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Berryessa Lake and Reports

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Saturday, June 26th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I just read Joe from San Brunos report and he makes a good point. You don't need a boat to catch nice bass but you do have to keep your eyes open and fish carefully. Good job Joe- you beat me fair and square. On the other hand I've never heard of anyone getting bit by a rattlesnake in their boat. Keep on fishin' Joe!
    City: napa

Thursday, June 24th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 74 degrees 8 fe

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: i was at berryessa for 4 days went fishing in campell cove of bank tuesday. as im walking down the shore line and i spy a huge bass throw my plastic worm right in front of his face and he takes it instantly. let him take of with it and then i set the hook. i got him up on shore and weighed 7 pounds. theres a picture of it in spanish flat marina.beat u bassnbob.LOL
    City: san bruno

Monday, June 21st, 2004

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    Water Temp: 74-79

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Sad day- last day of 11 days straight fishing. The good news is today was the best of all of them. Took another pal out to fish this beautiful lake- launched at about 6:30AM at Capell and headed to my favorite submerged tree spot. We both tossed plastics around the first tree with no bites. While we cruised over to the second tree I tied a jig onto my flippin' stick and added a yamamoto twin tail trailer. And after snapping off a nice fish last Monday I set the drag fairly light. I pitched the jig 2 times and on the third toss I felt a small tic- then the line took off heading towards shore. I set the hook (gingerly) and then tightened up the drag a bit because the fish was pullin' string. Then I let the rod do the work- and I pushed the thumb bar and used my thumb against the spool to control the tension. Then I yelled " please don't come off, please don't come off" until my friend netted it. What a cool way to start your day. She was a big headed 5lb.,12 ounce spawned out female. We very quickly weighed, measured (26") and photographed her and then watched her slowly fin away back to her underwater lair to eat some more REAL crawdads. We got 1 more jig fish- a 12 1/2" male. We cruised across to an island so I could show him how I troll crankbaits for bass. We saw a tree and decided to toss it- the fish wouldn't touch his brush hog or my jig. The wind blew us back into a cove and as I was turning the boat we saw a good bass bust some shad on top about 2 ft. from shore. We let the wind blow us deeper into this shallow area and when I tossed a white/ chartruese blade a 3lb.5oz. largemouth grabbed it just as I started reeling. Got it in the net- weighed, measured (19"), etc,etc. The coolest part of the day was all the 4 to 5 lb. bass we saw swimming around up in that cove. Not carp- bass. I've never seen that many bigger bass all gangin' up on shad in such a confined area. After the bite slowed down we were able to pull in and have a good look around. There was a hump with a bunch of weeds growing on it- there was a huge buried log about12 ft. long, there were two small isolated rockpiles and a nice shelf across the back of the cove where it dropped from 1 ft. down to 3ft.. My pal got a nice smallmouth on a watermelonseed lizard- about 14 1/2" long. He had another one a minute later but this one held onto the lizard just long enough to get to the side of the boat- then it let go. We looked at the lizard and the hookpoint was still buried in the lizard. I told him "You dipstick- how many times I gotta tell you- SET THE HOOOOOOOK! All in all it was a great last vacation day.
    City: napa

    Tips: Don't take it for granted if an area looks bad- I drove right by this great area we found today on Saturday afternoon and didn't even bother making a cast. I agree with Cooch Cuccia- pig and jigs rule and if those don't work try watermelon/ red flake lizards or baby brush hogs texas or carolina rigged.

Sunday, June 20th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 76

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: What happened to the bite.Wife,Daughter & myself fished 0600-1100 Fathers Day.My choice of what to do.Two fish,together maybe 13".North/East end and Putah Creek. Topwater,jerkbait,draggin,senko,crankin.I've lost my touch.Wife commented how I let her down,that hurt for about a minute.It's not called catch'in.Fish'n.
    City: Fairfield

    Tips: Don't ask me.Drawing a blank.

