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Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 58.9

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Spooned 4 hours for bass. I did horrible. Overall for me this was the worse spoon bite this fall in my 7 years fishing Berryessa...
    City: Elk Grove

    Tips: Water starts to stain up around Big Island. Be careful 1/2 back in Putah Creek...quite a bit of debris including entire tree trunks...

    Until next year

Monday, November 26th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 61

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Spoon bite still has not taken off for me. Fish still from surface down to 50 ft...
    City: Elk Grove

Sunday, November 25th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 60.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: This past Thanksgiving weekend was perfect. The weather was great the lake was calm and the fishing although not as good as the last few weeks was still great. I took my daughter Helene out on Thursday and she had a very successful day landing eight nice trout and a bass weighing 3+ pounds. Friday I went out with Jeremy and Brandi and it was a tough bite we ended up landing three trout and losing three. My son said the trout were breaking all around but not biting the only trout caught on his boat was by my wife who landed three trout. Saturday I went out by myself first on the west side with no luck and then I headed to the buoys on the east side and trolled to the picnic table. I caught three trout doing that. I tried my luck on bass and landed three the largest was about 4 pounds. My friends Albert and John went to Lake Hennessy and caught a total of four trout (see photo). 'til next week..........................................................................................................good fishing!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: NAPA

    Tips: fish hard while its sunny will rain soon

Sunday, November 11th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 62 - 63

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: What a difference a week makes weather wise the fishing was still great. It was cold out on the water and unlike the mirror calm water of last weekend the wind made the lake full of ripples but the trout were still in abundance if you knew where to fish. I started out earlier this Saturday because of the time change. We launched just before 9 AM my crew included Albert, Brandi and Jeremy. We started fishing as soon as we left the launch ramp because of the masses of birds in the water thinking they might be feeding on bait fish but that was not the case so I headed to the west side going towards the Bureau. We hooked one trout before what used to be Spanish Flats but didn't see too much activity so we headed across the lake to the east side where we had good luck last week. It worked again we landed eight nice size trout up to three pounds each. I decided to try the area around Big Island and was able to see good size baitballs on my fishfinder. We fished the area going back and forth through the baitballs and hit limits for all of us. We headed in at around 2:30 PM (see photos). It was a great day of fishing. Hints for successful trout fishing are good polarized sunglasses (I wear Hobies) the proper scents (I use Pro-Cure) and I like lures that dive between 5 and 12 feet and the best colors this weekend seemed to be silver and blue.
    'til next week................................................................good fishing!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: Napa

    Tips: Call with stories.where you caught fish.what you used.need info.want to book a trip.how deep where you fishing and what color did you use,

Monday, November 5th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 66.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Can't believe it's November this past weekend was perfect weather. The lake was like glass and the trout were plentiful. I started out with Albert and Jeremy at 11 AM and headed towards the east side of the lake. Didn't have to go to far before we saw the trout boiling all over. Since the trout were on the surface we all decided to use shallow diving speed trap lures which scored limits of trout for all of us (see photos). Trout give you a good fight especially on light tackle. I met up with Art who told me he was trolling at 1.2 miles an hour with very little luck landing any trout but when he saw my boat he set his speed to copy mine and he started catching more fish. I go between 2.5 and 3 miles an hour. A few nice size bass were caught in the afternoon trip but the trout ruled the day. Hope it will be the same next weekend. 'til then.........................................................................................................good fishing!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: Napa

    Tips: book a fishing trip nowmany heekhig

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Water Temps just got down to "doable" at 68 in main lake during middle of the day. Found tons of bait, but could not get much of a vertical spoon bite going. Bunch of dinky bass for the most part. Kings have not pushed up yet. Trout are still on top.

    Did the best from 7 am to 9 am casting to the boiling trout & baby bass. 1/2 oz spoons, 2" Rattle Traps, and Poppers caught them. Had to "match the hatch" though. All the bait I found was 1 1/2", and if the threw a lure much bigger, the trout might follow it, but not hit it. Fishing a blue bird day probably added to the problem.

