Black Bass: The largemouth bass action has been generally good throughout the region. Top bets again have been Diamond Valley Lake, Casitas, Castaic, Skinner, Sutherland, El Capitan, Wohlford, Otay, Irvine, Perris, Silverwood, Piru, Pyramid, Cachuma and Puddingstone. The smallmouth action on the Colorado River has been very good in the river stretch, but died in Lake Havasu. Cachuma's smallmouths are fair. Further up on the Central Coast, Nacimientio, Lopez and Santa Margarita all are good, too, with spotted bass particularly good at Nacimiento. Isabella continued to improve this week and has been producing a few quality fish to 9 pounds.

Diamond Valley: Very good largemouth action. Topwater baits have been working well at the points in the early morning, with jigs or drop-shot plastics fished in 15 to 25 feet of water the best bet the rest of the day. Lots of 4-pound class fish with some to 8 pounds every week. Trout fishing is finally starting to slow down for shore anglers with the heat, but the trollers and drifters fishing from boats are still getting some nice fish on Panther Martins, nightcrawlers, Power Bait and mini jigs. Striper action is fair, but big fish have been absent. The smaller, schoolies are focusing on shad and silversides with Kastmasters and Scroungers the best bets when tossed into boils. The catfish bite is very good. Cut baits have been working well and the top spot is near the attenuator. Terry Lairson, of Huntington Beach, landed two more quality cats this week at 16 and 14.8 pounds. The bluegill bite has been very good. Anglers fishing with minijigs, mealworms, or nightcrawlers along the dams have had the most success. Crappie spotty. For general lake, launch, and fishing information, call 800-590-LAKE, the marina at 951-926-7201 or www.dvmarina.com, or Last Chance Bait and Tackle 951-658-7410 or www.lastchancebaitandtackle.com.

COLORADO RIVER

Flow information: Reservoir elevation levels and flow releases for the entire lower Colorado River are available at this web site with information updated hourly: www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/hourly/rivops.html.

Lake Mead: Slow to fair striper action under schools of shad in 40 to 50 feet of water in the main channel and mouths of most of the coves on cut anchovies, sardines, shad-like lures. Most fish less than 4 pounds and wind has hampered the action much of this week. The largemouth bass are fair to good with a lot of fish in eight to 25 feet of water on plastics. Improving catfish action, but still just a fair number of fish showing in the coves on cut baits. Improving panfish action.

Willow Beach: Trout bite is fair to good with weekly plants. Best action on salmon eggs, Power Bait, worms and Super Dupers. Stripers have been improving with the best action at night with fish from 5 to 12 pounds reported in the past week. Information: Willow Beach Resort at 928-767-4747.

Lake Mohave:The bass bite has been fair on plastics with some reaction bait and topwater fish. Trolling with anchovies in 30 to 50 feet of water has been producing some stripers, while catfish are on the bottom. While the number of stripers in Mohave has been decreasing, the quality of the fish caught has increased. The night time bite has begun to pick up. Submersible lights fished during the new moon is an effective way to catch stripers. Cut anchovies usually work the best. The next new moon is this coming weekend. Biologists from both Arizona Game and Fish Department and Nevada Division of Wildlife with the help of volunteers, National Park Service and Bureau of Reclamation personnel have continued to install fish habitat in Carp Cove, Box Cove and Shoshone. Fish habitat consists of PVC structures, wood pallets, tamarisk bundles, and some Christmas trees. The largemouth, smallmouth, bluegill and catfish are really utilizing the new structures. Additional habitat will be added at several locations over the next two years. These structures are fish magnets. Information: Cottonwood Cove at 702-297-1464, Katherine's Landing at 928-754-3245.

Laughlin-Bullhead Area: The striper bite is still mostly tough, but the smallmouth are fair to good along rip-rap on small cranks. Still a few rainbows showing with a couple at 4 ½ and 2 ½ pounds weighed in Wednesday this week. Information: Riviera Marina at 928-763-8550.

Needles Area: There is fair to good smallmouth action in the main river from Needles south to the I-40 bridge and on down into Topoc Gorge, mostly on small cranks. Slowly improving striper action, but this bite still very spotty above Needles. Catfish improving on cut baits, but still just fair. Still a few rainbows showing with a couple at 4 ½ and 2 ½ pounds weighed in Wednesday this week. Information: Needles Marina at 760-326-2197.

