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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, May 21st, 2020

  • Amador County
    • By

      Report: by kporter » Thu May 21, 2020 8:55 am

      Fishing is pretty awesome right now. I was up this past weekend with my wife and kids. The kids had a blast catching a few! Ned rigs and 6” worms on a shaky head will get lots of bites. Our bites came in 5-15’ on rocky flats. Hope this helps

Saturday, May 16th, 2020

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Report: Many of the Motherlode lakes that I regularly fish and guide on, are opening back up. Don Pedro was one of the first to do so, giving me an opportunity to dust the cobwebs off the rods and reels and uncover the boat.

      We launched out of Moccasin Point in the mid-morning and it felt amazing to be back on the water. We chose to start close by in the river arm and focused our efforts on grassy cuts and shade lines. Instantly we were hooking up wtih many smaller fish, and with a few nice ones thrown in the mix. After exhausting that bite and with our curiosity of other areas, we decided to leave them biting.

      For years now, I have capitalized on a May jerkbait/crankbait bite and wanted to see if they were willing to chase. Our move proved to be a good one and the action improved with some better than average spotted bass and largemouth bass coming to the boat.

      I know the bite was exceptionally good due to the recent lack of fishing pressure, however during the midst of a normal year, I’ve seen this same pattern fish even better. The key is to find areas with water movement. Wind-blown banks that have a combination of dirt and chunk rock are perfect.

      We dabbled with topwater in the same locations with some success, but found that going subsurface was far more productive. Many lakes are open now and we are all itching to get out and enjoy them. Be respectful to others, the fish and our beautiful Mother Nature to ensure a pleasurable Xperience fishing.

      John Liechty

Friday, May 15th, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out to fish incoming tide got on about 8am, wind was steady most of day 8-10 mp, water was clear but wind helped provide cover. Not the best day but found a solid spinnerbait bite around noon fishing over tall grass an cover. Had a couple bites on the senko fishing tooley edges. Frog but should be picking up

      Tips: Launches are busy almost everyday, plan accordingly

Wednesday, May 13th, 2020

  • Amador County
    • By

      Report: by StanL » Wed May 13, 2020 9:12 pm

      Okay, here we go.

      I know some people are going to be a little uneasy about me doing a report about fishing Camanche because only Amador and Calaveras County residents are allowed to BUT I don’t make the rules, I just happen to live there. So after five days of fishing the lake, I am going to share what it was like after the shutdown.

      WOW! Like I said, I was on the water five days and in that time we caught over 300 fish. The largest one was about 8 pounds. Most of the fish were in the 6’ to 12 ‘ depth range, on points, and slow tapering banks. The best baits have been a Frenzy Nail with a Zoom Trick Worm or a NED bait in watermelon or green pumpkin  color.

      The surface temperature is around 72 and the visibility is about 7‘. I have to thank Jay at Hook’d tackle store in Ione for telling me about the Ned bite. Shout out to the mom and pop stores that need our business right now. You can check them out online at hookd4life.com.

      Here are a couple of pictures of a couple of the fish me and my family caught this week.

      I hope this helps, if you are able to go.

      Good luck fishing!
      StanL

Monday, May 11th, 2020

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68.2

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for 3 nights in front of this weather system with Manny Frias. Not knowing what to expect, we hit the water a little after midnight the first trip. We pretty much caught fish everywhere we tried. They were hitting Texas rigged Double Wide Beavers, brush hogs, jigs, blades, & crankbaits. Also got a few on swimbaits. We boated around 30 with size ranging from 3 lbs with the biggest at 6 1/2 lbs. The second night was a little more active with the same pattern except for some reason we couldn’t buy a crankbait bite! We did around 40 fish for the night same size range except our biggest came in at 9 1/2 lbs, our limit went 33 1/2. The third night was even better! The fish were really schooled up as we were able to stay in one spot for long amounts of time getting steadily bit. Pattern was the same as some crankbait bites came back but the blade bite suffered. (Go figure?) Manny sticks a very nice 8 1/2 lber & our best five came in at 40lbs 3 oz with our largest going 12 lb 5 oz. It was an incredible night! It’s the best I’ve seen in some time! They were dialed in on Double Wides & jigs & we boated almost 60 fish! At any rate, the fishing’s insane right now. The lake is open only to locals so far but as soon as you get the chance to fish Clear Lake, I’d highly recommend it!

