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Monday, August 14th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 81

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Subject : Fishing with Sid

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    I am glad to be back fishing at Berryessa. I had expected great success this past Saturday but it was not to be. I took Gary out for the day and was all gungho for a great day of fishing and we ended up with a day of wishing. Our day started at 6 AM and we were ready for that early morning bite but low and behold....no fish!!!!!!!! It was completely still, no birds, no tell tale signs of fish anywhere to be seen. We saw boats trolling for trout and salmon near Big Island but three boats that we spoke to had no luck yet either. We fished from the ranch house to the vineyards throwing everything from top water to worming the bottom to no avail. I told Gary lets go to Big Island and half way there I made a u-turn because I found the birds in 65 feet of water. Since I was not lucky with bass I thought we should try our luck with trout or salmon. I spotted fish at about 25 feet down so I had Gary throw out a rattletrap shad color and "pow" he hooked on to a 3# bass as he was bringing it in the bass kept jumping and about the fourth jump just inches from the boat......you guessed it he spit the hook out of his mouth!!!! Gary was not happy. This became the blueprint for our day. Next we went to shallow water and I fished with two rods. On one I had a live minnow going down about 3 feet in six feet of water, the other I had a weightless senco. As I was playing the worm, I saw this 4# bass engulf the minnow and take off my rod bent in half and the 4# testline snapped. We went back to the dock at around 5PM and as I helped Gary to his truck we saw a 3# bass swimming under the docks so I got a rod with a small hook only and put a minnow on it and showed Gary how to lob it so that the minnow will swim and hopefully the bass will go after it. Success......the bass took the minnow and started to swim, I told Gary do not try to lift the bass out I will go get the net and try not to let him jump, keep the tension on the line. When I got back with the net about 18 seconds later Gary felt bad that he had lost the fish again. Even though we didn't catch fish he and I had a great day trying. After Gary left I stayed down at the dock and using the same system caught some bass and catfish. Sunday I went out for a few hours by myself. I went towards Capell and fished the left side where it's rocky and has trees with no luck. I tried the drift again using a minnow and a plastic crawdad and the minnow won three times. This was a very hard week for fishing. When I came back to the dock I saw my friend Tony and he said he had no luck. Three more people I spoke to had the same results. I have noticed as I walked up and down the docks that the bass were hiding in the shadows of the dock. Each summer there is always approximately two weeks where the fishing is very slow. Well this was week one for me lets see what week two will be like. 'till next week.............................good fishing!!!!!!!!
    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 only thingn i did not try is deep water carolina rig witch i will try this week.

Saturday, August 5th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 76+

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Bay Tackle's annual Berreyessa Night Turkey shoot. It was a nice night but windy at times. My brother and I fished the north east side and pope creek with texas rigged magnum lizards and brushhogs. Most fish were caught in 10ft. of water or less. Our final weight ended up being 18.09 with a 6.07 kicker, good enough for 1st place and big fish.

    2nd place team: John Anderson/Dave Smith: 12.13lbs
    3rd place team: John/Tim Clark: 11.01 lbs.
    (tie) Art and Jim: 11.01 lbs.
    City: El Cerrito

Sunday, July 9th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 82

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: CHRIS please call me at 650-583-3333 be more than happy to help you catch more bass Sid bestguide@hotmail.com Subject : Fishing with Sid

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    This past weekend with the full moon was a perfect opportunity to do top water both morning and evening. Steve caught his first top water fish on a "Zara Spook Jr" in the twilight hours. I was working on my boat at the marina and had a rod with a piece of bread on it out just for fun since I had seen some large carp in the area. I hooked an eight pound carp and called to my neighbour to assist me. The first thing he did was grab the net but I told him I want you to bring the fish in. Using six pound test line on a light rod he had alot of fun bringing in the carp. Dustin, Blake and Savannah (who were at their boat at the marina) heard the commotion and came over to see what was going on along with their Dad. I showed him how easy it was to catch the carp and they all wanted to try. The two ways that I suggest to catch carp are on the surface with a piece of bread or on the bottom with a dough ball. On the surface you take a piece of bread with a small hook and let it float on the top the carp will go for it and you set the hook and then the fun begins. Pound for pound carp give you a good fight and the kids love to bring them in. Plus their size are impressive for kids they think they have caught a whale. If you loosen the drag, that carp will take a few runs. When the bass are not co-operating carp can be fun to catch during the hot hours of the day. A special ingredient that works for carp is boil cornmeal till you can form it in a ball add vanilla extract for the scent let it cool and then you can break off chunks and form them around your hook and the carp love it. I took my friend Travis out for a couple of hours. We were fishing the points around the BOR and he landed a nice two pound spotted bass. He used brass and glass and a four inch senco. Later in the day he was fishing on his own when he landed a five pound catfish. In the very hot weather my recommendation for catching bass is to fish early morning or late evening in two to ten feet of water and during the day twenty to thirty-five feet of water. "til next week...........good fishing!!! www.fishingconnection.net or email me at bestguide@hotmail.com if you have any fishing stories you would like to share. You can call me at 415-583-3333.
    City: NAPA

