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Berryessa Lake and Reports

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Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Redwood Empire Bass Club is having our Febuary tournament out of Capell Cove. We are welcoming new members both beginners and experienced bass fisherman to join our club and fish with us. We will be fishing Clear Lake On January 20th out of Redbud and the next 9 out of 10 tournaments will be at Berryessa,Sonoma and Clear Lake. Please join us at our meeting next Wednesday at 7p.m. at the Rohnert Park Community Center at the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder Lane. Our guest speaker will be Dave Church who recently won the ABA and the WON team and placed 2nd at the Anglers Choice team at Berryessa. This remarkable winning streak was accomplished with three different partners. For further info call me at 707.758.5762 or log onto rebc.net
    City: Santa Rosa

Saturday, December 30th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Wraggs Canyon all day (10am-3pm) and caught 13 fish between 1 1/2 and 3 pounds, most of the fish were 2 pound class largemouths. I used 6" brown and green plastic worms splitshot 15-30' deep. The bite is very light and all the fish were fat, healthy, and strong. Fish were not on or near the points, mostly in the deep flats and in the middle of the coves. Graphed many fish at 40-50' that wouldn't bite.
    City: Vallejo

    Tips: Fish plastics very slow and deep - wait for the second tap before setting the hook.

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    Water Temp: 51

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: We started out in Markley Cove and fished until about 12:30. There was a light breeze and it was mostly sunny. In the early morning, we tried the rockslide and worked points up to the ranch house. I had no success on a rip bait so I switched to a 6-inch watermelon gulp turtleback worm on a football head jig, no takers either. I finally got bit near a steep rock face on the south side of the mouth of Wragg Canyon on a brown/watermelon finesse jig with a brown baby brush hog trailer. My buddy caught a small spot on a wiggle wart in about 4 feet of water in a cove with some laydowns in the narrows. I wasn't expecting that. The fish were deep and sluggish. I tossed out a silver and blue spoon and landed a 16-inch trout maybe 3 feet below the surface. It was completely covered in pink wormlike parasites. That was the first time I ever saw that. There were a lot of bass boats on the water. The guys I talked to back at the ramp didn't have much luck either. Clear skies and high pressure made the fishing tough. I think the afternoon bite would be a little better. Oh well, we had a good time anyway.
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: The bass are deep. If I went out again today, I would definitely be drop shotting. Colors in shades of purple seem to be what is getting bit.

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    Water Temp: 53-54

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: The last guide trip of '06 ended in fine fashion yesterday at Lake Berryessa. I warned my two clients about what to expect after two days of scary, cold north winds. Their purpose was to learn the lake better and they would take what the lake gave us! Well, the lake gave us some bass and hopefully I gave them some knowledge! We started in Markley around 9 am and fished to dark, hoping the end of the day would provide more active fish. It did! We fished all the way to Rancho Montecello and got a bite here and there - no concertrations of bass were found. I taught them how to fish worms, jigs, ripbaits, and drop-shot. All three techniques worked well - though I missed several and I know they had bites they wern't aware of. I made one of the clients stay with the drop-shot for an hour or so, telling him that his Basstrix flashtrix-minnow would produce a nice fish. I SAW a bass nearly jerk the rod out of his hand. She turned out to be a skinny 3 1/4 lb largemouth. No matter, nice fish. About 5 minutes later I landed a 3-1 largemouth on a brown/orange Rodstrainer jig. At least mine had some girth!! This all happened after 4 pm. A nice 2-2 smallie hit a jig too. We only landed 12 bass with our limit a shade over 12 lbs. We fished a lot but also looked at several spots with our heads in the Lowrance X-26. Even when I thought we would have sun and some afternoon warmth on Friday, the lake was cloudy most of the day with a strong SOUTH wind. Ah, winter!!!!!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: The best worm for drop-shotting and Texas rigging was the 6" Shakin' Zipper Robo worm in M.M. III color. Other colors didn't work well though one or two were caught on morning dawn. The first bass was caught on a black/purple/blue Rodstrainer jig w/#157 Yami grub but couldn't get bit on that color after. I tried spooning a little since I saw lots of fish in a few places on the meter but managed only one 2 lb largemouth bite on a 1 3/4 oz morning dawn Duh! spoon. Believe it or not, a client and I each got a nice bass in the back of a cove - his on the Robo worm and mine of the jig (and she nailed it)! Almost fell out of the boat from shock!! We found most of our bass on rocky points with a steep drop-off nearby. Off-shore flats in about 15-30 feet of water held fish also. This structure is worth finding! Sometimes, looking at the meter, I thought I was at Oroville. I saw fish and bait from 80 to 100 feet. That is rare for Berryessa, at least in my 40 years experience there. I know the north wind would put them down, but really now!!!!

