Camanche Lake

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Overall rating:  Good

General conditions: Our lake elevation has slowly dropped the past 25 days in a row. The fuel dock and the main launch ramp at Southshore are out of service for the remainder of 2001. Our two-lane low water #1 ramp is in use at South. The Northshore ramp has three lanes in service. On-water fuel is available at Northshore 7 days a week in September and gas is available from the shore pumps at Southshore.

BEST BET: OVERNIGHT FOR TROUT AT THE DAM; SUBMERGED LIGHTS MANDATORY FOR SUCCESS.

TROUT AND SALMON: Spend a beautiful evening anchored at the dam buoy line and catch your limit. Use nightcrawlers or Powerbait dangled under submerged lights at 30 to 40 feet. Ione residents Eldon Porray and Darl Skelton took easy limits Friday night using 'crawlers about 400 feet off the South end of the dam. Daytime, troll R-Lures or #2 Needlefish in white or yellow at 48 feet across the dam face for 3 to 4 fish per rod. No salmon action has been noted in the past week.

BASS: Great action early in the day with topwater lures and
spinnerbaits. Just about any rock-covered point holds LMBass from 1 to 4 pounds with some 6 pounders showing. Best areas include Northshore's Causeway cove and the South side of the Camanche arm. Mid-day anglers do best on plastics and spinnerbaits worked around submerged islands from 15 to 25 feet deep. 

CATFISH: Good action day or night time anglers using liver, mackerel or sardines in shallow coves from 8 to 15 feet deep. Northshore's Causeway cove and South's Camanche arm are the better places to try. Northshore residents Truman Moss, Jim Rudolph and Bill Fleet took 11 'Cat including a 10 pounder on Friday using Mackerel in East cove.

PANFISH: Still some bluegill and sunfish in the trees just waiting for a red worm or mealworm to be dangled under a bobber. Find boulders and fish the shady sides.

Lake conditions: Lake Camanche's current elevation is 200.68 feet above sea level, a drop of .64 feet since last Sunday. The surface temperature at the dam has dropped to 73.6 degrees and at the CAMA buoy the surface reads 78 degrees. The thermocline starts at 33 feet deep with a 73-degree reading and drops 4+ degrees in the next 3 feet. The ideal Trout water (61 degrees) is at 56 feet deep at the dam. Water clarity has increased to an 11 foot "Secchi dish" reading at the dam.

Chris Cantwell  E-Mail me at camchris@caltel.com for updated reports

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