Topock Area: The smallmouth and striper bites are good throughout Topock Gorge. The striper number have climbed every week and there are now quite a few 2- to 5-pound fish in the region in 10 to 12 feet of water with anchovies the best bait. The stripers are best on small plastics and nightcrawlers with the fish running from dinks to 4 pounds. Also some topwater for both species. The bluegill redear action is still good but fewer big fish are showing. A few cats are showing in both the main river and marsh. Largemouth bass fair in the marsh, with some decent topwater action early and late in the day. Topock Marsh can be accessed by boat at North Dike, Catfish Paradise and Five-Mile Landing. Information: Phil's Western Trader at 928-768-4954 or Capt. Doyle's Fun Fishing at 928-768-2667.

Havasu: The redear and bluegill are showing in very good numbers with a lot of fish still on beds in coves all over the lake. Nightcrawlers are the best bet with a lot of quality redear more than a pound and up to 3 pounds. The largemouth action is fair to good along tules on Senko-type baits resembling bluegill or crawdads, while the smallmouth are just fair on rocky points on crawdad cranks or jigs. Stripers are spotty with some topwater action early in the morning on schools of shad, but most of the bite is in 35 to 40 feet of water on main lake drop-offs or river channels. The stripers being landed are mostly 3 to 5 pounds. Channel catfish improving but flatheads still mostly slow. Information: Bass Tackle Master (formerly Angler's Pro Shop) at 928-854-2277.

Parker Strip: Fair to good catfish and smallmouth bass action. The cats are showing in most of the pools on cut baits, while the smallmouth bass are along the rip rap and starting to whack small cranks and swim baits. Bluegill and redear are good in the backwaters and quiet water in the main river. Few flathead reports.

Blythe: Overall very good action on most species with air temps cracking over 100 degrees this week. The catfish action has been particularly good in both the main river and local canals. Mindy Collins, of Blythe, caught a 45-pound flathead on a goldfish at off McIntyre Park on the main river. Colin Page and Drew Craney, of Phoenix, had a 10-pound flathead on goldfish, a 10-pound and 3-8 carp on bread dough, a 6-pound channel, and a 2-8 bass. Lots of bass to 5 pounds showing on plastics, cranks and even surface baits now. The smallmouth bite is also very good in the main river, especially around rip-rap. Also good panfish action. Darick Roney, of Pinon Hills, arrowed a nice stringer of huge tilapia bowfishing near the Palo Verde Diversion Dam. His best was a 6-pounder. The most neglected bite on the river is the decent action on striped bass from 6 to 15 pounds at the diversion dam. The best action has been out of the main current and close to the shoreline rocks. Information: B&B Bait 760-921-2248.

Palo Verde: All the bites have broken wide open in the Palo Verde Lagoon and the main river on this part of the river, and there continues to be a lot of 8- to 15-pounders flathead on live bluegill, goldfish and tilapia. The channel catfish bite is also very good. Excellent action on bluegill and the largemouth bass bite has also been good, with morning and evening topwater and a lot of crankbait fish. Few reports on smallmouth and stripers in the main river, and still no crappie reports. Air temperatures are supposed to crack 105 this weekend. Information: Walter's Camp 760-854-3322 Thursday through Monday.

Picacho Area: Good largemouth bass action in the backwaters and river margins, and the catfish -- both flatheads and channels -- are very good with some quality flatheads being caught. Bluegill good, too.

Martinez Lake Area: Largemouth bass action has been good with some flurries of excellent action on topwater. Flatheads are really good on live bluegill and goldfish. Channel cats are good on cut baits in both the main river and backwater lakes. Bluegill also showing in excellent numbers, but most are small. Information: 928-783-9589 Thursday through Monday or www.martinezlake.com.

Yuma Area: Largemouth bass action is good in the whole region with the fish whacking plastics, cranks, and spinnerbaits. There is also a good topwater bite early and late in the day. The catfish bite is also good with some good catches on channels on cut baits and a flurry of quality flatheads on live goldfish and bluegill.

