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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, July 2nd, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 72 to 76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished the Central Delta area yesterday and caught 36 bass. Our best five might have gone 7 pounds. Yes! Out of 36 bass, plus the 24 my partner caught, about 90 percent were under 12 inches. We fished rip-rap as well as tullie islands and points, and whatever. No hits on the frog but I did catch one on a wopper plopper, nothing on a swim jig, and two or three on a chatterbait, and a few on a drop shot. Everything else was on the good old senko. My best fish was 3.68 pounds and there were maybe five more that were between 12 and 13 inches. It seemed a little unusual with that many dinks but we still had a good time because of all the action.

Tuesday, June 30th, 2020

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: unknown

      Report: Caught 10 bass
      1 on whopper plopper
      1 on frog
      1 on senko drop shot
      7 on Bill Dance crawdad crankbait

      Tips: Got on the water in my belly boat at 6:00 am. Nice day. Calm.

      Fish the frog really tight against bank. Use it to spot fish that spook.

      Crankbait deep in the middle

Friday, June 26th, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74-76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched Paradise @545am, first time back on the delta since the "stay home" thing. Decided to just start fishing the tules along Disappointment... picked up a few almost keepers to 1 pounders on dropshot, senko-type, ned, and a couple blow-ups but no hookup on buzzbait...nothing on the squarebills til we ran into lots of stripers (shakers) boiling every couple hundred yards. Fun gettin' bit on the cranks with a lot of 17"ers but no keeper stripers. Headed down to the San Joaquin / Tinsley, picked up a few more stripers and a few 1 and 2 lbers on squarebill, senko-type sticks, and neds. Moved out to the main river and fished the banks of the San Joaquin picking up a few more 1 lbers on same variety of baits. Since it was Friday, wanted to beat the traffic so moved back up and fished Disappointment in various spots leading back to Paradise. Lost a nice one, don't have a clue on size/weight, but it bit my white jackhammer chatterbait and then the #$%^&ing FG knot came undone...same leader I had caught several on the cranks. Found the jackhammer in about 5ft on a tule point so was able to get it back. I'm done with FG... going back to Alberto, Albright, and Double Uni knots for joining my leaders but to perfectly honest, gonna do away with fluoro leaders as I never had problems using straight braid prior to trying leaders...only reason I went to leaders is because everyone kept saying I ought to. Well I found no difference except losing a few fish and if it was my joining knot on the FG, then fine, I admit it so I'll just eliminate that single point of failure by not using an FG anymore...never had failure on double-uni, albright, or alberto.

      Tips: Not qualified to offer tips but plastics on dropshot, wacky, ned, and neko, squarebills using stop and go retrieve (lots of hits on the pause), and a few on swim senkos worked for us in 5-12 ft water.

Thursday, June 25th, 2020

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out to Folsom today and started off really slow. Caught a bluegill on a drop shot and that was the only action until about 10am when the bite finally picked up. Finally found about 10 fish up to 3 pounds on rocky points in 16-25 ft throwing a brown and orange 1/2 oz jig and a drop shot with a hologram shad 4 inch Robo Worm. The only was to get these fish to bite was to drag it really really slow after spotting them on my electronics. Tried Whopper ploppers, flukes, swimbaits, cranks and nothing. It's definitely a tough bite but if you stick with it and fish slow you can manage to get a few.

      Tips: Fish were really hugging the bottom so bottom baits worked best.

Sunday, June 21st, 2020

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 71-75

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Whew. Spent the past week up at Shasta with the lady and had a blast. I managed to get out on the lake a few times and the bite was wide open. I spent most of the time fishing up the McCloud arm and could pretty much catch em on whatever I threw. Early mornings and late evenings topwater bite was wide open. A lot of cookie cutter 1-2lb spots but mixed in were solid 2-4 lb spots and ended up getting my biggest shasta spot (4lbs) and largemouth a touch over 5lbs on a spook. This morning I got out from 5am-10:30am and boated roughly 85 fish; the majority on a spook and whopper plopper. Fast and erratic with the spook with the occasional pause seemed to be the pace they wanted.

      Tips: Switched out the back treble on my spook to one with a feather, seemed to get more bites. Also burning a fluke nose hooked produced some wild bites as well; and I mean burning that thing as fast as your reel will let you

Wednesday, June 17th, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69 to 71

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Buddy Doug and I planned a trip to the Delta today. He was at my house about 5:15 AM and we discussed "go or not go" because of the wind but we decided to go. Glad we did. Wind was a bitch and I lost my shade giving large-brim hat, but Doug got his personal best at 6 1/2 lbs and 22 inches, while I got two that were right at 4 lbs. There were just a few other fish but our best five would have been near 16 lbs. I threw a lot of different baits but Senkos saved the day for us. I know the heading shows Almaden Lake but I did not see the Delta listed at all.

