Lake Oroville is a deep, structure heavy reservoir best known for landlocked king salmon plus rainbow trout. Wes Hoskin and Brett Brady slow troll a green or gold dodger and a 2 inch hoochie tipped with cured anchovy, along with a Brad's 360 flasher ahead of a hoochie, for kings that run 80 to 130 feet deep in summer. In spring the kings sit 30 to 40 feet down. A Trinidad style bait head with a rolled anchovy runs clean for kings, trout, and browns. Pond smelt are the main forage, so watch the graph for trees and bait balls.
How do you catch king salmon at Lake Oroville?
Slow troll attractors and bait. Run a green or gold dodger with a 2 inch hoochie in blue, pink, or white, tipped with a small piece of cured anchovy on a tandem hook. A Brad's 360 flasher ahead of a hoochie pulls kings from a long way off. Keep the gear close to the boat since these deep fish are not shy.
How deep are the kings at Lake Oroville?
In summer the kings run 80 to 130 feet, and you start around 90 feet in the mornings. The surface can be near 80 degrees with the first temperature break around 50 feet, dropping to 52 or 53, then down to about 50 degrees, which is prime for salmon. In spring the kings sit much higher, 30 to 40 feet down.
What is a bait head and how do you run it at Oroville?
A Trinidad style bait head holds a cured anchovy and its side fin makes the bait roll on its own, so it runs clean with no dodger drag. Rig tandem hooks, a single through the body and a treble stinger at the tail, troll about 2 mph, and look for a tight bullet spin before you send it down.
How do you catch rainbow trout at Oroville?
Fish higher and lighter. Top line a small Dart Shad or a bait head around 50 feet for rainbows chasing bait on the surface. On tough days, run a small dodger with a nightcrawler on a slow death hook at a slow troll to coax bites.
How do you find fish on Lake Oroville?
Watch your graph and charts, because Oroville is full of standing timber and structure. Stay 5 to 10 feet above the bait balls so the salmon can feed up to your gear. Use downrigger cycle mode for a reaction bite, and cover open water near the bridges where the middle and south forks meet.
What forage and colors work at Oroville?
Pond smelt are the primary bait, so run baitfish profiles and match the size. For kings, hoochies in blue, pink, white, and chartreuse behind green and gold dodgers are the staples. Rolled anchovy on a bait head is a top natural option when you want to run clean.
What else lives in Lake Oroville?
Bass hang around the structure and can be caught deep, even 80 feet down, but they are incidental to the salmon and trout. Oroville is not an easy fishery, with strong days and tough days, so cover water and stay after the active kings.
Watch the technique
Trolling Lake Oroville for king salmon and trout FAQ
Landlocked king salmon, with rainbow trout as the other main target. Wes Hoskin and Brett Brady chase both by slow trolling dodgers, flashers, hoochies, and bait, plus bait heads run clean.
Summer kings hold deep, 80 to 130 feet, with a morning start around 90. In spring they come up shallow, 30 to 40 feet, before the surface warms and pushes them down for the season.
Blue, pink, and white are the top hoochie colors, with solid pink and chartreuse also producing. A 2 inch hoochie behind a dodger or a 360 flasher, tipped with cured anchovy, is the standard king setup.
Use a small piece of cured anchovy, sardine, or herring, any oily baitfish. On a bait head, brine the anchovy first and pin it in the head. Always run tandem hooks so a big jawed king does not shake off.
Oroville holds a lot of submerged trees and structure that can grab a downrigger. The graph also shows the bait balls and the bigger salmon marks working them, so you can set your gear 5 to 10 feet above the bait.
Cycling the downrigger ball up and down changes the depth of your bait and can trigger a reaction bite, drawing extra attention when you are working over bait balls and holding salmon.
It can be. The king bite gives you really good days and tough days, so it is not a beginner easy fishery. Covering ground to find hungry, active fish is the difference on the slow days.
