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Berryessa Lake and Reports

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Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 65 -70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Tuesday, 5/12/09, my retired fishing buddy and I (also retired) started at about 9 am fishing the South end of the lake. Within a hour, we had 5 fish in the boat drop-shotting RoboWorms worms - MM and Prism Shad. We then crossed paths with another boat and exchanged information on how we were doing. He told us that he had caught many fish using a wacky-rigged Senko. Not only did he tell us what he was using but also offered to give us some of his Senkos and the wacky-style hooks he was using. We really appreciated his offer but it so happened that we had the Senkos and the hooks. So thanks again for your advice and for your generous offer. I immediately started fishing with Senkos which probably changed a good day fishing into a great day of fishing. We ended up with about 30 fish by early afternoon. Most were keepers but none greater than 2 lbs. Most were caught on rocky points with deep water nearby. I did miss many bites as I was probably using the wrong technique for setting the wacky hook. It seemed that I was having the best success with a horizontal sweeping set. I

    Tips: Don

Monday, May 11th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got to the lake at 7:30am. Started out at Cappell Cove and went to the northern end of the lake past Pope Bridge. Found a nice cove that was steep and rocky. There was a little wind blowing and was in 38 feet of water in the middle of the cove. Used Senkos with no weight and tossed them at the banks edge and twitched slowly. When it was about 5 feet off the bank, i let it sit there for a couple minutes then twitched it once and repeated this till it was by the boat. I ended up catching 6 bass, the largest being 2 lbs. My friend caught 4 and his largest was 3lbs. All the fish were 1.5 plus but one which was a dink. All in all it was a good day. By the way, it was pretty warm i believe close to 80.
    City: Napa

    Tips: Fish slowly, let worm sit and they will hook themselves!

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 68 deg some tim

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got a late start thanks to my wife and kid Launched out of Markley C. Was exspecting muddy shores and I was Right Caught, 4 spotted bass on robo worms creme color 1Largemouth on 4 inch black mister twister, and 4 smallies on crank bait . fished everywhere trying to get out of muddy shore . so ran to Island out in middle of lake by spanish flats fished east side getting out of wind looked really nice for small mouth picked up 4 smallies 1 to 2 lbers . had a good time water was crystal clear at island . Today I saw something . when i was cranking for smallies On one of my retrieves I noticed something dark behind my crank bait as it got closer to the boat I slowed retrieve thinking it was going to strike it . I then saw what looked like a pike or a it was about 2.5 ft long maybe a little longer it was really skinny with like a forked tail with a dark latteral line with a pointy head it was so fast it was hard to see I told my wife that i have never seen a fish like that ever on this lake . it reminded me of a barracuda, I know it is a salt water fish but it resembled the same look. any how Hope it was not a pike cause it would ruin the lake. had a good time fishing and got sunburned tight lines to all cya on the water. Going to delta next. PLASTICMAN1
    City: Elmira

    Tips: dispite all the boaters get out and get your lines wet keep it crank-in..

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

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    Water Temp: Cool

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: A big bass broke my 4lb test line hitting my rooster tail. LOL... she was 30 inches long and 1 feet tall! Fat as a cow! She roam around alot near the ranger station coves. She ate one of my trout I catch on lure as I reel the trout inward.
    City: Concord

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    Water Temp: Cool

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: The trouts are hitting on floated minnows and lures. Limited out 5 before 3pm. Good action with a 15 inch 2 pounder largest trout, look like a steelhead, the others are rainbows and salmon. Good mixture of trouts. Another guy catch 5 on floated minnows. Great action in the morning!
    City: Concord

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Went out again and caught 32 bass around 1 to 2 lbs on senkoes and drop shotting- my partner caught a 6lbs black bass at the big island on a lizard coroline rig. Awesome day but lots of dinkies-going to the delta next week--good luck everyone!!
    City: Benicia

    Tips: Hit the coves and the corner--go for the big island lots of fish there!!1

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Saturday 7am-12:30pm around Pope Canyon and Putah Creek bridges from shore. Caught 10 bass (all 3 species) on a fluke, darthead Robo worm, and Texas-rigged 3.5in Sweet Beaver. When I reached a weedy cove I decided to try a weightless Senko and proceeded to catch 5 more bass in rapid succession...maybe I should have been fishing the Senko the whole time?

    I also saw a large, long fish cruising the shore that was not a bass or a carp. It had a dorsal fin in the middle of it's back so it wasn't a pike (their dorsals are closer to the tail). It could have been a giant pike minnow (squawfish) or trout.
    City: Napa

    Tips: The fluke was most successful in shady areas and early before the sun was high and in off-colored water/mudlines. It also caught fish on the fluke in Pope Canyon where the current came right up against the rocky shore and had a giant bass follow but not strike (might be a good spot to come back with trout imitation swimbaits since there were trout jumping clean out of the water all over). In the clear calm water the Beaver, Roboworm, and Senko were the ticket.

