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Oroville Lake and Reports

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Thursday, November 7th, 2002

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    Water Temp: 60

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I took a long-time client to Oroville Wednesday. He wanted to catch numbers rather than big ish this trip, and numbers he got! He caught 22 spots and 1 smallie while I tried or bigger bass and did get a ew nice ones and wound up with 16 - or a total o 39 in the boat or both o us. While we did catch a lot o slot ish because he was using small plastics, we did get 6 over the slot. We even missed the early bite as he couldn't arrive until 8 AM. Launching wasn't too diicult at the dam road site, but I elt good with 4 wheel drive! Boat and truck were a muddy mess when we let! It was a beautiul day - some wind in the aternoon - and un to watch the irst storm o the season move in during the day. We started in the main body and Canyon Creek and ound the bite slow, but I think the time was the main actor, not the location. I elt because o the cold mornings, the aternoon bite would be better and ater 11 AM it got better and better! We had bites most o the aternoon, especially ater we moved to the middle ork. We ound most o our bass rom 10 to 20 eet. We couldn't get the deeper bass to go and really didn't need to try. We caught several drop-shotting, but most were caught split-shotting 4 1/2 and 6 inch Magic worms. Junebug II (#29) was the best color today - surprisingly morning dawn didn't work at all - dark color were the key. The shad color worm did work well ished either way. When the breeze came up - rather than go to a spinnerbait - I decided to rip a Lucky Crat Staci. Good choice! My second cast produced a 17 inch, 2.2 pound spot. Three casts later - a 16 inch spot and one more in the slot. I was using the ghost color. Dobyns would be proud o me since I don't rip much. The jig bite didn't happen until about 3 PM or me, and my irst spot was 17 1/2 inches and 2.5 pounds. I did get a ew more on jigs, but the worm bite was just too good. I was using my typical brown/orange Rodstrainer jig with a #180 Yamamoto grub trailer. The big jig ish was in about 6 eet o water - interesting! As we came in at dark, quite pleased with the day, my client suddenly realized his green waterproo pack had blown out o the boat. Not good - had a camera and expensive sunglasses among other things. I it is still loating in the upper middle ork and you ind it, let me know! Thank you. I don't know how the other boats did, but did hear two say that they had a tough day. There were about 15 rigs in the parking lot.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I was casting the rip bait across points - about 20 eet oshore. The big ish came near a boulder about 15 eet oshore. We cast our split-shot rigs towards the shore and moved the boat orward or let the breeze move us and let our rigs slowly work their way behind the boat - sort o a combination o casting and dragging. The bigger ish seemed to be in the 20 oot range except the big jig ish, and who knows how deep the rip ish were. A ew o the bites were aggressive, but most were very subtle. You had to be on your toes. We really missed a lot more ish than we should have - had a lot o short strikes - even on 4 1/2 inch worms. I think that is unusual or November. The drop-shot ish seemed to take the bait better. We had to watch or the mud on many good points - those points would not produce ish. The lake is at the level where a lot o silt is showing. You need to look or the points and walls that have the most mud-ree rock - at least that was the case or us.

Monday, October 21st, 2002

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    Water Temp: 63-66

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Decided to head out to Oroville yesterday (Sunday 10/20), but orgot to check to see i Bidwell would be open. Luckily it was, although it was quite a jolt when your trailer alls o the end o the ramp. I thought to mysel, this can't be good. Turns out they were closing the ramp as I was leaving later in the day. I have just started ishing Oroville in the last couple o months (just a ew trips). And each time I have gone out, I have gotten onto a completely dierent bite. I think rom now on I will start o doing the exact opposite o what worked last time, and I will get on ish quicker. Last time I couldn't buy a bite on rocks, but ended up picking up about 20 in the wood. So we get there about a hal an hour beore sun-up and head strait or the wood and try a number o things without a single bite. So then we say, well we have got nothing to lose, let's venture up the north ork and check it out since we have never gone up there beore. Fished or another hour or so without so much as a tap! We were about two and a hal hours into the day thinking this is really going to suck getting skunked on a lake where limits are the rule. Then they turned on and we caught a ew ish on every rocky point that we stopped at rom the north ork all the way down to the main body. We ended up getting 37 ish over the next ew hours. Most o the ish were in the slot as to be expected. But we caught enough over the slot to ill a respectable limit. Caught 1 largemouth, 5 smallmouths, the rest spots.
    City: Roseville

    Tips: Sleep In!!! The only bite we got irst thing in the morning was rostbite. Once the air warmed up, so did the ish! We caught every single ish dropshotting. But we weren't just camping over points and humps. We were casting to shore and working it rom the shoreline, down to about 25 eet. A ew ish were right on the bank, including two o the nice ones, but the magic depth seemed to be 10-20t.

