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Oroville Lake and Reports

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Monday, April 4th, 2011

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: fished this morning for couple hours was still slow got two bites, landed one nice spot 16.5 in. think the other was a coho playin with my worm. using 6" green weenie
    City: paradise

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the lake at noon. Fish till it was dark, only landed on legal size bass. Had four slots but they were all big and fat/ready to spawn. Hope the weather stays warm...
    On another note, still seeing coho's jumping, caught three by mistake. Had to keep one b/c it was floating when i release it.

Saturday, April 2nd, 2011

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished today with my son again. Was tough. Didnt get on the water till almost 11 oclock. Fished south fork to see what was going on. Picked up a couple of slot fish on grubs in about ten foot around noon and then nothing for almost 4 hours.got one more on a rip bait next to a waterfall. My son was pretty down but finaly got on a salmon bite that made him happy, lost 4 but did manage to land three. all on rip baits.
    City: San Jose

    Tips: I cant say too much but i'm hopping that a week of this weather will help."sure it wont hurt"

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

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    Water Temp: 48-50

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Oroville today, and boy was it tough fishing! The lake was flat with no wind, and had blue bird sky. I fished from safe light until about 5:30pm only to catch one fish. The water temp was pretty cold, some parts of the lake like the main body was around 48 degrees, while some coves were up to about 50-51 degrees. I didn't see any fish on the graph today which I thought was a little odd. The one fish I did catch came out of the slot, and it was caught on a watermelon tube. I think with the up coming warm weather the lake is going to turn around, these last few weeks have been tough with the water up and down, and really no stability.
    City: Oroville

    Tips: Fish slow, and keep moving to you find them. I can't give a whole lot of tips seeing I only caught one fish.

Sunday, March 27th, 2011

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    Water Temp: 46-52

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Went up to the lake test out my new rod for the first time this year. I knew the fishing will be tough but did't realize the water temp will be so cold. I should have of known the all that rain we had slow the fishing. Me and my friend only caught three fish and a accidental coho on darthead, Two of the fish were on tubes near current.
    City: daly city

    Tips: Look for current and warmer water. Check coves in less windy area. Fish were shallow. At least the ones we found. Shallow coves that doesn't seem to exist in this lake probably will warm up the fastest. Also stained water will warm up faster.

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

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    Water Temp: 51-52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: went to the lake this morning to let the dog run and noticed the water level dropped and all the driftwood is sitting on the shore until they close the spillway and the level rises again. found a rattlesnake at perish cove, almost stepped right on top of her. It's a good thing it is still pretty chilly out or I might have had a rude begining to my Tuesday. Every year the lake fills up, the rattlesnakes get real bad around the shoreline. Today was was close enough for me to call it good on any further shore fishing for the season. Just boat trips from now on.

    Tips: the lake looked to have dropped 5-10 feet the water was a bit cooler and a bit murky. caught 1 spot pushing 2 lbs and I didn't try real hard. she was caught on a wacky senko in green.

Saturday, March 12th, 2011

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    Water Temp: 51

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished with my son. 8 Boats total. Fished one day out of two, (two day club tournament Fairfield Suisun Bass Reapers) TOUGH BITE FOR US; However we caught six spots overall: FOUR 14"ers returned to the lake, and TWO 18"ers weighed in for 4.80 and returned to the lake. First place Day one was my son. All my fish three 14"ers didn't make the slot. Two other boats had fewer fish.

    Now thats all said, Lures: Arons Magic 4" Robo Worm dart headed 1/8 oz dart head and Yamamoto twin tail spider grubs Root Beer Copper/Green flake, jigged on 1/4 oz black football head jig. All on six pound test. Pattern: Rocky steep points with red dirt banks. Two to three feet from the edge, 10 to 15 feet deep, some bites on the inital drop others a pressure bite. A mid afternoon bite for us.
    City: Fairfield

    Tips: Drag bait slowly with rod, letting the bait sit, and drag again. It worked for us. Brown pepper tubes worked for others guys. All our baits had brown in them.

