Pardee Lake and Reports

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Friday, Mar 29
Hi: 53 ° F
Lo: 44 ° F
Today
Rain Showers
Precip: 68%
Tonight
Rain Showers
Precip: 92%

Wednesday, June 5th, 2013

  • Water Temp: 72-76

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Well, I think summer has hit Pardee! I took a good fisherman to the lake Monday - starting at 5:45 am - hoping for a nice topwater bite. Unfortunately, the delta breeze kicked in about then and shut off any good topwater bite. All day we had action on small largemouth - none over 11 inches. Saw lots of inactive fish suspended on the meter. After he left, I rested in my truck and was able to take a brief nap. I went out again about 6:30 pm - throwing all topwater in shadows I could find. I started catching all undersize and 2 legal smallies. About sunset I had another small blowup - this time on a Devil's Horse! I suddenly realized this was no dink and finally landed a beast of a 3 1/2 lb largemouth. A few minutes later I threw a Chug Bug to a feeding fish and nailed a near 3 lb smallie. A typical Pardee smallie - about as tall as she was long. A mini-pig!!! That action made the trip home a little more pleasant - a 20 1/2 hr day-night for me!

    Tips: I talked to Fred at the marina and he said that Pardee will rise another foot and should stay that way for most of the summer. It is almost full now. Bass should be found at a variety of depths this summer - some deep and some semi-deep in weed patches.

Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

  • Water Temp: 64-72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Sorry I didn't check clarity box! Bet you wondered where the MUDDY water was!!!!!

  • Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I did a complete report and it didn't go thru, so this is a short one! I took a his/her team to the lake yesterday and found the fishing to be very slow. Carp were everywhere on the east shore from the ramp. Didn't know there were that many carp in the lake! Bite must be slower now - we were the only rig at the ramp by 7 am - saw 2 boats all day!! We only caught small largemouth and a token BIG trout. After they left, I looked over some new areas until the late afternoon shadows appeared. Soon I was into a decent topwater bite with my beloved Storm Chug Bug. I caught several nice largemouth, lost several, and ending with a great 3 lb smallie on the bug. You could hear the explosion all the way back to the ramp!!

    Tips: I imagine early and late in the day will be the best bite from now on. I talked to another boat with 2 guys bass fishing and they hadn't caught any as of late afternoon. Not sure how long they had been fishing. The hills are still alive - er, green - but are fading quickly as summer arrives!! What a beautiful lake!!

Thursday, February 28th, 2013

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    Water Temp: 50-52

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I fished beautiful Lake Pardee yesterday with my buddy Mike Sperbeck. We started about 10 am, and was again shocked by the water clarity. I expected this with the lack of rain. We started in the main body with no success, then moved up the river. About 12:30 pm - our first bite and Mike puts a mighty 10 incher in the boat! Boy - that was worth a 2 hr drive!! Well, my attitude changed very quickly as I immediately set on a good fish with my brown/orange Blade Runner jig w/Yamamoto #180 grub trailer. She jumped and Mike yells "there is your 5 lb smallie!" Some of you know I am still trying to land one over 5 - I keep losing them. Again, this one was close at 4 lb 7 oz. A thrill anyway! The bite picked up - after Mike's second 10 incher! He did have last laugh when he landed a 5 1/2 lb largemouth later in the afternoon. Back out in the main body - after thinking about it for awhile, I decided to throw a 6" Basstrix swimbait. One feels like a genius when one catches a 4 lb 2 oz smallie on the first cast of his current thinking. She ate the swimbait! But no more hits on it. We ended the days with 6 bass for Mike and 3 for me with our best 5 around 18 1/2 to 19 lbs. No toads but very successful day.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We caught bass both on the bank and off-shore structure - from 10 to 30 feet deep. Mike had several swimbait hits too but only landed one. Fishing might have been better in the late afternoon but the lake went dead-flat calm! That is rare for Pardee. Fishing will probably be pretty good everywhere for a few of these warm days, but weather may change next week and possibly move them off the bank again.

Monday, February 18th, 2013

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    Water Temp: 51-54.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: First time on the lake. Spent the first 2hrs in south end with no bites. Moved to river arm and caught first fish at 10am on 1/4oz darthead/4in light blue worm. 4 more fish the next 3hrs including 2 smallies fishing the north banks of river arm. Only 2 keepers but the first one was 6lbs. Not bad for my first Pardee fish. Can't wait to go back during the spawn.
    City: Brentwood

    Tips: All fish but 2 were caught on 1/4oz darthead with 4in light blue worm. Other 2 were caught on 1/2oz brown/purple jig. Caught all fish in about the 20ft depth on sunny main lake points leading into coves.