      Tips: Most bites came from tule clumps and under irregation pipes. Plain rip-rap produced very few bites.

Tuesday, June 16th, 2020

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught a decent amount of fish today, mainly in coves where the wind isn't too bad.

      Tips: Use spinnerbait when its windy off main points and over vegetation. Drop shot and ned rig also seems like a guaranteed catch, used pb&j or dark finesse worm.

  • Lake County
    • By

      Report: by Bassdrool » Tue Jun 16, 2020 12:06 pm

      If you have been wondering how the bite at Clearlake has been since re-opening check this video out. We have been on the lake 3 separate trips since re-opening and it does not disappoint. Fish can be caught on anything you want to throw but to me nothing beats catching 30 fish a day on a glide bait. This is only half of the days footage as the Go Pro battery died but it shows you just how good this lake can be. For more videos like this in the future please subscribe to The Bass Hookup on YouTube. Our passion is fishing and sharing knowledge with others, we do not hide baits, spots, or anything thing else in the hopes of making everyone's time on the water more successful.

      VIDEO here: https://www.westernbass.com/forum/new-clearlake-swimbait-video-t127874.html

Monday, June 15th, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 73-76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got to berryessa at about 6:30 and we launched out of Markley. Stayed in the narrows as it was pretty windy and hopped from point to point. Had about 30 fish on darter heads and crankbaits. Most of our fish were all largemouth which was surprising. Our big fish went about 3.5 and was a spot.

      Tips: Wherever there was wind we could usually pick 1-2 off a point within the first couple casts. We would move pretty quickly if it wasn’t “happening”

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69.6

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Just a quick follow up, after taking a few nights off, we were back at it Sat & Sun evening. What a difference between two nights! Sat was stellar as we caught both quality & quantity! Our limit went 31 lbs 15 oz anchored by an 8 lber & 7 lb 3 oz & we boated a literal plethora of fish! Sun was a different story as we fought the wind all night but Matt Guyot managed to snag his pb, a 6 lb 15 oz toad! Congrats Matt! We managed 17 fish with our limit just a tad under 25 lbs. pattern was pretty much the same as the last.

      Tips: I recommend trying crawfish style baits. A lot of the fish we caught looked like they had red lipstick on as the have obviously been eating them! Red in the bait seems to help. We had to ratchet up weights on Sun night to buck the wind, I really hope it eases up soon! They were even hitting this forgotten Texas rig craw plastic I bought probably 10 years ago from some bulk bin & found in a drawer in the garage. We used them all up & I have no idea where to get more! (They were red!) Stay on the Texas & jig for now & you’ll get strikes! We managed a few crank fish but found few areas to throw them in the wind. Stay safe & have fun when you’re out there.

Thursday, June 11th, 2020

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69.6

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing here is still fantastic! Manny Frias & I have been on the water these past two nights fishing through to morning. They’ve been on a jig, Texas rig & crankbait bite with a few blade fish thrown in for good measure. We found them in shallower water & I think they are cruisin’ for forage. We fished south & found them schooled up in many spots. Brushhogs in green pumpkin, double wide beavers in California 420, & 6th sense C15 cranks have worked best so far. Will hit the water for a few more nights. Manny caught his personal best with a nice 10 lb 6 oz beauty this morning. Our limits went 26 lbs 8 oz the 1st night & 34 lbs 3 oz the second. They were on rock structure for us & were hitting the Texas & jig on the fall a lot. We’d pick up the slack & they were there. I was surprised that the water temp was below 70 but really helped the stellar crank bite we experienced. We boated around 45 fish each night & have been having a ball!

      Tips: Slow presentation with the crank & other baits were working for us! They really seemed to like browns, greens & if it had red flakes, even better. They were very aggressive so you have to pay attention at all times. Stick to rock structure and humps & you will get bit! They likes dark colored cranks at night & shad pattern when it started breaking dawn. If you’re planning fishing here, I suggest soon as it’s been the best I’ve seen in a few years! Stay safe & have fun! (Hint: They’ve been crushing the jig at dawn!)

Monday, June 8th, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fwd: Fishing with Sid. Ok

      Date: June 10, 2020 at 10:41:21 AM PDT
      To: "bestguide@hotmail.comi" <bestguide@hotmail.comi>, The Lake Berryessa News <pkilkus@gmail.com>
      Subject: Fishing with Sid

      This past Monday I took out Scott and Mark. My game plan was to start on the east side near the ranch house but that quickly changed as we headed out and encountered white caps. I decided to go to the back of the Monticello ski school to be sheltered from the wind. We were in calm water but no fish action. After a while I headed out to the Narrows the wind was still a factor but I tried the first cove by the ranch house and we landed the first bass of the day. We changed from crank bait to worming at that point but no bites. I continued on to the vineyards and still no bites. After about a half hour I headed towards big island hoping our luck would change and it did. Went back to crank bait and Mark caught a nice bass and this began the catching part of the trip. From that point on both Scott and Mark were busy bringing in some nice bass from 2 to 4 pounds. We ended the day with limits and two happy fishermen.

