Sonoma Lake and Reports

Saturday, December 16th, 2006

• By Gene Cardle

  Water Temp: 52

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: The Redwood Empire Bass Club held its annual Open team tournament today. There were 27 teams which was a record turnout. The winners were 1st: Joe Leonard & Patrick McGee with 15.94 lbs.& big fish of 4.55lbs. 2nd: Derek Castro & Brian Hoxsie with 13.51lbs. 3rd: Mike McPherson fishing alone with 13.04lbs. 4th: Dave Church & John Kidder with 12.59lbs. 5th: Brent Schneider fishing alone with 12.29lbs. and second big fish of 4.17lbs. My partner Dave Nieto and I finished sixth, one place out of the money with 12.19lbs.
  The weights wern't as heavy as I had predicted in my previous report but everyone caught fish and there were 20 limits weighed in. The winning team used heavy jigs fished at 30 to 40 ft. A variety of crankbaits, drop shot worms and blades caught the majority of the fish. A special thanks to Marine Unlimited for co-hosting the event with us and providing raffle gifts.
  City: Santa Rosa

  Tips: I would like to invite all you bass fishermen both boaters and non boaters to fish with the Redwood Empire Bass Club in 2007. Our first meeting is January 10th at 7p.m. at the Rohnert Park Community Center at the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder Lane. Our guest speaker will be Ross England a well known pro and guide on Clear Lake. He will be sharing with us all his favorite baits and techniques to help us catch fish at our next tournament January 20th at Clear Lake. For further info and the 2007 tournament schedule log onto rebc.net or call me at 707.758.5762. Enjoy the holidays and I look forward in seeing you next year.

Wednesday, December 6th, 2006

• By Gene Cardle

  Water Temp: 55

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: I fished last Saturday with a friend. We caught 5 up to 2.5lbs. on a combination of plastics and reaction baits.The water was crystal clear and the weather was too nice with sunshine and blue skies which made for a tough bite.
  City: Santa Rosa

  Tips: Be patient the weather is going to change with rain in the forcast starting Friday and continuing on and off for a week. This change in weather will definitely improve the bite especially for the upcoming Redwood Empire Bass Club Open Team Tournament on December 16th. You don't have to be a member to fish so please come to our meeting next Wednesday at 7p.m. at the Rohnert Park Community Center on the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder Lane to register for the tournament. Marine Unlimited will co host the tournament with us and be providing many fishing/boating products which will be given away to tournament anglers after the weigh in. The owner of Marine Unlimited , Brant Behler will be bringing a new Champion or Stratos for some lucky boaters to test drive after the tournament. This will be a fun event and I encourage everyone to attend. For further info log onto rebc.net or call me at 758.5762.

Saturday, November 18th, 2006

• By Gene Cardle

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: The Redwood Empire Bass Club along with Marine Unlimited is hosting our annual "Turkey Shoot" open TEAM (which you pick)tournament at Lake Sonoma on December 16th. You don't have to be a member to fish but we are welcoming all new members both boaters and non boaters to join our club.The signups for the tournament will be on December 13th at 7p.m. at the Rohnert Park Community Center at the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder Lane. Aside from winning the tournamnt, having big fish or placing in the money there will be additional prizes donated by Marine Unlimited to randomly selected teams for just showing up. Plese log onto rebc.net or call me at 707.758.5762 for further info. There have been reports of some big fish caught recently and I know it will take over 20lbs. to win the tournament. I hope to see you there.
  City: Santa Rosa

Sunday, November 5th, 2006

• By AB

  Water Temp: N/A

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Launched @ 6:30am, with the moon still high in the sky as the sun came up. Figured the fish had probably been eating all night, but what the hey. Two fish in the boat all day, both around 2lbs each, one on an 8" augertail/black t-rigged on main lake around wood, other on chartreuse spinner in a shallow cove near Loggers. First fish coughed up a couple of bright red juvenile crawdads. Off the water @ 1:00pm.

  Tips: Keep movin' if you don't find 'em. Worked a lot of water for the two bites.

