Nacimiento Lake and Reports

Sunday, November 13th, 2005

• By ELO

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: Went out sunday morning about 8:30 under a blanket of overcast. Much to our surpirse, however, it burnt by 10:00. Partner nabbed 1.5lb black retriveing a blue/silver rattle trap in a cove near Heritage Ranch point. Then he managed to hook up with another two pounder on a chartruse spinner bait with chartruese curly tail trailer and stinger hook fishing in about 15 feet of water in a cove at the mouth of Snake creek. I cought two blacks across from Heritage Point on shad color and Brite Orange crawdad pattern rattle traps in about 15 feet of water. Tried drop shotting, and zara spooks to no avail. Rattle traps seemed to be the ticket today.
  City: Santa Maria

Saturday, September 10th, 2005

• By MIKE NANCE

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Arrived about 7:00 am ran down to the narrow's becouse my dad heard the white's were boiling.Well like most word of mouth we saw nothing.Fished about an hour for them and nothing.Switched to the spot's and picked up four on shad colered crankbait.One was about 2.5lbs and chunky the rest your cookie cutter 13" 1lbr's.Then went into las tables and fished the cove's with the floating dock's and picked up two more same small one's.
  City: SALINAS

  Tips: Well forget the weekend's it was still a complete zoo after about 9:00am.This poor lake never seem's to get a break from the lake lice.

Sunday, June 5th, 2005

• By Dan

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Fished Sat. and Sun. using Kalin 3" Blue Pearl Salt/Pepper grub, 1/8 ounce darter jig. Caught a dozen spots up to 3 lbs working points and submerged island (20') due south of Oak Shores marina just west of the point.
  
  Mostly late morning (couldn't get out of bed).
  
  Other wise slow.
  City: San Jose

  Tips: Saw a guy using June Bugs on 1/2 ounce jigs off same island doing very well.

• By Dan

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Fished Sat. and Sun. using Kalin 3" Blue Pearl Salt/Pepper grub, 1/8 ounce darter jig. Caught a dozen spots up to 3 lbs working points and submerged island (20') due south of Oak Shores marina just west of the point.
  
  Mostly late morning (couldn't get out of bed).
  
  Other wise slow.
  City: San Jose

  Tips: Saw a guy using June Bugs on 1/2 ounce jigs off same island doing very well.

Monday, May 16th, 2005

• By Rick

  Water Temp: 66

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Got on the water around 7am. Went to Bee Rock and fished all the way to the boat docks picking up only one keeper spot on a t-rig worm. Went up the lake to the next set of boat docks and fished all the way to Oak Shores marina area...NOTHING! Headed up the lake more and started fishing rock walls with a Rapala Jerkbait and started catching fish. Ended the day with 7 spots and one nice white.
  City: Atascadero

  Tips: I think the weather system moving in combined with a busy weekend turned the bite off. Fish around mid-week and it should be better.
  All fish came in 4-10' of water.

Monday, May 9th, 2005

• By Bobby

  Water Temp: 64 to 68

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: Water is very high and lots of debris all over the lake. The lake is soo stained that it affected the fishing. Be very careful there is so much debris in the water that its a hazard to navagation.
  City: Chula Vista

  Tips: The white were biting on the surface very early in the morning on the points. VERY early bite, be on station before sunrise the the bite only last about 2 hours. Pop R's were the ticket.
  Spots were biting mostly on the main lake. Fish the rocks and points.

Sunday, May 1st, 2005

• By BryanC

  Water Temp: 63-68

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: We got on the water at sun up and ran to las tables. I can't beleive how high the water is. I have never seen it so full!! The bite was fair. There was a lot of baitfish everywhere but not a lot of fish. It was similar to a fall pattern with suspended fish chasing bait.We ended up the day with one big crappie, 22 white bass and a lot of spotted bass up to two pounds.
  City: san jose

  Tips: Unless you can find bait it will be a long day. We caught all of the fish with rip baits, top water and plastic grubs in shad patterns. The bait is small. So throw five inch yammamoto grubs or three inch kalins.( they are about the same size as the bait. There are a lot of suspended fish that are related to bait.

Sunday, April 17th, 2005

• By MIKE NANCE

  Water Temp: N/A

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: GOT ON THE WATER ABOUT 8:00 CANT SEEM TO GET UP AND BE THERE AT DAYLIGHT ANYMORE,TO OLD I GUESS.WELL FIRST OFF THE LAKE IS COMPLETLY FULL I DONT EVER REMEMBER IT SO I HIGH.STARTED AT THE BIG COVE BEFORE BEE ROCK NOW THAT IT IS THERE.PICKED ONE SPOT RIGHT OFF THE START ON JERKBAIT ABOUT #2LBS.NOTHING MORE SWITCHED TO CRANKBAIT COUGHT ABOUT FOUR MORE ALL SMALL.THEN RAN INTO A SCHOOL OF WHITE BASS COUGHT ABOUT 6 SOME PRETTY NICE SIZE.THEN RAN UP INTO LAS TABLES FISHED THE FLOATING DOCKS COUGHT ALL YOU WANTED ON T RIGGED 6" WORMS ANY COLOR YOU WANTED.AS FAR AS THE POST BEFORE I WOULD NOT PLAN ON THESE FISH BEING BIGGER NEXT YEAR I FISH THIS LAKE ALOT AND SINCE THEY PUT THESE SPOTS IN IF I CATCH A LIMIT THAT WEIGHS 10LBS. THATS A GOOD DAY.WHY DONT THESE SPOTS GROW UP HERE?????
  City: salinas

  Tips: GO TO SAN ANTONIO SMALLMOUTH ARE ALL OVER THIS LAKE NOW.

