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Wednesday, May 17th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Rick Tietz and I made another trip to Pardee to have some fun and probably see the last of the spawn. Many bass have left the shallows now and are crusing around offshore structure. We still saw some on beds and caught a few. Rick's best for the trip was a 4-2 smallie and my best was a 3-13 smallie. He was dropshotting his Basstrix Bait-Fry in the chartreuse/blue color and I was using a white jig or a Berkley 4" Power worm. We fished mostly in the south end and a little in the river arm. We threw swimbaits a lot and had three hits but no fish. Many of the quality smallies were spawning in 10 feet of water and floating pollen on the water and breezes made sight fishing difficult after noon. Rick also caught some on his (Blade Runner) Swim Spin with a Basstrix 4" minnow attached. I was pleased that my two biggest smallies (3-8, 3-11) were not caught sight fishing - just split-shotting a Berkley worm. We ended our day at 4 pm with 3 small bass and 15 from 1 3/4 to 4 lbs 2 oz - best five about 18 lbs. No big largemouththis trip! The next trip should bring on the post-spawn pattern.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I don't have many tips because things are changing rapidly as we go into post-spawn. The topwater bite - if it hasn't already - should turn on real soon. I expect the water to clear even more in the coming weeks. Most of the driftwood is now high and dry - thank goodness!! One of the bigger smallies spit up a nice size crawdad, so, don't forget to try a jig.

Saturday, May 13th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 68-71

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Three words in many different ways!!
    I was Wrong, Spawn wasn't over, Off the hook,
    What a DAY!!!!!!!!

    Saturday was just one of those magical days that do not happen that often unless all the factors come together at once. Moon, Sun, Temp Wind etc.
    I lost count of how many fish I caught this day after 25 or so but to estimate 40-50 Largemouth and smallmouth would be a fare estimate all 1 1/2 to 3 lbs. Worked a bed that had a 14-15+ female and a 10+ male I was shaking in my sandles at this site!! They would not bite. Worked a 5+ female Smallie finally got her to bite but she got off, that's ok I am not a good bed fisher person anyway. Had a blast this day just happened to time everything right in the woods this day, caught fish, saw deer, turkeys being stalked by a coyote, rattlesnakes, bald eagle. Nature was blossoming with this moon phase
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Caught fish on a Sammy, darthead, tube but the real ticket was the Senko, wacky style.

    What a Day!!

Thursday, May 4th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 66-68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Great - somebody else posted - thank you! I talked my fishin' bud Rick Tietz into letting his tackle company rest for a bit. Blade Runner tackle finally stopped runnin' for a few hours so he could remember how to catch bass, har! And catch 'em he did! I fished from 10:30 to noon before Rick arrived and I actually caught some smallies up to 3 1/4 lbs. After noon - Rick and I fished all over the main body and a little in the river arm. We caught several nice bass - Rick drop-shotting several types of Basstrix minnows and yours truely split-shotting a 4" green pumpkin Berkley Bungee Leech. I used a few other Berkely 4" worms too, but mostly the leech. I just had a feeling about green pumpkin! On a main body point about 1:30 my 6 lb test suddenly got heavy - like I had snagged a bouy. As it moved to the right I knew what it was - fish on - BIG fish on! Here it is - my trophy smallmouth on the line!! I thought I played her well on 6 lb test and then I saw her - oh no - another largemouth!!! I wasn't too disappointed - she was 8 lbs 2 oz. Rick showed me he is a master of big smallies - one at 4-2 and the other 4-12. We caught very few sight fish and none were big ones. It was really interesting - Rick would catch a smallie - I would catch a largie - and on and on - amazing! I did catch 6 good smallies from 2 3/4 to the earlier mentioned 3 1/4 - the last one finally on a jig. We had a great limit - a little over 24 lbs. We caught 35+ tournament keepers and about 7 or 8 dinks. Most of our bass were from 2 to 10 feet.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We experienced a pretty tough delta breeze, so any sight fishing was really out of the question. I always like to catch quality fish that I can't see. We didn't fish any particular type of structure - points, sides of points, secondary points, ridges. We did fish the backs of some coves and only found small fish. It should be no surprise that the bigger bass - though shallow - were on flats close to deep water. Watch out for floating wood, but most of it is safely resting on the shore. Good luck!

