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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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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

Saturday, November 21st, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58-61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started at 10am with the water looking stained. A-rig, S-waver, drop shot and jig were my game plan. Slight breeze kept me moving over the flats in 25 feet of water. Followers on the s waver and short strikes. Caught two on a rig (dinks) The jig seemed to be the ticket. Caught a 3 then a 2 and a few more dinks before the bite died. Tied a spoon on and looked for balls of bait. Dropped down on a few and caught one about 1.5. Tied on a lv 500 and caught 1 more. Off the water by 3pm.

      Tips: I could not get bit on drop shot and both guys I talk to on the water were catching them on drop shot.

Thursday, November 19th, 2020

    • By

      Report: by jiggin4bass » Thu Nov 19, 2020 5:00 pm

      I wouldn't miss fishing Eastman or Hensley lakes right now with this weather the past several days the bass are in 18 to 25 feet of water on both lakes. Don't let the water color at Eastman keep you off. The bass are in 4 or 5 areas on Eastman and 2 or 3 areas on Hensley.

Friday, November 13th, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Report: by Bassdrool » Fri Nov 13, 2020 9:39 am

      I had to get back on Berryessa after the last visit with my dad. This time I went out with Tyler Frey who runs The Frey Experience YouTube channel. We catch a bunch of fish in the 2-3lb range and Tyler connects with a 4.40lb spotted bass that looked like it just ate a trout! Again, almost all the fish including the big spot were caught on the new baits that we will be telling you more about in the future.

      When the weather starts to cool in Northern California, you can run the bank and fish points with a jig or a drop shot and catch a few here and a few there, but if you take the time to run the lake and find the birds and bait, you can have a field day. We have been on a huge school of shad and bass. When they group up, you will catch every species of fish and they are a range of sizes.

Saturday, November 7th, 2020

  • Amador County
    • By

      Report: Fishing Camanche This Week Nov 7

      I was able to get out for a 1/2 day this week on Camanche. My good friend Jeff Richards came out from Colorado this week. Jeff and I have been fishing together since the early 80’s so it’s always cool to spend time in the boat with him. During this visit he only had a 1/2 day to fish so we hit the water at day break.

      After seeing the water temperature was 65* and we had about 6’ visibility we started on a main lake point. I could see bait and fish activity immediately on my new Garmin LiveScope in 30 to 40 feet. Jeff grabbed my rod with a 1/2 oz brown Bass Union jig and I grabbed a 1/2 oz spoon and it didn’t take long before we where both hooked up. We started point hopping and by 10:00 am we had 11 fish.

      This was a great improvement over my last few trips. the best bait’s for us was the brown Bass Union jig with a Yamamoto Twin Tail, a spoon and a 4” green pumpkin dropshot worm.

      Finally fall is here !!
      I hope this helps good luck fishing
      StanL

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63.2

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the evenings of Tues - Fri & got to see a wide range of weather! Tues & Weds was mild & calm & the bite was great! They were hitting cranks, blades, jigs & Texas rig. The reaction bite was particularly brisk around rocky structure & I even nailed a 10 lb catfish on a crank! I was throwing larger deep dive cranks & running them very slowly. Limit for Tues was 22 lbs 12 oz, biggest was 5 lbs 10 oz & boated 22 fish. Weds night was even better with a limit of 27 lbs 4 oz, best was 8lbs even & boated 29 fish. Thurs night was short, my buddy Kevin showed up & the wind was terrible. We were on the water for 45 minutes & it was progressively getting worse, so we came in. We caught a great bottle of wine instead! Friday we were able to fish for a few hours before the wind chased us again. We did manage to get into a decent reaction bite but the jig bite fell off. Kevin is new to the sport & nailed a nice 4lb 5 oz on a crank which made the evening worthwhile. Our limit ended up being 17 lbs 13 oz with Kevin’s fish being our largest. I also had a huge catfish nail my spinnerbait! It had to weigh in around 20 lbs as I released it at the side of the boat because I didn’t want it to foul my net. The catfish seem to be particularly active this trip!

