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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, September 26th, 2020

  • Solano County
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      Report: Here's a Delta report... after a couple tough weeks on the Motherlode lakes, my son and I decided to take a trip down to the Delta.
      We put in at Paradise point on Friday and noticed the surface temperature was 71° and the water was slightly stained. I started throwing a topwater bait with no luck, but my son, Brian immediately started catching a lot of small fish. He was throwing a Yamamoto Senko on a Frenzy Baits Wack-a-Sack.
      We made our way to the middle Delta and we figured out the bigger fish came on current points with water pushing on them, when I say bigger I mean 2lb + fish, so we decided to fish the River Rat tournament out of B&W on  Saturday.
      On Saturday, we stayed in the middle Delta concentrating on any kind of points that had current pushing on them... weed  points ,tule points, rock points ,etc. We caught fish on all of them. It just had to have moving water on them.
      On Saturday we cought 9 keepers on 5” green pumpkin Senkos with the wack-a-sack and 3 fish pitching a 1/2 oz Bass Union heavy cover flipping Jig with a craw trailer. For both techniques we used Gamma braid with a Gamma fluorocarbon leader.
      We finished in 4th place and I had a great time fishing with my son.
      I hope this helps.
      Good luck fishing.
      Stan L

Tuesday, September 15th, 2020

    • By

      Report: by Whoopbass » Tue Sep 15, 2020 12:17 pm

      Myself and a buddy fished Hogan 3-4 weeks ago. We rarely fish the lake so we targeted Stripers right at sunrise. My buddy being hard headed wouldn't listen to me where to fish, he wanted to fish up the lake in a some cove he had action in last year. The guy is always fishing old patterns no matter if it was spring when he caught em and now its winter. To me it was obvious where to fish being that all the boats stayed out in the main lake and didn't follow us up river.
      No stripers in our first two spots but I did hang a nice largemouth on a crankbait that came off. I talked him into going back into the main lake and the stripers were boiling. There were some nice ones in the mix. It was a solid hour or more since the sun came up and those stripers didn't want anything to do with any lure we threw at them. Out of all the boats around us I only witnessed one guy catch a 10" striper.
      I presume that if we were on them at sunup we may have caught a few but those stripers were focused on tiny baitfish.
      I would like to know what bait the locals use in that type of conditions or do they just go home. The smallest bait we had in the boat were 4" flukes and some small skinny fluke that Berkley makes.
      We ended up going bass fishing for a few hours and caught around 8 bass with nothing bigger then 1.5 lbs.
      He kept whining so we went to Salt Springs and it was fairly tough. Only about a dozen fish to 3lbs.

Friday, September 11th, 2020

    • By

      Report: Fishing Hogan Sept 11

      So, both my kids are in their 30’s and can remember what happened 19 years ago on 9/11.

      We decided the best way for us to reflect on the day is to spend some family time together. I decided to take them fishing and wanted to do a little something different so we headed to Hogan.

      When we got there I was surprised how many trucks were in the parking lot which usually means one thing, the stripers are boiling!

      And they were!

      Even so, we decided to concentrate on catching largemouth and smallmouth. We started fishing about 7:30 am. The lake was at 46% of capacity. The surface temperature was in the mid 70’s and the water had about 6’ to 10' visibility. There was a good breeze. The smoke in the air made low light conditions.

      We started throwing moving baits. It didn't take long before we had some action on topwater baits. By the end of the day my daughter and I caught 8 on Berkley Choppos. My son stuck with a Ned rig in the 15’ to 20' range. He mostly caught smallmouth. The fish seemed to be in the last deep water in the back of coves.

      One other thing I always thought was cool about Hogan is that they offer free use of life jacket program. If you need one, check it out.

      Hope this helps. Good Luck Fishing
      StanL

Thursday, September 10th, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: *74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The Delta has been fair but steady if you'te willing to work. Been fishing the central Delta-worms and punch bite is fair to good on the high out going tide-first 2 hours after ebb high has been my best action-T/rig worms and punching beavers has been the ticket. Top water has been tough with mostly small fish responding. No takers on Chatterbaits or other reaction baits. If you need action take out the spinning rod and tie on a white fluke for lots of dinks.

      Tips: Keep your baits in the shade and be persistent. 6in. kut tail worms in standard colors should do the trick.

Monday, September 7th, 2020

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Postby StanL » Mon Sep 07, 2020 3:46 am

      Fishing Lake Camanche This Week Sept 6

      My friend Bud and I hit the water about 6:30 in the morning. We started by running through a lot of moving baits over island tops and main lake points. We had no luck. Then we decided to head up river. We saw a lot of bait and a lot of fish suspended on vertical banks.

