The warm weather has landed at Lake Almanor. At 4pm it's currently 73 degrees outside under sunny skies. The fish have become active. We are catching fish mostly in the East basin. The bugs have begun to hatch and the Almanor Fishing Association has released its fish from their winter cages to forage on the midge's that are prevalent. I haven't seen any snow at Lake level lately, but the surrounding mountains still carry some white and the creeks continue to run high. Lake levels are up and the pond as we like to call it is nearly full. Morning surface temps are in the mid 50's. Trout fishing conditions are, let's just say, somewhere near perfect.
I talked to a boater who was trolling fast today and he told me he had caught 150 fish over the last three days trolling the middle of the lake. Unfortunately, he told me, they were all small. Regardless, if you're looking for some pan fry dinner trout, it sounds like the bite is solidly on.
I've been trolling a mix of presentations with good success. Targeting fish in the mid water column in 25' to 40' of water has been most successful for me. That being said, I've caught a few before I've gotten the bait on the downrigger cable. So, you don't have to go deep to get into the action.
Good luck out there.