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Amador Lake and Reports

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Friday, March 25th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 55-58

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Full moon was today/tonight. Fished from about 4 pm till 11 pm. Got a few hits on jigs and worms but the only fish I got, a bit under 3, was on a 6" black/chartreuse ringworm covered in smelly jelly. Water was muddy - too muddy. I think that was the main problem with the bite. The single fish came about 1 hour after sunset in Mountain Spring. I recommend staying away for a few days until the water goes from muddy to stained. Place was a zoo with trout boats during the afternoon (a Friday). At night, only a couple other boats were on the water. I started in Jackson, then worked the north bank down to Rock Creek and ended up spending the rest of my time in Mountain Spring. Best bites seemed to be on main points - not in the coves/creek channels. Water temp was pretty low too. Conditions were cool, mostly clear, slight breeze, with a medium amount of dew from the get go. (Weather.com said dew point was supposed to be 42 degrees but it was dewing at dusk when air temp was probably in mid 50s.)
    City: Folsom

    Tips: Either fish during the day (fishing will still probably be lousy but a little better than night unless you find better spots than I did) or wait until the water clears up some. Sampled the senko, spinnerbait, and crankbait bite and didn't get bit. Floating debris is all over the lake so beware. The fish were probably males as I missed the bites I got on the 10" power worm but hooked the fish on the smaller ring worm.

Saturday, March 19th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Lake is looking very good. Went out at 7:00AM until noon when it started raining. Got 4 lrg mouth, biggest 5lbs. Started to drizzle and went to trout, got about 8 keepers(2.5 lbs average)on Rapalas and yellow powerbait.
    City: San Jose

    Tips: Lake should get even better once the rain clears and sun comes out on a daily bases.

Saturday, March 12th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 63

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Thot I would try Amador again. Started about 3 pm and caught several Senko bass up to 3 1/4 lbs. The biggest surprise was a 3 1/2 lb trout jumping all my Senko in the back of a cove in some wood. Talk about weird! What a fight! I went up at dark and grabbed a burger and then got ready for night fishing. I could already see my boat getting very damp after a near 80 degree afternoon. Again, weird. Winter is not over - at least at night. I had a 4 lb 5 oz bass absolutely pound my brushhog right away and thot this would be a good night. After three hours of 3 or 4 small bites and no fish, I left. A dryer air mass will help the night fishing, I'm sure!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: With some areas holding 66 degree surface water, it was fun to see all the males bass swimming around in 2 feet of water. Saw some larger bass, but nothing too big. No nests yet. Bass wern't really active in spite of the warm temps.

Thursday, March 10th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 62

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Decided to try some night fishing last night, knowing it would be a warm night. But I was really surprised that, after a warm day, the heavy, moist air was still with me (been that way all winter), and it did slow the bite as it always does. I drove back to Yuba City after 2 am in the worst fog I have seen in years. Anyway, I started about 4 pm and did poorly until just before dark when a 3 pounder took my Weapon jig off a point in Jackson Creek. After dark, I landed another 3 pounder in a Mountain Spring tree - on a brush hog. I was using my new Loomis GLX 7'5" rod - talk about sticking that bass! In Rock Creek I landed another 3 pounder (they were all clones!) and about 11:15 stuck a nice 5 lb 7 oz bass on a rock ledge. I dumped two others at the boat, so, 4 bass for about 14 1/2 lbs. After midnight, it might as well have rained on my boat. No more bites and I left about 1:30 am.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I tried spinnerbaits, jigs, and worms after dark, but could only catch my bass on black/red brush hogs. Shad are either at the 40-50 foot depth or on the surface. Take your pick!

Tuesday, February 8th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 51

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Just went up for the afternoon and found quite a few 3 to 5lb. bass staging in 24 to 40ft. up in Jackson Creek. Useing a 3/4oz. black/red jig and a Camache Jack crawdad trailer I caught and released 7 bass before going out to the main body and fishing one of the island tops in 36ft. where the schoolies were stacked. Dropping a chatruese white spoon I caught about 20 nice bass.
    City: Sac.