      After trying several different techniques, the baits that worked the best for me was a Cool Baits underspin with a Keitech. Bud used a Bass Unon 3/4 oz jig with a Yamamoto Twin Tail on vertical walls.

      All of our bites were just a slight tick. That’s why it was crucial to use braid with a fluoroleader. I used Gamma for both. The fish where at about 15’ over 30’ of water. The surface temp was at 80 degrees and had about 6’ of water visabilaty.

      The daily reservoir water storage is 238 CFS coming in and 291 CFS going out. When there is more water going out then coming in, the fishing is always going to be challenging. We cought 7 fish for the day and Bud big fished me again!

      Hope this helps. Good luck fishing.
      Stan L

Saturday, August 22nd, 2020

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: postby StanL » Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:25 pm

      Me and my buddy Jon finally had a chance to get out and do some fun fishing, so we went out to Camanche to see what was going on.

      As you all know, the heat has been terrible so we decided to hit the water early and fish until about 11:00. You will see from the pictures the sky was smoke filled and the sun was a red dot through the smoke if you looked at the one with the motor. It made everything feel overcast.

      With the clarity at about 6’ and the surface temperature at 83 degrees, we decided to start on some rock piles in about 10’ of water. After about 30 minutes with we hadn't gotten a bite. So we started running main lake points with a Berkeley Cane Walker top water bait and a Frenzy Nail with a Zoom green pumpkin Trick Worm for a bottom bait. We used Straight Gamma Gamma torque braid on the topwater becase we were making long casts and braid is better for that. We used Braid with Gamma fluorocarbon leader on the Nail. When I fish a Nail I like a leader so I can feel the bites better and also when I use a leader I can change line size more quickly if the bite gets more finicky.

      It didn’t take long before we started catching fish. We would catch 1 or 2 fish per spot. It seemed like the key was to stay on the move.

      I hope this helps. Good luck fishing,

      Stan Lafever

Wednesday, August 19th, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78-79

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Paradise about 6am (high tide) and waited for the sun to rise. Worked the inside rockwall that parallels Disappointment heading toward King's... picked up a lot of dinks and almost-keepers working plastics (Ned, Neko, dropshot, wacky senko). Was curious about the crank bite so threw a chrome/blue floating rat-l-trap and immediately was bit by a 1.5lber. Wondered if this was just a fluke so kept throwing it and caught 2 more along the rip rap wall. Then it stopped. Decided to go back to plastics and decided to try some Yamamoto Mermaids I thought I'd take a chance on. I got bit on every cast but was a mixture of 8-10"ers and a couple of 1lbers, but they were likin' the mermaid (I was using Okeechobee Craw and Wtrmln/Lt Wtrmln Blk Red Lami) ... they like em both. But I gotta say they are fragile baits and as with most Yamamoto baits, 'spensive as heck!! The bait stealers would hack off the claws and even chomp em in half. I didn't care at the time because I just wanted fish on the hook and they were working. Made a run to White Slough and continued with the neds and t-rigged mermaids, catching better keepers but nothing over 2.5lbs. Decent day but can't wait for the lipless crank bite. Maybe Oct/Nov? I don't actually know but that's what most of the tourney guys tell me.

      Tips: Not qualified to give tips but I'll tell you what put fish on the hook for us this day... I looked for pockets in the weed and veggie mats and also threw to the tules and worked em outward into the weed mats. Depth was 3-12 feet. Neds worked early on using Junebug, PB&J, and MMIII then I switched to the mermaids. Started with the Wtrmln/Lt Wtrmln Blk Red Lami color and ran out after catching and bait stealers tearing em up. Switched to Okeechobee Craw color and the bite frequency increased...maybe just got lucky in the area we tried on White Slough. Anyways, they're fish catchers but not sure i wanna spend Yamamoto $$$s ... gonna try the Cowboy next and will have another bag of Mermaids, but likely will stick with SK Rage and Menace.... they work too! Maybe concentrate on punching next time out.