Saturday, April 29th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 61-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: AS they say the Little Green fish do not use a calendar!! When it feels right they just spawn!!
    Went into this fishing day thinking beds and bertha's shallow coves. Guess What them there fish at Pardee have already spawned, tons of fry up shallow in the bushes and trees with 1lb to 1 1/2 lb bucks gaurding them. They are easy to catch with Senkos.

    Finally about ten o clocl I realize this and we start fishing in the 12 - 20 ft rangs and start picking up spawned out females in the 2 - 3 1/2 lb range on Jigs and dart head worms.

    BTW, I did throw and throw and throw the swimbaits NO takers!!

    Finally at 11:00 am on the oohter side of the point I got my ten + a few weeks back I hook a huge fish with my dart head. I go two looks at her and she was 12 easy, she runs me completly around the boat and out to deep water and then
    NO NO NO !!! my six pound flouroclear gives way!

    Oh well but what a fish only fifteen yards from where I got her sister on a swimbait a few weeks earlier!!
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Do not think that you hold the biological calendar in your head for these fish!! Even with all the high water and cool temps these fish spawn when they want to spawn.
    Not when we think they are going to!!

    Landed 13 keepers 7 for the misses 6 for me along with two really nice trout!!

    Fun day at my second favorite Lake Mini Oroville!! HAR

Saturday, April 22nd, 2006

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    Water Temp: 56-66, yet it's

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: YES - THIS IS A NEW REPORT! Had to get your attention since no one else posts! After a bad day at Clear Lake, I decided to drown my sorrows at Pardee. I had hoped the cloudy weather would help. Wow, the lake looked like it had been trashed. Still some floating wood but not much. Lots of trash pockets! I fished awhile with no results and met another nice fellow from the Stockton club and we chatted for almost an hour. After that I fished awhile and then took a nap in the warm sun. About 3 pm I went to work and preceeded to catch 17 largemouth, mostly on brown/orange Rodstrainer jigs. I had a 4 pounder, one just under 4, and most of the rest were under 2 1/2 lbs - even three 11-12 inchers. About 7:30 pm an amazing thing happened - something I haden't for awhile - I actually caught a smallmouth, almost 2 lbs. A 17 to 1 ratio. I had one more event left - fishing some coves near the ramp I got a good hit - set - and the line took off fast. Smallie I thought - no - a 5 lb 2 oz largemouth that thought she was a smallie. A nice limit close to 18 lbs for the day! And saw a few less bass boats that at Clear Lake.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: There are a few bass spawning now but it is kind of hard to see the beds. There were several other baits that I was going to use, but the jig seemed to be doing the job. I got nothing on crankbaits or worms. Most of the fish I caught were in brush or far up a creek channel, most of which were warmer than the main body. Warmer water was up the creek arm.

Friday, March 17th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Well, somebody has to post reports for Pardee, so it might as well be me. If you want to know about largemouth, just ask me!! I can't seem to dial in the smallies recently, but the largemouth are just fine. The lake was up about 7 feet since my last report and full of debris - not quite full - but close. I fished a variety of baits but the jig worked best. I missed my first three bites but landed the next four bites which weighed about 17 lbs, all largemouth up to 5 lbs 10 oz. The fish I caught were all on off-shore structure - two in the main body on a new island-top I discovered and two in the river arm. Brown/orange Rodstrainer jigs did the trick. I found them from 20 to 30 feet deep.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I wanted to open up my new Evinrude E-Tec HO with a new 3 blade prop, but it was a little dangerous with floating wood. Boy, what a ride while it lasted! I think my days with a 4 blade are over. I saw no sign of shallow bass. I did some shoreline cranking to no avail. My last report mentioned the bass we inhaling the jig. Yesterday I could hardly get them to take it and they were all lip hooked. I guess one storm too many!!!