      Tips: They seemed to favor deep diver cranks & 3/4 oz blades. We threw shad pattern cranks & black & red blades & ran them very slowly. I think the jig & Texas bite will return once the weather settles. I also think that winter has arrived & the pattern will shift accordingly. I think fishing slowly & using dark colors is the ticket now & moving around a lot when there’s no bites is important! I’ve had a great run of nice calm weather & stellar fishing this season & hope it continues! Have fun & stay safe out there!

Monday, November 2nd, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: Morning 58% Afternoon 60%

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Found fish starting to pull off the banks and into deeper water-six to eight feet deep. Jerk baits still working well for lots of small fish. Bigger fish comming on 6in. Sinkos-not great fishing but slow and steady-average 6 hour day has been producing 25 fish. 15 dinks-5 just keepers-5 fish between 2 and 3 lbs. Seeing lots of big fish cruising but they have not been takers for me. P.S. Docks have been productive-Punch bite OK-no top water action for me-good luck.

      Tips: Water clarity is close to 10 feet so make long cast and pay attention to boat position. The river is full of bait both shad and split tail so I'm going to start trying to match the hatch a little more.

Wednesday, October 28th, 2020

  • Amador County
    • By

      Report: by StanL » Wed Oct 28, 2020 4:00 am
      Today my friend Jon and I decided to visit Lake Pardee before it closes on November 1.
      We got on the water a little bit late, about 9:00am.
      We talked to the boat inspection gal and she told us the bite had been pretty good until this week. Turns out that East Bay Mud had dropped the lake about 4ft... that’s never good for fishing in October! Ya know, we should have been here last week lol!
      When we put the boat in the water we noticed  the surface temperature was 69 degrees. We decided to start fishing some Island tops in 15-25 ‘ on the main lake. After we hit a few of them with no luck, we made our way to the river.
      The water was super clear there so I downsized to 6# Gamma fluoro with a Ned rig and finally got a bite on a point. Jon put on a Frenzy nail with his "Secret Worm"... a watermelon purple flake finesse worm. He caught the next 5 fish all on points. We got 6 fish all together. It was a mixed bag of smallmouth and largemouth, nothing big but still better than doing yard work.
      Hope this helps.
      Stan L

Saturday, October 24th, 2020

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69.2

      Report: Went out Fri night & the pattern was pretty much the same as my last report except the size of the fish was much better. I actually got into a little bit of a crankbait bite, one being a 4 lb 9 oz’er that was full of juice! It’s still primarily a jig bite for me & like before, red flake is your friend! They were a little deeper in the 12-15 ft range & were scattered. I actually caught fish in places I usually don’t have any luck at, so throw to unlikely spots, you don’t have anything to lose! My biggest was 6 lb 15 oz & my best 5 went 28lbs 4 oz. I caught a lot of 4+ lber’s & boated 24. They’re really strong right now & catching them is a ton of fun!

      Tips: When I first got on the water, I hit one of my “indicator” spots & blanked. I thought “uh oh, the bites gonna fall on it’s face tonight.” Went to another spot & tore them up. They want that presentation slow & a lot of the bites they were picking up the jig & swimming with it. Jig color didn’t seem to matter as I used a lot of different colors on account of the fact that I lost a ton of them, but the trailer was best with red flake in them. I think that the fall bite is starting to heat up as all the trips were great except for the one that I took Manny with me. (It must be him lol!) This was a very interesting trip, caught a lot of fish, broke a brand new pole on a hook set & would have liked to have seen what had a hold of my jig, average size was really good even though I didn’t catch any huge ones, & I got to have an otter ride shotgun with me! What could be better than that? Have fun & stay safe!

Thursday, October 22nd, 2020

  • Butte County
    • By

      Report: by Joe daddy » Thu Oct 22, 2020 3:55 am

      Went out yesterday with Cotton and Big John. They crushed it. Catching fish all around me. The drop shot rig definitely produced more bites for Cotton. A number of fish on the reel in on that rig also. We did dabble into the cranking some, heard it’s been hot. Not much luck with that but we are no crankster gangsters by any means. Gave it up pretty quick. I finally managed to find a nice one around 3:00. Missed what felt like a large mouth bite around 10:30 on best point we came across...good day of fishing, happy to get back on the water.

