With all three species of bass, there's always something biting. But the spots dominate catches. They take small soft-plastic worms, crankbaits and spoons cast to rocky structure all over the lake. And don't overlook bridge pilings.

For largemouths, try pitching jigs and weedless plastics to submerged willows in the Pit River arm.

Smallies are the toughest to locate at Shasta, but you may catch a few by covering lots of water with crawdad-pattern crankbaits worked parallel to steep rocky banks.

For information, call Phil's Propeller at 1-800-462-3917.

CLEAR LAKE
Lake County
There are waters in California that produce bigger bass, but for numbers of fish in the 5- to 10-pound class, no river, lake or reservoir this side of the Rockies could compare with Clear Lake. Recent catch rates indicate that the state's largest natural body of water is as good as it's ever been.

Clear Lake is big! Each end offers different conditions. It's important to call about conditions before you go, because it's rare for the bite to be good at both ends at the same time.

To the northwest, you'll find shallow, weedy conditions where jigs, spinnerbaits, topwater plugs and imitation frogs take most of the bass.

The southeast end is deeper, with lots of rockpiles to concentrate fish. Soft-plastics dominate here.

For information, call Clear Lake Bait & Tackle at (707) 994-4399.

LAKE OROVILLE
Butte County
You'll find both largemouths and smallmouths in Oroville, but its sheer number of spots make this a must-fish destination. Anglers who have yet to experience catching 50 to 100 bass in a single outing will want to put this relatively big body of water at the top of their places-to-go list. When it comes to fishing, it's as close to a sure thing as you'll find.

You'll catch spots all over Oroville, but the secret to success here is locating points, ledges or rockpiles with deepwater access on at least one side.

Small ripbaits, crankbaits and topwater poppers generally take fish throughout spring. For the rest of the year, split-shotting or drifting 4-inch soft-plastics on dartheads is the way to go. Note that there is a 12- to 15-inch slot limit here.

For information, call Oroville Outdoors at (530) 533-4990.