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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, April 26th, 1999

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: FISHED THE LAKE FOR THE FIRST TIME THURS. 4-22-99, WITH MY SON RICKAND HIS FRIEND TIM. WE WERE TURNED ON TO THE LAKE BY MY SON'S FIEND JARRET AND I AM SURE GLAD WE LISTENED TO HIM. I WANTED TO GO TO COLLINS.THE FISH ARE UP AND SPAWNING AND READY TO GET ANY INTRUDERS OFF THE NEST. WE FISHED FROM 6:00am. TO 7:30pm. THE BITE WAS INCREDIBLE, AFTER FISHING SO. CAL. LAKES FOR 35 YRS. I CAN HONESTLY SAY THIS WAS THE BEST DAY I HAVE EVER HAD, ESPECIALLY SINCE I WAS WITH MY SON. WE LANDED AND RELEASED39 NICE BASS ON THE DAY. THE MAJORITY OF THE FISH WERE SLOT SIZE, BUT WE DID FIND 5 NICE FISH TO 4 LBS.
      City: Sylmar

      Tips: THE FISH WERE HITTING SLOWLY WORKED PLASTIC WORMS IN 5-14' OF WATER SURROUNDED BY TREES IN THE SHALLOWS. I HAD THE BEST ACTION WITH 6" PUMPKIN SEED CURLYTAIL POWER BAIT WORMS. MY SON RICK AND HIS FRIEND TIM, WORKED PURPLE WORMS WITH VERY GOOD RESULTS. THE METHOD, WE FOUND, WAS TO WORK THE BAIT VERY SLOWLY COMING AWAY FROM THE TREES OUT TO DEEPER WATER. IN THE EVENING, WE FOUND LARGER FISH ON ROCKY SECONDARY POINTS, BUT THE CHOICE OF BAIT NEVER CHANGED.

  • Bayfield County
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      Water Temp: 57-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the upper end irst thing in the morning.hooked most o the ish all largemouth on black texas rigged 4" worm.as the temps came up with the sun crawdad colored crankbaits were working on both largemouth and smallmouth. Most o the ish were all dinks, but a heck o a lotta un.i think the lake is still a ew goodweather days away.
      City: Fortuna

      Tips: n/a

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 55-58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished rocky points. Caught several that way. Also in some coves caught some hanging aroundallen trees. We caught most o ish in 20t or less. We missed maybe 50 ish. Total or our daysaround 75 ish most pound and change. However one o the ladies in our group caught and released a6.1lb largemouth and my nephew caught a 2lb smallie. We also caught a bow, salmon and crappie whileishing or bass. Someone should tell those spots they shouldn't ight so hard.
      City: Carson City

      Tips: Just bring a little bit o everything. Caught a majority o ish on 5" Chart lunker grub andgrape and blue worms with darter heads. Also used wine colored and blue with chart. tail zipperworms. Missed ish on short strikes were they removed tail on grub and worms. Also had hits on in-sworms in chart. and when it slowed down caught a couple o spots on nightcrawlers

Sunday, April 25th, 1999

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: caught 2 large mouth bass both were 2 1/2 lbs in a float tube weather was overcast in the morning but was good, fished from 9:00-4:00 after the sun came out the fish hid
      City: Milpitas

      Tips: Tips:4inch zipper worm grey with purple flakes, light line with a caroline rig fished 10 ft of water draging the bottom it is a solw bite but be ready for the big hit

    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: caught 2 large mouth bass both were 2 1/2 lbs in a float tube weather was overcast in the morning but was good, fished from 9:00-4:00 after the sun came out the fish hid
      City: Milpitas

      Tips: Tips:4inch zipper worm grey with purple flakes, light line with a caroline rig fished 10 ft of water draging the bottom it is a solw bite but be ready for the big hit

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: well got a day off to go fishing took my 3 year old grandson. caught 8 small fish at the old piers.dreyson was fooling around with a spinnerbait on his zebco setup caught a little one so u know i had to try. BINGO the fish wieght jumped 3 pounds had 6 good ones in 1 hour. dreyson got tired so had to go. had a great time with dreyson and the delta bass.
      City: Concord

      Tips: Tips: take a kid fishing.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 54-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished ABA Pro-Team (13 Boats) on Sunday. Had nice ish goin on Sat.,while shaking several o. Heard the weigh-in or Nor-Cal and got real excited or our tourney. Ater I launched my partner,while walking back to the dock's I lipped,turned my ankle and went down ace irst. As I'mwreathing in pain this nice lady asked i she could help. I tried to shake it o, and limped to the boat. Dave (my partner) asked "what was that loud noise" ? I told him,and o course he laughed. Wethen went to our irst three hot spots, an came away with one 13 1/2" ish. I had a eeling it was going to be a tough bite, especially ater noting that the water temp. had dropped six degrees overnight. What the ?????We did get some jig ish up north on main lake points and docks. Ater around noon,the sun inally came out. Fished a couple o sloughs(can't give them up over penalty o death)and inally got hot.Dave lipped a 4 1/2,then a 4. We both dropped a couple o nice ish which cost us the tourney. We ended up in third and won some $$$,inally.THE JINX IS OVER FOR BIG DADDY!And wehad the ish ,i only! We weighed 15+, the winners had 17+.A pretty tough bite or everybody.Big ish was 6+ caught on a rip bite.Others reoported green lizards, and brown jigs as producing well.Tips Boy once the sun came out,the bite really turned on.Go shallow and lip jigs and lizards.
      City: San Leandro

