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Berryessa Lake and Reports

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Saturday, March 12th, 2005

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished with my son at the Future Pro Tour and it was great. First goal is always get a fish to weigh so my son can go up there and get the experience. Next goal get five fish. Next goal on this lake was 10#. We hit them all 12.01# best five. Tommy got a nice 2.5 smallie in the last 30 minutes to move us way up (the +1.4# cull was huge in this event). Stuck to our plan for better or worse, east shore in the am nothing for the first hour and then some excitement. A 5.1 bit my ugly hangman weightless senko like bait and took it for a ride. When her head came out we both knew it was a big fish for this event. Great net job by my son and we were on the board. We abandoned teh jerk bait / crank bait for a while and went weightless. 90 minutes late we have 5 bass and lots of smiles. Went south as planned for some upgrade either in skiers cove, red dirt, points and coves behind the course. Upgraded a couple but no bed fish in the shallows worth taking. Last stop Capel cove below the ramp. Really windy, Tommy sticks a 2.5 smallie on a dropshot great fight. Back to the scales and the 2 hour weigh in. Vince and his team did a fantastic job, 201 teams and I never heard one complaint. We took 14th and my son got 2nd in the Junior division! Tommy even won a Fish Hedz mask at the raffle- thanks again Rob & Terry but with 125 horsepower it may not be necessary right now.....
    City: Pacifica

    Tips: Cranks and Jerk baits did not work for us Sat, only a couple small fish. Many fish on wetermelon Helix (Thanks Rob Riehl & Terry White for turning me on to this bait), Cinnamon Senko, dropshot witches T & MM purple. Big fish on a Chompers super sinker (who would even throw that)

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    Water Temp: 62.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: What a great day last Saturday was. 178 boats in the first Future pro tour season and what a great event, smooth and well organized. Not much different than my pre-fish trips, spent the day North, had a good limit by 8:45 on C-riged lizards, ripping a Stasybe 90 svp in ghost, and senkos. Spent way too much time getting a big female to eat. Caught the male , 2.14 lber on a senko and she left circled and locked back in. Somewher around 8-10 lbs, anyway we spent way too much time on her and never really significantly increased our weight. Lot of fish today, probably caught 30 fish.
    City: Carmichael

    Tips: Unlike other lakes, Clear Lake , for example for whatever reason the Bass in Berryessa are VERY hard to catch if they see you, that is if you can see them they can see you. I made long pitches and cast and used cover to hide my boat. Pulled more than one fish out of the tree, literaly netted while hanging in the limbs. The pattern today was behind the trees, a lot of boats were working the outide edge of the sunken brush, we went to the inside 2-3 feet of water under the boat and worked the inside. Unfortunately my favorite spot had a boat on it all day. We played the 25 yard cat and mouse game for hours. Our best five went 9.59 lbs, should have played for oz, not pounds but is sooo hard to leave a big fish , she did head butt a pink senko once though. Get on Berryessa this month .

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    Water Temp: 58-62

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: The water was clear and mud along the shore with all the boats from Future Pro Tour Tourament, (170) at last count. Blast off was at 6:15am for the first flight of 25 boats, my boat was # 111. My partner was Quincy Malone.. With 110 boats out in front of us we made the first stop in Skiers Cove near Steele Park. No bites on spinners, cranking but all our bass came on small lizards in 5-20 ft. Quincy got the first limit, then I replaced them all later with 1-4 ozs each more on a flat in front of the Boys Scout camp. For most of us a 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs was all we could find. We did get two largies 8 smallies and 10 spots. The winds came in around 2 pm and the main body was rough coming in at 4pm. Our weight was 8.23 lbs. for five, somebody got at 13 + lb on a swimbait. Carolina or split shot rig for plastics, brown/green jigs. Berryessa colors are green and browns for most the part, 3" to 5 " for plastics. Points, long and deep. Smallies and spots are moving upon the beds but not locked on yet for most, largies will be up within 3-4 weeks.
    City: rocklin

    Tips: Look for bass in shallow in the morning, when the sun comes out move a little deeper until the water warms up.

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished berryessa the 12th. Launched out of Campell Cove and found a nice shore to fish off. First thing i get on the beach i see a HUGE bass. So i try to get it to bite and it took a couple minutes he took and ran off with it! I set the hook! It was a nice 4 pounder! Good way to start off the day! Well ill make this short. I caught 7 bass and 2 bluegill while i was there. I also caught a squawfish. Most of the bass i caught were over 1 pound. It was a Good Day!


