Submit
Report

Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Monday, December 10th, 2001

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Sunday as the ront moved through. Drop shot rigs and tubes will catch a ew ish deep. Didn't get anything shallower than 25-30 eet. 45 eet seems to be a good overall starting point. No running water in the creeks. Still a good time to see some humps, points, and other low water attractions. Good Luck
      City: Sonora

      Tips: Drop shottin in 40 to 60 eet. ^" Araons Magic in 6 "

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: went to the deib dr this am and got cleared to get back to business, Bryce showed up at 2pm and o we went, in at Bridge Bay at 210pm, air temp 54, ran over into the dry ork inlet and we both got bit immediately, typical rubber band type pulldowns on anything we put in the water, bryce managed 4, i got two and we missed only about 20, gonna take me awhile to get back into the swing o things, at 4pm I was tired and it was getting cold so we went back in. Sure elt good to get back on the water ater the misery o the past 3 weeks, got tired quick but it was great. we got bit on the MGM 156,145,109, brown grubs on big ootbal heads, just anything that we threw in, I guess I could have used a dose o patience, I was trying to stick them to quick, lake up to 81 t which is a gain o 22 eet since the rain got started.
      City: Redding

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ished all day saturday. caught a ew dinks on senkos, but the bites were ew and ar between. landed a nice 3.5 lb smallmouth rom near a runo creek a little way up rom the dam on a hammered-chrome inish spinner. does anyone have any suggestions on what works here this time o year?i have only been ishing this lake or a ew months because i am new to the area and would appriciate any suggestions. the biggest ish i have pulled in here is a 4.5, but i know there are bigger ish, i just cant seem to get to them.
      City: Rohnert Park

      Tips: try near the run os. i saw ive or six big bass just cruising around at about ive eet, but they seemed uninterested in everything i was throwing.

Sunday, December 9th, 2001

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48-50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Disco bay got 4 ish big ish was 5 lbsonly threw jigs .. Black with a blue trailer
      City: Stockton

    • By

      Water Temp: 52-57

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My buddy got a nice smallmouth dropshoting in 30-40eet o water. I think that they are in their winter stage now. A good bait to oer them is a baby senko.
      City: valley springs

      Tips: Find a bank that drops o really ast into deep water.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished out o Bridge Bay rom irst light to noon. Tried a variety o tactics, but kept going back to the jig. Fish were relating to points and deep walls. Caught about 20 ish with best 5 going about 8.5# and a big ish at 2.4#. Caught ish in the lower Pit and Squaw creek arm. Fish were holding at 12-18 eet and wanted the jig worked slow. Would get 1-2 ish per point and that was it. Same o rock walls.
      City: Brentwood

      Tips: Brown/Purple worked best or me, but didn't really try any other color.

    • By

      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got out or a ew hours on Saturday am. Another beautiul sunrise on the water. A good sunrise is almost worth the trip. Out to the Dry Creek area. Spinnerbait, deep wee-r and shadrap, all working well. Had 11 in the boat, best 5 ish to about 8 lbs. Mostly smallies and spots, with 2 small salmon, one on spinnerbait, one on shadrap. Skinny, no-ight ish. One smallmouth came straight at the boat, jumping twice on the way, then dove to about 30 eet right below me, and came straight back up at me. Here I am reeling as ast as I can, raising my pole and laughing my butt o. He beat me, jumped and through the slack bait. Great ish!! Had another great day on the lake.
      City: Redding

Saturday, December 8th, 2001

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out o Paradise at irst light with my ishing buddy, John. We headed or the Fourteen Mile area and were excited to get there because o the ishing that we had this time last year. As I stated in my reports rom last December we went on a 1 1/2 month tear rom December thru mid January. 30 to 40 orty ish days were common during that period with 20 to 22 pound limits. Well, our one ear was that the water would be dirty and it was. This was the only thing that could slow down our bite. I hit a 2 pounder on my irst cast with a blade and thought, 'maybe it will be ok', but we only managed 3 more ish over the next hour. Not bad or December, but not as good as we had hoped or. We then headed or the Whites area in hopes o clearer water and inding some jumbo Stripers. The water was gin clear and I hooked up 3 times in the irst ive minutes, but nothing big. We also caught a ew keeper blacks. We then shot up into the Potato area, where John has hooked 3 stripes over 20 pounds the weekend beore. The water in Potato was dirty with less than 6 inches o visibility. We managed 3 ish, with the biggest going 9 pounds. John did lose one that was 15#'s plus, but it ran into some wood and came o. We went back to Paradise and the clearer water to see i some more striper had moved in and got 2 more keeper blacks on lipless cranks. We called it a day at 3pm. Wound up with a small limit o blacks to 8 pounds and had 4 striper to 9 pounds.
      City: roseville

      Tips: Once again, clear water is the key or blacks and striper. We knew the ish were there in the Fourteen Mile and Potato areas, but it will not be wide open unless there is 2 eet o visability or better. I it stays nice this week, the clarity should come back.