Saturday, December 4th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 54-57

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I guided a client last night, which happened to be the 10 year anniversary of the 38lb 9oz limit two teenage boys and I caught Dec 3, 1994. That was a warm, cloudy Dec evening and last night was one of the coldest, dampest nights I have ever spend on the water. The famous east night breeze can really go right through you when it comes off the low snow. After several record nights of low temps, I was hoping for some bites! Luckly, my client got most of them, landing 5. Three were between 2 1/2 and 3 pounds and his limit was nearly 11 pounds. He caught some very shallow on 10" Power Worms. The jig bite was dead as were most of the other baits! I managed 1 1/2 fish - yes - one 13 inch keeper and an 11 incher which is half a fish!! I am looking forward to fishing there the right night - maybe some clouds and warmer air temp. Maybe the fishing will be better! We avoided frostbite, so the evening was a success!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Look for steep dropoffs at night. If you can find some wood left over from the early days, you will find bass. During the day, find balls of bait and then spoon or drop-shot The bait is often found on flats near a ledge or drop-off. The jig bite is usually good during the day for quality bass. Stay warm!

Thursday, December 2nd, 2004

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    Water Temp: 57 degrees

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Headed out for a short 4 hour trip...Missing the warm weather and big bass. Found lots of Trout fishermen trolling the waters and thinking that they own the lake. Had a couple of boaters get pissed at me because I was fishing points in deeper water and I guess I was in their way. Told them to grow up or bring it on and they did the right thing by turning around and trolling other water. What is up with these people? I paid good money just like they did to fish the water. Looks like I am gonna pack it in for the year and wait for warmer weather and water at least on this body of water. Found lots of bait sitting between 25-50 feet of water. Used drop shot worms but no takers. Lots of little bites on my jig, caught one bass at 2lbs. Heathly fish but they still need to fattened up. Bass seem to be eating crayfish as well as shad because lips are beginning to turn red. Good luck to all fishing this lake and "WATCH OUT" for the trout fishermen who think they own the lake!
    City: El Dorado Hills

    Tips: Make sure to block all trolling routes because it seems to piss off the trout fishermen.

Wednesday, November 24th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 56-57

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I think Larry has his day off by one - I think he was there Tuesday night the 23rd. Anyway, I found the fishing slow overall. Started around 4 pm and left around 11 pm. I landed 5 fish total, all on jigs and 4 were before dark and seemed to be tightly packed into a group as I'd get several bites in one spot after going a long way without any bites. They were mostly on secondary points about halfway into the arms except for one up Jackson. Biggest landed was close to 3 but lost one on a fat worm which could have been larger, maybe a 5. That was the only worm fish.
    City: Folsom

    Tips: It seemed the north side was better than the south side. Dress warm.

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    Water Temp: 59

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Rick Tietz and I decided to tackle Amador after a rather long absence! We started yesterday about 2:30 pm and fished points and offshore structure. I wasn't too optomistic about how the fishing would be because of the upcoming third really cold night of the fall. We saw fish everywhere on the meter but the bite was slow. We caught 5 before dark, all on jigs, up to about 3 1/4 lbs. After dark we bundled up for a cold winter's night of fishing!! The bite started slow but did pick up surprisingly well after 10 pm. While the night jig bite was dead, the worm bite was alive - and we wound up with 10 night fish in the boat up to 2 1/2 pounds for a total of 15 for the trip. Because the bite was timid, we missed a lot of fish - some just being tail biters. I could feel one bass just hold on to the tail of my 10" Power Worm - and then rip it off the hook! Hope he enjoyed his meal. Just when we decided that this was not going to be a big fish night - I threw an 8" Dead Ringer worm into some submerged trees and felt a good bite. I set the hook hard with my 30# test Fireline and nearly broke my elbow! After setting on the smaller bass, this was a shock. I could not move the fish towards me and after she moved sideways for a few seconds, she was gone. She opened the hook slightly and that might have been the reason. That has never happened to me before - maybe a flaw in the hook? That would have made the trip for sure!! We had a great time, lots of action, and good quality bass, though no big one this time. I know where this big one lives now!!!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We both were very pleased to see the lake down about 30 feet. It makes structure fishing more fun and may help to diminish the weed problem which has taken some of the fun out of fishing the lake. We found a lot of our bass in underwater wood - look around until you can find some. Spooning is usually very good about now, but wasn't yesterday. I did some cranking and rippin' with no results. The bass wanted slow stuff!

Friday, November 5th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 63 Degrees acro

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Stopped to pay for boat launch and was told that the lake had turned over. By george it most certaintly did turn over becuase the trout were in @ 2feet of H2O. I got a late start and missed the early morning top water bite. Fished a pumpkin/Blk jig with a silver/silver grub trailer and caught 6 Bass in the weeds all 2-3 pounders. There were alot of trout fishermen with lots of boat traffic. Like D.L. stated it was difficult to say the least to manover through the traffic. It was a great day weather wise.
    City: El Dorado Hills

    Tips: Dark colors and make sure to down size this time of year.

