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Tuesday, October 12th, 2004

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    Water Temp: ???

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: First I want to thank all of you who post and share your information-as a begining fisherman I find it really helpful and generous-THANK YOU!
    I have a club tournament this weekend and would like a few pointers (so I know how/what to pack in by bag and what rods to bring). It seems like it has been slow up there, so I'm thinking split-shot, drop-shot, some finesse jigs??? Any information would be helpful- Thank all of you for your posts and keep up the good work!GOD BLESS
    City: YUBA CITY

    Tips: Any would be helpful!! :-)

Monday, October 11th, 2004

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    Water Temp: ?

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Concerning the ramp at Packers, just got off the phone with the man in charge and they are waiting for the level to drop a bit more, maybe a foot or so, then the Packers Marina people will pull out and the mud will be removed by attacking it from both sides of the hump that has formed at the bottom of the ramp. They did manage to get some out in the lane nearest the ramp and intend to get after the rest of it at about the 101.5 ft level. We are presently at the 100.8 ft level and the level has hovered around 100ft for nearly 8 days. You can get in and out but only one boat at a time. Centmudi is still in good shape, Jones Valley is in good shape as is Sugarloaf. Hirz bay is out of the water, bailey Cove is high and dry and antlers is out. The tough bite continues, the shad are still all over the place.
    City: Redding

Sunday, October 10th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 57-70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: got out today with Jason today..on the water at 630 at Jones valley..up the pit past no ski..got several fish on worms and jigs(3/4 oz brn/brn) and 1/4 brn dartheads with a MF# 38 and 39 6" worm. The reason for the 1/4 oz is that was the only size we could feel the bottom with in the 20-25 mph winds..after only catching 3 keepers up the Pit we headed tword the main lake and hit points ended up getting 10 lbs for 5 fish not bad for this time of year.. out at 430 pm....
    City: redding

    Tips: worms, jigs, and spooks

Wednesday, October 6th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: fished with nephew he makes lures he brought the darts and some competators one from ariz. and one from missouri, his lure did better no-doubt but he brought out his new version which needs no trailer at all, i can't say it was better than his new drop/dart but it is better than the competators 13 fish to others 3 i think the one without the trailer is more versatile in putting endless things on it but his new stle shore beats putting worms on the rig allday
    City: redding

    Tips: thanks kid

Monday, October 4th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 68 to 72

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: In at Jones Valley at 8:00am. Ran up the Pit a bit and tried some plastics with no takers. Went up a bit farther and found alot of surface action. Tried a couple of spoons and started hooking small spots. Tied on a surface shad type lure and had a ball. The biggest probably went 1.4 with a bunch of dinks. Moved on past Arbuckle and went back to the plastics. Tried a new color, Blue Smoke in the Hoo Dun It and caught 3 more. Nothing to write home about, 1.5 was the biggest. It was a fairly slow day. We need a weather change for the fishing to perk up, maybe next week.
    City: Cottonwood

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    Water Temp: 70.6

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: In at Jones Valley at 0650, air temp 63, lake hovering around the 100 ft mark for past 4 days. Ran up the pit a bit and found a ton fo bait and fish above Susanville Canyon, got 2 on a surface bait and watched clouds of very small shad being chased by a bunch of 1.5 spots. Couldn't get anything on other surface or rip baits or my MGM stuff except one on a 4 inch #127 worm. I could just not get anything to go in the 65.6 degree water, went up further where you can see the current and the area was devoid of bait and fish at 57.9 degrees. The turnover is going great guns and is now down near the bottom of Susanville, ran back downstream and came across the MGM folks with a bunch of fish in the boat. The wife had 6 and the old man claimed 10 but you know how some of these guys can lie. Most of theirs were 1.5 lb fish and some dinks. Went on back down and got out at 1315 hours with the air temp at 86. Kinda the pits of a day for me, did see a huge flock of Turkeys just south of Stein Creek, after stein creek the current picks up noticeably.
    City: Redding

    Tips: Just don't do what I was doing. Need that new moon and some weather.

Sunday, October 3rd, 2004

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    Water Temp: 75

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Got out today with my partner Jason. In the water at 6:20 at Packers. Was nice to see Shasta recreation making sure the float was in place. Anyways started out up the sac and fishing steep walls. got one a Marks Tails "Billy T's Rainbow trout" spook, then that was it for the spook. Picked up my jig(1/2 brn/brn) and worked it from 10-35 feet got two fish one at 2 and the other was barly able to ge the jig ion its mouth. moved more up the sac but couldn;t get on any consistent bite in the next four hours I caught one on a carolina rig,spoon, and had 2 more blowups on a spook. Late in the day we moved into the McCloud and started fishing the same stuff, got a few on a jig, and some fish on a 3/16 oz darthead with a #39 MF worm. All together pretty slow, northwind hurt us I beleve, but still we should've done betetr then this.
    City: redding

    Tips: Jigs, worms, and a spook in teh morning, also try a vixen if you were lucky enough to get one

Saturday, October 2nd, 2004

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    Water Temp: ?

