Shasta Springtime Bassin & Crappie

It sure is nice to be able to fish willows/trees again, and visit spots that have been high and dry for several years.  The lake is full and the fishing is lights-out right now.  My last trip out was with Mike, a family friend who hadn't fished in 30 years.  He recently picked up a pair of kayaks and wanted a lesson in Shasta Bassin, and right now is prime time.  We picked up a dozen 'natural swimbaits', my go-to for beginners to get a few fish in the yak and boost confidence a bit.  We launched at Packers Bay under drizzly skies, with air temperature in the high 50’s and a water temp of 63 degrees.

A quick overview of the yaks and techniques, and we made the 1/2 mile peddle to our first spot, a small cove with a nice willow in 20' of water with a small creek trickling in.  Like clockwork, Mike dropped the minnow down, I counted to ten, and his first fish was in the boat.  Not a monster, but he was smiling and it set the tone for the rest of the day.  Spot after spot, all in the 10-15” range, then a nice black crappie just over 12” consumed the rest of the minnows, and it was time to venture into a variety of senkos, worms, mini-swimbaits, and Gulp minnows on a darthead.  If you’re in rocky/cobble @ 10’ of water, bouncing a Gulp with a squirt of garlic Pro Cure is about as sure of a thing as you can get.  Mostly spots, with a few smallies and crappie rounded out the action. 

More Shasta action this weekend, then bouncing around between the Sac, Baum, Whiskeytown, and Lewiston over the next few weeks.  Love this time of year!

Tight lines,
beenfishin

Those black crappie sure are cool looking  - nice report! Thanks for the pics.

Thanks for the report and pics.  I hope to make it up there again this year.

Great little bit of fishing right there!!

Great report!!! I plan on taking my son up to Lewiston as soon as school lets out.  maybe you could join us!

Nice work Ben.  It's such a great feeling getting someone on fish who's been out of the game (or never been in the game) for such a long time.  And gotta love them Gulp minners! 

I wish Shasta would move closer. That rig kills at oroville as well.

Thanks Ben for the backyard pics and getting me motivated... perhaps the weekend might be a good time to get out for a few hours!

Glad to see your fishig grounds back underwater ben, Looks like fun! Theres a lake where eating the crappie might not be such a bad idea.

Thanks for the confidence booster. I have a friend with a recently purchased house at Lakehead who has not fished in a long while. I sold him my old AI and now I owe fishing lessons. This type of report sure helps, informative, details and mostly success.

Great report Ben, i also am thinking about hitting the lake this weekend, maybe Sunday.

Sweet report Ben! 

Thanks for the report Ben. Those gulp seem to really get the numbers and it's an easy bait to fish too.

Nice Crappies!

Nice going on those bass and crappie Ben.

Jedmo