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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, August 11th, 2013

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74-78

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: There is a famous book named "Tale of Two Cities." This report is the tale of two reports - one great and the other - not so great!! Thursday afternoon/night I guided 3 great fellows that are part of NASCAR - one a driver and two are crew chiefs. And - good bass fishermen!! They started off with a bang in the south end, using Berkley Havoc baits - green pumpkin! I found a patch of weeds that I normally don't fish much and bass were everywhere. I could hardly believe it - they were catching 2 3/4 to 4 1/2 pounders right and left. The bite was on fire! As last week was, the night bite was ok, but not great. They did land several 4+ pounders. We made a last stop about 12:45 AM and the driver guy drove the hook into a nice 5 lb 9 oz bass - a good summer fish! We used Berkley Power worms and Netbait Paca craws at night. We wound up with 22 bass in the boat for a best 5 - 23+ pounds. Friday evening/night I took a father/daughter team for a special trip before she goes off to College - my alma mater - San Jose State University! Where were the bass? Zero in the boat before dark - could not catch them anywhere. I think the weather front did that - thunderheads to the east and thunderstorms up north. I do not have good experience in those conditions. After dark - finally - the girl catches a 2 1/2 pounder - never been so happy to see a bass of that size!! I finally got desperate enough that we went south of Jago Bay - near Jenson Point and dad and I got back to back fish - his biggest bass ever (3 3/4 lbs) and mine about 4 1/4. Soon the girl had her biggest ever at nearly 4 lbs. What a show - cleared the water about 4 times! She may now want to come home from college every weekend to go bass fishing! She has conquered Oroville, Berryessa this summer, and now Clear Lake!! A joy to watch her great casting ability - even with heavy night equipment! I caught another 4, so we ending with 5 bass for 18 lbs. Always good to end a trip with action!! I also caught the token catfish - about 15 lbs!

      Tips: Simple - go on the right day - or night!! What a difference a day makes! We did not use anything with a treble hook both trips. No frogs or buzzbaits. It seems to me that the bass are chewing on bulky "hog" type baits this summer rather than the usual plastic worms. Maybe the craw population is up this year. Just my observation. The Berkely "Craw Fatty" has been excellent this summer during the day. I have tried some deep water stuff but not much action down deep - probably because of the mild weather recently.

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: OK, this is my first report in I don't know how long, 4,5,6 years ! Who cares :) OK I fished with my 9 year old Son on Sunday, little baby bass everywhere(good spawn)we had packs of 10 4-5 inch bass chasing our lures but those little guys would not take the bait, We started at 6:45 across the boat ramp to the south but no takers, went to the narrows where I got my first 1 lber on a 6 inch robo worm in 1 foot of water, their were a few fish chasing bait and I got one to bite, about 15 minutes later I got a 3.5 lb bass on same worm in about 25 feet of water off a rockie point but after that 4 hrs of fruitless casting until I got another 1.5 lb bass to eat a dart head worm off the steep bank on right side of the dam in 25 feet of water than 1 to 2 hrs of fruitless casting and than I found a school of fish in 45 feet of water and dropped a 6 inch drop shot worm on its head and it hit, a 3.5 lb trout ! I let me son reel it in, nice fight :) and tasty :) With some vegies on the side that fish fed my family of 5 (all bass were returned to the water :)
      City: San Jose

      Tips: I tried rattle traps like previous report suggested but got nothing, I tried crank baits, rip baits, jigs, swim baits the only thing that worked was watermelon or brown worms worked reel reel slow either on dart head or drop shot. Oh I did get 3 very large bass to chase a 2.5 inch pointer but they just stayed under the lure and would not take it just like the 4-5 inches but these were big ! Bigger fish are deep 25+ If I were to go back this week I would fish deep rocks as soon as you can, I think if you toss a big bait deep enough and early enough you will get a toad, sun comes up and its dead !

Thursday, August 8th, 2013

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74 - 76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished Thursday with a former colleague of mine who had never been bass fishing before. We launched at about 8:00 AM out of Capell Cove and started fishing in the Narrows. After about and hour my friend caught the first fish. We continued to work points and by noon, we only had 3 fish. After a nice relaxing lunch break at one of the marinas, we headed back to the opening into the Narrows. During the next two hours, we landed 9 more fish. All fish were caught drop-shotting 4 in. Roboworms. Several were small keepers to 2 lbs. The rest were dinks but still fun to catch. Earlier in the morning, I did have several hits on a popper but no hookups. Senkos didn’t work either. I did observe many small baitfish jumping out of water as my lure was brought back to boat. In addition, about one-inch dead baitfish (shad?) were observed floating in most places that we fished. I assume the bass are not hungry because they are attacking schools of these baitfish.
      City: Pinole

      Tips: It was really fun to introduce a new person to bass fishing and watch them catch their first fish.