    • By

      Water Temp: Low 60's

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: SATURDAY I ished let bank shoreline about 150 yardsrom the dam area.Tosed some worms,but no bites.Tosed a two spinners,but no bites,Tosed crank baits,butno bites.The day was cold and very windy.Sunday ished same let shorelin about 250 /300 yardsrom lunch area.First cast and slamed a 3.5 to 4 LG.MO.with a stand up jig/wacky craw holloween.Short time laterhooked another hanging out by a bolder 2 lb.The day wasn't as cold, much over cast,not much wind.
      City: GILROY

      Tips: I used a jig/craw bait.ished slowly with a hop.

  • Leon County
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      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My son and I ished the east cove yesterday where I pulled out a 22 inch 5 pound channel carish plus a 14 inch rainbow trout. What's ironic is I caught the big' un on a 5' Zebco spinning rod that I got or less than $20 at a Kwik-E-Mart. Cause my good rod, my trusty Ted Williams reel model 475 and its matching 6' "Tournament model" iberglass rod was in the shop getting its much needed tune-up cuz' its been in constant use since 1969.
      City: Clayton

      Tips: Use a chainsaw i you expect to clean catish in under an hour.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 66-68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: First time to the lake, very impressed. threw spinnerbaits early 1/2oz wht/chrt caughtseveral ish between two and our pounds. Once the sun came out I used 6" mourning dawn worms on asplit shot rig, seems like i I didnt get it within two eet o the bank it was useless,but Iprobably caught 50 to 60 ish in 8 hours o ishing(had to go to Phil's prop shop to get moreworms). Evening was just like morning same spinnerbait ished arount points(any and all pointsproduced ish) not as many ish but all were decent in size.Good luck!!
      City: Roseburg OR

      Tips: n/a

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: bite shut down compared the last week, ished a team tourny 7 ish 11.15lbs 17 lbs won it thought i would have great chance with lip ish going, no lip ish, caught lots o jig ishthrowing the woods just no size.
      City: San Leandro

      Tips: most people said carolina rig lizards and brush hogs and jig ish

Saturday, April 24th, 1999

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: STARTED OUT AT SAFE LITE. WAS FISHING A CLUB TOURN. WITH THE MERCED BASS CLUB. HAD A LIMITBY 7AM. STARTED THE MORNING THOWING WHITE SPINNER BAIT BUT WITH NO LUCK. AFTER 40 MINUTES SWITCHEDTO A RED WITH BLUE FLAKE PREADOR 6" WORM SPLITSHOT RIG AND STARTED CATCHING FISH RIGHT AWAY. MY BIGFISH WAS 4.94LBS. WITH A TOTAL WEIGHT OF 18.19LBS. I WAS ABLE TO CATCH FISH ALL DAY WITH THAT WORM.I FISHED THE SAME AREA ALL DAY AND THE FISH KEPT GETTING BIGGER. THE AREA HAD MEDIUM STEEP BANKSWITH PERTECTED COVES AND CUTS.THE AREA I WAS FISHING IS BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND BRIDGES OUT ONTHE MAIN BODY OF WATER NOT IN THE BACK OF ANY CREEK.
      City: Merced

      Tips: I LOVE THROWING PLASTIC WORMS. AT MELONES I ALWAYS HAVE GOOD LUCK THROWING A RED COLOR WORM. ILIKE BANKS WHERE MY BOAT SETS IN 30 TO 45 FEET OF WATER. I SPLITSHOT THE WORM VERY SLOW AND WORK ITALONG THE BOTTOM ABOUT HALFWAY BACK TO THE BOAT. ALL THE FISH I CAUGHT SATURDAY WERE IN 3 TO 25 FEETOF WATER.

