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Saturday, December 12th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 49

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: went to lake Oroville in the pouring rain and found a great crankbait bite till about 11 am shad patterns 6-14ft deep worked best. We did catch a few nice spotties on plastics later in the day way up shallow.

    for more current reports go to www.rbbassfishing.net

    Tips: Burn your crank bait and cover lots of water!

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 51-53

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Bass Busters of Yuba city had it's second tourney of the year out of the Spillway, after finding out the DPR had closed Bidwell on Friday. I ended up with 5 fish for 10.16 lbs, good for second place. First place had a weight of 10.33, with the BF of the day, a 3.18. I got all my fish on cranks, caught over twenty fish, with 12 of those over the slot. First place boat reported catching over 70 fish between the two of them, mostly on jigs. Rippin produced a few fish as well. Seven anglers brought 5 fish limits in, over 15 inches. Crank fish were on flat points, right on the tip or on the deeper side. Fish were in 3-12 ft, but had to be deep water near by.
    City: Plumas Lake

    Tips: Bass Busters of Yuba City is looking for new members, especially boaters. The club is a good way to meet some new people, learn from other anglers and fish while sharing expenses with someone who loves bass fishing as much as you.
    We meet the first Thursday of each month at the Peach Tree restraunt in Linda/Maryville. Or, e-mail me at the address above with any questions.

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    Water Temp: 54-56

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Oroville on Saturday. I was amazed at the size of the spotted bass we caught. We landed 20+ fish with 15 over the slot. Biggest fish went 3LBS. All of our fish came on Oxblood red flake robo worms. Early bite was solid on the shakey head then moved to a drop shot later in the day.
    City: Hollister

    Tips: The bidwell ramp is closed again, the ramp at the spillway is open, but no dock and a long dirt road to get to the water. Let is snow let it snow, we need some serious water this spring!

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: yuba city bass busters had 2nd tourney of year on sat the 5th.good fishing for me pre fishing all cranking. winner big daddy had a3.18 kicker for first 10.34. dont know what he used. most fish came trowing cranks and jigs
    City: plumas lake

    Tips: crank windy banks near deep water. if interested in fishing in our club e mail me and ill give you the detail

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Did pretty good on drop shot in the morning but once the sun got higher in the sky, the bite turned off.
    City: Bay Area, CA

    Tips: Rocks and boulders are the only places i found the fish

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

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    Water Temp: N/A

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: First time to the lake! My girl and I stayed at her clients' house in Chico. Last minute out the door, I grabbed 1 rod for medium-large baits. Day after Thanksgiving I went exploring. I ended up fishing the north side launch by the dam. By 2:30 p.m. the rain let up, still windy, and warmed up a little.

    I threw a 6" Rainbow Mission Fish for the most part. Had 30 bites, but they weren't all bass. Since they were short-hitting, I left the hook exposed. As it got later, they stopped chasing it down, so I would swim it 10' from the shore and kill it, then crawl it like a jig. It was starting to get dark, but I did see 2 spots around 4-6#, and finally got one about 3lbs. What made me irate later in the evening was that when I crawled it, they would slam it hard. It was actually difficult to tell a bass bite from a trout bite. One small trout even picked it up and swam off with it. Saw what I thought was a buck about 50' from me.

    Next day, same area, walked further east. Pesky trout. Wind was to my favor. A nice 2.5 Spot caught on a steep rocky bank on the inside of a cove. Same method with a Mission Fish. Had to leave early just as it was starting to get good. Saw the same deer, and it was a buck.
    City: Stuck in Lodi

    Tips: Fish as late in the evening as you can. Bass are more active in low-light, even in Winter, and can be found within inches of the bank. Swim a Huddleston, etc.(6" or bigger)in open water, or a Mission Fish in and around bushes and boulders. Use the M.F. as a jig, or swim it.

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    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: The launch at Bidwell was beautiful although a tad windy as we headed for Potter's. Gusted a bit and then layed down flat for hours before kicking up and knocking us off the water at 1:PM. Fish were definately relating to rocks and could hardly keep the little planter salmon off the hook but decided to try for dinner for my partner's wife and switched to a Hopkins spoon and she slammed it. Nice 7 pound salmon. Threw mainly tube and brown on brown jig with best five going over 11 pounds. They all had big fat bellies and if I would have opened one up, probably would find salmon! Bite was really on and I love Oroville in the winter.
    City: Wheatland

    Tips: Throw to rocky points and get the bait all the way down and work it slowly. Was really able to feel the bite and you knew you were getting bit. Tubes were on a 1/4 oz darthead and jigs were brown on brown with a Yamamoto #360 grub for trailer. Since I rarely catch large salmon, here's a tip fer ya.......DON'T LIP THE BASTARD as my thumb is bloddy mess today. Now glad she wound up as dinner for someone. HA-HA