    Email me if you have any questions
    City: San Bruno

    Tips: Bass are only in less then 5 feet in water and are now starting to make there beds.

Friday, March 11th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 58-61

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Did a Guide Trip today with one client. We started around 7:15AM from Markley Cove and proceeded fishing just outside of the canyon. I started in the morning with "Morning Dawn" until the sun got higher. At around 10AM I change too a 4inch Clear/Blue Streak bait and we caught fish until 1PM. We had around 20 keepers up to 2 1/4lbs. The breeze finally came and I went back to the Dam area using the "New Kreature" put out by Gary Yamamoto Baits. What a butt kicker this bait is. The largemouth moved up on the points and we caught them TX rigged, fish came from 15ft to 30ft movin it slow. In all toll, we caught 40 fish, with the biggiest just over 2 3/4Oz, best 5 went 13 1/4lbs all Largemouth. The spots were average 1 1/2 to 3/4lbs. Out of 40 fish only one smallmouth was caught (early in the morning. The best color in the "Kreature" was in 208, watermelon w/red flake.

    Gone Fish'in
    Rich Thiel
    (925)292-5024
    City: Livermore

    Tips: Hit the long extended point that led into the bay or walls that are broken up that lead into them. Best drop-shot length was 9" to 12". Some came on 6". TXrig 1/4oz. Follow the shade on the Points.

Sunday, March 6th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 57

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at pleasure cove resort at 7:30 and only 2 trailers in the parking lot. Stayed in wragg canyon the entire day. Boated 29 bass, most split shotting 4" magic worms at 10 to 20' deep off points. Caught 2 largemouth and the rest were 50/50 smallies and spots. Largest fish was 2-12 with a pound and a half average.
    City: Suisun City

    Tips: Fish slow until water warms more.

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    Water Temp: 59.5

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Went all the way up Putah Today. Me and my partner got into them pretty good. Most fish up shallow in 2-5 feet of water. There was alot of current coming in the river which helped us out. Caught fish on Blades, Cranks, Rip baits, Jigs and some worms. Reaction fish up shallow were then better fish. Caught about 25-30 fish in 4 hours during the morning. Best fish was a 3.71 Smallie. All fish averaged about 2.5lbs. best five was about 14.5 lbs. Tryed the afternoon bite out in the main lake but not much going on. Caught a couple of dinks dropshotting and dragging plastics. No reaction fish main lake.
    City: Castro Valley

    Tips: Get up the creek early. Lots of pressure as the morning wore on. If the current is rolling, the fish are there. Good Luck

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    Water Temp: 56-60,late afte

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Quick report which will not be too detailed as I too will be "fun" fishing the Future Pro event this Saturday. I was alone today and did not start till 10:30 am, Had a limit by 12:00 and then it shut down like someone turned a light switch. Did not catch another till 4:pm. Best 5 went 11.7lbs, and I caught a total of 12 keepers and a couple dinks.
    City: Carmichael

    Tips: The fish are really scattered again as last week I caught fish from 3 feet to 25ft. The water temp hit 60 in the after noon and with a week of sun and highs to 75 she could really turn on by saturday.The usual worked, C-rig, senko's , Rip baits, Jigs, nata on blades but it was a high pressure blue bird type of day. Should be some good weights next saturday. Vence puts on a good circuit and it should be a lot of fun.

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    Water Temp: 52-57

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Most of the better temp was up north, the bass were not any better. With this warmer werther coming in and staying all week until the Furture Pro Tour Tourament starts, we will have better fishing and maybe some going to the beds. I went out of Markley Cove and fished in the Narrows for a short time waiting for the fog to lift. Most of the bass were on the sides of points, starting to move back. Sometimes casting a jig might be to big, a small worm or lizard works for the small fish. Drove all over the lake watching the temp and the best water was the North/West side. Smallies and spots are everywhere from 1.3-2.2 lbs. Good luck.
    City: rocklin

Saturday, March 5th, 2005

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: launched out of Puta at the noth end of the lake at 7:30am caught about 10 fish in the first hour drop shotting rocky points and bolders w/ 3' smoke colored plastics. sun came out and so did everyone else. got tired of people pulling 25ft in front of me and fishing the same direction so caught 2 more and left. most fish 1-2/12 lbs nothing big
    City: elverta