Wednesday, August 7th, 2013

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished out of Orwood. TW was slow, but caught fish on senkos and punching. Fished from Indian slough, Old river and down to Hammer island. Fish were tight to tules with high water and got'em on the weed edges during the last part of the outgo. Ended with about 30 fish including about 8 dinks and a 6#kicker.
      The success was mainly due to luck and tips from 2 guys. Bob at the launch ramp gave me tips on senko fishing. Towards the end of the day I met a guy on Victoria who gave me tips on punching. I want say a big thanks to both of them as they had a big part in my good day. Hey Bob, hope you had your 50 fish day!

      Tips: Seems like the fish want plastics with some red. Punch the weeds.

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75-80

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: clear warm stable cooler nights
      Lake Level: 2.80 above rumsey 7.5 is full\Best Depths: 2-30
      topwater bite has been great but you can catch fish on anything
      Big Bass: 2-30
      several 7-9 pounders being caught
      Events: catfish derby aug 23-25
      Guide Information: clearlake outdoors\Name & Number: 707-262-5852

      Tips: the algae is only in a few spots , the weeds are dying back and the fishing is good but nobody is on the lake!!!!

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at the spill way today, fishing with Joe. Fairly cool morning with heavy breeze right at the beginning of our fishing trip. Hard to hold the boat in position with this much wind. We fished the basic main lake body, points, and or any rocks we could find. I might have lost count, but together, we got about 8 spots, 3-4 over the 15" and one very close to 17", the rest the basic 12-14" size. Fished shaky heads, and spot removers, in 10-30ft of water, various worms and or grubs. Gave up fishing about 10:30am, just too windy. Thanks Joe, great trip.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Anyone looking for a fishing partner? let me know, I'm available 90% of the time. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Lime Saddle about 6:30 or so, began fishing around 7am, fishing points on the way to north fork. Got 2-3 spots second point, another 3 third point. Fished mostly the north fork, I ended up with 14 spots, one was a 14 1/2" small mouth. Also one 16" coho salmon, hooked right at 40ft on a robomorm!! go figure. I Fished with spot removers rigged with roboworms, Dana texas style, he got 5 spots. All typical size, no luck this trip with larger fish.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Anyone looking for a fish partner, let me know. I'm available 90% of the time. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net I do love to fish.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Jones Valley is now using the Low Water Ramp. Good ramp, just a little dusty getting there and back to the paved road. We did manage 20 spots and smallmouth dropshotting a confetti slim and a natural blue worm.
      City: Cottonwood

Sunday, August 4th, 2013

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched 645am B&W...tourney guys already in the water. Stayed clear and let em work through if we intersected. Worked tules along the Moke throwing suspending spot and red eye shad lipless cb's in crawdad colors...lots of 1-2lbers that had fat bellies. also worked senkos in junebug and watermelon/copper/orange... same thing, many 1-2 lbers and smaller, nothing larger. quit at 1230pm.
      John C... I had my Yukon XL vandalized about a month ago...broke both driver and passenger locks and then broke a window and got scared off by a kid fishing the dock. Since then, I've started fishing close by and I don't keep anything worth anything in my truck anymore. Lowlife scum! Louis at B&W assures me the parking lot is being watched closer and with cameras. Hope they catch the ^%^&)%$ers!
      City: folsom

      Tips: Threw suspending spots and red eye shad lipless crankbaits in orange and red craw. threw to tules and worked slow over the weedlines. sometimes got bit immediately at the tules or sometimes as it passed over weedline. fish had fat bellies, even the 8-10 inchers. worked senkos same thing...to tule lines and cuts and worked out to the inside weedline. either got bit immediately or just pulling up and over the weedline.

Saturday, August 3rd, 2013

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: rented a boat and started at the island. Threw a 8" swimbait, made 10 casts before boating a 5# lmb. Continued to fish the island before heading for bass cove. Spotted 2 bald eagles on the way and fished bass cove for 2 hours. Lots of vegetation and algae with lots of bass fry. Missed a 3-4 lber but Bass Cove had a lot of activity: boils and fish jumping.

      Tips: Chabot is a tough lake, get there early!

Friday, August 2nd, 2013

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75-78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: After spending some time in Alaska with my wife, it was back to Clear Lake and the famous wind machine! I took two good anglers out for a late afternoon/night trip (Red Bud) and found the bite to be "on fire" at dusk. The wind made for many lost fish but we landed 8 or 9 before dark - best 5 near 20 lbs with a 5+ lb big fish. Clients enjoyed taking photos of each other. That was BEFORE dark. AFTER dark - for almost 5 hrs - 3 bites - with one of the fellas landing a 3 pounder. I can't ever remember the bite shutting down like that. Not a single carp rolling after dark. Not even a sassy Heron! Wind was just horrible and fishing areas were limited. Luckily, they will be fishing Fri and Sat and weather will be better. Guiding can be hard work at Clear Lake sometimes - but my Ranger 521 gives me confidence in those conditions - in the dark of the moon no less.