Saturday, February 25th, 2006

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    Water Temp: 53

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Wow, I expected to see some fresh reports in '06 - especially with some big smallies caught in the last two weeks. I went to Pardee yesterday by myself to get up to speed on lake conditions and found them good except for a drop in water temp that had to happen with 2 record cold nights this week. Unfortunately it was a bluebird day to boot but some light wind did help with the clear water. I ripped some and fished small worms a bit but really just stuck to Weapon and Rodstrainer jigs. My favorite brown/orange color again was the ticket. I seem to have a way with largemouth at this lake and not the smallies. I caught 2 smallies at 2 lbs each and 11 largemouth from 13 1/8 inches (the only small one) to 6 1/2 lbs and including a 5-14 beauty! At 2 pm I either found them or they turned on. I say that because they nailed the jig and I had to dig them out of the back of their mouth!! My 5 best largies went 21 lbs 2 oz so, I guess I can't complain. I was in the river arm when the fish turned on. At least I can show my clients how to catch largemouth - and catfish!!! I had heard about the nice catfish fishery at Pardee and they too,love my Rodstrainer jig. It went 15 lbs and gave me a cheap thrill!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I though it was very interesting that the 8.7 and 8.22 (?) were caught the same day. There is something about being at the right lake at the right time. Congrats to both of those skilled anglers! I caught most of my bass off-shore on different types of rock structure. Most of the bass were 15 to 30 feet deep, and mostly in the sun. I fished a lot of shadows but didn't do very well. I was really surprised I couldn't get bit on a ripbait. I guess the drop in the lake temp did in that bite for now!

Tuesday, October 25th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I went to Pardee with a good friend of mine to look over the lake - starting about 10:30 am, try some fall fishing, and show off my new Ranger 520 w/Evinrude 225 E-TEC. Wow, what a combo! I found out after I arrived that the lake had dropped about 5 feet or so in the last week after being steady all summer. Needless to say, the fish were all deep and large bass were not interested in eating anything we presented. The weather hurt us also - cloud cover cleared and north wind came up - stopped - and then south wind again as another front moved in. In spite of those excuses, we did catch 22 bass from 5 inches to a 2 lb smallie. We did fish pretty hard, but did a lot of looking around and metering. I am learning the ropes with my new Lowrance X-26 with GPS. We spotted some nice school of big fish in very deep water, but try as we did, they would not bite. Lots of action made the day enjoyable and the bite did pick up just before we had to go in at dark.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Reaction baits did not work at all. I did catch a keeper largemouth on a Rodstrainer jig. Split-shotting and drop-shotting worked well when we found fish on the meter. The upper river arm didn't produce at all, but main body and lower river arm had lots of fish and we caught a bunch of 'em. Fished some excellent off-shore structure, but didn't get many bites in those areas. Walls with shadows produced well. Until '06, good luck at the other lakes with those winter bass!!!

Sunday, July 24th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 80-82 Degrees

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Pardee on a quick outing in the afternoon. On the water at 5:30PM, right away I marked fish 15 feet suspended off one of the points inside the marina/boat launch cove. Caught and released 7 to 8 or so smallish largemouth to about a pound on dropshotted green weenies. Tried fishing the deep points in the narrows but nothing on the graph. I should have made the long trek in my Sea Eagle to Woodpile but I wanted to try for trout too and it was getting late.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Drop Shot + smelly jelly.

Saturday, June 18th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 65-70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Basin Bass Masters and I fished a six hour tourament from 6am to noon. This lake is one of the best fishing lakes around. No skiers or pwc in this water. You can fish all around this lake and all you have is fisherman around you. My partner has never bass fished before, but he did well and got his first one on a 4" lizard split shot in 20 feet of water. A storm had just gone through the day before so the fishing was tough. At the weigh in I though my 2 + lber was big but every team had one and only two teams had 4 fish. All the teams came in with something. The winning team had got most of the bass on senkos in the shade arond the lake. It is a nice lake to have some fun on. Top water for some was working and for the most part a lizard.
    City: rocklin

