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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, October 29th, 2000

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Stay away. Go to another lake this one is fished out. Sure you MIGHT catch some smallfry. If your looking for big fish and lots of them go somewhere else.

      Tips: see above

  • Palo Pinto County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60's

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I GOT TO THE LAKE WITH MY FREND MIKE ABOUT 11:00AM. AND BETWEN BOTH OF US WE CAUGHT ABOUT 25 BASS ANIWARE FROM A POUND TO 4 POUNDS. WE FISHT ALL AROUND THE LAKE AND GOT FISH EVRYWERE IT WAS (HOT) THE FISH WERE JUST ON FIRE IT GOT VERY WINDY BUT IT DIDIN'T STOP THE BASS FROM BITTING WE GOT OUT THE LAKE ABOUT 4:00PM AND MY LAST FISH WAS A 3 POUNDER OF THE LAUNCH RAMP.
      City: Watsonville

      Tips: WE GOT ALL THE FISH ON A BLUE AND SILVER JERKBAIT. WORK THEM REALLY FAST ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BOAT.

Saturday, October 28th, 2000

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Overcast morning turned to rain at about 2pm. Caught 4 beore the rain came on brown Senkos and brown/orange jigs. Biggest was 2.3 pounds. Fun, but wet. It beats work anyday though.
      City: San Jose

Friday, October 27th, 2000

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: It's been a while since I've been on the water here, and either I forgot how to fish the system or things are on the tough side. Fished Rock Slough to Mildred and only caught 2 fish. The better fish came on a junebug Senko, while the smaller one hit a red and black Rat-L-Trap.
      City: Pinole

      Tips: The fish still seem to be in the weeds, but as they start to die-off with colder weather look for them to move to wood.

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I would have to call my Thursday aternoon-night trip a "perect 10" - or 10+! Client and I started cranking at the ront o Rattlesnake Island beore dark, working slowly. A ellow rom Oregon told me that they had cranked a 9-13 that day. Client missed one, and I got a 4-5 and a 5-1. A small storm was breaking up, with a lot o clouds overhead - causing the ish to still be active. We were praying that the clouds would hang aroung or a ew hours, but it was not to be. Lots o stars and cooling temperatures caused the bite to shut o or awhile. Around 10 pm, we picked up a ew on Dead Ringer worms and Rattlin' Weapon jigs near Konocti Resort. I decided to move up near the Buckingham area and ish jigs on several ledges and rocky areas. This worked out well when we landed two between 4 and 5 pounds. There was not much wind, so we were able to drag our jigs, or shake them and let them settle to the bottom. About midnight, I let the jig rest on the bottom one too many times. CRUNCH!! A giant bass slammed the jig in about 25 eet o water. My client did a great job o netting the 10 lb 3 oz pig. I LOVE to be in the boat with a person who sees a 10 lb bass or the irst time, whether they catch it or I do. Lots o excitement!! I was using a 6" (#159) Yamamoto grub with my black/chartreuse Weapon Jig. A big bait or a big girl! Released her immediately ater quick photos - I was worried about her air bladder, having been caught so deep. She looked like an Amador tub - only 23 inches long! We worked our way back to Rattlesnake, catching a ew more. My client caught the last one, a nice 3 1/4, on an 8" Dead Ringer worm. We ished several rockpiles beore we quit - not a bite! When og begins to orm, as it did that night, cold air has settled in, and the bite shuts o. I have never ound an exception to this rule. We wound up with 9 bass - the ive largest weighing a little over 28 lbs. Fall is here!!!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: As the all transition period arrives at Clear Lake, most large bass will move to and eed in deeper water (south end). The challange is to make these ish bite. It takes a lot o patience. Many will choose to ish or more active, shallow bass. That is ine. I believe that most monster bass can be targeted in 15 to 35 eet o water, beginning in November. This is true o night ishing too. Day and night, as the water cools into the 50's, jigs are hard to beat.

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: A riend and I arrived at the lake at 8:00am with it still misting. It had been raining three days previous and was expecting a pretty slow day. Went into the narrows and put on a Panther Martin (black/gold blade) while my buddy put on some powerbait. He had been soaking powerbait or 15 minutes beore I made my irst cast, but it was a good irst cast - yielding a nice 12" trout. We went into Badger Cove and I put on my avorite bass jig (Yamamotto spider grub in clear with large black lake). First cast again gave me a nice largemouth (~2lbs). Went back to trout ishing. Tried power bait but nothing there. Trolled some small silver spinners and that was the ticket as it really matched the small bait ish that are clustered into tight schools. Trout and bass just love 'em. Ended up catching 7 trout and the 1 bass or the day. I should have stayed with bass ishing as the rain did not put a damper on the bite. Another guy said he limited on trout in the irst hour by using a silver spinner in the shallows adjacent to the clis o the narrows. We caught our trout in 7-10 eet o water while Mr. Bass was around 25 eet deep.
      City: San Jose

