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New Melones Lake and Reports

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Friday, April 15th, 2005

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: 3 hours on water. 4 fish on cranks and brushhogs.
    2 dinks; 1 keeper; 1 toad of 9 pounds on a crank. Primary lake points and leeward side of secondary points.
    City: Modesto

    Tips: think red craw colors. all my fish in last 2 weeks have been on red/black combo of colors.

Friday, April 8th, 2005

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    Water Temp: mid 50's

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Miserable weather. Intermittent rain . Fished Mormon Creek arm on south facin g banks and secondary points. Good clarity to water. fished from 4-7 PM took 7 fish to 3.5#. Every fish came on a crank bait. All in the red to orange color range. Old craw color FatRap and orange/green Poe's Super Cedar. Nothing on spinner baits, same on swim baits. Didn't really try a worm--too breezy.
    City: Modesto

    Tips: Bite is very tentaive; be alert.

Saturday, April 2nd, 2005

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    Water Temp: 57-59

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished south end. Tough bite. No reaction bite. Water is very clear to 15 ft. Found fish in the trees with dropshot oxblood worms and green pumpkin spider grubs. Fish were caught in 20 ft. or less. Best 5 ,10lbs.
    City: Castro Valley

    Tips: When they stop biting one color, go back down same bank with a different color. When you find fish stick with them for awhile.

Friday, March 4th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 52-56

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished mid week bass club tourny with my buddy Joe Bruce..Had a un day as me and Joe always seem to do.Fishing was real good or us starting about 9:00 and never stopped all day.It was rustrating in the size o the ish though.The bigger ones either bite or don't bite at all.Caught about thirty keepers and tons o dinks.Keepers today were 90% largies.Dinks were 95% spots...This changes daily
    City: sonora

    Tips: I ish this lake alot and I irmly believe that you should not try and wait these ish out.I you are not getting ish within ten minutes.....MOVE..there are tons o ish in this lake

Monday, February 14th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 54

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Took the Fiance out for a Valentine's Day fishing trip. Started at about 1pm until the rain ran us off at 4:30 pm. First stop was up the east end of the lake between the Hwy 49 bridge and Parrotts Ferry bridge. Jigged and dropshot at 30-50 feet on a dropoff next to a secondary point. I caught one and she caught one (both under 1 lb) Moved up east of the Parrotts Ferry bridge and tried the same approach. I caught one more (again under 1 lb) but all I can say is nibble, nibble, nibble. It was nearly 1 out of 3 casts I could get a nibble but the fish were very lippy and would not take the bait. I nearly threw my back out trying to set hooks. Tried changing size and color, and also tried adding scent/flavor with same results.
    City: Sonora

    Tips: Fish still slow and light strikes. Just a few weeks and it will be a different story!

Sunday, February 13th, 2005

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished up river most the day and ended up with around fifteen fish to 4 lbs.Went up with the wife and she surprized me by catching five or six droppshotting. Fish were down 30 to 50 feet and hitting very litly, so u had to be on ur toes. Couldnt get a bite shallow so we fished deep and very slow, and had to watch fish finder and drop it right on them green and brown seem to do the best.
    City: MODESTO

    Tips: fish very very slow, seems liked u have to drop it right in front of them

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    Water Temp: 53

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: launched at tuttle town fished the imediate area to the right of the ramp throwing trout patteren swimbait..nothing...went on around to just before mormon creek throwing the swimbait and nothing so we headed to 49 bridge fished halfway into angels and nothing. we headed up river a lil ways fished steeper rock banks with laydowns and nothing i stuck with the swimbait the whole time and my brother was throwing the whole aresenole at em and we got somked had the sun stayed out for any length of time maybe it wouldnt have been so bad lake temp was the same whever we went
    City: modesto

Tuesday, February 8th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 53

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished above the Parrott's Ferry Bridge from 3pm till dark. Fished 20-30 feet with texas rigged grub. Boated two (1lb and 2lb small mouth) Had a third with dropshot worm but spit the hook. I've heard good things about cathing fish from the Hwy 49 bridge and up.
    City: Sonora

    Tips: Fish deep near drop offs and points. Use a splash of "blood red" on your bait and you won't be disapointed.

Saturday, October 16th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 69

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: This lake SUCKS right now. I fished it the 15th and 16th. Don't go until November. The fish are scattered from the surface down to 50'.
    Unless your a stud on Melones like Johnny C you will struggle to catch fish. It ain't worth it!!
    I pre fished for a club tourney on the 15th and found balls of shad in the back of a creek and went back the next morning and they were gone. The rest of the day was miserable.
    The shad balls were 30'-50' deep.
    I forgot my spoons so I counted down a 3/4 oz chrome trap and yo yo'd / ripped it back to the boat and caught fish that way. I also dropped a heavy gitzit down and caught a couple fish that way. I caught about five fish and got out of there. The spots were fat and easy to catch.
    Topwater, rippin' and crankbaits weren't working at all.
    I did catch some fish on a Yamamoto twin tail spider jig (brown with green flake)in about 15' of water.
    The tournament was won throwing spinnerbaits in shallow water. Five small spots took it.
    City: Modesto

    Tips: Look for those white and black diving birds in the back of creeks because they will tell you where the shad are. I saw a dead shad on the surface and they are big right now (4"-5").
    Wait until it gets colder so the shad will be more concentrated.

Wednesday, October 13th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 64-74

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: A a great rip with a client from Folsom..Best five 14+...very good for Melones and surprising.Cooling water has brought the better fish back on. In fact we caught more quality than not. Lake was flat calm and best bite was on reaction baits..Some drop shot fish but not red hot,too calm..Caught fish from the surface to 42 feet.
    City: Sonora

    Tips: Sounds like a broken record, but stay with the bait. They are not spitting shad yet but they are in the area. Will breal wide open soon!!!