Sunday, April 10th, 2005

• By Dennis Bybee

  Water Temp: 61

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Fished the week of April 11th thru the 15th, with my brother allen, We fished Bee Rock, Las Tables and all major coves on both sides of lake, with the exception of wednesday because the wind was blowing 40 MPH. ALL DAY AND NIGHT.
  We caught spots and large mouth up to 2.5 lbs, but mostly the fish were small about 12 to 15 inches, Caugut 1- 2 .25 lb. white bass across from bee rock, this was the only white bass we caught on this trip.
  Caught our limit every day and then some which we released, just fun to catch and release them, lots of fish to catch but to small to kep, next year these fish will be bigger and more fun to catch.
  I caught all my fish on a Terminator spinner baits and lipless crank baits, my brothe allen caught all his on night crawlers.I did catch the white bass on a pumpkenseed Pig and gig, go figure that one out.
  City: Monterey Ca.

  Tips: We caught most of the bass on and in coves about 10 to 15 fet deep a few were shallow 5 feet in the late afternoon in the shaded water, fish hit the spinner baits hard in the morning and late afternoon. chartruese and green color spinners, fire tiger crank baits and deep divers worked great.

Monday, April 4th, 2005

• By Ron Lee

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Fished Nacimento last week during Spring Break. The Whites are staring to come back to the Narrows and have not spawned. We caught some back at the waterfall near the shallow clear water on Tues. as they were coming in (all male fish). By Wed that school had move further up the Narrows too shallow for a boat. Caught some more Whites on Thur. ( all female fish) further down the river in stained water where fish were holding to go up river. It will be hit and miss until the main school starts to move up to shallow water. We Caught plenty of keeper size spots up to 2lbs on the main lake, primarily on main points and secondary points.We Did not catch any fish at the back of coves. We caught about 50 fish a day primarily in the morning. The evening bite was much slower.
  City: Long Beach CA

  Tips: If your looking for Whites and want to hike in further, you can find them in really shallow water past the waterfall maybe about a half mile further up river. We were using 1/8 oz. crappie jigs with 2" yellow tails for the Whites. If you go up to the really shallow clear water you will probably have to go to 1/16 oz. jig heads and white or pearl 1 1/2 " curly tails. We cught all our Spots on 3", and 4" white with gold flake or silver flake Senkos. We had a pretty good top water bite in the evenings for Spots in calm water.

Wednesday, March 16th, 2005

• By Rick

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: THE WHITES ARE GONE from the narrows!!! Went as far as I could go before I bottomed out. Saw only 7 white bass swimming. Talked to 3 other guys and they hadn't caught any whites at all. One guy said they were there day before yesterday still but NO MORE>>>> so don't waste your time making the long trip.
  We did catch a lot of spots back in the narrows and on the main lake. Fish are hanging tight to structure....brush piles, blow overs, rock piles, and rock drop offs....points and boat docks too. Everywhere we stopped we caught fish. I caught right at 25 and my nephew about 15. I missed at least another 5-10 fish and he the same. Read a report about a hot reaction bait bite but couldn't buy a bite on jerkbaits, cranks, lipless cranks or spinnerbaits. However we didn't try the same spot as was mentioned in that report.
  City: Atascadero

  Tips: All fish came on t-rigged 6" roboworms BUT>>>> as many tails as I had bitten off today, my next batch of worms will be 4" so I don't miss as many fish. My nephew was using the same but also hooked up on a few fish using a smoke/purple Yamamoto hula grub on a 3/8 oz jig head also picked up a couple on white crappie jigs. The biggest fish went right at 2# with the majority being a little over a pound and 12-14". All in all it was a great day, ended up being VERY windy on the main lake, but still a great day on the water.

Tuesday, March 15th, 2005

• By Bill

  Water Temp: 62-67

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: On the water at sun up, Foggy so we headed across and started throwing reaction baits with great success for spot to about 1.5 lbs. Headed up river and caught a few whites on rip baits then headed back down to the mouth of the river and some stained water. picked up several more on reaction baits(rip-baits) headed back to the main lake near the dam area and continued to catch them. All in all over a hundres bass with 95% of them keepers and the biggest going about 2.5. Five whites and five slab crappie. Friends in another boat hit the wood with minnows and three of them caught 63 crappie and 33 whites. Lots of action not alot of size but still alot of fun !!!

  Tips: For bass throw rip baits and for crappie get some minnows...