Wednesday, October 21st, 2020

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Report: by Larry Hemphill » Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:32 pm

      The fall will be a good time for you to check out the structure all over the lake. You might take some photos because a lot of the lake looks the same - very FISHY!! Keep your eye on your meter because there are lots of shallow flats in places you might not expect them. Most of the quality spotted bass suspend in the fall and are vey hard to catch. I would look for points that are long and move slowly out to deep water. If they have a ledge or dropoff at the end or side of them - Bingo!!! You usually can only find the trophy spots in shallow water during the spring spawn. There should be a lot of shadows with the sun dropping lower each day. I would key on those areas. if you are there on the right day, topwater can be fun in October!!!

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 67-68%

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the central Delta. Slow but steady. Short bite windows that are productive between lots of looking. Punching and dock fishing drop shots and wacky sinkos has been my go to. You must wade through small fish but a good supply of 2 to 3 lb. fish will follow.-no toads but I have missed a couple of punch bites that may have tured my day around. No top water bite for me-stayed out till dark and tried to force the top water bite-no go.

      Tips: The fishing has been productive but not on fire-Best period has been incomming high tide-slows for me when tide starts moving out. Bite windows are short so keep grinding and good things will happen

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 71.2

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: This is a tale of three night trips! I went Sat, Sun, & Tues evenings & they were quite different. Sat was pretty brisk as I got into a good jig & blade bite. Started at 11 pm & they bit pretty constantly til 5 am. Both techniques were fished very slowly & the payoff was 23 fish by myself, 5 lb 5 oz was the biggie & my limit was 24 lbs 6 oz. So, I decided to call Manny & tell him fishing’s good come up for Sun night. Well, Manny shows up, we hit the water at 11 pm again & the fishing went flat on us. They wouldn’t touch the jig when they were all over it the night before. We boated 13, 10 on jigs, 3 on the brushhog. They wouldn’t touch anything else we threw. Manny probably thinks I’m a story teller! Big was 3 lb 11 oz & the limit was a little over 17 lbs. Decided to take Monday off & watch football but went out Tues evening at 9 pm thinking that if it’s marginal again I’ll be in early. Anyway, the bite was hot! Same baits for the most part, jigs & blades with a fair share of Texas rig bites. They were in about 10-12 ft over rocky structure & were pretty schooled up. I didn’t have to move very much which is great when you’re by yourself. Big was 4 lb 12 oz with limit being a little north of 20lbs. Boated close to 40 fish but many were under 2 lbs but the action was great! I may go out again tonight & if it’s good I’ll post a follow up.

      Tips: It seems the color pattern is browns with red flake or watermelon red flake. I was really surprised how narrow they were with what they’d hit but they clobbered the right baits. They were hitting my blades so hard they destroyed 3 of them by knocking the blades off, yet they wouldn’t touch a crankbait, swimbait, or chatterbait! They were hitting the jig with equal gusto but I had a lot of drops too. Tried the Senko as well but got one puny strike which I managed to flub up! I fished south in Konocti & found that if you got bit in one place stay as there were multiple hits in each spot I tried. The trick for me was to fish a spot in progression. Start with a jig, follow with a blade & finally toss a Texas rigged Doublewide or brushhog. I usually got multiple hits with each bait! I haven’t run into any bigs but the way they were biting on Sat & Tues was well worth the price of admission! Stay safe & have fun out there!

    • By

      Report: by WB Staff » Wed Oct 21, 2020 3:43 am
      StanL sent this one in from Hogan

      Hogan Fishing Report 10/19/20 -
      FYI The Lake Hogan day use fees have resumed.
      Today I got out on the water with my son and his father-in-law Mike. We hit the water about 7am and the surface temperature was 68°.

      We started throwing underspins and topwater baits with no luck. After a couple of hours my son picked up a dropshot rig with a 6” Roboworm. He tossed it up on a point and caught one right away. We thought we were on to something. lol NOT.

      So, after a while I picked up a Bass Union 1/2oz jig with a Strike King Rage Bug trailer and ended up catching 3 fish. My son caught one more on the dropshot and we fished until about 2:00 pm.

      So after 7 hours, we caught 5 fish for the day. I would say that is still pretty tough fishing! I recently got a new Garmin Livescope and ould see a lot of the fish are suspended and chasing bait. With cooler temperatures on the horizon the bite should be picking up soon.

