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Berryessa Lake and Reports

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Sunday, March 14th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 58*-64*

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Drove up saturday mornin to meet with a couple of buddies,dropped all my nonessentials off like cloths and food.Arriving about 6:15,My partner already at the door,like a big dog ready to take a pee,and so we head out.Begun throwing spinnerbaits in shad pattern,well Chris picking smallie afterr smallie,one of them a 3.5lber,i hadn't yet felt the rythm.The rythm was a slow role and i think my blades were too small and fast,so i tried another of my home mades with some more thump and well that hit it home for me.We were nailing them dead all through Putah Creek.Spots,more Smallies and an occasional largemouth.should of cranked,however didn't,afternoon came and it heated up,not the bite,but the climate and water.It slowed up and we resorted to yamamoto grubs ,watermelon w/red flake ST.,@about 12-18ft.It was kinda of difficult to remember what was under all that water,that was the highest i've ever seen it.The bite sure seemed to taper down as more boats arrived.There was a tourney at the south end and not many made to the north,So we got bass throught out the night and the next morning and sat. day and got the heck outa there around 4:30.I'm tired now fellow bass fisherman,The bite is pretty nice however,alll species of fish biten,picked up a 4lb cat on that grub."Anyways".
    City: Fremont

    Tips: HAVE FUN AND GET OUT THERE EARLY FOR THE BEST BITE I THINK,DO SET HOOKS,CAUSE JERKS ARE FOR FREE,IT MIGHT BE A LUNKER

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    Water Temp: 56-60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Spent today guiding Norman & Lucas Bowden. Young Lucas fished our Pro-Teen last year for the first time, got so hooked on bass fishing he convinced his dad to buy a new Triton, now they're fishing the Future Pro Tour together. The purpose of this trip, and the next 7, is to work with these two in showing them how to, not only patter and catch seasonal bass, but to effectively prepare and fish for a tournament. And did I mention ta have some fun!

    We started our day at Markley going over the Lake map, the species in the lake and seasonal patterns. I explained to them, to win on this lake, you need to pattern the largemouth first, the other two species will follow and fill in your bites. Then off we went to go find some fish. We sarted with a jig-n-pig, a ripbait and a Jig-n-grub. First cast dads got a nice 2 pound spot on the brown purple jig-in grub. Cooch then misses two fish on the jig-n-pig and ole Lucas is now putting down the ripbait. 15 minutes later I put the first largemouth in the boat on the jig-n-pig, three keeper spots are added to the well before we move and fish a laydown tree and I pull another 3+ largemouth out of it with a bigger fish trailing behind(obviously the female!) I then put a 9 Series 215 SENKO in Lucas' hand and commences to put 4 really nice spots in the boat. We bounced around all day catching a total of 22 keepers and a number of shorts. Best five, which included 3 largemouth(7 total), that went just over 13.5 pounds. The water was purty stained up by afternoon due to ALL the boat traffic on the lake, WOW, this weather sure brings em up to this lake early! Coming back through the narrows to Markely was like ridding down the San Jaquine heading to Ladd's at 3:00 on a sunny June afternoon. Great fishing day, and not too bad a catching day ta boot for a lake that's yet ta pop wide open.
    City: Oakley

    Tips: Brown - purple 1/2 oz football jigs caught the majority of our fish. The largemouth & smallies ate the pork, the spots took to the double tail 209 trailer. The Senko worked well in clear areas. Our fish all came in the top 10 foot water zone on steeper rocky banks, with the three best fish coming out of the tree top of lay down trees. Fish have still yet to move in numbers, look for them on the deeper transition walls. Late afternoon, rip the mudlines!

Saturday, March 13th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: fished the north end and just hammered them.crank baits and jigs were the hot ticket.lot good fish too.mixed bag of smallies and large mouth.two day total was 35-40 fish.biggest bag was sunday right around 16lbs.this lake is on fire right now.go while the weather lasts.
    City: redwood city

    Tips: jigs aroung brush and fallen trees. crank baits and jerks on rocky points.

