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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Tuesday, November 6th, 2012

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63-66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I was able to guide a senior citizen last night for his first experience in "after hours" bass fishing. At least it was supposed to be bass fishing except that his first "bass" was a 25 lb Channel Catfish which he somehow landed on 6 lb test!!! And he had to hand-line it in because his reel broke - what a show!!!! Around 10 pm I land a "dink" Channel - only about 15 lbs! Never really wanted to be a catfish guide!! As dusk fell, he landed his first-ever big bass - a hair over 5 lbs. The guy doesn't believe in small fish!! The carp were rolling right after dark and the bass were biting then too, unlike my previous trip with Mike. Until midnight he hooked quality bass after bass with his 5 fish limit over 20 lbs! I suspect he now loves night fishing. I caught a few also - I think we had a total of 12 in the boat (plus catfish!). He only missed two bites. Unlike the other night, bites were few and far between. The carp quit rolling about an hour after dark and the bite was very slow the rest of the trip - one here, one there. Quality was good however. If you read my previous report, the feeding period was the total opposite from 72 hours ago (Fri night). Weird sport we are involved in!!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The big story is the weather. I have night fished at Clear Lake in November for nearly 25 years. I have NEVER seen a November evening as warm as last night. I didn't even put on my Ranger jacket until an hour after dark. At that time the water temp was 64-65 degrees! Last night was the 11th anniversary of my double limit (with client) of 10 bass for 76 lbs (unofficial lake record). When I picked up my client at the motel (5 pm), it was already 38 degrees and the trip ended at 27 degrees. Last night was simply balmy! We caught most of our bass last night were pretty shallow, 10 to 20 feet, all on rocky shorelines. My clients first two fish (cat and bass) were caught on the Berkely Havoc bait - Pit Boss. Then we used Berkely Power worms and brush hogs. He threw his Blade Runner buzz bait some as dusk - but no takes. We fished the whole Clear Lake arm.

  • Butte County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fair day today. My fishing partner and I bagged 20 spots, all in slot, largest 14 inches. Windy early, glass by late morning. Most 15-30 feet of water. Got all on 4 1/2" robo worms, Texas rigged. Also got one coho that was a plant from the week prior, about 8" or so. The small brute put up a fair fight. Released all fish for another day.
      City: Magalia

Monday, November 5th, 2012

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 66.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Can't believe it's November this past weekend was perfect weather. The lake was like glass and the trout were plentiful. I started out with Albert and Jeremy at 11 AM and headed towards the east side of the lake. Didn't have to go to far before we saw the trout boiling all over. Since the trout were on the surface we all decided to use shallow diving speed trap lures which scored limits of trout for all of us (see photos). Trout give you a good fight especially on light tackle. I met up with Art who told me he was trolling at 1.2 miles an hour with very little luck landing any trout but when he saw my boat he set his speed to copy mine and he started catching more fish. I go between 2.5 and 3 miles an hour. A few nice size bass were caught in the afternoon trip but the trout ruled the day. Hope it will be the same next weekend. 'til then.........................................................................................................good fishing!!!
      www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
      City: Napa

      Tips: book a fishing trip nowmany heekhig

    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Water Temps just got down to "doable" at 68 in main lake during middle of the day. Found tons of bait, but could not get much of a vertical spoon bite going. Bunch of dinky bass for the most part. Kings have not pushed up yet. Trout are still on top.

      Did the best from 7 am to 9 am casting to the boiling trout & baby bass. 1/2 oz spoons, 2" Rattle Traps, and Poppers caught them. Had to "match the hatch" though. All the bait I found was 1 1/2", and if the threw a lure much bigger, the trout might follow it, but not hit it. Fishing a blue bird day probably added to the problem.

      I would have done better if I had my 1 1/2" (3/16 oz) Rattle Traps and 1/4 oz spoons & and Rod a w/4 lb test, but I did not have them in the boat...

      Still a fun day and located much of the bait for when the vertical spoon bite does turn on!
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: I will get better!