OCEAN FISHING REPORT

Albacore update: It's look like one of those albacore years when the sportfishing fleet will land 100,000 fish -- if the economy will allow them to get enough anglers out on boat. There is a big mass of fish moving up from the southwest and the biggest body if fish is still 180 to 300 miles south of San Diego. Only the three-day and long trips are scratching at this mass of fish, but the tuna are moving up the line at a pace of about 10 miles per day. There was some very good catches Wednesday at 170 miles and some bluefin are showing as close as 100 miles. It's coming and it's coming fast. The best news is that the bulk of the fish being landed from that main body are all in the 18- to 25-pound range, with only a few smaller fish and a few 35- to 40-pounders. On Monday, en route south to Alijos Rock, the Royal Star picked up limits of albacore.

San Diego yellowtail and barracuda: The first hot weekend of the season unleashed a boat traffic jam on the ocean, and that knocked down the wide open yellowtail bite at the Coronados and the barracuda action from the Coronados to the La Jolla kelp. But even with the pressure, there were still a lot of sportboats with 50 to 65 barrcuda and a handful of yellowtail. And it's clear both species are moving into our warming coastal waters. More and more barracuda and a handful of yellowtail were caught every day this week by San Diego and Oceanside's half-day boats. They were all carrying relatively light loads so score of 30 to 50 barracuda and a few yellowtail represented pretty darn good scores.

Yellows, skinnies moving up: Those same big schools of yellowtail and barracuda are moving up the coast with barracuda showing off San Onofre on Monday in good numbers, and then by Wednesday, they were at Newport and on the Horseshoe Kelp and throughout Los Angeles County spots, too. That's the good news. The barracuda haven't stuck around very long the last couple of years, so anglers are encourage to cash in on this action now before they sink out again. Or maybe it will be like in the past when they hang around much of the summer and provide part of the staple on half- and three-quarter-day boats all along the coast.

Catalina, Clemente Update: San Clemente continues to have a tremendous calico bass bite and has been kicking out a few white seabass and handfuls of yellowtail each week. Catalina has been mobbed with boat traffic, but the backside of the island continues to produce a good bite on a few yellowtail and white seabass, especially for the private boaters who seek out the less crowded spots. The seabass appear to still be on the beaches spawning, so they are scattered all over the island, and the quality has been excellent with a lot of 35- to 40-pound fish.

Intructional Charters: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. To find out about upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 310-328-8426.

TERRENCE BERG AND PHIL FRIEDMAN WWW.976-TUNA.COM

LANDING CONTACTS

Southern California:Virg's Sportfishing, Morro Bay, 805-772-1222; Patriot Sportfishing, Avila Beach, 805-595-7200; Sea Landing, Santa Barbara, 805-963-3564; Harbor Village Sportfishing, Ventura, 805-658-1060; Channel Islands Sportfishing, Oxnard, 805-985-8511; Captain Hook's Sportfishing, Oxnard, 805-382-6233; Port Hueneme Sportfishing has merged with Channel Islands Sportfishing; Malibu Pier Sportfishing, 310-328-8426; Marina Del Rey Sportfishing, Marina del Rey, 310-822-3625; Redondo Sportfishing, Redondo Beach, 310-372-2111; Rocky Point Fuel Dock (skiff rentals for King Harbor), Redondo Beach, 310-374-9858; 22nd Street Landing, San Pedro, 310-832-8304; LA Harbor Sportfishing, San Pedro, 310-547-9916; Long Beach Sportfishing, Long Beach, 562-432-8993; Pierpoint Landing, Long Beach, 562-983-9300; Marina Sportfishing, Long Beach, 562-598-6649; Newport Landing, Newport Beach, 949-675-0550; Davey's Locker, Newport Beach, 949-673-1434; Dana Wharf Sportfishing, Dana Point, 949-496-5794; Helgren's Sportfishing, Oceanside, 760-722-2133; Fisherman's Landing, San Diego, 619-221-8500; H&M Landing, San Diego, 619-222-1144; Seaforth Landing, San Diego, 619-224-3383; Point Loma Sportfishing, San Diego, 619-223-1627; Islandia Sportfishing, San Diego, 619-222-1164.

Mexico Landings: Sergio's Sportfishing, Ensenada, 011-526-178-2185; San Quintin Sportfishing, San Quintin, 011-526-162-1455.

Let us know about your catch--email to  tony@discoverhemet.com