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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Friday, February 26th, 2021

  • Solano County
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      Report: by StanL » Fri Feb 26, 2021

      For the first time this year, my buddy Earl Dalton and I made our way down to the river to start looking around for some up coming tournaments we will be fishing in.

      We put in at Ladd’s and the first thing we noticed was the tanic water color. The surface temperature was 54° degrees.

      With that being said, we started hitting some spots off the main channel with reaction baits, but after about 2 hours and 4 spots later we still had no bites. We decided to slow way down and Earl finally got a bite on a Yamamoto Senko, pitching it on some scattered tules. After that, we decided to run that pattern for around Mildred and ended up catching 7 fish for the day. They all came from scattered tules on flats.

      I talked to Lorenzo Rossetti that was out with his son, Lucca the same day and he said they caught a few nice fish ones. I hope this helps.

      Good luck fishing
      StanL

Sunday, February 14th, 2021

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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Short story - early prespawn fish on the move. 2 bites, 2 fish 4#, 4.5#. Channel swing banks adjacent to spawning areas 5’ deep on 6” STC swimbaits.

      Long story - headed up mid-morning to test out my new Lowrance Active Target system and expanded network. Spent an hour fussing with settings and learning that I need to download a software update to the transducer/module.

      Focused on 3 steep points and banks with deep access and adjacent to spawning areas. Rotated through LV500’s, A-rigs/swimbaits and suspending jerkbaits fished 5’-20’ deep. Steep point in Whiskey yielded the first fish on a 6” STC swimbait on the initial drop. 2nd fish came 50 yards later on channel swing bank on the drop.

      Water in the back of the major creeks was clear with 3* warmer water compared to main lake. Several big spots of fish deep off of primary points and in the bottom of breaks that would not bite anything. A little bit of stable weather and it could bust wide open.

      Tips: Don’t let the cold weather fool you. There are some shallow active fish staging for the initial prespawn movements

Saturday, February 13th, 2021

  • Amador County
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      Report: by StanL » Sat Feb 13, 2021 4:36 am

      Fishing Camanche Feb 12

      Today I got a chance to get out with my buddy Ed Austin.

      Before we left I checked out the Daily WaterResource on the WesternBass forums and seen that there was 225cfs going out and 161 CFS coming in and whenever Camanche is falling it always makes for some challenging fishing. But when we got to the lake, the water temperature was 53° and I noticed the water had a little bit of stain to it and hat usually means there should be some shallow fish.

      After a couple hours of fishing less than 20 feet with no bites, I ran into a friend Tre Dodd and he said he had gotten bit earlier on a Jig in deeper water, so we decided to move out and check some Island tops in 40’. We got some action right away using the same old 3/4 oz bass Union jig I’ve been using all year.

      At the end of the day we had caught 12 fish all on jigs, just running points and island tops. Not sure how many Tre caught, but it was a supper nice day. I hope this helps good luck fishing.

      P. S I have to give a shout out to Russell Marine, one of the WesternBass sponsors. On Monday before the Wild West Shasta Pro-Am, I ordered a new graph and needed it before the weekend. I received it on Wednesday with no tax and with no shipping.

      Thanks!

      StanL

Sunday, February 7th, 2021

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      Water Temp: 49 to 50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Slow day out on the lake fished senkos and drop shots. only managed 2 fish in 5 hours. fished main dam with only 1 bite and fished north lake end with the last remaining bite. no fish up in the Bear river stretch. We only marked a few fish all day. Look for bite to pick up when water temps in spring reach 57 degrees.

      Tips: Keep an eye out on your depth as to current low water conditions especially if you are unfamiliar with this lake,most hazards are not marked here.

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021

  • Tuolumne County
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      Report: 3 Days of Fishing Melones
      Postby StanL » Wed Feb 03, 2021 3:55 am

      I fished 3 days at New Melones. I started off fishing Monday with Earl Dalton and Casey Cabral. On the way up to the lake, there was about 6” of snow on the ground. The surface temp dropped to 50°with about 10’ of visibility.

      We started with jigs and dropshoting in 30 to 50 feet and the bite was slow. Until we started moving deeper and found the fish in 50’ to 60’ on rock and caught around 20 fish.

      The next trip was on Saturday, I fished with George West. The sun was out and the air temperature got to the high 60s. surface temperature was 63". We both fished 3/4 oz jig’s in 30 ‘to 40 and that seemed to be the best depth for that day.

