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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: on the water by 10pm started ishing steep rock walls in cat cove bouncing happy hogs down to 20t.caught a limit in a hour. started to slow dramaticly when the north wind started to blow.so I took a nap. woke up at 4am made a run up to rock creek ished a point and caught the biggest ish o the night a 6pounder also on a happy hog in 5t o water. stuck around till 9 or so. I expected the night bite to pick up being the 3day prior to the ull moon but the unseasonly cold weather put a hamper on that. but the average ish or the night was better than that o the day.
      City: sac

      Tips: stay on the out side weeds and ish slow.

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: When I look back at the two nights guiding I just completed, I guess I am amazed that we caught 31 bass in the two trips considering the amazing May weather - high wind, thunderstorms, rontal passage, and so on. Tuesday evening I started with a regular client at 5:30 pm - he wanted to throw Senkos and I was throwing jigs and big worms and caught two right o the bat on topwater! As it got towards evening, he got what looked to be a ive pounder on a purple Senko, but it ell a ew ounces short - a nice ish however! I soon got a nice 3-9 on a #221 Senko. At night the bite was air with heavy cloud cover and some south wind. He got two nice jig ish - one a little over and one a little under three pounds. We ended with 15 with the 5 biggest around 15 pounds. Last night we started about 4 pm and caught a ew on Senkos - two undersized. An amazing thing happened about 7 pm as a thunderstorm was about to drown us. We were ishing in a cove - he with Senkos and I was Carolina-rigging an 8 inch watermelon/red lake worm. We were getting bit on almost every cast!!! Some were probably small ished since we missed many. I did get one almost 4 pounds. We rode the thunderstorm out in a dierent area and then came back to this cove. One small bite - that was it!!! Amazing!!!!! Beore dark I had some unortunate luck. I was looking at my client, explaining something to him when I became aware that I was slowly being pulled out o the boat! I set the hook but the monster was already in the brush and I broke it o. I lost another 5 pound plus ish that headed right or the trolling motor and somehow broke the line. Strange things happen in weird weather! The major temp drop slowed the ishing down, but my client saved the evening catching 2 or 3 on 8" junebug worms. We wound up with 16 total bass - good under the conditions we aced. I really think I have had enough o winter!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: These trips were not like trips in previous weeks - we had to work or all our bass. Not many were "on the bank" as beore. I talked to some one who had ished the day beore these two trips and the ish were starting to chase shad and topwater was pretty good. The weather was warm and stable and that makes the dierence. I was always looking or the "big bite" both nights - ishing big baits when I wasn't showing clients how to ish certain lures. I was rewarded with the "bite" - using a big worm in about 16 eet o water in a creek channel with brush. It was a huge ish but it wasn't meant to be. Most o the quality bass that had been in the backs o coves as the lake illed at the end o April seemed to have move out to deeper water. We saw lots o ish in those areas but they were only 1 and 2 pounders. I would ish closer to the points now.

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Spots were holding in 30-35 t. Chaos grubs and drop shots did most o the taken. I did manage a ew rom the surace. Overall size rom 3/4 to one 4 lber. Awesome three days total o 50+ catch and release.
      City: chico

      Tips: buzz baits and woodchoppers. Motoroil and salt and pepper were sots color choices

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      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: 4 o us ished monday and tuesday morning till 11:30. we caught 98 bass and 3 missguided trout. the bass ranged rom 4 lbs to about a pound, only 3 dinks in the group. the 3 trout all caught on plactic worms were 2.50, 3.50, and 4 lbs. 95% o the ish were caught dropshotting blue, purple, or brown 4in worms. all parts o the lake produced ish,although most were caught o main lake points with shallow water near by. over hal the bass were spots. all in all it was great ishing.
      City: san juan bautista

      Tips: as much as I hate dropshotting it sure worked this time.

