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Sunday, March 28th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 58-62

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Sunday morning I arrive at the ramp, and find there is an ABA tournament going on. We wait for the 30 boats to launch, and then take off. It

    Tips: Please visit www.russnyders.com for more fishing reports, videos, and info on Northern California Guide Trips.

    <a href="http://www.russnyders.com/">Rus Snyders Guide Service</a>

Friday, March 26th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 55 - 61

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Friday 3/26/10, I fished from the back of my buddy

    Tips: In the afternoon during periods of no wind, we could see fish up near shore looking for spawning beds. They would swim off when we threw our bait to them but would return in a minute or so. All these fish appeared to be small males. The full moon on Monday may bring the larger females up shallow to look for a mate. The bite should get real good.

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 55 - 58

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Warm Springs arm from 10am to 5. Caught 5 bass to 2.5 pounds on a variety of baits: jigs, senko, brush hogs, etc. No reaction bites. All were along bare banks in 5 to 10 feet of water.
    City: Novato

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 52 - 59

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Saturday 3/13/10, I fished from the front of my boat. The water temperature in the morning was about 52

    Tips: Fishing should get better as the water warms with the coming warm days that are forecasted.

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: ITS BAD LUCK WHEN YOU CATCH A NICE FISH ON THE FIRST CAST.HIT SONOMA AGAIN THIS MORNING WITH HIGH HOPES OF MORE BIG SPAWERS ON THE BANK.MY FRIEND TOM GOT 3TO 4 ON THE FIRST CAST AT 7AM. THREE CAST LATER I GOT A 2 ON A BLADE AT 7:05 TOM GOT BIT ONE OTHER TIME AND THAT WAS IT................A LOT OF BOATS WERE HEADED TO CHERRY CREEK.
    City: SANTA ROSA

    Tips: DONT CATCH A FISH ON THE FIRST CAST.DONT BRING A BANANA ON THE BOAT WITH YOU.DONT USE CRANKS EITHER.RED RED SENKOS BANK TO 40 FEET OUT.....SHAKE AND SHAKE.............

Friday, March 5th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: DARK OVERCAST AND WINDY TODAY PERFECT DAY TO GO FISHING,FIRST TIME OUT THIS YEAR.THREW SENKOS OFF OF THE BANK IN 15 TO 20 FEET OF WATER.ARRIVED AT 10 AND LEFT AT 2PM.FIRST FISH WAS AT 11AM A FOOTBALL IN THE 7s ON A RED SENKO WITH LOTS OF GARLIC ON THE BAIT.LESS THAN 5 MINUTES LATER AND 50 FEET DOWN THE BANK I HOOKED BIG MAMA A FISH IN THE 10 POUND CLASS.MY DOG WEIGHS 11 AND THE FISH FELT HEAVIER WHEN I COMPARED THEM.I CAUGHT ONLY 1 OTHER FISH THE REST OF DAY.A 3 POUNDER ON A CHARTAND WHITE SPINNERBAIT.GET OUT THERE AND FISH.
    City: SANTA ROSA

    Tips: TRIED GREEN AND PUMPKIN COLORS TO NO AVAIL.THEY SEEM TO PREFER RED RIGHT NOW AND DONT FORGET THE GARLIC............

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 52 - 56

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Saturday 2/27/10, I fished the back of the boat. We delayed our launch until the heavy rain stopped at 9:30. The water temperature in the morning was about 52

    Tips: Be real careful of the floating debris on the lake.

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 55.6 to 56.6

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Devil Mountain Bass masters launched 8 boats on a cloudy morning, the lake level is up to normal.
    All Anglers brought fish to the scales, Phil Lopez took 1st Place with five fish for 12 + pounds, his Fish were caught rippin, crankbaits, and senkos.
    2nd Place was Rom Cormier with 11+ pounds, 3rd Place was Howard Harrow with 10 + pounds and a five fish limit.
    Big fish of the tournament was 4.60 Lbs. caught on a black and blue jig in 10 ft. of water early in the morning.
    City: Martinez

    Tips: My partner and I both caught 3 fish each, all on black & blue jigs, the boat was positioned over 19 ft of water, throw the jig up to the bank and work it down, then let it soak- the bites were aggressive.

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

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    Water Temp: 50-52

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Redwood Empire Bass Club held their first tournament of the year, with 9 boats/16 anglers participating. Only three boats weighed fish, bringing one fish each to the scales. Winner was Jerod A with one 3.03 lb LM, 2nd was Ed B and Dianne W with 1.76lb LM, third was Steve A and Jeff S with a 1.4lb smallie. Water color ranged from muddy from the "S" curves north, moderately stained from "S" curves to the dam. Don't know about the Warm Springs side...
    City: Novato

    Tips: Someone suggested reading the Larry Hemphill article "Fishing in Chocolate Milk", in the Western Bass library

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 50-51

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished 8 to 2 in Dry Creek arm. Tried brush hogs, pointers, and drop shot, no takers. Then went into Yorty and fished hog again and got my first/only bite: 5 lbs even, 20 inches. And not more than 15 feet deep either, which surprised me. Beautiful fish; great color to her. Electronics showed an abrupt change in depth, so she was probably on the break. So, not much action, to say the least (for 6 hours of fishing), but at least the action quality.
    City: San Rafael

    Tips: Brush hog. 'Boring' type of fishing, but it produces if you're realllllly patient with it.

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

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    Water Temp: cold

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: started around 10:30, headed over near the dam where there e some trees, and fished a rattletrap, a few colored senkos, and different roboworms, all with no takers. then we moved down the lake, stopping every so often where there was a fair amount of trees, fishing the same lures and worms, because i had heard that they were working for some poeple. still with no takers.we made it just about to yorty creek, still without a single taker! tough day, but still better than work! fish seened to be holding around 40 feet
    City: Rohnert Park

    Tips: dont take tips from me!!!!! idk what to use, fishing is slow.