      On Sunday I fished with my buddy John House and 30” to 40”seemed to be good findings. The rock seemed to be the key, but we also caught a few on a Frenzy Nail with a Zoom Trick Worm throwing up on some windy banks in less than 20 feet of water. Each trip we caught over 20 fish per day not bad for January. most of my fish came on a bass union 3/4 oz brown jig and Yamamoto Twin Tail trailer .I hope this helps.

      Good luck fishing!
      StanL

Wednesday, January 27th, 2021

  • Amador County
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      Report: by StanL » Wed Jan 27, 2021 4:57 am


      I just got home from 5 days of fishing the Wild West Pro Am at Lake Shasta. and decided to just go have some fun so I headed over to Lake Camanche.

      When I put the boat in the water, I wanted to work on some other techniques besides dragging a Jig or a dropshot so I went for a float and fly, a kick I've been on lately, \Last week Joe sent me some of the new Bass Unions fly’s that he had been working on and told me to give them a try so that was my plan. I hit the water about 9:0 0am and ran into Earl and Casey from the Jackson Rancheria. When I pulled up to talk to them, coincidentally they where already throwing a float and fly, so I told them that’s what I planned on doing also and after about15 minutes of shooting the breeze, we decided to meet up later and share notes.

      I headed to a steep bluff bank to give it a try. I wasn’t there five minutes when Earl called and said he had boat issues and they were going to go home. I told him to put his boat on the trailer and I would pick him and Casey up, so after it’s all said and done here we are all three of us looking at bobbers. I have to say it always surprises me how in the wintertime you can catch them with a jig in 50 feet of water, but also you can catch them with a float and fly in 20 feet of water. So with that being said, the water temp was 53 with about 7 to 10 feet of visibility. We caught 7 fish on the fly. All the fish came on bluff banks. The Bass Union fly’s did the job.

      By the way, I wish I could’ve had a couple of those fish at Shasta ...
      I hope this helps good luck fishing
      StanL

Friday, January 15th, 2021

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went to Berryessa today after having a tough past few days at the mother lode lakes. I caught about 40 fish today on rip baits, jigs, and swimbaits.

      All the fish were in 5-15 feet of water. Biggest 3 were a 6lber on the swaver, 4lber on the rip bait, 4lb spot on the jig, 3lb smallmouth on the rip bait
      Lots of fish in the 2-2.5lb range.

      Tight lines!

      Tips: Have fun!

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48-51

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Comanche was a tougher bite today. Water dropped over 6 feet from last week scattering fish. Fished ledges and tapering points, moved around quite a bit to find the fish that wanted to bite. Early morning the fish we caught came on RockCrawlers on 10-14 ledges near deep water then the bite died, got a few takers yo-yoing traps, then died again. Drop shotting swimbaits and small finesse worms dipped in dye got them biting after 10 AM in deeper water. Nothing of real size, enough keepers to make it fun. Might be a grind for the guys fishing the derby Saturday. Big fish of the day was a 4lb trout caught on an LV-500 in 45ft of water.

      Tips: Move around to find the aggressive fish, lots of birds chasing bait today. Be sure to check the deeper water after 10-11AM. We caught them in 50-60ft on several colors.

Wednesday, January 13th, 2021

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started the day running lake points . First stop me and my buddy fishing 35 ‘ of water he sets the hook on 3 lb largemouth using a Carolina rig . Couple minutes later I hook up a nice spot 2 3/4 lb on a drop shot . Needless to say we duplicated this around lake with great results .

      Tips: Slow down dead stick you’re bait . Also if you can’t see fish on you’r electronics move on .

    • By

      Water Temp: 48

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went to my new Melones and fished for 8 hours. Got on the water by 9 and roads were very icy coming in. Not sure why they were icy but I saw two accidents. Tried a lot of patterns and they all didn’t work, jigs deep, jigs shallow, swimbaits, drop shot, Ned, none produced bites.

      Fished a float and fly and let my bait soak for 10 minutes per cast to get bites. Only had a handful of keepers, none of them were big.

      I went on Wednesday the 13th and there were probably 70 boats on the water, mostly bass boats. Couldn’t fish half of my spots and people were less than courteous when I was fishing and rolling up very close to me.

      Not worth it. Berryessa is fishing too good right now to drive that icy road in.

      Tips: Don’t go.

Sunday, January 10th, 2021

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 50-51 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the Pit Arm near Jones Valley Marina. Caught about a dozen keepers, nothing over 2lbs. Most fish were caught on the Ned Rig or a 1/2 ounce football head jig with a watermelon with red flake Hula Grub. Marked a lot of fish in the trees with the Humminbird 360 with little success in getting the fish to bite. Overall great time on beautiful Shasta Lake. Side note be careful out there with the lowering lake levels trees are everywhere!!

