Submit
Report

Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Sunday, January 2nd, 2000

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: COLD!

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Water is darn cold and I know that because when I pulled my boat out I had to step in the water and my boots leak!!!Arrived at the gate at 7:05 AM (I hate being late!!!). My strategy today was to ocus on stripers as I got a couple o those MS Slammers in my stocking. They look great and are similar to AC Plug in appearance. I trolled rom boat ramp down the narrows and to the irst bay. Took about 1.5 hours with no bites. Had the MS Slammer on the surace about 150 to 200 t behind the boat. Had a broken back Rapala in Rainbow at 9 t on the down rigger. I couldn't stand it anymore as I passed 3 o my avorite spots to ish that have been very productive the last couple o months.I tied on a white at gitzit with a split shot and hit my irst spot. This is the same spot I caught a 9.25 lb largie out o last Saturday. Fished rom 9 to 10 AM with no bites in 25 t o water.Hit my second spot (holding small stripers the last 3 months) and ished a point on a rocky shoreline right across rom the sandy shore in the irst bay where lots o people walk to and ish or trout. My irst cast in 35 t o water was slammed by a 2.5 smallie. It hit so hard I thought it was a striper. On my second cast I landed a 2 # smallie. Worked up the shoreline towards boat ramp or another 20 minutes with no luck. Moved up near a big tree lying partially in the water. The bite was hot rom 10:30 to 11:30 and I landed 5 largemouth that were all very aggressive. First one was a solid 3 #, ollowed by 2.5, 1.5, 4.25 and 3.75. Moved down towards the dam and ished a small rocky point or about 30 minutes with no hits. Moved urther o the point in 35 t o water and hit 2 largemouth back to back. One was a very at and healthy 3.5 lb ish. Extremely short but ootball shaped. The other was 2.25.Moved down to dam in 25 t o water and ished all in ront working rom let to right (acing dam). First ish came in 28 t o water right in the Right corner. Fat 2 # ish. Moved up the shoreline and landed a 2.5 lb at the "bird cage". Moved up the shore and around the side to the glory hole. It is now about 1:30 and I am eeling the "stripers call". As soon as I get around the corner I nail a 1.5 smallie. I toss out again and a 2 # largemouth ( I want to striper ish but cant stop!). I caught 2 more in the 2# to 2.5# range and then stopped. It was now 3:10 and I wanted a striper.I dropped the same 2 lures down and trolled in ront o dam and spillway a couple times. Fished the whole bay one time and started trolling back to the boat ramp. I trolled till 5:05 and made it almost to the narrows. No luck!Total released: 12 largemouth, 3 smallmouth.Did see a ew trout caught by boaters and shore ishermen. One guy in a boat said he caught an 8# and a smaller trout rom 3 to 5 PM.
      City: remont

      Tips: Hug the bottom! Wear boots with out holes!

    • By

      Water Temp: 48 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: With the post ront conditions (bluebird skies, north wind) we had to work much harder than a ew days previous but still pulled in 9 nice bass up to 3+ lbs again using the light dartheads and 4" worms. Once again, slow and deep was the key. Never could get a jig bite in the past two days. Fish were also sluggish when ighting but then again the water is COLD!
      City: LIvermore

      Tips: sloooowwwww, deep !!

Saturday, January 1st, 2000

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Had trouble locating bass. Saw some ish down deep but wasn't sure i it was a bass. Do they school down deep? Any tips or a winter basser at Amador? I did catch some monster trout there on a baby blue rooster tail and ire tiger rapala. Still rather catch Mr. Big Bass though.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Fishing Reports or Lake Almanor

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Out new years eve ishing o shore near the dam. Only a ew bits w/ a crawish color crank bait. Bass are out in deeper water. Was out late Nov. and was catching 4 pounders near the boat ramp o shore. I hope to get lucky end o March early April, this doesn't look like a wet season this year.
      City: Corning

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48-49

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the South Fork by the loating restroom. All the ish (8), were caught but one on a brown & orange jig with a twin tail Christmas Tree grub. Ended up with about 11 to 12 pounds or 5 ish. we ished rom about 9:30 till 4 with most o the bits between 11 and 2. We had probably 15 bits but just the 8 wanted to hang on.
      City: Hal Moon Bay

