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Saturday, February 11th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 54-56

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I enjoyed my first guided trip since my surgery with two great fellows and we enjoyed a beautiful day and fair fishing. We all caught bass, including a nice 3 1/4 lb largemouth and a smallie at least 2 lbs. We only had one dink and I think 11 tournament keepers - about a 10 lb limit give or take an ounce or two. The guys were learning to fish jigs and did ok, but missed a lot of fish. The bite was mostly a non-bite feeling - though a few slammed the jig. We fished the narrows and some of the main body, catching bass from 5 to about 25 feet. Saw lots of big fish on the meter from 50 to 70 feet, just like last Feb.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: It looks and feels like spring but the bass don't know it yet. Not too many shallow fish and mostly males I suspect. We caught most of our bass on very steep banks and a few on off-shore structure I showed them.

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    Water Temp: 49 to 56

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Decided to try all new areas instead of bangin the same turf. That meant fishing the main lake and North.Cranked one ,bladed three,senkos four, dropshot three,and seven on jigs. The previous week I was nailing them on texas rigs and today they wanted no part of it.Nothing of notable size , best five 9.5 lbs and evenly mixed L.M. , S.M. , and spots.
    City: Granite Bay Ca.

    Tips: Morning was better than afternoon and two of us fished for a total of eighteen.

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    Water Temp: 54-55

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of Markley at 06:30am with 4 other boats..By 9:00 am there must have been about 50 bass boats on the lake, no kidding. Fishing was difficult maybe because of all the fishing pressure. I was only able to land one fish on a lizard in about 15 feet of water. Now I remember why I don't fish on Saturday's, but I had no choice it was today or no day. Water is starting to warm slowly but the spawn will not happen until water warms to at least 60+. Good luck!
    City: EDH

    Tips: Fish in about 10 - 25 feet and keep it slow..Try until you get bit.

Friday, February 10th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 52-58

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Just finished a 3 consecative days of Guiding with clients from all over the bay Area.

    10th (Sat), Caught fish in the narrows on Drop-shit rigs from 25ft down the 45ft. It was a light bite, more of a feel or munch bite than a BANG. We also caught them on Hula Grubs. No set Color to speak of. One thing that I notice and elabated on was the shad were strung out horizontally at 40-45ft.

    2nd day (Sunday), Totally different weather from Saturday, couldn't really put anything solid togather like Sat, We did catch some fish at the buttom or in creeks and points, DEEP. Went to Main body of the Lake and run into a totally different pattern than the Narrows. Smallmouth to 10lb+ limits where moving up and down on shelfs. We riped some and drop-shot most of this pattern. Ended up putting a solid pattern for these gentleman.

    3rd Day. Knowing the patterns for bigger fish, had a single gentleman. Days weather again wasn't has the day before. Narrows, Off totally, Wraggs at the very end caught some dinks. Left for the Main lake area and fished a different area than the day before. Slow start, put was putting a pattern together. Fish were either on top of a point or along the side around 20ft. We established a solid pattern in about 2hrs with rotating three point areas for smallmouth.
    The gentleman wanted to learn the Northend of the lake referring to the article I had written. Im game. Spent about an hour showing him depths and meter reading (Detailing)for prespawning Largemouth that are or will be setting up for the spawn. I was asked not to give to much info out about we caught nor on. I guide clients that fish tournaments thus I respect their wishes. But, I can say this, WE FOUND THEM, within 8 cast 3fish immediatly in the boat and nothing less than 2 3/4lbs to he he, I cant say HAR!!! I can say I even got excited on the quality.

    The last two trips were with Tournament Fisherman and I respect all their wishes, names, location of catch etc. I try an estabish patterns that work for my clients, its up to them to establish there patterns and where.

    One diffently situation I did find tho was that each day on the water was different from the prevouis day. No one day was the same within 3.

    With a known cold front coming in again for this upcoming weekend event. These patterns can change but the fish are still there but maybe shallower or deeper than caught but still there.

    Take care and good luck, for information on setting up guide trips, either fun fishing relaxing or Tournament Fisherman contact me at (707)374-1446 or just click on the advertisement above.

    Rich Thiel

    Rich Thiel
    City: Rio Vista

    Tips: With the weather changing again in the near future the bite on some patterns may change, so should you if you have something going on a certain bank or multiable banks, change to a different technique or approach to given area.

Tuesday, February 7th, 2006

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    Water Temp: ???

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Started out dropshottin the north end of the lake. Stuck one on 4.5 inch robo in mutilator, missed a couple then stuck another on morning dawn. Pretty much pounded fifteen to twenty feet to death. Made a move down south below Monticello Resort. Ended up stickin four more on the jig(brown/purple) fishin rock/sand junctions. Overall decent day for 4 hours of fishin: 3 smallouth, 2 largemouth, and a spot. No good fish, all in the 1.5 to 2.0 range, but worth the trip this time of year.
    City: Benicia

    Tips: Fish slow and be precise. Fish and area with different techniques. Drop shot, darter-heads, or the jig seems to be the key right now.

