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Berryessa Lake and Reports

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Monday, April 20th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 62-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: On the lake first thing with my 4 year old. Thought with all the warm weather the top water might get started. Started with a vixen for the first hour and hit some of my best areas. After a couple half harted rolls on the lure I put it away for later after the water warms. Worked other reaction baits for the next half hour and decided reaction was not the way to go, high pressure and dead calm conditions not a good combination. Chenged over to a jig and rigged up a brush hog for my son. My son cought a couple and I was able to pick up 3 quality fish ripping the jig in the grass. With the sun high and dead flat water we went looking for bed fish. We found quite a few but they were just male smallmouth that were just setting up some were locked others not. My son just had a ball watching the fish eat the bait he got to real in all of them except the one female large mouth that went 5+. Off the water at 1 with a total of 18 fish best 5 going 14lbs.
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: Even though we have had some very warm temps this week the fish are still acting like it is March. The fish have yet to move up in any real big numbers. Sight fishing is real good with the water being so clear and the flat conditions. With all the weather coming in this weekend look for the reaction bite to go and the sight fishing to go away.

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    Water Temp: 63-68

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: It is still fun to be surprised when going bass fishing!! I offered to take some folks from the Outdoors Writers of California conference (held in Fairfield) to Berryessa for a fishing trip today. I knew it was on a Monday but didn't know it would been after the first "summer" weekend of the year. The weekend boat traffic must have been so bad that the water clarity in the narrows went from 15+ feet to 3 or 4!!! That helped the fishing! I was hoping for a few fish for my guests but we did even better - landing 13 bass - the biggest a nearly 18" spot that hit a white/chartreuse Piranha swim jig in the back of a cove. Our best 5 around 11 lbs. We caught 9 spots, 1 LM, and 1 SM. Most fish were in the top 10 feet and seemed to prefer MMIII Robo worms again in the 6" size. I had one of my guests, Kathie Morgan, drop-shotting but the bass seemed to want the split-shot rig more. She ended the trip in style with a near 16" spot split-shotting a MMIII Robo worm. We fished the narrows because of the limited time schedule. Fun day!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We ran into Carol Martens (Aaron's mother) on the water with 2 other writers. It was good to see her again. She towed her boat up from Southern Cal to fish Berryessa - for the first time - I think. Not sure. Bass are definately staging on points and working their way to the backs of coves. Some bass may spawn in different areas this year because the backs of coves are pretty small this year. We caught bass in most areas we fished and did find a good concentration in one areas. Hope it holds up for Wed!!

Sunday, April 19th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 67-71

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Sorry this is a week late..been kinda busy. Wife and I hit the lake late in afternoon on sunday, the place was slammed!!! Fished south end only. Found fish on beds behind weed lines. The boat traffic had the shored lines stirred up, so no sight fishing, but they were still there, boated 7 keepers, after hooking 10. Best going about 4lbs. Fished senkos wacky rigged. Kept changing colors to see if they liked one over other, natural tones seemed to be getting most attention.
    City: vacaville

    Tips: Fish it slow, they are just picking the bait up and moving it usually..and watch that line.

Friday, April 17th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 57.5-67

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Friday and Saturday at berryessa. Friday the bite seemed a bit better for larger fish. Landed 4 in the morning around 1.5lbs a piece then the bite died for a few hours, back on the water at 3pm we caught fish until we trailered up. All fish were 2lbs+ with an 8.1 lb largemouth on the last cast of the day. Best 5 went 17lbs. All fish Firday came via dropshot and jigs, lost one on a rip bait and a few c-rigging. Saturday boated 12 fish on a variety of baits, senkos, jigs, cranks, dropshotting. biggest fish was 1.5lbs. Fish seemed smaller today with our best 5 going 6lbs. Lost a 3-4lber on a crank and various other fish that would have helped the bag too...
    City: Reno, NV

    Tips: Spotted alot of LMs up shallow after 3pm... seemed to be when the bite really turned on. Fished the backs of coves and the backs of points leading into coves. Seemed to land 2 or 3 fish per cove in the afternoons.