      Tips: We fished south the whole time. We didn’t venture far as we were able to really catch them not far from our ramp. For us they were on rocky structure and fairly deep in the 12-20 ft range. Slow presentation was the key & they were just picking up the baits & running with them instead of mashing them. One 4 3/4 lber picked up my Double Wide & ran with it so fast I had to use my trolling motor to catch up to it so I could set the hook! They seemed to like dark colors with blue in the baits. We didn’t try baits with red this time because frankly we didn’t have to. Anyway, stay safe & have a great time out there!

Saturday, May 9th, 2020

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Report: Fished from sun up til after sundown on the day of the opener. Hit Angels first thing and caught 3 decent fish from 2.5-3.75 lbs. I believe we caught all of those on a neko rigged senko. From there headed to the back of Mormon creek. Decent bite there. Caught a few more in the 3 lb class plus a bunch of others from 1/ 2lb to 2 1/2 lbs. We used cranks, blades, senkos, drop shot, etc.
      Sun was up so we fished an island a little south and caught a half dozen dinks. Headed up river past Parrots Ferry Bridge and caught dink after dink. We fished all the way up river to the log jamb and managed a bunch more dinks and a few in the 2 lbs class and a few more that were larger with the biggest weighing a little over 3lbs.
      Got bored and headed into Coyote. Nothing but dinks. It was getting later so we headed back to Angels and caught a few more dinks. There was about an hour more of light so we headed for the Tuttletown ramp. We were going to leave but decided to fish a couple islands around there. The bite picked up considerably. We boated around another 30 fish around those two islands. These fish were healthier up to a little over 2lbs.
      Caught em on the neko rig and after it got dark a white willow leaf spinnerbait was working the best.
      Since the moon is full it made the fishing tough during the day but good in the morning and evening.
      During the day I think we only got bit a couple times deeper then 5 feet. There was nothing biting deeper then that. Shallow fish were biting but they were 10 inchers.
      With this full moon my advice is to show up later in the day and stay til midnight.

Friday, May 8th, 2020

  • Santa Barbara County
    • By

      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Rented a K boat on 5/2 and fished from 7 -6. I caught fish on everything but top water. Senkos/worms/ripbaits/spinnerbaits/chatterbaits. The reaction bite got better in the wind on the flats on white and shad colored skirts with chrome blades. The plastics fish were up tight in the back of the coves. I was using a 7 inch oxblood light red flake worms in the same place as the senkos with a 1/8 dropshot sinker and 10 inch or so tag end. It would seem I got there in time for the spawn and the postspawn. With the postspawn getting better. The ripbait bite was good but I couldn't fish it very well without a trolling motor so I just caught them anyway I wanted. Lots of fish caught by lots of people with smiles all over the parking lot after the rental fleet

      Tips: Lots Of Brush. Learn how to fish it and you will be rewarded...try to stay with weedless rigging when possible. All my plastics are fished either with a weed guard on the hook(i.e. wacky senko) or with the hook point Texposed in the bait. light weights allow you to pull up and over limbs and the fish will set the hook for you.

Thursday, May 7th, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: by StanL » Thu May 07, 2020 9:03 pm

      My wife Kelly and I got out on the Delta last week and did some looking around.
      I’m starting to get ready for the WWBT tournament in June hopefully. The fishing in general was pretty tough. The Surface temperature wasaround 70degrees and most of the Delta is as clear as a swimming pool. It was not what I was expecting.

      We saw a lot of fish on beds but we weren't looking to target those fish. We were trying to figure out a pattern. After a lot of different baits, the Senko seemed to be the only thing that we could get bit on with any consistency. Every fish we caught was on a Senko and it was at the end of fairly long cast after we just let it set there. Most of the fish came on flats with sparse tules.

      I hope this helps good luck fishing and most of all be safe!!

      One more thing I’m seeing a few tackle stores like Fisherman‘s Warehouse and Hook'd in Ione are reopening and being a small business owner myself, please do what you can to support local business.
      Thanks!!
      Stan

    • By

      Report: by StanL » Thu May 07, 2020 9:03 pm

      Fishing the California Delta

      My wife Kelly and I got out on the Delta last week and did some looking around.
      I’m starting to get ready for the WWBT tournament in June “hopefully”. The fishing in general was pretty tough. The Surface temperature wasaround 70 degrees and most of the Delta is as clear as a swimming pool. It was not what I was expecting.

      We saw a lot of fish on beds but we weren't looking to target those fish. We were trying to figure out a pattern. After a lot of different baits, the Senko seemed to be the only thing that we could get bit on with any consistency. Every fish we caught was on a Senko and it was at the end of fairly long cast after we just let it set there. Most of the fish came on flats with sparse tules.

      I hope this helps good luck fishing and most of all be safe!!