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Ramp Report
    Centimudi Shasta Rec got it right this time, someone was down there in the past few days with a front loader or something similiar and they took out a lot of mud and gravel, it is back to 2 lanes and an easy in and out except for the hike up and down the hill
    Packers boats still getting in but its dicey coming out with the mud buildup, hopefully they will scrape it too.
    Sugarloaf is ok except when the wind or boat traffic pushes the float up against the beach.
    Hirz Bay is out
    Antlers is out
    Bailey Cove is out
    Bridge Bay is ok but it is sand now and can get tought getting something heavy out or if your vehicle is underpowered, avoid spinning the wheels coming out
    Hey Bob, a lot of folks including me watched the bite go away last week, the pre fish was fair to good but the high pressure we have hanging over us sure has killed the bite. You have oroville to look forward next year if there is any water left over there.
    City: Redding

Thursday, September 30th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: every once in a while someone comes up with something that really works. that new dropshot the kid came up with is amazing. the two antennaes actually pulsate between the line it is a fish calling son of a gun not only did i get double hookups i also saw whole schools of spots come up with them while i was reeling them in. i cannot even amagin what will happen in another month. the shasta shad is the one.
    City: redding

    Tips: use 2-3lb. test heavier line than you normally use as you will have double hookups.

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    Water Temp: 69.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: In at Packers at 0635, air temp 54 and this ramp has just about had it. The mud and gravel buildup is now covering both lanes with just enough room today to get a boat in and getting out was tough. Mine is 19 ft and a 21 ft boat will be real tough, especially getting out so beware. wind out of the NNW at 3 ran over into the middle Sac looking for a rip bite and found it but not until 0830, nothing worked prior to that on flats, humps or rock walls, at 0830 I got a good bite which turned out to be a 4 lber followed by 2 two pounders, only one problem, they were trout. Moved about a 1/4 mile and caught my frist bass on the staysee in Tennessee shad and another about 50 ft away that went 1.79. Moved to some steep stuff and got bit but dumped a good fish on the Hoo-dun-it and then no bites till 10 am where after trying a lot of stuff started dropshotting some old MGM stuff in #158 and boated six small fish off of one point in 38ft, the biggest went 1.4. Wind stopped at 1030 or so and the lake was flat as a pancake. Only saw 4 other boats and all were trolling for trout. Went on back and had a heck of a time getting out and trying to keep the prop out of the gravel. Forget about Packers and please watch for stuff coming up, there are all kinds of humps all over that most haven't ever seen before even out in what you would call the middle of the lake.
    City: Redding

Tuesday, September 28th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 70.6

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: In at Jones Valley at 0530 and way to early but I couldn't sleep, fiddled around the docks for awhile and no bites, Moved over into cowpasture, same problem, nothing would touch the jig, went upstream at 0630 when I could see and found some fish busting shad back in a cove, got 8 topwater fish in 40 minutes from 1.5 to 2.38 from 0640 to 0720 when it shut down, got the jig rod back out and caught three more in the same area and the best went 2.41 on the MGM hoo-dun-it. ran back down to the ramp and out at 0930 and still seeing shad getting busted here and there. Lake down nearly 99ft, lots of trout on top busting shad particularly in 70-100ft of water around wood. couldn't get any bass to go, the early fish were right on the bank.
    City: Redding

Monday, September 27th, 2004

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    Water Temp: ?

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Quin, replied directly to your email message this evening, if you didn't get my reply just give me a call (530)244-0865
    City: Redding

Sunday, September 26th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I Have Great News I Tried A New Rig This Weekend On Shasta- The Sloan Drop-shot Method They Go into Phils Today!!!! If You Like Catching Large Numbers Of Bass This IS it. Nothing Beats It On Suspended Fish If You Combine It with The Fancelli Drop Shot coupling at Phils You Will Probably be More Succesful Than Most, On Those Draw Down suspended Spots. I Know This Will Be The Most Used Combination In The Upcoming Bassmasters Shasta In Nov2004. it is the best rig i have ever used. i am told there are 42 different darts and are the best quality i have ever had......
    City: ANTIOCH

    Tips: the kid who makes these told me they have made them for about 3yrs. for Ice Fishing Originally.
    and now sends them to alaska,and saltwater areas I Think A Big Tackle Maker Will Pick This Very Special Young Angler up. I Dont Know How Many Fish I Caught But It Was Alot... Biggest Fish Was 3.12spot. good luck mark your a class act.

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    Water Temp: ?

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Quin, I sent you a e-mail but I think I sent it to the wrong address, if you didn't get one then try it again and I will try not to screw it up.
    City: Redding

Thursday, September 23rd, 2004

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    Water Temp: too warm

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: used pumkin pie darts,dropshotted twiggy style,with a candyshad reap, in the top of McCloud in channel.same on upper sac.good fish.was luky enough to fish with a local lure maker I boated a 7 on a 4eyed spook named brakefluid.see you in nov.
    City: lake Havasu

    Tips: never throw brakefluid in the dark....