    Tips: beat everyone else to the water.
    Never fished the south end of this lake befor so if anyone has eny tips or info i would apreciate it

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    Water Temp: 55-60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Went fun fishing with the wife. First cast she catches a nice 2lb smallie on salt and pepper grub. I know after 25 years of bass fishing this can be a bad thing.Well 3 hours later we each drop shot a nice spot and smallie 25 feet between points in a cove. My x15 is so cool for drop shot. 3 hours later we each hooked on chartruse grubs in a 60 degee cove with lots of angel hair grass everywhere nothing big.Nothing like fishing the day after a front went thru. Guess blue bird sky wins again. It was a beautiful day on a really pretty lake that has got to be full. The lake was full of shinny bass boats.Capell cove was full by 7am.I was down to my tee shirt by noon? What a nice warm day. Fishing was great catching sucked.
    City: orangevale

    Tips: Don't go the day after big storm. Just go to have fun and enjoy the moment. Lot of float tubbers were asking me what to do? Look for fish on bank early drop off to 25 feet in afternoons? Drop shot and throw grubs? Should be a crank bite with the warmer temp. Big tournament next sat so everybody is pounding the fish. Follow the release boat sat and fish sun.

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2005

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    Water Temp: 54

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: When you least expect it - the fishing CAN BE good! Second post-front trip in a row, but todays results were much better!! My client wanted to throw some swimbaits along with building his jig confidence. We started out of Markley Cove about 7 am. We wound up with an amazing 17 1/2 pound limit - which featured his 4-13 and 5-9 swimbait largemouth. He lost the biggest one - that would have been some limit!! He also caught a 3 lb largie on a brushhog and a 2 1/2+ smallie on a jig - which pleased both of us greatly. I had a big spot and several good fish on a Berkley Pulse worm. We caught 7 apiece but he was the star! What a good fisherman! I was helping him prepare for a tournament, so I can't say much more about where we were fishing or the swimbaits he was using. I can say that mine didn't work!!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We found all sorts of confused bass - from 5 feet deep to about 30 feet. Bait was hard to find today. Again, I was surprised at the quality of the fish considering the cloudy morning and some north wind.

Tuesday, March 1st, 2005

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    Water Temp: 54.8

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Tried many things, but only caught fish on drop shot in 12' to 20' of water near rocky points around the narrows. Seven bass to 2 lbs. It can only get better.
    City: San Bruno

    Tips: Fish slow and if you mark fish continue to make presentations to them.

Monday, February 28th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 53 am -- - 55.7

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Two days on Berryessa, Saturday I pre-fished for the Federation Tourn. on Sunday. Very different days. Lot's of boats on the water Saturday as 100% had a tourn. with around 40 boats, I was told. Spent all day North for a decent day best five went 14 or so with no real defined pattern. I caught smallmouth on 3/8 oz. jigs on points in 25 feet as well as Largemouth on flats carolina rigging a lizard, a tube fish, swim bait fish or two, several rip fish and my partner Steve picked up a crank bait fish or two and since he likes to drag a worm that picked up some fish to.So 20 or so fish with 3 a little over 3 lbs several solid mid 2's . Now Tourn. Day was different very windy but a South wind however the water temp dropped 3 degrees overnight and really never got back to where it was on Saturday. I thought the reaction bite would be off the hook, not so. My Carolinma rig produced a lot of dinks today and most of our rip fish were slapping the bait rather than eating it. I was fortunate enough to learn alot today.
    City: Carmichael

    Tips: When the pattern or bite changes overnight the fish did not teleport to another location on the Lake. The PRESENTATION did change. Adam , my back seat draw partner for the day whipped me real good with a drop shot bass trix curley tail on a ultralight fishing behind my C-Rigged lizard which went untouched, for the most part. It seemed that the fish reacted to the storm front by shuting down rather than turning on. I would have expected this with a Northern front but a Southern wind and rain, I guess that is why we go fishing. Good day overall, Adam was culling by 11:00 and I got attitude and turned loose my first few fish with the remark," I'm not weighing in that little fish", oh the lessions of life. ps, This is a good , well run circuit, give it a try. BASS Federation.