    I would have done better if I had my 1 1/2" (3/16 oz) Rattle Traps and 1/4 oz spoons & and Rod a w/4 lb test, but I did not have them in the boat...

    Still a fun day and located much of the bait for when the vertical spoon bite does turn on!
    City: Elk Grove

    Tips: I will get better!

Saturday, October 20th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 69 to 70.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: From: bestguide@hotmail.com
    To: bestguide@hotmail.com; pkilkus@gmail.com
    Subject: Fishing with Sid
    Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2012 18:38:59 -0700


    Had some work done on my boat recently and went out on Friday evening for a test run. Of course I took my fishing poles along. I stayed pretty close to the launch ramp and caught a nice three pound trout I thought I would have some time on the water but before six it was starting to get dark so I headed in. Albert and I planned to go out Saturday. He wanted to leave at seven in the morning and I told him we are leaving at eleven. We were out on the water by 11:30. I decided to troll on the east side to where I believed the bite would be good. As we pasted the three points I usually fish we did fairly well. Trolling at a low speed with my electric motor and casting towards the shoreline using a "rattle trap" and Albert using a "zara spook" we did pretty well. The wind picked up and I was unable to control the boat so I decided to head towards the west side of the lake where there is more protection against the wind. Between the Bureau and the pipes I noticed that the birds were hanging out in about 45 feet of water so I changed course again and headed out deeper. I threw into a bait ball and was hit hard by what I felt was a large trout and it broke my line immediately. Albert threw his lure into the same bait ball and got hit hard by what he hoped was going to be a huge bass. It took him over twenty minutes to bring the fish close enough to the boat for me to net it. To his disappointment it turned out to be a very large squaw fish weighing in at approximately 7 pounds but he said the fight was worth it. We headed towards home with limits of bass and trout just as the sun was starting to set (see photos). 'til next week..................................................................................good fishing!!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: Napa

    Tips: knowing where the fish are is half the fun,catching them is the other half.and imuelneand imuelne

  • By

    Water Temp: 71-73

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I took a client with his young daughter out yesterday, teaching techniques and good fishing areas in the narrows. The weather was, again, almost like summer with mostly flat, calm water. After I got them going, I threw a green pumpkin Berkley Havoc bait and was very surprised to soon land a spotted bass at almost 3 1/2 lbs. Wow! I soon realized their equipment was not really bass worthy - so I discussed and had them use some "bass" rods. The bite was somewhat slow with several fish lost. We caught all spots - some between 2 and 2 1/2 lbs. Several bass and a few trout (or salmon) were chasing bait but were hard to catch. We hooked 2 or 3 but lost them. Lots of bait balls were pretty tight with no bass around them. As is often the case, I assume the bite did pick up after 4:30 to 5 pm, but we were gone by then.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: The biggest tip, which should be a surprise to no one, is to hit the water after the predicted cold front with rain on Monday-Tuesday. The "fall feed" really hasen't started yet. We want the water to reach (dip) into the mid-sixties. The quality of the bass should improve too.

Sunday, October 14th, 2012

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    Water Temp: cooling down

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From: bestguide@hotmail.com
    Subject: FW: Fishing with Sid # 1
    Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:09:55 -0700







    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From: bestguide@hotmail.com
    To: bestguide@hotmail.com; pkilkus@gmail.com
    Subject: Fishing with Sid
    Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:01:50 -0700