      One more thing I’m seeing a few tackle stores like Fisherman‘s Warehouse and Hook'd in Ione are reopening and being a small business owner myself, please do what you can to support local business.
      Thanks!!
      Stan

Wednesday, May 6th, 2020

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I finally got the chance to wash the delta slime off and launch the boat into some clean lake water. For anyone that is looking to do some lake fishing. Whiskeytown and Shasta are both still open. I would just say try to be smart and go straight to the lake. Don't stop anywhere and don't bring anyone with you who isn't from your immediate household just to be safe and abide by the states regulations. The bite was okay for me. I'm not going to tell you it was off the hook because that would be lying. It was pretty slow to start and I was hoping to get on some bigger spots with big swimbait's but ended up busting out the spinning gear and throwing a neko rig. which if you are familiar with spotted bass, they freaking love eating neko rigs. I started out the day launching at 0700 and fishing the back of a couple wind blown pockets. Alternating between a Gan Craft glide bait and a whopper plopper, I managed to pick up two small ones with the whopper plopper. The Gan craft pulled some fish up to take a look but wasn't what they were looking for. With the wind blowing 10-15 mph out of the north I decided to make a run to some calmer waters and a potential transition spot for these fish to move in and out of a spawning area. I started making long casts with a neko rigged yum dinger and it didn't take long for me to realize that was the ticket. First cast I picked a 3.06 and then two 2 pound spots.
      When the fish came up each one had friends with them. one follower was a solid 5 pound class spot. So needless to say I stayed on that spot most of the day. I continued to catch fish but in intervals, almost as if new fish were moving up every hour or so. I caught around 30 fish but only 6 or 7 fish were actually keepers. I ended the day with a 5 fish limit of 14.04, anchoring the limit was a 3.72. No giants but they were definitely around, I just hope next time I'm able to fool one. I got off the water at 2:30 pm to make the long drive home. This trip was fun but it also confused me, and feel free to message me if you have a theory or know something I don't because I kinda want to figure this out. I started fishing and the water temps were 63-65 degrees in most areas, so I expected to at least see empty beds from the spotted bass spawn, and probably some largemouth doing there thing. I searched a couple different spawning areas but I didn't see any beds, not even empty ones. I wondered if maybe they just spawned very deep like 15ft-20ft due to the water being so clear, but I still don't know for sure. it was a new experience for me and I need to do some more research to figure out the truth. Anyways I plan on getting back out on the delta this week and do my best to get on a bite. I just need to avoid the spray boats and all of the other bass fisherman out there lol. Until next time keep on living fast and catching bass.
      Instagram @livefastmovement
      website: https://www.livefastmovementoutdoors.com/

Sunday, May 3rd, 2020

  • Santa Barbara County
    • By

      Report: postby Kelly Ripa » Sun May 03, 2020 11:15 am

      I rented a K boat. !5 tohatsu with console. I was first in line and they process you like your at a store with distancing in and barriers in place. Fished from 7 till 6. Caught fish on everything but topwater. I am beat up something as it's not my champion. missed the trolling motor but the rental had spot lock(anchor :wink: ) so that worked well. I fished the windy main lake by just putting that 4 stroke in reverse and sitting pretty much in place on the casting deck. Lots of chatterbait and ripbait fish. I had 20 or more fish on plastics. They were all under 2 pounds but a very enjoyable day on the water. May 17th is the new date for Casitas...Who opens on a Sunday?

Tuesday, April 28th, 2020

    • By

      Report: by changher » Tue Apr 28, 2020 7:15 am
      Went out for a morning run and had a great time.

      Ended up catching 27 bass under 4 hours of fishing. Best five went for 11.88 lbs.

      Lake: Black Butte
      Water Temp: 68 Degrees
      Weather Forecast: 88 Degrees
      Wind: 2 - 5 MPH
      Launch: Grizzly Flat

      Fished mainly submerged trees in 2-3 feet of water. Fish was chasing shad early in the morning. I was catching bass with a Strike King Rage Blade and senko in the early morning. Switched to a flipping jig and caught better fish as the morning progresses. Also caught fish on square bills, and jerk bait.

