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Berryessa Lake and Reports

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Thursday, February 5th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 54

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Had a couple o hours today so put in at Cappell Cove around 11. Had to spend some time solving gear troubles so only ished about 90 minutes, all in the main body outside Cappell. Claimed 2 nice spotties, both around 2lb, both on rubber crawdads in pumpkinseed/pepper. Also tried rip baits and a jig with no luck. Fish were real lethargic: the bite was nothing but weight, and they didn't make any runs even on 6lb test. Fish were around the 15' line. Tight lines!!

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    Water Temp: 47-52

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Pat Dilling and I inally got to make our trip to Berryessa yesterday - a trip I donated to last years Western Bass rally. We both were concerned with the post ront conditions ater two dark, stormy days. Let me tell you that the post-ront conditions rom a human point o view were some o the best I have ever seen in the winter - a great day to be alive!! Air temp reached near 60 in the aternoon, wonderul white puy clouds against the background o the green hills and blue water. What a day. Never saw a boat or the irst hour! The north wind tried to come up - sputtered - and died. The lake was dead lat calm most o the day. So - did the bass love the weather as much as we did - not! Pat and I took the challange and beat the odds somewhat. We landed 4 largemouth, 2 smallies and 8 spots, with our ive best spots going 10 1/2 pounds or better. The largest was about 17 inches going about 2 lbs 6 oz. Pat started o right away with our only reaction ish - a beautiul 2 1/4 spot on a rip bait. Ater that we threw dierent color jigs in the narrows with my avorite again being the best color - brown/orange with #180 Yamamoto grub. It seemed every new spot I showed Pat, we would catch one bass on it. I'm sure glad Pat didn't say: "Boy - these areas are loaded with bass"! Pat threw Hula grubs too and caught several. We had about 6 tail biters and missed several others. The jig bites were very subtle on this post ront day, but we got some o 'em! Pat is a great ishing partner and we had a great time, lots o laughs, and inally, a little sunburn!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We ound some shallow ish in the narrows, but the deeper we went, the better quality ish we caught. 15 to 35 eet produced most o our best ish. We targeted points and some o my avorite structures - underwater lats. We did ind some ish o the lats near the Ranch House that had probably moved up in the aternoon sun. We tried spinnerbaits some but no luck. They seemed to want a very slow moving jig.

Sunday, January 11th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 53-55

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: We inally got back out on the water ater a two month dry spell. Fished southern areas o main body. Water was clean in some areas and stained and even muddy in others. Weather was beautiul, really nice day. We launched around noon and ished till 4:30. We got three total. All spotted bass, all keeper size. We ound the going a little slow, tough to entice a bite, had to REALLY slow down. Threw cranks and spinner baits in the mud, nothing. Small platics in 10 to 15 t. o water got our ew bites.
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: Deadsticking got most o my bites.

Saturday, January 10th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 51-52.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Saturday and it is slowly improving over last three visits this year.We endend the day 9:00 am -4:30 pm wih 10 keeper ish and weighed the heavest 5 or 12lbs. One largemouth at 3.2 the other 4 top 5 were Smallmouth. There was a club tourn with 20 or so boats and the top weight was 11 and third was 8 something.
    City: sacramento

    Tips: Fish are in a pre spawn staging pattern and the smallmouth are in 15-25 oot depths moving up on lats i the sun comes out in the pm. We picked ish up on a variety o tech, drop shot, westy rig, carolina rig baby hog, strolling 4 inch split shot rig, and unlike other trips nothing on a reaction bait, ie, no rip ish or me today. It's only going to get better as mid- Feb approaches.

Sunday, January 4th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I guided two local ellas that wanted to learn the lake better and learn how to catch bass in winter. We launched out o Markley at 10 am and started catching bass right away in and out o Markley. In act, we caught 6 o our 8 total bass in the irst 2 hours. It really slowed in the aternoon. We caught one shaking a 6" green craw worm and the rest on Rodstrainer jigs. Best color Saturday was the tri-color - blk,blue, purple with a #157 Yamamoto single tail grub. As the previous report said, the ish wern't too deep - 15 to 30 eet. One o the guys landed a nice smallie on a jig - 2 lbs 3 oz. We had two largemouth, that smallie, and the rest spots. Our best ive were around 8 1/2 pounds - not too bad or the cold weather conditions. Very ew bites - just pressure. I was happy with how well the guys picked up winter ishing - un day! They did miss a lot o ish, and we missed the last 4 bites just beore dark.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We ound points and one wall to be our best areas to ish. We ished any area that had aternoon sun. That seems to work better when the water has some color to it. The water color in the narrows was perect and the lake is two or three eet rom ull!

