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Berryessa Lake and Reports

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Thursday, December 30th, 2010

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: hey bass man,

    i have not been out for the last 2 weeks however i plan to be there friday as well. in the past weeks i have not been catching a ton of fish however the ones coming to the boat are ones to be proud of. most of the bass i have been catching are from 2.5 to 3.5 lbs and the drop shot has been king of the hill for the most part followed by a rip bait and a swim bait.. the fish are using all available depths but around 15 to 25 has been best for me. don't be afraid to go shallow especially if there is grass i got an 8 3 weeks ago off an island top surrounded by grass.
    City: san lorenzo

    Tips: im a stickler to colors at this lake, i use natural shad,prizm shad,green pumpkin and oxblood exsclusivly with the occasional showing of warmouth(all robo worms). ripbaits well ghost minnow and table rock is all i throw, and white will work if that's all you have. i hope some of these tips will help. oh yeah all main lake from mid lake north. and coves with creeks coming in.

Saturday, December 25th, 2010

  • By

    Water Temp: 51.6

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Date: Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:58:27 -0800


    Fishing this past weekend was pretty tough. On Friday I went out with my son, my daugther-in-law and my wife on my son's boat. It was sunny and the water was like a mirror but it was cold. The water temperature was 51.6 degrees and there was no trout activity at all. We stayed out for a couple of hours with no luck not even a nibble! The following day I took my boat out and stayed close to the launch ramp. I trolled for awhile using different lures with no success. I decided to try worming for bass. I went to a location where I knew the structure under the water was a mountain from 30 feet to about 8 feet and I walked the worm up the mountain on the shade side very slowly and caught two bass but they were not keeper size. Hoping to have better luck next weekend. I wish everyone Happy Holidays.
    'til next weekend.........................................................good fishing!!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or would like to share any fishing stories please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: Napa

    Tips: HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

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    Water Temp: 54-56

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Started my A.M off in skiers cove graphing baitfish, jigging duh spoon and tossin deep divin cranks around points. NEVER got a bite. Happen to have a couple dozen LG minnows, so I went deep off the bottom and under a float about 6-7 feet. NOTHIN.
    City: Napa

    Tips: It was a real nice day up there. I did talk with a few guys who were picking up a few fish jiggin. As well as a few guys getting them on drop shot. Lots of guys catching good numbers of trout.

Sunday, December 12th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the water around 8:30 fished Portugese Canyon and Little Portugese; caught our first fish 2-1/2 lb about 9:45 in 12' of water on a brown jig, bites were slow and we missed a few. Went to Little Portugese and caught a 3-1/2 lb and 2-1/2 lb on on back to back casts using "Oxblood" sweet beaver in about 10' near some lay-downs; the bass hit the bait hard and inhaled it.
    City: Elk Grove

    Tips: We had the best luck finding fish around some wood structure but you had to fish slow; we crawled the bait, let it sei, gave it a little shake, let it sit. Fish slow.

Saturday, December 11th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 56-59

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: A tough tournament for some teams, in that the fish were not chewing aggressively, they seemed to be interested but tentative. Considering the Xmas parties and other conflicting tournaments there was a decent showing, we had a total of 14 Teams that fished the third tournament on the Berryessa Pro Team Trail December 11, 2010. Thank

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 57-58

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I did a "teach-the-lake trip Friday with a client who is really getting into bass fishing the past few years. His new boat should arrive in a few weeks! He is quite good already, though he missed "all" the bites he had - 5, I think. With the 30 degree morning - the bite was very tough. As one would expect - we ran around everywhere learning some basic ideas on how to approach various structure on the lake. We didn't fish all the time but did cover a lot of water. I caught a 2 1/4 lb largemouth on a Basstrix Flashtrix 4" "smelt" minnow - about 20 feet deep. About 4 pm, just before we quit, I showed him a nice spot to fish when the wind came up, which it had already. I decided we ought to fish it for 5 minutes or so. I was going to show him how to use a swimbait so I threw a 6" Baitsmith trout. I think the lure was about 20 feet deep when something slammed it! My client saw the hit - looking at my rod tip at that time. I was out of position for a good hookset (so what else is new when running the trolling motor in wind!) and I lost her right away. Could have been a fun way to end the trip!! I do think he will be buying some swimbaits!!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I really was hard to believe that the water temp was still 57 degrees after 3 very cold nights - at the END of November. I think the best fall bite is still ahead of us! I saw bait that had been in 40 to 50 feet of water had dropped to 70 feet. Wow! Didn't see many fish around the bait. We did not get a single spoon bite at all Friday. That might be a first for me at Berryessa in the fall. Maybe we were too agressive in our presentation. Drop-shotting morning dawn Robo worms were the best bait for my client.