Friday, November 3rd, 2006

• By Gene Cardle

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: The entry fee for the Redwood Empire Bass Club's annual "Turkey Shoot" open team tournament on December 16th is $100 per team not the $50 I mentioned in the previous post. Sorry for the error. I hope to see you all there.
  The more contestants, the more money you can win.
  City: Santa Rosa

• By Gene Cardle

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: Redwood Empire Bass Club welcomes new members both boaters and non boaters to fish our Clear Lake Tournament on November 11th.Please come to our meeting next Wednesday at 7p.m. at the Rohnert Park Community Center at the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder. For more info log onto rebc.net or call me at 707.758.5762.
  Also the club is hosting our annual "Turkey Shoot" open tournament at Lake Sonoma on December 16th. This is a team tournament and it is open to anyone who wants to fish. The entry fee is $50 per team. You can sign up at our December 13th meeting or call me. Thanks.
  City: Santa Rosa

Saturday, October 28th, 2006

• By AnAAnAA - and saLTIE-

  Water Temp: I Forgot To Che

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Got a late start, but that was was well ok because my best fishing partner and "SPONSER" came along with me!! My girlfriend!
  
  well we went out fishing for my birthday. i usually run out to the delta, but with my lady fishing with me i wanted to beable to fish and enjoy her company versus fighting the wind and current. Luckily we came out to sonoma because one of my batteries craped out on me. i ended running back to one of the coves and switching the cables around. i just ran off one battery all day, glad it worked.
  i saw a few people drop shotting points, ridges, underwater tree lines and humps. but i also saw a few up close too. many trout trollers on the main lake.
  i fished from 1130am till 430pm.We got three keeper bass up to 2 pounds, missed a few and one bluegill. The fish we caught were shallow and We got them swimming a jig. The hits were not harsh. They would pick it up and just swim off.
  The bluegills were in the back of the coves and creeks. Look for grass that is still green. I saw a guy fly fishing, but for us those good ole flee flies worked great.
  Not only was this a pretty enjoyable day due to the weather, me not being at work and my girlfriend putting time on the water WITH A POLE IN HER HAND. She also drive me around in the boat in the Monark.
  I CAN NOT WAIT TILL SHE LAUNCHES THE BOAT FOR ME AND TOWS US UP TO THE LAKE AND BACK!!...
  City: San Francisco

  Tips: DON'T STRESS. IF YOU NEED TO CATCH FISH IN ORDER TO ENJOY FISHING THEN DO NOT GO!! THIS IS SPORT IS CALLED FISHING NOT CATCHING!!

Tuesday, September 12th, 2006

• By AB

  Water Temp: 74*

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Started out @ 8:00am and fished 'til seven, with long lunch and a nap in between. Bite was on all day, with 14 fish in the boat and a lot of near misses. Great day, but frustrating, too. Almost all fish were smallies, best 5 around 11-12lbs, biggest going around 3+lbs, and the thing was, half the time when I was reeling in one of these guys, a huge largemouth was either chasing him or the bait. They were obviously competing to get to the lure, and the bronzebacks won every time! I'm not complaining...I just wish one of those big pigs could've outraced the speedy smallmouths. Tried several techniques early in the day, and finaly patterned them out around 10:00am. The answer was grass, usually w/ some wood mixed in, and a shallow slope of land going into the water. Stayed 20-30 feet off the weed edge, and cast either a weightless t-rigged soft plastic jerk or a senko onto the mat, dragging it quickly to the edges(make a commotion), then letting it drop and jerking it back to the boat. Frog techniques, but w/ senkos or jerkbaits. Tried same technique w/ a frog earlier, and had a couple blowups, but no follows after the frog dropped through or off the mat. Most bites came on the green laminate senkos, surprisingly, which I worked exactly like a j-bait, a few twitches, pause, repeat, etc. The impending cold spell realy helped the bite. They're eating now while it's hot. Saw another guy sticking to the grass too, so I figure he was onto the same deal, but maybe w/ frogs. Good luck and aim for their mouth.
  City: San Anselmo

  Tips: Grass mats, weed edges, stay out a ways and work it back to the boat. A lot of bites came on drops off of or follows past the weed edges.