Thursday, December 31st, 2020

  • Tuolumne County
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      Report: by StanL » Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:51 am

      Last week my buddy Ed Austin and I made trip over to New Melones to get out of the fog.

      When we started fishing we noticed the water was pretty clear with about 10‘ of visibility and the surface temp was at 54*. It looked like the water had been falling so we hit the points first and started getting bit right away!

      Remember, when the water is falling, yhr points are always a good starting spot. There’s an old saying I heard from Rick Clunn..... “falling lakes point’s fish out“. Well it is true and The fish are on points big time. We found them scattered from 20’ to 65‘.

      Ed started with a dropshot with a 4” worm and I used a Bass Union 3/4 oz jig because that’s what I have been using at every reservoir for the past month Shasta, Camanche,and Hogan. It didn’t take long to start catching them, so take your favorite bait, get on some points and don’t be afraid to fish out to 70‘.

      We had such a good time that we decided to go back on Tuesday and had a another awesome day with over 30 fish, but while we where fishing Ed got a text from his son Jason that was fishing at Camanche. Jason was fishing with his son Cole and HOLY MOLY !! It was a picture of a 13.88. Jason had just caught it on a swimbait.

      Congratulations to Jason.Tthat is a fish of a life time for most people! This is my favorite time of year to fish!

      So put on some warm clothes and get out and enjoy some of the best fishing of the year!

      I hope this helps! Good luck fishing!
      stanL

    • By

      Report: Last week my buddy Ed Austin and I made trip over to New Melones to get out of the fog.

      When we started fishing we noticed the water was pretty clear with about 10‘ of visibility and the surface temp was at 54*. It looked like the water had been falling so we hit the points first and started getting bit right away!

      Remember, when the water is falling, yhr points are always a good starting spot. There’s an old saying I heard from Rick Clunn..... “falling lakes point’s fish out“. Well it is true and The fish are on points big time. We found them scattered from 20’ to 65‘.

      Ed started with a dropshot with a 4” worm and I used a Bass Union 3/4 oz jig because that’s what I have been using at every reservoir for the past month Shasta, Camanche,and Hogan. It didn’t take long to start catching them, so take your favorite bait, get on some points and don’t be afraid to fish out to 70‘.

      We had such a good time that we decided to go back on Tuesday and had a another awesome day with over 30 fish, but while we where fishing Ed got a text from his son Jason that was fishing at Camanche. Jason was fishing with his son Cole and HOLY MOLY !! It was a picture of a 13.88. Jason had just caught it on a swimbait.

      Congratulations to Jason.Tthat is a fish of a life time for most people! This is my favorite time of year to fish!

      So put on some warm clothes and get out and enjoy some of the best fishing of the year!

      I hope this helps! Good luck fishing!
      stanL

Monday, December 21st, 2020

  • Amador County
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      Report: by StanL » Mon Dec 21, 2020 3:45 pm

      All the bait seem to be 50’to 60’ deep, but all the fish I’ve been catching is in 30’to 40’ dragging 3/4 oz Football brown BassUnion jig with a Cinnamon black flake Yamamoto Twin Tail Trailer and the bite is definitely better after 11 o’clock - hope this helps StanL

    • By

      Report: by StanL » Mon Dec 21, 2020 4:56 am

      Camanche report is it fishball season?

      Below you will there are some pictures of some spots that have shown up this year at Camanche. I’ve been fishing here since around 1985 and I’ve seen it go from a good smallmouth and largemouth lake to a great spot and largemouth lake, but this is the first year they’ve started looking like BB spot’s.

      I’m not sure what has changed but I hope it continues!

      The bite has been a little different each day, Eastbay Nud has kept the the water level consistent this week and the surface temp has held at 55°. So on cloudy and windy days, you can still catch some reaction fish cranking or ripping an A-rig, but when the sun is out you better be dragging something on the bottom from 20’ to 50‘.

      For me that’s usually a dropshot or a BassUnion jig in 1/2 or 3/4 oz. I keep it pretty simple. I like the brown jigs and I’ll change colors on my trailers. This is where I like to experiment with either a twin tail or craw.

      I would also like to congratulate Kyle and his 9 yr old son Jackson Porter on their win at a Turkey shoot with over 16 lbs on Camanche this past Saturday. This was Jackson’s first tournament, but I’m going to say not his last!

      Merry Christmas and good luck fishing.

      Stan L

Friday, December 11th, 2020

    • By

      Report: by StanL » Fri Dec 11, 2020 6:38 am
      My ol’ buddy Ed Austin and I made a trip over to Hogan for the day. This lake always has a different feel than the other Mother Lode lakes around because of the stripers.