Tuesday, October 1st, 2002

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    Water Temp: 69

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I really didn't know what to expect today as I drove to Bidwell with my three clients. The north wind was predicted to howl and we have just gone rom summer to all in a day or two. I was happy to see that the weather must have scared everyone away - we only saw one bass boat all day! The wind did blow the whole time but rom several dierent directions and actually didn't bother us too much. The lake being down 182 eet helps too. I decided we were going to Texas rig and split-shot small worms the whole trip, as well as try the jig bite. The jig bite had been o - and it still is! But the worm bite was on!!! The irst area we stopped (about 7:30 AM) in the main body got us 10 spotted bass - all tournament keepers - 5 over the slot! We were using 4" Berkley Pulse Worms and 6" Magic worms. We all caught ish too - one client with two 2 pounders! We would have caught more but the wind blew us o the spot. We ran to Canyon Creek but the wind was unbearable, so we made the run to the middle ork - usually a sae haven during a north wind. We caught a ew around the potty coves - the structure is wonderul when the lake is this low. I love it!! The ish took a break or awhile, but rom about 10:30 to 2:30 the action was nonstop (almost). We actually caught the biggest spots around 1 PM, with one o my clients landing a 2-9 spot - biggest o the trip. Our ive biggest were between 9 1/2 and 10 pounds. We caught 41 total, and I am guessing that about 30 to 32 were tournament keepers. I think all really is here. Again, the morning dawn Magic worm was by ar the best color o the ones we used. I was going to throw some shad colored Hula grubs, but never got around to it. Some o the good ish were really shallow - like 5 eet. I think that is a result o the act that they didn't drop the lake over the weekend. That makes a dierence in a hurry. For three guys learning to properly worm ish, I don't think they will have any problem rom now on. A great day on the windy pond!!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: The talk about the skinny spotted bass in Oroville this year can now be put to rest. They are at and stued with shad!! We didn't do well on boulder structure. Hard pan bottom with isolated brush was the key. Many o the quality spots would hit the worm when we would deadstick (stop) it. The deepest ish we caught were only about 25 eet.

Thursday, September 26th, 2002

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    Water Temp: warm

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Just to let you guys/ladies know, Launch ramp at Bidwell marina on Lake Oroville is still open....go get em.....Pappy
    City: Oroville

Thursday, September 12th, 2002

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    Water Temp: 71

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Took a client out today or a "teach the lake" trip and while we started out with a bang, it really was slow ater 8 AM until about 1 PM when we got into several nice spots. We started out in the main body with topwater on steep walls. I was throwing a modiied Chug Bug, and my client was throwing a big spook that he brought. They didn't seem to want his spook but they did like my bug. I missed a small one (about 7 AM) and them missed a big one. A minute later a 2 1/2 lb spot ate my Chug Bug. Next was a 2 lb largemouth, ollowed by another spot over the slot. What a start!!! Though he didn't get a topwater ish, I think he knows "where they live" or his upcoming tournament! For the next several hours we worked several areas in the main body and the north ork with not too much success. I did show him a new "trick" but I am not at liberty to mention it on this report. I hope it works or him! We saw plenty o bait and ish but could not get them to go. What we did catch were airly decent. Ater 1 PM we were split-shotting and did get several - mostly over 13 inches. Morning Dawn seeemed to be the best color. We wound up with 10 keeper bass (over 13 inches) and 2 dinks. Probably had about 8 1/2 pounds or the 5 best. I guess you would have to say that it was a good "slow" day!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I was surprised that drop-shotting and spooning was so slow or us. There was NO jig bite at all. They seem to be eeding on shad. There really arn't many ish on the shoreline which is not surprising since they are dumping the lake. Look or the steepest banks you can ind. Forget shallow points.

