Submit
Report

Berryessa Lake and Reports

Limit:
Click for interactive map

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

  • By

    Water Temp: -

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Uhhhh... are you two being serious? go fish in the narrows for an hour and all you will catch are spots and smallies.
    City: Reno

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

  • By

    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at Markley and fished the Narrows from Rock Slide to the Dam. Water is up 10'+ and the primary ramp appears to be nearly available for use. Water clarity definitely stained after the rains. Caught 5 spots all around 2 lbs. All caught on watermelon tubes fished for a reaction strike. Tried to downsize/dropshot to get more bites but no results.
    City: San Jose

    Tips: I'd like to know what the AC guys did to catch 17 lbs!

Friday, January 8th, 2010

  • By

    Water Temp: 48

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: fished
    City: nonya

    Tips: you tube bass fishing lake berryessa 1 8 00 your welcome

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

  • By

    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: First time ever on Berryessa and really enjoyed the day compared to recents days on the Delta. Launched at Markley and fished primarily from the Dam north on the north side. I only got one but my buddy got 9 - all spotted bass. The boat was in 50' of water and fish were caught in about 40'. Most fish caught on drop shot and one on darter head. Also tried ripping, spoons and jigs with no bites.

    Tips: Hit boths sides of the points. Most fish were caught on a sexy shad roboworm which worked in the heavy fog (low light) and sunshine.

Friday, December 18th, 2009

  • By

    Water Temp: 54-58

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Started out at 11 am and fished until 4:30 pm. I tried to find balls of bait over the majority of the lake...nothing. I was surprised to see the large bait balls up north were gone. No large groups of grebes in fishable water either. I did not even bother to put the spoon down. Tried all the bridge pilings. Nothing. I think cold snap last week either killed or moved the bait dramatically. I was surprised the temp was 54-58 however...

    We were able to hit the bank with a dropshot and catch some smallies, spots, and largemouth. Nothing in great numbers.

    I'm done with bass until the spring. This is the lowest I have ever fished Berry at 407.13. Lets hope the rain continues and fills up the lakes!
    City: Elk Grove

    Tips: Morning dawn and smelt color (green back with either clear or white belly) dropshot style baits worked for us.

  • By

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Been quite awhile since I have been on the lake. great weather fishing was not bad. Started out with cranks and picked up 4, up to 3.5lbs. Then the flat calm blue bird day set in. Switched over to a jig fish were on a soft bite a couple swings no hook up. Had to switch over to a drop shot and mojo rig to catch 6 more to 2.25lbs.
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: Fish were on the tops of the points in the morning then moved to the deep sides as the sun came out. Craw color cranks were working, not shad for some reason. The soft plastics any thing in a green. Fished main body and the south end and the fish ranged fron 10-50 feet deep. That is what happens after the turn over.

Friday, December 4th, 2009

  • By

    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I took a friend out and we have a good time. Drop line at 9am over some fish in 80 feet of water but no takers. Moved toward the Dam and found a good bite at 40ft in a cove. Tried some other areas ( that had bait balls) and have some bites but I miss them (I can only blame myself). The cold and the wind made it real hard to stay over the fish. The fishing is still good however you dont always notice the bite. My main bait was a drop shot, 4 1/2 roboworm, light line and 3/8 sinker. I notice alot of upset bass angles on the water. If the weather is to bad stay home (I Do)and if the bite is tuff, then be happy your on a bass boat, do you want to go back to bank fishing? Overall Its time to give this lake a rest and fish true winter lakes like New Hogan, Pardee, Camache, New Melones and theres others. I will back to this wonderfull lake next year. I have only fished this lake for a short time and it a very simple and fun lake. When I fishing any new lake do look for SPOTS, LOOK FOR BAIT!
    City: Ca, Delta

    Tips: A bass is a bass, Any time you have deep water your going to hook into spots and smallies year round. In spring the fish move up to spawn but not all at the same time and they dont got back to the deep all at the same time. Dont make this fishing hard, you can use the same tackle in any deep water lake in california. Keep fishing fun and God Bless.