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    Water Temp: 70.6

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: went in at Jones Valley, not busy at all only followed two other rigs in, got my frst spook fish at 0710 and also the last one, tried some other stuff but no luck. Moved over into a large cove seeing if anything has started moving back in yet and find some fish fairly deep. Caught 3 more, 2 on a MGM HDI and also one on a twintail both in #23. The last was the biggest and barely broke 2 lbs at 2.08. The fish in the cove came out of 28-34 ft from 0830 to 0910. air temp going in was 59, lake at 97.6 ft down coming out we were up to 75 at 1030. lots of bassboats today all over the lower and middle Pit.
    City: Redding

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Well Jerry- you can have that darn lake! Even after reading your reports for the last 3-4 months and a bunch of old ones from some other people we had a terrible TOC. We had a decent prefish- caught maybe 7 or 8 13" keepers each day incl. a 2lb 9oz. spot on a darthead Yamamoto twintail. But on the first day of the real thing
    all could manage to get were two small ones and a 2 lb.er to go with them. We only weighed 3 for 4.03 lbs.. We were the 115th boat out Friday but who cares- no one was on our first spot. On Saturday we got to be the first boat out- of course a third of the teams had already gone home. We got to our 1st spot again and ripped a 12 1/2" spot in the first few casts. We boated our next too small fish about 1 PM. As a matter of fact we found a nice point with an island near it and some mudline for the bass to hide in. But again all the 4 or 5 we boated were small- man were we getting frustrated! Finally we decided to take a ride all the way up .... the McCloud arm. There was barely a trickle of water coming in- barely enough to stir up some silt. And a non-tourney boat fishing there to boot. We fished our way out but couldn't hook up with any keepers. I just read my WON bass newspaper and it sounds like we picked the wrong arm to go to! The winner supposedly fished the mouth of the Pit arm with reaction baits in the good current. I wish they didn't have the 4 month layoff between our last regular tourney and the TOC. We had our two best finishes at the last 2 regular tourneys we went to. We would have had a much better time if the lake was at the early to mid June levels. Congrats to Skandy and Max for going out Saturday and getting 3 more fish on a tough day. How's about a report Skandy? Another weird thing- the gal at the weigh in table that writes your weigh slip wrote 5 fish. I had her correct it but she only fixed our copy- her's still said 5 not 3 like we actually got. Like it matters now but.... what the heck. Scott and Tom- first last year at a real lake (With water in it and everything) and 3rd this year- you are the men! Talk about versatile- that dead one hurt though. Good work and thanks to all the people we met- sitting around the table swapping fish stories over dinner was a real treat. Especially with the caliber of all the guys that were invited- you don't get there on accident! Take care and look for some reports on the Oregon lake pages. I'm moving there shortly and can't wait to get some fishin' time in.
    City: napa

    Tips: Ask the top 5 teams if they'll tell you. Not one of our fish cams shallower than 10-12' deep. And learn how to pop 'em- a lot of deep fish were caught and some people don't know how.

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    Water Temp: 69.7-70.9

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: In at cemtimudi at 0625, air temp 63, lake down to 97.1 ft and only one lane available, the gravel and mud cover the 2nd lane(farthest away from the float) and there is a bit of a gravel/mud hump in the first lane, if you drive a smaller truck or are towing something heavy then u might want to avoid this ramp as getting out without 4 wheel drive could be a problem, ran over into the big backbone mouth and started throwing a spook at 0642 and caught 2 fish quickly and both small, had one other at 0700 that was maybe a 1.5. continued for 30 minutes without any hits so picked up the jig rod wearing a HDI(hoo-dun-it) in #23 and managed only 3 more till 0950. The biggest was a 1.76 NOt a lot of traffic this am, maybe 5 bassboats and three trout trollers. Watched a guy out in front of the ramp near the dam as I came in and he had a rod bent double and ended up netting what looked to be a 5+ trout or salmon, nice fish. out at 1000. Wind was up pretty good early at 15 but died to 5 when I got out.
    City: Redding

    Tips: the few I saw bass fishing were dropshotting in the 30ft range which is where I caught the jig fish, the early spook fish were right on the bank. used a trout looking spook.

Monday, September 20th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 70.2-71.9

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Jones Valley has quieted down, most have gone, a lot of cars still near the resort but only about 10 trucks left near the ramp, plenty of parking available now. got in at 0625, air temp 58 with a 6 knot wind out of the northeast, lake is nearing 97ft down, light rain most of the day yesterday cooled the lake off a bit, ran over into the lower pit to try some worm fishing on some flats and underwater humps for 6 and all small, 4 were smallmouth and I ain't much of a worm fisherman, threw a jig a few times on some fish I found and got my best with it at 1.8 and went on home. out at 1010, air temp 63 and the wind died down. 4 of the fish came on the MGM #109 4 inch, 2 came on a rainbow worm companys #99 in a 5 inch snake, the better(if u can call a 1.5 better) came on the #99.
    City: Redding

Sunday, September 19th, 2004

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    Water Temp: ?

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Mr. Pig Pen, should you like you should feel free to contact me regarding your post. If I am not there, leave a message. MGM is getting $20 for a 50 pack of hoo-dun-its, he gets $5 for a 10 pack so I buy in bulk. Go ahead, take the plunge. (530)244-0865. Should my daughter answer, try no to use any profanity until I get on the phone.
    City: Redding