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McClure Lake and Reports

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Monday, May 28th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 75 Degrees

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished from 8:00 P.M. until 2:00 A.M...caught about 20-24 fish, average size 2 Pounds. The best rig was Black/Red Flake Senkos hooked wacky style. Fished the point near the McClure Point Dock, and all of Ski Cove. Also caught a couple of decent fish on Topwater....Lots of fish jumping, (and lots of Carp!!!)
    City: Merced CA

    Tips: Throw anything black at night, if the moon is out..I like red flake...if it's dark..then plain black...the lake seems to be better in the afternoon/evening than in the morning....I think the water becomes stained, and gives the fish cover...whereas the lake on the south end is crystal clear in the morning..just my opinion. Seems that the slot limit is making the average catch a little bigger each year.

Friday, May 25th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 68-71 Degrees F

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Went upriver all the way to Bagby Bridge and let the wind push me down the wall...caught 20-25 Bass...avg 1lb largest 3 Lbs. Used lizards early-Cotton Candy, and after 1000, useed senkos rigged wacky style. Best colors were Natural Shad (Smoke with Gold Flake), Purple/White with silver flake, and Watermelon/Pearl laminate....biggest issues were the wind and boats blowing by me, but otherwise a good day on the lake!!!
    City: Merced, CA

    Tips: Go upriver, horse shoe bend north. The south end of the lake is nice, but very clear, and the fish are spooky. The water is more stained upriver, and the fish are shallower. Senkos, lizards, and blades before sunrise work well. Look for points and rock piles...As my buddy Anthony Tanachion says: "Points point to fish".

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

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    Water Temp: 69-70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: On the water out of Horseshoe @ 3:00 pm, off at 8:00 pm. 25-30 fish on senkos and grubs. Some kickers up to 4lbs but most were in the 2-3 lbs range. All were good fighters! Water clear to 10' plus with light winds.
    City: Manteca

Monday, May 21st, 2007

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    Water Temp: 73

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the lake at 1pm fished till 5pm. Caught 15 biggest was 2lbs. Wind was blowing hard caught fish on reaction and plastics.
    City: La Grange

Sunday, May 6th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 61-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: On the water @ 6:00am, off by 12:30pm out of Barret Cove. Fished top water w/poppers for about 20 minutes, caught two. Switched to plastics-white grubs, watermelon/pumpkin Senkos and green pumpkin Gulp worms. Worked them slow along the rocky bottom. Most strikes were sluggish, with some solid hits. Most fish were in the 3 pound range and were all good "pullers" for their size. My partner and I ended up catching between 25-30 fish. Little chilly at first but turned out to be a great weather day.
    City: Manteca

    Tips: We saw lots of carp gulping air/breaking the surface. When we saw that, no hits at all. My tip: See carp, find another spot, come back later!

Saturday, May 5th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 63-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished on Saturday from 6AM to 2PM. Fought the wind all day and ended up catching some nice fish. No reaction fish. Caught them all on soft plastics and worked them slow. Stayed in the south end of the lake on the main body.
    City: Atwater

    Tips: Soft plastics in 4 and 6 inch that mimic baitfish. The water is incredibly clear right now, you can see bottom in 20+ feet.

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Camped out and fished all weekend. Friday was o.k., but it got progressively tougher as the days went on. Sunday, boated one. Like the previous report, soft finesse stuff. Real slow. I was using a split shot. Fished everywhere, mostly at McClure point area.
    City: atwater

    Tips: Stick to the rocks, we had to fish slow to catch anything...

Friday, April 27th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 60-64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished McClure today from about 7am until noon. We fished all over the lake from Temperance to Horseshoe Bend. It was a little slow for this time of year. The water was amazingly clear, you could see the bottom in 20-25 feet of water. Caught all fish today on small soft plastics in natural colors (browns, clear-smoke). Best action came when the wind started blowing. Mostly dead calm all day though. Most fish caught w/ boat in ~40-50 feet. Fish slow and finesse them into biting. No reaction fish today.
    City: Atwater

    Tips: Slow, natural, finesse presentation. Check out the fishing section at the Snelling 76 station.

Friday, April 13th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 63-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Started fishing at about 6:30 PM. Wind was calm no clouds. Headed up to bagby and fished under the bridge hwy49. Cought 1 large mouth about 1lb. cought a spot 2lbs. boths on watermelon red flake senko wacky style weightless. Then headed over to McClure point at dark and cought 15-20 on green zelamanders in about 2ft of water. All were in the slot but one 17" spot. got a lot of bites that i missed due to the smaller fish holding onto just the tail.
    City: Turlock

    Tips: Fish at night with a black light and florecent line it helps tremendously. email me if anyone is interested in going up to the lake at exchanging different techniques.

Tuesday, April 10th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 63-65

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Good day cuaght alot of fish.All fish cuaght were near the banks.used dark colored senko's me and my buddy went through six bags of senko's.tried a rip bait three hit it but never connected.no jig bite for me monday.had a good jig bite last week.cuaght 4 1/2#,2 3#s and alot between 14" 17".Cuaght most fish up by horse shoe bend.
    City: turlock,ca

    Tips: try dark colored senko's Brown jig fish the big rocky banks.

Saturday, April 7th, 2007

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    Water Temp: unsure

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished South West Banks of Cottonwood and Barret's Cove using Dark colored Senkos rigged Wacky style. It seemed just about every cast something happened. At least 50+ fish and it was great it was my Wife's first time Bass Fishing she had a blast. Bigest fish landed 16".
    City: Atwater

    Tips: Noticed more fish of Muddy points where water was stained about 5' of banks.