Friday, March 12th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 55-59

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I guided a good angler Thursday and went with my good friend Charlie Meyer from the Fish Sniffer today - in his new Triton TR-22. I think it is called a "ship"! Though the fishing isn't great yet, we caught 19 on Thurs - fishing the narrows and Wragg Canyon. Today, Charlie and I explored the north end and the east and west main body. We landed 23 for a limit of nice smallies near 10 pounds. Today was the first day (for me) of a good reaction bite, all on crankbaits. Charlie caugh good smallies on his favorite crankbait and rattletrap. I used my new Strike Pro citrus shad small crankbait and caught a lot of bass on it, including a 2-1 smallie and a good size largemouth. Several hit right at the boat. What a terrific lure - even Charlie was impressed! The worm bite that had been so good for me and clients died today as did the jig bite. Charlie did catch several on his favorite Yamamoto grub and one or two on a Carolina-rigged lizard. The bass yesterday were a bit smaller - I think because of the previous days north wind. Also, the bite has changed some. Instead of the afternoons turning on, the fishing slowed as the water warmed. Weird!! That happened both days. My Tuesday trip was just the opposite. The bites are mostly still pressure bites - even on the crankbits. Since the water still has a lot of color, I would suggest a bright crankbait or ripbait. We tried spinnerbaits today - one of Charlie's favorite techniques, but no takers!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Still not many bass in the back of coves. Both days we fished some off-shore structure with breaks and humps. We found a lot of smallies around rock. There has not been a mass migration to the shallows yet, so the spawn is still yet to happen. This great warm spell came just a bit early for the bass. Sure is great for the anglers though!!!!

Thursday, March 11th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 55-62

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Put in @ 10:30 out of Markley, picked up 3 fish in the first hour on a brush hog around structure, all tourney keepers, nothin big. Zoomed up north to putah creek and it was not worth the trip, muddy cold water and debris. Tryed to find fish in the small coves around the northwest bank and did'nt get any bites. Went back to the narrows and threw blades, got a nice 2.5 smallie and 2.0 spot, stopped in Markley Cove just before the launch ramp and nailed 2 spots on blades, 2.75 & 2.0. Still learning about how to fish this lake.
    City: Davis

    Tips: Targeted banks with shore structure going to deeper water, found all my fish tight to the cover and the bank.

Tuesday, March 9th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 56-61

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Wow - summer is here! But the bass don't know it's summer yet. I guided a dad and his 9 year old son today and we had a decent day. The first object was to make the 9 year old a pro caster. In about an hour, he was! He had several bites, but didn't get any in the boat. Darn! He sure enjoyed landing some that I hooked! Dad was just learning to worm fish and caught several nice bass including a 2 lb smallmouth and a 2-2 spot. We landed 13 tournament keepers and one runt. I caught a largemouth just under 2 pounds. Smaller fish have moved shallow in the afternoon but I still see big bass on the meter at 25 feet or more. We caught all our bass on 6" worms by Camanche Jack - green craw, Witches T, and Junebug. No jig or crank bite at all. We fished the narrows and Wragg Canyon. Our five best were a little over 8 1/2 lbs.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We tried the back of several coves with out any luck. We found fish on points, secondary points, and walls with afternoon sun and rock. We probably only had about 3 or 4 good bites - the rest were just pressure. Dad picked that up pretty well. I certainly though the fish would be more aggressive after the water hit 60 in the afternoon, but they wern't.

Monday, March 8th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 54-57

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Thought I would see what all this warm weather has done with the fishing. It wasn't a numbers day, but quality was the name of the day. The third cast of the day on a long sloping main lake point yielded a 13 pound 13 ounce monster largemouth. I caught no more fish, but did not care.
    City: Fairfield

    Tips: Lure- Lucky Craft Pointer. Well worth the extra money

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    Water Temp: 55-60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: launched at markley about 9:30, threw spinnerbait for a while, no hits. Switched to medium norman crank-bait. I was targeting wind or wave swept points in the narrows and at the mouth of the big lake. Caught about a dozen, lost 3 more. Largest come on back to back cast, first fish 2 lb smallmouth, 2nd 3-3half largemouth, with a clone trying to grab crank right back to the boat. Also caught few small fish on the steep rock lined banks in same areas, north side of course.
    City: sacto

    Tips: "go fishing"

Sunday, March 7th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 51-54

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I had a real nice guide trip yesterday with a good fisherman that will be fishing a tourney today. We had to work hard for what we caught, and several folks told us they had a tough day. I know the weather was part of the problem - the fish NEED sun in March!! The day started out sunny and within two hours it was lightly raining! Two hours later the sun is out again and the bass are biting again. Then it clouded up again and the fish shut off. Weird day. We caught 14 tournament keepers including 3 largemouth, and one 12 inch smallie - 15 total. My client had been having a rough year so I was very pleased to see him catch 3 or 4 of the biggest bass including a 2-5 spot. My biggest was a 2-4 largemouth. We had a good limit at 10 lbs 4 oz - give or take an ounce. We fished the narrows and Wragg Canyon and found our fish from 10 to 20 feet. No reaction fish, all caught on worms (had to be some purple in them) and black/purple/blue Rodstrainer jigs. Again, deadsticking was the key for both of us - shake the brass n' glass worm - let it settle to the bottom - sit - and "tick" - a bite!! We probably missed another 10 to 15 bites. I hope he got those "bites" in the boat today!!!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We found fish on points with scattered rock, and in subtle cuts and short coves. The water is still too cold for many bass to move all the way to the back of a large cove. Horizontal movements usually start when the water hits 55 degrees. We found the quality fish right where they should be in early March - next to deep water areas.