Thursday, April 2nd, 2020

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The Delta has had some really good fishing for a lot of people so far this year. some believe it's showing its former glory again, I personally haven't been blessed to have fished the delta my whole life like a lot of others, but if the delta is beginning to rebound to it's true self again, then we are in for some superb fishing the rest of 2020. On this Day my Buddy Mark Vis took me out on his boat for an afternoon session. keeping our 6 ft social distancing We launched out of B&W at around 1130 and fished till sun down. we started the day making a run to the Mandeville Island area. the wind was blowing strong out of the North West at 10-15 mph, and the tide was still rising so I started throwing a spinnerbait and he started with a chatterbait. I got the first fish a healthy 2.55 pound fish. Mark got a few short strikes on a chatterbait but nothing to speak of. As the tide slacked out we moved into the flooded pond and started fan casting the northern bank with senkos, Drop shots, and flukes. The water temp was 59-61 degrees so we expected to see fish on beds but the wind made it nearly impossible. Mark was able to pick up a 5.31 and a couple more dinks on the outside edge of the penny warp as we worked down the bank. We continued to fish Mandeville for a while longer with very little action so we made a move towards false river, where the tide was beginning to move again. we started flipping a pretty well known swift current bank and were able to get a lot of small bites, and when I say small I mean this years spawn small, LOL. So we made a move to go look for some bigger bites. We moved into Owl Harbor where I've seen some big ones move in and spawn this time of year, and it paid off. I was able to get 7.03 and 4.18 in there fan casting a drop shot with a watermelon red flake dream shot. we got a few more bites in there but just couldn't keep them pinned. we moved to some marina's to finish out the day where vis completed our limit with a 2.33 pound fish on once again the drop shot. We ended the day with a 5 fish limit of 21.42, if we could of culled out our 2 pounders we would of had a way better bag, but sometimes that's the way it goes. We didn't get a lot of bites but the quality was there. we just needed to execute a little better. This time of year gets tough. the fish are mostly in spawn mode so a lot people struggle to get bit, me included. That is why I start downsizing or up sizing to get bit. For me what I've noticed is its really only a two week period where the fish just get finicky. they either only want to eat something small and subtle or they go to the whole other side of the spectrum and go crazy for a fast moving swim bait, like a Glide bait or a Osprey of some sort. at least that is how it goes for the first few weeks of the spawn until fish start transitioning to the post spawn. This is just a theory of course and not an absolute but I feel like its because bass are mostly territorial this time of year, they don't have food on the mind, all they want to do is make babies. They bite the things that piss them off and interrupt there ritual and that is why one of my favorite pre spawn/spawn techniques is a drop shot. I can fan cast spawning areas and work it really slow leaving it directly in front of a bass or within its territory for a longer period of time. which for me really helps with getting those bigger bites. I think things are going to be changing soon. Some bass are already starting to transition into some post spawn habits. I will hopefully get back out there soon and break down for y'all what exactly that is but I have feeling its going to have something to do with swim baits and frogs. Until next time stay safe, from the Covid19, and keep on Livin Fast and Catchin Bass.
      Website: https://www.livefastmovementoutdoors.com/
      Instagram/Facebook: @livefastmovement

Saturday, March 28th, 2020

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Report: Well, it's happened. I went to Folsom Lake today at Browns Ravin and they have closed the park.
      You can't get through the gates let alone put the boat in.
      Now, this officially sucks!

Saturday, March 21st, 2020

  • Amador County
    • By

      Report: by StanL » Sat Mar 21, 2020 4:06 am

      My good friend Bud Porter and I decided to do some “Social distancing” on Camanche. So we headed over to the lake. When we got there we noticed that the water had been dropping and that usually means it’s going to be challenging fishing.

      We had overcast sky and the water temperature was in the high 50's and there was 6 to 10 ‘ visibility. With the conditions we knew the fish should be shallow so we started off by throwing some moving baits.

      On my second cast with a shad colored crankbait I got one about 3lb. Another 30 minutes past with no more bites for me. Bud got one on a Ned style bait with a Frenzy Nail.

      We decided to slowdown and fish down baits, We threw the same baits we had used at hogan .... a Senko type bait on a Frenzy Wack a Sack and Ned on a nail. We started fishing all the flats in les than 20’ of water and we ended up catching over 20 fish for the day.

      By the way I’ve recently discovered a tackle store in Ione ca. Called “HOOK’D “ I was pleasantly surprised how much bass tackle they had. I hope this helps.

      Good luck fishing
      StanL

Monday, March 16th, 2020

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Report: by Larry Hemphill » Sun Mar 15, 2020 10:33 pm

      I have made this caution before about Bullards Bar and very cold weather.

      If you are going Monday or Tuesday early morning, take both ramp approaches slowly, especially Dark Day. if you lose traction with your bass boat behind you on possible slick ice, it's a long way down. Take it slow. Remember it is at 2000 feet and does ice up on occasion early in the morning.

      Should have done this earlier!

