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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, April 26th, 2012

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Mike Sperbeck and I made a quick trip yesterday afternoon - fishing about 4 hours before dark. We fished north - mostly around tulle berms with no results. We switched to docks north of Lakeport and caught 8. My 2 biggest and his biggest must have been born "triplets" as they all weighted 4 1/2 lbs!! Our 5 best were only 19 lbs, but not bad for a short trip. Again, both my "mini-hogs" were caught on the Yamamoto 5" Flapppin' Hog - color #954. Mike caught his on a brush hog. Wind was ok but we got quite wet!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I figured the wind might be a problem for the first day of the FLW and sounds like it was. Another post-front. Our bass were very shallow - from 4 to 8 feet. No bite - just pressure. Wood pilings again were better than metal ones.

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 62-68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The action is heating up right along with the water temp. My clients yesterday took some nice females that were droping eggs. Got them back in the water to finish their business. The banks loaded up over the weekend after the heat wave and now the bass are ready to feed and to spawn. Took them on the useuall, senkos, drop shot, worms, reation baits as well.
      City: Paradise

      Tips: color has been changing through out the day. darker in low light lighter in bright light

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

    • By

      Water Temp: 60 to 74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Nice day of fishing looks like plastics was the trick. Fished from 9 till 4 and there was action all day.Started at the bear river water was cold but the bit was good.Hit the dam around 1 water was 74 and the fish keeped hitting. Fun lake to bring the kids and show them how to fish. Cought about 40 bass nothing huge biggest around 3 lb.Catch and release and mabey one day this will be a good lake to catch big ones.
      City: Citrus Heights

  • Yuba County
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Muddy Muddy Muddy All reports say the lake is clear. Thats BS. I really think there just trying to get the trout fisherman up there to pay for there new store. Fished from 6 till 9 1 off spinnerbait 2 on alabama rig and 2 on plastics. Nothing big all around 2 lbs. Talk to a few trout fisherman and they said the bite was slow. DBTH thats dont believe the hype. Ive been fishing here for 20 years and they allways make the fishing report better than it really is.

      Tips: If your looking for some good bass go some were else. OVERRATED!!!

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 68 - 73 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Windy, Windy, Windy!!! Best to describe the morning today. Fished with reaction baits until I reach the refuge of LVW Marina. Then started working my tube baits in the calmer water. The bite did not start for me until after 1 p.m. punchin a tube in the cheezy slop growing in the back corner of the marina. At the pump station on the way did find a school of stripers willing to hit my crankbait near the pump house while water was being pumped out into the slough.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Look for calm protected water. The bass bite was light for me today and water clarity was an issue with the wind.

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65-70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched from sugar barge, worked around franks tract. Started flipping jig n pig, had one taker. Switched to wacky rig in grn /red flake and hooked into a pig! Up tight the the tulies during high tide. Was between 6-9 pounds but she broke my 12lb flouro at the knot! Would have been my PB . After tide changed the bite really died. Couple dinks here and there but nothing substantial
      City: livermore

      Tips: Wear sunscreen

    • By

      Water Temp: 72 +/-

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched the Nitro from Whisky Slough @4:00m(low tide)
      Headed to my spot. First fish went 2 plus pounds on a speedtrap, nothing for the next hour. Wind was kicking pretty good. About 7pm the bite seemed to get better. Caught a bunch of smaller fish again on speed traps. Switched up to double willow blades and nothing, headed to the launch ramp and the bite was on. My wife boated 5 on our way in( 2+ lbs) and I hooked arguably the strongest 7 pounder I have ever had the pleasure of catching. Absolutely inhaled the speed trap..
      As we waited for all the Ski Boats to load up it was almost dark the top water action looked promising. Threw and XPS poper, several blowups 1 hook up...
      City: Ripon

      Tips: Speed traps..slowly becoming my fav! All our fish came from Speed traps..3 trips in a row.
      Back at it friday eve and sunday afternoon
      late.
      The incoming tide seems to work for us..