    Tips: work the rocky points in 10-30 ft

Tuesday, June 14th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: bought a new tr 21x to catch bass and latley all I'm finding are big catfish. Caught a 15+ blue catfish on 6lb spin outfit. AWSOME FIGHT. Good thing I have 109 lb motor guide to keep up with it or it would have spooled me.Bass fishing was poor with only 4 bass on a week day.I also caught a 6 lb channel cat sunday same dart head worm? Wish I could figure out how to catch black bass this big.I did catch one nice 4lb er on split shot rig rather shallow early.
    City: orangevale

    Tips: Tough lake for me right now. Only fishing because of upcoming club tournament. Nice clean lake for weekends. Very clean and clear. Stay far away from structure make long cast. Down size tackle? It amazes me how big a fish you can catch on 6lb.maxima line.Iusing the green color line on the catfish if that help bass fishermen? Get them early and bring a nice big lunch for slow afternoons.

Saturday, May 28th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: What a great day. Saturday Memorial day weekend and very few boats on the lake. Water was dead calm at 6am and was hoping for a great top water bite...didn't happen. Myself and buddy Larry did catch about 40 fish; alot of small ones, but we did put together 2 respectable limits. This is a great lake for holiday weekends.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Caught a few on shad raps, but most were caught by drop shotting just about anywhere with earth tone color worms. Type and size didn't matter.

Monday, May 23rd, 2005

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    Water Temp: by noon 69

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Good day on the lake 17 fish L/M lots of 3/lbs'ers All on reaction baits. Started at 8:30 am

    Tips: Throw any thing that runs 5 to 10 feet

Monday, May 2nd, 2005

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    Water Temp: 64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I guided a client from Minnesota today, who wanted to fish a beautiful, peaceful lake. Pardee was the choice - and a good choice it was! We started at 11:30 am and we were the last ones to leave! We had a slight north wind and post-front conditions, so daytime fishing was fair. We caught 5 largemouth and 4 smallmouth before sunset, mostly on points, using watermelon/red flake small brush hogs, and two 2+ pounders were caught on a Rodstrainer jig. Most of out fish were caught from 10 to 25 feet. We looked for beds but had a hard time with the wind. After sunset, we fished main lake points. I was using my brown/orange 3/8 oz Redstrainer with #180 Yami grub, when my line got heavy. It moved to the top of the water and something that looked like the mouth of a crocodile rose out of the water. I couldn't believe my eyes!!! After a struggle, he netted a fat, pre-spawn female that weighed 9 lb 6 oz. After photos (westernbass - photos), we put her back where she was sure to spawn in a day or so. I think the man from Minnesota must have had eyes as big as the "toad". They don't see many of those up there! Hoping my client would come through with one of his own, he soon sets with his brush hog. I knew right away I better get the net and soon a 3 lb 2 oz smallmouth was in! Wow, an 18 1/4 lb limit at Pardee. We had big smiles as we pulled the boat out!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: This was an interesting day in that we had so many bass follow our baits or take a swipe at them, but wouldn't connect. I threw topwater a lot but no takers. I looked at the lure once and saw 5 bass following the lure - just looking at it. Post-front could have been the answer. Luckly our big one did more than look!!

Friday, April 29th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 61-64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I guided an energetic senior citzen yesterday (I am resuming my guiding at Pardee), who's goal was to catch a 5 lb smallmouth. Well, he almost got it except for two problems! It was a largemouth and it was 3 oz under - at 4 lb 13 oz. On 6 lb test Trilene!! Those Shimano drags are great!! This was his first big bass and he was excited anyway!! We had a great day in weather conditions that varied from dark rain clouds in the morning to a rather warm, sunny afternoon. We caught 12 largemouth and 7 smallmouth - 2 were under 12 inches, the rest were all good quality. Our best 5 were pushing 14 lbs. The only technique that worked consistantly was split-shotting Berkely and Camanche Jack 4 inch worms. He got the near 5 pounder on a green pumpkin Berkley Pulse worm. We fished the main body until the rain let up, then went into the river arm for the rest of the day. We looked for beds but didn't see many, mainly because of the clouds and breezes. So, we caught all of our fish honestly - no bed fish, har! He had such a good time he wants to go again in two weeks - so - talk to you again then!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: We caught most of our fish on the edges of points and near the backs of coves. None in the very back of a cove, probably because the lake has dropped a bit. Average depth of our bass was 20 feet - a few as shallow as 10. As the afternoon wore on, more fish were caught on the points. My biggest smallie - near 3 pounds - was already spawned out. The big largie was not.