Wednesday, September 11th, 2002

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: going to oroville next week but i notice not many reports are being sent in. can anybody help me.
    City: elk grove

Thursday, July 25th, 2002

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    Water Temp: 81

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Was out rom Friday the 19th - 21st. I was only ishing early mornings and late evenings. We were on a houseboat in the South Fork and Using Pinpoint 7520 were locating ish lots o ish all weekend but not getting a great bite. I was ishing primarily the wooded area in the South Fork and in the River past the bridge. Most o my ish came on the Drop Shot with a small hand poured 4" red worm with Pink backing (B2 Rhythm & Blues). I did take my better ish on a Zoom Brush Hog in the Trees (Black Sapphire). Overall the ishing was slow with 3 - 6 ish per morning or evening. One o the guys spent lots o his time on main body points with even less success. Most ish graphed were suspended in about 15' o water, and did not see ish drop to the bottom until Monday as we were leaving.Good Luck, I you have a speciic question send me an email. I will TRY to answer.
    City: San Jose

    Tips: Drop shot is always great on rocky structure. It won't necessarily get you the big ish but even a 12" spot can be alot o un on lite gear. We were either using 4 - 6 lb. Mono on our setups.

Saturday, July 20th, 2002

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    Water Temp: 73

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I took a ather and two sons to Oroville Wed or a day trip. Since they had to drive over rom Clear Lake, we didn't get on the water until about 7:30 AM. We started up the north ork and ished some walls and lats on the east side. I was thrilled when dad hooked the irst ish on a 6" Witches T Magic worm and it was a good one. I had told them how good the spots ight. It turned out to be 17 1/2 inches and weighed a little over 2 1/2 lbs. Good start. We used that color and morning dawn, but the darker color seemed to work better because o the algae bloom that day - the water wasn't clear. We ished a ew bushes in the back o a cove and he throws the worm in about 4 eet o water and gets bit! It was a 15 1/2 inch largemouth. Actually the rest o our bass were quite small with several under the slot. We did have another largemouth and spot in the slot. Wednesday was the coolest day (nice or ishing), but very windy by noon. Had to ish in Potters and didn't even get bit. The ish really shut o in the aternoon. At least everyone caught several ish which was a nice change rom Clear Lake!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We didn't try a lot o other baits and these clients were doing well with worms, so we stuck with them. Obviously we missed the early morning bite which was probably better. In spite o the airly green water, the bass were 20 to 30 eet deep and more on walls than points.

Thursday, July 11th, 2002

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    Water Temp: High 70's

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: On the water at 5:30 at Lime Saddle, trotted down to the middle o the "Slot". Started with Senko's, jerk baits and cranks on wood...only one bite. Switch over to drop shot as I kept metering ish in 22-26'. Whammo...caught a bunch. Tied up a green pumpking jig...Kerthump...17.5 inch spot...Hmmm...this is getting better. Managed 3 ish out o the slot on the jig and one more just under 15". Got tons o 14.5" ish on the drop shot. Out at 1pm...whew...good to be out o the heat!
    City: Paradise

    Tips: Got the jig ish draggin' real slow. The drop shot ish either came on the all or shake and set....shake and set...then blammo...Lots o ish in the 22-40' range...got most o mine in 22-26'

Sunday, June 30th, 2002

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    Water Temp: 80+

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Was on the water about 630 a.m., caught ish rippin', crankin, grubs, worms, and jigs. All ish "in the slot", i you want a un ishing day, and are not worried about size, Oroville is the place to go. The lake was relatively uncrowded or a Sunday, I bet Folsom was a zoo!
    City: Citrus heights

    Tips: Concentrate on the mud lines, and don't be araid to ish deep (up to 50 t.), best colors were greens, browns, brown/purple in jigs and grubs, chrome crankbaits, clown rip baits.

Sunday, June 23rd, 2002

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    Water Temp: 72-78

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: On the water at 8:ooa.m. o at 2:00p.m.Fished main body, south and middle ork.Caught ish on variety o baits with best action on darterheads and dropshotting Predator worms. Match the bait to shorelinecolor. #758 bluegill on red chunck rockwas none stop action or ish up to 16".
    City: redding

Thursday, June 6th, 2002

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    Water Temp: 74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the rist web,s bait night tourney rom 5:30 to 9:00 we had a blast,cought alot o ish on top water and sheaking spot spanker worms in 25' also my partner Dave had the big one the only problem was it was so old it had whiskers oh well will get the next thursday..
    City: yubacity