    • By

      Water Temp: 65-73

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched New Hope and made our way to our usual Mokulemne tule strips, fully expecting a good reaction bite. Zip except a barely keeper my buddy hit on a craw/chartreuse belly rattletrap. So changed to plastics and brother hit a 1.5lber on junebug senko. I missed 3 hits on a watermelon/red bass patrol jig...I think I was waiting too long to set the hook. Nothing for the remainder of our time on that strip and on two other favs. Moved to White Slough and worked the shaded edges of laydown tules...picked up a 3.5lber on black/red flk senko...this time as soon as I got the familir "tick tick", I hit it hard for that first 3lber. Bro and another buddy picked up a couple more dinks. Then moved to our frog island just north of Sycamore...worked the tules/laydown tule edges and picked up another 3lb-12 and barely 2lber. Called it a day at 4pm. For the guy in the older Ranger fishing with his wife/gf, I tried to wave and say thank you for skirting around us as we were drifting and working the tules but you didn't see me. I was in the deepv Tracker with my bro and buddy. I was gonna do the same thing but you beat me to it and I didn't want you to think we were bullin' our way through. THANX!
      City: folsom

      Tips: Have none. Coudn't figure it out today. But with the heat and the water so stained, I stuck with black/red flk or black/blue flk on a flick shake 1/16 oz jig hook. I'd throw to edge of shady laydown tule mats and then just start shaking....hits were just a couple light tic-tics and I'd set immediately. Both 3lber hooksets were just inside the upper lip. Guesstimate on the water depth was probably 4-8feet.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Lol!! I'm glad I didn't read the previous post!! I would have felt extremely incompetent!! Fished from 7AM to 4pm. Threw everything at them with the end result 2 fish. One on a pearl grub near trees and one on a Stacy Perch colored Rip-Bait. All in all it was still fun. I heard the Future Pro Tour was won by the same team that caught the 15Lb Bass in a Tourney the week before!!
      City: W.Sac

      Tips: The opposite of me. Should have drop-shotted but I hate that type of fishing!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My buddy and I started the day with white lizards on the beds ,did very well,myfishing bud was realy on target with the fish in the back of my boat. I switched to black 4"plastic and thatalso worked.Boated 12 fish lost 5 , bigest went 3lbs.
      City: redwood city

      Tips: Whit lizards T-riged

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: low 60's

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 4/17, 4/18, and 4/19 the soft plastic bite was fantastic. mostly threw wacky sinkos with a slow twitch retrieve. I noticed the east side was more productive than the west.dart heads,texas rigs also worked. In the end boated about 120 fish to 3 lbs. Great fun
      City: berkeley

      Tips: Get off your couch, Help your wife, than go fish!

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 60-72

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Some of you many be shocked at my 2-4 foot visibility entry, but there was lots of floating pollen in the water and made the lake almost look like Clear Lake. Not much sight fishing yesterday. Also, we found 60 degree water way up the river and about a half mile south - water was 68. Big difference. My guide trip ended rather sadly as my client (a good fisherman!) lost a 5 or 6 lb largemouth just before we quit. She wallowed on top and spit the hook. That makes the long ride home a little tougher. He caught most of our 12 or 13 bass, including his biggest smallie yet - a little over 2 lbs. Most of our bass were just 1 to 2 lbs. The major spawn hasn't started yet, so good days are ahead. He wanted to learn the lake better, so we spend a lot of time learning new areas for him to fish in the summer and fall. Lots of time spent with heads in the Lowrance HDS-8.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Jigs were working as were the new Berkley Havoc baits - especially the green pumpkin "Craw Fatty." That's what he lost the big one on. His hook might have been too small. Tried some rippin' and cranks - no takers. Lots of trout/salmon boats and a few bass boats. Not too many bass on off-shore structure. They are definatly moving shallow. What a beautiful lake in the spring!!!

Saturday, April 21st, 2012

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 66-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I guided a great client on Friday - wanting to learn more about spring fishing on this beautiful lake. The trip is really about what we saw rather than what we caught, although we caught several nice bass. We never made it to the main body because fishing was so good in the narrows. We landed 16 to 18 bass with a good limit around 15 lbs - mostly largemouth to 3 1/2 lbs. The fun part was watching the monster largemouth cruising around in about 2 to 4 feet of water. They were very spooky and would not touch anything. All the bed fish we saw were 2 to 4 pounders. Watching big fish and sight-fishing the smaller ones made for a fun day. A brown Blade Runner jig with a chartreuse Yamamoto grub trailer was my bait and he brought his own stuff and was using something similiar. Most of our action was early in a very warm afternoon. Early morning bite was kinda slow.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Water is quite clear in the lower part of the lake with lots of cover now under water. I heard the lake was a zoo today so that will probably hurt the visibility. Drop-shotting bright colored baits like Basstrix minnows, Senkos, or fishing jigs will all work for sight fishing. Please release everything immediately or right after a photo. This will help the tournament problem during the spawn!