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: out this morning with a riend, bluebird day but a bit nippy early on, ish are deeper and things were slow, did a little dropshotting, cranks and jigs or 5 with only two legal ish over near horse creek point in the Squaw, talked to a ew others who were not reporting much luck, some pre-ishing going on or tomorrow's 11th annual Classic or the special olympics kids, very little wind, supposed to start raining tomorrow aternoon and continue through thursday. lake stable at 62.08 t
      City: Redding

Thursday, October 26th, 2000

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: don't know

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: My riend Eric caught a huge crappie on nitecrawlers in Swallow Bay and I caught a nice 2pd. smallie on a 4 inch Brush Hog ( watermellon/red) The wind was terrible!
      City: Livermore

    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Raining too hard to work so we decided to hit Eastman. Man wasthat un; twenty mph wind and driving rain what more can youask or. Picked up two ish in 30' on brown jigs right away just o theirst point south o the west side boat ramp.That bite turned to a drop-shot bite; jig on bottom and 3"magic worm(smoke)on top. Put another ive ish in boat with biggest going three. That bite shut down so I went to a watermelonred brushhog on a 1/4oz. dart head and we proceede to catch another tengood ish with two over ive. Best ive went around twenty lbs.
      City: turlock

      Tips: Fish are still deep o points and on humps. Look or structurein 25 to 40 eet and sit on it or awhile. Brown/red/green crawpatterns seem to work best. Presentation is slow.

  • Mariposa County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: San Joaquin team bass tournament Nov. 11th at Barretts cove. $100. per team 80% payback with slot permit. $150 big ish. Sign up at tourney or e-mail Pete at wingman@thegrid.net
      City: Merced

  • Palo Pinto County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went to pinto lake and caught 12 bass in 4hr. my biggest bass was a 5.1/2 pounder.my second ish was a 5.00 pounder and my 3rd was a 4.00 pounder.
      City: watsnville

      Tips: ish in the rain and thow a shollow runing crankbait.

Wednesday, October 25th, 2000

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 57

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: put of ladds about 9am, sun shinning 1st spot partner boated about 4.5lbr I picked up a dink, clouded up and wasvry dark. I picked up 5 that went from 2.5lbs to 5.5 lbs and a couple of dinks partner ended up with a cpuple more dinks. all of this by 11:30. what a blast.
      City: manteca

      Tips: all on senkos in shallow next to deep and on the outgoing tide on the outside edge of the weeds

    • By

      Water Temp: 58.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Ladd's . Cranked the meat wall with speed traps all colors no luck. Found fish on rock walls that were close to the main channel . Caught 6 fish on speed traps 1 on 7a crank red/firetiger .Biggest went 4.5lbs They were about 5ft deep.Slow day.
      City: Livermore

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: OOPS! Posted this the irst time by mistake in Delta reports - sorry olks. Fished Clear Lake Sat. & Sun. Despite the wind had good ish. Saturday did not try to run to South end in my tin boat due to wind, andished north end east o Rocky point - wich I had not really scouted since the spring. Initially got on alse pattern with spinnerbait or undersize tobarely legal ish. Decided that despite weather that some ish would be on docks, and started pitching a jig. Had a limit by 11:00 A.M. Reallysolid ish, no monsters but ranging rom 3 - 5 lbs. Caught a 2.5 lber on a Senko and another o 2 lbs on rattletrap. Decided to try experimentingwith other techniques, but no luck or the rest o the day. Best 5 near 20 lbs or so. Sunday wind shited, and had to ish wherever I could indshelter. Could not get crank bite going on my water in Rattlesnake arm, so went over to south side and pulled three jig ish and one crankbait ish.Once again, solid ish, rom 3 to 5 lbs, or a total o 14-15 lbs. Gave up and got o the lake early due to wind beating my little boat (Tracker ProTeam 185 with 90 hp Merc) was taking. Sorry or lack o details at this point, but I intend to go back this weekend because good ish on a jig biteare without a doubt one o my very avorite ways to catch those green monsters. Should point out that I only had 5 bites on jig Sunday, but theywere all solid hits.
      City: Hal Moon Bay

      Tips: I the weather is not crazy, limits o solid ish are not diicult to get, you just have to stay ocused and work at it. Another key point is that Iished docks that had already been hit repeatedly and still managed to get some ish o o them. Don't be reluctant to ish behind another group iyou know the water is good and you have conidence!

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Collins with a riend yesterday rom 5 pm to 1 am. We got 5 beore dark - 2 on jigs near the islands, and 3 on topwater (Sugoi Splash) - one o them a 2 1/4 spot. We saw only 3 bass chase shad. The lake seemed dead. Ater dark, we started to throw jigs and worms up the river arm. They wouldn't touch a jig, but would hit 8" Dead Ringer worms. We caught a couple, missed a couple, and then at 8:45 pm, nearly had my arm ripped o when a 4 lb 7 oz spot nailed the worm. What a nice ish, caught on a wall in 10 eet o water in the river arm. We returned to the main body to ish all the island tops, but they were dead. Caught 2 on Terminator spinnerbaits near the dam, and that was it - the bite died! My riend did lose a heavy ish on a zipper worm right ater I got the big spot. We wound up with 12 bass total - 5 biggest about 12 1/2 lbs.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We saw ish on the meter that were 25+ eet the whole trip, but could not get them to bite. The only biters were shallow. I deep ish won't cooperate, ish shallow and have un! We tried a lot o cranking, but it didn't work this trip!

