New Melones Lake Early March 2026

I have made a few trips up to New Melones Lake to go bass fishing.   It seems a bit slow compared to last year, but there are fish to be caught.  Mostly spotted bass with some Largemouth and Trout mixed in.  I prefer to fish shallow to mid-depth from my kayak, which means you have to cover a lot of ground to find fish, but they are there.  Here is a link to my latest catch.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Nice! I hope to hit Melones for Kokanee late spring/early summer. Last year I did well near the highway bridge launch.

Thanks for the report. How is the water level?

Thanks for the report and video Barry.

Great report. Whatever you're fishing out of looks comfortable and fun. I will have to check out more of your videos.

Hi, and thanks for the comments. 

The water level is doing really well.  All of the high water ramps are accessible. Although Angles Creek and Tuttletown are closed to trailer boat launching, you can still hand-launch kayaks.  The Angles Creek area is a long walk to get to the water; the parking lot is closed, but there are some places to park along the roadway.

In the above video, I am using my Hobie iTrek 9 ultralight.  I launched from Angels Creek, so I always try to lighten the load.