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: clear warm 70 s day 50 s night rain wednesday!
      Lake Level: 1.20 above rumsey\Best Depths: 1- 30
      no reports coming in . The bite has been hot on overcast or rainy days but not many boats out
      Big Bass: 1- 3011/03/2012 - 8.54
      Chris La Point caught a 8.54 in SCBBC tourny with a 4 fish l;imit of 22.70
      Events: WON Bass team TOC 11/17-11/18
      Guide Information: clearlake outdoors\Name & Number: 707-262-5852

      Tips: not much boat traffic and bite continues to get better. Minnow bite is taking off and lots of big cats being caught

Saturday, November 3rd, 2012

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: launched b&w because new hope was filled up by 7:45am...wow, where'd they come from? anyway, hit our fav tule island and dock but managed only a couple keepers and some dinks on cranks... redeye shads, speedtraps, and rebel mid-diver crawfish. moved to sycamore island and managed a few more barely keepers, shaker stripers, and about a 2lber. moved into sycamore for a couple more keeper/dinks and called it a day.
      City: folsom

      Tips: nothing to offer...we're just junk fishing right now. 2 bassboats asked us if we had the big'uns' and after we told 'em what we got, i asked how they were doing... both gave me the index fingertip touching the thumb. wow, they were honest! i respect that! but we weren't that much better. what happened? someone please help and post the working pattern for these present conditions.

    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I wanted to Thank the Two Real Bass Guys that helped me this morning at CFW. I had left my key on and ran my Battery dead MY FAULT got into a hurry. But I was able to ask another bass guy to give me a jump I still needed to buy a new battery but they got me on the water to catch a bunch THANK YOU AGAIN
      On the other hand I asked two guys first who were in a smaller boat if they would jump me and he said that he didn't jump start people WTF I don't wish bad things...but WTF. Karma!! I would always help out a fellow Boater.
      Play safe Tight lines
      City: Roseville

      Tips: Crank in the morning and toss jigs in Between points Baby Bass and Morning Dawn were working today Cranking Sexy Shad Square bill's

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63-66

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Mike Sperbeck and I launched about 4 pm yesterday afternoon and began to fish some of our favorite areas - up a far as Henderson Point. With nothing to show but some dinks and one that was barely a keeper - up to 7:30 pm. We almost decided to pull out and go home. It was strange - a warm evening with cloud cover - perfect - we thought! Some of you remember my carp theory - when they become active at night - so do the bass. As the moon came up, the carp started rolling. More carp than I have heard in over a year. Then Mike catches his first big fish - over 5 lbs and I catch my first - just under 5 lbs. Then Mike decided to put it to me again as I net his 8 lb 11 oz monster! And it sort of just kept going. Our earlier goal was to try to match half of the two day total weight of last weeks tourney winner - 63 lbs! Well, we came close - about 30 3/4 lbs for our best five. Mike had three of them and I had two. We caught 14 bass from 3 1/4 lbs to the 8-11. Funny - Mike caught most of his 10 feet deep or less while mine were typical of my style - 15 to 25 feet deep. Moral is: "pick a depth!!" We were pretty happy campers as we left Red Bud at 1:30 am. Another surprising thing - we saw one bass boat heading towards Lakeport at dusk - and that was it. It is fun to fish Clear Lake once in awhile as your own "private lake!"
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We really used several methods to catch our bass, using all soft plastics. I did throw crankbaits during the dead period which is part of the reason it was dead! I did hook a big fish about midnight on a crankbait - but lost it. We mostly Texas rigged our baits but did a lot of drop-shotting too. Big Power worms worked as well as brush hog and Berkley Havoc type baits. As always, we worked the baits very slowly - sometimes with short pauses. We are practicing our winter style - even though there is no sign of winter yet at Clear Lake. Maybe the end of next week I hear!

