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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, October 22nd, 2000

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 60 - 64 F

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club, in conjunction with San Jose Bass 'n Tubes, held its Invitational event on October 21 & 22. Winning weight (10 ish) was 27+ lb. Second place was 17+ lb (6 ish). Big ish on day 1 was 7.10 lb, & big ish on day 2 was 5.01 lb. 35 anglers participated! Bite was rather tough or most. Bass went primarily or spinnerbaits & crankbaits, although they were also caught on topwaters & by lipping. The wind was a actor, especially on Sunday. Water cooled rom 64 F on Friday to 60 F by Sunday.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: I you'd like more ino about the clubs or details o the Invitational (to be posted soon), check out our websites: http://scbbbc.homestead.com & www.bass-n-tubes.com.

    • By

      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished rom about noon to 5 pm rom shore. Was very, very windy. I ished the rock area now exposed by the boat ramp, the lat area right across the lake rom here, and south o the picnic area. The spot by the boat ramp was best. I caught 4 small bass and one big crappie there on a 1/2 oz chrome rattle trap. I only got one other bass on the other side o the lake.
      City: Mountain View

      Tips: Burn a 1/2 oz rattle trap along the bottom. Fish deep.

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My Father and I ished the Mid Cal tournament Sunday. We caught about 15 ish but only two that we could throw into the well. We caught most o our ish on a 3" tube bait in 15-20 t, I did manage to catch a 3.02 lb large mouth that won me 2nd big ish and put $100 in my pocket. Winning wieght was over 14 pounds, they had several large mouth in there bag.
      City: Salida

      Tips: I didn't igure it out so hopeully someone else will lets us know how they did and how they did it, good luck.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 64 to 61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Did two trips, one Friday and a rare Sunday trip. I thought the ishing would be great Fri with cloudy weather and some sprinkles. It was ok, but not great, and other ellas said the same thing. We started in Potter's and the main body - the jig bite was good with two spots over and a 3 lb+ largemouth. Lost another largemouth near the boat (about 2 1/2), that I must have hooked in 3 eet o water. I was so surprised that I orgot to set the hook! Client was struggling to catch a ish on jigs, so he went to dropshotting as we went to the south ork. He caught 5 - 2 keepers, one 16" spot, and two smaller ones. We wound up with 11, with 5 over. Points seemed to be the best structure, as long as they didn't have too much rock.Today, we again started in Potter's as the wind picked up. We had to return to town ater arriving at the lake because the client orget something, so we missed the pre-sun ishing. I started o with a nice 2 1/4 spot in a jig, and missed 2, and the client missed one. He soon set up on his irst Oroville (and jig) bass in 40 eet o water - a long 2-13 spot. It was about 17 inches. I picked up a keeper and and 2 runts. Another boat was worm ishing, but just catching small ish. I did some spooning to no avail. Boating to the south ork was an adventure - the wind was doing some things that I had never seen beore. The jig bite died in the bright sun, so my client ished a morning dawn Magic worm and landed three more, but only one keeper. I inally tried dropshotting seriously or the irst time and caught 3 right away - again, only one keeper. As the shadows started orming on the west walls about 2 pm, I thought I would show him how we rip in the spring. First cast, I get one on a Stacie. Landed 3 more and lost one - no keepers, but un!! We wound up with 3 over, with our 5 best about 9 1/2 lbs. There were always places we could ish in the south ork, but as the wind would shit, we had to move to a dierent place.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: There area lot o shallow ish i you can ind shadows or mudlines. The quality ish are deeper and will hit a jig sometime during the day. Can't seem to get any quality ish on smaller worms - didn't try bigger ones. I still am inding bass on boring banks that have steep dropos. It helps to have a little rock mixed in with hardpan bottom.

    • By

      Water Temp: Cool

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: 3 o us limited out rom 6:30-1:00 and picked up 2 trout on the way...4 other people on the whole lake all day, everybody hooking up with something...2-4lbs each with a 16 inch trout and a 22 inch trout, both caught on bass plugs trolling as were all our bass...had un!
      City: Seaside

      Tips: Deep running lures...troll alot and hit evry point

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 61-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: went up to hirz bay this am and ished the upper McCloud orm ellery creek down to Shallow point, only 7 small ish, wind howling 25-30mph with gusts to 40mph, tough going to say the least, don't think the tournament guys are going to do any better than they did yesteday, some pre-ishing or the bassmasters going on but not a lot o action i the ew I talked to are telling the truth, the wind is kicking some tail this weekend.
      City: Redding