Monday, December 21st, 2009

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    Water Temp: 51-52

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the Monday before Christmas sticking mostly to main lake areas in the Dry Creek part of the lake. First fist came on a wacky senko, and the others came on a drop shot 6" worm. Lost 2 fish on the senko after getting hung up in the trees. Lands 4 keepers total to 3 1/2 lbs.
    City: Rohnert Park

    Tips: Fish slow this time of year. Looks for rocky areas around sparse trees. All fish came in less than 30' of water.

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

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    Water Temp: 57.5

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Arrived at the lake around 7 am and headed to the Warm Springs arm. Light rain all morning. Thought it would help the bite, but not much luck. Caught 1 small bass on a drop shot next to a tree with a 4" worm (watermelon/black). Spoke with a couple guys fishing from kayacks who caught some steelies on the main lake using kastmasters and similar lures. Water is very clear. Tried spoons, drop shot, crankbaits, jigs, worms but no luck.
    City: Rohnert Park

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

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    Water Temp: 61

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Went for a pleasure cruse on saturday, the lake was quiet with only a few boats out. I decided to cast a line out with a silver cast master on the main lake. The second the lure hit the water 4-6 small bass immediatly went for it an practically fought to be the one on the hook. I had kids with me so for the next couple of minutes they cought a bunch of the little shakers. When it got quiet I moved to the front of the boat & cast into a submerged weed pile. This time the rod went off with a strong bite. As I reeled the fish in, I thought it was a steele head but when I got him on the boat I realized it was a Shad. At this point I could not stop there, on the nextcast it happened again this time I pulled in a 1-1/2 Lb Black Crappie. ....
    City: Santa Rosa

    Tips: Go fishing you dont know what you might catch.

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 67

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: 13 yr old Nephew's first day fishing for anything, ever. We started our around 8am and finished around 3:00p. He did well with casting spinning gear in the pool the night before, and got better as the day wore on. Note my use of the word 'wore'... as in laborious. It was TOUGH fishing. He worked the back of the boat with jigs and drop shots (I taught him everything I don't know; ha), with me keeping depth anywhere from 10 to 40 feet, looking for a depth pattern perhaps?---not really. Meanwhile, I was chucking Speedtraps toward shore (4 different colors; pretty much covered the spectrum) ---- all without any takers. Then I would switch to a d/s, tube or jig while he cranked as best he could. NOTHING. First place we hit was north side of the dam, working back and forth (twice) from the dam to 'around the corner' there by the buoys, and back. NOTHING. Then it was up to Cherry, but the fish continued to give us the big middle finger. Couldn't figure anything out. Up in Cherry, we went over by the usual haunts by the campsites and such, jigging and cranking and d/s-ing for a bit, then I saw a couple small surface blips, said screw it, and tied on a baby spook. First cast, twitch twitch twitch, zig zag, zig zag, zig zag, and POW! A nice... no wait... TINY 6 inch fingerling largemouth nails it, and I rip the little prick back to the boat. My nephew goes nuts. I say, dude, this ain't crap... but at least the skunk is off the boat!

    That was the last of the 'topwater action' as it turns out. This was around noon.

    At 2:30, outside mouth of Cherry, I was working a d/s and had the kid holding a dragged brushhog, which I consider a first AND last resort on Slownoma. It was getting close to time to head back to my inlaw's place and he didn't get anything on the hog (frickin Slownoma) but I got nailed on a decent near-2-pounder on the d/s. The second I knwew I had it hooked, of course I handed the rod over so the little guy could feel what a fish feels like (since he and I had already caught so many weedfish), and he did a fine job of reeling it in. I lipped it and took a couple pics. He played it back to the boat nicely so I'm giving him full credit of course, and getting that confidence up.

    I think the kid's hooked---he can't wait to come fishing with his uncle again. Next year we'll hit Clear Lake and give him a better shot at a REAL day's fishing.

    But at least the kid's actually been out fishin...
    City: San Rafael

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

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    Water Temp: 65 - 70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Friday 10/23/09, I fished the back of the boat. The water temperature in morning was about 65

    Tips: Keep trying. Hopefully fishing will get better as the water cools down. If you fish on Lake Sonoma, write a report and let us know how you are doing.

Monday, October 19th, 2009

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Anybody been out fishing? It can't be that bad

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 72 - 76

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: On Saturday, 6/6/09, I fished the back seat of my buddy

    Tips: Try top water early in the morning and late in the afternoon.

    I also want to thank the Corp of Engineers for clearly marking the cables hooked to the dock. As I mentioned in a previous report, another fishing buddy of mine tripped on one of the cables and fractured his arm. After he talked to a manager at the lake about the safety issue, they responded back to him within an hour that they had painted and marked the cables to make them more visible. Thanks again for making the rapid safety improvement.

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

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    Water Temp: 71.4

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: got in the water @6:00pm.brother in law caught the first fish on a senko..across from the boat launch.3 of us caught 11 smallmouth and 9 largemouth bass.biggest largemouth went 4lb and smallmouth 2lb..out of the water at 11:00 pm.
    City: Castro Valley

    Tips: use reaction bait for smallmouth and smoke senko for largemouth using wacky style..

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Got on the water 5:30 am fished yourty found fish in 20-30ft.nothing in shallow water through everything I had and my buddy to.Water was green, talked to one guy he was using minnows .Another guy fishing said that he got hit once all day.Weather was good something should have happened?
    City: Redwood city

    Tips: Watch out for the skiers. Going to whisky slough or los banos crk. next week