Saturday, June 19th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: headin up to berryessa tomorrow ill be there for three days.i will make sure i will report on it.
    City: san bruno

Monday, June 14th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 74-79

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Decided to take my friend out for a little bassin' at Berryesa. The fishings been pretty darn good the last 3 trips there. We launched at 5:40AM at Capell- some poor dude burnt up his tranny the night before and was parked on the ramp next to the dock. We cruised over to an area that has some submerged trees surounded by a big flat. I tossed a spook and he used a lizard t-rigged. For almost an hour we got nothing. We slowly worked around each of the submerged trees- by now I was using my trusty pig & jig and he was still tossing the lizard. I pitched it up against the base of the tree on the shady side and felt that familiar thunk- I yanked back on my flippin' stick and snapped my 20 lb. leader at the jig. Maybe 3 seconds later the fish comes up out of the water shakin' her head trying to get rid of my jig. She repeats this 3 times over the next 5 minutes. The head was impresive but it was the tail that got me excited- looked to be about 7-8" across. Probably a 6 plus. Right after all this excitement- my buddy pulls on his spinning rod and starts reeling like crazy. He sort of forgot all about his lizard but the other bass next to the tree did not! This one came up shaking its head also- just as I grabbed the net it came unbuttoned. Darn to say the least. At least it got us wide awake after the slow first hour. If I'd set a little softer and he'd set a little harder we would have had a nice start to a good 5 fish limit. We let them all go anyway. The rest of the trip was pretty slow. My friend caught 1 smally just under a foot long and I ended up with 3 14" smallies. Three of the fish came on trolled crankbaits- those smallies eat 'em up all day long- if there is some wind blowing onto the bank. The 4th one came on a football head grub. The wind was only blowing maybe 6-9 MPH- I'd hoped it would blow harder- it is a pain to control my aluminum boat in but the fish always seem to bite harder and more often.
    City: napa

    Tips: Get out and GOGOGOGO. First brush on lotsa sunscreen then take 3 more jugs of water than you think you'll need and don't forget the 5" Zoom watermelon/red lizards. See ya out there- back to back 4 day weekends- yahoooooo. P.S.- Thanks for posting all those good reports Lunker Larry- I learn something every time I read one-you're a good man!

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Last week I had 2 trips up to the lake. Most fish were caught on a carolina rig with 4 inch Robo worm. I switched colors from Xmas purple,Arons magic, and morning dawn. These colors also worked well on the drop-shot rig. White spinner baits slowrolled over the flats on the east shore did good in the am as did chug bugs worked on the surface. Rip baits have slowed down. West shore below pope creek had alot of fry and shad to get the fish going. Did well in the narrows with the drop-shot rig.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Don`t be affraid to try diffrent baits when the tried and true do not produce.
    Practice CPR (catch photo release)

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: any crppie stories out there from berryessa
    City: san brun

Saturday, June 12th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Had another exciting weekend on the lake this past Friday and Saturday. Friday produced fast and frenzied crank-bait action resulting in 18 large & small mouth bass, with one large-mouth over 6lbs. For a 20-30 minute period, EVERY cast produced a strike and three-four fish followed every hook-up to the boat!! Deep diving crank bait in green/yellow/orange pattern fished in a rip--pause--rip method was the ticket. A slow & steady retrieve caught fish as well, but wasn't as productive as rip-pause-rip. Really nice on the lake on Friday as there were very few water-skiers, haul-@$$ boats and jet skiers on the water.

    Returned on Saturday to a consistent drop-shot bite that put more than 30 fish in the boat. Predominant bite was the smallie....
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: Look for birds diving on schooling bait for fast & furious action!! All fish were caught off a point in the narrows near the big island in 15-20'. Best drop-shot bait was the Robo 4" worm and leach in June Bug & Tequila Sunrise colors. Important to place the hook 20-24" above the weight to get the bait above the top of the grass so the fish can see it....then just let it drift with the boat and HOLD ON!!!

    Wet a hook!!