    Tips: Summer time can be a hard time of the year to catch fish but not impossiable,in clear water in worms i like natural colors,in stained waters i like it dark try any lure in your tackle box if you present it correctly it will catch fish.

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 82

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: took the family camping after the vast majority of people had gone home ,camped on the water from 7-5-8-2006. We caught on average 25-30 bass per day trolling shad raps along the shore. Bass were suspended at 10ft-15ft. I normally don't troll for bas( not very exciting but its a great for 5 people in the boat to catch fish) We caught Spots, Smallmouth and large mouth.At night we fished for catfish in fron tof our camp site with hotdog/linguisa (combo), ended up with 7 channel cats in two night with 4 fish over 5 lbs the others about 12" long. A great family trip.
    City: tracy

    Tips: We camped out of the lake berryessa resort, we fished in Putah creek, only caught fish on the left side. It was great until all the loud people ruined the enviroment so we left saturday morning, but during the week it was wonderful!

Saturday, July 1st, 2006

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    Water Temp: 83

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Markley Cove from 5 am till 10 am. Threw everything at them. Got a big strike on a drop shotted purple worm, but the fish ripped it right off the hook. Boaters showed up at 9 am, speeding and making noise as usual. I fished dropoffs from 20 to 30 feet and got skunked. Where are you guys catching them? I am baffled right now because I was at the right depth with supposedly the right baits, but the fishing was slow. Any recommnedations would be helpful. Sid, if you read this, can you help me out please?
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: Get on and off before the knuckle heads show up. It seems that the bass are going to be deep.

Tuesday, June 27th, 2006

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    Water Temp: n/a

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Snake, Post the pics without your mug in them.

Saturday, June 24th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 81.6

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Subject : Fishing with Sid

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    This past Saturday was another scorcher at Lake Berryessa. Water temperature at the ranch house cove was 81.6 degrees. Tom Trice and I left the marina at the crack of dawn and headed straight out to the ranch house. He used a baby crawdad and dragged it while we were both throwing crankbait. He got his first bass on the crawdad. We saw a few boils and when we threw into them it was not bass but trout and salmon following our baits back. We stopped going for bass because of the water temperature and went into the cove and threw River2Sea minnow looking crankbaits. The boat was in fifteen feet of water and we threw into seven feet of water and brought the suspending crankbait to where it was tipping the grass. Bringing it in slowly we hit one crappie after another almost on every cast. It was very exciting to catch crappie this way. The crappie were good size too up to three pounds. Sunday my fishing club chartered the "C-Gull" out of Emeryville Marina and we went for strippers and halibut. There were small halibut (not keeper size) being caught all day and some sharks plus a stingray. Two keeper strippers were caught and three keeper halibut. The halibut weighed in at almost 7 pounds, almost 9 pounds and the largest one was 27.9 pounds caught by me. It was a beautiful day calm water and good fishing buddies. 'til next week...........................good fishing!!!!!
    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.
    Current Fishing Conditions
    City: NAPA

    Tips: This trip was with a Tom a western bass reader who asked many questions and i had some time so i said come to steal park at lake berryessa and ill show you,and he did,and was very pleased and we caught fish,learnig and teaching is how we get better.