      'til 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 bestguide@hotmail,com or call me at 650-583-3333.

      Tips: hard to fish in white caps and wind so we went where we were sheltered good idea but no fish back of ski school near the narrows. we went up the east side to the vineyards with no signs of life and no fish. we went thru white caps until we reached big island water was quitter and we started to catch fish ,call me will tell you the rest of fishing story

Thursday, June 4th, 2020

  • Amador County
    • By

      Report: by StanL » Thu Jun 04, 2020 9:59 pm

      Camanche Fishing Report 6-4-20

      Today I got the chance to fish with my old buddy Ed Austin. Ed is the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to Lake Camanche. He grew up at the town of Camanche before they flooded it and turn it in to a reservoir.

      After 20 years of fishing with Ed on this lake, he still points out things to me that I am amazed by.

      Okay let’s get to the fishing report. We fished from about 7:00 am-1:00 pm because it was HOT! Even though it was a shorter day, we still ended up catching 16 fish. Nothing big but a lot of fun!

      The surface temperature was 75° and the clarity was around 7 feet.

      When we got there, I caught two fish on a Spook and all the rest came on a 1/4 oz Frenzy Nail with a watermelon purple flake Trick Worm and a NED head with a big TRD in mud bug color. Thanks again to Jay at Hook’d in Ione for recommending that color to me. It has been a fish catcher for sure!

      We caught mostly largemouth in the morning and spots later in the afternoon. They were all in 10’ to 20’feet of water on points and island tops.

      I think if you get there early you can probably get on a good topwater bite. One more thing I need to mention is that I’m using 20# braid with a 8# Gamma Edge Fluoro leader. Not only is it the strongest fluorocarbon, I have ever used but I think it is essential to get more bites. Please try to support your local tackle shops. They need support more than ever right now. I hope this helps. Good luck fishing!!

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74-77

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I took two very nice people to Berryessa yesterday (Tues) and found the fishing to be pretty good for a bluebird, HOT summer day. Luckily, though the water was flat without a hint of a breeze all day, it did have some color to it which I think helped the bite. One of my guests was Clara Ricabal, world record holder (female) for the 7-2 lb spotted bass she caught with me last year at Bullards.Bar. The other was recent Shasta Lake tournament winner Alex Niapas who single handedly put Shasta on the map with his 13+ lb largemouth and 8 lb spotted bass. Yea - everyday stuff at Shasta!!
      I think the two good friends had a nice day with me as we each caught 5 nice bass with Alex spoiling our record with the only dink - LOL!!!

      Alex and I shared the sort-of big fish honors with a spot and largemouth that were just under 3 lbs. If Clara would have just stop catching smallmouth early in the trip - we would have had a bigger limit! But she saved herself at the end of the trip, in the narrows, by catching a really nice,
      quality smallie - a least 2 1/2 lbs. Considering the brutal weather conditions, I was happy with some good action and our best five pushing 14 lbs.

      Tips: I saw little or no bait on the meter which can be common during the post-spawn. We found one big area of bait and small fish that were scattered all over the screen - typical for post-spawn time. I found my best bite on the smaller Yamamoto Chigger Craw (green pumpkin). They were using Senkos and other jig-like baits. As typical post-spawn bites, we found fish at all depths - very shallow to around 25 feet. Talk about scattered!! Makes the guide work too hard!!!

      I guess part of the fun of post-spawn fishing is finding the recovering active feeders and their location (depth). I guess that's fun??

      Good day yesterday - except taking the boat out when it is 100 degrees!!

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74-80F

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got out first thing monday morning to break in the new Ghost trollingmotor. We found them quick by positioning the boat in 14 ft of water on gradually tapered banks near the main lake. We used chatter baits, underspins, and texas rigs to produce the majority of our fish. Chatter bite died as soon as sun got higher and wind simmered down. We moved offshore in the afternoon and continued to catch them on the T-rig and dropshot.

      Tips: It seemed like if we were not around grass or deeper water we would not get bit. The combination of submerged trees, grass, and chunk rock provided the best results. The afternoon fish came in about the same depth however the fish positioned themselves closer to the deeper water or ends of points.