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 57.6

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: My buddy and I started out of Markly Cove at 9:00am. It was a very clear, cold and a windy day with it blowing about 20-25mph. The main portion of the lake had about 3-4

    Tips: Catch and Release

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Went to the lake to try out for the first time in months. About this time last year I did well ripping spinnerbaits aroung weeds. Fished around wind blown ponts and cuts. If you want large mouths you don't have to fish very deep.Try fishing from five to fifteen ft. of water. Throw jigs in weeds and rip it out from the weeds. Get a reaction bite. Give it extra action with whatever type of jigs or plastics you are using. Pop the bait a few times and let it sit for about four seconds and thats when the fish usually hits it. Also when thowing swimbaits work it the same around weeds an hang on for the hogs.
    City: fairfield

    Tips: If you want laremouths, fish around weeds. They're there all year long. Fish the windy areas. Points cut and wind blown in coves for the heavier stringers. For spots an smallies try fishing under water humps and look for baitfish. You usually find good size spots an smallies if you can make them bite. If you find bait, try spooning, drop shotting, shakeyheads and even heavy jigs to reach the bottom. You usually find the bait from twenty ft. to sixty ft. But usually around twenty to fifty.

Saturday, November 13th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched from Markley Cove with my kids and started fishing around 8 am. Picked up a Duh! Spoon prior to launching...I'm not a spoon fisherman, but thought I would give it a try since I've read so many articles and reports referring to them. (Sounds like the thing to do to pick up those staging bass). Picked up my first spot on a spinner bait in a couple feet of water along the rip rap. Picked up my next three on the Duh! Spoon in coves and drifting across points. Picked up my fifth spot on a crankbait while searching for baitfish in the 30-40 ft range...trolling it from cove to cove. Ended the day drifting near the dam wondering if I could pick up one of those fish showing up on my graph in 100+ feet of water. Fish were showing up between 60-100 ft. Pitched the Duh! Spoon over and pulled up a nice rainbow to end the day. Made the mistake of going into the main body of water to checkout skiers cove at mid day. White caps everywhere! 3 to 4 ft waves. A couple bass boats were already there so I turned around and fished between the main body of water and Markley Cove all day. Best 5 went 7.5 lbs.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: If you don't own a spoon, pick one up and give it a try. I recommend Morning Dawn.

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 62-63

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: started about 730 in the narrows and caught a couple small spots..made our way to the main body and drop shotted a couple 2-3 lb smallmouth in about 35 ft... the wind pushed us into a cove by spanish flats and hooked a 8 lb large mouth shallow...huge fish!! the wind died down and we went back deep and caught a couple more nice fish...
    City: yuba city

    Tips: on the way back thru winters stop and eat at the world chinese rest. great food and a good way to end the day...catch and release always!!

  • By

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: We had a total of 20 Teams that fished the first tournament on the Berryessa Pro Team Trail October 31, 2010. That

Saturday, November 6th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: launched at Markley Cove with and old timer from town, started fishing the narrow around 830 am. The old man started drop shoting and I went with a jig and a small tube. It took about 1 hour before we started getting a good bite. Most of fish were not deep this time, they were real shallow. They were real spooky and most of the time only snap at the bait. We got over 40 bite and our combined 5 best fish would give us over 15 Lb. He had two spotted bass 3+ pound er and had a 4+ smallie (biggest one I ever caught). The keys today were to let the wind drift you to the back of the cove, only fish the real rocky one( the hot spot are where the rock end and the mud begins). I'm not sure why but the big fish were mixed in with the little guy today. The old man had never caught spotted bass and was real impressed by the fight, he also learned not to
    City: Rio Vista

    Tips: When things get slow change color, and then the type of bait. today the loud colors were the key not the naturals. Alway use wind as a tool. Good luck and be safe.

  • By

    Water Temp: 64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Started at 11AM. First bass on a spinnerbait in 10' of water in back of cove. Wind kicked up and started throwing ZaraSpook. Had couple topwater hits in coves and points. Saw baitfish headed toward back of coves. Had a hit on crankbait in cove. Drop shot is usually good to me, but not today.
    Bass Club Tournament out of Markley Cove. Shure would like to known how they did, what they used and where they used it.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Keep fishing. That lunker is out there!