Saturday, February 26th, 2005

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the narrows with a buddy from 6:30-12:00. We boated 15 fish all dropshotting. No takers on anything else we tried. 3 lb spot was our biggest fish. Rest were all around the 1 lb range (smallies and spots).

    Tips: Still learning to fish this lake. We caught all of our fish close to cover.

Friday, February 25th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 47-52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Friday from 9-3:30. Not great, 7 fish top 5 for 7.5lbs largest only 1.9 lbs. Stayed in the south, sun never really made it out. Decent wind, conditions fine, just didn't find a pattern. Caught fish from 5 - 25 feet. 2 on a jerk bait, one on a texas rig, one on a Senko and the others on Drop shot. My guess is they were deeper than I was successsfully fishing. Nothing on a rattletrap or deepdiver or slow spinnerbait or Carolina rig. 25+ boats at Capel ramp. Good luck to the Future Pros, Vince does a great job!
    City: Pacifica

    Tips: Talk to someone who figured it out better than I did.

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    Water Temp: 52-54

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Water clarity was between stained and clear depending on location. I was out "guiding" I guess that is what you can call it. It was my 12-year old nephew's first trip. I also had my Dad in the boat (a trout troller). I did spend far too much time re-tying and educationg ... but we had 11 in the boat. The boy caught his first two bass ... two spots. A 1.2 and a 1.8. We had a coupld of nice smallies both around 2 lbs. No size to any fish. Like Larry, we caught them off of points and walls 15 to 25 feet down on plastics and jigs. Not a bad trip at all.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: The slower the better. Best bite was off of steep walls 25 feet down.

Thursday, February 24th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 50.8

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Redwood Empire Bass Club first tournament of the year was held last Saturday on the 22nd with 15 boats participating.The top team was Mark Urrizola and Steve Adams(angler of year 04')with 11.62lbs.followed by Chet Graska and Carson Riley with 11.01lbs.and myself and Brian Garland with 10.50lbs. including a 4lb.largemouth for biggest fish.All fifteen teams weighed fish with most of them catching limits.Plastics,rip baits and crankbaits all caught fish.Our next meeting is Febuary 9th at 7p.m. at the Rohnert Park Community Center on the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder Lane. The next team tournament is Febuary 26th at Lake Sonoma.The club is welcoming new members both boaters and non boaters.Log onto www.rebc.net for more info or call me at 707-332-7597.
    City: Santa Rosa

    Tips: Be patient and work your baits slow in 15 to 40ft.Football head grubs, darter head worms and drop shot worms in dark earth tone colors with chartreuse tips all did well.Work reaction baits off primary and secondary points and vary your retrieve.The smallmouths are very active. Good Luck.

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005

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    Water Temp: 51

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: So, what's it like to fish a lake the day after severe thunderstorms, near tornados, hail, and heavy rain? Actually, not too bad - but not good for quality. That did not suprise me. My client from Nevada wanted to learn to drop-shot and he picked it up rather quickly as his first bass was a 2-10 spot. We got several more dropshotting and a few on Rodstrainer jigs. We found most of the fish on walls and flats - but deeper than the last trip. They had moved off the bank again in many areas as the water probably cooled a degree or two. I think we got 12 in the boat , but the 5 biggest were only a little over 9 lbs. It did not warm up much and thunderheads were forming again - beautiful sight - especially since it didn't rain. Unfortunately, not very good fishing weather - but an excellent learning trip.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: One or two good days of stable weather will put these bass on the bite again. The number of bites was fine, but not real good quality.

Saturday, February 19th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 53.5

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: club tournament 25 guys. Heavy boater fished by himself. 16+ lbs his kicker was 6.72. Dan caught it on a crank bait first cast across point. Fish are moving up and are hitting grubs drop shot split shot heck everything.I had 10.5 lbs drop shot rig on sides of points. Wood near by helped.Didn't find my jig fish like I wanted in 50 feet so I went to the bank. Maybe the heavy rains moved the fish shallow? Most of my fish were beautiful smallies. What a great fishery berryessa is.
    City: orangevale

    Tips: If you go in the rain fish shallow. If the sun is out I'd go deeper. The fish a definatly moveing to the back of coves to spawn now. Next full moon look out. Lizards and brush hobs good choice. Don't know why drop shot worked so good all of a sudden but use morning dawn if water is stained. I did and it worked. You still have to fish slow.