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

  • By

    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I droped line at 10AM and played around the eastside with little action. There was an old man cussing out at a teenage for missing a fish with the net, thats never cool, plus Thanksgiving is around the corner (good job OLDman). So I got out of there and headed north. I found a massive bait ball and I could see the bass striking. Fist keeper came at 11am and the bites never stoped intil I left at 4pm. I thought, IM going to fish out this spot, but I couldn't do it. All the fish came from 30 to 80 dropshoting 4.5 roboworms, mostly spots with a 3LB kicker largemouth. IM new to fishing this lake but a bass is bass. If you want to fish this wonderfull lake and don't have a boat, E- mail and maybe we can get a limit. God bless.
    City: Rio Vista

    Tips: Cusing at young kids never helps. As for the lake its simple keep moving intil you see the bait and fish slow. After 1/2 hour move, but try that spot againg before you go. Small baits, small lines, dont look at the bank, look at your fishfinder.

Friday, November 13th, 2009

  • By

    Water Temp: 60's?

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Since I am moving to Folsom in a week and a half, I made one last trip to Berryessa after my last day of work in Napa. It provided me with everything I love about the lake! I saw the usual deer, turkeys, osprey, and griebs and was treated to seeing a coyote and two bald eagles. The gorgeous clear water and blue skies against the backdrop of mountains will be burned in my memory.

    As for the fishing, I caught a 2 lb trout on a rattletrap after watching it bust bait on the surface. I just casted what I had on the line in the direction of the activity and hooked up...way cool! Then I caught about an 8 lb catfish on a dartheaded grub a little later...a TROUT and a CATFISH! Finally, just before heading home I hooked into two nice largemouths and a fat spotted bass in about 10 casts. I even watched young spots eating baitfish along shore since there were millions of little 2-3inch minnows schooled up all over the lake. What a beautiful place and all to myself on a Friday.
    City: Napa

    Tips: Be flexible when fishing Berryessa. Luckily the lake offers just about everything to fish...there are shallow flats and shoreline weeds, rocky humps, steep bluffs and rockslide banks, bridge pilings, coves, islands, laydowns, stumps, points...and I've fished all that from the bank or a float tube! It has lots of variety which makes it fun and interesting to fish. Have fun!

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

  • By

    Water Temp: 62.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I had a good trip on Tuesday spooning for bass. With one client we where the first boat out of Markley Cove at 8 am. We moved to the north end of the lake and located a large school of bait in a river channel. Dropped our Blade Runner spoons down and caught fish for the next 3 hours. Smallmouth, Spotted bass with a few largemouth. We also ended up with 1, 8 pound catfish, 4 salmon, 1 rainbow trout and 6 squaw fish. All in the same spot and all eating shad. We moved up to Putah Creek bridge and spooned 4 more bass. Started heading back through the Narrows and stopped to check out a few spots. Spooned up 2 more bass in a small cove that showed some bait in 35 feet and called it a day. About 20 bass total with the rest mixed in. Only three other boats out of Markley Cove. Kind of strange this time of year not seeing any trout trollers. We did see a lot of trout chasing bait on the suface.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Find the bait, you will find the Bass and what ever else that is hungry. No pressure as you may be the only boat out.

Friday, November 6th, 2009

  • By

    Water Temp: 63=64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the water around 1130 on friday. Ended fishing the Narrows and we caught 17 drop-shotting worms in purple and green. Most fish came in 15 to 25 ft. of water. Biggest was 2.4 Lmb. Best 5...if we had 7 lbs, I would have been surprised. Still fun for numbers. Ran out of daylight.
    City: Pleasant Hill

    Tips: Fish points with sand/smaller chunk rock. Caught fish on anything that was sticking out whether a well defined point or just a sticking out a little more than the rest of the bank.

  • By

    Water Temp: 63/64

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: launched out of capell cove and fished the banks with mm 6inc t riged worms and only caught 2 dinks in 3 hrs of trolling the shores to steele park and spanish flats . had alot of big fish feeding in front of me. I saw a couple really big fish surface.
    City: fairfield

    Tips: fish slow and the fish are starting to move into shore closer.

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

  • By

    Water Temp: 64

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Lake Berryessa 11/05/09

    Thursday, 11/05/09, about 9:00 am my buddy and I headed toward the North end of the lake to try some spoon fishing. Water temperature was about 64

    Tips: The water temperature continues to drop and the fish are moving closer to shore. Start fishing deep before fishing shallow. It has been a long time since I have seen so many diving birds on the lake. They are working in large groups and are much closer to shore than two weeks ago. Hopefully, the abundance of bait fish will result in heavier fish next year.

