2023 Millerton Fishing Map, Fishing Report, Hunting Clubs Fresno County

Millerton Lake Fishing Map, Fishing Report for Striped bass, Small mouth and Large Mouth bass

Milllerton Lake Fishing Map

october 18, 2023 report

The lake is about half capacity and  the bass action for the spotted version is continuing in the river arm but pretty deep at 20 to 30 feet has been the best bet. Fish above Finegold,  Zoom Trick  Blue, Gold, sculpin Worms patterns around deeper any rock protrusions. 

Millerton Lake Quick Facts Fishing Information

Location: Millerton Lake is located 20 miles north east of Fresno and 20 miles east of Madera in  central California.  Size: More than 3 miles wide at its widest point and more than 16 miles long back into the river canyon. Millerton features 43 miles of shoreline. 

Camping: Nearly 100 developed sites for tents, RVs and trailers and nearly 40 primitive sites for tents at Fort Miller. A boat-access-only camp is located at Temperance Flat with tables, stoves and water. 

Boating: Launching ramps are located on both sides of the lake, south and north shores. No waterski-  ing is allowed east of the Finegold day-use area,  hence, fishing is good upriver in the summer. 

Species: Smallmouth, largemouth, spotted and striped bass, catfish, American shad and crappie. 

How to fish Millerton Lake and Where to find them:

Millerton Lake anglers will find a wide variety of warm-water dwellers in this  large Central Valley water, including  smallmouth, spotted, largemouth and  striped bass.  

The lake was formed in 1944 when the construction of Friant Dam backed up the cold waters of the San Joaquin River.

It‘s a very large lake that features  43 miles of shoreline — it’s 3 miles  wide at its widest point and stretches  more than 16 miles long in Madera and  Fresno counties. Needless to say, there’s a lot of water — and you can always catch fish in this lake.

 Most of the fish are, indeed, bass, but anglers will find catfish and a smattering of crappie and catfish. There are no trout, but anglers can head upriver for a quick rainbow fix. 
 

Smallmouth bass are by far the biggest attraction, and although Millerton Lake bronzebacks don’t reach record-  class proportions like Trinity Lake fish  do, there are certainly some top quality  bass to be had. There are a lot of throwbacks, and anglers will probably  catch three to five sub-12-inch fish for  every keeper, but there some lunkers in  there too.  

,Millerton has some of the best  smallmouth bass fishing in this part of  the country, Pine Flat  is good too, but is the top smallmouth bass  fishery around, especially if they fish the  areas we've marked.

 Best bass bets  on Millerton  is Rocky points and coves  on the north side near the dam. Try Winchell Bay, Finegold Creek area, South shoreline upriver from Finegold and Temperance Flat.
 

 Anglers will find smallmouth off the rocky points all over the lake, but the  key to successful fishing is to fish  all over on  the rocky points, but specifically anglers should  look for odd-shaped points, rocks and  coves for best results.

Boaters equipped  with fish finders will have a big advantage over those who don‘t. Because of its huge size, Millerton would appear to be a difficult lake to  fish, especially for the novice or first-  time bass angler. But if you concentrate on certain areas of the lake, you can always score.

Drive  past Friant Dam and start fishing rocky  points and coves on the north side.  Throw  4-inch  worms at the time of year when small- mouth are getting ready to spawn.  If temperature is cold still, fish them real slow, the bass are still somewhat sluggish, but anglers who jig the baits from the shallow shoreline to 30 feet of water will  catch fish.

Smallmouth will move into shallow water— 5 to 10 feet — in mid- March and April when they spawn, then they’ll move back into deeper water. For this latter time, throw nibbler (small grub like rubber worms) baits in 5  to 30 feet of water.

Later,  start tossing crankbaits and spinner- baits toward the shoreline.  Winchell Bay is an excellent small-mouth bass producer. lt features big,  heavy rocks and bass move in and out of  there before, during and after the spawn.  

Work the rocky points and walls along the face of the scenic area, but don’t spend too much time there. Head upriver and start fishing the Finegold Creek area. This is an excellent small- mouth bass area, and bassers should  spend a lot of time throwing baits  toward all the shores.

One of the best ways to catch bass  here is split-shotting because most all of the  banks have a good angle that you can  really walk it down.  Grubs or California Worms are excellent bass-catching baits, brown worms with an orange  tail or brown worms with a chartreuse  tail for the hungry smallmouth.

Moving upriver, anglers should concentrate their efforts on the south side of the arm. There’s a good chance you'll  hook a black bass in this area, as well as striped bass  are also numerous and fishing is productive from March through  July.    

Temperance Flat is an  excellent largemouth and Kentucky  spotted bass producer, and anglers will  find some good striper action too.  Head east as far as you can go and you’ll catch blacks throughout Tem-  perance Flat. Blacks are also available in front of the dam.

 Improved campgrounds for RVs, trailers and tents are available all over the lake, and there are some excellent  boat camps available at Winchell Cove  and Temperance Flat that are accessible  only to boaters.

During the summer,  Millerton attracts lots of water skiers,  but they can’t go past Finegold Creek,  and that’s good news for anglers  because the best bass fishing in the summer can be found in the cool San Joaquin River channel as well as the dam  area.  The early summer is hot for top- water action, cast Rebel Pop-Rs, Cordells and  Rapalas for blacks and stripers! The  good fishing never seems to end at Millerton!

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