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Thursday, July 10th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 77

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: HAD TWO DECENT DAYS OF FISHING AT SONOMA - THOUGHT IT WAS TIME TO POST AGAIN - 1ST DAY WAS SAT. BEFORE FATHERS DAY - TOOK DAD AND LIL BRO OUT - FISHED ACROSS FROM CHERRY CREEK I HIT 3 GOOD 5 POUNDERS RITE IN A ROW WITHIN AN HOUR AND A HALF ON A WACKY GREEN PUMPKIN W/ BLACK FLAKE SENKO THROWIN RIGHT UP AGAINST THE TREES - VERY SUBTLE BITE - REALLY JUST A CHANGE IN PRESSURE SO PAY ATTENTION - WE CAUGHT 8 MORE THAT DAY TO 2 POUNDS WITHIN A 200 YD AREA - EVERY FISH ON SAME SET UP - WORK THE AREAS REALLY SLOW AND REALLY THOROUGHLY - GO BACK 3-4 TIMES TO PLACES YOU THINK SHOULD HAVE ONE, THEY'RE THERE!!!! THIS LAKE IS FINNALLY PAYING OFF FOR ALL THE 0 FISH DAYS I'VE HAD HERE -

    FISHED ON THE 10TH - FIRST FISH 3.3 ON SAME GREEN PUMP WACKY - DAD CAUGHT 2 POUNDER ON CRANK AND LOST 3 MORE ON SAME - I MISSED 3 GOOD FISH ON WHITE/WILLOW TAIL SPINNER (TIME FOR A TRAILER HOOK!!!!) - CAUGHT 3 MORE ON SENKO TO 2 POUNDS - FISH SLOW WITH THE SENKO AND MEDIUM WITH THE CRANKS AND SPINNERS!! - SEE YA OUT THERE - PONTOON PIMPIN FOR LIFE!
    City: PETALUMA

    Tips: SUPER SLOW WACKY SENKOS AND CREATURES - GREEN PUMKIN IS KILLIN IT!!! - DEEP CRANKS - ALL FISH IN 10-25 FEET - ALL SKINNY AND HUNGRY!!!

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

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    Water Temp: 72 TO 74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: WOW 4.59 FOR A GALLON OF GAS. HALF MY CRANKBAITS DIDNT COST THAT MUCH.IT WAS A VERY NICE DAY ON TUESDAY WITH NO PRESSURE ON THE LAKE. SAW ONE OTHER BOAT ALL DAY.FISHED YORTY CREEK TO THE MAIN LAKE QUICKLY SO I COULD GET TO THE MAIN LAKE EARLY.CAUGHT A FEW FISH ON GRASS GREEN PUMPKIN SENKOS DID THE TRICK.ONCE I GOT TO THE MAIN LAKE THE WIND STARTED TO PICK UP.I FISHED THE DOWN TO LONG POINT WITH A WHITE SPINNERBAIT WITH SMALL THUMB SIZE COLORADO BLADES. ALMOST EVERY BUSH AND TREE HAD FISH IN THEM.THE BIGGEST WAS CLOSE TO 5 POUNDS SEVERAL IN THE 2TO 3 CLASS.WHEN I FINALLY GOT TO THE POINT IT WAS ALMOST 9 AM AND THE WIND WAS BLOWING NORTH ACROSS THE FRONT OF THE POINT.I SWITCHED TO ANOTHER ROD WITH SPOOK JR IN BABY BASS AND WHAMO.FIRST CAST TO THE POINT A 3 POUND SMALLMOUTH INHALED THE SPOOK I CAUGHT TWO MORE ABOUT THE SAME SIZE BEFORE THEY THEY GOT WISE TO ME EVEN BEING THERE.FISHED FOR ABOUT TWO MORE HOURS AND DIDNT GET BIT.
    City: SANTA ROSA

    Tips: FISH THE MIDDLE OF CREEKS WITH LARGE SWIMBAITS. I MUST HAVE SAW AT LEAST 10 BIG FISH FEEDING RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF YORTY CREEK AT 7 AM.IF IT GETS WINDY THROW WHITE SMALL SPINNERBAITS INTO THE TREES AND BRUSHPILES.GO GET SUM.

Saturday, June 28th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got to the lake at 3:30 pm with my son and fished to 11:30 pm. Hit Dry Creek area first and caught 1 fish on a drop shot. Moved into Cherry Creek past Skunk Camp and caught a couple more, one on a senko, 1 on drop shot and my son caught another on a small swimbait. After 8:00 the topwater bite started to kick in and caught 3 more on a spook. My son caught another 3 pounder on the swimbait before dark. Didn't catch any fish after dark and called it a night at 11:30. Best 5 went about 13 lbs.
    City: Rohnert Park

    Tips: Drop shot during the day around the trees and try senkos. Try different retrieves with topwater. Several bites came after a long pause.

