Lake Sonoma bass running 1–4 pounds; Mendocino still a dawn topwater lake

North Coast bass water is in a fall bite. Don Moir’s Sept. 24, 2026 4Reel column in the Ukiah Daily Journal says Lake Sonoma is picking up, with many fish in the 1- to 4-pound range sitting in ambush spots. Work points and the edges of submerged trees. Cherry Creek and Yorty Creek are still the arms he names, and boat traffic is lighter with school back in session and cooler weather.

Lake Mendocino is the quiet one — few anglers, few boats — and the early hours are still the window. Topwater before 8 a.m. is the play. Smallmouth have been taking anything chartreuse. Moir says a lot of the bass are coming in with full bellies and a fall feed is close. People fishing the river channel are still hooking catfish and an occasional striper on anchovies. He calls it some of the best fishing of the season if you actually go.

Clear Lake’s water keeps improving except the Clearlake Oaks end, which he still describes as smelling like a sewer. He and Teresa have been prefishing the Triton Boat Owners Tournament. At last weekend’s Stratus/Champion Boats event the top teams limited on a drop shot, mostly on the south end in 15 to 20 feet, and a frog over weed mats is still an early option. Catfish reports are of larger fish in 10 to 25 feet on live minnows or crawdads; a few bass anglers have picked them up while slow-dragging a worm.

Upper Blue Lake bass are still hitting topwater — a Pop-R or a Bill Dance Spittin’ Image — at first light and in the last hour of the day, with a few trout on a troll or a nightcrawler dragged on the bottom. No state plant is on the schedule yet. Lake Pillsbury has dropped far enough that the north end is gone, but trout and bass have been excellent and boats have been launching from the shore at Lake Pillsbury Resort. Call the resort before you drive if rain is coming; Moir says the Potter Valley road is the rougher of the two ways in.

For smallmouth without a reservoir, he points at the dammed stretch of the Russian River near Healdsburg. A white-and-silver or yellow-and-gold rooster tail, or a fast rattle trap, around rocks, submerged timber, and shade. Make long casts and cover water — the strikes are hard.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Ukiah Daily Journal — 4Reel Fishing: Lake Sonoma Bass Fishin’ Has Picked Up (Don Moir, Sept. 24, 2026).