Wednesday, August 25th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 78-80.2

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Thought I would check out whether Melones is still in it's annual summer shut-down. Found levels low and falling, warm surface temps. Expected to strike out as falling levels and surface temps usually pull the fish out and down and they orient on shad schools. I was surprised to find that some spots were still close to shore and would hit on surface, dinner-plates and worms. Took 8 to 10 with several keepers icluding one 2.2 that ate my popper. R
    City: Sonora

    Tips: Up river, in the shade, try surface last 90 minutes of day. Top-waters 15 to 25 feet off of shoreline. Worm fish came from points in 20-25 feet. Don't eat largies, keep spots for dinner!!

Friday, August 13th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: PLANNING A NIGHTIME OUTING AND WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE SOME INSIGHT ON THE SITUATION. ANY KIND OF TIPS ON GOOD BAIT'S & LOCATION'S WOULD BE GREAT.FOR THOSE IN THE KNOW WHO WOULD CARE TO SHED SOME LIGHT ON US PLEASE DO SO: THANKS
    City: DENAIR-TURLOCK

Friday, July 2nd, 2004

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    Water Temp: 79.9

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Just got back from houseboating for 5 days with two other families who have never been houseboating. Had a great time and the fishing was decent in the mornings and evenings. Caught mostly spotted basss and 2 black bass on lucky craft sammy, jerk bait, brush hog (pumpkin color, morning dawn plastic worm, and a spinnerbait. Fish were located mostly on points with big rocks and brush near by on the main part of the lake. Water temp was 79.9 in one arm and 72.5 in another arm. Biggest spot went 2.75 lbs. Trout trolling was terrible from anglers that I asked.
    Fire Jon
    City: San Bruno

    Tips: Fish early or late, top or bottom. Lots of little fish

Wednesday, May 26th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 73-74.7

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at 4:00p for evening trip, hoping for topwater action. Found that lake level had dropped nearly 10 feet in recent weeks. Virtually no action until after six and only in shade. Fair topwater action for small spots, redeyes and LM, in that order. No size. Best probably two+. Need stable water levels.
    City: Sonora

    Tips: Best topwater locations seems to be large rocks with some sparse wood adjacent to good depth. R

Wednesday, April 14th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 61-64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished 4/12-4/14 with the kids. Most fish caught on drop offs or right on structure. The carp are spawning --- big time --- and causing things to be tougher.Most fish were 2 lbs with a 1 or 3 mixed in.Soft plastics worked best with a few on a white spinner bait also.

Wednesday, April 7th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 64.2

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Out at 3:30p, upriver between bridges. Fished until dark w/ 40+ fish between us. Almost all taken on 4in 082R, splitshot and texas. A few suicide fish on dinnerplates and ripbaits. Perfect day upriver, little wind and no competition. Mostly spots to two pounds (12' to 24'), a few largies w/ two 3.5's from up shallow. Richard, Modesto Castmasters.
    City: Sonora

    Tips: Small worms with red flake. On the bottom. Slooooooowwwww! Spots were clustered in 20 yard areas, largies spread along the bank.

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    Water Temp: 62-67

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Went fishing with Nick Chip in the afternoon. We got on the water around 2:45. Tried for 2 or 3 hours to get out of the wind. We must of fished a dozen different spots before 6:00 pm. We picked up a fish here and there but by no means was it a wide open bite. Most of the fish were caught on spider grubs. Caught lots of red eye's, too. Big ones. All the spots and red eye's still had eggs. Every largemouth we caught had already spawned out. Most fish had pulled off a bit. No fish were on beds or caught shallow. But, at 6:30 pm, we tucked into a cove to get out of the wind, and then the fun began. There was a great top water bite right up until dark. I can't even remember how many fish we caught. We used everything from a Sammy to a Pop R to a Spit'N Image. Nick caught a largie about 4lbs, I broke off a couple real nice ones, too. Most of the fish we caught we between 2-3 pounds.
    City: Sonora

    Tips: If you want to treat someone to a really fun fishing trip. Get out to Melones now. The last hour or so before dark is magic. Start in coves that are wind protected and work the secondary points off main lake points. Have fun!!!

Saturday, March 20th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 61-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: fished our small club tourney . lots of sunshine and lots of fish .. mostly smaller fish but winners 13 + was headed with a 7+ largemouth . bite was good early for me. i got six in the first hour including four keeper fish .. one being 3+. off to good start . got one mor keeper the rest of day . i caught all mine except one on a jerk bait or spinner bait. couldn't get a plastic bite going . even drop shotting wasn't working for me all tho lots of other guys got plastics going ?? i fished early inside the cove that has all the houseboats anchored.. then went up river and later in the day came back . fished by myself and dumped one about four as i went for net and then turned another about the same just long enough to see big white belly . anyway had almost eight . it took 10
    = to get in the money ....
    City: SUNNYVALE

    Tips: ghost color jerkbait and chart/white spinner bait worked for me . all fish almost ready to spawn . get up there for a fun day ...

Sunday, March 7th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 54

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: got on the water at 12 pm and started getting bit around 12:30 caught 4 fish in 3 hours dropshotting clear\with bright flake anything. all caught from 40 to 60 ft. deep all pound to a pound and a half.
    City: oakdale

    Tips: bright colors

Monday, January 5th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Actually it is 2005 but the menu didn't allow for today's date! Anyway, didn't get on the water til 1030 and found fish in the 25' range on darterheads, 6" oxblood. Rocky points with wood nearby was what we found for active fish. Graphed fish at 45+ but couldn't get them to go.
    City: Modesto

    Tips: very soft bite,,,,fish slow