Northern California Lake Fishing Report
- Almanor Lake
- Berryessa Lake
- Cachuma Lake
- California Delta
- Camanche Lake
- Casitas Lake
- Clear Lake
- Diamond Valley Lake
- Don Pedro Lake
- Folsom Lake
- Iron Gate Reservoir
- McClure Lake
- New Melones Lake
- Oroville Lake
- Perris Lake
- San Luis Lake
- Shasta Lake
- Sonoma Lake
- Almaden Lake
- Almaden Reservoir
- Amador Lake
- Anderson Lake
- Barrett Lake
- Black Butte Lake
- Blue Lakes
- Bullards Bar Lake
- Calero Reservoir
- Camp Far West Lake
- Chabot Lake
- Chesbro Lake
- Collins Lake
- Contra Loma Lake
- Coyote Lake
- Del Valle Lake
- Dixon Lake
- Eastman Lake
- Guadalupe Lake
- Hennessy Lake
- Ilsanjo Lake
- Indian Valley Lake
- Kelsey Bass Ranch Lake
- Lafayette Lake
- Lake of the Pines
- Lexington Lake
- Loch Lomond Lake
- Los Banos Lake
- Los Vaqueros Lake
- Mather Lake
- Mendocino Lake
- Mendota Slough Lake
- Merced Lake
- Millerton Lake
- Modesto Reservoir
- Morena Lake
- Murray Lake
- New Hogan Lake
- Nicasio Lake
- Oso Lake
- Pacifica Coastline
- Pardee Lake
- Pillsbury Lake
- Pinto Lake
- Piru Lake
- Quarry Lakes
- Radio Lake
- Rollins Lake
- Ruth Lake
- Sacramento River
- Salt Springs Lake
- San Francisco Bay
- San Justo Lake
- San Pablo Lake
- Shadow Cliffs Lake
- Shastina Lake
- Skinner Lake
- Soulajule Lake
- Spring Lake
- Stevens Creek Lake
- Trinity Lake
- Tulloch Lake
- Turlock Lake
- Uvas Lake
- West Delta
- Whiskeytown Lake
- Woodward Lake
- Woollomes Lake
- Yosemite Lake

Wednesday, May 10th, 2000
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Clear Lake
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Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Club Tournament on May 6, 2000Several limits were caught in the 18 to 25 pound range.Perhaps Mario should try some team tournaments?
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Tuesday, May 9th, 2000
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Calero Reservoir
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Water Temp: 69
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Guess this weather is bringing some problems to Calero for me. Got 2 fishing ripping today from 2:30-5. No size, ripped and cranked the west end, wormed the east. Hopefully it will warm up a little and help out the bite.
City: San Jose -
Water Temp: 69
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Guess this weather is bringing some problems to Calero for me. Got 2 fishing ripping today from 2:30-5. No size, ripped and cranked the west end, wormed the east. Hopefully it will warm up a little and help out the bite.
City: San Jose
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Clear Lake
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Water Temp: 60 to 68
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Went out o Red Bud. The weather was the pits. It was windy, cloudy, and cold, about 46 degrees. Stayed south o the narrows all day. Started by throwing top water. No interest by ish. Sun started to come up. Went looking or bed ish. Found a ew cruisers and a couple locked. Cruiseres would only kiss the bait or spit it out beore I could get a piece o them. Caught a ive male who was on a bed with an eight. Couldn't get her to go. Another male made it diicult. Pitched a zipper and tube around tules most o the day. Only caught two. Went to the Keys. Holly cow, it was loaded with carp. Saw some bass eeding on minnows. The water temp. in this area was warm - 64 to 68. Flipped, roged, and luked. Never got bit. Saw some others ishing. No success or them.
City: GaltTips: Fish staging areas till weather gets better.
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Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: This is in Response to Mario Kelsey's ripping o Clear Lake. Obviously i you knew anything about ishing you would realize that Clear Lake is one o the Best bass lakes in America. Just look at the results o the BASS Tournament a ew weeks ago. I dont know about anyone else, but my irst trip there we didnt do to well, but on our second trip we hooked up some toads including an eleven and a 7.5. I just dont see why anyone would bash this lake ater having one bad trip, you can't catch them eveyday!!! Just my Opinion.