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    Water Temp: 72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Hit the water 2/ friend around 6:30. Overcast morning, cool, very few boats. Went straight up to Yorty Creek and chucked spooks for the first hour or so, and had some blowups, but only 2 fish. Then by mid-morning we threw just about everything else at 'em (Senkos, roboworms, spinnerbaits, hogs) but nothing doing; not even a bite on those. Friend was persistent with a frog in some of the thicker shoreline cover and had a few fish whack at it, but none stayed on. Moved to point that splits Yorty and Cherry creek arms and got a couple hits on crankbaits but lost em. Finished in Cherry around 2pm with a couple on Strike King Red Eye shad (Chrome/Bluegill pattern).
    City: San Rafael

    Tips: Try spooks and other topwaters first thing, pretty much anywhere, then if Senkos/soft plastics not producing, try cranking (lipless or whatever else) along the points and breezy shorelines where you figure baitfish might be getting blown into.

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Went fishing, was able to catch some decent fish. One of the fish was 5lbs., another 4lbs. Looks like they might still be dropping water since the lake looked down about a foot or more. Couldn't really catch fish in areas you might have caught them a week ago. Fish anywhere on the lake as conditions seem to be fairly good everywhere, if you got the right pattern going.
    City: F-Ville

    Tips: Bring your oxygen tank with the smoke in the air from the fires, not fun. Better yet take your time, the fish are there. If you can't handle the heat, stay out of the flame then you will catch fish.

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 70

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: wats going on here two fish the whole day this lake is horrible now. we tried everything including cranks,topwater(sammy caught a nice one),spinnerbaits dropshot,brush hog every worms we had and still nothing.this lake has deffinetly turned offff for the year.
    City: cv

    Tips: if u do go use warmouth robo's dropshotting in 10-30 feet of water and sammy's in the morning cast them as close to the bank as posssible to catch anything.

Monday, June 16th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 69

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: big bass. threw chicken liver lure and caught two 5's (lrgmouth bass).
    City: santa rosa

    Tips: catch the catfish

Saturday, June 14th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 65-70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Redwood Empire Bass Club held its annual tournament/family picnic-BBQ at Lake Sonoma on June 14th 2008. We had 7 teams in the event and nearly 50 folks at the picnic. First place was won by Steve Adams & John Hatfield with 15.31 lbs and 6.59lb big fish. 2nd was Craig Stewart & Josh Peterson with 15.20lbs and 6.10 2nb big fish. 3rd place was Jon & Jerod Adams with 12.67lbs. A lot of fish were caught on senkos around wood and cranking mud lines but the bigger fish were caught early on top water. 1st and 2nd big fish were caught on opposite arms of the lake so you should be able to do well wherever you go.
    City: Santa Rosa

    Tips: The next tournament for the Redwood Empire Bass Club will be at Clear Lake July 19th & 20th and that

Sunday, June 8th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 64-68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I took my brother and nephew fun fishing on Saturday. The wind was howling when we launched so we went into Warm Springs and started throwing crankbaits. I got a 2 and a 2.5 right away and my brother caught two small males also. In the meantime my nephew Ian who's 13 years old wasn't catching anything so I brought him up to the front of the boat with me and put my rod down to help him. He was casting a medium diver on a spinning rod with 10lb. Big Game. Within five minutes he yells I got one and proceeds to bring in a beautiful spawned out 6.2 lb female that easily would have been over 8lbs. a month ago. Anyway we were all high fiving Ian and he was so excited catching his biggest bass ever. I will be posting the picture on the photo section soon. Anyway we proceeded to catch more crankbait fish and when the wind died we switched to plastics. We got into some really good fish late morning and afternoon using senko's, worms and brush hogs. We ended up catching 23 bass with the best five going 6.2,3.5,3.2,2.8 and 2.5.I encourage everyone to take a kid fishing and you will have so much fun and get a kid hooked on fishing and not drugs.
    City: Santa Rosa

    Tips: The next tournament for the Redwood Empire Bass Club will be here at Lake Sonoma next Saturday, June 14th. The signups will be at the next meeeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. on June 11th at the Rohnert Park Community Center at the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder Lane. Log onto rebc.net for more info.

