San Justo Lake and Reports

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Saturday, November 27th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 56 degrees

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Tough morning on the lake today! Some rain but heavy wind...gauge on Todd's Boat Rental house read 50 mph late in the morning! Mostly it was 20-30 mph through most of the morning.
    Lots of fish showing on the depth finder suspended over the main lake basin, probably mostly the stocked trout but mixed in are some very large fish symbols...may be large bass out there feeding on those trout. Tried for them with trout-imitation swim-baits and swimmin' jigs but couldn't interest them in biting. After 1500 lbs. of trout were stocked a couple of days prior, the bass may have been stuffed (like we were after Thanksgiving Day!).
    The only fairly lee bank we could find was across from the parking lot, and it seemed every boat on the lake converged there to get some relief from the wind.
    Tried lots of stuff, and very slow presentations, but couldn't connect, even out in the deeper water where we assumed the fish would have gone with the cold rain dropping the water temperature by a few degrees.
    City: Monterey

    Tips: Dress warmly, with rain gear, and be prepared for stiff wind. We had to anchor against the lee shore across from parking lot to keep from being blown around amidst white caps and two to three foot waves on main lake.
    Next time out under similar conditions I'd use a black jig with black pork-rind trailer and crawl it slowly on the bottom...that's a winter pattern that has worked for me many times before on other lakes.

Saturday, November 13th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Best day yet on this lake, 15 bass up to 4lbs.Fish hitting crankbaits, jigs, and senkos. All fish caught in 8 to 12ft. of water.
    City: Salinas

    Tips: All fish hit on moving lure, including senkos. As the water temperature drops, don't be afraid to try for the reaction bite.

Saturday, October 30th, 2004

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    Water Temp: Unknown

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Hit the lake at 7:30am. Caught 2lb largemouth at 1st main point across from launch ramp on a Mega Charlie in trout pattern. Then caught a nice 1.5 lb rainbow trout on Rapala Rattletrap in chartreuse and pink. For some reason, trout kept hitting this crank but I was unable to land anymore. Water was clear enough to actually see the fish hit and follow the lure on retrieve back to boat. In total, caught that bass, trout and got maybe 5-6 more hits all on crankbait. Left at 1pm. I tried worming with hula grubs, senkos, berkley worms. No luck.
    City: Soledad, CA

Saturday, October 23rd, 2004

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    Water Temp: 63-65

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: SLOW
    City: hollister

    Tips: BUZZ THE LAKE

Saturday, October 9th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished for just an hour 12-1 from the bank with grubs again, and was assaulted by dinkers. It seems like the fish, big and small are tight to the green vegetation.
    City: Hollister

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished half day from rental boat. Managed to catch two 4lbers on back to back cast. Fish were holding tight to the outside edge of a sunken weed bed. Caught on 6" green pumpkin senko.Great to see so many fathers taking their kids out for a day of fishing. (must of been 75 people fishing from banks)
    City: Salinas

    Tips: Give them. Talked to several boats of frustrated fisherman who were unable to "make a catch". By no means am I the master but if I can offer some advice to up the chances of a dad getting his kids "into the fish",why not?

Sunday, August 15th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: fished from noon to six caught 7 fish, and lost one by the boat, used drop shoting,texas rigging and gigs. One went two pounds and the others were just dinks, except for the one at the boat that was a easy 4+ pounder.
    City: royal oaks

    Tips: fish slow and try to find pockets of fish, fish are in 10 to 20ft of water.

Friday, August 6th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Friday, 8/5, in the morning. Tried a lot of stuff without success, and then hit'em on a wacky-rigged black with blue flake 4" Senko in a weed bed. Caught four bass from a little over a pound to almost two pounds. Lake is still falling slowly.
    Fished again Saturday, 8/6, in the morning. I tried Friday's pattern (wacky Senko in a weed-bed) first thing and caught a nice bass on second cast (in a different weed-bed). That was it for me for the day. My son, John, caught five bass on 5" green pumpkin with black flake Senko and a couple on Rapala DT-10 bluegill finish crankbaits.
    City: Monterey

    Tips: The bass are there, mostly in and around the weed-beds, but they are finicky. They'll ignore your lures until you give'em what they want. Keep trying different presentations and different colors within presentations until you hit on what they want that day.

