Waters · Lakes · CA · Thu, Oct 8
Millerton Lake water level today 503.92 ft, rising
Bite index 5/10 — Picky — fish it after dark.
Work for it.
Built from solunar, pressure, level, wind. This water has no live gauge for every reading — see the sources below.
Today's bite windows
Sunrise 7:00 AM · sunset 6:31 PM · tomorrow's first major 11:02 AM–1:02 PM · windows on every water
Conditions right now
What this means
Millerton Lake level over the last 8 days
503.92 ft up 0.07 ft in 24 hours
That sits 49% of the way up the band it has held over the last 8 days, between 503.05 and 504.84 ft. Over the week it is down0.53ft.
The week ahead
| Fri | 6 | Biting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat | 6 | Biting | |
| Sun | 6 | Biting | |
| Mon | 6 | Biting | |
| Tue | 6 | Biting | |
| Wed | 6 | Biting | |
| Thu | 6 | Biting |
Forecast days carry solunar and the wind outlook. Pressure and gauge movement land the morning of.
Before you go
A California fishing license covers this water — $64.54 a year for residents. CDFW sets the rules and is the one that counts.
What it costs, and who is exempt →Nearby waters today
- 5 Picky New Melones Lake CA · 128 km
- 5 Picky New Hogan Lake CA · 161 km
- 5 Picky Camanche Reservoir CA · 179 km
- 7 Biting Palisades Reservoir ID · 1007 km
- 5 Picky Rainy Lake MN · 2482 km
Questions people ask about Millerton Lake
Answered from the same readings as the rest of this page. Where we have no basis for an answer, there is no entry — spot-by-spot local knowledge is not something we can claim for Millerton Lake.
- Is it worth fishing Millerton Lake today?
- 5 out of 10 — picky. Work for it. The strongest stretch is 10:17 AM–12:17 PM. That number is worked out fresh each morning from the solunar windows, the pressure trend, the water level.
- What time should you fish Millerton Lake?
- Today's major windows run 10:17 AM–12:17 PM and 10:40 PM–12:40 AM, with minor windows at 4:28 AM–5:28 AM and 4:57 PM–5:57 PM. Sunrise is 7:00 AM and sunset 6:31 PM. A major landing on first or last light is the stretch worth setting an alarm for.
- What is the water temperature at Millerton Lake?
- No gauge on Millerton Lake measures it, so this is an estimate: roughly 82.4°F, worked out from the 7-day mean of air temperature at NOAA weather station KFAT (Fresno, Fresno Air Terminal). Checked against the lakes that do have a thermometer, that method lands within about 4.5°F of the real reading and was off by 8.3°F at worst. Treat it as a ballpark, not a measurement — and note the bite index above ignores it entirely, because an error that size would move the verdict as often as it would fix it.
- What is the water level at Millerton Lake right now?
- 503.92 ft, the reading for October 6 from the Millerton Lake and Friant Dam gauge run by the USBR, which publishes one value a day. Over 24 hours it is up 0.07 ft.
- Are water levels rising or falling at Millerton Lake?
- Falling. The lake is up 0.07 ft in 24 hours and down 0.53 ft over the week. Over the last 8 days it has held between 503.05 and 504.84 ft. Every figure here is a difference between two gauge readings, not a forecast — what the level does next depends on rain and on what the dam releases.
- Can you eat the fish you catch in Millerton Lake?
- That is a health question, and it is answered officially rather than by us. California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment publishes the fish consumption advisory covering these waters, where over 150 site-specific advisories, searchable by water, species or county, plus a statewide default for untested waters. Read it before you keep a meal — we give no eating advice.
- Do you need a licence to fish Millerton Lake?
- Yes. A California fishing license covers this water, required from age 16. CDFW sets the rules and is the one that counts.
- What size fish can you keep in California?
- It depends on the species, and several have slot limits rather than a simple minimum. Open to harvest today: california halibut, pacific halibut, striped bass, white seabass. Seasons here change mid-year by agency order, so the status is re-checked every morning.
California halibut limits · Pacific halibut limits · Striped bass limits · White seabass limits · Check a length against the rules
Where these numbers come from
- Solunar computed 8:10 AM
- NOAA KFAT Fresno, Fresno Air Terminal 7:45 AM
- NOAA HNX gridded forecast 7:56 AM
- USBR Millerton Lake and Friant Dam daily reservoir operations Oct 6
Read at Friant Dam on the San Joaquin River by the Bureau of Reclamation once a day. No temperature sensor.
No one types these in by hand. If a source goes quiet, the page says so instead of showing you yesterday.