Saturday, October 21st, 2000

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had the ultimate challange today, fishing a husband, wife, and their 11 year old son in winds approaching 35 mph. Wow!! Before the winds started, we tried topwater with the Yamamoto sugoi splash. I taught the young man how to make it spit during a previous trip to Clear lake. He is good!! He caught a small spot, missed a big fish, and then landed a 13" TROUT! This action was just out of Markley Cove. By this time the wind was serious, and we had to find cover. We found it (sort of) in little and big Portuguese Canyon, and one or two other coves. The key was finding some kind of creek channel with a little rock - we did!! The young man got his first worm fish - actually five of them - 2 keepers. Dad got a nice 2-2 largemouth, lost a nice one on a jig, and landed another keeper and a 12 incher. They wound up with 8 bass and a trout. We used 4 different color Magic worms - texas rigged. All the worm fish were shallow, from 5 to 15 feet. We used the meter to find bait and some of the bass we caught. I saw lots of deep fish that I wanted to fish for, but with the wind and 3 clients, that was impossible. The wind was as bad as I have ever seen it at Berryessa. When we got back to Markley Cove at 3 pm, there was only one bass rig left. I was very pleased with the trip - lots of action, counting the ones we missed too.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The worm bite is good for small to medium size fish. Rock and weed seem to be holding a lot of fish. Topwater is still working - I think we would have caught more, but the wind killed it.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: City: SAN FRANCISCO

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: ????

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Caught a 16" bass 3 lbs. at driting in to Harvey's Cove with a live nightcrawler on the hook. When WHAM! set the hook and brought it in.
      City: Santa Barbara

      Tips: -None-

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Super windy --- Multi Club tournament out of Ladd's. Stayed as sheltered as possible but tried windblown banks. Caught one 9.66 and lost another hog. The rest of the fish were fairly small. The rest of the teams did fairly well with the winning team having limits for each boat. They averaged over 2#. Our fish were on a worm made by "Glory Hole Sports Store" called the "Tom Taylor Special". It's a six inch worm that did very well. After awhile we put down everything else and just fished it. This is two weeeks in a row it's worked for me at the Delta.
      City: Murphys

    • By

      Water Temp: 64-65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: wow....fished a small club tourney sat out of holland. got three fish on white buzz bait before sun hit the water . about that same time wind came up . nothing but dinks after that . wind got stronger and stronger and stronger.. wow large tree craked in half. only bad thing was the half tree didn't far into water ..only one guy got limit and waon with 12+ second place was 6+ winner fished disco bay throwing rattle traps and zippers ..... bad. bad. bad wind was making 90 degree casts by noon throw hard as you can at shore from 30 feet and lure would go toward shore 20 feet and then make right hand turn and end up 50 feet down shore and 10 feet from shore.... tough fishing for all
      City: SUNNYVALE

      Tips: buzz baits early and then reaction baits in the weeds. if you weren't ticking weeds...nothing i found this up thursday when i pre fished....

    • By

      Water Temp: 65-70?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: The wind was unbelievable ... I fished a club tourney with 25 people fished and not one of us who braved these conditions got a limit. It was won with 3 fish for 9+#'s and only one fisherman had as many as 4 fish. Big fish was little over 8#'s. Most of the fish were caught on either crankbaits or Senkos.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Wait for the wind to die down a little and try again.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 65.7

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished late Saturday evening and into Sunday morning.Alot o dinks and ater missing what I thought was a decent pickup inally caught the maybe 6 inch little monster. I got lazey and started doubting the pick up and this cost me a nice ish. Around 12:00 the bite turned on but only lasted 2 or so hours. All my ish were rom 12:00 to 2:00am in 5-7 oot o water, rock bottom and on the tulie water interace. I only caught 5 ish , the largest 5.2, and the small one was an even 2lbs. Then it turned o like a light switch. Sunday was clear, post tourn. and hardly any boats on the water. I slept in and started ishing around 11:30 am inishing around 3:30 pm. Not one decent ish, alot o 6-10 inchers which drove me nuts on the worm and jig pick ups. I began to slightly eel or weight and on more than one occasion elt weight and so did the ish, busted.Oh well, I guess hook sets are still ree. Interestingly, ater dark evey pick up was a decent ish, the little ones shut down.Nothing on Cranks, spinnerbaits, every ish on zipper worms or 3/8 oz. rattle-back with a yamamoto double tail grub.
      City: sacramento

      Tips: Rock, tule, crawish. The 5.2 spit up a 3 inch crawish . I suppose this could explain the night pickup in quality ish since crawish are more active ater dark.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 65.6 - 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Was supposed to get up @ 3:00 and go to Oroville, Slept inwent up South Fork got two nice 15 - 16 inch Spots on a Baby Bass Shad Assasin in 20 eet o water. Then got a 14 incher on a Yamamoto Spider Jig. Hit a ew more spots and realized these darn ish are still deep. Went to Where Pulled all my ish out two weeks ago in a Club tourney and it was thick with bait spooned and wormed nothing. Ran into Toad on a wind blown bank by Brown's he had ew nice ish. Next cast bam a 18 inch Salmon in the well and on the Barbee Que tonight. Went back to my tourney spot and stuck a nice 3 1/2 lb. smallie then the wind blew me o the lake.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Lake is just starting to turn over and better ish are still 30 plus eet. Spoon, worm jig deep. Maybe another week and all hell should break loose

    • By

      Water Temp: 65+?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: got on thw water in the island pond this morning at 9:45.my waders had a huge leak!!! But thats not ganna stop me rom ishin. i was throwin a crank bait , lippin a senko and lippin a huge jig/wacko tacle reaper trialer(cooch's seminar at the sportsmen expo)somethin was playin with tht jig or a while but i think it was a dink. i caught 2 on a senko in where else but the trees. both ish were a little biger than 1 1/2lb. better luck next time
      City: Castro Valley

      Tips: b-hawgs (even though i didnt get any on it today), senkos .