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: 57-61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club ished a team event on Lake Sonoma on Saturday. Fiveteams competed, & all ive weighed-in 7-ish limits. Winning sack was about 13.5 lb. Big ish wasabout 4.6 lb. Average weight per bass was about 1.6 lb. Fish went or crankbaits, spinnerbaits,lukes, & carolina-rigged sot plastics. Water was still green but has cleared considerably. Watertemp was 57 F in AM, warming to 61 F by 3 PM (colder than expected, possibly due to wind theprevious ew days?).
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: *** Float Tubers/Kick Boaters: Consider joining us or upcoming events. We next ish LakeIlsanjo (a hike-in lake in Annadel State Park) on Sunday, May 23. Our next meeting is Wednesday,May 5 @ 7 PM @ Coddingtown Round Table Pizza in Santa Rosa. E-mail me or more details. ***

    • By

      Water Temp: 61 - 64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: A pretty nice day, although there were people on thewater that could use some instructions on boating rules.We caught ish on carolina rigs with grubs and lizards.Some ish on shallow crankbaits, and a couple on splitshot worms. Best ish was 2.9lbs, a pretty at emale.We ished the Dry Creek area in the upper reaches, andconcentrated on the shallow lats next to deep water.Oh yeah, you should have seen these three guys, onjet ski's that came zooming thru the tree's 40 eet romwhere we were ishing, those guy's should be conined todry land.
      City: Sebastopol

      Tips: Now that it is spawning season it is important to takeextra care when you catch a emale bass, especially ishe is loaded with eggs. I you catch a trophy you don'thave to kill her. Weigh, measure, and i possible takea picture and have a replica made o your trophy.Remember, your not killing just one ish but thousands.The average emale bass 4lbs. and up will have 20,000 to70,000 eggs. Practice CPR (catch,photograph,release)

Friday, April 23rd, 1999

    • By

      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Bluegill are starting to make their way toward shore. herd o some big ish being caught but no conermations. did't have enough time to put my boat or loat tube in. should be great thisweek. Use plastics and crank-baits. Not sure i they are hitten' on top. GOOD LUCK!!!!
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: n/a

Wednesday, April 21st, 1999

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: ishing is great but little windy 1lb to 4lb
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: night crawlers

Tuesday, April 20th, 1999

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started fishing at about 9:00 AM on the north side. Since I don't have a boat all my fishing is done from the bank. By Noon I landed 10 fish ranging from 2 to 4 pounds ( mostly females) in coves and shallow flats at grass beds. My buddy showed up 6:00pm whith his three year old son "Storm." By then I had caught and released 22 fish! Before my buddy could get rigged up, Storm had a "Fish On!" There is nothing like watching a kid catch his first fish. We were there until 9:00 PM. In that time Storm landed one more and lost two. I caught four and my buddy caught one. (Typical Rookie)
      City: Hercules

      Tips: Tips: Look for males building nests and fish the outskirts where the females are staging with a Carolina Rigged worn or crawfish. PROTECT THE RESOURCE! PRACTICE "CATCH AND RELEASE"

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 64-67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished the south delta yesterday for about 3 hour's. It was really windy and tough boat control. I caught 7 keepers and lost 2 at the boat, both on a black and blue jig with a blue trailer. One was a very big female estimated at about 7 lb's. She took me around the back motor, then went under the boat and through the jig. Boy was it fun for a short time anyway!
      City: Union City

      Tips: Tips: When using these number 5 hook jig's you have to set really hard on the fish to penatrate the bone on these big females.

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Made it down or a one day trip again, this time launching out o Nice. Only had two smallbites until noon, when I spotted a big emale 8+ sunbathing in the trees. Finally got her to hit aweightless worm on 8lb line but ater a good run she sawed me o. Almost impossible to look orish with wind and murky water so I just kept lippin. I landed nine ish but our were 3-4lbs, ANDI managed to get a kicker. A 12.5 lb giant lipped out o tules next to wood just as the sun wassetting. Found someone to snap some pictures and let her go. Made all that driving a little easier!Tips Downsize baits, ish slowly, and set the hook at anything dierent. I did not get a solidbite all day. Letting the bait set on a semi tight line, I would barely eel resistance but therewould be a ish there.
      City: Arcata

    • By

      Water Temp: 63.4

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I couldn't believe the water temperature! Every other lake I've been to lately is in the mid 50's. About hal way upthe lake I started ishing and on the third cast with a Pradcominnow jerk bait, nailed a nice 16" 2.3lber. Landed 3 othersmaller ish with jerk baits during the day. Up at the top o the lake I worked a green weenie 6" worm in the tules or twoin the 14" size (about 1.5 1.8 lbs). Then I tried a june bugbrush hog and got two more 1.5 to 2 lbs rom the tules. Missedthree others. I kept setting the hook but they'ed shake loosewhen the line and ish got hung up in the tules. They werereally tight in the tules in 2 - 3 t o water. Ended uplanding two more beore calling it quits at 1pm with a spinnerbait (again only 1lb'ers). Not bad though or the irst timeon the lake this year. Could see lot's o ish in the shallowssunning themselves, but couldn't get any action on those ish.Only ish tight to cover were aggressive. Interesting day sinceno one pattern was working hot, but caught ish on several typeso deliveries.
      City: Cupertino

      Tips: Brush hogs in the tules. Fish it where you don't think you can get the bait too much less get the ish out i you hook one. Once it's through the tules and drops to the bottom, lit the rod tip and eel or a ish with it in the mouth.