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

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    Water Temp: 60-72

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Some of you many be shocked at my 2-4 foot visibility entry, but there was lots of floating pollen in the water and made the lake almost look like Clear Lake. Not much sight fishing yesterday. Also, we found 60 degree water way up the river and about a half mile south - water was 68. Big difference. My guide trip ended rather sadly as my client (a good fisherman!) lost a 5 or 6 lb largemouth just before we quit. She wallowed on top and spit the hook. That makes the long ride home a little tougher. He caught most of our 12 or 13 bass, including his biggest smallie yet - a little over 2 lbs. Most of our bass were just 1 to 2 lbs. The major spawn hasn't started yet, so good days are ahead. He wanted to learn the lake better, so we spend a lot of time learning new areas for him to fish in the summer and fall. Lots of time spent with heads in the Lowrance HDS-8.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Jigs were working as were the new Berkley Havoc baits - especially the green pumpkin "Craw Fatty." That's what he lost the big one on. His hook might have been too small. Tried some rippin' and cranks - no takers. Lots of trout/salmon boats and a few bass boats. Not too many bass on off-shore structure. They are definatly moving shallow. What a beautiful lake in the spring!!!

Saturday, March 10th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 54-61

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished tournament on the 10th. 17/90 bassclub.
    Launched just after safe light, tried points just outside launch area, nothing. Ran up river and caught 2 on rocky points with drop shot. No bites till afternoon again on drop shot. Winning team caught two smallies with one just under 5 lbs. tough bite.
    City: Modesto

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: HULA POPPERS ! JITTERBUGS ! DOES ANY ONE HAVE GREAT LUCK USING THESE LURES AT PARDEE ? LOOKING FOR A GUIDE THAT USES THESE LURES AT PARDEE. E-mail me ! Emjansen@yahoo.com
    City: san francisco

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the water at 7am. I started working a custom walking bait and forth cast BAM 8 1/2 Pounder!!! Boy I thought it was going to be on. One bite on a HUDD the rest of the day and that was it. She hit it like a freight train but some how she didnt get hooked. DEAD SEA the rest of the day. I didnt get the normal followers either. Water is finally going down. Maybe that was the problem, fish just havent adjusted yet. But hey it was a good day for a guy that JUST STARTED throwing big baits.
    Good luck out there! Bring sun screen, you'll need it!
    City: Citrus Heights

    Tips: Stay away from the haters and keep on chuckin!!!

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

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    Water Temp: 66-68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I was able to take Cal Kellogg and Sheldon Bright from the "Fish Sniffer" to Pardee Wed morning. The bite was brief, but impressive. We wanted photos so I fished hard too. We lost several but did manage to land 5 - 3 largemouth and 2 smallmouth. Quality was good with the biggest being a largemouth about 6 1/2 lbs that quietly sucked in a Mikey wakebait. What a battle! Monster smallies and I don't seem to get along as I lost another big one - maybe 5 lbs or more. As opposed the the largemouth, this one smashed the topwater bait, but I lost her after a half minute. Sheldon and I did catch two nice smallies on topwater - 2 and 3 pounds. The post-front clouds cleared pretty quickly and the bite died. We all hooked a few more and landed one.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: The lake is still spilling so "full" is the word. Lots of shallow cover in the water now. Water is fairly clear and will clear even more quickly. Most of our activity was on points and submerged wood structure. Did not fish any off-shore structure. There are probably fish that have moved there by now.

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

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    Water Temp: not sure but it

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: okay so i didn't get to lake until 3:00 pm but my brother and brother inlaw hit the lake around 10:00 AM and shore fished until i got there and caught total of 10 bass. Majority of the large bass where hitting in areas with small rocks containing crayfish and shallow water. largest was 7.8 lb another was 6.8 and a couple of 5 lb a lot of small bass with nest so just left em, but yeah weekday bites must be better since during the weekend the lake is usually filled with trout fishermans. bait: berkley power worms long tail 5" purple & black, Gary yammo bby craw blck n red glitter. all our set ups were split shots.
    City: Stockton

    Tips: we were at shore so fish in the coves and corners where small rocks are and where some of the reeds are. the bass were moving and hungry. so PATIENCE

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

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    Water Temp: 56-61

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: We fished Wed. (after the recent storm) from 10am-5pm. Overcast day with the sun breaking thru from time to time. We caught 4 fish for the day. All were caught on plastics in 16-20ft depth split shotting plastic worms. We found that the greenish -brown colored worms with green/red flake worked best. Fish did not hit any of the chartruse-tailed worms like I thought they would. 3 largemouths, 1 smallie but a good one - about 2.5 lbs. The bite was soft and needed to fish real slow on the bottom for fish to pick it up. We did see many LMB in the top 5 feet but they would not hit the topwater or jerkbait we enticed them with.
    City: San Jose

    Tips: Split-shot worms around fallen trees/wood area. Fish slow. Pick up was light.

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Got out on the lake late so I missed the early morning bite if there was one. There sure wasn't any other bite going on the rest of the day. Fished from about 9:30am till 3pm and nothing. Fished the lake and up river. Tried submerged islands, points, and even in back of coves and nothing. The trout boats were in full force catching their limits. Water temp still seems to be too cold mixed in with the high pressure. Still was nice to get out and enjoy the lake though. Tried drop shot, jigs, shaky head, and even crank baits.
    City: Lodi

    Tips: Either trout fish...or wait till the water hits about 60+ degrees.

