2 additional spots are planting fish, bringing totals to 22,475 lbs. of trout across 33 locations. With January’s cooler waters firing up trout activity across California, conditions are excellent for chasing limits right now. Gauge your local spot but lots of lakes and reservoirs are reporting trout in the top column. The upcoming week brings mild temperatures and mostly clear skies, creating comfortable and productive days on the water. This week, California is expected to have 22,475 lbs. of trout planted across 33 locations.”

The Fish Sniffer team had a great time at the International Sportsmen’s Expo this weekend. We enjoyed meeting up with our friends from Reel Addiction Sportfishing and talking with lots of anglers who were booking their trips early. Captains Ben and Shawn, along with Deckhand Dillon, really know how to get fish out of San Francisco Bay. They run two thirty-foot boats that can accommodate up to six people: Reel Addiction 1, a 2023 30XL Offshore Duckworth (one of the newest and biggest in the 6-pack fleet, equipped with a bathroom, refrigerator, table with bench seating, and two co-captain passenger seats), and Reel Addiction 2, a 2024 290 Sea Raider with twin Suzuki 250’s (also one of the newest and biggest, featuring a bathroom and big deck space for a very comfortable fishing experience). Whether you want rock cod, lingcod, halibut, or a crabbing adventure, these guys consistently find the right spots for a memorable day on the water. If you are ready to lock in an epic trip, check out Reel Addiction Sportfishing and get on the books soon. We are already looking forward to hitting the water with them!

The Fish Sniffer team had a great time at the International Sportsmen’s Expo this weekend. It was awesome to catch up with our friends, including founder and owner Lawrence Ngai from Durasnare Crabsnares. Durasnare is quickly becoming one of the most well-known crab snare companies out of California. They produce extremely high-quality crab snares built to perform and last. They also offer guided crabbing trips, including poke-poling, along the California coast and sometimes the Oregon coast as well. Whether you are a first-timer or an experienced angler looking to level up, their guided trips are excellent. Lawrence and the team show you how to hook into Dungeness crab and guide you through the whole process right there on the water: catching, cooking, and cleaning your catch for the best results. If you want reliable gear and a fun day on the water, grab some Durasnare crab snares and book a guided trip with them.

There seems to be a decent bite for small wild trout in the main body right now. Fish aren’t huge - most are between 12 and 14” but that could be a great sign for this spring. The more interesting thing is a number of small chinook are being hooked (and hopefully released!). They are running 10-12” and, since there were no salmon plants last year (last one was in ‘24) these fish have to be naturally spawned in the river arms. For those who don’t know, until 2008 DFW planted non-sterilized chinook in Folsom and some of those fish established spawning runs up the river arms. After that, there were no plants again for 8 years but we kept catching salmon, so DFW did a survey and confirmed that’s what was happening. Despite wildly fluctuating water conditions since then, it appears enough descendents of those pre-‘08 salmon are spawning to keep a somewhat “wild” strain of landlocked chinook going in Folsom. Pretty cool!

The lake level is all the way up but the water is still pretty stained and the trout seem to be hunkering down. Bait fishing seems to be quite a bit better than trolling- which I can speak firsthand to. Last Wednesday we hit two trout before 10am anchored up in the cove across from the marina and soaking PowerBait in about 2 feet of water (casting right up to the shoreline). Same thing on Saturday, same area and, interestingly, same time frame. Trolling both days was slow, although on Saturday we lost a good-sized lightning trout in front of Elmer’s Cove after 4 hours of not a single takedown. Surface temperatures are 49 first thing, warming to about 52 later in the day. Hopefully as the lake continues to clear the trolling bite will pick back up

🎣 Mid-week Fish Plants for 1/11/2026 - 1/17/2026 Weather is turning up nicely, trout action is great in SoCal and NorCal “Hey anglers, here’s your midweek update. 6 additional spots are planting fish, bringing totals to 30,400 lbs. of trout across 41 locations. Weather is still prime time for hooking hungry trout, and these extra plants mean even more action across California. Get out on the water and make the most of it!”