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

  • By

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I was tired when I did my report. Jason hooked his big bass on a 9" BaitSmith trout swimbait. My error!

Monday, October 26th, 2009

  • By

    Water Temp: 65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Jason Kincannon and I met during his first swimbait seminar at Fisherman's Warehouse about 2 month ago. After talking a few times on the phone, we decided to fish Berryessa together in the near future and today was the future! We both love to spoon for bass and I wanted to see his swimbaits in action! We started at dawn throwing Huds, but no action except a few hits on Jason's bait. It didn't take too much convincing that we should try spoons, and so we did. We worked from Steel Park to the former Berryessa marina - and had quite a day!! Jason was hot in the morning with his big spoon (not sure the brand) and I got it going in the afternoon - playing catchup! I used the 1 3/4 oz Duh spoon to start with, but we both found they wanted a slower fall! I went to the 3/4 oz Duh spoon in black shad color and he was basically fishing a white spoon. I did drop-shot a few on a 4" Basstrix flashtrix minnow in the smelt color, my favorite. To sum up the day - excellent bite considering few clouds, pane of glass flat water until 2 pm, and a Monday. We boated between 40 and 45 bass - many, many between 2 1/2 to 3 lbs. Our limit was over 14 lbs. Interesting that he caught mostly spots and I caught mostly smallies. No largemouth until we threw swimbaits again in rough water on our way in. Jason hooked a big bass on his swimbait but lost it after about 5 seconds. Darn!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We did fish deep structure - mostly creek channels and humps. Bass were everywhere but often reluctant to hit, probably because of the flat water. Once we had a breeze - and then WIND, things got better. Nearly every bass was hooked from 35 to 50 feet except the swimbait bites. Water has not cooled much!

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

  • By

    Water Temp: 65 - 70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Tuesday, 10/20/09, my buddies and I started fishing about 8 am in coves on the South end of the lake. Water temperature was around 65

    Tips: Apparently, the bait fish are still off shore. Hopefully, the fishing will get better as the bait moves into the coves as the water temperature drops.

  • By

    Water Temp: 65-70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Decent action with a couple short shoreline trips of an hour or so last night and today. Got a couple nice largies 2 & 3 lbs. over the two trips. Working brush hogs and roboworms texas-rigged, but a lot more swimming topwater than sinking or crawling the bottom. Fish seem aggressive right now with the weather change and new moon. Also caught a bluegill last night soaking a crawler and a 5-7 lb. cat this morning soaking a piece of bacon.
    City: Napa

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

  • By

    Water Temp: 66

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Started at safe light and fished the main body. Fishing was slow. No topwater, a couple of drop shot fish and about 8 on spinner baits. Best action was blades on East side, but you had to make a lot of casts to get a bite. Biggest was a 3# that broke off. Most of the fish we graphed seem to have lockjaw. Thought we would do better with all of the cloud cover. Didn't find much bait.
    City: orinda

    Tips: Reaction bite was the best, but you had to make a lot of casts. Didn't see a lot boats, but they must've known that the bite was tough.

  • By

    Water Temp: 67-69

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: NorCal BASS Ratz (ages 11-18) and parents went out of Pleasure Cove at safe sun light ( 7 am) weigh in was at 3 pm. Most of the boaters headed to the main body and some stayed in the narrows. top water was good with a spook in the back of the coves, darter head, split shot and brown jigs. With the Mondays storm coming in the nerrows were the best place to be.
    City: Rocklin

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

  • By

    Water Temp: 66

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished club tournament. Blast off was 6:45, 3:45 weigh in. First hour was good for topwater with fish jumping all over the place. Poppers and spooks got hit 'ok' but not as much as you'd hope, esp with all the bass jumping. Partner and I both got a couple hookups with 2 landed (poppers for me, spooks for him), but only 1 keeper. Fished mainly south areas but not Narrows; probably fished about 8 areas total, including ranch house, tin can, and spanish flats. ALL areas were so slow that we had ZERO fish on for maybe a number of bites you could count on one hand, and we tried pretty much everything including the proverbial kitchen sink.
    City: San Rafael

    Tips: Try topwater at first light in shallow coves, else I haven't a clue.