    • By

      Water Temp: 58-66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Lots o ish up close to the bank, both in the main channels and back in the creeks. Some on beds, with the beds deeper than normal (apparently the lake level went up rom recent storms, ater the ish started bedding) Caught ish on 4" worms on lead-heads and split shot rigs, rip-baits and Fin-S ish, with the Fin-S being the best producer. Buddy caught a 5+ lbr in Mountain Springs. Had a ew runs o several ish caught in just a ew minutes. Too bad we had to leave.
      City: San Jose

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      Water Temp: 59-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Mt. Spring Friday late aternoon. Got 1 on a shad colored Senko. Partner got 5 on brown Senkos. Both rigged weightless. They were 1-2 pounders. Saturday morning, I texas rigged a witches-t and got a nice one on a main lake point on my second cast. Moved to Doney Bay and I lipped 7 more in the next ew hours with my conidence bait. They were nice 2-3 pounders. Senkos weren't as eective Saturday. Partner only landed one. Decided to troll back to camp and maybe get lucky and catch a cutbow or dinner. Ended up hooking up with another 3+ pounder with a Rapala husky jerk(bass love em'). He was about 100 yards out. It was a long ight. He was dead tired when I got him to the boat. He was soon released. We had chili dogs instead o cutbow that night.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: I let the bait sit on the bottom and starting "shakin'it", like Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. Bites were subtle. Fished slow, I think they liked the chartruse tail.Use a baitcasting reel with a witches-t or your line will twist like crazy.

    • By

      Water Temp: 59-61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I ished with a riend on Wednesday rom 5:30 pm to 1 am, and guided 2 ellows on Friday evening, beginning at 5 pm. I had looked over the lake or about two hours previous on Friday aternoon and saw that most o the spawning rom last week was over. Lots o males on nests, but I saw only ONE emale in shallow water - amazing! I did catch and release 2 males using white jigs - one 2 1/2 and the other near 3 pounds. Couldn't pass it up - too much un! The lake was so crowded during the day that I thought the evening bite might be good - it really was! In act, the Friday trip produced more bass on one trip than any I can remember - 37 bass (5 were dinks). The sad news is that the biggest was only 3 1/4 lbs. We did however have several 2 1/2 to 3 1/4 pound bass, mostly ater dark. Beore the moon came up the ish were right on the bank, then shut o or an hour, then started hitting with authority in 10 to 20 eet o water. The best colors ater dark were junebug, black/chartreuse (produced the biggest bass) and black. We used 7" Power Worms, 6" Berkley Pulse worms - a great low-light worm (green pumpkin was great beore dark!), and 8" Dead Ringer worms. The jig bite was good on both trips beore dark, but not good ater. Since many o the spawning lat shoreline areas are still out o the water, many o the nests are a little deeper this year. That is good in case they draw the lake down some. The Wednesday trip produce 18 bass or my riend and me - our 5 biggest were about 14 1/2 pounds, anchored by the irst bass I caught which was about 4 1/2 pounds. I caught her in about 20 eet o water in Jackson Creek on a brown/orange Weapon jig with a #180 Yamamoto grub. The hit was worth the drive - what a THUNK!! We both caught other bass over 3 pounds - his was about 3 1/2. It was supposed to sprinkle that night - downpour was the word!! I was very surprised that in some 16 hours o night ishing not a single big emale was hooked, and we are all pretty air ishermen. So, there you have it - a post-spawn bite in mid-March. That's what a warm winter will do.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We ished all over the lake both nights and ound ish nearly everywhere. They were mostly on points and lats near deep water. One o my clients was Carolina-rigging his 8" worms and he did have the hot hand. I don't do that much at night but I might start! Try to set the hook as soon as you sense that a ish is on. When they are aggressive as they were last night, they will swallow a hook and worm in a hurry. That is one o the drawbacks o Carolina-rigging - you don't oten eel the bite. We had to operate on a ew, but we saved them!

    • By

      Water Temp: 65-67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Friday morning in Carson arm, ound Bass bustin on shad on main lake point in ornt o Carson arm. Fished or about 2 hours with 2 ish, both small and both caught on a shad pattern spitn image. Got back on the water at about 4:30 and ished until about 7:30 lost one ish on 8" dead ringer and caught one ish on same worm only went about 1.9 ish came rom the mountain spring area. The lake is deinately the lowest I have ever seen it and it looked as though it is still dropping! Also despite the act that there website hasn't changed they did in act raise the prices on everything it is now 20$ A NIGHT TO CAMP, however I don't see any improvements on the place actually I think it is getting worse as ar as maintenance goes. You would think that with the twenty dollars a night maybe they could put paper towles in the bathrooms, or maybe even provide a continental breakast(HAHA).
      City: CARSON CITY,NV

      Tips: I threw a brown and red weapon jig or a while however could not get bit on it. I think I was getting hung up on just about every other cast with the lake being so low. Also I don't think I gave the Senko enough time to produce threw it very little. I would say wait another week or two or the ish to turn on.