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    Water Temp: 68-73

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Just finished guiding day trips Tues, Wed, and Fri. Each trip had something interesting as the fish changed daily with the mid-week cold front. These were teach-the-lake trips, so numbers wern't the main object. Overall, the fishing was good, but spotty. The numbers for the trips were 16, 16, 14, with only 3 dinks. Tues morning had a brisk north wind and the thunderheads started forming about 10 am. My client's first fish nearly freaked me out!! He hooked what seemed to be a good fish at 8:45 am, on a Camanche Jack 6" green craw worm. I grabbed the net and soon couldn't believe what I saw. This fish was a smallmouth color and appeared to be nearly 2 feet long. Somehow I got it the net after three minutes. It was a 21 1/2 inch spot - I think! Or was it a smallie? It really was a spot with smallmouth blood for sure. She was some type of hybred. What did matter was that she weighed 4 lbs 5 oz! Whatever she was, she is still there and what a fish!! The rest of the day was good with our limit coming in at 12 1/2 lbs. Wednesday's surprise was 15 largemouth, 1 smallmouth, and NO spots. Driving to the lake for the second day of a cold front, I figured the spots and smallies would save the day. I figured the largemouth would turn off. Shows how much I know, har! Friday was a beautiful, warm day - fish should turn on. It was dead except for a nice 2 lb spot in the narrows on topwater and a few nice worm fish. I guess the fish gave up on a breeze coming up, so they started feeding at 12:30 pm - go figure! My client ended the trip with a 2-2 smallie, caught in 5 feet of water at 2 pm. She had been shallow so long, she was almost black. Our last 8 were caught in the last hour. Never give up!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: The topwater bite died with the cold front, but seemed to be coming back with the warm weather Friday. Should be good this weekend. We saw small bass offshore chasing bait for the first time on Fri. I had clients split-shotting most of the three days - that was by far the best technique. Tues they wanted green craw. Wed, they would'n look at that color - they wanted morning dawn with or without chartreuse tail. Again, these were all largemouth Wed - 2 at 2 1/2 lbs and several over 2. We fished the east shore some, but mostly the west shore from Spanish Flat to Pope Creek. Nearly every bass was 5 to 20 feet, nothing much below 25 feet. The bait is no deeper than 25 feet. We fished points, flats, and ledges the whole time. We tried to find ledges that would have underwater shadows. In June, shadows are hard to find!

Saturday, June 5th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 74 degrees

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: My buddy and I went out on his bass boat at 2:00 pm last Sunday and it was pretty tough all day. The topwater bites was non-existent, the plastic worm and senko was useless, and we'd didn't use crawlers or minnows cause we'd both had good luck on plastics this season. We'd were heading toward skunk city when we'd decided to hit a narrow around Spanish Flat, lol... we'd saw the biggest bass so far chasing after 2 trouts about 2 lbs around a stump, she was about 26+ inches long and FAT like a barrel, she wasn't spook when we'd troll by using the electric motor, guess she was too busy eyeing them 2 RB trouts hanging around the bushes feeding on shads. So, we'd threw big swimbaits at her... about 12inch RB trying to simulate the trouts, she follow one to the boat and turned quickly, after the first casts of both swimbait she ignored it completely, then we'd switch to cranks, no results, used plastics worms and senkos at her, still no result... finally we'd threw spinnerbaits and bang my rod bent but a friggin 2 lber male hit my spinnerbait, LOL.. I thought I'd had my PB best for this year but a male bass was hiding between the bushes hit my spinnerbait!... after that we'd didn't get any bites at all but taps on the lures by other dinks we'd didn't want. Momma hog was still there around 5 feet of water... yes, 5 feet of water, so we'd really regret not bringing crawlers or minnows cause the live action of crawlers or minnows probaly would of produce a bite. My buddy had an idea... he used a salt water extended Salmon net and netted her from behind. He caught her using a net! LOL.. the momma hog weighted 16.9 lbs and 26inches long with a girth as fat as a barrel drum. It was getting dark around 8pm so we'd photogragh her for his collection book and released momma hog back into the water and around the same area she was suspending at... it was a tough day but we'd both caught 1 fish each. Oh well... netting is legal for carp but we'd were desperate seeing the hawg there and thought it coulda been a lake record! She look like 18+ pounds in 5 feet of water. LOL... if she had eggs in her she'd be at least 18.8 lbs max IMO.
    City: Concord

    Tips: Always bring a good size net cause you will never know it will come in handy.

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Non-stop, busting loose top-water action made a memorable Saturday for my lovely bride and I. Smallies and Large Mouth bass up to 4 lbs were busting 5" white Zara Spooks and Excalibur Chugs, probably anything else moving on the surface (saw several birds moving across the water like they'd had their tail feathers tickled by a hungry bass!). What a day! Fishing on a point near the big island in 12-18'. Returned on Sunday but the fish were lock-jawed. Beautiful day on a beautiful lake!
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: Wet a hook!