Tuesday, August 18th, 2020

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78.8-81.2

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Ted & I fished the last 6 evenings with mostly good results. We fished south as usual (what can I say, my dock’s by Konocti! Lol.) We keyed on rock structure starting at 11 pm til dawn. The bite for the most part was good. Not like earlier this spring when we were crushing it, but still a solid bite. The only exception was last night where the mini storm earlier in the day suppressed the bite, in my opinion. We caught 10, but the rest of the trips averaged 25. No monsters, our largest were mid 6’s but the average size was nice in the mid 4’s to heavy 5’s. Our limits were 19 lbs to 26.5 lbs averaging 24lbs. They are exceptionally strong right now & catching & fighting them was a blast! Blue & baits with blue flake were the color of choice, we threw some red but they were much less effective. Texas rig, jigs worked the best, cranks & blades were spotty, they’d nail it one night & wouldn’t touch it on another. We caught a few Senko fish deadsticking it but became bored with it so really didn’t dedicate to it. Swim bait was nonexistent as well. There were some popular spots that weren’t producing so move if you don’t get strikes in a reasonable amount of time. We ran into pretty much dead calm conditions most evenings so were able to detect the slightest hits. All in all a good trip!

      Tips: A slow presentation was working for us. Just barely bumping the plastics & jigs, moving them just enough to not get stuck. Even the crank & blade strikes were from moving them slowly. It was pretty humid so take a lot of water & stay hydrated. Throwing to the edges of weed lines off of rocky structure garnered a bunch of strikes. Don’t be afraid to try 20’ & deeper too, we caught some of our larger fish doing just that. I can’t report for the north or day fishing, but there’s a short but brisk frog bite right at dawn. With this heat wave warming the water quickly, adjust your speed accordingly & try different techniques. Stay safe & have fun out there!

      Chris

Friday, August 7th, 2020

Monday, August 3rd, 2020

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 81 avg

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Angel's arm from 6:30 pm - 11:30 pm. Bite was dead until dusk when I picked up a 1.5-2.0 lb fish on a jig. After dark, got 2 more on a jig.1-1.5 lbs. I got no bites on any other lure. Bite died about 2 hours after dark. Maybe Mondays are a bad day to go since a guide (drives ChampioN) said there was maybe 500 boats on the lake the day before (Sunday). Or, maybe the fishing is just lousy or maybe I'm not fishing in the right places.

      Tips: Maybe dont fish Angel's arm;)

Tuesday, July 28th, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78 to 80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing with Sid
      Mon 2020-07-27 22:38
      The Lake Berryessa News
      This past week NorthBay Hospice & Bereavement honored Alfonso and his family at Steele Park. Alfonso's wish was a day spent fishing at the lake and enjoying time with his family. I was honored to take members of his family out fishing and to spend the day with them (see photos). I went out with Bob and he landed some nice bass (see photo). The fishing was off during the day with no signs of activity at all till late evening when the sun started to set and the surface water started to cool down and then the action started. We did much better then the day time. Hopefully the day bite will pick up.
      'til next time...……………………………………..good fishing!!!
      If you have any questions or stories yo would like to share or are interested in booking a guided fishing trip please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
      Thanks,
      Sid

      Tips: it was an honor on my part to grant a mans last wishes died 2 days later they told me he was happy to his last breath and never stopped talking about his fish,

Saturday, July 25th, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74-76

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hit Henny with my buddy Bruce for early am top h2o bite with poppers, frog and buzz baits for a few good blow ups. Spinner baits and a few honey holes caught a couple more. Bruce caught the better fish all day and I had the numbers. Switched to jigs and had lots of hits, but they were tough to catch. Bruce got more in the boat than me, including the bass of the day 5.11lb. It was overcast for the first 3 1/2 hours on the lake with a slight breeze. Made for good fishing.

Monday, July 20th, 2020

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80-84

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We got on the water right at dawn and fished until about 1 PM. Went with topwater right away and got a few dinks on a popper. The zara spook and whopper popper did not produce. Then we ran crank baits some and got nothing. Drop shots with oxblood roboworms produced small ones. We finally got into a few keepers to 2 points with jigs worked slowly around wood. Overall a very slow day.

Thursday, July 16th, 2020

    • By

      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Catching spots on various drop shot worms fishing the heat of the day. Fishing underwater shade, off of island tops on the other side of the sun, shaded side. Been taking large mouths on a buzz bait as soon as I can find some decent shade lines in the backs of creeks at the end of the day. just put the Minkota on 30 keep the pedal down and burn the shade line. Most of the largemouths are coming out of the pockets small spots are on the points.

      Tips: In the heat fish whatever shade you can find.

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Small mouth are hitting drop shot on island tops. Have not been able to get any reaction bites in this 95 degree plus heat. Catching fish from 10-40’.

