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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, April 13th, 2013

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I took a father/son team to beautiful Folsom Friday morning. That lake is so beautiful in the spring - just wish it had more water this year. We found the fishing to be somewhat tough, but we didn't start until 8 am and they missed the first few bites thay had. They did land 3 nice spotted bass but we spend most of our time running around learning new areas - heads looking at the Lowrance HDS-8. We fished a little over 4 1/2 hrs. Lots of bass boats on the water and now the pleasure boats are arriving. It is a pity that some much of the good cover - trees and brush - are out of the water. Maybe not everyone feels that way however. Possibily because of the clear water and higher sun, bass seemed to be very timid with their bites. As I looked around at other boats - it seemed that most wern't setting the hook much.

      Tips: I can't say much since one of them is probably fishing an upcoming tournament. They did throw a variety of baits and did get bit on several of them. Just had trouble getting a good hookset. There was a nice breeze in the north fork which should have helped the bite a bit. As we went back to Granite Bay about 12:30 pm - main body was dead-flat calm. Tough conditions!

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 60-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fantastic day on the water (Middle fork) with wife and son. I had 40 plus fish in the boat and they lost count. Fished from 10-5:30 and the wind blew most of the day, heavily at times. Most fish in the 13-16" range, with a few smaller/bigger. 4" sticko/senko whacky rigged (o-ring, #2 mosquito hook) with split shot for extra sink rate in wind caught most fish. All spots with the exception of a 14 inch smally. Most fish came out of less than 15 feet, some right next to shoreline.
      City: Reno

      Tips: Grew tired of leaning on trolling motor so we pulled out the drift sock/sea anchor and it made all the difference in the wind. Much more relaxing and we caught more fish as it was easier to watch our lines and detect more strikes sitting still or drifting very slowly.

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I took a client from Washington state out Thursday afternoon and found the bite to be excellent! I lost count after awhile but we boated around 40 - from 10 inches to about 2 1/4 lbs. He wasn't an experienced bass fisherman - but his first Oroville bass was the biggest of the trip at 17 1/2 inches. What a way to start. After the first hour - getting the hang of fishing Robo worms - he was on fire - hooking fish after fish!! He landed 2 overs (second one was 16+ inches!) and I had 2 in the 15-16 inch range. We fished the middle fork mostly, but started in the main body where he got the big fish (no, I know this isn't Clear Lake)!

      Tips: We mostly fished morning dawn 6" Robo worms. They wouldn't take the ones with a chartreuse tail. Don't remember that last time that happened! We also used purple ghost. They didn't seem to want a jig. We were just using a Texas rig which was easiest for him. After 6:30 pm I threw a Storm Chug Bug to see if any were interested. They usually are when the surface temp reaches 60 degrees in the afternoon. Had 4 blowups from large bass. Problem - their aim was off from the long winter - all of the missed the bug. Wow!! They might have been defending a nest too. I wish we could have fished the last hour, but had to get home to get ready for a guide trip at Folsom Fri morning. Always fun at Oroville with clients that are quick learners. He did great!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 62-65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 7-12 and caught 7. Bite has changed a lot compared to the last time I was there. Caugh the fish dropshotting and on blades. Couldn't get bit at my favorite spots. A few of the fish had 2-3 shad in their mouth and all had fat bellies!
      City: Lafayette

      Tips: Usually fish weekdays and had no idea how entertaining watching some of the trout fisherman could be on a saturday. Saw multiple people arguing over how close they were to one another and others cussing people out over dumb stuff!! The white trash were out in force

Friday, April 12th, 2013

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Out from 8-2, caught 16 keeper size bass, mostly spots, largest about 2 lbs. Caught at 2-8' on rock beds near points. Caught all on 5" Senkos (pumkin/red flake and baby bass), both Texas and wackey rigged, weightless, and slow. Fished not far up North Fork.
      Spoke with another angler in same area, who had caught 8 in about 2 hours using a small spinner.

Thursday, April 11th, 2013

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58-66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: fished main body found fished@10+ft on isolated brush no big ones but alot of 3 and 4lbs largemouth and smallmouth caught on senkos.Color didn't seem to matter

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I forgot to mention one other tip!

      Tips: Call for the net when you have a monster on, don't try to lift it in the boat! Ted keeps this up I'm gonna nickname him "Tank A Toad Teddy!"

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

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

      Report: Launched from Lime Saddle 7:30am, off the lake at 1:30pm. Perfect day on the lake, light breeze, and warm. I ended up with 34 spotted bass, largest 15". My boat buddy got 10 spots, his largest 14 1/2". Most fish 12-14" about 6-7 fish in the 14-14 1/2" range. Several dinks, under 12" We only fished 3 locations, the last location produced 3/4 of the fish.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: All fish on roboworms Texas style in 20-30ft of water. Color didn't seem to matter.

Monday, April 8th, 2013

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Whiskey slough on Saturday an fished whiskey,Latham an the inside of Mildred island. I took out a youngster for the day an im sure glad i did! We caught around 25 fish inside mildred alone flipping green pumpkin/blk flake 6'' senkos. The average fish was close to 3lbs with multiple fish in the 4-5lb class an the biggest goin 6lbs. The best part of the day was seeing a 12 year old lip a 4 1/2lbr ,he was soo excited.That was his biggest fish hes caught so far! Then when the tide started going out we caught then on blades on the points in Latham...

      Tips: Senkos an blades in Mildred an Latham slough...

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: rainy , but its going to be 80 by wed
      Lake Level: around 6.05 above rumsey 7.56 is full\Best Depths: 2-30
      People are catching fish on everything now somedays better than others, the swimbait bite has been tuff for most, more fish moving up on beds every day
      Events: BASS fed western 3day 10-12th
      Guide Information: clearlake outdoors\Name & Number: 707-262-5852

      Tips: 54.12 to win the BASS fed college two day won by
      Zach MacDonald & Ryan Sparks.

