Spring Fishing Secrets: How to Cash In on the Hottest Bite of the Year

Picture this: it’s dawn, the water’s glassy, and your rod jolts as a 10-pound trout smashes your spoon. This is spring fishing at its best. Here’s exactly where the fish are feeding right now and the lures they can’t resist.
1. Lake Beressa: The Spoon Strike Zone

Big Nate’s clients hauled in 15 Eagle Lakers in a single morning. Why it’s hot: Cold mornings push trout to 30 feet, but by noon, they rise to chase baitfish.

Pro Move:

• Troll chrome spoons at dawn, switch to stick baits as the sun warms the surface.
• "Fish the ‘scatter’: where you see birds diving, drop your rig fast!" — Captain Nate
  

2. Don Pedro’s King Salmon: Follow the Birds

Kings are stacking deep (55–65 feet) near bait balls. Key insight: birds = baitfish = salmon.

Rig for Success:

• Try trolling a simple shad rig—just a hook and a small baitfish (real or soft plastic)—behind a downrigger to keep it deep. Go slow, about 2.3 to 2.8 mph, so it looks like a wounded fish. Salmon can’t resist an easy meal.
  

3. Collins Lake’s Trout Bonanza

Capt. Cal Kellogg’s clients limited out daily on lightning trout. The secret? Pink isn’t just pretty—it mimics spawning insects.

Deadly Combo:

• Use a bubblegum pink Trout Trix Worm (that’s just a soft plastic worm). Hook it near the tail instead of the head—this helps when trout are just nibbling instead of biting hard.
• Douse it in Trigger Scent (Cal’s crew saw 50% more hookups).

4. Sacramento Stripers: The Minnow Trick

Striper spawn is peaking but fish are spooky. Solution: live minnows fished downstream of current breaks.

Adapt Fast:

• Flows jumped to 11,000 CFS? Fish eddies where stripers rest.
• "If minnows aren’t biting, switch to chartreuse swimbaits—post-spawn fish love flash." — Brett Brady

Spring Fishing Cheat Sheet

Your Turn to Hit the Water

Spring fishing is like a limited-time sale—the bite won’t last. Grab our free “Spring Tuning Guide” (with exact trolling speeds for your lake) here.