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

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    Water Temp: 70 TO 72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: WELL GAS AT 4.50 IT IS REALLY MAKING IT TOUGH TO GET UP TO THE LAKE ANYMORE.I ARRIVED AT 7AM ON TUESDAY TO A FLAT CALM LAKE..IN LESS THAN 15 MINUTES THE WIND WAS HOWLING AND IT GOT FLAT OUT ROUGH OUT THERE.WITH THE WIND I THOUGHT I WOULD THROW A SPINNERBAIT NO TAKERS. I SWITCHED TO A POINTER MINNOW NO TAKERS.I HAD TO GET OUT OF THE WIND SO I PULLED INTO A COVE AND WALLA THE BITE WAS ON.7 FISH IN ABOUT AN HOUR.A GULP 4INCH MINNOW ON A SIZE 2 CIRCLE HOOK WACKY RIGGED. THROW INTO ANY COVER BARE BANKS AND IN FRONT OF WEED LINES.THE BIG MAMAS ARE ALL GONE NOW BUT THE 1 TO 2 POUND MALES ARE STILL HANGING OUT IN SHALLOW WATER.ITS TIME TO MOVE OUT INTO DEEPER WATER AND CAROLINA RIG BIG BRUSH HOGS OR 10 INCH BLACK WORMS IN 20 TO 30 FEET.
    City: SANTA ROSA

    Tips: IF YOU CAN GET ON THE LAKE ABOUT 5AM THROW A BUZZBAIT OR A BIG SPOOK IN FRONT OF THE WEED LINES OR INTO THE TREES ON THE MAIN LAKE.GO GET EMMMMM.

Saturday, May 31st, 2008

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    Water Temp: 64 - 72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Took the new (used) Javelin out for the first time and had a great time. Started in Yorty kind of late 8:30 first fish at 8:41 then a cold spell 10:32 Jim got his and 10:42 Sean made it one each and overall 25 total last one at 6:37. After Yorty we went all the way north and around 4 we headed south. Fish ranged from dink to 2.8lbs. best 5 only 11.8. But alot of fun. Jim and Sean each had 9 fish. 1 on Jig, 4 on Senko, 9 drop shot, 12 BrushHog. Beautiful day with occasional tough wind
    City: Pacifica

    Tips: Boat was in 20+ for most of the fish and no luck in the back of any coves. All fish were post spawn and need to get fattened up. Lots of fresh fry 1" plus.

Friday, May 30th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 66-68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Had one of my best days at Lake Sonoma in a long time. Hit the water at 6am and started with some topwater across from the marina. Caught 6 fish to 3 lbs in the first hour, then headed over to Warm Springs. Caught a few more until 8:00 when the topwater bite shut off. Switched to tossing senkos for most of the day and caught nearly 30 fish. Average size was around 2 lbs with a couple 3's and one 5.6 lb'er. Also caught one on a swimbait and another on a jig.
    City: Rohnert Park

    Tips: Topwater early then switch to senkos. Most colors will work, but the better bite came on the lighter, shad colors. Position your boat in 20'-25' water and fish around the trees. Points and secondary points produced better than the backs of the cuts. Let your senko sink to the bottom then shake, if you don't get bit within 30 seconds, reel up and cast again. Very soft bite, so lift your rod and if you feel any pressure, then set the hook. Fish are in the post spawn mode.

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

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    Water Temp: about 64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I went out to Lake Sonoma for the first time in about 3 years. I had an AWSOME day! It was one of if not my biggest 5 fish sack! Caught about 10 fish in all and all on the same technique. We couldnt get them to eat anything else! We tried senko's drop shots shad colored crank baits red tail spinners and wasnt able to get any on anything else but the one technique

    Tips: Watch my video on westernbass.tv!! Its just got put up also look for the anouncement in the northern forums! I hope you like it!!

Monday, May 26th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 64-66

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: camping for two days at sonoma, caught some nice bass from shallow to deep, lots three ponders around, I brought my C-Dory with me so its kind of hard to fish without electric motor. I can see lots of bass still spawning, or staging.
    City: El Cerrito

    Tips: worms ,swim baits, jig

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Hadnt fished Somoma in a lond while. With Clear Lake and Delta nearby Sonoma doesnt compare. In other areas Sonoma would be a awsome lake. we are spoiled when it comes to bass I guess. Bite wasnt off the hook but The "Janitor" got a near 5lbr on a spook, a 3lb bed fish and some barely legal guys. I got 4 fish up to 2.5lbs and The Jnitors neighbor pulled in a few as well.
    City: Petaluma

    Tips: Finnese for #'s and early top water for some bigger bites.