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 80-82

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I guided a great fisherman yesterday in his boat with the idea of teaching him some good off-shore structure areas for summer and fall trips. We started with topwater baits of all sizes and one paid off for him! I saw this smallie clear the water by at least a foot in the morning sun - what a sight!! She went 3.84 lbs - post spawn fish. He hooked another good bass on the same bait but lost it right away. The rest of the time we ran over the whole lake - looking and fishing several shoreline and off-shore structures. The cold front had pretty well shut the bite down with a very chilly morning wind and fog in the distance. We caught several small largemouth and smallmouth for our efforts. We did see lots of suspended fish on his meter, but couldn't get them to bite.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Topwater is always a good bet this time of year. Fish shadows for as long as you can. Several color worms worked for us, mostly drop-shotted and dart heading.

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Gotta post something. I hate approaching a tourny and there are no reports for weeks at a time..so heres mine. Caught dinks all day guarding nests, most were just short of 13 inches. If you want them throw spinnerbaits, senkos and flukes will work (any greens) in or around the old beds. The big female is gone from these spots so if you want her you gotta find her. Our bigger fish came from purple roboworms dartheaded around steep rock for smallmouth and the bigger largemouth came from some bigger size senkos (any greens again) thrown in shade pockets later in the day. Our club did well for the conditions. There are definitely fish to be caught. Have fun!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Mostly post spawn which was tricky but theres still spawning fish...adapt to the area you are fishing. you can still sight fish the spawners but will have to work for the post spawners.

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 60-62

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Wow..one fish early on topwater then the Dead Sea. Partner and I threw everything and everywhere. Water is super clear. After the one fish early we literally had no more bites!! Don't know if its pre-spawn, post spawn but the fishing just made you yawn!
    City: placerville

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 60-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I fished Thurs afternoon and found the fishing difficult with a strong north wind. As a result, I fished up the river arm and did catch 5 largemouth up to 3 lbs. The biggest was caught drop-shotting a brown/chartreuse Robo worm and the other were caught on #301 and 330 Senkos. All were caught in small cuts in the shoreline. Friday my fishing bud Rick Tietz joined me for a day of possible sight fishing if the wind let us. It did, sorta. The day started of with a bang - a savage hit on my #301 Senko!! Soon I realized this was no ordinary bass, because if was a......trout!! Wow - 22 inches, 3lbs 5 oz. So now you know what to throw for trout! Rick and I fished most of the day, landing 5 smallies, 1 largemouth - and - a FULL-BLOODED SPOTTED BASS - about 14 inches. Rick caught it - I would have been too embarrassed to catch it since it is not supposed to exist in Pardee. The fellow at the gate didn't believe us so Rick showed it to him. He is a believer now! We were fishing with small Basstrix minnow baits, Senkos, and 4" Power worms. The 2 1/2 in chartreuse minnow worked best. All of our smallies were nice but not big - 2 1/2 lb average. Largemouth were showing up in the afternoon but were very skittish. We did spot some big smallmouth and largemouth but could't get them to bite. And speaking about big fish - the carp are warming in the afternoon sun. Wow! Some don't take a back seat to Clear Lake carp - some were 20 lbs+. How come they don't show up on our meters?! Water is still somewhat cool. Lots of boats Friday - pre-fishing for a tournament today I think.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: As for the spotted bass, they do exist in Pardee - obviously. Some of you may remember that I caught one at Amador several years ago. Pardee feeds Amador. There has been a lot of discussion noting that some of the recent big smallies caught looked like a hybrid variety of smallies - especially with the tell-tail black horizontal line near the tail. Pure smallies only have vertical bars. We have the same type of bass (not as big!) at Berryessa. Cross-breeding does take place for sure. I have always wanted to see one for myself (a spot in Pardee) to see if they did exist. Now I know. Some of you might have already caught a spotted bass in Pardee. I am not trying to make a big deal out of this, but after some 40 years of bass fishing, it is fun to see something unexpected!!

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 62-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: FISHED ALL PLASTICS CAUGHT CHANNEL CATFISH ON SENKO NICE 8PD FISH NO BASS NO TROUT ONE BITE TRIED SOME SIGHT FISHING I THINK THE WATER IS STILL TO COLD LAKE IS ALSO DOWN A GOOD EIGHT FEET, NO ANSWERS FROM ME
    City: ANTIOCH

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 57-62

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I took a client on Friday, not expecting too much action since the lake had strong winds most of the week. Visability is the usual 15+ feet and water level down 10-12 feet. I was happy that he hooked 6 bass but could only put one in the boat. One broke my heart - she was a big smallie in the 4 lb plus range and got off at the boat. He had not rigged the worm he was using properly and the hook was really too small. I showed him most of the lake and introduced him to the off-shore structure we all need to know after the spawn. Great client - we had lots of fun!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: The jig bite has been a little slow. 3 and 4 inch worms are working ok, especially drop-shotted. Water is pretty clear for crankbaits except in early morning shadows. Most of the available wood is still out of the water. I think the average depth of most bass is below 15 feet. We did see 2 cruising smallies - one maybe 6 lbs. But that was it!

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 54

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Started at 8am. Fished the coves till 1pm. Not a single bite.

    Tips: Wait till second week of April