YREKA
Anglers might want to avoid fishing Lake Shastina for trout. After years of poor water, the trout fishing isn't flourishing. However, guide Guy Ives of Sis-Q Guide Service said that he expects Siskiyou and McCloud to impress anglers looking for limit-style action and an array of species including rainbows and browns.

Trollers and float-tubers have a place at both reservoirs when dragging flashers and worms, Krocodiles and small FlatFish. Shore-anglers can work the inlets with worms, crickets and grasshoppers.

Hit both reservoirs prior to summer and you'll dodge the summer crowds that swarm both waters.

NORTHEAST CALIFORNIA
Beautiful Eagle Lake was closed to fishing for five months, but anglers will have their chance at trout beginning May 17 when the lake reopens -- to high expectations from anglers. With at least average precipitation to the Modoc Region, anglers at Eagle should expect one of the most productive years in recent history.

"I think the fishery has been improving for the last several years, and a lot of it has to do with water quality and management," said Paul Chappell, a recently retired Fish and Game biologist who now operates Snowbear Guide Service exclusively on Eagle Lake. "We are having more fish carry over now. We are seeing bigger fish."

Chappell attributes the increase to a cooperative effort from the California Inland Fisheries Foundation, Fish and Game Department and Project Eagle Lake Trout. Private organizations pay to rear fish longer at Fish and Game's Crystal Lake and Darrah Springs hatcheries. Each year, roughly 90,000 pounds of half-pound trout are stocked into Eagle Lake.

The new agreement enables some of those fish to be grown to 1 to 2 pounds before they're stocked. Anglers are likely to see an increase in larger fish caught in 2008.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Shaffer has fished more than 1,200 waters in California and is the author of three books on fishing the Golden State. To purchase "The Definitive Guides" series, log on to www.fishingcalifornia.net.

Find more about California fishing and hunting at CaliforniaGameandFish.com