Reighley reveals Lake Oroville bass fishing secrets
This week's Paradise Bass Club meeting featured noted local expert Don Reighley conducting an excellent seminar on the most productive techniques for bass fishing on Lake Oroville.
"Fishing is fun, catching is better," began Reighley. "Lake Oroville is the best lake in California for numbers of bass, maybe the best in the country. At most lakes in the U.S., catching anywhere from five to15 bass is a good day. Locals here at Oroville expect to release 30 to 40 fish per day. Thanks to the Department of Water Resources, we also have a great parking lot, restrooms and launch ramps."
Reighley outlined the top three easiest and most productive methods for catching bass on Oroville, noting that they are not necessarily the best way to win a tournament, but are definitely the way to have a good time catching lots of fish. These three approaches are what catch 70 to 80 percent of Lake Oroville bass.
First on the list is the dropshot rig. This rig consists of a sinker on the bottom, with a size two dropshot hook tied on the line anywhere from 12 inches to 7 feet up, using a Palomar knot. Almost any kind of plastic worm can be attached, but 3- to 4-inch sizes are customary.
Reighley's favorite "go-to" dropshot bait for Lake Oroville is the 3-inch Berkley Power Bait Minnow in the pearl/shad-scale color.
"This is the easiest way to catch a lot of fish," advised Reighley.
Dropshot rigs are usually tied on 6- to 8-pound fluorocarbon line, and occasionally on 4-pound.
The simple soft plastic tube-bait is another of Reighley's favorite lures.
"Tube baits are almost idiot-proof," quipped Reighley.
Top colors for Lake Oroville are green pumpkin, smoke/black flake and brown/purple.
"Tubes are good for anything from 6 to 60 feet," said Reighley. "You can hop it, drag it or swim it; it's all in the attitude of the fish. They can be rigged dropshot-style, but I prefer the basic one-quarter ounce darthead. Use 6- or 8-pound fluorocarbon line and spinning tackle."
The final choice for catching large numbers of Oroville bass is the soft plastic Senko, which was originally molded inside a ball point pen.
"The trick to using Senkos is to install a rubber O-ring, and place the hook under it," said Reighley. "Otherwise, you will lose the lure almost every time you hook a fish, and that gets expensive."
Use a size 1 or 1/0 dropshot hook, and install the O-ring of a weightless lure "wacky style" dead center. A weighted lure should be hooked about three-quarters of the way to the nose.
Senkos can be fished weightless in depths up to 30 feet, and with a screw-on nose weight up to 60 feet. Fluorocarbon lines in the 6- to 8-pound range are standard, and anglers are reminded that this rig is not weedless.
Regarding seasonality, Reighley said that we really don't have a true winter, and the springtime conditions have already begun.
"Every full moon from now until May will see a different group of fish move up to spawn at anything from 2 feet to 30 feet. The best bite will be the week leading up to, and the week following the full moon. Right on the full moon itself, the fish will be concentrating on their nests, and can be caught only via sight-fishing." Read More ...
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