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Berryessa Lake and Reports

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Saturday, September 22nd, 2001

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Much better day today. Headed out right after the rain on monday night. The fish seemed to respond! We got nothing on topwater early. Got 2 small largemouth on a Yo-Zuri pin's minnow. Spent the rest of the day drop-shotting and split shotting around a submerged island in the main lake. Fish were only hitting one color, CANT TELL YA THOUGH:) We got 15 more fish around the island. 3 were caught dropshotting in 40 feet, and 12 were caught split-shotting in 25 feet. Find the fish on your finder or you will be out of luck. This is the time of year where you have to be on TOP of the fish to get them to bite. Got 17 on the day, most quality fish. Look forward to Clear Lake next week!
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: Use your finders, or you will come home empty!

Sunday, September 16th, 2001

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Slow bite, one fish on topwater early around big island. Found a nice submerged island and got 3 nice fish drop-shotting in 15 feet. 4 fish on the day. Hopefully the bite will pick up soon!
    City: vacaville

    Tips: Go Deep!

Wednesday, September 12th, 2001

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: No report here. I'm looking for some. I do the dock talk including the virtual type. I said this on the Folsom page- if you have been on the lake, strap it on and submit a report. If you dragged one of those pre-rigged worms with a spinner and you caught a few keeps, bring it on. I've got an event coming up on this lake with little time to pre-fish. I need some intel.
    City: El Dorado Hills

Friday, August 24th, 2001

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Went out Friday night from the Putah creek area. Fished from 11:00 Pm to 3:00am landing only two bass (partner landed). Shaking 7inch black power worms with brass and glass set up. Cought the two with in the first hour, and lost one at the boat biggest going 2.5. (off of a rocky point. Fished several other rocky points and nothing. tried brush hogs and jigs with pork. nothing!! Tried shallow, 2-7 feet and all the way down to 18 feet. nothing. Would sure appreciate any advice. Wanted to send a big shot out to Roseville Ron for the help at Wallmart. Best of luck in the Clear lake Tourney.
    City: Citrus Heights

    Tips: Wouldn't want to throw off your pattern, because it probally works.

Monday, August 20th, 2001

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    Water Temp: 79.5

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished 8-16 7PM to 8-17-01,0630, started out fishing the narrows in the 15 to 30 ft range with no bites. Beginning about 9 PM, action started and it was on again/off again the rest of the night. Caught 8 fish, mostly spots on variety of soft plastics. Almost all action was from 5 to 15 ft deep on points and good rock walls. Two lagest were about 14 inches. Best fish broke me off in the brush and was likely 3 lbs plus. The bite totally quit about 0430, when I thought the best bite would be from about then to 7 AM.
    City: DAVIS

    Tips: Like Larry H. says, those 7" Berkeley Power worms are hard to beat.

Saturday, August 18th, 2001

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    Water Temp: 79

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of Cappel at 5:30am. Tried spooks, bussbaits, pop-r's first thing with nada. Switched to a fluke and caught one to 2lbs no more fluke fish...the one fish must have been a fluke. Switched to plastics in 20-25ft. Began catching 1-2lbers but bites were far and few between. Did find some brush piles in 5-7ft holdin large mouths that were more than willing to play. Off the water by noon when all the looneys came out. Boat ramp was a mad house!
    City: Suisun

    Tips: Slow down and down size your baits.

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    Water Temp: 79

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of Cappel at 5:30am. Tried spooks, bussbaits, pop-r's first thing with nada. Switched to a fluke and caught one to 2lbs no more fluke fish...the one fish must have been a fluke. Switched to plastics in 20-25ft. Began catching 1-2lbers but bites were far and few between. Did find some brush piles in 5-7ft holdin large mouths that were more than willing to play. Off the water by noon when all the looneys came out. Boat ramp was a mad house!
    City: Suisun

    Tips: Slow down and down size your baits.