  • By

    Water Temp: 81.6

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Subject : Fishing with Sid

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    This past Saturday was another scorcher at Lake Berryessa. Water temperature at the ranch house cove was 81.6 degrees. Tom Trice and I left the marina at the crack of dawn and headed straight out to the ranch house. He used a baby crawdad and dragged it while we were both throwing crankbait. He got his first bass on the crawdad. We saw a few boils and when we threw into them it was not bass but trout and salmon following our baits back. We stopped going for bass because of the water temperature and went into the cove and threw River2Sea minnow looking crankbaits. The boat was in fifteen feet of water and we threw into seven feet of water and brought the suspending crankbait to where it was tipping the grass. Bringing it in slowly we hit one crappie after another almost on every cast. It was very exciting to catch crappie this way. The crappie were good size too up to three pounds. Sunday my fishing club chartered the "C-Gull" out of Emeryville Marina and we went for strippers and halibut. There were small halibut (not keeper size) being caught all day and some sharks plus a stingray. Two keeper strippers were caught and three keeper halibut. The halibut weighed in at almost 7 pounds, almost 9 pounds and the largest one was 27.9 pounds caught by me. It was a beautiful day calm water and good fishing buddies. 'til next week...........................good fishing!!!!!
    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.
    Current Fishing Conditions
    City: NAPA

    Tips: This trip was with a Tom a western bass reader who

  • By

    Water Temp: 77-83

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: on the water at 6:30 throwing topwater. Had some action on the eastside across from rancho montecello. The 'splash it'action died at 8am. The bite was very sproadic. Moved out to about 25' and started catching them using deep diving cranks and dropshotting. ended up releasing about 25 fish, mostly smallies. One smallie was 3#, the rest were 2# and less. Good action, hot weather.

    Tips: The fish are relating to the grass and move around looking for food. Use your graph to find them and then fish as there are large areas where they are just not biting. This is the time of the year that when you catch one fish, other fish may follow and trigger a feeding frenzy.

  • By

    Water Temp: 78 degrees

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched my black bass tracker boat with super HP Honda motor and went all over the lake looking for my PB LM bass at Berryessa today. My girl friend brought her digital camera along in case I do catch my PB LM bass today. Started around 6:30 am, fished the coves and caught 20 dinks using my white spinner bait ( threw them back). No big mamma hawgs in sight, kept tossing my 12 inch swimbait every where in and out, shallow and deep, no big mamma hawgs located. So, I started using cranks in deep water drop shotting a rapala broken back silver shad , and caught my biggest smallie ever, a 5.8LB smallie fat as a LM mamma hawg, she was in 25+ feet deep water near Capell cove. I released her after taking pictures. I don't post pictures cause I want my privacy when I fish. Caught around 10 smallies dinks later afterwards, good keeper size but I threw them all back. Great beautiful day at Berryessa!
    City: Concord

    Tips: Use spinnerbaits in white and chartrusse colors with trailers in the morning, switch over and troll swimbaits in the afternoon, and try drop shotting cranks DEEP after 2pm around 25+ feet drop offs. Try to cover as much area as possible when using a boat, fish 10-15 minutes... no bites move on to another section of the lake. Dark senkos work best in shallow water.

Sunday, June 18th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 76 thru 82 depe

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Subject : Fishing with Sid

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    Hot! Hot! Hot! And then it got hotter. Friday afternoon I gassed up the boat at Spanish Flats and headed towards Big Island. Caught a few fish but the wind made it hard to hold my position with the trolling motor so I headed towards a protected cove near Steele Park. With a slight wind I was able to adjust the boat so the drift would work for me. Fishing the rocks first I used my plastic crawdad and got wholloped four times and landed some nice size bass up to 3.5 pounds. I got a few on top water. Saturday morning at sunrise I took out Jay and his sons Chris and Sean. Our first stop was at the beginning of the Narrows. Jay threw out a jig with a craw trailer and landed a nice size bass within minutes in twenty feet of water. The boys were using brass and glass with a baby brushhog and a senco. Our score for the day was a total of twenty-three fish of which two were carp, ten were bass and eleven were crappies. We probably lost a minimum of the same amount. Sunday I caught a couple of kokanee and trout trolling very slowly from Steele Park towards the tubes. They were caught at twenty-three to thirty-one feet deep. I caught up with my family on the west side going towards big island. While we were barbequing lunch we all fished from shore and did quite well. Throwing assorted plastics with brass and glass we all landed some bass. I hope everyone enjoyed Father's Day I sure did.
    'til next week....................................good fishing!!!!! www.fishingconnection.net
    If you have any fish stories to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
    City: Napa

    Tips: sunrise,sunset,best times to fish, adjust during the day hours fish can be caught all day long different depths