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Great Fall fishing, early morning top water with R2S Loon Whopper Plopper then later in the day chased shadows too continue top water.R2S Powder Bling blades around lay down wood.Bass full of shad and are putting on the feeding bags for the winter. Fish in less than 25feet and willing to chase. Best 5 around 15lbs.Can't beat days like today.
      City: Merced

      Tips: Cover a lot of water,be safe and wear your PFD's

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60.5-63.0

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: morning reaction bite sucked. no keepers on swims, blades or cranks. bite picked up about 11 am, though nothing chasing bait on top. graphed lots of fish and bait in the 18-30 foot range, but the best action was on slow worked jerk baits, light jigs or plastics. Managed just at 10 lbs for best five. Best fish barely over three.
      City: Redding

      Tips: use electronics, find fish and bait, if not ready to bite, move on to other areas and use your graph. come back to areas with bait balls and fish later as sooner or later they do turn on.

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: 67 - 70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Saturday, 11/3/12, My buddy and I started fishing Cherry Creek. I started with a top water bait followed by a shallow diving crank bait, a spinner bait and a rattle trap. My goal was to target larger fish throughout the whole water column, I had no takers over three hours. . During this same period, my buddy almost exclusively drop-shotted a 4½-inch RoboWorm. The bite was slow for him but by the time I decided to go to my confidence technique (drop-shotting), my buddy had at least 6 small fish to my zero. By about 3:00, I also had 6 small fish. At this time we decided to move to Dry Creek. We started fishing about a half mile up Dry Creek on the South side across from the mouth of Cherry Creek. As winter approaches, the sun is moving across the southern sky thus creating early shadows on the northern side of the hills. As we approached a large shadowed area, we saw a lot of fish chasing shad in the trees and in open water outside of the shadows. Also, the fish finder was marking a lot of fish and bait balls. At this point my buddy put on 6-inch soft swim bait. He immediately, caught a 2 lb. bass. The fish took the bait very aggressively and totally inhaled the bait. So, I immediately put on a 4-inch soft paddle tail swim bait and threw to some breaking shad and caught a 2½ lb. bass. A few casts later to another group of breaking shad, my swim bait was slammed hard and the fish took off running hard. It took me a few minutes to land the fish. It turned out to be over a 3 lb steelhead trout. The larger swim bait and a bass assassin weren’t working for my buddy. So he switched to a smaller hard jerk bait and immediately caught a 2 lb bass. A few casts later, he landed a 2 -3 lb squawfish which had a large belly and was spitting up small shad (I didn’t know there were squawfish in Lake Sonoma). A few casts later, it was my buddy’s turn to land about a 2½ lb steelhead trout. While this was happening, I continued to catch bass. After about 30 minutes, the bait turned off. But during this 30 minutes of fast action, we caught at least 8 fish all at least 2 lbs. Great fun! We ended the day with over 20 fish.
      City: Pinole

      Tips: If you see breaking shad, cast to them.

    • By

      Water Temp: 62 - 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Great day on the water, the sun shined all day and there wasn't much wind or a crowd. Took my son & his friend stayed mostly on the main lake right before the narrows, found a spot that had 8' @ rocky shore to 20' with trees & then 30' -40' drop off. Found fished staged on deep ledge, threw crankbaits in silver shad to catch fish until noon, then switched to jerkbaits in afternoon. When we would catch a fish you would see others following. Caught 20 fish between all 3 of us, with 2 biggest 3lbers, my son lost a 5+ (that was chasing my hooked 1 1/2lb), was still exciting to see that.
      City: Pacifica

      Tips: Caught most of fish on Jerkbait, then crankbait, a couple on Dropshot & one on Zoom Fluke. All baits were Shad color or white,

Friday, November 2nd, 2012

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: First report here I am a Fly guy that has been on the Delta the last 5 years or so. Launched at Buckley and had an hour to kill on the water. Was fishing a large chub/rainbow trout streamer pattern about 7" in length. Had one fish boil right as the fly hit the water and missed him twice. About 15 yards down the bank I hook up to a nice 4.5 LMB. Was the only fish for the night and I was surprised at the lack of birds and Stripers in that area right now.
      City: Lodi

      Tips: Was fishing a point with the outgoing tide making a nice seam off it. Big fly = Big fish.