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    Water Temp: 51

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: started fishing around 11am. Air temps never got warmer than 50, but if your'e dressed for it, it was very pleasant with little or no wind. Most of the stops resulted in a few bites which sometimes led to fish and sometimes not. Caught fish in capells and the main body near the entrance to the narrows. Fish were usually on rock from 18 to 40'. Most of the fish were in the 30-40ft depths and wanted it pretty slooow. A couple of jig fish, but most on split shot or droppn 4" robos. Boated about a dozen fish in pounder range with biggest about 15." A good trip to end the year...
    City: orinda

Friday, December 29th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished all day (10:30am-4pm) on west side of the big lake between Berryessa Marina Resort and Puta Creek Resort. Caught 6 bass 4 smallmouth, 1 largemouth and 1 spot all between 2 and 3 pounds in 8 to 24 feet with splitshot 6" worms and 5" grubs. All fish were fat, healthy, and strong. Bite was better in the afternoon.
    City: Vallejo

    Tips: Fish slow and deep with plastics. The bite is very light - wait for the second tap.

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    Water Temp: 50

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: used swimbaits to get a couple of good fish then switched to spider jigs and finished up with darter and drop shoting worms cuaght 30 fish best five 13-15lbs
    City: el cerrito

    Tips: all tackle 20% OFF AT BAY TACKLE COME SEE ME AND I WILL HELP YOU CATCH MORE FISH RUSSELL AT BAY TACKLE GOOD THIS MONYH ONLY

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: This holiday season from Christmas thru New Year's was very cold on the water.
    Trolling on the surface
    early in the morning produced trout and some salmon. I took someone out from
    Spanish Flats as a favor
    to Mike and we headed for the vineyards. The lake was very calm over the
    Christmas weekend and it
    was easy getting around. All over the lake there were grass mats floating which
    made trolling almost
    impossible so I changed to throwing a top water chugger in about three feet of
    water. This produced
    some activity and I landed a two and a half plus pounds spotted bass on a slow
    retrieve. Now I had him try it and
    he had a couple of good hits but didn't land any. Next I tried brass and glass
    with a pumpkin senco and
    landed another nice size bass. My deal with him was everytime I landed a fish
    he got to use the same
    rod after me and he had some bites with the brass and glass but no luck bringing
    them to the boat. The
    next day I went straight to what I call catfish cove. Using hotdogs and liver
    on two separate rods and
    listening to music I spent a couple of hours relaxing and catching six catfish
    ranging from three pounds
    to twelve pounds. The secret is to leave your rods alone and just wait for the
    action. The fish usually
    bite just when you'r about to have your lunch or are not paying any attention.
    Being I was the only
    one on the boat what do you do when both rods hit at the same time.....well this
    is how I handled it.
    I took the rod with the most line started to bring in the fish and I saw it was
    hooked securely so I put
    the rod back in the holder and went to the other rod which was almost at the end
    of the line and
    brought that fish in which happened to be the twelve pounder then went back to
    the other rod
    and brought that fish in too. Some of my friends said they had luck drop
    shotting in forty to fifty
    feet of water once they found the fish. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and
    I wish you all
    a very Happy New Year. '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: fast or slow let the fish decide how they want there presentation

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: It was a slammin' day on Lake Berryessa for one of our members yesterday. While nothing was unusual in how he fished the lake, between he and his partner they boated 28 fish with many in the 2-3 pound range. The interesting thing is that most of the fish were caught in 15'-25' range on dropshots, worms and the best fish coming on jigs. Cranks and jerk baits didn't produce.