Saturday, March 6th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 53

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished 8a to 1p. Tried craw pattern cranks, spinnerbaits & jerkbaits w/no success. Caught 20 keepers, biggest 2 1/2 lbs., split shot and drop shot. Color did not seem to matter. Fished skiers cove, Markley area, & Spanish Flat.
    City: Delhi

    Tips: Most strikes in 10' to 20' on steeper banks.

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    Water Temp: ???

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: My buddy and I fished the southern end of the lake from 8 to noon and got 4 fish about 1.5 to 2 pounds each. The Bass were about 4-6 feet deep.
    City: Pinole

    Tips: Down-size your bait and work slow.

Friday, March 5th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 50-58

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of Steel Park, late start at 9:00 fished till dark. Stayed in the south coves and points. Tried baldes and cranks and jerk baits nothing worked except plastics. Lots of boats one in every other cove. Skiers made water muddy in main lake areas. First fish at 9:45, Jimmy got a 1.5 spot on a t-rig, he got another later same size same rig, Tommy got his first at 3:40 and another shortly thereafter, I got 7 spots and one crazy trout on a 7inch worm. T-Rig and drop shot got all the fish. Tommy closed the day in style with a nice 3.5# LMB at 6:10 on a t-rig 7 inch worm. Beautiful day in the mid-70's. Best 5 only about 10 pounds.
    City: Pacifica

    Tips: Fish slow they were really passive, bites came from 2 to 25 feet of water. No senko bite at all. Heard from a pro the rip bite was working in the morning.

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2004

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    Water Temp: ???

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Can somebody out there let me know where to fish this lake Im coming up maybe in a week to do some fishing .Where do I need to fish and what do I need? Thanks for any info,Don
    City: visalia

Saturday, February 21st, 2004

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    Water Temp: 50

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Had a greenhorn isherman rom my oice join me on the trip so I wanted to do well.Asked around about ishing conditions and was told the only tip was to stay home.My buddy was looking orward to it so we went anyway. launched at spanish lat. camp grounds and parking lot to the marins were under water. barely enough room to launch with no access to docks. WOW! Spanish lat had to move their little cabins to avoid them being looded. Fortunately they are on wheels. We passed capell cove on the way in. I have never seen water so stained. It looked like coee with too much cream. The water at spanish lat was better but still muddy. So i igured (stupid me) that putah might be our best bet. Ater running hal way and zig zaging through loating debri (including some ull size trees)the water only looked to be getting worse. I decided to push all the way through. When I reached the 5mph at putah and looked at the water I new we would not be there 15 minutes. I was right. We shot back down to the islands at mid lake. The water was much clearer in there and looked very ishable. On my irst cast into a allen tree I thought I snagged a branch and began to pull. Wait a minute that branch is swimming away. SET THE HOOK!!I did so but my drag was still loose rom rigging my pole (when will I ever learn to re-tighten it. I did get to ight the ish and even got to see it. My guess is 7 lbs.Would have been my biggest berryessa ish ever. My buddy hooked a nice 3 pounder while I missed a couple more ish. The greenhorn was making me look bad. We pulled up and headed or the narrows to go ater spots. I igured they may be a little more active. I was right. We ished the points in the points split shoting 4" june bug and drop shoting white/silver 3" paddle tail worms. The bite was on pretty good or being ebuary, post storm with dirty water.Glad I did not cancel this trip.
    City: Pinole

    Tips: drop shot and split shot dark colored smaller worms. use 1/16 ounce sinkers or a slower presentation. it seemed to make a dierence even with the drop shot rig.