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 71 TO 74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: FISHED SONOMA TWICE SINCE LAST REPORT.FISHED SATURDAY NIGHT WITH GENE WITH GREAT SECCESS. THE FISH ARE ON THE BANKS IN 10 FEET OF WATER..THE KEY IS LIGHT LINE.6 POUND TEST WORKS GREAT.WACKY WORM ONE THIRD OF THE WAY DOWN ON A GREEN OR DARK COLORED SENKO.USE A SIZE 2 OWNER CIRCLE HOOK.ALL YOU WELL FEEL IS WEIGHT. REEL SLOW AND THE WEIGHT OF THE FISH WELL SET THE HOOK.I ALSO CAUGHT FISH ON A THUNDER STICK AND RED CRANKS.I SAW A GUY THROWING BUZZBAITS WITH MODERATE ACTION. THE WIND WAS HOWLING BY 11AM....
    City: SANTA ROSA

    Tips: ALOT OF THE FISH THAT I CAUGHT TODAY WERE SPITTING UP 3 INCH SHAD SO NEXT TRIP I WELL BE THROWING SHAD RAPS AND SMALL SHAD IMITATIONS IN WHITE OR BLACK AND SILVER.USE 8 POUND TEST MAX ON YOUR CRANKS.THE WATER IS CRYSTAL CLEAR.

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 64 -67

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Wednesday evening and Thursday morning in main body and Cherry Creek. Caught about 12 bass between 12 to 18 inches on dartheading worms, brush hogs, top water, tubes, and senkos. Senkos got the most hits. Saw a lot of 15 to 20 inch bass cruising, but not biting.
    City: Novato

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 70 TO72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: FISHED SONOMA TODAY FOR BEST RESULTS IN YEARS.MOST FISH WERE IN THE 4 TO 6 POUND RANGE.THEY WERE IN 10 FEET OF WATER OFF WEED LINES. I STAYED ABOUT 50 FEET OFF SHORE AND FLIPPED SENKOS INTO TREES BUSHES AND OPEN BANKS..I WACKY RIGGED WITH OWNER SIZE 2 CICLE HOOKS.FEEL WEIGHT AND REEL SLOWLY THEY HOOK THEMSELVES.MOST FISH ARE LIPPED HOOKED.ALL COLORS WORKED.REDFLAKE IS THE KEY, HOWEVER I FOUND A NEW COLOR THAT THE FISH WERE ON AS SOON AS HIT THE WATER. WORMING RED FLAKE..
    City: SANTA ROSA

    Tips: FISH SLOW STAY BACK FROM THE BANK AND USE 6 OR 8 POUND TEST ON LIGHT SPINNING GEAR..HOLD ON .

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    Water Temp: 70 TO72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: FISHED SONOMA TODAY FOR BEST RESULTS IN YEARS.MOST FISH WERE IN THE 4 TO 6 POUND RANGE.THEY WERE IN 10 FEET OF WATER OFF WEED LINES. I STAYED ABOUT 50 FEET OFF SHORE AND FLIPPED SENKOS INTO TREES BUSHES AND OPEN BANKS..I WACKY RIGGED WITH OWNER SIZE 2 CICLE HOOKS.FEEL WEIGHT AND REEL SLOWLY THEY HOOK THEMSELVES.MOST FISH ARE LIPPED HOOKED.ALL COLORS WORKED.REDFLAKE IS THE KEY, HOWEVER I FOUND A NEW COLOR THAT THE FISH WERE ON AS SOON AS HIT THE WATER. WORMING RED FLAKE..
    City: SANTA ROSA

    Tips: FISH SLOW STAY BACK FROM THE BANK AND USE 6 OR 8 POUND TEST ON LIGHT SPINNING GEAR..HOLD ON .

Sunday, May 4th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 62

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Went out with a friend on Sun. Late start; hit the water at 10. Went down Warm Springs arm, fished around island then banks in vicinity. Nothing for first couple hours. Friend was drop-shotting and I was dragging a brush hog. Most fish graphed were either suspended or near the bottom in at least 10-15 feet so maybe with this warm('er' at least!) weather they're finally moving in/up. Spotted a couple in shallows, but that's it. Noted that wind plus powerboats (LOTS of skiers/tubers on Sunday) was resulting in some stirred up murky/brown water near much of the shoreline areas, but water otherwise quite clear. Buddy finally hooked up around noon, further up the warm springs arm, on the dropshot rig (maybe 1 3/4lbs) then about 30 mins later the hog paid off with a nice 3lb'er for me. Buddy got one more (2lbs) on dropshot and that was it. I threw crankbaits, jigs (even though I suck at those; really need help on 'how' to fish jigs more confidently) and a Maverick swimbait, and senkos here and there, but no takers.

    Tips: Overall, think they still want baits on bottom, fished slow. Creature baits or drop shot rigs. If 70+ degree days finally continue, would expect spawn within a week or so.