Wednesday, June 14th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 70-73

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Started the morning off with a bang by landing a 8.1 lb bass on a jig with a Yum Chunk tailer. The big girl was sitting in a bush in about 9 feet of water. Didn't have a camera, so headed for Spanish flat, Bought a camera and the guy at the counter came down to the dock to snap some pictures for me. Lost about 40 minutes of fishing time but had to get my picture. released right after the photo op and headed back out to a fairly slow day. A few smaller 1 lbers One on The same jig and a couple on drop shot. HAd numerous hits throwing at fish busting shad on the surface, but I couldn't get any to stick. All in all a great day! Of course what day isn't great when you get to go fishing!
    City: Sonoma

Sunday, June 11th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 74.2

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: LAKE BERRYESSA REPORT WEEK ENDING JUNE 11

    In the same cove that I enjoy fishing, Albert Brown, Jr. age 61 caught these two catfish one 7.5 pounds and the other 6 pounds. He used night crawlers dipped in night crawler flavored hotdog oil. He caught them in four feet of water from shore around two in the afternoon. The water was clear that afternoon and you could see the fish swimming. Late Saturday I fished the same cove till about 9:00 PM and caught a variety of fish. My most exciting moment was when my little rod with a minnow caught a crappie and my large rod with a plastic worm caught a bass at the same time so now decisions, decisions which one do you work first!!!! I managed to land them both. The bass weighed about 2.5 pounds and the crappie was almost a pound. Sunday I felt like staying at the dock and doing some work on my boat. That didn't last long as my neighbours asked me for some fishing lessons. We fished from the dock and ended up with a nice bass caught by a young lady who had never fished before. Beginners luck strikes again!!!!
    Then we decided to try for carp since they were abundant all around the dock. They now know how to catch carp. I ended up catching seven carp, three squaw fish, two baby catfish and a bunch of crappie just from the dock. Fishing should be great for Father's Day this coming Sunday so hope to see all you Dads on the water. 'til next week...............................good fishing!!!!!
    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.

    WATER TEMP 74.2
    CLEARITY 4-6 feet
    City: NAPA

    Tips: try hard any place you think theres fish

Saturday, June 10th, 2006

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: myself and a buddy of mined headed to the putah creek area in the morning with mixed results. I got some hits and pulled in a couple on top and with a tube jig but had a hard time putting a pattern together. my buddy found some fish chasing bait and was able to put together a limit using tube jigs. the bait slowed down as the morning wore on and was really slow after that

Friday, June 9th, 2006

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Bank bass anglers need to work the cove channels. The ones near the ranger station are narrow and deep..most. A bass tracker cannot go in deep cause the boat cannot turn back, maybe a canoe but not a big bass tracker. The spot is before the ranger station with rocks, tullies, and brushes. Once a while rangers gonna come by and check for licenses and big coolers for beyond the limit fishing, but they are just doing their job. The pattern is having 3 rods setup,one for spinnerbait, one for senkos, and the other for live worms with BIG sharp hooks. Then a wild card rod for large roosters and jigs. I use spinning rods and stout trigger rods, fish nothing below 10lb test lines, the smallies break anything below 10bs in a good fight near the brushes fill with branches, there's alot of dinks keepers, I throw them all back so they get bigger and give me a good fight next year. Good luck all to catching you first lunker PB bass!
    City: Concord

    Tips: Watch out for rattlesnakes in the water when fishing the banks. There's alot of snake holes and be careful!

  • By

    Water Temp: n/a

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I had a short work week and started fishing 12pm till sunset Friday. Beautiful day and crystal clear water. I didn't have time to hitch a boat so I fished bank all around the lake. Fished near the ranger station past Markley cove and saw 2 biggest basses ever, you won't believe this but 1 look to be 15lbs and the other 19+pounds, the 2 mamas were cruising the lake, it was about 1PM and Sunny bright, I'm sure both of them saw me staring at them but they weren't spook, this is from a water top view 6 feet away too. I caught a 2 pound catfish and it was on a stringer, they both stop and check the catfish out 2 feet away, I knew the only way to catch both is using a live trout on a treble hook! I shoulda bought my digital camera, 1 was about 25 inches and the other 30 inches, both had FAT bellies. I guess the big mamas are still spawning. They both swam away, I bank fished the same spot for the day, and to my surprise they both came back about 3pm. I threw live worms at them and they both ignored it like a plague, so did my other baits like senkos, lizards, cranks, swimbait -12inch too! They both hung out at the area for the rush of the day, the water was so clear it was amazing to see 2 biggest mamas hog of my life cruising the banks. The rest of the day had alot of small mouth dinks bite, all keepers, but I threw them back figuring they were males protecting their frys. The baby small mouths and largemouths were everywhere! The dinks keep nailing my cranks all day, they slam my 12 inch swimbait and kept attacking it even though they knew they cannot swallow it, they slam the side of the swimbait as I reel it close back to the bank. I caught a few keeper largemouth males, all the fish caught were males, I threw them back. I finish the day fishing for crappies, none in sight, I even threw the catfish back as I headed home at sunset. I just keep thinking about those 2 lunkers mama hogs with big bellies as I drove home.
    City: Concord