Wednesday, March 28th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 62-64 degrees

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Cold Morning, windy, with gusts to 20MPH...started with a silver/silver spinnerbait, caught 4 avg 2 lbs, then after sun was up, used a smoke with gold flake senko for most of the day. If I fished the rock piles, the senko killed them...on grass, a cotton candy lizard Carolina-Rigged caught about 8 1-2 lb males..all spots...with the senkos, hooked wacky style, the average bass was 2.5 lbs, largest 5 lbs..total 20 fish from 0630 A.M.-0100 P.M. fished from the dam corners all the way to Cotton..
    City: Merced, CA

    Tips: If it's sunny, Shad pattern Senkos with a silver or gold flake are working....if it gets overcast..go darker...cinnamon, rootbeer, dark smoke, etc...so far any rock piles, or submerged rocks are where the senkos work...also saw some guy catch an 8lb Black Bass on Keeper Green/Blue Texas rigged worm....

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 64 Degrees

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: It was overcast and raining off and on from 0730 to 0900. I used smoke senkos in the corner of the dam and along the rock wall. After 10 Bass averaging 3 pounds, I switched to cinnamon brown 5" Senkos and on the first cast landed a 6 lb spot along the point 100 feet up from the west side of the dam. The fish went nuts over this as the sky was darker. I had better luck throwing up on the bank and dragging it in. Most of the hits were in 2 feet of water, but at least 50 feet away from the boat. What I would do is drift and throw parallel to the bank. All Senkos were hooked up wacky style...Saw alot of big fish. Caught alot of 2-3 pounders in Temperance as well, mostly on baby bass laminate senkos after the sky cleared up a little... After all was said and done, caught 50+ Bass. My best five would have gone for 22 lbs.
    City: Merced, CA

    Tips: give the fish room....they still spook easy. If they see you, they head out...I think right now that senkos are the best choice, wacky style...saw many bass fisherman throwing and nailing lots of fish...All the fish had mangled tails..so you know what that means...

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: THE BRUSH HOG IS ZOOM COLOR #86

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: KW,

    I forgot to mention that we caught a nice crappie on a spinnerbait. It must have been 12-14", it shook off just as we were getting ready to lip it. Did catch a few on wacky rigged senkos over the week but didn't stick w/ it to see how effective it could be. Midnight Chart. baby brush hogs? Is that a new color?
    City: Atwater

    Tips: KW is right, the fish are everywhere. We caught fish at every stop throughout the week. Never made it into Piney or Horseshoe though. I was trying to conserve fuel w/ prices over $3.00 a gallon.

Saturday, March 17th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 65-70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: will second steve's post. however i was there earlier in the day, and fish were killing wacky rigged zeros in the white/pearl color. later in the afternoon, the midnight/chart baby brush hog was my weapon. got fish on topwater in late afternoon,hit on impact, no moving topwater fish. boated 36 total, biggest was 3.12. did you happen on any extremly lg crappie, steve? i got 3 on the brush hog. biggest was 2.1. will be out on thurs. again, will post report
    City: modesto

    Tips: keep your bait wet, fish are evrywhere.slow fall baits, slow moving topwater.don't crowd the bank, big fish are there and spooked easy.

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    Water Temp: 65-68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: One last trip to McClure for the evening bite. I couldn't help myself. Took a friend bass fishing for the first time. Continued w/ the same thing I've been doing all week w/ the same results. However, did find a good spinnerbait bite along a wind-blown steep bank and point in Cottonwood. Biggest fish was a 4lb. spot. Friend boated about 12 fish and had a great time. It's sure nice to introduce people to this great sport.
    City: Atwater

    Tips: Still dartheadin' worms and now throwin' more spinnerbaits. Tried the swimbait for a while w/ one bump but wouldn't commit. Caught a few on a creature bait as well.

Friday, March 16th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 64-66

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished with my daughter today from 10AM to 5PM. Fished with live minnows first for her...caught one 4 lb Black. Thougbt it would be easier for her to catch...was I wrong!!! started fishing with smoke/shad senkos all along horseshoe and spanked 'em..caught 25 fish in the last 4 hours after giving up on live stuff. Average size about 2 pounds. Largest 4 pounds. Mix of spots and blacks. I never changed up, just kept throwing up against the bank and worked it in...best in the rocks and points. Big dish were shallow, but didn't want anything I had. Something I observed, if you could see the fish, they could see you and no luck!! All of my fish were a ways away from the boat, or in 10-20 feet of shade area, or murky areas from waves coming in.
    City: Merced, CA

    Tips: Fish the points and any rock piles. After a rookie maneuver, I left my fishing bag at home, but grabbed the senkos at A1 Bait on the way with some hooks. Never needed anything else. Used watermelon/white laminate senkos on 3/13, and had same results. The spawn is going to be off the hook!!!

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I enjoy reading the reports on this lake. I will be visiting a friend this week and fishing this lake for the first time, any suggestion on specific location would be great. I heard a big fish was caught on a swimbait, where on the lake is good for this. Thanks for any info
    City: Los Angeles

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    Water Temp: 60-68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished McClure again today. Got on the water at 7am and fished until 2pm. We caught and released approx. 50 fish (lost count). Mixed bag of spots and largemouths. Mostly slot sized fish. Big fish of the day was a 3 pound spot. My fishing partner had a 7 plus largemouth come up and kiss his senko (water was so clear we watched it happen) but the fish would not commit. Caught most of them w/ the same pattern. Dartheaded worms & texas-rigged creature baits worked best for us. Threw a spinnerbait, had a few slap at it and then one committed and put up one heck of a fight. Wish we could have stayed for the evening bite.
    City: Atwater

    Tips: Berserk Baits - Smokin' Purple 6" worm, Roboworm Purple Punisher 6" worm, Baby Brush Hogs in Watermelon Red and Green Pumpkin, Shad colored spinnerbait. Check out the new fishing section at the 76 station in Snelling.