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    Water Temp: 50-55

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: GILROY BASSMASTERS... HAD A CLUB TOURNAMENT TODAY HERE ON BEATIFUL AND FULL BERRYESSA! WE HAD A GREAT TURN OUT OF 22 ANGLERS. WE BEGAN THE DAY WITH SOME DRIZZLE AND ENDED THE SAME WAY, WITH SOME SHOWERS IN BETWEEN. STILL A GOOD DAY. OUR WINNING WIEGHT WAS A TIE OF 10.2 lbs. (1st and 2nd place)GOOD JOB CLARK AND DARELL. THIRD PLACE WENT TO SCOTT WITH 8.9lbs. WAY TO GO DUDE. I FINISHED JUST OUT OF THE MONEY FOR FOURTH WITH 8.7lbs. BUT I JUST BARELY GOT BIG FISH WITH 3.2lbs (smallie), IT WAS A CLOSE ONE WITH A LOT OF GUYS WIEGHING REAL CLOSE. I FISHED PUTAH CREEK WITH GRUBS AND 4 in. WORMS ON DARTER HEADS. ALMOST ALL FISH IN THE CLUB WERE CAUGHT IN PLASTICS AND JIGS. THIS IS GREAT BUNCH OF GUYS TO FISH WITH AND ALL GOOD STICKS. MANY FISH WERE CAUGHT OFF MAIN LAKE (POINTS AND ISLANDS) GOOD JOB NEW GUYS.
    City: SAN JOSE

    Tips: WATCH OUT FOR ALL THE DEBRIS. LARGE (15'-20') LOGS AND TREES FLOATIN' AROUND. ALSO FULL OF SMALL JUNK.

Wednesday, February 18th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: To the ellow that was wanting to know how to catch carp, I would try a small ly that loats such as a grass hopper or bumble bee, and or bait i would chum with corn and then put corn on a hook under a loat about a oot and a hal or so. I hope that this is some help or you im not much o a carp isherman. also try bread under a loat too. that seems to always work. good luck
    City: Discovery Bay

Thursday, February 12th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 51

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Started at 7am out o Markley with a whole lot o og on the lake. Too dangerous to run to the North so we started in the Narrows and caught 2-2lbers within an hour. Fog started to lit so we let or the North and caught an early spawner with a at belly going a little over 2lbs. On this day it seemed a little early or spawners and most o our ish came rom the narrows, but give it another month with this warming weather and lookout or the big mommas!
    City: Sac

    Tips: We used brown jigs and worms in 20-30t

Sunday, February 8th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 51

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I guided one o my avorite clients Sat - a good isherman and un guy - or an update on structure at Berryessa. It was another beautiul day as was my trip earlier with Pat with two exceptions - air temp was about 15-20 degrees cooler (that means very cold!) and a ew hundred more bass boats, har!! Again we started in the narrows trying to catch some reaction ish but the cold morning stopped that - at least or us. I did catch a nice spot on a white/chartreuse Terminator spinnerbait about 10 am in 10 eet o water. My client was on the stick right away with quality bass and he caught all the good ones except or my 16" smallie at 2 pounds. I ound it interesting that he was using a brown/purple jig with the #180 Yamamoto grub and I was using my traditional brown/orange jig with the #180. He was either the better isherman or the bass liked (as they do oten) a shade o purple. Probably a combination o both!! We wound up with 12 bass with the ive biggest at 11 lbs 4 oz. His three best were largemouth at 2-9 and 2-4 and a spot at 2-7. We missed a lot o ish - I should say I did. He nailed most o his. We worked hard and the ishing seemed to pick up in the aternoon a bit, though it didn't seem to warm up much.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Just as at Clear Lake, I was showing him how to target underwater rocky areas. The last two trips have produced bass near rocky areas with a drop-o. We caught most o our bass rom 15 to 35 eet. We ished the narrows, east shore, and the Big Island area.

Saturday, February 7th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 52-55

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the irst 100% wine region tournament on saturday. Focused on points all day and got 11 keepers at about 1.5 - 2 lbs each. Most o the bigger bites came rom a watermelon hula grub jig. Fished that and a mixture o plastics dropshotting to ill the seven ish limit. most o the ish in about 10-15t o water. However towards the end o the day we did get a ew aggressive largemouth inside a cove on a spinnerbait. Finished I think 11th with 11.97lbs total. Winner had 20. something. However happy with the result or only the ourth time on the lake.
    City: Alamo

    Tips: Slow in the morning worked or us. Focus on the edges o the points. As the water continues to warm the ish are only going to get more aggressive. The reaction bite should turn on i it hasn't already.

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    Water Temp: 47 to 54

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Went out to ish or un as I have not been to Berryessa or over a year.On the water at 9:00 am at Markeley Cove,once I got out o the cove I was amazed at all the bass boats.Every point or obvious spot had a boat on it.Oh well, ound some spots that were'nt so obvious and did airly well.Ended up with 9 total bass, 8 on jigs with Yamamoto D.T. grubs and one on a split shot reaper 4 ''. Had three that squeaked over two lbs and the rest were 1 to 1.5 lbs. These were the most skinny ish Ive seen in a while,they all resembled a lounder more than a bass.one o the largemouths was 19.5" long and weighed 2lbs 4 oz.Im used to Folsom spots that have all looked like ootballs lately.
    City: Granite Bay

    Tips: Jigs in brown with purple tails