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Just 35 miles east of Stockton by highways 26 and 12, New Hogan Lake lies in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Valley Springs. There's 50 miles of shoreline at the lake covered with oaks, digger pines and chaparral brushlands of manzanita and chamise. The lake's facilities include three campgrounds, day-use and picnic areas, launch ramps and a marina.

The lake supports a fine year-round warm-water fishery, with striped bass the most sought after trophy. The stripers run 25-35 feet deep in the winter, making trolling with lures the way to catch them. During the early spring, drifting minnows 15-20 feet deep is most successful. In summer and fall heat, the stripers are very close to the surface chasing shad. Anglers can catch stripers by casting lures near the surface where the fish are feeding, or by trolling and drifting minnows deeper.

Angling regulations allow the taking of five stripers per day without the size limits that are enforced elsewhere.

Catfishing is very popular year-round, with shore anglers and boaters alike taking them on chicken livers, anchovies, clams and nightcrawlers. The mouth of the river and most coves are the best place to tie into that big one.

Spring angling for crappie and bass is best in the shallows of most coves and around submerged trees.

The Calaveras River below New Hogan Dam is completely closed for salmon angling, but is open to trout angling year-round.