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Berryessa Lake and Reports

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Sunday, March 18th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 61-64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished today in Berry and had some success drop-shotting 4 and 6 inch roboworms in Aaron's magic. We fished from the mouth of the Narrows South and just hopped from point to point. We caught a solid limit of 12.4 lbs for 5. We went through a lot of small fish but we were able to get some solid fish with the biggest at 3.3lbs. We had to be very patient but we did get our limit by ll:30. We saw a lot of smaller fish up shallow on beds but no big girls to be found. The bed fish were impossible for us to catch but just go out deeper in those areas and there are plenty staging. Visibility is great when the wind is calm.
    City: san jose

    Tips: If you want to get a solid limit don't forget your drop shot rod. We also caught a few on jigs w/ brown/purple twin tails but none of our best fish. Fish very slow and move the worm only slightly. The more shaking seemed to get the smaller fish.

Saturday, March 17th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 62-64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: launched out of putah creek and stayed in the north end of the lake. started searching to find a pattern. Got a couple near the entrance to putah, by the bridge. Then ran to the north east end. Got five nice fish on white spinner baits, one casting to a boil. Ran a little south along the east shore and started seeing fish in the clear 8' water near the brush. The water was so clear the fish you could see would run from the baits. some were on beds already. Found that if I cast a long ways from the boat with a gray and clear jerkbait they would hit. Also shaking black 8" worms cast into 6/8' of water a long ways from the boat produced. Also throwing senkos right into the brush and only 1.5' of water worked. if the water had any stain to it white spinnerbaits gently laid down next to the brush produced. GREAT warm day with my buddy Doug who has fished with me 20 years. I ended up with over 40 fish, top 5 over 20lbs. Doug ended up around 25 fish. Went back with my son on Sunday, and found it a little slower. I had 32 fish and my son had 12 in the boat. I had one well over 5lbs and my best 5 fish over 20 again sunday. We could have ended with alot more fish but had to pull out at 1:30. The bite picked up more as the day went on and warmed.
    City: BRISBANE

    Tips: Clear water use black plastic and stay off the top of the fish. open water look for any rubble on the bottom or grass in 4 to 8 ft of water. Gentle presentation is really a key. I ended up using 8lb test and slide casting for the larger fish in and around the brush. Lost a few but got bit alot.

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    Water Temp: 63

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Went out of Markely 6:30 AM went to Puta Creek with not to good of results.Then went out to North East side of lake flats. Cought fish on swim bait,brown/purple jig and spinner bait. Water cleared up in Puta since the last time I went and the size of fish I was catching went down. Saw fish all over on beds North/East side flats seem to be all males so the femals can't be to far behind. Went back down South and found some mud line on wind blown point and landed fish after fish on crank bait and jerk bait. Cought over 60 fish easly.Maybe 10 lbs for our best 5.Good luck, Terry
    City: sac

    Tips: If you are not getting bit move fish are biteing anything that is being put infront of them.

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    Water Temp: Low 60's

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Put the boat in late Saturday. Headed to Putah Creek. Caught a 15" Rainbow with a needle fish. Talked to a couple of guys who spent the afternoon in Capel Cove. They had great success with leadhead jigs and six inch worms in root-beer color. With this lure they caught two fat rainbows, several small/large mouth bass, and two FAT crappie. They said the key was to work it slow.
    City: Middletown

Thursday, March 15th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 56 to 60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Nice day on the lake. Cold in the morning, hot in the afternoon. Algae still a minor problem in areas of lake but very fishable. If you like to use plastics the bite has been solid. My brother, uncle and I fished from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Caught and released over 60 bass between the 3 of us with the majority being largemouth. Over 30 of those were keeper size and better. Use darker colors as the water is still a bit stained. We used Robo Worms and ring worms. I did manage to catch a few on lizzards. Some bass are already spawning and many still staging. Fish the east side below the ranch house around noon time and you will be in for a treat. Largest of the day went close to 5 lbs. Best 5 right at 14 lbs.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: The fish are moving in shallow. On the moss beds you can easily spight fish and the bass are biting. Use 4" to 6" ring worms or Robo Worms in darker colors. Clear colors are not producing numbers as the water is still a bit stained.

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Set out for an evening trip and worked the eastern shoreline of Markeley Cove. Most bites were coming on spinnerbaits fished off the bottom and a few came on dropshots until it got dark. All small fish in the 1-1.5 lb range Right as the sun was going down, my jig got crushed and I had a good one on, but she came unbuttoned at the boat. After dark, the bite slowed, but I did boat a decent spotted bass on a Booyah Moontalker spinnerbait bounced over a point. I graphed a big bait ball in about 10 feet of water back in a cove and saw bigger fish around it.
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: We probably missed more fish than we caught. Lots of short strikes. Use a trailer hook on those spinnerbaits. My buddy had one pull the skirt right off his bait.