Saturday, August 4th, 2001

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: went fishing caught 8 bass in markley cove trolling it was awsome, caught on kastmasters. caught 5 trout has ugly stuff of their skin. bull bluegil plentiful in portugese cove. caught a bucket full on mini crawlers.
    City: vacaville

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: City: vacaville

Saturday, July 21st, 2001

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    Water Temp: 73

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I fished Berryessa Thursday from 6:30 pm to 2:30 am the next morning with two clients in one of the strongest delta winds (NOT breezes) I have seen there. And it was COLD after sunset. What a contrast to my two previous trips, which were the warmest nights I can remember. I did put on my jumpsuit about midnight. We decided to start behind Goat Island which I thought might be out of the wind some - wrong!! We finally hid around Big Island and really got into some nice largemouth right away on Magic worms, mostly morning dawn 6". One of the guys hooked the largest bass of the trip on the first cast, and I told him he better loose it - bad luck. So, he lost it - couldn't believe it. I told him not to take me so seriously!! Anyway, the other fella landed a nice 2 1/4 largemouth, and we got a few other good bass, including a smallmouth about 15 inches. After dark, it was very slow - the total opposite of the previous report. We wound up with only 10 in the boat, and three of those were 12" and under. Many short bites, as you can imagine in a cold front. All they would do with my jig is rip the grub tail off! The Berkley 7" Power worm again was the best bait after dark. The jig, topwater, crank, senko, whatever bite, didn't happen.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: This was a typical summer cold front, except it was longer than normal, cooling down the water temp 7 degrees. That will change the bite, and it will always be worse. The big fish usually are not feeding as much, making it favorable for the dinks to move in. It always is amazing to me how a lake can change in a matter of days. If someone had fished Berryessa for the first time on the previous trip, they would have thought it was the best lake in the world. My latest clients probably feel the opposite. Things usually return to normal after the third day of a warming trend. One tip for summer cold fronts, take the bulk out of your baits - make them thinner and shorter. That might help you hook some of the short strikers. The evening bite is usually better than the morning bite during a cold front.

Friday, July 20th, 2001

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    Water Temp: high 70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: We got on the lake about five oclock.Started throwing top water.We were north of puath creek.Buzs baits,spooks you name it.My brother nor i got a hit.For us the day went like that all day.We caught five or six small fish all day.No fish over twelve inches.We used split shot,drop shot,sinko never got bit on a sinko. Also I pitched a spinner bait to every bush i saw,just small fish.I would like to say that i got them.But it was bad for us.I saw maybe three bass boats on the lake.
    City: WOODLAND

    Tips: I wish i new.If i was going tomorrow ,i think i would use small stuff,and go slow

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    Water Temp: 74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Lauched at Markley Cove, not familiar with the lake, and caught 20 spotted for that outing, 14 keepers, biggest was 2 1/2, average was a 1 1/2. Fished from 7:00 A.M till 11:A. Great day on the water, had to go to work, wish I could have finished the day.
    City: PINOLE

    Tips: senko, senko, senko

Wednesday, July 4th, 2001

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    Water Temp: 81

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the water at first light...could not buy a topwater bite anywhere on the east bank...did pick up a few worm and senko fish to about 2lbs. Finished the day near spanish flats where we picked up a couple more on 4in green weenies and one spook fish. We were off the water around 10:30am when the boat traffic increased...it was getting ugly.
    City: Suisun

    Tips: Fishing was slow. try working deeper points or rock piles.