Friday, January 2nd, 2004

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    Water Temp: 49-50.3

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Rain all day, but no winds at all. Started in the narrows area, working points with long drop offs in 15 to 35 ft and finding some nice smallies in 2.0 to 2.9 lbs. Find the warmest water and you'll find more fish. Using a brown/tan jig with a # 180 grub double tail find must of our bigger fish. My partner was draging a lizard and catching 8 nice bass in 1.5 lb to 2.2 lb range. Just fish slow and deep. The weather was cold and wet.
    City: rocklin

    Tips: FISH SLOW 15-40 FT

Wednesday, December 31st, 2003

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    Water Temp: 48-49

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the mainbody showing a riend withhis new boat around the lake mainly justinstructing him how to operate a big boat.well anyway the ish were in 12 to 16t onpoints and structure oriented. I did stickish the back o coves with structure andrunning water. All ish were taken at BigIsland area o the lake. The ish were a mixed bag o Spots and Smallies to 2lbson Texas rigs and carolina rigs and Dropshot rigs...nothing rippin yet
    City: woodpile

    Tips: color didn't seem to matter going slow doesind small breaks rockpiles anything or them to station on ....they'll be there. andyou don't have to be deep to catch ish.

Tuesday, December 16th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Another great ishing day at lake Berryessa.Stared 7:30 am Fished the narrows and hit the walls.Dropshoting caught a ew.Switched to Carolina rigthat

    Tips: Water is cold presentation must be slow.Caught most o the ish 25 to 30 eet.Caught about 10 little onesI did not mention above.They were and caught in 5 to 10 eetbut un Good Luck.

Saturday, December 6th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: WE HAD FUN AT OUR FIRST WON BASS TOURNEY OF THE YEAR. ON THE PREFISH DAY I WAS DRAGGING AROUND A DEEP DIVING SHAD COLORED RAPALA CRANKBAIT ON A MED. ACTION BAITCASTER WITH 20LB. POWERPRO LINE AND A 15LB. BIG GAME LEADER. I HADN'T HAD A DECENT BITE ALL DAY SO WHEN I BOUNCED THE CRANK ACROSS A 9' DEEP RIDGETOP AND A DECENT SIZED BASS GRABBED IT I SET (son!!)THE HOOK AND SNAPPED IT OFF I ASUMED AT THE TOP OF THE SWIVEL. MAYBE 30 SECONDS GO BY- LONG ENOUGH FOR ME TO TELL MY PARTNER " THAT WAS A DECENT ONE!" AND JUST AS HE'S TELLING ME I PROBABLY SNAGGED A TREE THE BASS COMES UP 30' OFF THE BACK OF THE BOAT HEADSHAKING LIKE CRAZY. LOOKED LIKE 2-2 1/2 LBS. TO ME. PARTNER SAYS PURELY COINCIDENCE. TWO MINUTES LATER ABOUT 100' OFF TO OUR LEFT THE BAS COMES UP AGAIN AND THIS TIME YOU CAN SEE AND HEAR THE CRANK RATTLING AROUND IN IT'S MOUTH. THE FISH CAME UP SHAKING ONE MORE TIME BEFORE WE LEFT AND I FELT BAD THAT MY LURE WAS PISSING HIM OFF. A LITTLE SIDE NOTE- I RESPOOLED ALL 5 OF MY OTHER RODS THE NIGHT BEFORE BUT NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH POWERPRO ON IT. TOURNAMENT DAY COMES AND WERE DOING OKAY (THANKS TO MY PARTNER!) AND WE'RE IN THE SAME AREA I LOST MY CRANK IN. I SEE MY PARTNER SET THE HOOK AND THEN HE SAYS "HERE'S YOUR POWERPRO LINE". I REACH DOWN AND GRAB IT AND IT'S GOT SOME GOOD (DEAD) WEIGHT TO IT. I START PULLING (AND PULLING) AND AFTER 25-30' OF LINE I SEE A HUGE WAD OF WEEDS AT THE END OF THE LINE. I HOLD IT UP AND TRY TO SEE IF THERE IS A TAIL STICKINK OUT THE BOTTOM BUT I DON'T SEE ONE. I PEEL THE WEEDS BACK AND THERE IS MY CRANKBAIT BUT NO FISH. AT LEAST NOW WE UNDERSTAND WHY THE FISH KEPT JUMPING- IT THOUGHT IT WAS STILL FIGHTING WITH 30' OF LINE DRAGGIN' BEHIND IT. I'M GLAD IT GOT LOOSE AND I'M GLAD I GOT THE BAIT BACK. AND I LEARNED A GOOD LESSON TOO- RESPOOL ALL YOUR RODS BEFORE A TOURNAMENT ESPECIALLY YOUR FAVORITE CRANKIN' ROD. MUST HAVE NICKED THAT LINE ON SOME DEEP ROCKS EARLY ON PREFISH MORNING.
    City: napa

    Tips: GOOD LUCK AND WHEN IT'S COLD- FISH SLOOOOOOW! PIG AND JIGS RULE!