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 63-68

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Dropped the trolling motor at the ramp and tried a spook until I got to the 5mph bouy. Then hit skiers cove with the spook and between the two spots I caught 3 bass. Graph bait fish in the back of coves though out the day. Tried spoon fishing for those fish and missed all hits. My most productive fishing came when I tied on a 6in roboworm(green w/pink tail) and fished down tree's that were near the main body of lake. I caught 6 bass all in the trees.
    City: Napa

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

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    Water Temp: 66-68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Was able to get up earlier and be on the water at 12 pm this time! I was able to look longer for bait and found it...The bait has been coming up most in 40ft of water. The lake is continuing to turn in some places. Wow, we spooned up some different fish this trip. We caught a nice pan size Crappie! He spit out a 4" Thread Fin shad he just ate (it was cool to see a perfectly in tack 4

    Tips: As always, not stopping moving until you find the bait....

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 67-69

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got a really late start...I was only able to fish for 4 hours or so. This was really a break out trip to locate the shad and knock of the rust of the spoons. I was able to find some bait and fish. Most around 40 ft. The lake has begun to turn! I was surprised to find the lake was still 69 is some places with air temps in the low 60's. Anyway things are shaping up for the fall bite...
    City: Elk Grove

Monday, October 25th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 59

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Could not find any buddies to fish with so I fished alone. 9am Found a good bite in the narrows with the tude( watermellon and smoke) in 40ft.after 11am fish for over 2hours with out a bite, I couldnt figure out what happened. with nothing to lose I decided to use my homemade 1/2 jig(Arkie not football head)that I started getting bit again. I was realy impressed with my punkin and black jig ,my orange and brown 1/4 was not shabby either. I dont have any confidence in purple and brown so i will never use it. I had a solid bite and even when I cross to the other side of the power line where the grass starts my two jigs were producing. No spots,it was mostly smallies with a small large mouth mixed in here and there. The bite agressive, the fish were picking up the jig and running with it, they were almost hooking themselves. Ps the 3/4 was hanging up also I use flat hair on my jigs. Hope this helps. we are all brothers in this bass fishing thing.
    City: rio vista

    Tips: After the jig is at the bottom start hoping and stoping intil you feal somthing mushy(thats when the fish is swimig off with it). Only move the jig about 10 ft then reel in.

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

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    Water Temp: 70-75

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Timing can be everything in bass fishing - especially when it comes to weather. It seems this fall I am only there on cloudless, flat water days. Rick Tietz and I visited the lake Thursday, and while we caught some quality bass, fishing was tough - we couldn't buy a breeze anywhere!! We caught 10 nice bass to 2 3/4 lbs and several small ones - mostly on Blade Runner (Duh!) spoons in morning dawn and black shad colors. We found many schools of bass from 30 to 60 feet - they just wouldn't bite! Guess they ate all night during the near full moon. Rick had done very well on 2 previous trips - and we both just couldn't believe how inactive the bass were. Heck - we even spooned 2 trout!! Drop-shotting wasn't any better. I took former Calif resident Jim Grassi (now in Idaho) there last week with the same weather conditions - hot and flat. We only caught a few quality bass - one being a smallie a little over 3 lbs. If I sound like I am whining - I AM! Usually in October, one has some cloudy or breezy days which are always pretty good fishing. Not happinin' for me this fall!!! That's the price you pay when one of your fishin' buddies puts an 8-13 in the boat a few weeks ago. Downhill from there!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: The bite will improve however, probably starting this weekend with some rain and wind. When the water temp reaches the mid-60's and continues to drop, it should be fun and maybe even a topwater bite! Wow - what is that like?? Look for the bait to start concentrating in creek channels - the bass will follow and move out of the deeper water.

Sunday, October 17th, 2010

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    Water Temp: ?

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: A good friend and i have been fishing the Shore the past couple weekends, early morinig to about 11am. Spot is just before Markley cove, park in cutout and walk down. Been getting lots of spots,small and largemouths but very few keepers. Lots of action. Perfect for taking kids! The walk down to the water is tough, be careful!. Take your kids! they will love it!
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: Catching all fish on small Panther Martin's and Rooster Tails in various colors. Fish seem to be in 15 to 25 feet of water. Tried robo worms, popper, and various spinner baits with absolutely no luck. Average catch is 10 to 12 fish around 10" to 16" inches length. I'm Going to try the old school method this weekend. hook, nightcrawler and bobber.

Saturday, October 16th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Mark Fong invited me to join him today, to find some spoon fish. We started in an area that I had done well in a couple days ago with Ron Makashima. The fish had moved out of the creek channel and were stageing in 50ft. We caught 8 bass there and desided to head up to the mouth of Pope creek and Putah creek. The schools of bass there is hard to descibe. We must have caught and released 50 to 60 bassand missed dozens of hits. A lot of them 2 to 3lbs.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Spend some serious time looking in 45 to 50ft. out side the creek channels. These fish are not on structure. They are in massive schools waiting to intercept shad that are migrating into the creeks to spawn. We used 1-3/4oz. Duh spoons in morning dawn and key lime.