Sunday, March 13th, 2005

• By bchapman

  Water Temp: 61-63

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Fished from 6am-3pm. Caught fish all day long on everything we threw. Grubs and rip baits were the best. Not a lot of size, but the numbers are there. all of the fish came out of 10ft or less despite the dreary weather. I saw a lot of people fishing for whites, but not a lot of hook ups.
  City: San Jose

  Tips: Fish shad colored grubs and ripbaits along riprap walls. Most of the fish only picked up the bait and swam off with it, so watch your line. Keep the lure as close to the bottom as possible with out being on the bottom, Most of the bites occurred with in 5 feet of shore. good luck!

Saturday, March 5th, 2005

• By Pat Moore

  Water Temp: 59

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Fished the day after the storm. Not many whites up in the river. Fished for Spots and caught lots of them. Used ox-blood colored worms, and shad tubes. Storm must have blown the whites out, but I am sure they are back. Going again Friday the 11th, just to check it out, and of course, throw in a line.
  City: salinas

  Tips: Tight Lines all. Bye

Thursday, March 3rd, 2005

• By Pat Moore

  Water Temp: 59

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Went after the White bass and had good success. Caught 17 nice ones up the narrows, about 100 yards down from where the river comes in. Used 1/8oz. rapala's, silver and black. Saw hundreds of them in the river, not biting there, just spawning. The females are not in yet, but I am expecting them any day. I did catch the biggest male I have ever seen though. Just troll, you'll find them. Going back again on Saturday with my son and his friend.
  City: Salinas

  Tips: Troll til you find them, then troll back through again. Good luck.

Saturday, February 26th, 2005

• By Rocky

  Water Temp: 56-58

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: Fishing was tough at first. The water is very muddy and made it tough to figure out. Then went way back into creek arm and the water was clear from incoming water - that was the key. The fish are stacked up in the clear water. We caught quite a few fish in each creek arm and up the main river once we hit the clear water. The lake is way up and there are some awesome waterfalls.
  City: San Jose

  Tips: Spinnerbaits, inline spinners and small cranks were the trick, fished at a moderate to slow speed.

Saturday, February 5th, 2005

• By MIKE NANCE

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: PICKED UP DAD WENT DOWN TO NACI.GOT ON THE WATER
  ABOUT 8:00.MUST OF HAD SOME SORT OF FLOAT TUBE TOURNAMENT ABOUT 15 OF THEM.WENT STRAIGHT TO BEE ROCK FISHED CRANK'S FOR ABOUT TWENTY MINUTES NOTHING.THEN WENT AND FISHED THE BANK'S ACCROSS FROM LAS TABLES AND PICKED UP TWO SPOT'S ON TEXAS
  RIGGED BERKELEY POWER WORM 6" MOTOR OIL.NOTHING FOR AWHLIE SO WE HEADED UP TO THE NARROW'S LOOKING FOR CLEARER WATER.NOT MUCH CLEARER THERE BUT WE ENDED UP WITH 13 TOTAL.BEST FIVE ABOUT 10LBS.ALL SPOT'S ALL ON PLASTIC'S.
  City: salinas

  Tips: LAKE IS ALMOST FULL ABOUT 15' FROM HIGH WATER MARK
  FISH SEEM TO BE SCATTERED AROUND BUT THE LAKE LOOK'S AWESOME AND THE ARE LETTING IT OUT QUIT ALOT.

Thursday, February 3rd, 2005

• By Rick

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Got on the water around 9am. Headed straight for the back of the narrows. The water was gin clear with about 10-12' visibility. Threw several different t-rigged plastics but not even a bite.
  Turned the boat around and started fishing stained water with structure. My partner and I ended up with 9 fish between the two of us, the biggest one going 1.9
  All in all it was a good day. We should've had at least three more fish each that we either missed, broke off, or got taken down into trees.
  City: Atascadero

  Tips: Fish stained water in the narrows. Points, drop offs, blow downs, etc. Fish were tight to structure and held on when they bit.
  A few more weeks of this weather and it should be really good. Hopefully the whites will start showing up in big numbers....

Friday, January 14th, 2005

• By Rick

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: Got on the water around 9am. Fished cove to the left of the launch ramp. Picked up a small largemouth on a 6" midnight Roboworm t-rigged.
  Fog finally lifted at noon. Picked up another LM a little bigger than the first in the middle of a submerged tree in about 5' of water. That was it. A LOT of junk washed into the lake from the storm, be careful on the water. They're letting a lot of water out of the lake, WHY? They say to make room for more storms and they'll let it fill to the brim in March. Why not let it fill now and let water out if and when more storms move in?!
  City: Atascadero

  Tips: Fish plastics slow. Try to find clean water; GOOD LUCK!

Sunday, December 19th, 2004

• By mellow

  Water Temp: 54

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: fished points in main lake caught 6 or 8 all over 12 but nothing bigger fished in cove and caught 15 with one small mouth at 17 inches and 2 large mouths fished all day with yamamoto curly tail jigs sun was out and we were in t-shirts
  City: bakersfield

  Tips: pumpkin colors 15 to 25 ft.