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    Water Temp: 74-78

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Ah, let the night fishing begin!! I guided late afternoon-night trips Wed and Thurs - lots of quality bass and a nice largemouth - 6 lb 13 oz! The Wed trip was fabulous for quality, though we only caught 13 since they had to leave just when the fish were turning on - about midnight. One client started off with our only dink and then caught a 2-10 largemouth. The hot color worm to split-shot before dark was green craw, since the bass are feeding on crawdads. I sampled topwater and got a great 17 3/4" spot on a Chug Bug. But that was it - no more. Couldn't understand it - conditions were perfect for topwater. The worm bite was good and the fish were all over 2 pounds - amazing! I lost one that my 8 lb test just couldn't handle. One the fellows really struggled - missing several fish. Just before we quit, using 7" black Berkley Power Worms, he caught his first 2 keeper largemouth, and on his last cast (I was waiting to put his rod away), he sets on a 2-2 largemouth. We all went home happy! I think these were the biggest post-spawn bass I have ever seen in one trip.

    Thurs night was cooler and the fish really turned on - even the topwater. The quality of bass was almost as good, but we caught several 1 1/4 to 2 pounders also. I saw my first bass of the summer chasing bait offshore and threw a Chug Bug in that direction. A 2 1/4 smallie blew up on it - got it in - Wow! Totally flat belly. Client hooked his first topwater fish ever - a good one - but lost it. They went back to worming and caught a ton of bass. I caught a few more on topwater. Weird bite - we caught all smallies before dark, one spot at 2-5 (17 inches) that a client caught, and mostly largemouth after dark. One spotted bass only out of the 35 or so bass we caught. After dark, I found a dark wall to fish, but I though we would eat then. One guy just kept fishing his worm and the fish never stopped biting for him. Don't know if he ever did eat!! About 1 am I took them to a big fish area hear Rancho Montecello and we all threw our Texas rigged 7" Power Worms. I felt the same tick as I had felt hundreds of time before - set - and thought this MIGHT be bigger. It blew out of the water about 3 feet in front of the black light. That is not for the faint of heart! My client was scared to net it but he did fine. Good thing he did - the hook fell out of her 6-13 mouth! Sideways hook set just don't cut it! Someday I'll learn. Our limit wound up being 16 lb 6 oz - a trip none of us will soon forget!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We found fish on just about any point we worked. If they had a flat - they were better. We keyed in on shadows. Most of the bass would be in 2 to 10 feet of water in darkness. The open water bite during a full moon can be tough. The bites were very aggressive after dark, not so before dark. Berryessa offers lots of areas to deadstick your lure after dark - it works! Remember to fish slow, real slow! I tried crankbaits after dark too, but no takers yet.

Friday, June 4th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 70-74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished from 2-6 pm at some submerged trees. Got 9 fish- 6 smallies, 2 largemouths and a real nice spotted bass. They were all keepers except the first one - it was 11 1/2 ". Got all the keepers on a 5" watermelon/red lizard t-rigged. The biggest one of the day was 2 pounds exactly.The wind seems to really rev them up. I had a 13-14" smally chase the lizard for 20' all the way back to the boat- nipped the tail 3 times but wouldn't swallow it! Just go.
    City: napa

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Check this out...www.BerryessaTrails.org. The tree huggers would like to make some changes at Berryessa, and its not good for us fisherman..Any ideas..
    City: Penngrove

Saturday, May 29th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 69

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: What happened to the top water bite like two weeks ago.Found fish all over the depths.Dead sticking Sencos with a circle hook,only thing working for me.Cast out let settle twitch.8 fish for 4.5 hrs fishing,all shallow,all close to 2lbs.Daughter caught 5 reading a book and dragging a 4" green weenie.Bigger fish at 10'+,she caught the big fish a 2.2.Good thing there was no bet going on.Lot of boat traffic by 1000.Left by 1100.Met nice basser on lake threw him some baits(clear senko with red & black flake),hope his luck improved.He had just put his first fish in the boat when we met.Weather and wind change the day before must of pushed them down?
    City: Fairfield

    Tips: Fish slow.