    The past few weeks have been very productive. The bass that we have been catching are good size and with the water cooling down the trout are back. I was with my family on my son's pontoon boat this weekend and we landed limits of bass and trout. We were fishing along the east side and were just about to cross the lake towards big island to have our lunch when we saw a boil and I threw a "rattle trap" lure and got smacked by a four pound bass. As my son went to net the bass he yelled out that there were at least four other bass of the same size swimming with my fish. Of course we decided to stay at this location to have our lunch. The water was very clear and we beached the boat on the shoreline. There was a grass line in the water about ten feet wide and the grassy area was full of bass rangeing from three inches up to five or six inches there were hundreds of them. Each time we cast out as we came closer to the shoreline you could see all the little guys going for the lure. We didn't get any more keeper size bass but it was very enjoyable just watching them. Around four o'clock we decided to head over to the west side and make our way back to Lupine Shores. At first we had no hits at all but that changed pretty quick and by the time we reached the launch ramps we had limited out on bass and trout (see photo). Largest bass was caught by Sarah and weighed in at six pounds she also landed a nice size trout. My son's friends Bill and Dorian caught some nice bass and had a great time. I recieved an email from Sharon that she and her boyfriend caught a 21 pound catfish at Oak Shores on four pound test line now that must have been a good fight. Great job!!! 'til next time ..............................good fishing!!!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: Napa

    Tips: trout and bass chowing down minnows

Monday, October 1st, 2012

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    Water Temp: 74 to 78

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: After a slow start fishing was great this past weekend. Saturday morning Albert and I headed out to the Narrows. Using crankbait we trolled towards the Ranch house. The water was as clear as glass and we could see lots of small fish but had no luck catching anything. My son called me and said lunch was ready so we met up with him at Big Island. After lunch Albert and I went deep into one of the coves and set up catfish rods using hotdogs. We fished for bass using flukes, spinner baits, cast masters and whatever else we could think of throwing without any luck. We saw hundreds of bass in the 2 to 4 inch range chasing after the lures but no big guys. I got a call from my son telling me he was seeing large bait balls in about thirty feet of water and in the last ten minutes he hooked up three nice bass. He told me where he was and I said I'm on my way. When I got to the area the bait balls were so huge that I decided to go through them for awhile. Within a half hour or so of going back and forth using deep diving lures we limited out with nice size bass and a trout. On my son's boat he had the same results with his wife Sarah landing a limit of good size bass up to four pounds and my wife Ester landing two big trout up to three pounds. Some people were saying that due to the full moon the fishing was not great but if you look for signs like the bait balls or where the birds are feeding it can change your luck. It turned out to be a very successful day (see photos). 'til next week...........................................good fishing!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: Napa

    Tips: search and u will find

Saturday, September 22nd, 2012

  • By

    Water Temp: 72-75

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Basin Bassmasters fished their tournament on Saturday. The top water was very slow, just a few bass all over the lake. Most of the bass first thing before the sun hit the water came on crankin, ripin and pop r lures. As the sun came up move off into 15-30 ft with a worm, Jig. Use a darter head, split shot, drop shot or drag a jig in brown colors. Most of the bass are after the bait fish. Fish under the bait balls and stay on the points all over the lake.
    City: Rocklin

    Tips: Work your bait slow and stay on points.

Thursday, September 20th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 73

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished friday and it was a good bite for the big smallmouth. Fish on points in 15-25 feet. shakey heads with flukes did the trick for me. bait and fish are everywhere and no boat traffic. jigging spoon bite nor a-rig bite were going for me but it will not be long.
    City: San Lorenzo

    Tips: take your time and cover the points from all angles and make sure to check the sides of the points

Sunday, September 16th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 70 - 74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Tuesday, 10/16/12, there were only about 5 boats on the whole lake. My buddy and I fished from just inside Putah Creek all the way back to the Big Island. We marked a lot of fish in 15 to 25 feet of water and also a lot of bait balls. Also all during the day, many groups of bass were observed break water chasing shad. First multiple techniques were used to target the fish in deeper water and around bait balls with no success. Because we weren’t catching these fish, we started targeting the smaller fish that were chasing shad. Even though these fish weren’t very large we had a lot of fun catching them. We found one cove where there were hundreds of these small fish. They attacked top water poppers, and any small worm that looked like a shad. We found that by twitching a small weightless worm, a fish could be caught on almost every cast. We ended with over 40 fish in the 8 to 12 inch range. We only quit fishing because the air temperature went above 90º.
    City: Pinole

    Tips: If you can’t catch large fish have some fun catching a lot of small fish.