Sunday, March 11th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 54-56

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Started out great in the morning on reaction using Voo-Doo chatter baits as well as rip baits. Main lake points and flats. Mid morning the jig bite turned on creek channels. Fish made a big move in the afternoon suspending in the grass lines killed them on senkos. Even nailed a bed fish. Over all 30 plus fish most in the 2.5 pound range up to 4.5 best five at 16.5
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: The water is very clear in some spots making the fish very spooky avoid these in the afternoon until they are locked on the beds, great at first light . Stained water will produce more consistantly. As for bait colors The Voo-Doo chart shad, hang on the hit are very hard on the bait work it just over the grass. Chart shad rips on the points. Brown and purple jigs. Green pumpkin for the Senkos. I want to wish all the Future Pro anglers good luck on the 24th, I will be up there on the 23rd as a guest speaker looking foreward to it.

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Started out on the westside but too much algae floating. Fished the eastside and skiers cove caught a few drop shot and senkos, nothing on rips or swimbaits. Nothing big, about 15 fish up to 2.5 lbs.

    Lots of pleasure boats and capella (free launch) was packed.
    City: South SF

    Tips: Early morning, fish biting on dark colors and later in the morning, started to catch them on light color worms. Fished around 15' mostly spots and LG, only one smallie.

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    Water Temp: 52.3-59.7

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Went out Sunday morning with my good friend Eric. Started out fishin in the narrows throwing green pumpkin plastic's. Eric got a few in the boat, then moved up north where Eric lost two good one's on a swimbait. Me still nothing. Moved over to Rancho where we hooked up and yes I got my first one for the day. Switched over to using ripbaits around lunch time. Eric ended up with about 30 bass and I about 7. Seen lot's of bass following the ripbaits but most did not commit to them. Great day on the lake, awesome weather. Lot's of pleasure boaters out. Top five went around 15.
    City: Millbrae

    Tips: fish the afternoons in the coves where the boat traffic has made mudlines.

Saturday, March 10th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 55-56

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished all morning around the mouth of the narrows up to the ranch house. Used only two baits all day, a Lunker Lures rattlin' jig (brown/green) with a Paca craw chunk, and a chrome/blue back rattle trap. The jig bite was consistent in 10-15 feet of water on and near rocky points. It was a little more spotty with the rattle trap, but I did get a nice blowup from a 3 lb smallmouth in about 4 feet of water fishing parallel to a rocky bank. I was burning the rattle trap when he hit it. Not a spectacular day, but fun with a decent jig bite.
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: The bites are coming shallower than they were in previous weeks. Looks like the prespawn is on. If I had more time, I would have moved over to the Vineyards or Putah Creek. The reaction bite looks to be heating up. Time to bust out the ripbaits!

Friday, March 9th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 53-57

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: One person guide trip, starting on a main lake hump nice flat day, overcast. Got one smallie on a jig. Then went to the bank between Spanish flat and Berryessa marina fishing nothing banks and small ricks we got a bunch of fish in 15-20ft using a sniper bolt 4" brown got about 6 fish there then hopped around the south west bank and caught a bunch of fish using the bolt and also quite a few on a small pumpkin jig w/brn grub trailer. After about 20 fish we went to the north side and only got fish here and there mostly on the jig some on a shaky head in 5ft of water using a purple ghost 4" worm. Caught a strange large mouth (cross?) with red eyes cool looking fish forgot my camera or would show a pic. About 35-40 fish for the day when the sun broke through in the afternoon the bite slowed.
    City: Martinez

    Tips: We worked shallow to deep from 5-30 ft most of the fish were in 15-20.A we work the baits at a moderate speed. www.ezbass.com

Thursday, March 8th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 54-56

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Took my dad and his golf buddy out for a lesson in bass fishing. Lots of fish caught with the drop-shot and tubes. Fish are between 20 to 2 feet. In the afternoon the fish were up shallow - lots of fun sight fishing...even more fun for 2 rookies. We ended the day with about 25-30 bass up to 4lbs. Saw some really big bruisers but could not get them to bite.
    City: Fairfield

    Tips: The fish are in full prespawn right now. Get your best polarized glasses and head to the lake.

Monday, March 5th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 51.8 to 58

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished main lake for very few bites. Tried many lures. Went up putdah s/p creek and found a jerk bait bite from 1lb to 3.4 lbs around 15 to 20 hooks ups with 12 landed.
    City: San Bruno

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    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Well Norm & I launched around 9:30 from Capell cove. We headed straight for the begining of the narrows and tried there. Moved to the little island, nothing. Fished around the reclamation area & finally caught our first fish @ 11:15. Pope ck was no good either. Ended with 7 bass.
    City: Woodland

    Tips: All fish were caught while drop-shotting. All of the fish were on a flashtrix in different colors.
    Seemed like a much slower day when compared to last friday. Good Luck!

Saturday, March 3rd, 2007

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    Water Temp: 54+

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: My buddy Mike and I got a late start, but got out on the water by 10. Got bit using rip baits, tubes, and senkos. Didn't try much else. The bass have really started to move up shallow, as we caught fish in as shallow as 5 feet. Mixture of spots and smallies and one largemouth. Overall great day with over 25 fish landed. and lots more lost.
    City: Folsom

    Tips: The pause is key on the rip bite... Make sure you stop for a few seconds and keep your slack reeled up and wait for the smack, they were nailing it.