    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: ished our small club tourney out o ladds... tough ..tough tough ... 12 isherman only two had ish ... og didn't start to lit until 10:30 and never did completely lit... saw sun or about 5 minutes around 2.. lost a ish cranking the meat wall about 8:15 .. only bite either my non boater or i got all day . around noon we ran up to whites and paradice cut ...nada... bank isherman everywhere. thats why i don't like going out o ladds. we usually go out o holland but with their ramp is dis-repair we changed. i got my only stike on a red bomber. winner only had 3.33 pounds... one on rattle trap and one on brush hog...
      City: SUNNYVALE

      Tips: throw rattle trap all day and pray we have an early spring....bob

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went to clear lake sat ishing slow. tryed senko rip baits jigs spiners with littel luck.caught three small ish on three dirent baits, the only goodthing was weather
      City: Yuba City

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Wasn

      Tips: Slow presentation ........stay deeper than 2o t.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Elected to miss my club's event at Berryessa this weekend and ished here or a ew hours instead. Christmas lights ect. Our next event is here in January and I'll do some testing and break-o a ew more reports. Sucks or you. Began working the main lake with split shot and my irst strike was a big one. A squawish about 24 inches. In direct contrast to my last encounter with one o these oul creatures, the ish waited patiently while I reached down with plyers and neatly extracted the hook. The ish turned and swam away uneventully- not even a splash. I noticed the point o my premium import hook was bent down. These ish are reerred to as hardmouth. The last time I tried a similar release o a squawish it became a horiying experience or my 3 year old son- more on that in a minute. I continued dragging outside the bouys and landed three keepers including a smallie. They were located between 12 and 15 eet deep- shallower than I expected or a rontal day. Decided to look or better quality and made a run up the south. Fished up river with jigs. There's a couple banks I considered automatic. No activity however. Couldn't be the lake level. It's up about 3 eet, but the releases picked up again- don't get me started. Came out to the entrance o the south ork and dragged three more. The quality was better, and I inished the day at noon with about 8lbs. Two years ago I was amily ishing on Black Butte Reservoir when I nailed something big on a crank. It was a squawish and this is the rest o the story. My recovery strategy (recovery rom the dissapointment) was to merely retrieve my plug and minimize the handling o the ish. I'm leaning over the side o the boat with my son looking on. The ish is calm and it's all good when out o nowhere the ish goes ballistic. My son alls back in the driver's seat and the it lips up and lands in his lap. He tries to grab the writhing, thrashing animal with treble hooks in it's ace, but his hands are being shredded. The hooks impale and rip out o the lesh o his hands repeatedly while I'm hammering the ish's head with the plyers. Finally, it tears the hooks ree o my sons hands, breaks the line, and lips back into the lake. The day was done and so was my son's ability to sleep at night. He had nightmares or months. I considered therapy- his career as the next Roland Martin was over beore it started.
      City: El Dorado Hills

      Tips: Lake level is up 3 or 4 eet with recent storms. Fish to 3 lbs were scattered on humps. I worked ast to cover these areas.

  • Leon County
    • By

      Water Temp: Mid 50s

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Sorry to report no bass action but or those interested in the put and take trout, I have some inormation. Fished the mid-day to aternoon using the typical powerbait and worm combo. no action anywhere on the lake or the irst hours. But ater 3pm, the bite turned on. In 45 minutes, we had landed 3 up to 3lbs and lost 2 and missed many others. Fished the south end in 20 eet o water. all ish were taken 2 eet o the bottom with sliding sinker rigs and bait. No action on the top using lies or metal hardware.
      City: Laayette

      Tips: ish the bottom using worms or power bait. Use light leaders and careully watch your line. Trout this time o year seem to bite with less pressure. For those die hard hardware chuckers, I preer using 1/4 gold kastmasters with yellow relector tape. these lures are diicult to track down in the bay area tackleshops. I purchased mine down at Mammoth. (long way or a lure)

    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: My son & I ished rom irst light until 12:30 pm. I started w/craw pattern crank bait & he started w/a pig n jig. Nothing or the 1st hal hour so we switched & slowly worked t-rigged plastics. Boated sixteen keepers and three dinks. Keepers averaged 2-2 1/2 lbs. Very light bite & we missed at least a 1/2 dozen pickups. Did catch one on a shad pattern crank bait.
      City: Delhi

