ANGELS CAMP - Fishing for rainbow trout remains great on New Melones Reservoir, according to Kyle Wise at Headhunter SportFishing.

“We had another fun day on the lake with Ed and his father from Oregon,” said Wise after a recent trip. “it took a little bit to find fish, but when we did, the bite was on. It was no uncommon to be fighting doubles all afternoon. We use stick baits down to 55’ while trolling at 2.5 mph.”

One another fishing adventure, Wise asked, “What do you do on Veterans Day? You take a vet fishing and let him catch monster trout. Ed did that and we had lots of other action, catching limits of bass to fulfill his day.”

Now that the lake waters have turned over, the trout fishing along the shoreline in Glory Hole and other areas on the lake should improve. Anglers should toss out PowerBait, nightcrawlers, Kastmasters, spinners and other offerings for the rainbows.

The Bureau of Reclamation requires that all boats launching at New Melones Lake participate in a seal program to prevent the spread of the new invasive mussel species, the Golden Mussel, that was found in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Any boats wishing to launch at New Melones must be left out of the water for 30 days with a documented wire and Red seal attached through the bow eye of their boat and wrapped around their trailer, effectively tying the two together. After 30 days, the boater can return, have their wire/seal cut, and launch. Upon exiting the water, the boat and trailer will once again be banded together, but with a Green seal and wire.

This marks the end of their 30-days, and that they can return any day during the hours listed. The seal/wire must remain intact to launch (a New Melones staff member must cut the seal/wire allowing the boater to launch), and any boats found with tampered seals must restart their 30-days. Boaters can stay overnight, but must be off the water by the given time frame to be resealed.

Valid seals are applied by staff at open boat launches during the hours of operation. This seal program only works for New Melones Lake. New Melones Lake is not accepting other seals or sealing for other lakes currently.

New Melones Lake Marina is decontaminating boats for same day access at a fee. Find more information and make an appointment on their decontamination website, or call (209) 785-3300.

Hand-launch vessels such as kayaks, paddleboards, canoes, etc. do not need to participate in the banding process if they are hand operated or use an electric trolling motor. No gas-powered motors allowed. For hand-launch vessels with trailers, the trailer cannot touch the water.

Current launch hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Glory Hole Point. The Tuttletown ramp is now closed.

New Melones is holding 1,632,799 -acre feet of water, 68 percent of capacity and 126 percent of average.