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    Water Temp: 57-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Well the fishing and the catching were both great. Thru crank baits off rocky walls and shelves(clear water) from 5:45am to 7:30 before swithing to robo's and big blade spinners in dirty water. I was a little worried with the full moon fri night,the bass would be on the slow side. I was wrong I caught six bass @ 3-4.5 lbs and 12 more of your run of the mill DINKS. All fish were in Wraggs canyon. back to the dock @ 10:15am.
    City: Napa

    Tips: With all the good times it ended very quikly returning to the Cappell boat ramp..one of two ramps left on the lake.. here I was at 10am and there were no less than 20 boat either waiting to launch or trying to leave. it was a mad house complete with fist fights,yelling and a new vocabulary lesson givin from a very nice girl. Its only May and there's people walking close to one mile to park there cars. it took me over 40 minutes to get out of there. Good luck

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I fished on Saturday 5/2 in Oak Shores area while watching the triathlon and although it rained and blew hard I caught 4 sm and 1 lm. They hit a white spinnerbait, basstrix 4.5 in swimbait, and jerkbait around windswept points and steep banks along mudlines.

    I also fished Markley Cove yesterday 5/5 and caught 4 spots and 1 lm, this time on carolina rigged MMIII Roboworms, a brush hog, and a fluke soft jerkbait. Couldn't get any bites on wacky senkos, missed a few bites on a t-rigged sweet beaver, and had many missed bites on the fluke. The one fluke fish I did land was because I added a treble hook to the 4/0 EWG I had rigged it on. Any ideas on how to hook up those fluke bites better?
    City: Napa

    Tips: Take advantage of the overcast skies, shady banks, and windswept areas with reaction baits. The fluke worked well (at least at getting bites although I struggled to hook up) in the clear water around Markley, especially at dusk, and the spinnerbait and hollow belly swimbait worked well in the muddy water. The nice weed patches in the calmer coves seemed to be where the c-rigged Roboworm bites were best (not sure why I couldn't get those fish to take the senko, though). The beavers and brush hogs seem to be working best on rock/gravel banks and points.

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    Water Temp: 67

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launch out at 8:00am with my friends and the bass when crazy all day!! We caught a total of 62 bass and they were still biting when we left at 6:00pm.Going back out again tommorrow!!Biggest bass was 3 1/2 lbs rest was all 1 to 2 lbs
    City: Benicia

    Tips: Senkoes and dropshotting-see everyone out there!!

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    Water Temp: 60-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Took a friend out today who has never really bass fished. We caught 29 fish today. She caught 12 and we had fun. All fish but one fish came on drop-shotting in Wragg Canyon and the Narrows. The other came on a Chatter-bait. Hella windy!! Only one bed fish. Fishing seemed slower from sunday when another friend and I caught 43 up on westside past the big island. We threw senkos and drop-shotted for those.
    City: Pleasant Hill

    Tips: Fish the points and pockets.

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    Water Temp: 61-66.7

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the lake after 8:00am and headed to the narrows for some drop shot around the steep rocky banks. Also tried jig n pig. hooked into 7 fish and boated 6. Largest 2.5 lbs. There is some nice fallin trees that produced a monster hit that had line stripping,then SNAP got into the tree.
    City: Napa

    Tips: Fish slow and try and find still water when the wind picks up. GOOD LUCK

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

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    Water Temp: 61-64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: We waited till the rain subsided this am before we left house, got on water at noon. Fished south end again, only with the wind and cloudy skies went with jerkbaits right off, and used senkos as a folow up bait. We boated nine total, with one crappie to boot. All smallies, biggest going close to 3lbs. Had alot of fun today, plenty of action all afternoon, the fish are definately active right now.
    City: vacaville

    Tips: We targeted both outer points and inside coves. There is definately some fish still on beds, but alot of fish seem to be moving to a post spawn phase as well. The reaction bite was dependent of wind/wave action. most fish were 15 ft or less.

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

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    Water Temp: 57-62

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Berryessa for the second weekend in a row. Last saturday the sun was out so me and my dad Sight fished bass on their beds, we didn't catch anything huge but what a blast! Today fishing was much more exciting! We started at around 12pm and caught a couple bass on curly grubs. The wind and rain calmed down around 5pm and that's when fishing turned on. I limited out in the same spot on drop shots, my dad limited out around the same spot on spinner baits. The small mouths are full post spawn! Caught 20 bass, the biggest bass 2lb, and 2lb 3oz, both on senkos.
    City: Pleasant Hill

    Tips: Find shallow coves, and fish the first drop off just outside the coves. Fish rocky flats for small mouths! Also saw lots of trout jumping so throw those swimbaits!