    If you are looking for a quality club experience that is focused on fishing and not club politics, then go to www.dmbass.com and discover the Devil Mountain Bassmasters. We have a great meeting location in Walnut Creek at the Diablo Hills golf course and we are look to expand our membership with both boaters and non-boaters. Our next meeting is Wednesday January 3rd at 7:00.
    City: Walnut Creek

    Tips: Sleep in, the bite didn't start until after 8:00.

Thursday, December 28th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 54

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Buddy Forrest and I fished Thurs the 28th and we got 13 fish in the boat to 3.5 lbs, no smallies or spots just largies, used 4 inch robo's, we got one in 5 feet on a jig and all the rest on robo's in 10-40 feet. Could not get out of the 2 small coves we were in because the waves were tossing my 18 foot Ranger around like it was a twig on a ragging river.
    City: San Jose

    Tips: Shake and than drag your drop shot very slow and you will just feel weight than reel in, do not set the hook just keep steady presure on the line.
    Watermelon black flake hula grub jig works also, just drag it on the bottom as slow as you can only when you get a bite on these you get to swing for the fence! I love that! God bless and catch and release so my 3 kids can do it when they are my age.

Sunday, December 24th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 53

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Hit the lake yesterday for a short 5 hour trip. Had 5 in the boat within an hour....All on drop shot and jigs. Finshed the day with 14 fish boated, and one decent smalley that came up buttoned at the boat. Best five went for 12.5lbs....
    City: Napa

    Tips: Have been on the lake for the last 9 weeks, and have yet to get that BIG Swimbait bite-but will keep on throwing the "Hud" until it happens
    (and it will)...The usual 9-12lb limit has been consistent.....
    Have a great Christmas to all and the Reaction bite isnt far away......

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    Water Temp: 52.3

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Had a late start, launch at Capel Cove around noon time and headed for Putah creek area. Nothing on dropshot or jigs, I decided to start cranking big chunk rock and it payed off. 1st fish a 2 pound smallie then had one hit me and just about ripped the rod out of my hands, lost that one but made another cast and bamm, hook up another nice smallmouth. I just worked parralle to the bank and no deeper than 17 foot. Key was to hit rip rap banks and points and to deflect the rocks with the lure, made my way donw the bank and picked up 2 more nice smallies, then hit a largemouth that was probably 10 foot down and it was at around 2 1/2 lbs. I maybe had 9 or 10 lbs for 5 bass but who's counting just out there for some fun.
    City: Fairfield

    Tips: Crank the chunk rocks and down size on the lure. Deflect the rocks.

Wednesday, December 20th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched boat at Cappel Cove around 10:30am, pretty darn cold. Stayed on the move, but could not locate any schools of bait fish. Caught one bass, barely a keeper and released. This one on a 4

    Tips: DRESS VERY WORM OPS WARM!

Sunday, December 17th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: ENJOY THIS ONE MOM.... FUN DAY WITH MOM FISHED UP AND DOWN LAKE WITH BEST BEING 2.5 TO 3LB SM MOM GOT NUMBERS THOUGH FILLING LIMIT TO AROUND 10LBS. SLOW BUT HAD FUN HUNTING WITH MOM. WHERE DID DIXON GO? BE BACK SOON RESORTS SHUTTING DOWN DUFF 20
    City: MOUNTAIN VIEW

    Tips: DROPSHOT WAS BEST MOM USED NEW WEEDLESS BALL JIG PUMPKIN / WATERMELOM COLORS

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    Water Temp: 53

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the water yesterday kinda late about 8:15,headed north...Fished for about 3 hours, with a decent numbers of bites but at first they were not commiting to it. Did manage a 3lb smallie, one chunk Spot that weighed 2.65, and a 2lb largemouth. Headed for the narrows to finish out the day....Alot more bites and put 6 more in the boat, however they were smaller fish, up to 1.75lbs. Broke one off on a jig that I would like to have seen, it was a good one.
    City: Napa

    Tips: Caught fish from 18'-40', fish slow...one the sun came up and it warmed up a bit there were more bites.....

