🎣 Johnny Creek Baits Weekly Motherlode Fishing Report: March 16, 2026

Motherlode Fishing Report – Spring is Knocking

Spring temperatures have officially landed in California and the fish are definitely starting to feel it. Water temps are climbing quickly across the Motherlode lakes, and the bite is opening up more and more by the day.

We’re starting to see the early signs of the spawn, with reports of bed fish showing up at New Melones, Don Pedro, and Lake McClure. It’s still the early stage though, and we’re likely a few weeks away from the full-blown spawn. Right now fish are transitioning and spreading out.

Over the last ten days we’ve seen fish anywhere from 5 to 30 feet, with a solid jig bite and soft plastic bite leading the way. Our new Johnny Creek Morning Dawn color has been putting fish in the boat, and the glide bite is slowly starting to warm up as bigger fish begin moving up.

Although the Motherlode is our home water, we also had the chance to get out with San Diego guide Andre Casey right after the Pacific Coast Sportfishing Show. If you’re in the area and looking to get on fish, we highly recommend giving Andre a call. He was open to fishing our baits and it didn’t take long before we started hooking up. On those pressured lakes we had to make a few adjustments, but once we dialed it in the fish showed up.

Our signature color Ringo’s Gift was exactly what they wanted, especially fished Neko style.

We’ll be back out on Melones this week and will have more updates soon as the bite continues to develop.

Spring is coming fast… and it’s about to get good.