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Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

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    Water Temp: 66-68

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished putah creek. Thru buzz baits and poppers without a swirl. Spinners and cranks nothing. Drop shot produced one smallmouth and a few large mouth. I then tied on a 3 inch swim bait and started finding a more aggresive bite. By the the time we were off the lake at 2:00pm we had caught 9-10 bass and one 2 lb crappie. The crappie crushed the swim bait.
    City: Napa

    Tips: Talked with a couple other guys who had about the same day as us. A little more hot weather and things will get better and better.

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 63

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Was on the water a little late (approx 0800). Drove to the area under the bridge. Water started off very clear but the wind, ski boats and jet skis turned the water to stained quickly. Caught two right off the bat with a spinner bait. No luck with Robo worms on a drop shot. By 1000 the bit stopped.
    City: Dayton, NV

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    Water Temp: 61-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: The cloud formations in the afternoon made for a beautiful scene yesterday at Berryessa. The rain and hail from the night before did not help the bite however. I had a beginner client wanting to see what bass fishing was all about. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite ready to go when I met him at Markley. We got off to a later start - after 7 am - and the bite was on - sort of. We started fishing Robo worms and he soon landed his first-ever bass on a MMIII Robo - a spot about 1 1/2 lbs. I got a largemouth about 2 and another smaller one. He missed about 3 or 4 others and soon the bite just died. We had 5 or 6 total in the boat and that was it. He did learn 3 or 4 styles of bass fishing and it was a fun day. I decided to have us drag behind the boat on an off-shore ridge. I was using a small beaver and had a real good hit and she snapped my 8 lb test in about 6 or 7 seconds. Fun while it lasted!! We fished the narrows and areas around the mouth of the narrows. Our bites were 10 to 20 feet deep.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Hard to give tips on a day with very poor, cold weather conditions. In addition to the very clear water, the lake went dead flat calm after 12:30 pm. I even took a photo - it was like a pane of glass. Not a single hint of any surface activity from any species of fish! I'm sure that the warmer days ahead will turn things around very quickly!

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 64

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: On the water at 8:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.. Fished coves and points. My partner and I both caught 3 ea. Only two were keepers (we did release them) the others were around 8- 12 inches.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Weather was so windy warm.

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 62

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Overcast and windy. Put 5 fish in the boat on 1/4 oz. drop shot rig along rocky banks using Roboworms. Fished around Big Island and back of coves with reaction baits and drop shot...no action. Others anglers at the dock reported catching a lot more than than I. All under 2 lbs.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Bite is incredibly soft, fish slow & take the kids!

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    Water Temp: 62.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm with my buddy Russ. Weather couldn't have been nicer; cloudy most of the day with a bit of wind.

    Boated 36 fish to 2 1/2 lbs on just about everything we threw: Senkos, shaky head, dropshot, tubes, and crankbaits. No big fish but what a fun day. Fish came on main lake rocky banks from 5-25 feet of water.
    City: Benicia

    Tips: Just go out and have fun, it won't last forever.

Monday, May 24th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 65

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Monday, 5/24/10. There was a SE wind that we couldn

    Tips: Fish slow drop-shotting small plastic baits. You will have fun catching a lot of fish.

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 67

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the lake around 9 am. It shortly started to drizzle and did not stop. Fished the back coves. Caught 2, one large mouth that must have been close to 8 lbs. on a drop shot curly tail worm. And one spot around 1 1/2 lb. on a top water popper.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: When you see clouds take a jacket

Monday, May 17th, 2010

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Thnks for the report Catchbigone(david) Not many report on Berryessa lately or as well inform as yours. I've been wait for your report...thnks a million bro
    City: elk grove

    Tips: Gotta give David respect

Friday, May 14th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: The water was gin-clear. I went with a good friend in his boat. We started in the area of the vineyards. We tried topwater first thing in the morning. Got some great blowups on a chartreuse super spook, however, they were missing it. I know that sometimes you can change to a different topwater lure and nail em. I got impatient and went to a senko, color 297 (green pumpkin). I got 2 nice spots (both over 3 lbs.) They were male cruisers, definitely not schooling. Significant waits between bites seem to be the rule of thumb. My partner got another spot near the Putah Creek bridge. We didn't stay on the lake long. I believe that for now, a slow worm presentation is a good approach. I do think there were more nice fish in the vineyard area.
    City: Esparto

    Tips: Always consider the Senko color 297. I like the 5 inch size. I wacky rig it in the center. That action seems to really attract some good bites. Remember, you can use this presentation in shallow water too, even if it's only 1 or 2 feet deep. Not many people do this, but I've caught some lunkers using this technique. I use a drop shot set-up at almost any depth. I personally use light line, around 8 lb test works for me. Yes, I sometimes get broken off, but I get so many bites that it's worth it.

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 63 - 68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Tuesday, 5/4/10. All day there was mostly a blue bird sky with a small NW breeze in the morning. In the afternoon the lake was calm for some periods. The water temperature was 63

    Tips: A small orange and brown jig with trailer should work if you stay with it for a while.