Sunday, September 9th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 78

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: This past week I took Albert out for a full day of fishing. We fished the west side of the lake and caught limits of bass up to five pounds all on reaction baits (see photos). The late afternoon bite was the best. 'til next week.........................................................................good fishing!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583=3333.
    City: Napa

    Tips: reaction baits work best this time of year

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Sorry, here is the revised schedule. There will be NO September Tournament! The rescheduled Tournament will be Sunday December 16, 2012. Here's the revised schedule:
    ANGLERS CHOICE
    2012 – 2013 Berryessa Pro Team Schedule
    September 29, 2012 – Saturday(Canceled)
    November 25, 2012 – Sunday
    December 16, 2012 – Sunday(Rescheduled)
    January 20, 2013 – Sunday
    February 24, 2013 – Sunday
    March 24, 2013 – Sunday
    April 21, 2013 – Sunday
    May 19, 2013 – Sunday

    BLAST OFF OUT OF MARKLEY COVE
    FOR INFORMATION CALL DUKE AT (530)795-2659 OR EMAIL dukekalani@yahoo.com
    City: WINTERS

Saturday, September 1st, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: To all who wants to fish team tournaments at Lake Berryessa this 2012-2013 Season. I'll be running the Anglers Choice Berryessa Teams and if you have any questions call me (530)795-2659 or email me at dukekalani@yahoo.com our first tournament is Saturday September 29, 2012 out of Markley Cove. Here is the schedule:
    2012 – 2013 Berryessa Pro Team Schedule

    September 29, 2012 – Saturday
    November 25, 2012 – Sunday
    January 20, 2013 – Sunday
    February 24, 2013 – Sunday
    March 24, 2013 – Sunday
    April 21, 2013 – Sunday
    May 19, 2013 – Sunday

    Tips: Reaction Baits and Jigs on main body

Sunday, August 26th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 75 to 78

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Subject: Fishing with Sid
    Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 09:51:37 -0700


    This past Saturday I took John and his daughters Moya and Jane and their friend Sean out for a day of fun. We set out early morning and I decided to start at the Narrows with no luck. John caught his first fish on a top water "chugger" it was a close call on what was bigger the fish or the bait!! The water was full of feeder fish and with my new pair of "Hobie" sunglasses it was very easy to see that three inch bass were chasing the bait. Since the east side was none productive we went to the west side of the lake to try our luck. Near what once was Spanish Flats they hooked a 3.5 pound bass and with the efforts of everyone on board they landed their biggest catch of the day. The afternoon trip produced more fish. Jeremy and I went to the ski school near the Narrows and had some luck landing a few nice size bass and a lot of 10 inchers (see photos). We anchored in about 4 feet of water in my favorite cove and threw spinner baits, flukes and senko worms with no results to speak of. On Sunday I used only the trolling motor went into the same cove to find shelter from the wind and caught 13 bass and not one keeper and mostly on top water "chuggers". My son Henry fished the west side with my wife and my daughter-in-law and they just killed it landing limits of bass all in the 4-5+ pound range with Sarah catching the largest fish. Another great weekend at the lake. 'til next week..............................................................................good fishing!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: Napa

    Tips: nice fish,half moon,top water ready to break open i hope,knowing where and when to fish made my succes