Friday, November 28th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 57-58

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished in the narrows all day long in the rain. Caught ish all day long, I caught 3 ish one spotted bass went 2 1/2 pounds and my partner was on a roll with the largemouth. He caught a 3lbs, 2 1/2 and one more that went 2 lbs. Almost all the ish we caught were shallow.
    City: Woodland

    Tips: Caught or ish on a darterhead and a drop shot. Fish 10 to 30 eet deeep and use this wimpy looking worm that catches alot o ish called morning dawn. I hate to say it but it really works. Drag the darterhead on the bottom and pop it now and then.

Saturday, November 22nd, 2003

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    Water Temp: 58-60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Another cold & windy day at the lake. Air temp in the mid-30's when we started at 6:30. We started c-rig'n a 7x cut tail worm on main lake points and caught 2 keepers down at 30'. Drop shotted another at 35' deep then the wind blew us o the main lake area. Ran down to the dam and Markley and caught a ew dinks dragging a hula grub. Tough weather conditions and a really slow bite. I hear that Sunday was much better because the wind laid down.
    City: Rohnert Park

    Tips: Fish are still deep, 30'-50'. Drop shot 3"-4" worms on and around points. Look or concentrations o ish on your graph, there all over. Colors: watermelon or green pumpkin

Saturday, November 15th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 59-60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I guided a very smart client yesterday (Fri), helping him prepare or a Saturday club tournament. Not only did he learn some good spots rom me, but read Dean Sault's post about the Yamamoto #284 hula grub, which I had mentioned to the client also. The big news is that he won the tournament today and took big ish just as Dean did last week on the #284 hula grub - except this was a bit bigger - 11 pounds 3 ounces! Wow!!! I won't say any more in case he wants to post the story. Our trip started Fri at 9 am since that was as soon as he could get there. Rain was orcast or later in the day and o course it started when we launched! We ish Markley Cove and the dam area with a ew bites but no ish. We ished a lot in the narrows and did pretty well. The wind got bad and did hurt us some. We ound two good points and caught several and let so as not to spoil them. He did hook a big spotted bass which broke his 6 pound test. "O with the 6 said I!" and he replaced it with 8. Between rain squalls we ish areas in the main body down to Big Island and ound a lot o ish - on the bottom where they should be! The jig bite, which he wanted to work on really didn't happen, but drop-shotting Basstrix minnow imitations were very good as was a green craw 6" worm. We could have caught a lot o bass even though the bite was slower than we expected with bad weather. We hit several areas or a short time - but wound up with 11 ish - several in the 1 3/4 to 2 1/4 pound range including several largemouth. As I said - the client was smart and saved the big bite or when it counted! Congrats!!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: As I saw at Folsom earlier this week, the bait has broken up some and many ish wern't relating to the bait as much. Most o our ish were 15 to 35 eet, thought I caught a nice spot in 5 eet o water on a worm. I really though we would get a big bite on Fri but the sudden weather change might have hurt our chances. We really saw the ish begin to school up - when we ound one there were several. We really did try some topwater o and on but not a touch. He cranked too - not a touch. We had plenty o action to keep us busy however!

Thursday, November 13th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 59-63

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Took my Girlriend ishing or the irst time on a major lake (Been ishing the Delta since Summer began). We put in at Markley Cove at around 7:30AM and ished the points thru the narrow's with just two keep's to show. Went into Wragg's Canyon with little sucess. The condition's were lat, which isn't good or that area, I need a breeze, so I booked it up to the Northend o the lake and ound the condition's quite dierent, a Breeze rom the Northwest was happening. We ished the eastside in 12-17t o water with a Don Ivino S-20 6inch Worm and proceded to catch 9 ish in a matter o 2 hour's (1 spot). the Key to catching them was "Grass" isolated.Ripp'in was out, didn't produce anything. Crank'in I had chaser's. It was a subtle bite. Sorta igured it maybe being it was right ater a major ront. Condition's were bright skie's, you couldn't buy a cloud that day.
    City: Livermore

    Tips: or shallow ish look or stained water, the clear the water the deeper the ish. Shad seemed to be in 17-35t o water on the windy side o the stucture (wall, point, bank). I your ishing down south look or large ormations o Rock. In my opinion this would hold larger ish. Jig's in Brown and Purple should work.