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    Water Temp: 60

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Three of us on my boat had a great time. We mainly fished the creek by dragging plastics in 10 to 15 feet of water though we had a lot of fun cruising a cove and landed about 15 all together. Almost all were very soft strikes and most of the fish came in around 1 to 1.5 lbs with the largest coming in at 3 lb 11oz.
    City: Vacaville

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    Water Temp: 58-63

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Water clarity should have an "ultra-clear" click with 15+ visiblilty!! I just completed 2 nice father-child trips - yesterday with a dad and his 14 year old son and 14 year old friend, and today (Fri) with a dad and his 20 yr old daughter - who loves to fish and beat her dad! It is interesting that the bite was better yesterday - recovery post-front day, than today - warmer day (but no wind!). The big thrill yesterday was the guest 14 year old caught his first bass - a 17 inch spot - WOW!! I talked him through the fight and he got it in! The other boy then lands his first bass ever - a 15 1/4 inch spot. Today the daughter landed her first bass - a 14 inch smallie. Proud dads - and they were outfished!! Fri we boated about 14 bass including a largemouth for about a 10 lb limit. Good start for those boys. Today the bite was slower and the fish were smaller and only 9 or 10 were landed. I heard from others that the bite was slower today, though someone always will do well. We fished the narrows mostly yesterday. Today we fished the narrows to Big Island.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We found very few bass in the backs of coves. Most of our fish came off points with a steep drop on the front or off to the side. We did catch and miss a lot of fish on the inside edge of the weedline. I missed 2 quality bass that I couldn't move out of the weeds. All the clients missed several that they thought were weeds - that is always a tough call for beginners. We did see a few bass and several carp this afternoon in shallow water on the east side. The warmest water I could find was a brief 64 degrees. There are acres and acres of now-shallow flats that are not near deep water and the bass probably won't use these areas to spawn and feed this summer. One needs to concertrate on areas with some deep water nearby. We did some drop-shotting of morning dawn Robo worms today and that did produce 3 or 4 bass. We split-shotted green pumpkin Power worms and MMIII Robos - 4 and 6 inch. Saw and Eagle today and several deer both days. Everyone loved that!

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 60'

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Started out on east side, caught 4 on drop shot and senkos. Moved to westside, nothing, headed north, nothing, up Putah and caught over 6 lost 2 at boat.
    Headed back to westside and lost a nice one at the boat. One smallie, rest are spots. Most are hitting very light on both kinami cuttails and dark senkos on carolina rigs. Only one on shaky head jig.
    City: South San Francisco

    Tips: Fish hitting lightly on dropshots, so if you feel alittle weight, set hook. Fish were all shallow. Fish were coughing up small shads so use white colors. Larger fish were hitting on dark color senkos.

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of Markley on Saturday morning. Air temp was in the low 40's. Went around to Wragg Canyon and started out throwing swimbaits. I got one on a Triple trout about 2.3 lbs. An osprey wouldn't leave us alone so we started throwing watermelon lizards on a split shot. Hooked a 4.5 lber in the back of a cove. Continued catching a good mix of smallies and spots up and down the the Narrows. We up to the main lake and caught 2 3lb largies on beds. Water temp got up to 60 in the afternoon. The bedded fish were in 7-10' of water. The water clarity is about 15'. Fish for us were not real shallow unless there was shade on the water, otherwise they were 15-20' deep. Should be a bunch more fish moving up soon. Didn't try any topwater other than big wake baits but that should start happening soon too. Great day, we caught about 20 fish, all 3 species and no dinks. Lots of kokanee fishermen hardly any bass guys.
    City: Woodland

    Tips: Bite was very light. I was using a very small splitshot. Any weight or hesitation, swing away. The bed fish were caught on a 3" grub in bubble gum.

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 57

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I met a father and his 12 and 14 year old sons for some bass fishing. They had some trouble finding Markley Cove and by the time they did, about 7:15 am, the rain had started. It really was cold and the boys didn't last long. Dad and I worked on their casting which really was pretty good! The bite was slow so I hooked some spotted bass for the boys to fight and land. Dad missed a few bites himself. After 3 hours we had to go in, weather was pretty foul. I will be taking them again on a nicer day - very soon!! Very nice dad and young boys! I showed them an Evinrude rooster-tail behind the boat. The grin on the boys faces was worth the trip!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I had an idenity crisis yesterday - I knew I was at Berryessa but the water looked like Pardee!! I have seen the lake clear before but maybe never this much - at least in Markley Cove. Amazing. Green pumpkin Power worms (4") produced our fish. The weedline starts at the 10 ft depth and there are bass relating to that edge.