Sunday, February 5th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 54-56

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of Capella at 7:30am. My plan was to fish Skiers Cove, the Narrows and Wraggs Canyon. It was pretty sloppy in the morning but nice and clear, the main lake was muddy but the canyons in the south end were stained and very fishable. Hooked a 2.5 Largemouth at skiers in wood on a senko then for the next 1.5 hours nothing, this was at 8:30am, left there at 10am and hit a couple of coves in the narrows but found nothing in the back ends so stayed out of them the rest of the day. Hooked one short spot drop shotting at the beginning of one of the coves after spending two hours on the coves I went to Wraggs and hooked three more spots drop shotting. We called it a day at 2:30pm. All in all a pretty good day for us for the first time out. I hope my next outting will be better. Used Yamamoto cut tails in white and purple for drop shotting and hooked most of the fish in 15 to 20 feet.
    City: South San Francisco

    Tips: Don't spend a lot time beating the banks. Look for deeper fish on humps that you will find here and there. Try something new before spawning time gets here and maybe you will find a new secret weapon! Tight Lines!

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    Water Temp: 48-54

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Started off with light winds and rains. The rains stoped but the winds went up higher. Worked the narrows for the first 2 hours picking up 8 smallies and three spots with jigs and Norman crank baits in shad colors. Moved north/west of the Big Island, working some island tops in 5 - 25 ft. Jk Jigs in brown/purple with a #180 grub worked good all day. Our best five was 12 plus pounds. The wind up north got upto 20 plus mph, the ride back was rough.
    City: rocklin

    Tips: Fish all over the lake, move slow and have fun

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    Water Temp: 52.9 to 54.0

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Out of Markeley by 6:45 to the main body...windy and rough! First spot was blown out. Headed to the south side of the Big Island and found some fairly wind protected water. Threw cranks and picked 2 FAT smallies within 5 minutes on back to back casts. Just covered water in the same area for the next 2.5 hours and boated 5 keepers for an 9.5 lb limit by 9:15, 4 smallies & 1 spot. Had to bug out by 9:30 and go to work...HAR!
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: Threw crawdad pattern cranks. All fish bit in less than 15 feet water.

Saturday, February 4th, 2006

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of Markely at safe light with my two kids and some rain. We were drop shotting and my son Colin brought in the only fish of our 4 hours on the lake. He boated a nice 2 pounder in about 25 feet of water.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Take your kids fishing......They will teach you alot!

Friday, February 3rd, 2006

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    Water Temp: 54-55

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of Markley and started fishing before leaving the cove. Caught a nice 2 pounder with a C-rig...Moved down the narrows trying to locate aggressive fish on reaction type baits. No takers on my jerkbaits..I told myself that I would not drop shot today so I started throwing a Margarita Mutilator on a split shot rig and picked up about another 10 fish or so but all in the 1lb range. All fish came in about 15 feet of water.
    City: EDH

    Tips: Stay out of the North side of the lake because of water clarity(Muddy)..Smallies seem to be staging for their spawn..Yes, my friends I think that with a couple of warm weeks and it will be spawn time again... I love this time of year...Tight lines and take a kid fishing.

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    Water Temp: 55-57

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished from Markley all throughout the narrows with earth-tone worms and caught easily twenty with our best ten going 10lbs. The fish were anywhere from 16-30 feet in the mornig and once the Sun got up the fish seemed to more up.
    City: MArtinez

    Tips: Fish slow all the fish that we caught were just weight. And makesure that you always have bottom contact.

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Launch out of Markley at about 8:45 AM under overcast sklies. Tried some deep running crank baits first thing with no success. At 10:00 AM switched over to drop shotting. I caught 12 keeper bass during the next 3 hours. The fish were all between 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 pounds. I talked to two other boats who only caught one fish between them. So I guess I had a pretty good day. It was nice to have the lake basically to yourself.
    City: Suisun City

    Tips: Drop shot baits that worked for me were a scalpin in ox blood color and 4" straigth tail worm in morning dawn color. Caught all the fish between 14 to 16 feet of water. Hope this helps.

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

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    Water Temp: 51-52 Degrees

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Did a Guide Trip with a Gentleman from New Jersey today. Weather was nice considering a day after a Front moved thru. Lake was flat, dead calm, no wind at all. This made the fish very spooky and nervous.

    We nailed a couple fish early on Hula Grubs 1/2oz/HDs. After the sun hit the water the fish went into TIGHT LIP MODE with very little lip service. I thought to myself "Wheres the Wind", I need the breeze to activate this fish to commit.
    For every fish we put into the boat we as a whole missed 3 non-comittal fish. Up until Noon we used 194js, 208's 127s. 208's seem to produce more bites but it was a flip up. After running North and finding dirty water I only give it an hour with Zip in the boat.