      Tips: Slowly ish shad or craw pattern worms in deeper water. I you eel mushy pressure set the hook because the ish were giving us about 1/3 o a second beore they'd spit the bait.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Jerry, here's another report or you!!Launched at BB, at 8:00 and the wind was pretty good down the Sac, so I decided to see i I could get any takers on cranks and Blades- a ew ish in the irst hour, 1.5's with a subtle bite. Thats all I needed to eel, get the jig out- they dont want the horizontal stu today.I learned a good lesson today, when you are ishing new water, it really helps your conclusion as whether a spot is good or not, i, you already have a pattern established, which I did. So, I really took my time and just ished 3 areas- 3 hours a peice, and it turned out to be a good day. I boated around 30 ish, with 3-4 over 2 pounds, and no dinks.. all on brown and green jigs. The hits were, the rubber band pressure bite, the whack-whack-whackkkkkkk bite, and the kerthunk bite with no dierence as to size. Danny Miller and talked about all the smallmouths we had been catching, I had a 2.5 today- what a beauty. Being relatively new to Redding I cannot say there are an increased number o smallmouths, but whatever Im doing its working, I'd say every third ish is a smallie, and these are good 14+" ish. Two unny things happpened today: 1) I get my jig hung up and and as Im trying to ree it, a bass starts nailing it, I could eel him, and he was %^&%&**^ o-- he/she wanted that jig, and right now. Eventually I got it out and let it sit, and sit, and then whack--- 1.75!! The second occured while I saw some ish eeding in the deep water, sometimes these are not trout and I decided to ind out, so I have my jig in the water and I put that down with the pole up against the cleet, and I pick up my spoon and chuck it out into the boil. The whole time I know Im gonna get smacked on that jig, so Im watching it as Im reeling in the spoon, bad news- my jig rod gets hammered and I stick a trout!!, I didnt even have to think about this, I put the trout rod down and stepped on it, picked up the jig rod and reeled in the bass- about 2 lbs:). Oh, the trout was about 15" amd wimpy!!!Go Raiders!!
      City: Redding

Friday, December 7th, 2001

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Water is still low, but rising slowly. Found largemouth in 40 to 44 eet o water close to bait. Shook 6 inch shad colored worms on steep, nothing banks. Fish were very aggresive, and bit hard.
      City: sonora

      Tips: Spotted bass can be ound on main lake, but largemouth are in the creeks. Smaller ish are shallow.

Thursday, December 6th, 2001

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54.7

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: On water at 8:30, went to bass cove, caught a couple small spots on brown jigs. Over to waters gulch, still more small spots on brown jigs. Up to Squaw creek arm one smallie and more spots, Fish were scattered on points and in coves with running water, 2" to 25" Biggest ish 2#
      City: Redding

Wednesday, December 5th, 2001

  • Mariposa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We got started just beore day light & ished until 1pm..Caught 17 spots(only one under 13 in) up to 2 lbs plus.Nothing on spoons,spinner or crankbaits.Fish were caught on worms & grubs rom 5 t to 40 t deep.We ished the main lake & tempence creek area.Most ish were caught o deep rockie banks...Lake has come app 2t since last Thur.
      City: Riv

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: don't know

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: got home yesterday aternoon with sun shining on my ace. got a number o messages concerning my succeslul return to the living ater suering a series o heart attacks. I kept up on the reports while in bed via a nice nurse but she didin't know how to use the ncb site. keeps them coming guys, I will be back out there soon. jerry
      City: Redding

Tuesday, December 4th, 2001

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: cold

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Trout planting o those notorious mongrol cuttbows is going strong the last ew weeks. anglers trolling was a bit slow but bank ishing was decent on this sunny breezeless day. some good ole locals(inc. "magic Gus the Greek" who kept bringing the bite to our poles with his ish calls) docked the boats and ished the boat rental dock all morning and all o them pretty much had there limit beore they walked o the dock. the average ish being landed was 4lbs(nothing really smaller) with some urious ighter ish close to double digits. later in the day the bite and the eeding slowed down, but would have a ew short spirts in between. some were catching o the corners o the dam with roe and worms. powerbait was not the taking at all today, or ater dark or that matter. as or my ish take, i lost one about 5.5lbs ater a 60 second ight and trying to grab him with my hand out o the water, mr trout proceeded to all o o my blue ox minnow spinner. ATTN> anglers, dont orget to bring your nets like i did. my next heartbreak was an acrobatic airborn ish-on! uh , spit out the iretiger colored lure. bye bye ish #2. inally landed a 4.5lb'r as nets galore were oered to me! stayed on the dock, didnt quite reach my limit take, but would have i i would have ished a bit smarter.(more line drag,patience with lures, bring my net, etc...)but there were many 20lb-25lbs stringers being lited, an overall good day o ishing at Amador. getting our moneys worth.
      City: Marysville

      Tips: ish in top 5 eet o water.start early in the morning. silver Mepps spinners, green wooly buggers,hot pink silver winged rooster tails. others include black/silver rapalas, silver backed Kastmasters with various colors(be patient with them). try some o your lures in iretiger color with a slow retrieve, because we all have gangs o lures in that color. Standbys: powerbait in chartreuse/sparkle, bobber a crawler with minimum depth, roe, minnows......you get the picture.....not hitting lures switch to bait. inlate A crawler, toss him out into a top eeding school o trout and prepare to battle!