Wednesday, August 4th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 71

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished just the morning again from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. Scouted some new water in the north arm of the lake, including the dam face and the west bank of the cove by the parking lot. Lots of shad present, but they weren't boiling. Didn't appear that anything was chasin' 'em. Fished crankbaits, drop-shot wacky worm, surface lures, and Senko. Made lots of casts, mostly on the outside edge of weeds and deeper, but only caught one small bass, on a bluegill-finished Rapala DT-10. Other bass fisherman on the lake agreed it was a slow day. Wind was calm most of the morning, only starting to kick up at about 10:30 a.m.
    City: Monterey, CA

    Tips: The lake appears to have dropped a couple of feet again, after having regained some of its water in preceding weeks. The lake has stratified, with the top of the thermocline at 31 feet. There are lots of shad, and many schools of 3" bass fry. There is still lots of very green and fresh weed growth in the 15 - 18' depths.

Thursday, July 1st, 2004

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    Water Temp: 70 degrees

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the morning from 6:30 - 10:30 a.m. I got blanked but my son, John, got six nice bass, 1.5 to 2 lbs, all of which he released, of course. He got them all on a bluegill-colored Rapala DT-10 crankbait in 6-8 feet of water on the outside of an Elodea weedbed near the dam. They all came from a small area that was loaded with small bluegill. Apparently them basses are chowing down on the bluegill.
    Unusual event was his catching a 10" trout that hit a crawfish colored DT-10. That had to be a trout with an attitude! There's no way it could have gotten the lure in its mouth to eat it.
    City: Monterey, CA

    Tips: The lake has gone down a few feet over the last several weeks. The fish appear to be moving to the outside edge of the weedbeds. In some areas, there are lots of small (3-4") bluegill which are apparently serving as forage for the bass. Bluegill imitations are recommended.

Wednesday, May 5th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 68 degrees

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the early morning from 6:30 until 10:30 a.m.(half-day boat rental for the slick pond prowler craft Todd rents there). Went right to south end of lake to explore new water. Found a lot of brown tules along the shore, dead stick-ups, brown weeds, and brown moss. Too much brown! ...and no fish. Moved back to main lake basin and explored main lake points where we found healthy green Elodea weeds off shore. While fishing a 7" Green Pumpkin (with black flake) Senko VERY slowly along the bottom through one of these green weed beds, I hooked and landed a beautiful 15 lb. 2 oz. female with a fat belly. Looked like she hadn't spawned yet. What a fight! She made several powerful runs, and a couple of classic jumps. Sure made waiting for the One Big Bite worth it! My son, John, motored over and got several nice pictures, including a nice sequence of releasing her and seeing her swim away. Her picture is on the Photo Page.
    City: Monterey, CA

    Tips: Find the green weeds! They're off shore, outside the shoreline weed beds, in the 12 - 18 feet depth range. The green weeds are on the bottom, and not very thick...seemed to be only a couple of feet tall at most. Big Senko fished VERY slowly...not deadsticked, but just inched along between pauses. Tried several colors, but the green pumpkin worked best. Line was 16 lb. Sugoi fluorocarbon.

Thursday, April 29th, 2004

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    Water Temp: n/a

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: have not fished this lake in sometime so went over to try my small boat.got on the water a little late but fished mostly small 4"worms.only cought six fish largerst about 2lb.rest may not have even went 12" but still fun.what i want to know is this guy from texas how did this guide go out the day before and catch fish for his cliants for the next day.does he put them in his boat then tells his client look over there when they turn there head does he put them on there hook???
    what an idiot also i would put the delta and clear lake up against taledo bend or sam rayburn a
    or whatever lake in texas.and everyone knows the only thing that comes out of texas is steers and queers.
    City: salinas