Saturday, May 30th, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: My son and I fished out of Russo's Marina while the wind had dropped off for a few hours. We did get caught in the rain but that just fired up the bite. We headed to the back of Franks track, found an area out of the wind and started tossing a Green Shaky Head with a watermelon or Green Pumpkin 6 inch senko with a tail. We caught 22 decent sized fish with the biggest just under 3lbs. So much fun and so happy to be back on the water.

Thursday, May 28th, 2020

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 66.6-70.4

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: We fished for 6 night’s starting Thurs. Weather was windy on the first night, calm for 4 nights then windy last night. We were boating around 30 fish an evening except Tues we had 45 & Weds 24. Our limits ranged 25-30lbs except last night when our limit was a little over 34 lbs. Last night, Ted drew a pair of queens! They went 7 lbs 11 oz & 9 lbs even! The patterns were scattered, what they would hit one night, they wouldn’t touch the next! They were fairly consistent with the Texas rig & jigs, however. The best baits had red flake in them. The blade & crank bite was hit & miss & We couldn’t buy a Senko or swim bait bite at all. They were deep & seemed to prefer a slow presentation. We also managed an 8 lb 9 oz on Tues night with a lot of fish in the 4-61/2 range so size has been good! There were some spots where they were stacked. Tues we were on one spot for over an hour & boated 20 fish! We even had a pair of ducks jump in the boat to say hello! We fished south & fishing right now is really good!

      Tips: A slow & short presentation worked best for us. Browns & greens with red flakes seemed best. Our best two Texas baits were brushhogs & double wide beavers, the best jig trailer was the sweet beaver. When we got into a blade bite, we were rolling it slowly to where you could just feel the blades thump. When they hit it, POW! We don’t know how good the bite is north as we didn’t have to venture up there, but it should be good as well. If you feel a little heaviness or pressure on your line while jigging or Texas rigging, be careful as they were picking up the baits & swimming with them. Ted’s 9 deadweighted until she saw the boat, then it was on! He at first thought he’d snagged some submerged wood! Anyway, fish is great right now if you get the chance to get out. Stay safe & have fun!

Tuesday, May 26th, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68 thru 72

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing with Sid

      Subject: Fishing with Sid




      
      After many months of waiting to get back on the lake and fish this Memorial Day Weekend was perfect. The weather was ideal the fishing conditions great and just being outdoors was wonderful. With having to be house bound for so long I was eager to get back to what I love to do. I took out my son’s friend Spo (who is like a son to me) the first day out. We had a good time and he limited out with five nice bass. The next day I took Roxanne and Andrew out. It was their twentieth wedding anniversary and they wanted to go for a day of bass fishing. Besides the bass they landed they caught a good size trout (see photo). I think they will do this trip with me yearly they had a great day. My son Henry landed a six pound bass (see photo). I got to take my buddy Albert and his grandson Daniel out on Sunday afternoon and we stayed out till dark. We fished all over the lake and each one of us caught limits of quality bass from 2 1/2 to 4 pounds. It was a really good weekend for fishing and I hope it’ll continue this way through the summer.
      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 bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.

      Thanks,
      Sid

      Tips: knowledge of the lake helps in finding the good spots
      using scents on your bait attracts more fish, I use Pro-Cure scents

  • Butte County
    • By

      Report: by Joe daddy » Tue May 26, 2020 4:05 am

      So just been laying low lately. Some how I got my hands on a picture worthy fish from oroville awhile back. I believe enough time has passed so I’m going to post it.
      The fishing story-
      So, jitterbug and I were out beating the banks up like we do. On our way back up we run into a guy with his girlfriend walking down the ramp. We start b s ing with them and dude is like ‘yeah my buddy caught an 8 pounder the other day.’ So we were like ‘oh that’s cool take it easy’ and proceeded on our walk up. After that of course we were joking back and forth yeah I caught a 5 pounder, yeah I had a 6 pounder on but she broke me off.
      So, the next day by chance jb runs into one of his old high school buddys. They shortly got to talking about fishing when jbs buddy says one of the kids he coaches caught an 8 pounder at oroville and sent him this picture.
      All this transpired in early April.

Friday, May 22nd, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68 to 72

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I took a friend from Church and his 9 year old son to Berryessa today. Neither had fished before. I found the bite very spotty and we really had to work to get bites. The boy did very well considering and landed three fish by himself with two of those fish being our biggest fish of the day at about 16 1/2 inches. It was well after lunch before Dad got his only fish and it was the smallest of the day. I spent a lot of time helping, un-sticking, and coaching but I still ended up with somewhere around 15 fish for the day. Good day and we all came home happy! I was there the last time the day before the lake was closed down and water clarity was near 15 ft visibility. Today it was much less clear but very fishable. All fish on soft plastics,.