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    Water Temp: 61-64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Some reports are just FUN to do! Nice day at the suddenly "gin" clear (almost) Berryessa! Green to Blue in a week or so!! That was quick! Today I took my 89 year old client and his half-century son for their 3rd trip with me. We started with #301 and #927 (good one lately!) Senkos and landed 4 spots around 1 1/2 lbs each. My "senior" client then nailed a 16" spot with a Sexy Shad Robo worm.
    We moved out of the narrows to the main body and found the bite to be dead. Finally they caught 2 nice smallies drop-shotting 4" green pumpkin Berkley Power worms. Since the lake was dead calm - thought we would look for some spawners. We found them! Do I want to teach them to sight fish? Were their eyes good enough? They were! I showed them how to agitate a bite and landed one near 3 lbs. We had our eyes on a nice female and 2 others and I just gave directions on what to do. After 10 minutes I felt the boat move and after 89 years of life - he nails his first-ever sight fish, a largemouth 3 lbs 11 oz. She took a #169 chartreuse/gold flake Yamamoto grub. Not to be outdone by dear 'ol dad, I had the son work on another male bass with the female looking on. After several minutes, the 3 lb 2 oz male inhaled his white/chartreuse Robo Sourpuss. A happy father-son team!! We saw a few more but it was time to head in. They caught 9 bass along with my 3 - best five pushing 14 lbs. Nice day!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: While they were fishing early in the morning, I tried topwater to see if we could be that going. Even some crankbaits. That was the end of that - nothing! All bass were very shallow - even in the bright sun. The bite was probably pretty good a first light but we didn't start 'til after 7 am. Lots of empty beds already.

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

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    Water Temp: 61

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: well to answer ur question joe..i was there on this day and it was very windy. it was nice and calm in the early morning but once the sun came up the wind was just howlen out there.. but anyways the fish are bighting my fish were caught in about 4-15 feet of water and i was throwing a split shot rig with a straight tail worm and my dad was throwin the drop shot...started fishing around 7:15 left by 12 becuz of the wind and i have a 13 foot whaler so i no how u feel so if u go goodluck out ther.
    City: south city

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Can enyone tell me if the lake has been windy? I have a small 14 ft. aluminum and would like to know how windy it was today if anyone has been at the lake. I just don't want to go all the way to the lake and find out it too rough to head out. i really would appreciate it if some one could tell me. thank you. I'm planning to go tommorow.
    City: san mateo

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Spent the late morning/early afternoon up where Pope Creek pours into Berryessa and caught a good number of fish, though the average size wasn't great. Found lots of 1-2 lb smallies willing to take shallow-diving crankbaits around rocks and also caught a nice 4 lb largemouth on a Yamamoto Shad worm fished weightless. My first ever cast with the lure and I tossed it out into a spot where I didn't necessarily think there were any fish just to see what the action was like. The bass cruised up real quick, paused for a sec, then swallowed it right down. I reckon that's a good sign.

    Saw lots of dead things, perhaps as a result of the algae bloom and die-off. Saw a couple dead turtles, several dead carp, and a dead duck. It seems odd to me; I know a good bit about ecology and algaes and fish dying from lack of oxygen if there is tons of algae that then dies off makes sense but I don't know what to make of the duck and turtles.
    City: Santa Rosa

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    Water Temp: 54-63

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Still alot of alge and dead carp in the lake. Thru top water across outside points and around wood. Had a blow up early,then nothin. Started drop shottin and wacky wormin and begain to put fish in the boat. Made our way deep in pleasure cove and found six other bass boats working the flats and the wall. We went into the feeder creek and pick up a few. Then we hit the docks on the way out for a few more. The fish of the day come in that area on a lizard.
    City: Napa

    Tips: Most all of our fish came in ten feet of water or less on the edge of sunny and shaded water. Happy bassin. TOP WATER IS COMMING!!!

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 63-65

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: The wind and the wakeboarders really stirred up the waves today turning the clear water along the banks to stained. Got nine in the boat today (smallmouth & spots) using plastics. Started in clear water with Margarita Roboworms and end in stained water in the narrows with 4" Bluepearl/Silver flake Yamamoto. I threw a small bright colored diving crankbait in the stained water with no results...any pointers?
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Fish the plastics slow in about 15' of water.

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 59-68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: The strong algae blooming died off and took a bunch of fish with it. 17 fish for 5 hrs of fishing. I caught all of them in ten feet or less. One spot, 6 largeies and the rest were smallies. All fish were smallish 1-2.5 lbs with one large mouth pushing 4 lbs. Most of the fish were takin on small plastic worm and football rigged spider grubs. Many bedding bass surprisingly many of them unwilling to take a bait.
    City: Davis

    Tips: Tell those wemon to shut their mouths... goin fishin!!! Better yet put a rod in their hands and have em join ya, its beautiful out there!

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 58-60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: After I launched at Markley with my 2 clients at 10 am and hit the main body, I realized I made a terrible mistake. I had to be at Clear Lake - because the water was green!! The guys convinced me I was at the right lake - so all was well! I knew they were right when their first bass was a spot! We fished all over the west side of the lake and the narrows with fair results, though they did catch a few quality bass including an 18" smallie for one (green pumpkin brush hog) and a 3 1/4 lb largemouth for the other. They caught 6 or 7 while I was trying several techniques which produced only 1 - a largemouth at 2 3/4 lbs. They probably missed 7 or 8 bites. My largie and his big largie were caught on red shad Robo worms and a few others were hooked on red also. Interesting. Most of their fish were hooked in the top 10 feet and, as the previous poster said, success was in the clearer water - if we could find it! It got pretty cloudy in the afternoon - preventing a nice warmup. I tried some topwater just to see if it was happening - nothing! Overall, a slower day than I expected. I thought the early evening bite would be better, but it wasn't. That is why we started later. Most of their action was between 2 and 4 pm. Saw lots of bass boats - most were running from spot to spot.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: As usual, the scenery was wonderful at Greenberry Lake (I renamed it!), especially in the narrows. Though the clouds didn't help the bite, they added to a beautiful outdoor picture! It certainly was weird to fish while watching heavy machinery tearing down Berryessa Marina. Sad.

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 59

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: toss spinnerbait, crankbait, N topwater but no taker. Drop shot seems to work the best. Caught most fish off point on main lake and some in creek n submerge hump. Did well in water with less green algae. Last week we caught them in shallow, this week we caught them in water around 15 deep.

    Tips: weather for nxt wk is wack therefore pattern might change