    • By

      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had to do a report on the irst day o the new century!!I ished by mysel today or about 6 hours - irst time on Oroville in 2 months. I landed 9, with the ive biggest (all over the slot) going about 10 1/2 lbs. The biggest was a spot nearly 3 lbs on a pirk minnow spoon near the dam in 35 t. The other biggest 4 caught in a brown/orange Rodstrainer Jig with a slightly shortened 5" Yamamoto twin tail #180 grub. Lots o smelly jelly!! Only 2 under 13". The jig bite will pay o i you stick with it. I was ishing STEEP mud and rock banks in the south ork. I guess it was a pretty good day - I talked to two guys in another boat and they had 7, 3 over - on jigs. Lots o boats out today - cloudy, and very cold!!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Tough it out and keep those gloves o, or you will miss some bites. The jig bite is very subtle. I the sun is out, better use light line - the water is VERY CLEAR!

Friday, December 31st, 1999

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 47-50F

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Headed out on the last Bass adventure of 99' w/ friend and fellow nutcase Rus today. We fished from 9:30am-3:15pm and found an overall tough bite, as did most everyone else. I wound up missing 4 fish, landing 3 14inchers, and losing a real nice 5lber right at boatside. I caught all the fish on a texas rigged Zipper. Rus caught 2 14inchers, and missed another bite. He got 1 on the Zipper, and the other on a brown Rodstrainer jig. We caught fish all the way from 10'-30' deep today....it was not a typical wintertime pattern out there. I even saw a couple fish caught on blades by one boater. Lake level is very low, with barren, featureless banks all around. Flat calm all day.
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Use Zippers and Jigs and hop/crawl them VERY slowly on the bottom. Experiment with depths from 1'-35' deep...there ARE fish up on the bank periodically through the day. Try cranking the banks early, or if the wind is blowing.

    • By

      Water Temp: 47-50F

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Headed out on the last Bass adventure of 99' w/ friend and fellow nutcase Rus today. We fished from 9:30am-3:15pm and found an overall tough bite, as did most everyone else. I wound up missing 4 fish, landing 3 14inchers, and losing a real nice 5lber right at boatside. I caught all the fish on a texas rigged Zipper. Rus caught 2 14inchers, and missed another bite. He got 1 on the Zipper, and the other on a brown Rodstrainer jig. We caught fish all the way from 10'-30' deep today....it was not a typical wintertime pattern out there. I even saw a couple fish caught on blades by one boater. Lake level is very low, with barren, featureless banks all around. Flat calm all day.
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Use Zippers and Jigs and hop/crawl them VERY slowly on the bottom. Experiment with depths from 1'-35' deep...there ARE fish up on the bank periodically through the day. Try cranking the banks early, or if the wind is blowing.

Thursday, December 30th, 1999

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 49 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished steep banks near lats or spring spawning areas. Caught 14 bass between the two o us rom 1.5-3 lbs using 1/8 oz dartheads and 4" worms - mainly shad worms but also some on craw colored worms. Fish were 40-50' deep and bite was real sot so pay attention to those 'rubberband type ' bites - set the hook! Also cranked a 3 lber rom the dam ace irst thing in the AM.
      City: Livermore

      Tips: ish slow and deep!!

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Saw a mountain lion on Hurlton Rd on drive down to lake. Fished south ork all day. Interestingly enough, most active ish ound in mouth o McCabe cove between dredger islands. all 15 ish caught were dragging 4" splitshot worms in 20-35 t on real lat stu. Jigs on steeper banks produced nothing. Beautiul day, no wind. No ish bigger than 14" though.
      City: Yuba City

Wednesday, December 29th, 1999

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 50 F

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Brent and I kick boated today from about 10AM - 4PM. The fishing was better, but still not anything to get excited about. Beautiful day, light breeze, warm... I ended up with 4 fish to 2 lbs, and Brent got 2 more with a nice 4 lber. We found a lot of fish from 0 to 40 feet of water but had difficulty making them bite. I ended up getting the most bites on a drop shotted worm, but they were ripping off the worm or blowing it out half the time. We also stuck 2 nice fish on crankbaits before we left in an area that we had just worked over hard with jigs and plastics.
      City: Mountain View

      Tips: We graph a lot of deep fish, but can't figure out how to make them bite. The shallow fish are biters, but also seem to be affected by fishing pressure easily.