    Tips: be nice to people maybe you can learn something

Saturday, March 6th, 2004

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    Water Temp: cold

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished soft plastics early morning caught three small fish. Fish are starting to come still pretty slow.
    City: salinas

    Tips: needs about another week of warm weather

Saturday, November 8th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 63

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Tough ishing with pre rontal weather. Fished rom 0730-1130. Only caught 10 ish all under 2lbs. All ish caught along the weed line in 15-25t o water. Could not get bit on the rocky points which is the norm at this time o year. All ish caught on drop shot and hula grub.
    City: Foster City

    Tips: Sot plastics thrown into the weedline along a vertical drop. Shake or drag the drop shot over the drop o.

Monday, October 6th, 2003

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    Water Temp: unknown

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: We got on the water beore light. We threw top waters at sun up. Nada. We started hooking up on spider grubs and drop shot in 20-40 eet o water. We were picking o about our bass a spot. We caught about 30 ish, mostly on drop shot. 2 bass were about 1 1/2 pounds. caught a lot o tiny dinks. Im surprised with the small averadge. Email me or questions or or a back seat!!
    City: Salinas

    Tips: Throw 5 inch spider grubs in green pumkin or watermelon. 5 inch robo worm, summer shad, mm 2

Thursday, August 14th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 72-74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the water close to 7:00. Started trowing a spittin image on the west bank, losing two and missing another. Switched to a crainkbait with not bites then to a drop shot again with no bites. Changed areas and caught our in our casts with drop shot rig at 30t. All together, I caught 12 on a drop shot and 3 on spider jigs all between 30-40 eet on rocky shores.All the ish were dinks, our made it past 12 inches.
    City: Scotts Valley

Monday, June 9th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 64

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished or 2 1/2 hrs Sunday but didn't get on the water until 11:30 AM. Caught 9 ish with the largest going nearly 3lbs. and the rest small 1 to 1.5 lbs. clall. All were caught on sot plastic 4" worms in 15-20 t o water. This lake is about 15 t down rom normal - very dierent look and made the lake a lot smaller. Typical weed lines are gone. Had to igure out new spots.
    City: Foster City

    Tips: Sot plastics, rocky shore line, 15-25 t. Did not try any other baits which may have been just as eecive.

Saturday, April 19th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 59-62

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fishing was very slow. Saturday was the end o the ront. There was not a cloud in sight and no wind until the aternoon. Threw topwater and rip baits or awhile then started drop shotting and throwing zippers and tubes in 15-20; no luck. Finally hooked up on a drop shot rig in about 20 eet. I caught three dinks, one on a drop shot and two others on gizits in the shallows. Austin caught three also, all his were caughton a drop shot rig.
    City: Salinas

Sunday, February 2nd, 2003

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    Water Temp: 51

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Sat and Sun or 4 hrs each morning. Caught a total o 6 bass. Fish ranged rom 1.5 to 4.1 lbs. No pattern. Caught ish on Senko shallow to crank bait deep to drop shot in 15-20 t o water. Could only get on ish per presentation then had to switch bait. Very slow. Should be better in a ew weeks.
    City: Foster City

    Tips: Keep switching baits. The ish seemed to have moved a little more shallow than a ew weeks ago. Saw most ish in the 15 t range with a lot o suspended ish that would not bite anything.

Saturday, January 18th, 2003

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    Water Temp: cold

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the water at about 7:00 and went staight to the point. We caught 9 ish total, 6 bass and 3 trout. All the ish came o o 4 and 5 inch drop shot worms in 20-30 eet. The trout were caught over by the dam on drop shot also. man those trout ight hard!!! The bass and the trout all averaged 1 pound with 2 bass going around 2 1/2 pounds.DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY HOTSPOTS BESIDES THE POINT PLEASE EMAIL ME Humelaker2000@aol.com
    City: Salinas

    Tips: DROP SHOT!!!!!!!!!!! Predator worms 4 inch purple with chartreuse tip, also a 5 inch white predator wacky rigged. Go to the point staight across rom the ramp early and then start exploring.