—
State of the Waters · Golden State

California Water Levels & the Daily Bite

Live surface elevations for California's great reservoirs — Shasta, Oroville, Folsom, Trinity and the Sierra chain, straight from CDEC. Every tube shows the normal full pool, the current level, the lake's two signature fish (hover for the species, click for 2026 tournaments), and a live bite gauge at left. Scroll down for the Sacramento & American trout tailwaters, the Delta catfish, and the Klamath & Kern rivers.

Fetching live readings…
Pick how you're using the water today — jump to live conditions:
🎣 Fishing another state?  Step 1: pick it Step 2: how you use the water
Flood / above normal At normal pool Below normal Current level Bite gauge: slow → hot (solunar)

Hover a fish for its species · click a fish to search that lake's 2026 tournaments

Each cylinder is scaled to its own operating band: the gold line is normal full pool, the red line is the flood / above-normal line, and the blue water is the live reading. Where a California water has a live gauge (USGS, the Bureau of Reclamation, or California's CDEC) it reads true surface elevation; lakes with no public real-time feed show the most recent published level. The colored bar at left is a solunar bite forecast for right now (red = slow, green = hot).

Trout Tailwaters — Cold Water Below the Dams

California's tailwaters run cold and big: the Lower Sacramento below Shasta, the American below Nimbus, the Feather below Oroville, plus the Sierra Truckee and Owens — trophy rainbow and brown water. The cylinder shows live flow (cfs), low = wadeable, high = fast water. Hover a trout for the species; tap it for a guide.

The Sacramento-system tailwaters run on Shasta/Oroville releases; check flows before wading.

River Catfish — Warm-Water Rivers

The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta gives up channel and white catfish plus giant sturgeon. Live river stage (ft) with the action and flood stages marked. Hover a cat for the species; tap it for a guide.

Float Rivers — Paddle & Wade

The steelhead Klamath, the Sacramento and American, and the whitewater Kern. Live USGS gage height (ft); each tube marks FLOAT, EXPERT and FLOOD. Hover a fish; tap it for an outfitter.

California rivers swing with snowmelt and release — the Kern spikes in spring; the tailwaters run cold year-round.

Advertisement