      Hope this helps,
      Good luck fishing.
      Stan L

Saturday, October 17th, 2020

  • Lake County
    • By

      Report: by coyote268 » Sat Oct 17, 2020 10:55 am

      Daughter and I fished last weekend. Normally we fish jigs but the hot bite for numbers was a drop shot although our biggest came on jigs (Marks Puff Ball). Up north fifth street is a good launch, Konocti is iffy and be careful of not going off the ramp at county park. Don't know about the south end but skip Lucerne. Oaks and Redbud should be OK. State park had to go out on the trolling motor. Trick is to kep moving until you find them. Crappie bit seems good. You might want to pull up the Record Bee site and read Terry Knights article.

Friday, October 9th, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: by Fryle » Fri Oct 09, 2020 1:10 pm

      I was out yesterday as well 7-12pm and caught them on walking baits and senkos. Tried chatter, spinner, flipping the grass on low tide, and frogging but nothing on that. Walking bait seemed to be the only thing working, the smaller baits as well as 3lb on the larger strike king mega dawg.

    • By

      Report: by Dan Dunsford » Fri Oct 09, 2020 8:16 am

      We fished the Delta yesterday (10/8). The reaction baits didn't work for us except for a couple small ones. We did our best on 6" senkos. However it was still a tough bite. Water temp was 71 degrees, still warm for a fall bite. Just my two cents.

Friday, October 2nd, 2020

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 72.8

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Just a quick follow up, fished the last few evenings with pretty much the same results as Mr Brabec. The only difference is we fish at night! We caught them on blades slow rolled over structure & almost no action on plastics or jigs. I did get a few pick ups on the jig, but they dropped it before I could set up on them. It was almost as if the fish we’re thinking, “wait, we aren’t supposed be biting jigs right now!” We caught 7 the night before & 5 last night. The largest went 5lb 2 oz and the rest were 2-4 lbs. I threw 7” swimbaits & large deep cranks until my arm almost fell off but had no takers. There’s green surface algae & the smoke is terrible, so plan accordingly. Sorry to say, that’s it folks!

      Tips: We were south, north might be better. We moved around a lot as we would get fish in some areas & blank on others. We fished wearing kn95 masks to help mitigate the smoke. They were available at Kelseyville Lumber a few days ago. Stay safe, have fun, & good luck out there!

    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Midlake on Tuesday. Then Fished Lakeport Thursday.Smoke was bad both days and only stayed on the water till 11 am.Algae is blooming midlake but water is clear under it. Lakeport has clear spots but for the most part alot of suspended algae and some spots are stagnant and stink.Caught 8 fish to 4 pounds on Tuesday. All reaction. Wouldnt touch my jig.Thursday fished with a friend and we blanked on the first 2 spots.Found fish in 1 foot of water and caught around 15 fish to 4 pounds in about an hour. All reaction bites. Smoke got so bad you couldnt see across lake and could feel it in my throat. Hope the rain comes next week as predicted.

Tuesday, September 29th, 2020

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70.4

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We’ve been out for the last few evenings & the fishing has been pretty marginal. Sunday night we managed to boat 14 fish with our best 5 going a little over 20 lbs. They seemed to be fairly deep in the 12-15 ft range & were caught on the jig, crankbait, & Texas rig. The colors seemed to revert back to red & browns. When they hit, they’re decisive about it & they’re fighting really hard right now, but they were scattered about & didn’t seem schooled up. The wind was pretty bad (some areas were like fishing in a washing machine) & really limited our spot choice as the wind came from the SE & blew us off some of our choice spots. We also encountered smoke & heat blasts from the Glass fire that was very concerning. Thoughts to those that live up there. Monday night was dead calm & what bite we had the night before caught the same train the wind took as strikes were hard to come by! To make a short story shorter, we caught 5, the largest was 4 lbs & our limit was just under 15 lbs.We’re gonna try it again tonite, hope It improves & I’ll post a follow up report.

      Tips: Well, what little success we had were with shad pattern deep cranks rolled slowly over rocky structure. The jig bites were the same Rocky structure, we also caught a few on Texas rigged Double Wide Beavers with red flake in them. I probably should have moved more last night, but I just kept thinking the bite would turn on at any time. I got paid for my stubbornness with a 5 fish night but it could have been worse & we got skunked! Lol. Anyway I’d move around, fish slowly & try to run into them. Have fun & be safe out there!