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Caught 15 bass today. Many nice fish in the 2 to 3 pound range. Caught the larger fish on a popper early. Drop shotted the rest of the day. Worked the weed lines and points.
    City: Rancho Cordova

    Tips: Water is low. One side of the ramp is open. Have to work around the trout fisherman. Will be a zoo on weekends.

Sunday, October 31st, 2004

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    Water Temp: 65

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Gill, I saw you at the lodge when I was ordering lunch, but you were busy chatting with the ladies and didnt want to interrupt.
    City: Sacramento, CA

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    Water Temp: 65

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Here's another report from your fellow bankie from Sacramento. Started off fishing the Carson Arm by the campsites and scored 2 fish right away at 1# and 2# at one of the coves. Moved to the deeper points east of the spillway and scored 2 fish in a row 1# and 1.5#. Next three casts felt a good nip and set the hook on a submerged stick up. Next three casts hooked another fish, and a he was a fighter at 2#. After that, it went dead on the three points I was covering (plus trout fisherman were starting to move through, So I decided to hit the Lodge for a Largemouth (Cheeseburger & Fries) with a large Iced Tea. After I got done with lunch, hit the points west of the spillway, getting hits and misses. I lost one fish getting tangled in submerged stick-ups probably about 2.5# by the looks of him. As was starting to get bored with little to no hits (it was fairly windy too), I felt a tick and my rod tip lunged. Set the hook on an awesome kicker at almost 5lbs. Grabbed him, put water in the cooler and ran to the Lodge to show the ladies. I always forget the name of the lady that does the fishing reports up there. Anyways after showing everyone at the Lodge, I took a stroll down to the water

    Tips: I used the same patter from my last two trips. Baby Brush Hog in Pumpkin and Black. Also used a Black Cyberflexx Flippin' Tube from Terminator for a few of those fish. Drop-off's and points 5-15 feet deep were key. A lot of the stick-ups that have been gone for the past couple of years are starting to show themselves, and the bass are hiding in them. Each time I set the hook on good bites, I'd either end up getting snagged on the initial hook set, or getting snagged while fighting the fish.

Sunday, October 17th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Even though it was scheduled to be wet and rainy yesterday, I decided to head out for Amador for some trout. Got to the lake about 11:30. Well, the trout were jumping all over the place. They werent biting though, not like they were when I was there on Thursday. At any rate....

    Luckily for me, I had all my bass gear with me so I headed out for the spillway to fish the drop off and adjacent points.

    Despite the rain, wind and mud, I did very well catching about 15-20 or so fish, many of them rats, a few in the 1-2lb range and a 4lb kicker off the point west of the spillway.

    Fun Day to be out.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Fish were holding about 5-15 feet deep, on or around large main body points. I used watermelon and green pumpkin Baby Brush Hogs. I didnt try out any reaction baits, but im sure they would have worked as the fish were all over my 'Hogs.

    I fished on Thursday the 14th with the same pattern, and had about the same luck. Hopefully I can get out again this weekend to catch the tail end of the fall bite.

Thursday, September 30th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 72-70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished from 6 pm till 3:00 am. Got about 10 fish with biggest going 3.2 best five fish were about 12 - 13 pounds all but one on the Senko and most after 1 am. Bite was very slow all evening and we were lucky to find any fish that were biting at all.
    City: Folsom

    Tips: Be careful where you park - don't park down hill of any fork lifts! One apparently decided to roll loose all on its own last night about 2:45 am and slammed into the back end of a pickup-trailer rig right in the main launch ramp parking area! There was a guy sleeping in the pickup and it scared the hell out of him. It knocked the pickup about 4 feet sideways. It must have belonged to some contractor doing work up there. Anyway, as far as fishing goes, with the 5" Senkos, the Gamakatsu 3/0 hook (EWG) seems to be a good match giving the drop rate the fish want and this seemed to be important. Unfortunately, this same hook isn't very strong and can bend out of shape if you pull too hard on even a 2 pounder, so beware. I ended up making my drag pretty loose after the hooksets to avoid bending my hooks even though I was using 20 pound test line.

Wednesday, September 29th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 72

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Started early with top water, Z/spook puppy. All kinds of action. Few good ones, but a lot of little ones. Fun day but, to many small. 32 fish for the day. Some dragging lizard 4" green color.
    City: Antelope Ca

    Tips: Wait for some water to fill the lake and trout planting. Or fish for the little bass with the kids and family.