Sunday, May 23rd, 2004

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    Water Temp: 69-70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: What a windy day yesterday at the lake - that delta wind - NOT breeze - started around 10 am and really became annoying! I was guiding three guys, so that made for a hard working day for me! The foggy morning was calm and one of the fellows wanted to catch a topwater bass real bad and I told him it was pretty tough lately. I started them all split-shotting 6' Camanche Jack worms and I threw a Chug Bug to see what would happen in a cove outside Markley. Fish on - a 15" spot! So I gave him the rod, told him to stand right next to me, showed him how to work it, and he proceeded to slay them on the Bug! I think he caught 7 on top. I lucked out in the choice of starting areas - the cove was full of bait and bass! My X-19 was in full color!!! The worm bite was on too and I just ran around the boat - bumping into people - netting bass after bass. Wow! I had a moment to make a few casts with a Sammy and hooked a monster smallie which cost me 15 bucks! Guess I'll retie more often! We fished the west shore, trying to stay out of the wind. For the first time, the middle of the day bite was slow for us - a fish here and there. We wound up with 23, and many, many missed fish because of the wind.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I would like to congratulate the idiot in the bass boat that was doing about 40 mph in the 5 mph section of big island. I'm sure he did a lot for our image! Another bassin' guy decided to scare all of us in the afternoon - roaring by within 75 feet of our boat. Couldn't believe it!! Anyway, we didn't target big fish, just tried to have some action. I had a chance to do a litle drop-shotting, but it didn't work yesterday. We got one or two on a Senko, but the worms worked the best, about 15 to 25 feet deep. Some of a purple color in the worm worked best, although the morning dawn was fine as always. The lake now has good color - not too clear!

Friday, May 21st, 2004

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    Water Temp: 64 to 72

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Went out with my friend Terry Friday morning launched at Putah Creek fished Pope early with limited success my friend got a two pound fish on a spook caught a few smaller fish drop shotting moved to Putah creek continued fishing drop shot picked up several smaller fish. My friend did pick up one three pound fish on a popper around four thirty on Putah creek. For the past two weeks we have experienced problems with bass boats speeding through the no wake zone. Two weeks ago there was even water skiers skiing on Putah beyond the bouys. I find this disregard for the rules troubling I feel it gives us who follow the rules a bad name. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has experienced these problems.
    City: SONOMA

    Tips: There are fish to be caught but it is going to be more difficult after memorial day with all the boats on the water and the disregard for the rules.

Monday, May 17th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 72 degrees

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: My buddy a I went out on his bass boat fishing the narrows and coves. Alot of SM bass bites on top water cranks and spinnerbait, mid bites were 5-6 feet down, SM bass were hitting on grub jig too, but NO SIZE beyond 1LB. So, we threw plastics in between boulders and shrubs, bang.. 3 lb LM bass... a few more cast and bang 2lb LM bass, alot of action in the 2-3lb range, we decide to go deeper water and anchor near a dropoff around Spanish Flat... saw the biggest fish in his fishfinder... don't know if it was a catfish or carp kept fishing and dropshotting with plastics, my buddy had a soft peck and he set the hook, bang a 14lb lunker bent his rod like a big snag in the rocks, she fought well trying to break the line going deeper water, we'd weighted her at 14.6lbs at 25inches, apparently the spawn is over and there was no eggs in her but fat/heavy from feeding on shads and crawdads. I didn't catch a lunker but had alot of bites in the 1-3 Lbs range both SM and LM bass. We'd released 14Lber momma hawg back where we caught her so she can fight another day at the same location in the future. Dropshot 10" inch plastic worm... purple with glitter. The cranks and Rat-L will net dinks, weightless plastic didn't work today but the "running" cranks and spinnerbaits had good action all day.
    City: Concord

    Tips: Anchor in 15+ feet DEEP water and dropshot LARGE plastics ... this will eliminate the dinks and entice the momma hawgs lunkers. When in doubt set the hook, use heavy tackle and line, when you are that deep visibilty decreases and braided line is the way to go.

Saturday, May 15th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Blast off Saturday for Bass Reaper Club Tournament 0600.Limit by 0730.Top water action was awesome on north end.6.1 on White Zara Spook.Partner pulled a 2.8 from the same exact spot 10 minutes later.All other fish small.5 fish for 11 something.Sunday repeat.Though no kicker.Awesome top water bite.
    City: Fairfield

    Tips: Read next weeks posting