    • By

      Water Temp: 50 F

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Brent and I kick boated today from about 10AM - 4PM. The fishing was better, but still not anything to get excited about. Beautiful day, light breeze, warm... I ended up with 4 fish to 2 lbs, and Brent got 2 more with a nice 4 lber. We found a lot of fish from 0 to 40 feet of water but had difficulty making them bite. I ended up getting the most bites on a drop shotted worm, but they were ripping off the worm or blowing it out half the time. We also stuck 2 nice fish on crankbaits before we left in an area that we had just worked over hard with jigs and plastics.
      City: Mountain View

      Tips: We graph a lot of deep fish, but can't figure out how to make them bite. The shallow fish are biters, but also seem to be affected by fishing pressure easily.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Lake Kaweah. fished from 1p.m. to 5:30 p.m. . caught several small bass from 10-12 inches on junebug baby brushhogs with 1/2 tail dipped in chart/garlic dye. 30 ft. deep on c-rig. 1/2 oz. weight. light bite just slowly swam off with bait.
      City: visalia, CA

      Tips: too cold to fish unless your a die-hard. end of JAN. should start to see some big fish weather permiting. this lake has some BIG bass in it so watch out for this year. I have an 11 1/2 and a 10.6 out of here and have lost a few others. good luck.

    • By

      Water Temp: 44-50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: FISHED POINTS ON INCOMING TIDES. DECENT RESULTS FOR FISH FROM 1-3#'S. SIX INCH WORMS PEGGED 4-6" ABOVE BAIT. ANSWER TO A LOT OF QUESTIONS I RECEIVE WHEN OTHERS SEE THE AQUA VIEW IN MY BOAT. YES IT WORKS IN THE DELTA! ESPECIALLY THIS TIME OF YEAR. 4-5' OF VISABILITY FROM LENS IN 6-8'OF WATER AND 2' OF VISABILTY FROM LENS IN 18-25'OF WATER.
      City: FOSTER CITY

    • By

      Water Temp: 45 to 47

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Tough!!! Fished for a few hours in the a.m. without much succes. Three sqweekers was what I had to show for my efforts, water is very clear for the Delta and the fish did not want to coooperate. Fished south and middle Delta
      City: Tracy

      Tips: Follow Cooch.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the north ork drop-os caught my limit in an hour.Fish were all about 3lb at about 20 t. I went in the middle o the day.
      City: roseville

      Tips: Use dark colored worms and ish rock piles.

Tuesday, December 28th, 1999

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I ished rom 9am to 1pm - beautiul warm morning! I ished shoreline rock steep banks with my usual Rodstrainer jig/Yamamoto grub combo - mostly black/blue with purple grub. It was slow but I did catch a 4 1/4 lb largemouth in only 15 eet o water. Also a 3 1/4 lm and 2 spots about 2 lbs each. Broke o a big ish! Cloudy weather should help the bite. Lake is down about 30 eet - I love it! A structure isherman's dream!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Jigs are great at Collins in winter. You may have to swim them since rock ormations are wicked!

Monday, December 27th, 1999

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Headed out of Big Break at about 11:00 am with my Dad from Texas and my 5 yr old son. Trolled Fisherman's Cut with Berkley Frenzy (firetiger) crankbaits, landed two 2 lb striper schoolies on successive passes and then nothing. Trolled False River with no luck. Headed back towards the break and trolled off the San Joaquin around 3:30 pm in about 10' of water and my son landed a 6 lb and 3 lb. Dad hooked a whale on the next pass and played it for about 15 minutes on 12 lb spiderwire. It topped 16 lb 6 oz when we weighed it in the boat. We like this striper fishin'.
      City: Pleasant Hill

      Tips: Berkley 3/8 oz shallow diver (0-5 ft) crankbait in firetiger

    • By

      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished out of Big Break. First bite about 9am when the heavy fog lifted. Caught a 3 lb at the barge, slow rolling spinners in front of the tules. Another 3 lb on a speed trap in the same area. Then went into Sherman Lake and flipped Black and Red jig for a 3.5 lb. Only three fish for the day. The weather was great after the fog lifted. How can you not have a great day FISHING!
      City: DIXON

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Kevin and I hit Disco Bay and some of the surrounding sloughs today. First thing, Kevin cranked one up off some rip-rap. After exploring/prefishing for the NCC all day, we headed back to Disco after not getting another hit. Within the last 10 minutes of fishing I hooked into a nice 10 pounder trolling Fat Free Shad. -Brent
      City: San Jose