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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, May 19th, 2012

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      Water Temp: 73.9 to 75.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Friday night fishing it was outstanding again bass form 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds in depths of 4 to 21 feet. It was windy early but layed down after dark. We fished from 6:30pm til 12:30am the early bite til it got dark was big rico's and pro pop r's the top water bite even in the wind was good.But the best bite was form 8:30 til 12:30 1/4oz bullet head jigs (eastman special)/yamamoto 4" twin tail grubs trailers And 1/4oz bullet head jigs/baby brushogs ( junebug ) we end up with 48 bass.
      City: madera ca

      Tips: Points Long flats Isolated rock piles Isolated brush piles all were holding bass

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 64-71

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Another 100-fish day per client. This is the time to get out on Lake Oroville and have some fun. Almost all of the lake is fishing great. The guys I had out yesterday were pretty excited about the action. It was non stop!! Tubes, senkos and blades all worked well but almost anything would work.
      City: Paradise

Friday, May 18th, 2012

  • Plumas County
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      Water Temp: 61-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I fished this beautiful lake from Tues evening to Thurs evening - early and late in the day. My long-time fishing buddy Rick Tietz, founder and owner of Blade Runner Tackle, fished with me all day on Wed. We really had a terrific day, lake was flat until 3 pm and we mostly sight-fished 65+ smallies up to 3 lbs 2 oz. No monsters. I mostly used morning dawn/chartreuse tail 6" Robo worms, and we both used the 2 3/4" Basstrix Flashtrix minnow with a drop-shot rig. That was really the top bait. We fished most of the east shore on the south end of the lake. Tues evening I fished Big Cove on to the west and caught 10 from 2 1/4 to 3 lbs 5 oz, and some smaller ones. Most were caught on morning dawn Robo worms and a few on green pumpkin Berkley Havoc Baits. Those fish were all caught on or around the private boat docks. Thursday was very cloudy and windy but improved about 6 pm. I again fished the east shore and caught about 14-15 smallies up to near 3 lbs, but most were 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. Most all bass during the 3 days were spawning or had spawned.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I found a lot of smallies hitting crankbaits just before dark on the 2 warmer evenings - not Thursday evening. Most of those fish were smaller. Most of the fish caught during the 3 days were on shallow flats near shore or on flats a little off-shore. Not much action on walls.

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

      Report: took a good friend of mine out from Diamond Springs. It was one of those great days on the Delta. Several 4lb fish all day. The top water bite was on for a couple of hours throwing my favorite twitch bait a floating rapala. A long forgotten lure but still in my opinion catches Monster fish!
      Afternoon time switched over to plastics. My friend caught his PB a 7lb beauty.
      left him at the boat ramp around 3:30.
      call the wife to come out for the evening bite. Took some time to relax at the marina until the evening. Evening bite was on my wife nailed her PB an 11lb beauty 26"long 19.5" girth quite a beauty. All fish were caught on wacky rigged senkos the fish were eating that bait up.
      Packed up for the evening. Another fine day on World Class Water right here in my back yard.
      City: tracy

      Tips: Fish and have fun you will have good days and tough days that have you scratchin your head wonderin where the heck have all the fish gone.
      That's the Delta. Absolutely Perfect!

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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: took a good friend of mine out from Diamond Springs. It was one of those great days on the Delta. Several 4lb fish all day. The top water bite was on for a couple of hours throwing my favorite twitch bait a floating rapala. A long forgotten lure but still in my opinion catches Monster fish!
      Afternoon time switched over to plastics. My friend caught his PB a 7lb beauty.
      left him at the boat ramp around 3:30.
      call the wife to come out for the evening bite. Took some time to relax at the marina until the evening. Evening bite was on my wife nailed her PB an 11lb beauty 26"long 19.5" girth quite a beauty. All fish were caught on wacky rigged senkos the fish were eating that bait up.
      Packed up for the evening. Another fine day on World Class Water right here in my back yard.
      City: tracy

      Tips: Fish and have fun you will have good days and tough days that have you scratchin your head wonderin where the heck have all the fish gone.
      That's the Delta. Absolutely Perfect!