Thursday, September 23rd, 2004

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    Water Temp: 74-70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Well, warming trend and more stable weather made the fishing poor. We only managed 5 small fish all under 2 pounds and a couple were under 8 inches long. Fished from 5:30 pm till 2:30 am. Absolutely no crankbait bite, almost non-existent senko/worm bite. What a difference 2 days can make! Fish were shallow and 15' deep but tried deeper with no luck. Lake pretty low.
    City: Folsom

    Tips: Bring warm clothes - getting cold out there.

Tuesday, September 21st, 2004

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    Water Temp: 74-70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Well, the weather.com guys had it backwards. It was supposed to be windy and then calm down later in the night. It did the opposite. I fished from 5:30 pm till 2:30 am. It was dead calm, almost glass for the first couple of hours and then gradually got windier until I decided to leave at 2:30 am. Fish were busting the surface all over the lake. Right off the bat got a 2 pounder on a senko just outside a weedline on a major lake point. Then, because I was looking for bigger fish, switched to other baits and didn't get bit again until 1/2 hour after sunset when I picked up about 6 fish on the crankbait (4.3, 3.7, 2.5, 2, 2, 1.5) had another 3+ and another 4+ on for awhile but they got off. The bite died until about 10 to 11 pm. Then it was the same old senko bite - agressive 1.5 - 2.5 pounders and I picked up about 5 fish doing this. Finally left because the senko was the only thing they were biting and it was too windy to do that effectively (wind from the north and east at the same time!). Didn't want to sit around in the wind for 6 more hours until the (probably very good) crankbait bite, so I left. At least one very large fish was busting the surface about 45 minutes after dark but it's hard to target fish in open water and you can't see their boil very well. Plus, what would you throw? The fish were very healthy looking and fought very hard.
    City: Folsom

    Tips: If you throw crankbaits: 1) you have to cast right up in or very close to the weeds, 2) casting to secondary points with wood stickups provided the best fish, 3) fish shallow water, 4) use braided line, otherwise when you cast and almost immediately get weeds on your bait, you can give it a sharp enough jerk to get the weeds off it for the remainder of the retrieve. Most fish hit right when the crankbait was being ripped out of the weeds. Go tonight (Wednesday the 22nd)! It should be better because of the continued warming trend and more stable weather. Also, consider fishing the dusk and dawn bites and sleeping in between the two - the night bite is just not very good. It seems that when the last trace of sunlight ends, the baitfish disappear and so does the bite. Maybe the full moon next Monday will improve the night bite.

Sunday, September 12th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 80

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: ON MONDAY SEPT 5th.MY FRIEND KIRK RHODD AND I WENT TO LAKE AMADOR AFTER SPENDING SOME TIME WORKING ON MY COMPUTER(almost didn'T go) ANYWAYS, WE GOT THERE AROUND 8:00 pm.WE CAUGHT A FEW FISH.AROUND 1:30am WE WERE BETWEEN THE DAM AND THE SPILLWAY,I WAS HAVING PROBLEMS WITH MY TROLLING MOTOR,KIRK WAS UP FRONT,SO I SAID"let me up there"I REACHED DOWN TO WIGGLE THE PLUG ,WHEN I FELT HER.I LET GO OF THE PLUG AND SET THE HOOK,SHE PULLED LIKE HELL!!!I YELLED"get the net its a good one".SHE MADE THREE RUNS AND KIRK NETTED HER (perfectly).I WAS SHOCKED WHEN I SAW HOW BIG SHE WAS.WE WENT OVER TO MY FRIEND GIL'S TRAILER FROM (GIL'S GUIDE SERVICE).I BANGED ON HIS DOOR AND WOKEM UP(scared the hell out fo him)AND YELLED"gil,gil i got a 17-18lbs hog".WE MET DOWN BY THE LAUNCH RAMP TO DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.SHE WAS 29in.LONG BY 23 1/4in. GIRTH AND WEIGHT 17lbs 1.6oz OR A LITTLE OVER 17.1 1/2 lbs,IN TWO DIFFERENT SCALES (NEW LAKE RECORD). I WAS USING 10lb STREN CLEAR BLUE,15-25ft DEPTH,4in YUM CRAWBUG.AND THE GOOD NEWS IS,WE LET HER GO!!!SHE SHOULD BE 19-19 1/2lbs DURING THE SPAWN OF 05.
    City: OAKDALE

    Tips: FISH SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW .

Saturday, September 11th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 80

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Took my brother-in-law and nephew to Amador on Saturday. Had a great day. We caught over fifty bass. Some on topwater plugs early, than dropshotting and Zoom flukes for schoolers the rest of the day. Fish busting all over the lake. Some large fish in the schools.
    City: Rancho Cordova

    Tips: Lake is low. Only saw 4 or 5 boats on the lake.