Wednesday, June 7th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 78.2

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: clear, little to no wind in the morning and hardly anyone out fishing for bass. Drop-shot and top water main lake. Bass busting on shad, threw top water - fish up to 2lbs. Action hot up to 0830, over a dozen fish, many lost. Moved into the coves, little to no action. Went north, picked up 3 smallies - all 2 lbs and one crappie about 1 3/4 lbs. All on light color senkos.
    City: South San Francisco

    Tips: Fish were all on top in the morning. Look for bait activity and the bass will be under. Threw top water, sammy, in white. Later in the morning, senkos dead sticking.

Saturday, June 3rd, 2006

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    Water Temp: 74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: fishing was great. caught 25 fish within 45mins of reaching the first spot. every cast was a fish. after 8:00 the fish moved out then you had to fish deeper 2-30 feet deep. caught them on everything spooks, crankbaits, worm, senko, swimbaits, etc. great day of fishing caught about 40-50 fish in the tournament.
    City: sacramento

    Tips: after the moring fish slower or topwater. moring topwater and reaction baits.

Friday, June 2nd, 2006

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    Water Temp: 75

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the back of Cappell Cove. The bite was real slow. That section of the lake is about 12 feet deep maximum. I got a few dinks, but I think that the fish have moved out into the 15 to 20 foot range. It was a hot day with bluebird skies and I think they were probably hanging tight to deeper structure. You may have a shot in Cappell Cove in the very early morning, but I'm not going back in there until the catfish start rolling in mid summer.
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: With the weather and water temp climbing, the bass are going to move deeper. I'll be jigging and cranking 6 to 8 foot deep shelfs near steep dropoffs. If it's cool enough in the morning, I'll give topwater a try, but I suspect that the topwater bite won't last long when the sun comes up. Green and purple shade senkos get bit at this lake.

Wednesday, May 31st, 2006

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    Water Temp: 71.4

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Subject : Fishing with Sid

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    Memorial weekend has come and gone and Lake Berryessa was filled with holiday boaters enjoying their long weekend. The weather was a mix of windy, overcast, cool and very warm. For all of you who called me for fishing info before they went up last week, I am glad to hear some successful stories. One in particular was from Ron who was accompanied by his friends Jim and Dave. Ron told me that they had a 40+ day. They fished the east side of the lake towards the ranch house. My friend Abe's sister-in-law Kim joined me for a brief fishing lesson at the docks. She had never caught a fish before and you guessed it she landed a 14 1/2 inch bass and is now hooked on fishing. On Friday I got a late start and headed out to Big Island midafternoon. It was quite windy and a little hard to control the boat with the trolling motor. I finally decided to go along with the drift and that worked out fine. We fished between 2 to 20 feet however the wind directed us. I was using a weightless senco and my wife was using the same with brass and glass. Not being able to get to the bottom, I picked up another rod that had brass and glass and a baby brush hog on it and that worked fine for me. Between us we landed 27 bass and missed a few too. Saturday we headed out not knowing exactly where we would go when we hit the main lake the boat traffic was unbelieveable so we decided to go into the cove behind the Spanish Flat Marina where it was quiet and the water was calmer. It turned out to be great fishing day but we had to work for it. Sunday we started out a bit earlier and knew we had to find a sheltered area so we stayed near Steele Park in my favorite cove all day using mostly the same setup but hitting a few on topwater. Monday we headed to the back of Capell Cove again to avoid the boat traffic and fished the bushes and trees. I did not have any success with top water even though I threw it over fifty times. What seemed to work for us this weekend was using plastics. The methods that I like to use with plastics are a weightless texas rigged worm or a texas rigged worm with brass and glass depending on how deep and the wind conditions. Some other methods I recommend are split shot rigs, carolina rigs and drop shot rigs. See attached pictures of the tackle we used. My preference is a wide gapped hook size 3/0 or 4/0 and my wife does just as well with a straight hook. My worm of choose is the senco. My favorite plastic is a River2Sea crawdad. "til next time......................................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: Email me if you want to see what i use at lake berryessa