    Moved to the center of the lake and started dropshott'in Arrans Magics and we put 3-4 more in the boat with one 2 1/2lb Largemouth and a decent Smallmouth Cross Breed. Moved back down South into the Narrows and fished walls looking for disturbed shad. Found them around 40-45ft and dropped shotted 4 more on one wall, missed just'us many. All you felt was dead weight, no movement. Set are free as they say.

    Finished the day with around a dozen or more keepers in the boat. With the weather forcast has rain, the lake will fill up even more. Right know its 3inches over the Glory Hole 440.??
    City: Rio Vista

    Tips: Tips,,,Hmmmm, fish slowwwwwwwww and methodical and by all mines watch your depthfinder for shad activity from 30-45/50ft. 44ft was an active depth. With the water color chang'in with the storms, pay attention to this. One area you maybe catching on Arrons magic, then move to another and have to change color say to a Mutilator or a Morning Dawn. Try and find the Breezy areas of the lake if no wind in present. Once the wind picks up the bite will pick up. Nothing was caught on Ripbaits today. With conditions changing daily Im looking for it.

    For Guide Trips in Instruction or just fish'in you can contact me at (H)374-1446 or Cell at (510)289-3748 or go to my web-site above.

Monday, January 30th, 2006

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: My brother-inlaw Curtis Sanchez was the one to catch that 15.86 TOAD.I was duck hunting should have heard the message left on my cell phone.He has A few picture and will try to get them up soon.
    City: Sac

    Tips: Put the gun away and break out the rods!!!!!!!
    Folsom Bass League next Sunday the 5th.
    folsomlakebassleague.com

Wednesday, January 25th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 50.6 to 51.2

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Fish with Tony today and caught 15 bass (spots and small mouth) from 730am to 130pm used deep diving crankbaits mostly, drop shot for three fish and biggest came on a brown 3/8 oz jig with brown twin twister tail. Most fish came in the south end of the lake in coves and on points from 10 feet deep to 30 feet of water. East end and around Berryessa Marina was slow for us. Water temp was 50.6 to 51.2 degrees.
    City: san bruno

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    Water Temp: 47-52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Jim Malm and I fished in the narrows for the first few hour off points in 15 to 20 ft of water. Cranking, rippen and jigin, water was @ 48 degs. Moved north were the water was 52 deg on the west side. Still most of the fish came in 15 - 20 ft slow dragging a watermelon red flake or a brown/purple JK jig with a grub. Most of the fish were spots and some smallies from 1.0 - 3 lbs.
    City: rocklin

    Tips: first crank the points then jig or split shot slow.

Wednesday, December 28th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 54.3-55.4

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished today and monday with easily twenty fish on monday and fourteen fish on Thursday. The fish on monday were caught on Rip-baits and earth tone worms. Thursday all the figh came on earth tone worms.
    City: MArtinez

    Tips: FISH VERY SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, December 20th, 2005

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    Water Temp: $$$

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: HEY HAWG HUNTER WHERE DID YOU CATCH THE8LBER!
    City: MOUNTAIN VIEW

Monday, December 12th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 56

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I guided a fellow Fri on one of the most beautiful December days I can remember at Berryessa. Too beautiful - not a breath of wind. We fish shadows mostly - steep banks and found quality bass which surprised me. Our best five were 12 lbs 2 oz, but we only caught 11. I broke off a Berryessa bass for the first time in awhile - big fish! Biggest was a near 3 lb smallie. Sat I guided 2 guys - totally rookies in bass fishing. They could cast and that was all that mattered! One of the fellows who hadn't fished in 12 years landed the first 3 bass! Well, I guess this isn't as tough a sport as we think it is!!! Fishing was different on Sat for my boat. We caught nearly 20 bass but got into a lot of 11 to 13 inchers for some reason. Our limit was under 10 lbs. They had a great time and we now have 2 new converts to bass fishing!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I was surprised to see a big wind come up about 10 am on Sat. I think cranking would have been the way to go as the previous poster said. Jigs works very well both days as did worms - especially morning dawn. We found most of our bass both days in 15 to 40 feet of water.

Sunday, December 11th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 57

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: 1st time on the lake first fish of the day came on a jig. This fish was 8.11 lb Largmouth, we cought approx 15 lbs from one little stretch of bank. Ended up with 16.5 lbs throughout the day.

    Sky was hazy all day and the fish were on the chew, second place had a little of 12lbs. Come out and meet us at http://www.folsombassteam.com/

    We meet every 1st Wedensday in Orange Vale.
    City: Antelope

    Tips: Dont be afraid to fish in water above 40' ;)

    If you find Largmouth sit them out.