Lopez Lake bait has dropped to 25 feet as the fall bass transition starts

Lopez Lake is acting like fall. Mike Stevens' Sept. 22 Western Outdoor News report from Arroyo Grande quotes guide Doug Rice of RGS Guide Service: bait is spread from the surface down to 25 feet across the lake, and the bass have schooled in open water under it.

Rice is fishing reaction baits that get down in a hurry — deep cranks, spinnerbaits, A-rigs, and half-ounce jigs — for fish sitting under that bait. A heavier minnow, shaken in the middle of the water column, is the other open-water look. The same report puts crappie on the flats, running very small, and both redear and crappie on channel edges in 14 to 20 feet, taking a mealworm on a drop-shot.

The photo with the story is a personal-best bass for Coleson League, who was working a jig with Rice when the fish ate.

Photo: Western Outdoor News — Coleson League with guide Doug Rice and a personal-best bass at Lopez Lake (Sept. 22, 2026).

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

Source: Western Outdoor News — Fall transition creeps into Central Coast lake (Mike Stevens, Sept. 22, 2026).