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Thought I would take a chance and try to get lines wet .Took wife and kid, Launched ot of M .Cove Hooked up right at ramp nuttin big Went out towards lake and the wind started to blow hard fished a little more in coves couple more bites . wind was too much for the wife so headed back home . going out next weekend looking for better weather. leaving wife and kid home sorry for not so good report , it all looked good c ya on the water
    City: Elmira

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 58-61

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: My trip on Saturday was great. I had a father and son out that had been out on the lake 8 times prior and never got a bite. First fish was on a Fat Free Shad crankbait. That was the only reaction fish of the day. The next few we caught on smoke grub with 1/8oz. head just swimming it slowly back to the boat. Rest were caught on a Carolina rigged Robo worm (Aarons Magic) just dragging it slow through the weeds in water 5 to 12 feet deep. We fished the west and east side of the lake north of Big Island for the first part of the day then moved down through the Narrows to finish of the day. They caught a total of 10 with the biggest going 4 lbs.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: These fish are moving up. Next weeks weather will bring in a lot more so look for most to be in the 5'to 15' of water.

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    Water Temp: 57-61

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Lauched out of Capell Cove (FYI it fills up fast with the western resorts closed). Headed to skiers cove buddy nailed a small spot in 15' of water on a crawdad/ red crankbait. We had a few bites but no hook ups on plastics (brown green and reds) at 15 to 30 '. On the way out the cove ( east side rocks) caught a smallie on a brown black flake brushhog. We then bouched around the narrows had a cope more bites and a few followers but didn't land anything.

    Thanks Lunker Larry for always posting how you did and good tips.
    City: Sac

    Tips: Fish slow at 15-25'. It's going to get good really soon... ><<<>

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I HAVE BEEN FISHING BERRYESSA FOR ABOUT A YEAR . MY QUESTION IS YOU SEE, I'VE NEVER HEARD ABOUT THE AQUARIUM! WHAT IS IT, AND WHERE IS IT?

    THANK YOU
    City: RIO VISTA

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

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    Water Temp: LOW 50S

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I hadn't been to the lake in five weeks and was very excited to go fishing. Arrived at the lake around 10 PM Thursday night. We entered our cabin only to discover we had been robbed. Our TV was gone but the worst part was my favorite fishing rods and reels that I have used faithfully every week for the past ten plus years were taken too. Needless to say my heart was broken it was like losing a best friend. I had planned to fish on Friday morning and had to cancel. The water is murky from the rain run-off. My buddy Albert convinced me not to sit around and mope but to get out and fish a little. I went through some of my other rods and decided on a light spinning rod and put a R2S crawdad on. About fifty casts later I had no luck. It was very windy, cold and wet out. Albert had caught two nice bass earlier that morning but neither of us had any luck now. Albert wanted to wait for the four o'clock bite so I half-heartly agreed. Sure enough at around four another friend caught a bass. The water is still very low even after all the rain. I had really hoped to have an exciting report for you this week after so long an absence but circumstances beyond my control prevented me from fishing the way I had planned. Hope to be in a better mood next weekend and get out there and do some serious fishing. 'til next week.........................................................good fishing!!!!!!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any fishing stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: NAPA

    Tips: FISH SHALLOW TO 10 FEET PLUS MUD LINES

Friday, March 20th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 58-62

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Had the future pro tournament this weekend fished friday and saturday found two diffrent patterns. The aquarium was holding some nice bass as usual but they were finicky.I found that if I texas rigged a 6 inch mm 111 on a 3/16 oz tungsten weight or put it on a drop shot then threw it into 8 to 10 feet of water and slowly I mean slowly you must feel every blade of grass then when it pulls free feel for a diffrent kind of pressure or small tap this was a solid pattern there were tons of fish there on friday they were 2.5 to 3 lbs. On saturday with the wind up they were 1.13 to 2 go figure I didn't find a solid reaction bite but some guys got a crank bite on lu-craft spring craw. The other pattern I found was in the narrows look for flater points with wind or waves on them enough to cause a mud line fish under this mud line with a dropshot purple or morning dawn worms worked the best. This was more of a hit or miss pattern when you got one or two fish off a point move to the next one thats all the active fish i would find on a point. Mostly these fish were 1.4 to 1.6 but if you needto finish a limit its a quick fix.
    City: grass valey

    Tips: This weekend it was about moving slow but in my opinion and from what the fish looked like very soon the lake will be wide open. So dont rule out the reaction bite cranks and swimmers should turn on soon good luck hope this helps.