    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: On lake rom 2pm til 3am Sunday. Picked up one 3-4 on a purple 7" worm about 4pm back in a cove. Next couple o 3lb ish came an hour ater dark on a black blade and a deep crankbait o the points into the Jackson creek area. Lost a 6lb as I reach over to lip it. Ended up with a wet ace and the un o having treble hooks lash past the nose. And hooked one log that decided it wanted to go to deep water really ast and did so. May have been a big cat. Getting cold out there at night. Dress warm and then add more.
      City: Sloughhouse

      Tips: Crankbaits and blades ater dark along the points. I you aren't bouncing o weeds and rocks you aren't catching anything.

    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Lake is down a lot. about 30t.water levels are alling quickly. caused ish to turn o. Only caught three ish. Biggest went 7lbs. all caught on magic worms. tried jigs, cranks, topowater, nothing worked. Also tried ishing the ull moon but got nothing too.
      City: San jose

      Tips: This lake has a lot o good Bass waiting to be cuaght but you have to be very,very patient and the ish will eventually come.

    • By

      Water Temp: 62'

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: started at 4am decided to try the launch area using 4" inesse kalin worms carolina rig, landed 2 small dinks ater about an hour. decided to ish the dam wall and changed baits used a red/blk brushhog dragging the bottom got 3 nice bass all over 3LBS but not over 5LBS moved ater about a hal hour worked my way down the end o the dam and had lost a super nice 6-8 bass busted my 10LB k-mart brand line. so now upset i switched rods and had 12LB maxium line continued ishing the dam now using 10"black power worm (lost my only brushhog) and landed a big moma wieght was 8LB-02 had a goodtime overall!! all ish were released.
      City: sacramento

      Tips: or night ishing into early morning dress warm, like my daddy use to say want big ish use big bait!

    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Hit the lake at 6pm Friday and ished til 6am Saturday morning. Fished the Jackson Creek area. Caught a 2-8 and a 3-1 that were busting shad beore it got dark. Twitched a little white propellor bait. Have read all the reports about ishing worms at night so tried that and got zero. Finally tried something dierent and nailed a 4-1 at 1230am on a Jitterbug!! Started catching dinks and a couple o two pounders on a crankbait. Dropped anchor and crashed at 3am. Was woke up by the skunk that was about 20 eet away on the shore at 430am. Went to the other shore (where the air was cleaner) and kept working the crankbait. Caught a 4-6 and a nice 5-0. Lost another one at the boat that was about 3 1/2. Best ive ish were 3-1, 3-2, 4-1, 4-6, 5-0. All on topwater and crankbaits.
      City: Sloughhouse

      Tips: Crankbaits parrallel to shore running 10-15 eet deep and watch or bass busting shad on top.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ished riday night 11-2,worked 7in worm,caught 3 bass 1 5lb 2 smaller ones, was working in small cove & BAM hit it as soon as it hit the water & peeled o 20 eet o line twice beore i gained anything back my son i both thought,damn heres the big one. ater 10 minutes or more it rolled at the suace & turned out to be a 8lb channel cat.....next night ished 11-3 caught a 4.5 lb,at 2am my son hooked into a 4.5 lber on ultra light....boy you shoudlve seen his ace a glowing..worked the shores a bit urther & i landed a 6.5 lbbass.... all in all had a great time & but had to work hard at it ,but hey thats part o the un...its not always catchingish but being out & enjoying yoursel withriends & amily....we're lookingorward to next time
      City: paciic grove

      Tips: smaller bass were schooling shad back in the coves. we tried spinners,poppers & cranks but to no avail. worm kept producing or us catching ish rom as close as the shore down to about 20-25 t

    • By

      Water Temp: 79

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I started ishing @ 5:00 p.m. in the main body. Had 3 bites but missed all o them. At approximately 7:00 I caught a 4 lb. on split-shot w/ Berkley lizard, black w/ blue lake. No more bites until about 9:00 p.m. I caught a 5 lb. just outside main body in the Carson arm, w/ 10" Berkley Powerworm. Fish were in about 20' o water. We moved over by the Dam and caught another 4 lb. @ about 10:00. Then about 30 minutes later got a bite on the 10" Berkley Powerworm and it was a big one. A 9 pounder!!!!! It certainly was a great evening.
      City: Fair Oaks