      Ed has been a regular here since the 1970s so whenever I get a chance to fish with Ed I usually learn something and this day was no different.

      When we were there we were seeing a lot of fish on my new Garmin Livescope in the bottom of Creek channels in about 35’ feet of water. I tried everything I could think of and then Ed pulled out a homemade 1/4oz deer hair jig (see the pic below) and started dragging it around. He schooled me on deep stripers. After a while of watching Ed catch stripers we decided to target largemouth.

      We started fishing deep points off the main body we found them in about 40 to50‘. I was using a Bass Union football jig and Ed fished a dropshot with a 6” Weenie worm. We ended up catching 6 largemouth and 5 stripers.

      The surface temperature was 56° and the water had about 6 to 10 visibility. One thing I learn was how line shy the stripers were. Ed used 10# Gamma fluorocarbon which surprised me. The largemouth were released but stripers got invited home for dinner.

      Hope this helps
      StanL

Saturday, December 5th, 2020

  • Amador County
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      Report: by StanL » Sat Dec 05, 2020 8:41 pm

      Fishing Report Camanche This Week Dec 5

      This week I had a chance to get out on Camanche with a good friend of mine Earl Dalton. For those of you that don’t know Earl, he is a regular on all the top Pro/Am's on the West Coast and part of the Jackson Rancheria and Casino. I have to give a big shout out to them for all they do for the Mother Lode community. They are always the first to step up when our community needs help.

      So with that being said, We hit the water about 9:00 am. The surface temp was 55* with a slight stain to it. With 345 CFS coming in and 255 CFS going out it made for a good day. In fact that always makes for better fishing.
      We started up river with a 4”worm on a dropshot and statutory grape Flirt Worm on a Frenzy Nail.

      We caught a few fish bouncing around on points and breaks and then moved out to the main lake. We started fishing drop offs from 35 to 50 feet still using the Frenzy Nail setup and also with a 3/4oz brown Bass Union jig on 50# Gamma braid with 14# Gamma Edge fluorocarbon. We started wackin' them pretty good and we ended up catching 14 fish by the end of the day. All the fish where released after pictures.

      I hope this helps.
      StanL

Tuesday, December 1st, 2020

  • Solano County
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      Report: by floater » Tue Dec 01, 2020 3:09 am

      We caught over 20 stripers recently by boat. About 1/3 shakers & the rest keepers. Topwater in the mornin and 15 to 25ft when the sun is overhead. Mainly on north side of False River above Franks, False River near Big Break, Santa Clara shoal, and San Andreas shoal on the SJ River. Except for fishing over the shoals, we were always looking for steep sloping shores (bluff walls) with deep water nearby during the day. Unlike bass fishing, stripers are always on the move. Meaning you gotta keep moving to different locations all day. We probably hit 25 spots besides those above. We got most of our bites wherever there was moving current. Hope that helps.

Wednesday, November 25th, 2020

  • Tuolumne County
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      Report: by Whoopbass » Wed Nov 25, 2020 5:02 am

      I was there on Saturday. There were bait balls all over the lake in the 30-60' range but nothing was feeding on them. Partner and I fished mainly in 15-50' of water with neko rigs and drop shots for around 25 fish with no size to speak of.
      If you can't find active bait balls then the fishing stinks. There's trout feeding on the surface so have a rod ready with your favorite trout lure tied on.
      The water is clear with temps around 55 degrees.

Monday, November 23rd, 2020

  • Amador County
    • By

      Report: Fishing Report Camanche This Week Nov 23

      So ..I’ve had a few days on the water this week. The surface temp is 60* and water clarity is between 8’to 10. The fishing has been different every day.

      The first day was cloudy and breezy and my biggest fish came on a Bass Union A-rig in about 5’ of water. We also had 4 fish on a dropshot and 3 fish on the Bass Union 1/2 oz jig. All the fish came in less than 25’ of water on island tops.

      The next day the sun was out so we tried fishing shallow in the morning. My grandson Zach caught a nice trout on the A-rig but we caught 6 bass total all between 35’to 50’ on steep breaks dropshoting 4’’ worms .

      So what I’m trying to say is try and fish the moment, especially this time of year, because each day can be completely different. It is a lesson I need to remind my self once in a while.

      Last week I fished the Wild West Pro/Am championship on Clear Lake and had a great prefish but the first day of the tournament conditions changed. The wind blew and there was off and on rain but I did not fish the moment. Needless to say I did terrible!! Remember to keep an open mind and fish the conditions!I
      Hope this helps.
      Good luck fishing.
      StanL