Sunday, April 7th, 2013

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started fishing Sunday night & the wind was brutal for most of the 4 days we fished. We had good #'s but no monsters. Our fish ranged from 3lbs - 7 lbs. with a few dinks thrown in for good measure. Our best limit came on Tuesday night @ 31.8 lbs anchored by a 7.2 lber. We fished south of Konocti Bay & south of Buckingham trying to duck the wind. The one night the wind died for a few hours, the bite turned off. We caught the majority of fish on jigs (Rodstrainer) with single wide beaver trailers. Had a few good ones on swimbaits as well. Landed alot of 5-6.5 lbers. & Ted did his usual "tank a big one at the boat" for the trip! The lake still amazes me & baffles me at the same time! Tuesday we hit a slow spell for a few hours, pulled up on a spot & nailed 7 fish in 7 casts. They ranged 4 -6 lbs. & then that was it, nothing else for the next 30 minutes! Go figure!

      Tips: I think with the nice weather moving in, the jig bite should take off. i almost decided to stay another day!

  • Butte County
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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Hog sighting, yeah my buddy's friend caught 23" 'ole lion sides', good 8 to 10 pounder. I saw the picture, wouldn't tell me where. Any who I fished last Saturday, in south fork. Omar caught 12 on seko, Mad Max caught 2 on worm, I caught 9 on pink robo worm split shot. Another 18" at end of the day. This prob be last post for a while unless I break the lake record. The fishing is to good right now use whatever.
      City: Palermo

      Tips: It's on like Donkey Kong

Saturday, April 6th, 2013

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started at fav tule island around the corner B&W; no hits...decided to go straight to Sycamore where we had good action last weekend. However, because it was a low incoming tide and last week was high outgoing, we found the south rockwall and tules were hitting better....not sure why but we took note of that. 20+fish day with virtually all coming on 5" senko in blk/red flk, monster shad, and smoke/blk-prple flk. used bang craw/shad combination scent. pitched to tules, cuts, pockets, and tules jutting out from main strip. biggest fish were a 6.5 and a couple 4s...4.5 and 4.4. rest were 1-2lbers and a few dinks. brother also picked up a few on brown jig and creature. but more consistent bites were on senkos on the drop or working out to the weedline.
      City: folsom

      Tips: not sure...what we did worked for us...just worked the tules and cuts in 4-10ft. we were in low and incoming tide. going into sycamore, all rockwall/tule sections on the right. left side produced a few but not like the bite on the right

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Second week in a row that I have been there and the lake is full and clear. Last week a shallow running crankbait was the ticket and this week it was the tube. Fish are all the way into the coves and beds can be found everywhere. The wind helped fishing along the windblown banks and we caught a bunch with the largest only a 3 pounder. There is no better time to hit this lake than right now.

      Tips: Tubes on a 1/4 darthead worked in 7-10' and when working the coves, many were in only a foot or so of water.

Friday, April 5th, 2013

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Things are picking up. I was out Tuesday from 8-2. Picked up 5 keeper spots casting to edge and dragging unweighted wacky Senko over rock piles. No weed guard, so even being unweighted, lost plenty of hooks to snags. No luck with drop shot, crank and spinner baits, or a variety of Texas-rigged plastics.

      Went out yesterday (4/5) from 4-5:15, caught 3 on drop shot 3" zipper worms, 1 on a wacky Senko. Didn't try other methods this time.

      Fish ranged from 12" - 16". 1 small mouth, 1 large mouth, other spots.

      Tips: It's April. Go fish!

Thursday, April 4th, 2013

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54 to 57

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The bass are staging up to spawn! Fish from the shoreline out to 30' and target the steep edges of spawning area's. There are a lot of fish being caught on mud pie tubes and green pumpkin senkos. Look for a reaction bite on rip baits like Staysee 90's and 100 dd's and 5" swimbaits in trout and shad colors. There have been several spots over 6# caught in the last few weeks and we saw a pic of a 7# largemouth that was caught yesterday.

      Tips: Really pick apart the areas you are fishing. It has been a very "spot on the spot" kind of bite

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013

  • Plumas County
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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Heading up at the end of April for a few days. Never bass fished Almanor and was wondering from you guys how the fishing usually is that time of year? Will be bringing my bass boat. Any tips would be great
      City: Lafayette

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Lime saddle about 7am, off the lake at noon. Ended up with 22 spotted bass, all on roboworms in 15-25 feet of water. Seems the bass are beginning to wake from the winter slumber. Several spots produced 4-6 fish before we moved on.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: We fished Texas rigs, slowly.

    • By

      Water Temp: 64-66

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 10:45-2:30 and the bite was great. Caught all fish on reaction baits from 5-15 ft deep.. Biggest fish was a little over 3 and a half. Can't wait to go back
      City: Lafayette

      Tips: Carp are spawning everywhere. If you find the carp you won't catch any bass

Monday, April 1st, 2013

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: rainy
      Lake Level: 6.05\Best Depths: 2-30
      still some guys struggling , but 30 + limits have been common. it took 35 to win WON on sat.Reaction baits are putting the bigger fish in the boat
      Big Bass: 2-30
      10.27 in the two day chamber tournament last week
      Events: bass federation college this coming weekend
      Guide Information: clearlake outdoors\Name & Number: 707-262-5852

      Tips: you can catch fish doing any method you like but swimbaits, lv 500,a-rigs still putting most of the bigger fish in the boat, starting to see some beds