    • By

      Water Temp: na

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished or two hours this aternoon. Was blowing hard with a little drizzle. Picked up 4 right away on a spinnerbait then the bite shut down. Only got one more on a small red speed trap. All were about 12-14 inches except the irst wich was about 3.
      City: Mountain View

      Tips: The ish were hitting aggressivly when it was windiest, but even then all the ish were in at least 15 eet o water. I also tried rattle traps but got blanked on them.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: in the water at 730am and over near the rockpile or 2 quick ish to 2lbs, banged around a ew islands and picked up some more, cloudy and overcast and the rain started getting heavy at 1030, lake down to 62.15 t, no wind, water temp actualy rose a degree and ahal, overnight temps dropping into the mid 40's so it looks like this big lake is starting to turn over, ound ish in 11 to 27 t o water, used blades and jigs.
      City: Redding

Tuesday, October 24th, 2000

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: ??

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Clear Lake Sat. & Sun. Despite the wind had good fish. Saturday did not try to run to South end in my tin boat due to wind, and fished north end east of Rocky point - wich I had not really scouted since the spring. Initially got on false pattern with spinnerbait for undersize to barely legal fish. Decided that despite weather that some fish would be on docks, and started pitching a jig. Had a limit by 11:00 A.M. Really solid fish, no monsters but ranging from 3 - 5 lbs. Caught a 2.5 lber on a Senko and another of 2 lbs on rattletrap. Decided to try experimenting with other techniques, but no luck for the rest of the day. Best 5 near 20 lbs or so. Sunday wind shifted, and had to fish wherever I could find shelter. Could not get crank bite going on my water in Rattlesnake arm, so went over to south side and pulled three jig fish and one crankbait fish. Once again, solid fish, from 3 to 5 lbs, for a total of 14-15 lbs. Gave up and got off the lake early due to wind beating my little boat (Tracker Pro Team 185 with 90 hp Merc) was taking. Sorry for lack of details at this point, but I intend to go back this weekend because good fish on a jig bite are without a doubt one of my very favorite ways to catch those green monsters. Should point out that I only had 5 bites on jig Sunday, but they were all solid hits.
      City: Half Moon Bay

      Tips: If the weather is not crazy, limits of solid fish are not difficult to get, you just have to stay focused and work at it. Another key point is that I fished docks that had already been hit repeatedly and still managed to get some fish off of them. Don't be reluctant to fish behind another group if you know the water is good and you have confidence!

Monday, October 23rd, 2000

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58-62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the Newbass isho. BIG thanks to Larry, your post really helped me and Dan. Took Thursday to get on the water late, cause I haD TO GET TO Limit Out (thanks Bob) to get some o the baits Larry talked about in his post. Just or back up. (Had a great top water bite going, couldn't catch anything under 4 pounds, and was real happy) Then mother nature thru us a curve in the nature o a cold ront, and just like cinderellas pumpkin "poo" it was gone. But I new the ish would be there, so Dan and I headed to our primary spot,and within seconds I had a buzz blow up that o course I missed. (was going to be one o those days). Ninety minutes goes by and nothing (sometimes were a little slow),and we make the move to #2, where upon arrival, I start to ish shallow, and Dan throws a senko out towards deep water. The lake is minus a 2 1/2 pounder, we stayed all day and caught ish all day 14.55, I think. Slight breeze was up on Saturday, but not too bad where we were.(Can't say cause West Coast next). Sunday however was a dierent story. The wind was howling rom the south, pulled up on our spot, and threw senkos. Nada, but we kept noticing the birds eeding the young. They were diving and comming up with small bluegil and shad. We tied on shad patten cranks and bang. Got one ish about every hour.(not hot bite, but consistent) Total or two days 28.55, couldn't get the big bite, but collected some dough. 15th place out o 130 boats. Guys that won had over 34 lbs. THANKS LARRY. Now it appears I'll have to get some o them jigs.
      City: Milpitas

      Tips: Pay attention to the wildlie. Ater all the pressure,downsizing could be the ticket. 240 Senkos, Fat ree shad

Sunday, October 22nd, 2000

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-64

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Wiiiiindy!! Lauched out of Orwood in 40+mph gusts. Fishing was nearly impossible....we managed about 5 small fish in 7 hours of fishing. Most of the areas were totally unfishable. We used Senkos and Blades. Had a fun boat ride though, thanks for the trip Tom! Paul W
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Stay home until the wind shuts down.