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      Water Temp: 66 - 69 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Luanched the Custom Valco "BASSBUDSTER1" out of Ladd's today about 8:30 a.m. and was off the water by 12 noon. With the crazy wind I decided to "camp it out" in the sailboat club. Cuaght 8 bass today with best 5 going about 15 lbs and big fish was 4.5lbs. Using wacky rigged senkos and zoom tricks worms I found the bass holding tight to the shady areas of the docks (in weed pockets preferred). Pitched the senkos and trick worms into open holes of weed pockets(darker the pocket the better). Set my trolling motor as shallow as I can and speed was set to high the whole time to cut through all the weeds going from dock to dock. The 4.5 pounder came on my spinning rod with the trick worm and 8 lb test flouracarbon line, almost lost her in the thick weeds, and she hadn't spawned yet.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Get out of the wind the best you can and fish protected areas. Wish I had the cameras today, would have been a cool video shoot.

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 72 - 74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Friday, 5/18/12 was a beautiful day with air temperature in the high 70s and water temperature in Cherry Creek, where we fished all day, was 72 - 74°. At times, there was little to no wind. We caught a good quantity of fish with my buddy and I each catching at least 25 fish. The fish weren’t large, with only one greater than 3 lbs and few between 2 and 3 lbs. Most were in the 1 lb to 2 lb range and perhaps 10 dinks. The fish were caught mostly casting drop-shot rigged 6-inch Roboworms and wacky-rigged 4-inch Senkos also drop-shot style. Multiple colors were used but we had most success on colors that were red or purple like MM. Only Baby Bass colored Senko were used. We also caught a couple of fish on a small 4-inch swim bait and a Bass Assassin. I did try casting top water baits to stumps with the hope that some big female was below guarding her fry but had no success. Most fish were caught in 5 to 10 ft of water around entrances to cuts and along drop-offs on flats. As it got later in the day where there were shadows on the water, the fish were moving shallower. No fish were caught way back in cuts. During the day, we saw only a couple of fish still on beds. We also saw two large clouds (schools) of fry around stumps. Last year about this time, there were many more schools of fry. Hopefully the spawn is better than what I have seen so far. There were also multiple balls of what I assume are shad. These “shad” were from two to three inches long and were schooled in balls as large as 6 ft across. If anybody knows what these small fish are, please let us know.
      City: Pinole

      Tips: If you are on the lake early in the morning or late in the evening, campers had told us that the top water bait is very good.

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Picked up one fish early in the morning on top water with a bone colored spook (couple more swirls but no hook ups). Than started pitching a senko (watermalon with black and red flake, 6in) to tule pockets - not a lot of bites but all good ones (best was a nice 5.75lbs). When the wind got to strong for the senko, I started throwing a white spinnerbait. They were eating it pretty good right before the tide bottom out. After that the bite stopped and I hadded back in.
      City: W Sacramento

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went fishing with guide Richard pounds what a great time been going to cl for years first time with bass guide showed us the most awesome time we carried it over to our own bass boat thank u thank u Richard me and my friends have never cought that many big fish in our lives u r a. Master nick Scott Robert
      City: Grants pass

      Tips: Call Richard pounds and learn clear lake from a seasoned pror

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

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      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Nice day on the lake. Only stayed on water for about 5 hours as the recreation boaters took over. However, I ended up with about 7 nice keepers anchored by a 5 pounder on a fat free shad crankbait in shallow water. Not a bad day
      City: Fresno

      Tips: Good reaction bite. Bass are still shallow. Lots of smaller bass but a few bigger bass available. Vertical cast along the shore and focus on points as well.