Thursday, September 7th, 2006

• By Gene Cardle

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Redwood Empire Bass Club would like to invite any bass fisermen or women, both boaters and non boaters to fish with us at our next team tournament on Clear Lake on September 16th. Although the bite is tough at Sonoma, right now the fishing and catching at Clear Lake continues to be very good. Please join us at our next meeting on at 7p.m. on September 13th at the Rohnert Park Community Center at the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder Lane. For further info log onto rebc.net or call me at 707.758.5762. Thanks.
  City: Santa Rosa

Thursday, August 31st, 2006

• By Frank

  Water Temp: 74.3

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Fished from 02:00 until 06:00 in my float tube.
  Fishing wasn't as good as it has been the last few weeks. I think the bite is better with the moon. Caught and released 8. All were 4 to 6 pounds and from the bank to about 5' of water.
  Wes's 9" and 11" Killer Worms did the trick. Last week they only wanted the 6" worms and small beavers. Everything was brass n glass and fished fast. 3/8 or 1/2 oz and just bang them around parallel to the bank. The fish just clobbered the worms. No surface activity until almost 05:30. The bats showed up around then too.
  Nice time to fish and no other boats around.
  City: Santa Rosa

  Tips: The fish are agressive but spotty. When you get one, stay awhile and fish out the area. Faster is sometimes better with bigger baits.

Tuesday, August 29th, 2006

• By D.B.COOPER

  Water Temp: 79

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: There is a frog bite up there at Sonoma. It's not a red hot bite, but you can get frog fish if you work at it. Caught some nice ones today with Joe Leonard. We had 17 pounds for 5 fish. Could have gone over 25 lbs, but a couple of real good ones came unbuttoned. That's frog fishing as they say. Had a lot of fish(not little fish)just blow up on it and no take. Followed up on those fish with flip baits and nothing(but that doesn't mean don't follow up on a blow up). Frustrating, but we did get some nice ones that ate it. Put some fish in the livewell for awhile and found regurgitated large crawdads(green pumpkin-orange and red) on the bottom of the livewell. All fish still had a good set of teeth on them so I don't know if they are still heavily keying in on the shad. Probably.
  City: Petaluma

  Tips: Hopefully it will warm up(hot) and improve the frog bite and make them commit fully. If I go tomorrow or the next day I just go with a dark colored frog( Rojas black-yellow) and a 1oz flip bait(sweet beaver-sprayed grass or boom boom tube) and frog and flip all day in shallow water grass mats. You'll be surprised at what's hiding under there in 1 to 5 feet of water. Surprised the hell out of us. Have faith. Another important tip that worked for us is to cast your frog onto the bank and slowly bring it out(I'm not kidding) and hang on. Good luck. D.B.COOPER

Monday, August 21st, 2006

• By Ken Bull

  Water Temp: 67-73

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Had the pleasure of fishing with the Dominator today on his new Ranger 520! The smoothest riding, most stable and functional boat with tons of deck space and storage, and it looks good too. I received a serious schooling on the art of frog fishing as he put a 6 and 4 in the boat in the first half hour. After the sun came up he showed me how to have one ton fun (1 oz jig and trailer) and put more keepers in the boat. I hear the Sunday Federation tournament participants averaged 10lb sacks. Dom finished the day with 18lbs. Nice work buddy!
  City: Petaluma

  Tips: Hit the lake with people who fish better and have a nicer boat than you do ;) When fishing Sonoma now, use jigs and plastics in natural colors in about 20-30' once the sun gets up.

Thursday, July 13th, 2006

• By DatDudeJesse

  Water Temp: 70+

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Got to Yorty Creek side about 8am - threw the tube in and had another great day. FFing hit alot of bigger blue gill/redears and crappie with a #10 olive woolley bugger - started throwin a chrome/blue rattletrap caught 4 LM's to 2.5pnds - threw a brown/redflake Roboworm, got alot of little hits but no hookups - it got to like 95 degrees that day but was alot fun still

  Tips: Fish early, and during the weekdays because its so peaceful up there - this is not an easy lake for LM's gotta pay your dues and put in the work - good luck!

Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

• By brian

  Water Temp: ?

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: 1st time at the lake and had an ok day. My dad and i fished from a rock peir near the marina. We walked down, found a spot, amd on my 2nd cast, I caught a 2.6 lb largemouth. My dad then casted out a few times and nailed a big smallmouth(Maybe 3 lbs?). That was it for the day. There are a million bass in this lake, there were about 50 bass 2 feet off shore ranging from 8-14 inches. Saw a couple of huge 8+ pounders cruising the shore. Caught both fish on crawdad lures.
  City: sonoma

  Tips: rent a boat if u dont have 1. guys on boats said they caught tons of bass.