City: Weed -
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: This is an open report to Mario Kelsay o Sacramento...Ater reading your report, Mr kelsay I would like to say that it is my belie that all o the people who report here are being as honest as they know how. And some o these people are great ishermen....What you need to learn is that in bass ishing the conditions change in just a ew eet along the bank or in just a ew eet o depth or in a slight change in the water color or even the water temperature by as little as 2 degrees. Is there cover or no cover, is there structure or no structure, what type o bottom do you have? What is the barometer doing? What is the moon doing? Sometimes when they are not biting a cloud can ly over and the bite will start. Sometimes on a dead calm day a little breeze will make them bite....there are way to many variables to mention here......But I can gaurantee you one thing about bass ishing or any other endeavor that you enter into....You will never succeed at anything in lie i you continue to blame your problems on other people.I am a beginner also but when I dont catch ish its because I have not read the conditions right and or no other reason. The ish are there waiting and someone catches them on any given day, but no one catches them everyday.....I hope you dont give up on bass ishing or Clear lake because o this....It is a great sport and i not the best lake in the U.S. it is sure as hell in the top 5
City: BeniciaTips: ish hard all day no matter what you throw....concentrate on line movement....the bite is almost imperceptable....the spawn is not over. The constantly changing weather patterns have slowed it down considerably
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Water Temp: n/a
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: O.K. I would like to apologize to everyone that i upset. I did not mean any disrespect. I do realize that there was bad weather that was probably what killed the bite. I just wish that someone could have e-mailed me with a little ino. Evan bad ino. I did try using the tips rom previous reports to no avail. Again I am sorry that I blasted this lake.
City: sacramentoTips: I guess i'll just stick to the delta ( it's closer).
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Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: I am kind o new to this posting business about my trips, but i it is educational rom me or any other ishermen, then it is worth it. This is not the place to gripe about a bad trip - one should do that on the orum - see i other people are struggling on the same lakes or with the same patterns. No one should think that "pros" have great trips all the time. I average one skunk a year at Clear Lake with clients, and I have already had two. I am not proud o that, but that is the reality o bass ishing. Groaning and moaning don't accomplish anything - the bass do win on occasion! Let's stick to giving constructive ishing reports - good or bad. Remember, we all learn more when the bite is tough. Forgive me - I don't like to preach. Also, bad days are usually ollowed by better days!!
City: Yuba CityTips: Remember, spring trips are oten east o amine. The weather is just not consistent as it is in the summer, all and winter.
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Monday, May 8th, 2000
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Berryessa Lake
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Water Temp: 64-68
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Started on east side near farm house and caught 5 fish to 2-lbs using 4" pumkin-chart tail. fished west side north of Spanish and Caught 6 more, also to 2-lbs using a witches tea-chart tail. Saw several big fish, would not look at anything. could not get any crank bait or ripin bites. Caught 4 more in cappel cove on the same plastics.
City: FairfieldTips: Seems like down sizing a bit is working for numbers. Couldn't buy a big fish.
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California Delta
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Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Went fishin at around 8:30. Man was it windy. Got better toward the afternoon. Caught a couple on blades as well as blck/blue jigs. Caught a 5lbs, 2 4lbs as well of plenty of dinks. Caught the dinks mostly split shottin 4 inch worms. Overall a great fishin day.
City: San FranciscoTips: Work the weed lines slowly with blck/blue jigs
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Water Temp: 64
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: fished the anglers choice team event. started off the day throwing top water and flipping plastics.lost one about 8 lb "first flip fish of the day"and then landed a few 2lb on top water. as we went down the bank i told my partner we would have a limmet by the time we got to the point. well we did not get them so i picked up a crank bait and started working the curent. there was a spot where the cureny split and went to both sides of the point with a small edy inbetween. i cast to it and got bit. i called for a net it felt OK size wise. and as luck would have it it jumped, WOW! it was still on and was BIG. after running under the boat it came up for a shot at the net but we missed and back under the boat she went. after wat seemed like an eturnity up she came again. this time no missed net job. it looked good in the boat and we noticed the luar had come out and stuck in the net. WHAT LUCK! we then started catchin fish on top water" lots of 2 lb'rs ". i finely got the bite we needed to help out and it jumped we got a good look just as it came off "about 6lb not so lucky this time ". well we did manageto get one about 4 lb in the boat and the rest were 2.5 lb clones. had a lot of fun catching 25 to 30 of these. we ended up in second place and big fish. total winnings 1140. see you at the next delta turnement.
City: bethel ils.Tips: at this time start looking for the post spawners and males defending there fry. flucks, top water and crankin.