      Tips: We used a variety of baits, including one of the guys doing well with a jig/Yamamoto grub combo. Since they brought their own stuff - they were changing quite a bit. There are still bass hanging near docks with deeper pilings. I made a few casts with a frog but it just wasn't frog weather. We did catch a few on Senkos - believe it or not. Bass were active and very shallow before dark. I was really suspicious about why the bite was so good before dark - I found out after dark!!

Thursday, August 1st, 2013

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 72 - 74

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Thursday 8-1-13, my buddy and I launched out of Rivers End (9:30 AM) about 1½ hours before low tide. We fished around Coney Island until 4:00. The bite wasn’t real consistent but we did manage to catch 17 fish for the day. Most of our fish were caught on points with moving water. None were big but almost all were keepers. Wacky- style Senkos on a heavy-duty drop-shoot rig work best. To hold the Senko down in the current, I used a ¼ oz sinker. A large ribbon-tailed worm rigged Texas style also worked to catch several fish. We did try several other techniques with limited success.
      City: Pinole

      Tips: Eat your lunch/snack at slack tide.

Wednesday, July 31st, 2013

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Test
      City: elk grove

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Lime Saddle today at 6:30 or so. Fishing about 7am to 11am. Fished on the way to North fork and North fork. I ended up with 11 spots, most 13-14 3/4 inch, just one nice one at 17", not as fat as the one I got last week. Guessing 2 3/4 pounds, because it was thinner then many this size. Got most of my fish on a stand up flat bottom shaky head, forgot the brand name. Fished in 25ft or deeper water. Think just a couple fish Texas rigged. Roboworms in the brown and tans colors worked for us. Dane got 4 fish, largest about 14 1/2", just shy of the old keeper rule, almost a winner. Clean looking water held fish, dirty water didn't.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: I love to fish, so anyone wanting a fish partner, let me know. I'm available 90% of the time. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net

Tuesday, July 30th, 2013

  • Mariposa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 82

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Thought I would post such no one has lately. On the water by 5am hoping for a topwater bite. No reaction in the am so I switched to jigs and dropshop and picked up a few small fish on the southern end. Moved to the main lake mid-morning and checked a few coves for baitfish near temperance and finally found them. Boated over 30 spots in about 2 hours on spoons. Better grade fish were down 40 to 50 ft while the smaller fish were shallow. Caught a few largemouth amongst the spots.

      Tips: Move around untill you find the bait. All the fish I caught were suspended and willing to bite. Look deeper for the 1 to 2lb fish. They were in big schools right now.

Monday, July 29th, 2013

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80+

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: clear warm stable\Best Depths: 2-30
      lake is in great shape ,water is clear weeds are dying, hardly any alage blooms, fish are biting everything, silversides are showing all around the lake
      Events: catfish derby 8-23-----8-25
      Guide Information: clearlake outdoors\Name & Number: 707-262-5852

      Tips: fish your strengths everything is working lots of bags over 20 still being caught

Saturday, July 27th, 2013

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Ladds (Buckley Cove) Beware... Got on the water around 8ish off the water by 4. Catalytic Converter stolen, I drive a white truck as busy as the Marina was that day, I'm sure someone seen something? I'm not asking for anyone to get involved, just be aware. We all enjoy being outdoors on the water, Just Be Aware!

      Tips: Fishing was great, Punched along the NE tulles, frog bite was decent.

Friday, July 26th, 2013

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Rat-L-Trap caught all the bass. Biggest 5#, the rest 2# and under. Windy all day. Could not get bit on soft plastics around the weeds or wood. Tried topwater early when they were chasing but would not bite until using the Trap.
      City: dublin

      Tips: Graph the baitfish balls and the bass eating them and work your lure thru them.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80-81

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The lake sure has warmed up these days. West fork looks like a sick green pond when driving by on the way to Lime Saddle. Fished the North fork from about 6:45 to 11am. Hard to find fish, they must be very deep or suspended due to the hot water. Dana and I managed only 7 spots, but I managed one super nice 17" fish in about 30ft of water. Got her on a shaky head with roboworm. Guessing the fish was about 3 pounds or so. All other fish typical 13-14", one of them was a runt.10-12".
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Anyone looking for a fish partner?? let me know, I'm available most of the time. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net

Thursday, July 25th, 2013

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79 - 81

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Starting at 7:00 AM, my buddy and I fished the South end and the Narrows. We finished at 12:30 when the temperature was hitting in the 90s. By that time, we managed to catch eight fish. Most were small but several were nice keepers with one spotted bass weighting 2 lb 10 oz. Almost all fish were caught with the boat over 20 to 30 ft of water with steep banks near by. Drop-shotting 4 in. Roboworms was our most successful technique. One fish was caught early on a popper. I also had a couple of hits on a Senko. During our search for fish, we also marked some large bait balls on the fish finder but didn’t try to fish these.

      .
      City: Pinole

      Tips: If you see some bait balls, perhaps, casting a jigging spoon to them might work. I didn’t have one with to try