    Tips: Try topwater in the shade, go deep with worms like spotspankers you can get them at webb'sbait .com GOODLUCK>>>

Sunday, May 26th, 2002

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: OROVILLE AFTERBAY..........NOT Lake Oroville.This has turned into an annual day trip as I would never go to any o the big lakes on this weekend. What makes this one so good is that there is no camping and everyone has to be o the water at nightall so we arrive with no one on the water. Started o with blades through the grass and points and nothing was happening so swithed to a buzzbait and everything started to happen! First ish came on second cast and it was a healthy 4+ ollowed by a twin about 3 casts later. Once the topwater turned o, went to Senkos and continued catching nice, nice bass. Ran into another bass isherman who said he had tried to go to Oroville and both ramps were closed due to ull capacity. He suggested wacky style Senko ishing and worked that around tules with more and more nice bass. Terriic day and i you plan on ishing this impoundment, call (530) 534-2307which is the Oroville water resourse and they will tell you about levels and listen or aterbay level and i it is 130 (above sealevel) or higher, hit it. Lower than 128 and you have a problem getting to the back area which holds nice tule patches. Great place or ishing using vertually every presentation.
    City: Wheatland

    Tips: White buzzbaits worked over grass lats and any type point. Senkos in and around tules and lipping jigs deep in the tules. No real pattern, they were hitting everything.

Sunday, May 19th, 2002

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    Water Temp: 67

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Strapped it on or another ABA event on this lake and I'll never orget this one. I'm the back seater in this series, and it's natural the angler in back manages the live well. My partner trusts me and I trust mysel- more on this in a minute. Mixed up worms with reaction or perhaps reaction with worms in the south and the middle. The morning was prime pre-rontal warm cloudy and calm. The wind picked up steadily as the day went on and then began to howl. The ront arrived about noon and the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees. The bite simply stopped or an hour and a hal and we moved to a wind sheltered wall in the middle ork just to get out o the gale. We almost re-rigged to drop shot, but then the wind stopped and it bagan to rain steady and hard. My partner had two rain suits- the man's a prince and a stick. We put them on and I said got any spoons? Then the bite nearly exploded. Lost count o the ish we caught in the last hour and a hal, and we culled out everything but a 2.96 I'd caught early in the day. I nailed another 2 something and while it was still pouring I'm weighing ish, changing markers, and I'm under the console trying to write on a board that's wet. It was wild. We moved to our last spot on the main lake with 20 minutes to go. First cast my partner nails a good 1.7- culls out our smallest, and then another boat rolls up on the bank a ew hundred yards ahead o us. They're worming and putting a couple in the boat so Steve pickes up his worm stick and gets a solid 2lb with 5 minutes to go. It had to be almost his last cast. We scramble to get it in the well put down our equipment. We go past the check in boat and I check the well- only our ish. Utter disbelie. We weighed in 8.17lbs or 4 ish good enough or tenth and the 2.96 held up or 2nd big ish. Got our entry back, but it was no consolation. Winners had 9.49. Weigh master goes too bad you didn't get another ish. I said don't go there. So why would I get on this page and report this? The ishing was interesting with the rapidly changing conditions, but It's only air I get on this page when I'm successul or not. Got to stand up and be accountable. Give it up to my partner- he actually talked to me on the ride home.
    City: El Dorado Hills

Friday, May 17th, 2002

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Team Bass Tournament on Saturday May 18th. $75.00 entry ee. BBQ ater weigh in, ree or all entries Trophies up to 3rd place 70% payback plus Prizes Proessionally organized No membership required 5 ish, 13" on a lat board No live bait, Catch and Release, Dead ish penalty Check in and sign-ups at 4:30am at North Shore Blast o at 6:00am Weigh in at 3:00pm Any questions call Shawn O'shea at (916)331-8174 or email Heath at heathp@pacbell.net
    City: Folsom

    Tips: This is an extremely un tournament!