Saturday, April 2nd, 2005

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Wow, no posts since my last one! I know some folks bass fish this lake, 'cause I saw bass boats out there yesterday!! Friday I was able to sneak down for my third trip to Pardee, starting about 11 am. Lo and behold, there were two other bass boats there from Yuba City - small world! The fishing wasn't red hot, or hot at all, but the quality was fine. I was looking again for a good smallie, and saw one about 6 lbs swimming around in the main body. That was it - I only saw one smallie - and none on the end of my line. I threw my best smallmouth stuff with no results. I went to Pardee with the feeling that cloud cover would move in during the afternoon - it did! I decided to go back to my Rodstrainer jigs and guess what, the largemouth loved it! My first was a 2 1/2 largie caught in a waterfall. Shortly after, as the clouds thickened, I caught 3 largemouth - a 1 3/4, 2 1/2 and a 4 pounder, in about 10 feet of water on a 45 degree bank that was exposed to the early afternoon sun. I wound up with 6 largemouth, the five biggest near 12 pounds, all caught on brown/orange Rodstrainer jigs. Lost a few jigs in the rocks!! I tried some topwater and rip baits, but with no success. I did miss 2 on Deep Wee R craw colored cranks. One boat did catch a few on cranks. I really enjoyed my day and the largemouth looked very healthy.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I fished a little in the main body, but soon went to the river arm and caught all my bass there. I looked for shallow fish, but saw only one more - about 3 pounds. I saw lots of bass at the marina! It was hard to believe that I couldn't catch a single fish drop-shotting or split-shotting, though I did miss a few. I might add that the largemouth I did catch did not hit the jig, they just picked it up. Be alert!!

Wednesday, March 9th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 54

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I fished Pardee for only my second time - on Wednesday. I was looking for a nice smallmouth obviously, but spend a lot of my time metering and just looking around. I started about 11 am and quit about 5:30, fishing mostly in the river arm. I found the daytime to be deadly slow, but went back to some areas that looked good in the late afternoon. Sure enough, my first cast with a Rodstrainer jig produced a smallie almost 2 1/2 lbs. Immediately caught another about 2 lbs. I then dumped a good one between 3 and 4 lbs that looked to be a largemouth. Sure enought, I soon caught a largemouth a little over 2 lbs. I missed about 3 others. Wow, was it fun to fish a different lake.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I plan to return soon - I love the challenge of a new lake. I used a lot of techniques, including split-shotting with 6 lb test, but only had a bite or two during mid-day. Lots of lake to learn! I probably should have fished deeper.

Saturday, March 5th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 53-55

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Went to try Pardee today and had my best day ever, not for quanity but for quality. Only 3 samllies but they weighted an totla of 12 lbs. A 4lb 8 oz and one a 6 lbs even. Both were taken on purple on purple pig and jig and got in less than 5 feet of water in spawning areas, with deep water close by.
    City: Stockton

    Tips: When using plastics or jigs, after they hit bottom let them sit for a few minutes then drag them s l o w with NO extra rod movement. Just a steady S L O W drag.

Wednesday, September 8th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 74.7

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Started fishing at 7 AM. Only activity was in the first 45 minutes. Fished Senko's and plastic swim baits in the weed beds.I caught two large mouth, 1#and 4.5#, buddy got one,3.5#.
    Once the Sun hit the water the bite was off. Water
    clarity was 25'.
    City: Orangevale

    Tips: Start fishing as early as posible. Use crawdad colored plastics.

Monday, July 5th, 2004

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    Water Temp: ??

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Pardee the first time this year and it was a slow day for us. We boated a total of about 10 bass in all, a couple spots and the rest L.M., no smallies. All fish came in about 30 feet of water near shaded areas on downsized finess baits, with a couple on crankbaits. The water was so clear you could see about 30 feet deep, and that didn't help us out any.
    City: Stockton

    Tips: Not much in the way of tips other than to downsize bait and line diameter. Green colors worked for us on the few we caught.