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

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    Water Temp: 56

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Sammie in the AM worked not only for spots but for a couple rainbows too! Switched to drop shot in coves for bass and again rainbows. One nice spot on Ike jig then the rain starts to fall, oh and another rainbow on a crank bait.
    City: Penn Valley

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 55-59

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: My last dozen or so trips on the lake with clients, pre fishing for tournaments and the tournaments themselves have been one of the best fall seasons I've seen on the lake in a while. This last week pre-fishing we had many limits over 10lbs. During the last A/C tournament on the 14th we ended with 10.98lb. A lot of paterns were working. Top water and rip baits were working in the morning, and plastics of all kinds were working throught the day. Everyday was a bit different so you had to be willing to change color or size or speed up or slow down your presentation to get a bite.
    City: Paradise

    Tips: A few weeks ago 240,000 coho salmon were planted. You can find them all over the lake. This is helping the top water and rip bait bite and also the swimbait bite.

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    Water Temp: 55-59

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: My last dozen or so trips on the lake with clients, pre fishing for tournaments and the tournaments themselves have been one of the best fall seasons I've seen on the lake in a while. This last week pre-fishing we had many limits over 10lbs. During the last A/C tournament on the 14th we ended with 10.98lb. A lot of paterns were working. Top water and rip baits were working in the morning, and plastics of all kinds were working throught the day. Everyday was a bit different so you had to be willing to change color or size or speed up or slow down your presentation to get a bite.
    City: Paradise

    Tips: A few weeks ago 240,000 coho salmon were planted. You can find them all over the lake. This is helping the top water and rip bait bite and also the swimbait bite.

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

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    Water Temp: 63*

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Great day on the lake ! Saw 3 boats all day and fished the west and north forks and caught and released over 25 spots right on the banks. And there were no dinks.....all from 1 1/2 to 3 lbs. Easily had best 5 around 13 lbs. Few on topwater, but most on darterhead. Even caught rainbows on bass lures.
    City: paradise

    Tips: Hint; Millions of trout all around....

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    Water Temp: 65-66

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Much better trip this time - lake probably had a few days to calm down from all the tourney pressure. I took a father-son team today and we really had fun. After a first light bite the past few trips, today it started about 1 pm - go figure! We each caught a topwater bass at first light and that was it - no more topwater! That was weird!! Early clouds gave way to dead flat, bright conditions. So we found steep banks in the south fork and a new rock ledge I didn't know previously. Wow! Lots of quality spots that were hungry! Dad got the two biggest at 2.1 and 2.0 lbs and son drop-shotted a 1.94 as I was putting rods away. We boated around 20 spots and their 5 best were over 9 lbs. I think all 5 were "overs". Nice day!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: After the topwater bite died (was it ever born?), I had dad Texas rigging a 6" Prizm Krawler Robo worm and he caught the 2.1 in about 20 feet of water in the main body - his first worm bass! Son was drop-shotting one and lost a good fish. After that, we spooned a few with Duh spoons, but mostly it was a worm bite. Sxe shad worked too. Then I decided it was time to drop-shot a Basstrix flashtrix 4" minnow and that was the ticket for the last 2 hours, enticing the son's 1.94. Bass were spitting up a lot of smelt. We had lots of 6 inchers follow the flashtrix right up to the boat.

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 66-67

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I took 2 guys yesterday to the beautiful new Bidwell Ramp - and we fished too! We did not start as early as we should of - I was counting on some cloud cover, but none in the morning. Parking was an issue too. They worked topwater first and one of the guys nailed his first topwater bass ever - a 2.12 spot on a Chug Bug in dead calm water. Even the guide was excited! I love it when clients are so stunned that they don't set right away - that helps the bass to take it good! After I declared him a pro, he lost the second one on topwater - another good one. Incidently, his topwater bass spit up a large fish of some kind - couldn't tell what it was. The bite got really slow after sun-up. While they were fishing I tried something new that I thought might work. I had never rigged a weighted Senko before - so I tried it with a #301 5" Senko. It did produce a nice fat 2 1/4 spot in about 20 feet of water. No more bites on that bait however. Beginners luck! We caught a few more drop-shotting Robo worms, but the bite was really slow. They had to leave a little early so we were off the water at 2:45 pm.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: After two very successful trips recently, it is interesting to see the results of so much fishing pressure. Weather wasn't the best for a good bite, but a lot of fish have moved. I haven't fished Oroville in the evenings lately, but the first 2 hours of light are key - at least until the water cools. Could not get the jig bite going that I had a few weeks ago. It is usually good mid-october. Looks like the lake is still dropping after coming up briefly after the big storm.