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Water Temp: 64
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Fished this last Saturday in the 100% tournament. Pat and I had about a 20# limit in the boat by 8:00a. Had some boat problems, pulled out, plugged a leak and back on the water by 1:00p. Stuck around the Break and took advantage of the extreme low tide to flip and managed to cull out two more fish for 21.58 and 7th place. Caught all our fish on a weightless worm and my standard R&B 3/8oz brown jig tipped with a Bowhog Sr. pork.
City: OakleyTips: All our fish were post spawn fish hangin out in the weed beds and flats located near spawning areas. Topwater bite is here!
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Clear Lake
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Water Temp: ?-cool
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Report rom the Sunset Fishing Resort and Lodge. Windy and lake is choppy this evening. A ew bumps on large minnows with bobbers. No solid hits. No action this evening with any type lure. The catish have really been slow this week.We catch 20# cats at the resort and have only had a ew taps using nightcrawlers/cutbait. Fishing should pick up when the weather calms down.
City: Clearlake,CaTips: Bass-try rattle baits/surace lures when it warms a little, also large minnows/bobbers. Catish-stick with crawlers or cutbait later in the week or weekend.
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Water Temp: hot
Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)
Report: This is not a report but a reply to Mr. Kelsey. Maybe i you cooledthe attitude and paid attention to ALL the reports on this lake over the past year you would probably have caught a ew ish. I have seen reports by both Keith Clow, and Larry Hemphill on this site and asidethan taking you out as a guide client they gave more inormation thanyou would expect someone too who earns a living sharing inormation.
City: turlockTips: No one owes you anything as ar as inormation. All ino. is outo the kindness o the givers heart that it is shared with you.So chalk it up as a bad day and move on!
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Folsom Lake
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Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Three o us ished the Rattlesnake bar arm driting minnows over rock points in 10"-20" o water. We ished or 2 hours and ended up with 3 spots and one smallmouth. We saw lots o trout breaking the surace and even saw a ew caught.
City: AuburnTips: I think the ishing is slowing a little. I had some 20 ish days a ew weeks ago but know the bite seems to have dispursed.
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Water Temp: 65.5
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Fished a Club tournament on 4/7/00, Rainy and windy in the morning started out on doltons point. Second cast caught a nice smallmouth continued to catch ish or the next hour on a rip bait. Had my limit and was cullin by 6:50. No real size to it though. Made some moves during the day and was able to cul to just over 9 1/2 pounds or 5. The ishing was real easy they will eat any color plastic and will eat reaction baits. I lost 2 bigger ish on spooks in the morning. All o the others in my club reported catching lots o numbers o ish. Mostly in the 1 1/4 range..... Good Luck
City: Citrus Heights
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Sunday, May 7th, 2000
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Almanor Lake
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Water Temp: 51-53
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: ished Almanor today, with the Inter-Mt. tournament. It wasa air to decent day, not a lot o wind, but overcast/wetishing was slower, but ish were caught. The group o about19 boats had a good ish day. 14plus or irst, 14plus orsecond, 11plus or third. Big ish 4.23 not bad overall.Most were caught on rip baits. some on plastic. Hard to seebedded ish, water murky, due to wind or past ew days. Rip, rip again... BC
City: susanvilleTips: dress or wind and rain/snow. rip rapalas, etc.
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California Delta
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Water Temp: 64-65
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Started with topwater(buzzbaits) and ended up using them all day. My partner got innovative and put a bright red skirt on a black buzz bait. If you were out on Sunday you know it was a perfect top water day.anyway, the rest of my day was spent watching fish blow up on his bait. good quality fish ( he put about 10 in the boat)with the largest being 4+.nothing huge, just beautiful quality fish. I just had one of those "days" we all have.
City: fremont -
Water Temp: 62-64
Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)
Report: Launched outta big break this morning about 9:00. First time out on my father-in -laws new boat. I caught my biggest bass of my short fishing career. A beauty about 6-7 pounds. What a rush!!!! Can hardly wait to catch me a real hog!!! What worked for me, and has are 6-8 inch zoom ribbon tailed worms. Red/Shad color. Today, casted up right on a submerged log. As soon as i pulled it off into the water, the fish hammered it.
City: OakleyTips: If other baits aren't working, you better have some plastics in your tackle box. They haven't let me down yet, and are fishable just about anywhere. Go get em!!!!
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Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Launched from Ladds and fished the areas around the Port of Stockton. Caught about 30 fish total, five were dinks. Most fish caught on green weenie leeches, 2nd place went to crawdad crankbaits, and a black ruby baby brushhog hooked a couple along with one catfish. Most fish caught by tules or over hanging trees near rip rap.
City: DeltaTips: Split shot leech or throw a crawdad pattern crankbait.
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