Saturday, May 11th, 2002

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    Water Temp: 62-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished rom 6:30am - 3:00pm. This was my irst time ishing Oroville. We ished the lower portions o each ork (north, middle, south)and in the main body. We ound a ew ish everywhere but couldn't ind concentrations o ish. Most ish were caught in 5-15' along the steeper banks. We inished the day with 15 ish (only one over 15"). All ish came on Texas-rigged 4" straight-tail worms in a variety o colors. We didn't get the numbers that some olks are reporting but it's un to ish new water.
    City: Galt

    Tips: Couldn't really put a solid pattern together. Tried dart heads, texas-rigged, carolina-rigged, and some dropshoting. The Texas rig worked best or us using light colored 4" worms (Pumkin/white, blue shad, morning dawn, clear w/ blue bloodline)

Wednesday, May 8th, 2002

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    Water Temp: 62 -68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: TOOK SOME REALLY NICE CLIENTS OUT FISHING FROM 6A.M. - 4P.M. STARTED OUT TOP WATER, BUT WAY TOO WINDY. TRIED TO GET OUT OF THE WIND. FISHED A LITTLE OF THE WEST BRANCH, NORTH FORK, AND DARK CANYON. CAUGHT APPROXIMATELY 40-50 FISH RANGING FROM 10"-18" ON GITZITS. BEST FISHING WAS LATE AFTERNOON. FISH SEEMED TO BE UP TIGHT. WE HAD A BALL!!ONE OF THE CUSTOMERS CAUGHT THE LARGEST FISH OF THE DAY - A 3-3 1/2 LB. SPOT. BUSY WEEK WITH CLIENTS, LOOK FOR FUTURE REPORTS. GOOD LUCK, AND GOOD FISHING!!!
    City: Paradise

    Tips: FISH GITZITS ON 1/8 -3/16 OZ. DARTERHEAD. CAUGHT FISH ON ALL COLORS.

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: THROW SPOOKS ALL DAY "OKIE SHAD" ESPECIALLY IN CANYON CREEK YOU WILL CATCH MORE LARGEMOUTH THERE THAN ANY PLACE ON LAKE.THE LARGEMOUTH ESPECIALLY LIKE THE LONG "A" BOMBER IN CLOWN THAT SUSPENDS ESPECIALLY IN CANYON CREEK. THIS IS ACCURATE INFORMATION GO EARLY IN MORNING AND RIGHT BEFORE DARK. I SPENT 3 DAYS DIVING & FISHING AND CANYON IS WHERE THE LUNKERS ARE AND OVER TO FOREMAN CREEK.ALSO FISH FIRST COVE ON LEFT IN MIDDLE FORK (NORTH BIDWELL HILL)AND SYCAMORE CREEK HAD ALOT OF BIG LARGEMOUTHS.UNION CREEK FISH WERE DEEPER. CAROLINA BROWN/BLACK SHARK OR PUMPKIN/WATERMELON LIZARD.
    City: CHICO

    Tips: TAKE A KID FISHING,PASS IT ON-.

Monday, May 6th, 2002

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    Water Temp: 63 -67

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: TOOK CLIENTS OUT FISHING FROM 6A.M. - 3:30P.M. LOTS OF MALES UP - NO FEMALES. CAUGHT 30-40 FISH RANGING FROM 10 -16" ON GITZITS. FISHED MAINLY SPRING VALLEY, DARK CANYON, AND THE NORTH FORK. THERE WERE ALOT OF SUSPENDED FISH. 1/2 WERE TAKING IT ON THE FALL; THE OTHER 1/2 BIT. BEST COLORS WERE GREEN WITH RED FLAKE, AND SMOKE PURPLE. USED 1/8 - 3/16 OZ. DARTER HEADS. CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT www.norcalbassin.com. GOOD LUCK, AND GOOD FISHING!!!
    City: Paradise

    Tips: THROW GITZITS. MORE TIPS TO COME AS I'LL BE TRYING REACTION BAITS TOMORROW WITH OTHER CLIENTS.

Thursday, May 2nd, 2002

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: JUST GOT BACK FROM SHASTA AND OROVILLE, GREAT TIME...JUST LETTING YOU KNOW PHILS PROPS CARRIES A FULL LINE OF MARKS TAILS 1-800-462-3917, OR GIVE THEM THE NAME OF LURE AND A TRAILER WILL BE MADE TO MATCH IT IDENTICALLY. ALOT OF TOURNAMENTS ARE BEING WON ON THESE TRAILERS.I ORDERED RICO 519 FROM MARK WHAT A DIFFERENCE FROM THE WHITE TAIL THAT FALLS APART AFTER LITTLE USE. GOOD FISHING ROBERT
    City: REDWOOD CITY