  • By

    Water Temp: 66-67

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I took 2 guys yesterday to the beautiful new Bidwell Ramp - and we fished too! We did not start as early as we should of - I was counting on some cloud cover, but none in the morning. Parking was an issue too. They worked topwater first and one of the guys nailed his first topwater bass ever - a 2.12 spot on a Chug Bug in dead calm water. Even the guide was excited! I love it when clients are so stunned that they don't set right away - that helps the bass to take it good! After I declared him a pro, he lost the second one on topwater - another good one. Incidently, his topwater bass spit up a large fish of some kind - couldn't tell what it was. The bite got really slow after sun-up. While they were fishing I tried something new that I thought might work. I had never rigged a weighted Senko before - so I tried it with a #301 5" Senko. It did produce a nice fat 2 1/4 spot in about 20 feet of water. No more bites on that bait however. Beginners luck! We caught a few more drop-shotting Robo worms, but the bite was really slow. They had to leave a little early so we were off the water at 2:45 pm.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: After two very successful trips recently, it is interesting to see the results of so much fishing pressure. Weather wasn't the best for a good bite, but a lot of fish have moved. I haven't fished Oroville in the evenings lately, but the first 2 hours of light are key - at least until the water cools. Could not get the jig bite going that I had a few weeks ago. It is usually good mid-october. Looks like the lake is still dropping after coming up briefly after the big storm.

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Took my soon to be wife with me today to teach her how to catch a fish. We ended up catching 4 bass on drop shot, non on senkos & a trout on a trout kastmaster.Spent most of time getting her line untangled & out of trees though but was fun :) water has good color to..

    Tips: 10-20ft rock points of main lake, brown/chart. worm drop shot

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

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    Water Temp: 73

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I really had a nice day Thurs with two great guys - and a chance to use the new ramp. Wow - very good! We started at first light - good thing - spots were on a tear! Client got an "over" spot on the first cast. I wish I could say more about the trip but they are tournament folks. Lots of bass with 5 good ones - about an 11 - 12 lb limit. Lost 2 big fish. The north wind had died, making for a beautiful day. Water color was very nice - little bite of a green tinge.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Can't say anything. Good luck to all!

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: My partner and I fished the first ever National Bass West Northern Team tournament here on Sunday. This organization is based in Southern California and have been around for awhile. It features 100% payback on everything with their sponsors picking up expences. You can check out everything at National Bass West.com. We launched from the new ramp at Bidwell (what a treat) and caught a bunch of fish throughout the day. The winning weight was over 12 pounds with big fish over 3. Most guys dart headed or drop shotted their limits fishing cuts. Specific baits were not mentioned but probably their favorite worm or tube etc. The next team tournament is at the end of the month and there is a pro team tournament here in a couple of weeks.
    City: Paradise

    Tips: We used worms and senkos on dart heads to cull up to 9.35. We didn't find any concentrations of bait fish which could have helped are cause but I'm sure they're still around. If I went tomorrow I would probably use the same stuff, maybe add some tubes. Price to get thru the gate now is 13 bucks. Good Fishing

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 75

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: We were going to Clear Lake but heard the algae was worse than ever so decided to go back to Oroville.
    On the water about 6:30 and started with a Vixen but no takers. Changed to the tube and partner a drop shot rig. We both started catching keeper fish almost immediately. They were anywhere from the bank out to 20' After about a half dozen or so 13" plus fish, we both wondered where the "horroville" dinks were. The last trip we had to work through them to find keepers and this trip we had not caught anything under 13" so far! Partner finally got one dink and we figured here we go. Got off the water at 3:30 and the total was 17 keepers about 3 dinks and more than 5 over the slot! Somewhere around 9-10# for the best five. One of the best summer days so far. Bite remained steady all day and we only moved once to fish in two areas.
    City: RosevilleRoseville

    Tips: Fish came on tubes, darter, dropshot, and even a jig. Nothing on top water, cranks or blades. Usual Oroville colors worked.

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 79

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Took the wife and son out Tuesday afternoon. Little cooler than had been but nice. My son caught the largest, just 3lbs on a brown and black grub in les than 10'. we caught several fish in the 14" to 16" with the one over 18" I was using watermellon red with chartuse tail 4" worm. My biggest was a 16" smallie. all our fish cam in less than 10" The wife went swining and took pictures. We all had fun.
    City: Oroville

    Tips: 1/8" darthead brown grubs and watermellon red flake worms. Bit was pretty much open. Have fun.

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

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    Water Temp: 76-78

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: The bite is difficult. Fished split shot and darter heads in various colors. Most bites came in early morning. Caught a lot of smaller fish around 11"-12" from depths of 10'-25'. Fish over the slot were far and few. Should have fished more reaction baits in deeper water for larger fish. The lake is dropping approx. a foot a day so the fish are suspending.

    Tips: Split shot and darter heads produced a lot of smaller fish. The bite turned off around 11:00am for us. For bigger fish I would try a Deep diving crankbait or slow roll a deep diving spinnerbait. The fish were throwing up a lot of shad at the boat. Look for cooler water. The bite is tough right now.