  • Santa Barbara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 66-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Algae bloom starting to show with the warm weather.
      The bass are in 10' or less.
      The bite is great.
      Nothing very large today, but good #'s on both smallies and LMB.
      City: Ventura

      Tips: Fished split-shot robo
      4.5" curly hologram shad all day.
      Pulled 17 fish out in the 1.5 to 3.5 lb range.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: Upper 60's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Whisky and Mildred Island an hour into outgoing tide in am. Slow start with senkos, differnt cranks, and then I switched to a Bomber Crank in Apple Red Crawdad and it was ON! Not many biggies, mostly dinks and a bunch in the 1.5-2.5 lb range and a couple solid 3's. Wasn't getting much off the tules, but when I started working the rip-rap it was on! Fish were in about 5-7 ft of water and they were hitting about 5-10 ft off the shoreline.

      First cast with the bomber - fish on! Second cast over the same area - fish on! I worked the same area for 3 passes and pulled 8 fish in 20 minutes. Maybe 20 casts in all... Moved on as it started to slow - threw the same bomber and seemed to connect only off the rip-rap or on rip-rap and tule edges. Tide dropped to much to crank so I switched to a Sweet Beaver in California 4:20 and pitched to tule pockets. I was getting better fish with this - about 4 more over the next 2 hours then called it quits.
      City: Sunnyvale

    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Started in Whites got one 4lber and a 2lber on the tule islands, moved to Mildred got a some small ones, seen some giants patroling a small area so we pulled off the area anf fished it back and fourth but couldnt get em to go, left there hit an oxbow off thw main channel and got some top water fish best going 5lbs.
      City: Modesto

      Tips: Bite seemed to be tough today, we spent too much time on that group of big fish we seen. Was throwing sencos and jigs, low tide throwing frogs and buzzbait, biggest fish came off the frog, smallest fish off the buzzbait.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Lake Oroville today, lots of fun. Fishing is starting to turn on. Fished the South fork and main body of the lake. Caught 20-30 fish with the usual Senkos and Roboworms(biggest a three plus lb largemouth). We caught fish anywhere from the bank to twenty feet deep. Lastly would like to thank Bass tackle depot in Oroville for setting us up with the tackle for the day.
      City: Oroville, CA

      Tips: Fish the submerged trees. Practice caught and release.

Friday, April 20th, 2012

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Left Markley at 6:30 AM. Immediately went to main lake, east side. Slow bite at first; 58 degree water. By the end of the day, water temp reached high sixties. The bite took off! 14 fish boater, 7 over 5 lbs. Soft plastic worms, wacky rigged was most effective. Fish caught in shallow water, 3-8 feet. Best 5 just under 30. Huge fish cruising everywhere. Berryessa is seriously my choice above Clear Lake these days. It is awesome!
      City: Esparto

      Tips: Use light line. 8 lb test flouro worked, but get the good stuff. Set your drag and hang on!

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 64 - 70 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Luanched the Custom Valco "BASSBUSTER1" out of Ladd's today at 2:30 p.m.and was off the water by 7:30 p.m. Takes me about an hour to run out to King Island and White Slough with my 15 hp 4-stroke Mecury so with just 3 hours of fishing I managed to catch 4 bass starting at the marina first and fishing my way around the island. My first bass about 2 lbs was cuaght punchin(black red flake strike king flippen tube) some laydown tule slop next to a dock. The second bass also around 2 lbs was cuaght on my strike king bitzy tube (chartruse/pepper flake) in shady areas of the docks. My third bass was cuaght carolina rigging a tube down to 12 feet along a rocky point in White Slough. My last bass, a 3 pounder, was cuaght during the incoming tide back in white slough casting my weightless tube(white/pepper flake with tail spiked in chartruse dye)to isolated tule clumps working it like a soft jerk bait and letting it sink once in a while. Over all with just 3 hours of fishing I'd say the bite was tough today.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: High blue skies fish heavy cover, shaded areas, or down deep. Challenge your self and learn to be versitle. I think for my next couple trips out I do this tubes-only challeng again, it was fun.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 60+

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Tons of fish cruising and on bed. Caught many in the 3lbs. range sight fishing, but couldn't get any big ones to go. Caught a few off of rocky tule pionts with a watermellon red flake senko whacky rigged. Also drop shotting a 4" brown and purple worm.
      City: Sunnyvale

      Tips: Stick to sight fishing NW To SW the farther south you go the greener to water becomes.