Thursday, July 6th, 2006

• By AB

  Water Temp: 66*-68*

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Fished 3 separate days last week with good success for lots of little guys and several nice hens. Best bite dead sticking 6" senkos around trees in 5-10' of water on main body and north end of lake. Trick was going S-L-O-W. I mean let it sit for 3-5 minutes and then give it a twitch.
  Several fish on chatterbaits and soft jerkbaits. Lite bite. Scent helps a lot.
  City: San Anselmo

  Tips: slow, lots of scent.

Monday, July 3rd, 2006

• By Skandy

  Water Temp: 80

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Hit the water at 4:00 pm to fish the end of the day until midnight. Started out pretty slow as expected. Caught 1 on a white spinnerbait and a 2nd on a brushhog. The bite finally kicked in as the sun set. Had 3 blow ups on a frog and lost another on a buzzbait. Finally landed a 2-9 on a senko next to a tree. The senko continued to work until after it was totally dark. Saw some buddies who mentioned they landed a 5 lb'er on a buzzbait.
  City: Rohnert Park

  Tips: buzzbaits around trees early or late. Senko in dark colors also around trees. If your looking for the frog bite, look around the weeds in Cherry Creek and throw to the shore then pull into the water.

• By tom

  Water Temp: i dont have a t

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: well i got to the marina about 3 am and started the long hike to the hot spot in cherry creek. i slow walked along the bank while i held the rod over the water with a slasher popper on and cought 3 catfish but they will only hit the popper when you slow crawl it. about 9 am i reached my destination and started to do what i do best which is catch the bucket mouth bass. i through on my #1 bait a 1/0 hook with a night crawler cut in half weightless and started wacking them i cought about 11 bass and the biggest was only about 9 pounds i had 5 fish on my call em rite weighing about 29 pounds.
  City: rohnert park

  Tips: get fresh crawlers the best spot is the lagoon in sebastapol bring a shovel and dig 2 feet down and 6 feet from the oak tree on the left.

Tuesday, June 27th, 2006

• By Dat Dude Jesse

  Water Temp: 70ish

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Took 3 buddies up to the Yorty Creek side to fish from the shore. 1 wanted flyfishing lessons, 1 is avid fishermen (fishing for catfish & crappie), 1 is A.D.D. in the worst way and lasted 10 minutes w/ line in the water. My boy got some catfish bites but no hook ups. Got there around 5:30pm and left at 9:00pm - I caught 10 crappie on a Olive green/copperhead #12 lettin it sink deep and slow stripping line - had never caught crappie here before - so had a great time and impressed the friends as they caught 1 between the 3 of them.
  City: Santa Rosa

  Tips: Fish all coves for panfish, deeper and bigger for crappie - slow play senkos for bass. I wish they would keep Yorty open later - or open earlier! Tight lines yall!

Tuesday, June 6th, 2006

• By Dat Dude Jesse

  Water Temp: 70ish

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Fished Yorty creek from my float tube last 2 tuesdays - 6th 7:30-5pm, prev 1:30-9pm - great weather both days 85+ degrees (typical afternoon winds). I've been alternating from FFing and my bass pole - panfish have been off the hook - hitting the 16 Red Copper head nymph like crazy (even landed a 2 lb. bass on it), switched to a 10 green wooley bugger got alot bigger panfish and a huge strike that snapped the tippet from a bass! - 40+ fish what a blast with a fly rod! - Throwin a 6" white Senko got a 10in smallie and same large - but was too addicted to the fly rod action to stick with it - saw a kid land a great 5+ lber from the bank drop shottin' a motor oil worm. It's hard to slow play the worms for bass when the FFishin action for pan is so fast and furious!
  City: Santa Rosa

  Tips: Go mid-week if you can - so peaceful! I wish I had more patience to slow fish the Senkos becuz I know they are hittin - The panfish FFishing is outta hand! Take a kid fishin' nows the time!

Monday, June 5th, 2006

• By Birthday Bash

  Water Temp: 69-75

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Went and Fished Sonoma this weekend. Did about 20-25 fish each day. Crawdad Crankbaits, Senko's and Lizards. Watermelon/red was a good color. Best 5 went around 15 lbs. Took a 6 lb and a 4 lb off steep walls on consecutive days.

  Tips: Had success on Rock. Fished the main body when we were able to keep the boat off the bank from all the Boat Chop made by the weekend warriors. Try and fish during the week.