    Good Fishin

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: fished a bit on Tuesday and the lake looks GREAT. I will go out on a limb and say Oroville will be full this year for the first time in a LONG TIME and that is exciting. As for now, we found fish shallow and deep. Perrish cove had a few shallow fish in it that hit a white spinnerbait with double willow blades. Caught a few out in deeper water with Bold Bluegill RoboWorms. Caught a nice 3 to 4 pound largemouth on a crankbait.. Normans Lavender shad.We even had a blow up on a topwater. LOTS of driftwood in the lake right now which is a good sign of the water level on Oroville.But that wood can ruin your day in a hurry so stay alert.
    City: Paradise

    Tips: we caught 8 fish in 4 hours between two people.Only one fish out of the slot but all the fish were FAT. Not a great day but those days are coming. I'm sure you could have a better day sitting in about 30-60 feet of water with a dopshot or tube. I would rather go after those active ones with a spinnerbait or crankbait. All we need now is warm weather for a stretch.

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Thank you Brent for the information on the coho size and limit. I fish this lake every year starting around late march. I usually have pretty good luck there. Like everybody I do alot of dart heading at the lake. To get the most action, I use smaller plastics with 1/16 oz. jighead. Try dragging a splitshot rig with veriety of plastics behind the boat around 15-20ft. range. You will find that this time of the year the fish are skittish and the bites are usually presure bites. I bet if you dragged plastics behind your boat, you will catch way more fish dragging then casting! Especially if you splitshot. I was fishing on my friend's boat a couple od years ago around late march and I cuught way more fish dragging then casting. Hope you try this method and maybe you can give me a report. I'm planning to go there in a couple of weeks. I'm gonna see if I could get some cohos for dinner too! I hope you're right about the limit and no size limit. I usually fish for trout and not cohos. Thank you and good luck!
    City: san mateo

    Tips: When your splitshotting, try to use the the lightest line and splitshot you can get away with. Just make sure you're always contacting the bottom. By-the-way, I don't fish fish tournaments. I just fish for fun and don't really care who reads this. Afterall we're all out ther trying to have a good time catching fish.Bass fisherman are way to hush hush about their secret lures and techniques. Its sad to say all these tournament fisermans are too much about the money. If a ask a tournament fisherman what kind of lure they're using while your're fishing and you're not fishing a tournament, they won't tell you. If they tell you, they will probably ignore you or lie to you. I would never fish tournaments. Its too much about the money and the presure. It should be about having a good time and sharing tactics and information with each other so we can all have a good day!

Saturday, March 5th, 2011

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    Water Temp: 49

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: My Buddy Al and I fished out of Lime Saddle Saturday afternoon on a short exploratory trip. We fished tube jigs, shakey heads & darthead and drop shot rigged roboworms in a variety of colors. We marked very little on the sonar and fished several types of water in search of fish. I managed to land one spot on a drop shotted roboworm off a north facing bank of shale. It was a slot size bass, but extremely fat and sassy. I did catch and relese a few coho on tube jigs as well. I believe there is no size limit on Lake Oroville coho, just a limit of 5 fish per angler.
    City: paradise

    Tips: I hooked one fish, who am I to give tips! I can say, however, the fish hit the drop shot very softly while deadsticking the lure.

Friday, March 4th, 2011

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Does anyone know what the legal size and limit of coho salmon at this lake? I'm a bass fisherman but I thought it would be nice to bring home a fish or two for dinner. Don't worry guys, I practice catch and release when it comes to bass.
    City: san mateo

Saturday, February 5th, 2011

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    Water Temp: 49

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Took my son out on the 5th. It was tough but we managed a few fish. Some ripping the back of coves in the afternoon. The others were on grubs in 15' not alot but I had 5 and my son boated 1 but lost 3. Not to bad as I hear, not so good by others. Lokking forward to March as that is as soon as I can get back.
    City: San Jose

    Tips: We used red 5" grubs in 15' and trout colored rip baits in the backs of coves. Good luck with the weather thats been happining. Tight lines everyone

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

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    Water Temp: 49

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Jan 28th and Feb 1st for a total of 1 fish. I tried every lure (drop-shot, shaky-head, jig, senko, tubes & grubs, jerk-bait, spoons), every color, fast/slow from 10'-60' in all my best spots. Nothing.