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 53 55

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: TRIED EVERYTHING TO GET A REACTION BITE. NO FISH THE FIRST 2 HOURS AND FINALLY FIGURED OUT A PATTERN YOU HAVE TO BURN RATTLE TRAPS ON LONG POINTS IN THE MAIN LAKE.BROWN AND ORANGE DID THE TRICK ON SOME REAL NICE SMALLIES TO 3 POUNDS...THE FISH HAD NOT SPAWNED YET AND WERE FOOTBALLS.
    City: SANTA ROSA

    Tips: LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME I SLAUTERED THEM ON JERKBAITS. THE WIND HAS TO BLOW A BIT. THE POINTER MINNOW IN AURORA BLUE OR BLACK IS THE TICKET.

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 51-53

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I took two great guys on a 6 hr trip Sat but found the fishing not so great. We fished the narrows and some of the southern past of the main body. Water was a nice color but still cold. I think the later afternoon bite would have been better but we had to quit earlier. We caught most of our bass on jigs and MMIII Robo worms. Nothing bigger than 2 lbs - disappointing! Our last stop - in Markely Cove - one of the fellows had a good hit on a 5" Basstrix swimbait/Blade Runner Swim Spin head - but lost it. That was a nice fish that had moved shallow.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: A pretty stiff wind made it a little difficult to fish - they missed a few bites. If the warm weather does make an appearance this week, I'm sure the bite will pick up. Berryessa is usually a bit warmer by mid-March.

Friday, March 13th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 54-56

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Out with my 4 year old for around 5 hours. Flat calm blue bird day. Great weather but the fishing is still a little slow for this time of year water is still a little on the cold side. Water is in good shape with a nice green color and a little stain to it. As far as the bite we cought 8 fish in the 5 hours all on brush hogs and jigs none on reaction and all of them buck small mouth running around 1.75-2.25 lbs. Not a very big limit around 10, will be looking for bigger fish next week.
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: All of the fish came from spawning areas so the small mouth are definitely staging.They were holding in water from 2-25 ft. Did not seem to be any real big numbers of fish just one here one there. I will be on the water March 20th helping out with the Future Pro Tournament. If any of you are looking into starting tournament fishing Future pro would be a great place to start wish they were around when I started.

Monday, March 9th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 53-56

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched around 11am, fished 6 hrs. Started out in Little Portuguese, nuttin'. Moved to main body, was blowing like hell for first hour or so, had to find areas inside coves for a while to even feel the bait; wind died down, moved back out to main points- nailed 7 total. Best 5 went about 12 lbs. Mixed bag, spots, smallies and a couple largemouths. Most came on plastic in 15 -25 ft of water. Two came on a jerkbait, including a big crappie that went 2 1/2 lbs! All in all not a bad day....
    City: vacaville

    Tips: Slow presentation seemed to be best, until the sun got low in the sky, then the reaction bite started to come on.

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 50-52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: It is hard to fill in the water clarity box above because of the variety of water colors today - muddy in Putah Creek to somewhat clear near the dam. I helped a fellow learn some new areas to fish today - so we covered most of the lake!! I didn't expect what fishing we did to be very good, but was a little better than I hoped. We did find 2 areas that held quite a few and, in fact, had a double smallie hookup. His was nice - about 2 3/4 lbs. Mine, 1 3/4 if I was lucky! My first bass was a nice largemouth - near 3 lbs. He caught 5 and I boated 4, and we did miss a lot of fish. Our 5 best was a respectable 12 1/2 lbs - so, not bad for 6 1/2 hours. I can't say any more because he is fishing an upcoming tournament. It was a cloudy, cool, post-front day - but maybe the last one for a few days - warmer weather ahead!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I really enjoy these "teach the lake" trips because Berryessa has such great on and off shore structure! After fishing the lake myself for over 40 years, I still learn something every trip - especially when the water is this low. Beware of the submerged weeds - they are everywhere because of the warmer fall and few cloudy days. Because of the rising water level, some of these weeds are 15-20 feet deep. Makes working a bait like a jig kinda tough. I should mention I did have a good hit on my 8" Huddleston trout, but naturally, missed it!!