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well, did a 6a.m. to 6p.m. trip, with little results to show for my efforts. Fished the north fork. My first first fish came at 11:30 a.m.!Ouch! I was working hard at it too! It was a two and a half pound spot fly lineing a Senko in some trees. That fish ended up being the biggest of the day.Caught another spot on a spinnerbait, only about two pounds. My big surprize was the afternoon crankbait bite. Picked up another 6 spots under 2 pounds ea. Threw top water between 5-6, and picked up another spot. All in all an o.k. day, but I really thought it would be better. Size was a little disapointing. Might head back out on Thrusday.
      City: Folsom

      Tips: If u r cranking, crank fast! I caught my first one on accident. When I thought I was done with the cast,I doubled my retrieve and it slammed the bait right next to the boat. So I went with the fast retrieve, and boom! I got some results....see you on the water!

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing is very good right now. We caught about 15 bass (most short) in about 3 hours tuesday evening.
      Dropshotted watermelon red baby brush hogs fooled most of the fish with several small mouth taking shallow crankbaits.
      Big fish of the trip was a 6.3 caught in about 10 feet of water near 40 minutes before dark on the drop shot rig.
      City: Petaluma

      Tips: stay a little deeper. work through areas quickly. stop and fish thoroughly when you get bit.
      No evidence of any surface activity but it felt like the top water action could start anytime now.

Monday, May 14th, 2012

  • Plumas County
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      Water Temp: 61 to 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: We got on the water at 8am, water temp was 61. We headed for the Gould Swamp area and started searching for stumps...when we found the stumps we found the bass. We also found males making beds in the gravel beds. We caught 10 smallmouth between 2 and 4lbs all males...Fished till 11am, water temp was 63 and the winds picked up with thunder storm moving in. Could see 8 to 10 feet depending on the area.
      City: Quincy

      Tips: Fish the shallows near Chester, look for beds in 4 to 10' of water. Caught most the fish drop shotting a Prizm Shad Roboworm and a camo cut tail on a 1/4oz darter head....
      The next 6 weeks are going to be a sight fisherman's dream....don't miss it!

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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The bass fishing here is outstanding on bass to 4 pounds 30 to 40 bass in 5 hours of fishing is fairly easy here. Jigs Senko's Baby brushogs Crankbaits Ripbaits & Spinnerbaits all are working here now Bass are in 8 to 20 feet of water.

      pumpkin green/black green crystal jigs
      watermelon red/black flake senko's brushog
      junebug senko's brushogs
      black/blue jigs
      bluegill jigs
      char/white spinnerbaits
      tenn shad ripbaits
      fried green tomato crankbaits

      If you are within 100 miles it will be well worth the drive to fish
      City: madera ca

      Tips: Fish flats and long points with deep water on both sides. the second and third ramps on east side of the lake. Large flats parking lots bass are holding on both. Im fishing with 1/8 oz & 1/4 oz finesse jigs and 4"twin tail yamamoto grub trailers Spinning outfits loaded with 6 or 8 pound maxima line.

Sunday, May 13th, 2012

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 76.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Unbelievable fishing this past weekend and my wife was a fish magnet. On Friday I went out for a few hours with Kevin. The lake was calm what a difference from last weekend. We saw boils in the water and threw our lines into it with great success. The trout were all over the lake in deep water as well as shallow and seemed to be biting anything we threw out. We ended up with full limits (see photos). On Saturday I fished with my pal Albert. We got an early start and fished the west side of the lake by the buoys. I threw a top water lure twenty or thirty times with no luck. We were able to see the fish but they just wouldn't bite. We decided to try our luck at trout in deeper water after talking to three other boats. I tied on an ivory PK lure and Albert cast it out letting it sink to about forty feet and we started trolling and within minutes he hooked a trout. Albert wanted to use the downrigger so I set it up just as my son called to tell us lunch was ready and where his boat was. We set off to meet up with my son, his wife and my wife. When we got to their spot they told me how the fish were chasing the bait and rolling on the surface all over the area and that they were catching trout and bass left and right especially my wife. No sooner would she reel one in and start to let her line out and she'd have another strike. They all came in with limits. On Sunday (Mother's Day) my wife had a great day again and topped it off by landing a largemouth bass that had to weigh at least 9 pounds. She was thrilled as you can tell from the photos. 'til next weekend...............................................................................................good fishing!!!!
      www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or any stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
      City: Napa