Monday, July 13th, 2020

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76.2

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Just a quick follow up, Matt Guyot & I went out tonite & the wind picked up a bit this evening. It came from the north & the reaction bite went south with it! For Us, only the jig & Texas rig worked. There were definite lulls in the action & we worked fairly hard for the fish we caught. The numbers were still decent at 32 fish but the size was down except for the 7 lb 14 oz toad Matt caught for his new personal best. Congrats Matt! We fished south & they weren’t schooled up as much as they have been for the last two days. The jig worked best with a double wide trailer with a 1/2” cut off the top, Texas was dbl wide & brush hogs with a very slow presentation. Best 5 went a shade over 24 lbs. same colors as previous report.

      Just another quick follow up: went out last night & the wind was down. Fishing was pretty much the same as Sun night except the reaction bite was back on. Blades were working well as was the crankbait. Best five went a shade over 22 lbs & other than the reaction bite, the pattern was the same. Water temp came up a degree to 77.2

      Tips: Slow was the key & moving around, grinding it out. We stayed south the whole time & hit a few more spots than before. Take your time & enjoy the moment! We’ll get out there again tonite, in the meantime stay safe & have fun!

Sunday, July 12th, 2020

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76.8

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The bite’s still doing well! Manny Frias & I have been out for the past few nights with great #’s of fish! There’s been a great reaction bite with both cranks & blades. The jig’s still doing well, the Texas rig with brush hogs were producing a lot of hits as & there’s also a decent Senko bite! We averaged over 45 fish/ night with our biggest being 6 lbs 9 oz. It was nice to see the return of a decent Senko bite. Our limits were a little over 24 lbs on Friday night & 28 lbs 4 oz on Saturday night. Colors were blues with some red & green flakes. I also got on a little nostalgia kick & threw an old 55 year old Bomber Water Dog & a football jig with an Uncle Josh pork trailer from my days fishing with my Dad when I was a kid & nailed a few with each! We fished south on rocky structure & they were all over the water column. They were very aggressive when they hit, often time pounding the baits!

      Tips: They seemed to like a slow presentation with the plastics & a fairly fast presentation with the reaction baits. We got quite a few hits running baits back to the boat! They seemed to be schooled up as we caught several fish on each spot. Greens & browns with a multitude of flake color seemed to work best, the more vibrant, the better! They are relating to structure, we didn’t fish any docks because we didn’t have to! We didn’t catch any huge beasts but most of our fish were in the 3-5 lb range with an occasional 6lber. Also, if you stay until light breaks, you will get to see a comet in the NE sky just as it starts to break light! Amazing sight to see! Have fun & be safe! We will be going out for a few more nights & I’ll report again if anything changes!

    • By

      Water Temp: 75 in am

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished yesterday am .No ones doing any reports so here goes. Normally fish during the week . There was a lot of boats out.Algae blooms are bad in some areas but there is clear water to fish just have to move around.
      If i was to fish a tourny right now i would be throwing a frog a buzzbait and a jig. Only 3 rods i needed yesterday. I have been catching chatterbait fish north but stayed south.
      Had about 17 pounds on topwater.
      fished till about 11 am.and caught 13-15 fish to 4 lbs.

Friday, July 10th, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76 to 778

      Report: Fishing during the day during a full moon was challenging. I went out with Gary who wanted to fish for crappie. Needless to say it was not an easy task!

      We ended up catching a few nice bass. Next morning I took Frank and his two sons out with almost the same results as the day before. this pattern continued through with Mike, Dusty, Tim, and David. When I went out in the evening with Steve we ended up with two limits of five each the biggest bass was about four pounds. Since the fishing was better in the evening that's when I went out for the next few nights and landed limits each time. Fishing in the evening was not only more productive but cooler as well.

      t'll next time...………………………………………………………………………………….good fishing!!!




      If you have any questions or stories you would like to share or are interested in booking a guided fishing trip please email me at besstguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.




      Thanks,

      Sid

      Tips: keep trying until you find something that works;what worked for me was to fish while the full moon was out

Friday, July 3rd, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: by HappyDogBassFishing » Fri Jul 03, 2020 7:37 pm

      Here is my last week of June fishing report. Overall the fishing was fun even though I did not find tournament winning sized fish. I was able to put a few limits around 15 or 16 pounds throwing the usual stuff: walking baits, buzzbaits, bladed jigs, punching, etc. Once in a while I found them school up and could pick off a few in the same spot. So fishing fast until the bites came and then staying on them paid off.