Friday, May 1st, 2009

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    Water Temp: 59-63

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Some trips are really fun when something out-of-the ordinary happens!! Friday I guided a father-son team that I had taken before to Clear Lake. We started out of Markley about 7:15 am and fished several favorite area in the narrows. In spite of the ultra-clear water, the bite was pretty good since cloud cover moved in about 9 am. I had them using MMIII Robo worms while I tried other colors to see what was working. A green pumpkin Power worm - 4 and 7 inch were also good. We had about 20 in the boat with grandpa dad's nice largemouth the biggest. The fish were running a little bigger than normal, especially the spots. I asked permission before I did this report to reveal the age of "grandpa dad", which makes his son - ?! I got the feeling he wanted to learn how to drop-shot, and at 88 years of age - it's about time! I rigged him up with a 4" Power worm and over the side it went. Within 5 minutes the rod was bent double and up came a 15" spot. His smile said it all - "Old dogs can learn new tricks!!!!!!" In the next 20 minutes he caught 2 more 14-15" spots. Guess we should have been doing that earlier! We ended up a nice trip with 24 bass - several lm and sm - best 5 about 11 1/4 lbs. Lots of bites that were missed. Fun, fun, trip!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Sight fishing was not an option for much of the trip because of a very chilly breeze early. Early afternoon we could look around the bottom but did not see many shallow fish at all. Most of our fish were caught off points and walls at 10 to 20 feet. The weeds are going to be lots of fun this year. Yea, right! We did catch 1 or 2 on a #301 Senko but that bite was kind of slow. Shallow wood did hold a few bass. It is difficult to predict the major spawn this year since it will be stormy and cool this weekend. Sadly, the lake level is already starting to drop.

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 62-64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Had just got off work in the am so decided to hitch up the boat and go to Berryessa, got on the water around 9:45 and was going to try for some crappies but every place I went to nothing but bass, so in discuss I started to bass fish. I pulled out the crank'n rod with my go to crankbait and hammered fish after fish off of points. I was fishing a long shallow point that dropped off into 10-12 ft and got hammered by something big but didn't know how big cause it was pelling off line and going deep, I just kept the presure on till I could see my line start to rise and the big head comes out of the water and I scamble for the net, The fish dives a second time but to no avail it's over. Landed the bass and she weighed 10.0 lbs what a thrill. Never caught one that big on a little crankbait, but now I can say I have, This is my 11th bass at Berryessa 10 lbs to 13lbs on a roll and love this lake. Caught and Released
    City: Fairfield

    Tips: Was just fishing shallow point with some type of drop off, Crawdad pattern

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 65-67

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: After thinking I got a late start on Sat, I launched from the free ramp at 5:45 and headed to putah and looked for real shallow water to throw blades. 2lgmth nothing big. Switched to robo weightless and landed a few smmth then my girlfriend caught the fish of the day 2.75 smmth. we ended up with 12 fish total. We saw a lot of cruisers moving into look for beds.
    City: Napa

    Tips: When the sun was high we began looking for small pockets of shade against walls with rocky points.

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 59-62

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched from free ramp at 6am shot up to Putah fished top water after getting short strikes,switched to robo and boated 15 dinks. switched again to fat free shad and boated 3 more nicer fish 2-3LBS. Home by noon. The lake is looking good and gearing up. I only saw two other boats in putah.
    City: Napa

    Tips: Find the shade after the sun rise and fish slow. I found most of my fish in 8 to 15 feet of water. I fast cranked the shad bait to get depth and then went as slow as I could reel to keep it down for my best fish. Good Luck

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

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    Water Temp: 63-68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: The water has cleared again since Monday - now about 12 to 14 feet. Back again today with two guys wanting to learn more about the lake and bass fishing techniques in general. The bite was pretty good but the wind did not start during our 7 hr trip. Tough conditions! We did boat 23 bass - they started off kind of slow but improved quickly and landed a bunch!! While they were fishing MMIII Robos, I tried a Chug Bug topwater lure early and finally got some action. Lots of swirls and a few small bass in the boat. Split-shotting was so good I didn't change us over to drop-shotting. The guys caught several nice smallies in the main body - west side. One largemouth. We saw several bass on beds, but all males. I saw a small male on a bed and told one of the guys to cast to it. I was prepared to work him thru the process to get the spawner to bite. So he casts to the nest - the little male charges and eats the worm and finds himself in the boat in about 15 seconds. Is this fair?!! I thought I might have heard my client say: "Wow - there's nothing to this sight fishing!!!" Yea, right!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We found beds in the back of several coves and on some flats that were wind protected. We only saw one big female crusing - maybe a 5 lb spot. We fished shadows in the narrows as long as we could. All topwater fish were in the shadows.

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

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    Water Temp: 75

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Me, My brother and his girl friend hit the lake after school, arrived at around 4pm and fished till 7:30 pm, stuck 14 spots on pbj robo worms drop shotting the ledges then went to the narrows to fish the coves and caught around 5 large mouths on senkos/drop shot biggest being 4# and one more off the dock when we were putting the boat on the trailer. Pretty good 3 hours of bass fishing once again when berryessa isn't crowded its wide open.
    City: walnut creek

    Tips: work bait around until you can find a school for everybody to hook into. structure structure structure