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    Water Temp: 80

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I had another wonderful trip to Berryessa with three clients on Tues night. Actually, we started about 7:30 pm, but didn't catch our first bass until nearly 9 pm. Talk about hot weather!! But the lake was beautiful after dark with the moon nearly full, but slightly covered with clouds - perfect for night fishing. And the bass knew it! We fish from Spanish Flat to Pope Creek. I really don't know why we didn't boat 35+ bass, but we only landed 24. Getting the bass at Berryessa to stay on the hook at night sometimes is difficult. I know that sounds odd, but it really seems to be true. And it is not because of small fish biting - just like my previous report, we caught some really nice bass - only two below 12 inches. But this time, maybe because of the warmer water, most of our fish were largemouth, the biggest being 3 1/4 lbs. Only one spot was caught, but it was 18 inches - 2lb 5oz. The same client followed that with a 17 inch smallmouth. He was struggling the most during the trip, but did he make up for lost time! We found most of our fish on points and steep banks next to points. Again, the 7 inch black Power Worm was definitely the hot bait. Steep points were the best. It was fascinating for me to see some points full of quality smallmouth two weeks ago, and full of quality largemouth last night. I think we only caught 5 smallies - all over 15 inches. I'm beginning to ask the same question that I do at Clear Lake - where are all the dinks? Though we didn't catch any monsters, the average size had been amazing to me. Our 5 best were about 11 1/2 lbs, which I think is good for early July. We quit at 3:30 am, too happy to be tired.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Just drag your worms if night fishing. I tried shaking them with brass and glass, but got no bites doing that. Don't be afraid to throw right on the bank - SOFTLY!

Friday, June 29th, 2001

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    Water Temp: 74 degrees

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Took my father-inlaw out for his first ever bass fishing trip on Friday. Had a great time on a great lake. Launched out of Capell at 5:15 am. We tried topwater and rip baits first thing in the launch cove, but couldn't buy a bite. We quickly headed out and went 1st to skiers cove. We immediately started catching fish on main points and islands with drop shot rigs in 15ft or less. Saw some fish hitting the surface, so we switched to the splash-its and WHAM! got one! What a hooot to have those fish come to the top. Dad enjoyed that. As the bite slowed, we headed to the narrows and still continued pulling them in on main points; especially those with shadows early in the morning. Fish started moving deeper as the sun came up and warmed. We fished in 20-40ft in the narrows. Fish bite seemed to end by 1pm, so we headed home. All in all, a great day 20+ fish with top 5 going just over 10lbs.
    City: Redwood City

    Tips: hit the points with rocks and dark shade. shake the morning dawn or baby bass worms on drop shot. also got plenty of bites on darter heads with rootbeer/blk & red flake twin tail grubs.

Monday, June 25th, 2001

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    Water Temp: 78+

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Evening topwater is still on.I'm sure morning is still better but with all the brain dead skiers and pwc drivers I will choose to wait until they have had enough and go in for dinner before I arrive at the lake.I can't believe how bold they are to come into putah creeks 5mph zone doing 50. Sometimes it's hard to keep my temper in check. I also saw one of "US" doing the same thing.Driving a green Ranger 519 with a 225 opti on the back.Mr 519,If you happen to read this-Shame on you.Please represent our hobby with a brain in the future. If you are that impatient, don't go in there in the first place.Most of us that fish putah creek do so not for the good fishing but rather to get away from idiots blasting past us. Sorry I had to vent. Back to the fishing. Lost a 5+ sunday evening and had a 8-10 give my splash it a chase.Luckily I brought extra shorts.Hope this helps somebody catch fish.
    City: Pinole

    Tips: Don iovino's splash it.Purple with silver bottom.Use a subtle pop rather than tossing water 2 feet.Work just out side the weed lines and don't give up on your cast until you are 10 feet from the boat.