    I can usually pull off a total somewhere in the 20s or 30s - 12 to 15 in winter - but not lately.

    The water level was 5'-10' higher today than 4 days ago, and 15'-20' higher than a few weeks ago. Add some fog and 20mph wind and fishing gets tough.

    There is a lot of surface foam and driftwood, with organic debris throughout the water column, making me think that the lake is still in the process of "turning over". Whatever it is, I'm going to give it a few weeks before I try again.

    Tips: 1/4oz jigs and shaky-heads were getting the job done (until two weeks ago) in natural greys and greens.

Monday, December 27th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 50-52

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Waiting for a day without rain and seizing the moment on Monday was worth the wait. Water was flat and begging to be fished with only a couple other boats on the entire lake. Started working points outside and entering Potters using a tube and quickly switched to a baby brush hog that immediately produced a nice fat spot. That opened the floodgate to one of the best days in many years at Oroville while boating only one over the slot, all others would have been welcome in any tournament as they were fat and healthy and eating. Most fish were taken in 20-30 feet off points or any type of cover when you worked your bait slow and some were popping the bait while others were a mere pressure bite.
    City: Wheatland

    Tips: Lighter color tubes and bruch hogs and work it really slow. Everytime I let it soak while unspooling some line, when I picked up the rod a fish was on the bait. Good to have Oroville bite back on in force.

Friday, December 24th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Merry Christmas everyone!! I went to the lake this morning for a few hours with a former student of mine and good Oroville pro - Kelly Eagleton. He bought my previous Ranger boat - weird riding my former boat! After two days of fog and little rain, it seem the bite had slowed a some after a good bite earlier in the week. We fish main body and north fork for about 9 or 10 fish - all about 2 to 2 1/2 lbs. Lost several. I got some jig and worm fish and Kelly wormed all of his and one on a spinnerbait. That bait was not on for Kelly today. All our fish were 5 to 30 feet. I was most impressed with the girth of these spots - they are eating!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Bites were on points but also on flats near points. It was interesting to pattern fish on deep and shallow structure. A creek channel or two we worked did not produce a bite.

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 48 degrees

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Just posting to say something positive regarding the lake level. As it stands today, the lake is up 90' from last years level on this date.
    As long as DWR does not go crazy with its releases the lake could be near capacity by March 2011. Retaining water is not always a bad thing!!!!!!
    City: Oroville California

Saturday, November 13th, 2010

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Yuba city Bassbusters our Invitational on November 13, 2010 has been canceled

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: This is not an actual fishing report but rather info on some upcoming tournaments. Just noticed the lake is up 3' give or take and with more rain on the way this should be a great year on this lake. The first Anglers Choice tournament is on the 6th of November, just 2 weeks away and you can find all the info on their site. Also the Yuba City Bass Busters will have their tournament the following weekend on the 13th with entry fee 80.00 and 10.00 big fish option. Bring a new unopened gift and be entered into a draw for some great prizes. More info on this can be had by calling Brian at 530-741-8198.
    City: Paradise

    Tips: I plan to go out Saturday rain or shine and based on the previous post, hope to catch a few. I love throwing jigs so plan on starting with that.

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 63-65

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Absolutely UNREAL bite right now at Oroville! Cuaght over 80 fish in just about 8 hours of fishing yesterday! Fish are gourging on bait right now. Fished all main body with drop shot and spoons and ripped a few in the morning! And also caught fish on all bridge pilings. Find the bait and you will have a blast! Nothing huge, biggest we caught was right at 2.5 pounds, but still so much fun! We caught 47 fish off one point in the main body! Lots of fun, get out there while the bite is still hot!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Any shad color bait, and spoons are working very well as well. Find 30 ft of water and they will be there!

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

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    Water Temp: 64

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Off the chart caught over hundred spots drop shotting and jigs main lake. the best day I have had in years. Talked with guy who never left the 5 mile area by the ramp (DAM) caught 40-50. Find the bait fish and drop shot anything shad color. If using a jig very very slow.
    City: Fresno

    Tips: Look for the bait fish the bass are gourging on them right now.