Little Buttonwillow Lake is a lake in California, near Merced County.
Little Buttonwillow Lake is a lake in Merced County, California and covers about 70.7 acres, reaches about 28.4 feet at its deepest point and holds roughly 803 acre-feet.
Little Buttonwillow Lake can be broken down in a few passes: shallow cover, the first break, and the deepest useful water.
Fish listed for Little Buttonwillow Lake include Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Green Sunfish, Largemouth Bass, Prickly Sculpin, Redear Sunfish, Sacramento Blackfish, Sacramento Pikeminnow, Sacramento Sucker, and Rainbow Trout.
The first black crappie pass on Little Buttonwillow Lake should fish a small jig or minnow around wood, weeds, and sharp little drops.
A useful bluegill plan on Little Buttonwillow Lake is to use a small jig, worm, or tiny plastic around green weeds and protected pockets.
When largemouth bass are the target on Little Buttonwillow Lake, work a soft plastic, jig, or spinnerbait around weeds and protected cover.
For channel catfish on Little Buttonwillow Lake, fish cut bait or a nightcrawler on the bottom along a channel edge or warm flat.
Other targets listed here include Rainbow Trout, and Common Carp; give each one its own bait and depth instead of trying to catch everything with the same rig; follow the outside weed line, then use stronger line beside wood and sharp rock.
Use wind as a clue; a light push can carry food toward a bank, but hard wind may muddy it, so look for a clean edge near a point or protected pocket; check rock and weeds as separate patterns, then compare shallow and deeper water.
Early in the year, protected water and the first warm afternoon can be the best clues; as the water heats up, check deeper edges without assuming every fish is on the bottom; cooling fall water often makes points and firm banks useful again; work from shallow to deep, then check the first shelf outside shallow cover.
A light spinning rod, thin line, a few small spoons, inline spinners, and jigs cover the listed trout; carry one slightly heavier setup when other fish or windy water call for more control; use a smaller lure in clear water; keep the bait near useful cover.
Record the wind, water color, lure depth that worked, and cover after a bite; those four notes are more useful on the next trip than a long list of spots that did not produce; pause the bait on each small drop, then save the heaviest tackle for deep cover.
Explore nearby waters, including local Featured destinations. Check each page for access and fishing restrictions.
Distances are straight-line estimates between mapped water locations.