Tuesday, November 11th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: My wie, daughter and I didn't begin ishing till almost 9:00 am but ound very aggressive ish in the narrows and near the dam. From nine till 11:30 boated ten ish all averaging two pounds each in water 15 to 25 eet. Splitshotted plastics in browns and greens were working just ine. Dropshoting did not seem as productive. Great "Fall" morning: wind 0-2 mph, saw about our other boats and boy do I miss wakeboarders and jetskiers. Berryessa is stilling holding alot o water.
    City: placerville

    Tips: Plastics in brown and green. Mainly six inch worms. The ish were all aggressive little "ootballs".

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    Water Temp: 60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: ished the second bridge rom 7:50 am until about 11:45 am and cought about 14 ish with 11 keepers. biggest ish was a 3.73lbs. largemouth bass, and second best was a 3.03lbs smallmouth. all ish were cought dropshoting. ish the rocky points.
    City: larkspur

    Tips: rubber worms, rapalas, live minnows.

Sunday, November 9th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 58-60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished a club event. Heavy cloud cover, storm ront moving through. Caught 30-40 ish with about 12 keepers. Won Big Fish with a 2.9# spot caught on a 1-ton with Yamamoto hula grub color (#284) Most ish came in 28-35 eet on dropshot with Yamamoto 9J Senkos or Aarons Magic 4" worms. Catching ish was simple...just cruise the bank until you ound a ball o bait ish. Drop down on them and catch a ish almost every time. Also, caught one o our weighed ish on a shad colored DUH spinnerbait.
    City: Fair Oaks

    Tips: Fish are strongly relating to bait ish. Cover a lot o water watching your depth inder.

Saturday, November 8th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 63.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Friday on a overcast day and could still see 8'+ deep. Drop-shotted all my ish rom 20'-35', mostly smallies.Tried cranking and traps or a while with no luck. The "er sure" stu on East bank is out o water right now(willow trees).Caught ish in Putah and rocky points in Narrows.
    City: Middletown

    Tips: Those smallies still hate a chartruese tailed bait pretty bad!I used a heavy sinker to get my bait down quick, and it seemed like they were hitting the bait on the way down. Spooning maybe?

Tuesday, October 28th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 69

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I was excited to be able to guide again at Berryessa ater what seemed like a hundred trips at Clear Lake. I wasn't too excited about how the ishing has been rom what I have heard. I suggested to my clients that we start at 10am and ish 'til dark - hoping or a longer topwater bite window. That proved to be a great decision 'cause the daytime bite was as tough as I have seen in years. It was hot, calm, and the water was clear - not the best conditions! We all had a ew hits and I inally land a giant 7" bass on a dropshot rig. I told them things should pick up around 3 pm and they did. They wanted to learn to drop-shot and one o the ellows got his irst drop-shot bass near Big Island - a 2 pound largemouth. I had him using a Yamamoto Kut-tail worm. About 4 pm we started to see some surace activity and about 4:30 we all went to Chug Bugs and the un begun - FINALLY!! Each client landed quality largemouth with the biggest at 3 pounds even and several 2 to 2 1/4. We wound up with 11 or 12 bass total with our ive biggest pushing 10 pounds. This trip deinately had a happy ending!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We looked long and hard with the X-15 to ind schools o bait. Most the the bait we saw was in Markley Cove. Places that have always had bait didn't today. The bait we did see was 30 to 50 eet deep! Wow!! So much or turnover!!! It was interesting to see trout in Wragg Canyon eeding on the surace in 70 degree water. That was a irst or me. As soon as the sun set, the ish appeared on the meter and the topwater bite took o. My clients loved it!!

Saturday, October 25th, 2003

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    Water Temp: 66

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: My partner and I ished the irst WON Bass tournament o the season. We only scratched out 1 ish, but it was large enough or 2nd big ish o the tourney. Caught it on a mojo rigged senko. Drop shotting provided a ew dinks. Tough ishing right now with the hot weather. Can't wait until it cools down.
    City: Rohnert Park

    Tips: Try carolina or mojo rigging senkos. Fish main lake points with a lot o depth and rocks. Fish are still deep. Look or the bait ish.

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    Water Temp: 68.8

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Took my Pa ishing today. Caught two ish, line them up and you get 10" Topwater early A.M., Cranked some, Nada!, Dartheaded the two dinks
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: Cold, Cold, Cold! Need some cold weather.