Friday, June 22nd, 2001

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    Water Temp: 81

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I took a grandpa and his delightful 14 year old grandson to the Berryessa oven yesterday afternoon and night. We started out of Markley Cove at 6 pm, with the temp right at 100 degrees. We fished split-shot Magic worms in # 11, 29, and 62 colors. The first and last worked, as we caught about 5 before dark, including a great 2 1/4 lb smallmouth. We caught that around Big Island, since I had determined that the narrows was a zoo - you would have thought it was a weekend. Wow, I wonder what weekends are like at Berryessa now - I don't plan to find out!!! I decided we would do our night fishing around Berryessa Marina and Big Island and it proved to be a good decision. I had a ball competing with the 14 year old - he wanted to beat me - and he did 8 to 7!!!! He had most of the bites, using a 7" black Berkley Power Worm, my favorite for Berryessa nights. The worms I was using must not have been so great - yea, that was it! The most bass he had caught on any previous trip was one. I think he's catching on!!!! Grandpa struggled a bit, but did manage two, and lost a couple. They did have a double hookup. We wound up with 17 total bass, but the size is what impressed me. All but 4 of our bass were 14 to 17 1/2 inches - and most were smallmouth. I am not interested in big numbers - I prefer to put my clients on quality bass, and was surprised at the quality of these bass, considering the weather conditions. We only fished areas with flats near steep dropoffs. Not only was the trip a lot of fun, the lake was as beautiful at night as I have ever seen - dead flat calm. The planet Mars looked great in the dark sky!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Fish are deep during the day, but move up at night to feed. We found most of the bass right on the bank, since it was the dark of the moon! Try to get your bait to hit the water with little splash, or hit the bank and drag it in.

Thursday, June 14th, 2001

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    Water Temp: 78-80

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at Capell at 5am, fished topwater along the rock walls in Capell Cove. Got 4 fish in the first hour, two on a Mini Pop-R, shad color, and two on Spooks, both silver, and rainbow trout. When the sun came up, started throwing flukes in the trees, only got one fish. From 10:00 to 1:00, we caught only one fish on a crawdad Risto Rap. We threw jigs, and dragged split-shotted magic worms to no avail. Around 1:30, I decided to try drop-shotting. After about 5 minutes, I landed a keeper. Dropped my line back down again to catch another before it hit the bottom. Before evening came, we pulled in nine fish from the one channel. All fish were caught in the middle of a 20 foot channel. Only one of the drop-shot fish was a dink. All fish were 1-2 pounds, all keepers. In the evening, we only got two more on the Pop-R, but we headed home early, having been on the water 16 hours already. 17 fish on the day, and a new found belief in the drop-shot rig. Good luck!
    City: Vacaville

    Tips: Almost all of the fish are deep now. Drop-shot in 20-30 feet of water, and look for a soft bite. Dance your worm around to increase your number of bites. Be patient, summer can be SLOW! Devin

Tuesday, June 12th, 2001

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    Water Temp: 70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launced at 5 am from Capel. I spent most of the day around Capel Cove and in and around Spanish Flat. Pop-R and Spooks around brush and into shore for topwater bite. Action good until around 7:30. Started throwing Magic Worms and Brush Hogs, nothing doing. Tried a new blue gill Senko, that was the ticket. Produced all day long. I didn't believe in the Senko, but I do now. Changed my day. Lake water level is way down, maybe 15-20 feet from last year. It changed a lot of former killer spots. Got too hot at noon, left with about 20 fish, biggest going 4#. Not a bad day.
    City: Walnut Creek

    Tips: Try the Senko, let it fall to the bottom, and retrieve slowly. It will make your day. Magic worms always produced before, so keep them around. However, the only pattern I've found consistent is the Senko. Blue Gill, Ghost, and Red Flake all good colors. Good Luck...

Monday, June 11th, 2001

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    Water Temp: 70-ish

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I fished Markley cove on Monday. Some fish were feeding on the surface, but they weren't interested in what I was throwing. Saw a bird come down and slam a fish about 30 feet from me so at least it wasn't a total waste. Went up to the Putah Creek entrance at the north end and float tubed until about 11:00 with only one strike on a 3" deep running minnow pattern crank. I heard surface action all day, but am not sure if they were carp or real fish. I later went to Capell cove and fished the trees up from the public launch. Had a few strikes, but again only on the crankbait. I managed to land two, the biggest of which was only about 2#s at most. No strikes on flukes, worms, jigs or senkos.
    City: petaluma