Saturday, March 14th, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52-54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: A friend and I hit Berryessa on Friday for about 6 hours and found the bite to be slow, but ok. Several in the 2 1/4 to near 3 lbs - all three species - with some fat smallies! One of my 2 1/2 lb smallies looked like a trophy - tall as she was wide - gorgeous!!! Love this time of year - pre-spawn! We fish the narrows and the lower lake areas - both sides. No hot spots as they were scattered - one here and one there. Best 5 about 12 lbs. We found some on shallow flats near deep water and a few on points.

      Lake was about as gin clear as it gets with the lack of rain. I don't think this weekends rain will change that much as the ground soaks up most of the first rain after any kind of drought - even just a 2 month drought. I usually don't join the Putah Creek crowd, so don't offer info on that area. Gives me more fishing time.

      Tips: Ya might want to use lighter line if we don't get much rain in the future. The sun will be higher each day and water can get really clear in the spring if no runoff. If there is runoff - find the murk or the mudline!! I did try some crankbaits and usually do well this time of year, but not this trip. Water is warming - slowly.

Wednesday, March 11th, 2020

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got out to fish this nice weather, got on about 7:30am hooked up within 30 with a deep diving crank. Another next cast with a Little Dipper. Fish are definitely up, seems like there targeting beds looking for somewhere to spawn. Rest of fish on dropshot which made those first two bites a tease. I’m sure this cold front storm will throw them off but might be a tough tourney this weekend.

      Tips: Wear your sunblock

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I was lucky enough to get out on the water this week while we had some nice weather, the fish were definitely up and moving around shallow, trying to get things done before more bad weather rolls in this weekend. I went to the same area as my last report and started sight fishing with a senko. I saw a lot of bucks and a few bigger fish cruising the shallows, nothing giant but some good 5-6 pound fish. I was able to pick off a few 2-3 pound fish on the senko but the big ones weren't having it, at least until I switched to a fluke. that subtle change made the big ones willing to eat. I was able to pick up 2 fish over 5 on the fluke, but just as I was starting to figure them out. slack tide hit and the cruisers disappeared and the ones I did see were not interested in anything but spawning. I found a couple of smaller fish on beds and was stoked to catch my first bed fish of 2020. I started punching the submerged hydrilla and it didn't take long for me to get bit. I was able to sack up a pretty decent bag over the next couple hours punching the inside grass line as the tide was rising. I ended the day with a little over 22 pounds for 5 fish. My big fish of the evening came punching weighing in at 5.98. I definitely saw some bigger fish cruising around but unfortunately they kicked my butt and wouldn't bite anything I was throwing at them. in conclusion, the first wave of fish are doing there thing right now. Water temps where I was fishing were between 62-64 degrees. the water is clear and makes it a lot easier for sight fishing but unfortunately if you can see them they can probably see you. your best bet is to back off and fan cast these spawning areas with something weightless and subtle to get those big bites. you may need to weed through the bucks but eventually you will get the bite your looking for. you can also come back to these areas at low light and try to pick off the bigger ones with top water frogs, wake baits, or swim baits. I hope everyone finds these beneficial, I really enjoy writing these reports and if anyone wants some more information feel free to hit me up on Instagram @livefastmovement or check out my website www.livefastmovementoutdoors.com Unfortunately my boat is still down due to some motor issues and i'm unable to book any trips till it is up and running. But if your looking for a guide in the mean time go check out by buddy Austin Barker at https://www.austinbarkkfishing.com/ he's a stick and will definitely get you on some fish. Till next time make today a good day, take someone new fishing and don't forget to live fast and catch bass.

Sunday, March 8th, 2020

    • By

      Report: San Pablo Reservoir

      SAN PABLO RESERVOIR FISH REPORT
      3/8/2020
      Still much of the same the trout bite is very good. We are seeing a lot of trout being caught bait fishing on the shoreline as well as in boats. The troll has been slow. I have been told by numerous anglers. Bright color power-baits like chartreuse, spring green, lime twist all with a garlic scent is the best bet.
      Lake Conditions
      Lake Level 303.4
      Surface Temp 53 degrees
      Plants We Planted 1,200 lbs. of Mt. Lassen Trout on 3-5-20 at the Marina.

      Park Information
      Nelson, Jason and Jr. caught 3 trout fishing at Sandy Point no bait info given.
      Renato & Kirk of Vallejo caught 6 trout on Power-bait and Mice tails near Gazebo 1 and Gazebo 2 on 3-1-20.
      Pablo Lopez of Fairfield caught a nice one in scow canyon using Green Power-bait with garlic spray on 3-4-20.
      Stephen Gray caught a 4lb trout fishing on a kayak near Gazebo 1 on 3-7-20.
      Emet, Issac and Aris Espeleta caught a 7.8 lb. trout in scow canyon using Chartreuse power-bait on 3-8-20.