Start with Callibaetis Nymph (12-16) on a slow figure-of-eight retrieve. Rainbows respond to more active retrieves — try short strips between pauses. If that does not produce, switch depth or speed before changing the pattern entirely.
Fish early and late, try deeper during the heat of the day with a fast-sinking line.
Evening tends to be the best period in summer — stay late if you can for a sedge or spinner fall.
Flat calm suits bank fishing near features — points, weed beds, and inflows where fish patrol.
Hatch predictions
See the full sub-surface read with Pro.
Start free trial14-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
Hatch predictions
Top prey shown — see all 5 with Pro.
Start free trial14-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.
A good match for Lake Almanor — most conditions are close to what it fishes best in.
Big reservoir up in the Lassen country, and the whole calendar bends around one thing: the early-summer Hexagenia hatch. Those big mayflies come off at last light in June, and the browns and rainbows that ignore you all day suddenly lose their composure — be on the water at dusk or don't bother coming. The rest of the year you fish the cold-water "springs" lies with damsels, leeches and streamers. It fishes year-round, but June evenings are the event everyone drives in for.
Fish consumption: Consumption advisory (Mercury) — fish for sport, not the table.
EPA ATTAINS assessment unit 'Almanor Lake' (CAL5184100020020418094956), 2024 Integrated Report. Aquatic Life use: Fully Supporting. Listed impairment causes: Mercury. This is a Clean Water Act assessment-unit classification (the US analogue of WFD), not a live reading.
Status is for the Clean Water Act assessment unit covering this reach.
EPA ATTAINS (Clean Water Act) · CAL5184100020020418094956
Big reservoir up in the Lassen country, and the whole calendar bends around one thing: the early-summer Hexagenia hatch.
Start with Callibaetis Nymph (12-16) on a slow figure-of-eight retrieve. Rainbows respond to more active retrieves — try short strips between pauses. If that does not produce, switch depth or speed before changing the pattern entirely.
Fish early and late, try deeper during the heat of the day with a fast-sinking line.
Evening tends to be the best period in summer — stay late if you can for a sedge or spinner fall.
Flat calm suits bank fishing near features — points, weed beds, and inflows where fish patrol.
Hatch predictions
See the full sub-surface read with Pro.
Start free trial14-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
Hatch predictions
Top prey shown — see all 5 with Pro.
Start free trial14-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.
A good match for Lake Almanor — most conditions are close to what it fishes best in.
Big reservoir up in the Lassen country, and the whole calendar bends around one thing: the early-summer Hexagenia hatch. Those big mayflies come off at last light in June, and the browns and rainbows that ignore you all day suddenly lose their composure — be on the water at dusk or don't bother coming. The rest of the year you fish the cold-water "springs" lies with damsels, leeches and streamers. It fishes year-round, but June evenings are the event everyone drives in for.
Fish consumption: Consumption advisory (Mercury) — fish for sport, not the table.
EPA ATTAINS assessment unit 'Almanor Lake' (CAL5184100020020418094956), 2024 Integrated Report. Aquatic Life use: Fully Supporting. Listed impairment causes: Mercury. This is a Clean Water Act assessment-unit classification (the US analogue of WFD), not a live reading.
Status is for the Clean Water Act assessment unit covering this reach.
EPA ATTAINS (Clean Water Act) · CAL5184100020020418094956