  • Shasta County
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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the ABA Pro team TOC last weekend. Windy, windy, windy. Had the same old story, killed em preishing and could do anything during the tourny. The best ish in the tourny came out o Sacramento on jerk baits. We caught ish in pit on worms, but no size. Caught a 13 pound limit on thursday beore, but the only problem was we ished Senko's weightless on 6# line. When the wind came up it eliminated that. I you get a calm day try throwing a Senko, ish it very slowly, let it drop on slack line. Watch the line to see i it jumps. See you on the water.
      City: Turlock

      Tips: Don't be araid to try something new. You might turn some heads with a new technique.

    • By

      Water Temp: 62-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: the wind is howling and the ishing is tough. The ABA tourney is on the lake with most o the action in the pit, went out with a riend and roze on the way up the pit, just a ew taps here and there with one small ish cught, went over to the Squaw and managed to scratch a 2 /12 smallmouth and a 2 plus spot, let and went over into the McCloud and got blown o, went back over by Jones Valley and caught 2 more, only 3 legal ish or a 6 1/2 lb sack, the ABA guys are having a tough time, it is supposed to blow even harder Sunday. lake down to 61 and a hal eet. New loat put in at jones valley.
      City: Redding

Friday, October 20th, 2000

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 66

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished two anglerettes (ladies) on Thursday or what turned out to be a good trip. Each o them lost a nice ish on cranks at the beginning o the day. We worked popular rockpiles around Rattlesnake Island, but the tournament olks have made those diicult to have much success. So we moved to some o my avorite rocky areas that don't get too much pressure, and we all started ishing my avorite daytime jig - a Rodstrainer brn/orange with #180 Yamamoto grub. At 8 am I get the irst one - a nice 4-7. One o the ladies lost a nice one, and we missed a ew others. Around 10 am, I stopped my jig halway back to the boat while I was explaining techniques to one o them. As I looked back to resume my retrieve, my line had moved! I set the hook to a great 6-7. Boy, the girls were excited - they had never seen a bass that big. Again, deadsticking, whether it is intentional or not, works or big ish!!! A ew minutes later I get another, 3 1/2. A little while later we tried to ind a dock to ish between all the boats on the west bank o the Rattlesnake arm. I taught them to ish Senkos, but we didn't land any - missed two. Back to the jigs, and one o the ladies set the hook and landed her ish jig ish, right at two pounds. Back to the island, where I was determined that the other lady was going to catch a jig ish. She didn't let me down, at 2:20 she got a good hookset this time and was rewarded with a nice 2-10 bass. That was it - 5 jig ish on rock or about 18 1/2 lbs. These ladies are believers now - jigs work!!I did three trips - Monday night, Tuesday, and Tuesday night, 3 trips in 36 hours. I was kinda tired on Wed. The night trips were good, with 8 bass landed the irst night to 6 pounds, and 10 on tues night, but just a 3 1/2 average - no big ish. Brush hogs, 10" Power Worms, and 8" Zoom Big Dead Ringers in Junebug were the best baits. Crankbaits were working too, but not spinnerbaits or some reason. The slower I worked the crankbait, the better. Clients and I cranked some ish on Tuesday with chart/blue cranks. Biggest was around 5 lbs. We also got some ish on #240 Senkos around docks in the Buckingham area. I think we got 6 ish total.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: With most tournament anglers presenting millions o baits to these ish in much the same manner, try to do something dierent - wild colors, dierent actions, and above all - try deadsticking. That gets their attention - sometimes!!

Thursday, October 19th, 2000

  • Mariposa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the water at 6:30am & let at 1pm.Didn't do too good.Caught 12 bass rom 8 in too 14in...Four came on crank baits,lost one..rest came on Plastic's..Dierent colors..4 to 8 lb test line.1/16 too 5/16 jig heads & caught rom 10t too 30t deep.
      City: Riv

      Tips: No tips

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: HOT! HOT! HOT! That's the 3 best words I could come up with to explain the day Joe and I had. Stayed most o the day up the middle ork using brown/orange jigs with Yamamoto trailer and morning dawn. Joe used a new worm to me, a twilight w/chartruese tail which kind o resembled morning dawn. We pounded them all day around any type o rock in 15-20 eet. Late in the aternoon we worked our way as ar up as you can go which now is only about 1 mile past the no ski zone and the water turns into small ripples lowing over mud and a huge scum line was ormed at the base o the ripples. We sat there and must have caught 20 bass very slowly dragging our worm back to the boat and many o the keepers were well over the slot and broke o 2 hogs. It was a perect ending to a perect day and they are really putting on a eed or winter as there are bait ish all over the place and all ish had gigantic bellys ull o them slow bait ish. Launched out o spillway and looks like Bidwell may be closed now as I never saw a boat or truck parked there all day.
      City: Wheatland

      Tips: Almost any worm with chartruese tail and jigs were the item o choice worked in 15-20 eet although I had 2 big ones take my jig on the drop at the bank.