Friday, August 24th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 80-84

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I had back-to-back trips Wed afternoon/night and Thurs morning (1/2 day trip). Quantity wasn't great but the quality was! After raving about the topwater bite last week - as often happens - it was dead Wed evening. Only 1 blowup, probably because of a cooler night. I was showing them a good place to drop-shot with their Basstrix Flashtrix minnows while I tried the morning dawn Robo worm. Within a few minutes I hooked and landed 2 big summer smallies - about 3 1/4 lbs each. Couldn't believe it!! Immediately switched them over to the Robos and one of the fellas lost a big fish after a half minute fight. The other client landed 2 smaller largemouth. We missed a few others and a darkness came, the bite really died - and the wind came up. The last rockpile we fished finally produced a bite for one of them and he got a great hookset before the fun began. He played her beautifully and good thing he did. That smallie went 3 1/2 lbs - what a summer fish!! Three smallies for about 10 lbs. I met my next client at 8 am to take him for his first visit to Berryessa. Showed him some good spots right away and how to fish rockpiles. I caught the first - a 2 lb largemouth. We went around another rockpile and as I was about to lift the Minn Kota, he set the hook! Couldn't figure what was taking so long until I saw a big largemouth coming to the boat. Got her in the net on the second pass - all 4.1 pounds of her. Welcome to beautiful Lake Berryessa, Mr. Client!! He too was drop-shotting a morning dawn/chartreuse tail 6" Robo worm. Yea, we get 4 pounders every day in the summer at 9:30 am!! We looked at several other areas of the lower lake and caught a few more. I think he likes the lake! He will be fishing his first tournament this weekend (not at Berryessa). Hope he does well!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: The quality of the fish his summer has been pretty good, but the numbers - not so good. The shad are still pretty scattered but should ball up in a few weeks. Bass are really suspended during the day but do seem to move up at twilight. Night fishing overall has been pretty slow. I have not fished at first light recently and that bite might be pretty good - especially with all the hot weather.

Sunday, August 19th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 83

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I had family visiting this past week and we spent most of the time at the lake. My nephew's son Ari who is three was so excited when he caught a fish that weighed about a pound. Each time he told the story about the fish it grew bigger (a true fisherman in the making, see photo). Alexia, Jake, and Nana joined me everyday for fishing lessons. Nana was very interested in learning how to cast and different techniques of catching fish. They all had fun and even landed some nice bass. We spent every day they were here on the lake and enjoyed the great weather fishing, swimming and picnicing. On Sunday my son limited out on bass. Next weekend I plan on bringing hotdogs and cornmeal balls as I saw many carp and catfish in a few coves and plan on catching a few. 'til next weekend......................................good fishing!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    Now is a good time to book a guided fishing trip.
    City: Napa

    Tips: fish are active early catch bass on top, carp breaking water all over and trout about30ft catfish hungry will be a good week coming up.

Saturday, August 18th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 84-86

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I took a client yesterday afternoon/night who has done very well on previous trips, but struggled some last night. I think the lightning in the distance scared him, LOL! He landed a few, but lost most of his fish. Because of a southern front moving in, I wasn't sure how the bite would be. Those fronts can shut off the bite. But it turned out to be great before dark, especially using topwater. Maybe the best topwater bite in August I have had ever at Berry. We missed several, but landed largemouth up to 4 lbs 10 oz, using Storm Chugbugs. Including a Robo worm drop-shot largie, the first two in the boat were almost 8 lbs combined weight. After dark the bite turned off 'til midnight when we found a few good spots in the main body. I don't use the D&M Piranha swim jig much in the summer - but they wanted it last night! 5 hits and 5 in the boat including 3 1/4 and 3 1/2 lb spotted bass. We also caught a few quality smallies up to 3 lbs. Only 12 bass landed, but the 5 best were 17 1/4 lbs. Quality was amazing and - no dinks! All bass were caught surface to 20 feet. Could not get deep bass to hit.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I think the bass would have hit ripbaits too. Wish I had tried them. We found most of our evening bass hanging around isolated patches of weeds. I think a frog would have worked too. We only got one nice bass on a plastic worm. Something with a blade, or topwater seemed to be the trick. Client lost a few on a spinnerbait.