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the main lake as the baitfish have not made there way to the back of the creeks. caught fish throught the day on jigs and drop shot.In the morning the fish were feeding heavy on bait down in 25 to 30 feet if you have a good graph you can see the fish crashing through the bait, all you have to do then is hit them in the head and they would eat it.We did catch a few on jigs and spinnerbaits.
      City: san lorenzo

      Tips: use your electronics if you are not comfortable with them now is the time to go out because the fish are right where they should be, with the bait. keep your eyes peeled and look for the bait around mainlake points

Thursday, November 1st, 2012

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 64 afternoon

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: 2.5#sm and 2#lm on deep diving cranks after 1st bounce off bottom, then ripped in 9-13'. Calm off and on rain 1st half of day so I swung for the fence with large baits and wiffed. Worse, when the big stripers put on a boiling show my arm was too sore to throw but a couple casts to them. Fished 11/2, too, but bluebird calm in a.m. made it tough for me. Like 11/1 fish were feeding everywhere but they wouldn't hit even the little realistic stuff. Couldn't go for reaction bite - arm still too sore.

      Tips: That's all I got. Did raise that 10#lm again same point on big bait but no take. Tried with little bait 11/2 and no show.

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65-66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I checked out beautiful Bullards Bar this morning - and found it to be quite lonely!! I only saw one other boat today - and they wern't even fishing! Started with one or two on topwater but that was pretty slow. I started drop-shotting a grape Robo worm and the spots were all over it!! I mean at least 40 in the boat in my half day there. Most were small but a few hit the 2 lb mark. I threw swimbaits a lot with no takers. Around noon I started fishing a #301 Senko with some side weights and caught slightly better quality fish. I worked water from 10 to 70 feet with different baits and decided that the big fish haven't tuned in the fall feed yet. It is raining hard in Yuba City tonight (.82 inches so far). That should get the bite going - I hope!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I drop-shotted a Basstrix Flashtrix minnow also and only caught a few even thought bass were spitting up baitfish. They really wanted the worm. Morning Dawn w/chartreuse tail 6 inch Robo worm also worked too! I decided not to loose any crankbaits today on those great stumps!!!

Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I made another afternoon trip to test the bite and found it still to be a bit slow. We need some cold nights! I found drop-shotting a grape color Robo worm to be the bait of choice and got a lot of action before dark - about 20 to 30 feet deep. Even though I had a lot of bites, I only landed 5 - but they were nice spots from 1 1/2 to 2 1/4 lbs. I caught one on the east side and the rest on the west side. Had one quality blowup on topwater, but missed her.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The coming rain and longer nights should cool the water some in spite of no cold fronts yet. The usual good October bite will be in November this year. I did quite a bit of spooning with no results.

Monday, October 29th, 2012

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: clear warm
      Lake Level: 1.21 above rumsey\Best Depths: 1-30
      swimbaits,lv 500, more guys reporting fish on jerkbaits and the a rig is coming into play. If you missed the crazy a rig bite last winter than you need to get up here its only going to get better
      Big Bass: 1-3010/27/2012 - 10.01
      several in WON classic
      Events: Nows the time to come up no big events till nov 17-18 WON bass team TOC
      Guide Information: clearlakeoutdoors\Name & Number: 707-262-5852

      Tips: congrats to Mike Stiles on the WON win with over 63 pounds for two days with a 10.01 on day 1

Sunday, October 28th, 2012

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Russos and fished around Franks. A pretty steady bite on fish in the 1 lb range all day. Once the tide swung started tossing swimbaits and lipless cranks after stripers and only caught more largies. Ended with 1 shaker.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I spent 4 days exploring Nicasio the week of Sept 23rd. Got through maybe 1/4 of the reservoir. Had the best success near the dam when I switched to a vintage deep diving crankbait. 8 bass by the dam in maybe 6 hours, nothing over 2 pounds.

      Thinking of taking a couple small bass home next time, but not sure how healthy the population is. Less small bass= more food for the big ones, right? I know those damn carp seem to be splashing EVERYWHERE and they're huge.
      City: South San Francisco

      Tips: Bounce your lures off the rocks!Didn't catch a single one on the famous Senko, but people seem to have success with it.
      There are some back coves if you're willing to hike, although I'd consider it fairly treacherous and unsure what the rewards are, I only caught one in two days exploring on a Mepps Agila.