      Tips: any lure that runs true caught fish my wife likes norman lures and i prefer p k lures my new real that i have been playing with runs smooth its called the wave spin dh3000z email me will send you pictures

  • Yuba County
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      Water Temp: 58-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing by myself today. In the water around 8 am. Bluebird day, hardly a breath of wind with the occasional gusty breeze. Lake like glass most of day. Caught a few on tubes, a couple on Texas rigged worms. Wacky senko was the way to go. Lost count but caught between 30-40 fish. Most in the 11-13 inch range with a few bigguns thrown in.
      City: Reno

      Tips: Watch your line or you'll miss a lot of fish.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Rivers end, very windy.......30mph..
      few small fish... threw senkos and spinnerbaits. no fish on spinnerbaits only on the senkos in 5inch. picked up the small fish at the edge of the slop.
      hard to stay out with the wind as bad as it was
      City: Tracy

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 64-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Jones Valley and run up the Pit for a 3 day camping trip. Spent morning trolling for trout at about 15-25 down, 150 feet behind boat. Hooked up 1-2 fish per hour in 80-130 feet of water (on both sides of the channel). Most ranged between 1 1/2 - 2 lbs. Caught one about 4 lbs off the bank, off bottom with a Berkley Gulp 4" minnow right at dusk (was a fluke I think). I was hoping to hit a catfish while cooking dinner but this huge trout took the bait. Wife reeled in one and bragged that she caught the biggest fish of the trip.
      Mid-day I threw bushhogs (6" watermelon seed) and 8" brown power worms with lots of 1 lb spots hitting aggresively. At the last hour of the day, switched to Berkley Gulp minnows with no weight and threw into shallows in coves. What a fun time that was. Every cast we would hook a fish. They were fighting over this presentation. A few times the bass would jump out of the water and grab the lure before it hit the water. We were laughing and missing lots of hits. Fun time!
      City: Cottonwood

Saturday, May 12th, 2012

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 63-67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched from Holland Tract. Started off with buzz bait, got slaps and no hookups. Switched to a white spinnerbait and landed a 5 and a bunch of dinks. Found a sweet patch of slop and had some exciting blowups but no hookup! Arg! Flipped a couple 1-2 pounders and punched a striper! Senkos in pockets of calm for another 5 and couple more 1-2s.
      City: Pleasant Hill

      Tips: Junk fish and have fun!

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      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: launched at new hope 730 and worked corner island at sycamore low tide..picked up a few 12"ers on craw rattletraps and cranks. also picked up 4 more in the 1-2lb range on curl-tail roboworms and 5"&6" senkos. as tide came in, moved to mokulemne and fav tule strips and weedlines; as tide went back out, went back to the island near sycamore and worked again; 1 blowup on my river2sea dahlberg frog but no hookup. picked up 4 more on senkos/plastics before calling it a day.
      lost what we believe was a double-digit at the boat...would have been my personal best but now it's just a memory..oh well! it hit my delta red speedtrap as it cleared the weedline, surfaced once, made a dive under the boat. when i worked it back from under the boat, it surfaced and shook the speedtrap loose...ouch! 1 other boat watched so i know they'll be working it huntin' down that pig! mostly 12"ers to 2.5lbers today... nothing big cept the one that got away! Ouch again!!
      City: folsom

      Tips: work your areas 2x-3x with various offerings...2nd and 3rd passes on each area brought in fish. today i used 5 different color senkos (6" blk/blu, 6"blk/red flk, 5" sweet tater pie, red/blk flk, natural shad) and every one of them hit. crankin' i used 1/2 oz redeye shad in red craw and speedtrap same color. buddy used roboworms, blades, rattletraps, and sm swimbait (3") working either diagonal from tules and out across weedlines or just parallel the weedline...picked up several this way.