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    Water Temp: 54 degrees

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Norm & I launched out of Capells Cove around 10am. Started dropshoting around Skiers Cove, but followed the bank heading east towards the narrows. Caught 11 fish, 10 bass and one crappie. Heaviest bass was 2.9, 4 were over
    2 lbs. Weather was almost perfect.
    City: Woodland

    Tips: Fish were caught on Flash-trix Morning Dawn, purple Robo with Chartruse tail, Chartruse tubeworm-itsy bitsy!
    We watched another fisherman catch a 5+ pound bass on a swimbait. Showed a 9+pound fish he had caught earlier. That fish was Huge! Just gotta get a swim bait! Good Luck!

Sunday, February 25th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 51

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Redwood Empire Bass Club touurnament launched out of Capell with 12 boats & 24anglers.Everyone caught fish and 11 teams had limits. The winners were: 1st-18.03lbs(6.38lb big fish) Jared Adams & Jim Cottom, 2nd-12.53lbs. John Low & Gene Cardle and 3rd-11.87lbs. Steve Adams & Matt Ellingsworth. The fish were caught on cranbaits, rip baits, jigs and drop shot. Like the previous report the cold front with wind and rain made for an interesting day on the water.
    City: Santa Rosa

    Tips: Our next tournament is at Lake Sonoma on March 17th. It took over 23lbs. last Sunday to win an ABA tournament, so by mid March the prespawn should be in full swing and the big females will be hungry. We welcome new members both boaters and non boaters to fish with us. Please come to our next meeting at 7p.m. on March 14th at the Rohnert Park Community Center on the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder Lane. Our guest speaker with be Ross England who will be sharing with us his swim bait techniques. I believe he still holds the record for a five fish limit of 41 lbs. on Clear Lake. For further info log onto rebc.net or call me at 707.758.5762.

Saturday, February 24th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 51 - 53

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I got to the lake late Friday evening and it was cold. My wife and I were fishing early the next morning with our fishing club and we had to be out by first light and boy was it ever cold. I decided our best game plan was to head out towards the BOR and fish the three points. As I was heading in that direction I saw the water conditions were pretty rough so I decided to head toward the ranch house. It turned out to be a good choice, calmer water, but only one small keeper. I thought we would do better at the vineyards so off we went again. When we reached the vineyards there were quite a few boats there but one by one they all took off because the water conditions got very rough we finally had to leave to as the wind picked up and made it impossible to control the boat. I thought the back of big island would be a little more sheltered and that's where we headed to. It was a good idea because we were able to let the drift carry us along from the shoreline out to 24 feet. We hit all our fish in about 10 to 15 feet of water fishing the bottom slowly. My wife was using her favorite brass and glass with a senco and I was using my "River2Sea" crawdad with my procure crawdad scented gel. We only landed four fish and came in second place. My wife's spotted bass also came in second at 2.7 pounds and the winning fish was 3 pounds. It was a very tough fishing day weather wise but we had alot of hits and had the water been calmer I think we would have both limited out. 'til next week..................good fishing!!!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: NAPA

    Tips: I used my favorites and they did not fail me,i tried top water that i love was not lucky yet,I enjoy watching the bass explode on a top water lure.

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    Water Temp: 49-51

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Things have changed with the cold front and winds that came in. Basin Bassmasters launched out of Markley Cove on Saturday morning and weight in was at 3pm. The winning weight 10.88 lbs for 5 and second 9.78 lbs. Ten out of 12 boats came in with limits. Most of the fish came in the North West end on windy points crankin, spinnerbaits, JK jigs in brown/purple, green pumkin with red flake and a dart head with a morning dawn worm. Most of the bass came in 20-30 ft.
    City: Rocklin

    Tips: Don't stay in one spot too long , move from point to point casting across. Hope for better weather.

Friday, February 23rd, 2007

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    Water Temp: 52-54

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Did a guide trip with a gentleman from WC. Didn't take long for us to get on them. the weather was different than last Monday so I headed for just south of the Vineyards. Found a creek channel and metered the fish below 20ft. Sat on a small define ledge and slammed a limit of Blacks in just 20 minutes. We moved around in different areas of the main lake to develope other patterns but came up short. Headed for the narrows and tried different pattern's their and they all seem to work. Front, back, secondaries all worked. The key here tho from last monday was that the depth of the shad had changed. Being it was a cloudless day, the shad lines had moved down 5ft and they became VERY touchy before they would commit to a Jig type bait. You had to kill the bait after you felt the tap tap, wait or pause a few seconds and then they would kill it. We ended the day with 25 fish in the boat, 18 were tournament fish, with the best 5 going around 11lbs plus or minus 1/4 of a pound. Good day for the end of Feburary. With the weather chang'in everyday, the bait fish will move accord'inly.

    Rich Thiel
    (925)684-2064 or go to www.calbassguide.com
    City: Bethel Island

    Tips: Watch your meter for shad. They will be horizontal and about 1-2ft off the buttom. Fish slow in whatever you have confidence in.