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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Arrived in the early evening thursday ished or a couple hours till about 9:00 p.m. got two ish both on 8" tequilla sunrise worm one went 2.1 the other 1.9. Fished riday evening without even a bite o the water at 9:00 p.m. Hit the water early sat. morning oggy morning with a little overcast weird wheather got my irst ish on a clear and blue spook it looked like a 2-3 pounder but came o right at the boat I love that topwater action. Couple o casts later through out a 6" black and red senko and was not paying much attention to my line when I went to give it a little twitch but it elt heavy so I set the hook into a nice 5.1 pounder it almost swallowed the hook and I thought I may have to keep the ish but ater removing the hook and spending a couple o minutes recesitating the ish it swam o just ine.Found some bass busting on shad back in a cove and spent about an hour or two pulling out ish on spooks and spinnerbaits but no giants got o the water at about 9:00 a.m. and packed up camp.
      City: carson city,NV

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: i got there at about 6 in the mornig and started hitting the bass busting the shad again, i got 4 strikes on a rapala skitter pop but missed them then caught 3 on a 4'' #301 senko. about 10 minutes ater i saw the last ish bust i started lipping 6'' #901 senkos under some trees when i heard a huge gulp behind me, turned around and saw a massive boil lipped it out there and ended up with a at 6# largie. ater that i caught some small ish on a riverside dropshot worm dropshotting ight next to some trees that ell over and right when i had the boat all loaded on the trailer i saw the BIGGEST school o baitish (in that little cove right next to the launch ramp) i have ever seen in a reservoir. so i started throwing a texas rigged silver twister tail worm and ended up breaking o 2 nice bass with my 8# test and landing 4 rom 3-5#s. now that was sssssssoooooooooooo close to the dock i couldnt believe it, but it was a GGRREEAATT day!
      City: icallithome

      Tips: dinitely throw some senkos to the bass hitting shad and ish around the weeds. no luck dropshotting deep water

    • By

      Water Temp: 80-81

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at 8pm, started ishing a main point with top waters, no takers. Switched over to a 8" black w/chart. tail power lizard, and my partner( Eric ) was using junebug brushhog. We continued down the side o the point a ways, irst ish on the lizard was our best o the night, an 8.8 attie. We kept on going down the side o this point, Eric got 3 1-2#ers, then he sets on a good one that went 6.8#. I got one more small one near there. We moved around a bit ater that and got a couple more 1-2#ers. Around 3am we moved back to that irst point, I took a nap, partner ishes the same area where the 8.8 came rom, and sets on another good one, I jump up to net it, another 6.8#er. Erics pretty jazzed these are his two biggest bass ever. I go back to sleep, he continues down the bank getting 1 more 2#er. Around irst light, he naps, I ish. In the same area where the irst 6.8 came rom, I set on a another good one, and it goes 6.7#s, this time with a 10" black power worm. Ater sun up, we got a couple more each 1-2#ers, and one dink on a senko. What an awesome night best 5 over 30#s...we'll be back!
      City: san jose

      Tips: The two areas we got our big ish were the steeper banks between secondary points. We got exactly 1 ish on the tip o a point, all others were between points. Use lots o smelly jelly on big, bulky plastics ished very slowly....worked or us. Smaller ish were up shallow, the bigger ones were outside the weeds.

    • By

      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: OK, I lack consistency on this lake. One week I get nearly 17 lbs. the next week only 6lbs. Senkos, Senkos, Senkos. Booring! I know it gets big ish but, I like throwing the top water stu. Much more un! Fishing pattern ater dark really remains a mystery or me. I anyone can help with my rustration, greatly appreicated.thanks
      City: Roseville

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      Water Temp: 79-84

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: started to ish around 5:00 on the 24th, caught 15 till the moon was out. Didnt bass ish but cat ished the ull moon, nothing.On the 25th, was slow in morning, better in the aternoon. the evening was good.overall we had about 50 ish, biggest was 5 pounds. A lot o 2 poundersFish the main point in Rock Creek with the *resh Grss*
      City: San jose

      Tips: Topwater is at its best in the evening, either wise use shad colored worms. FISH DEEP. Mountain Springs and Rock Creek were the best

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      Water Temp: 78-81

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished rom 8pm til 2am. Caught a ew top water ish a dusk. Spent the rest o the time tossing power worms and lizards rom 5 to 15 eet. boated about 12. Most small with one a bit over three. LOTS o bites rom small ish, machine gun nibbles, yanked a ew out o the water on the hookset then came o.
      City: TRACY