Sunday, December 10th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 49-52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Sunday up Putah Creek with my buddy, braving the rain and dodging the ABA guys. Pulled out best 5 for 10 and 1/2 lb. One swimbait fish, but only a 2 lb smallie. Most of our fish were on soft plastics fished slowly. most fish around 15 ft deep.

    Tips: fish slow.

Tuesday, December 5th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 58 degrees

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: YAHOO! I didn

    Tips: Never Give up!

Sunday, December 3rd, 2006

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    Water Temp: 56

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Trolled Saturday late afternoon at dam. One strike and no fish in the boat. Sunday we trolled and landed two 14 inch rainbows.
    City: Middletown

    Tips: Try trout color rebels and troll in the center of the lake.

Sunday, November 26th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 60.2

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Friday I took Steve H. from Texas out
    for the day.
    We started out fishing top water using chuggers and poppers. Steve was bringing
    in a chugger
    and let it rest for awhile when a huge large mouth bass (approx 4 pounds) just
    expolded on it.
    He brought it most of the way to the boat only to lose it when it jumped again.
    Changing to a
    rattle trap and throwing it into three or four feet of water and skimming it
    over the top of the
    grass landed him a two and a half pound bass. Now Steve wanted to try his hand
    at worming
    with a weightless senco. Coming thru the grass in about four to six feet of
    water he hooked
    another two pound plus bass. He was a pleasure to fish with and I was sorry
    that the day
    ended so quickly. He and I agreed that all fish lost coming to the boat must
    weigh at less
    four pounds (hahaha). Saturday Tom and I fished to the evening hours and had a
    very
    productive day with some good size fish also in four to ten feet of water.
    Sunday I went out
    of Emeryville on the "C-Gull" with Captain Don for a crab and rockfish combo.
    If you have never
    tried it I recommend it highly. I caught a total of fifty-two fish including
    one lingcod that we did
    not land using the River2Sea knife (see photo). The weight is distributed where
    half of it is sixty
    percent and the other half is forty percent so it cuts through the water and
    flutters to the bottom.
    It seems to attract larger fish. We had a total of thirty-one people on the
    boat and all of us helped
    in some manner with the crabbing and all of us walked of the boat with six crab
    each. Next week I
    will be in Florida so 'til the following
    week.................................good fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    www.fishingconnection.net If you have any fishing stories to share please email
    me at
    bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: Napa

    Tips: The bass determin the speed that they want your presentation,dont always be the same sometimes they want it very slow ,,,,sometimes they want it fast

Friday, November 24th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 56-58.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Took my dad to Berryessa for a post-Thanksgiving fishing trip. Fishing Berryessa, how could one ignore the possibility of a monster LM on a big swimbait? And so it was for MANY, MANY fruitless casts yesterday. Checked out all my usual LM haunts and came up snake-eyes with the Huddleston. Oh well, I'll be seeing them VERY soon! Wanting to get pops on some fish, we decided to lighten up a bit and check out those deep fish we were consistently seeing on the meter. Much like I see at Oroville this time of year, the baitfish appeared "layered" on the graph, almost looking like a thermocline, except a bit closer to the bottom. The dead giveaway that what you are seeing is bait and not the thermocline are the random streaks running through the layer of bait, indicating feeding fish. Moving to a series of points and ledges in the narrows and main lake, we found bait and bass in 25'-45', and dropshotting a 4.5" Roboworm in either Hologram Shad or Prism Shad did the trick. We also missed one fish apiece, one on a jig and the other on a darthead worm. Finished the day with 12 fish total: 1 LM, 2 SM, 2 smots (smallie/spot cross) and 7 spots. All fish were nice quality, with nothing under 1.75lb and the biggest spot right at 3.5lb. Total for best 5 something around 12.5-13lb. Despite the lack of a swimbait bite, a great day on the water... beautiful weather, serene conditions and time spent with my dad. It's ALL good!
    City: Elk Grove

    Tips: Know your electronics! Learn what you're looking at and how to see what you need to see. Now, any tips for those early season swimbait fish? :-)