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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, May 6th, 2012

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Saturday afternoon 1-4 we caught at least 35.
      Sunday morning 7-11: at least 50.
      City: Lancaster

      Tips: Tubes 1-2 ft. from the bank, let it fall until it stops, set the hook.

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      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took two friends fishing today one is a fly guy, the other a salmon guy, first time ether had fished Oroville, Salmon fisherman boated 100+ with 8 over 15" 2.25 to 3.5 lbs, Fly Guy
      boated 50+ with 6 over 15" 2.25 to 3.0 lbs. I spent most of the day be a deck hand and net boy, can't tell you how much fun it is to see friends have a fishing day of a life time.

      Tips: Take a friend fishing, nows the time to go Oroville is on fire.
      All fish caught on tubes in 5 to 25 feet.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: For those who may have remembered Jerry's postings a few years back,. He passed on May 6th. Jerry loved Shasta Lake and enjoyed sharing his knowledge. At the drop of a hat he would often drop what he was doing to show other fisherman around. He is missed by his family and friends.
      City: Redding

      Tips: Toss a line and catch a big one next time you are out there.

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 62 - 66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started fishing around 11:00am leaving from the Yorty launch ramp. Decided to fish the main lake near Loggers and Homestead Camps instead of the Cherry Creek arm. Caught at least twenty fish, probably more than half were smallmouth bass. I even caught two Squawfish on crankbaits. The water was very clear but several shoreline areas were muddied-up in the afternoon from boat traffic and wind waves. Biggest fish was a smallmouth around two-and-a-half pounds and a largemouth about the same size. Although the average fish wasn't as large as a couple weeks ago, the beautiful weather and the high number of fish I caught more than made up for the smaller size.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: I don't think very many, if any, of the fish I caught were nesting. Every fish I caught was on crankbaits and drop-shot, wacky rigged, Senkos. Earlier in the day, a fat ghost minnow crankbait with a 3' - 5' dive was productive. (Great crankbait when Lake Sonoma is very clear.) Once the sun got high and hot, I was only catching fish on a baby bluegill crankbait with an 8' dive. The Senko was productive throughout the day. The fish usually grabbed it on the sink or after the fist bounce. 5" baby bass was the best color. Don't avoid the off-color water! More than half of my fish and almost all of the smallmouth were in the dirty water.

Saturday, May 5th, 2012

  • Yuba County
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      Water Temp: 60-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Nobody at the lake today. It's time to be out. 50 fish today with a nice 5+ pounder as big fish. Mostly on wacky rig.
      City: Reno

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 63-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I am a tired but happy guide!! I just finished guiding Joe Scalzo and his son Eric Cavanagh - both from Arizona. We did 2 night trips and 2 day trips - Wed thru Sat. The night trips were amazing and the day trips good - in spite of some heavy wind. I fished one night with both of them and one with Eric. In a nutshell, Wed night produced 24 bass up to 8 lbs 3 oz and a limit over 28 lbs. The next night gave us 30 bass with a limit slightly over 24 lbs, but nothing over 5 1/4 lbs. The day trips were shorter with a lot of sight fishing. Fri at the north end in rough seas, Eric caught 4 up to 4 3/4 lbs (lost a nice frog fish!) and today father and son caught 10 up to 4 lbs in the Oaks arm. I had fun today just watching and teaching. Eric ran the Minn Kota 101 most of the 4 days. Most of our night fishing was all of Konocti Bay and day fishing up north and in the Oaks arm. The night bite was good most of the time but the big bass were caught around midnight to 1 am. Overall, the water is quite clear all over the lake.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Some of my new favorite baits are the Berkely Havoc series. The 8-3 and a 6 were caught on a green pumpkin Havoc "Craw Fatty." Father/son were mostly using brush hogs until Eric fell in love with the "Fatty"! His 4 3/4 pounder up north Friday afternoon was caught deep in tulles on the Fatty. They mostly were drop-shotting their baits and that proved to be very effective. Senkos and worms didn't work real well for us these days. Ah! Tomorrow - sleep!!!!

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 66 to 69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Lots of tournament action this weekend ABA had one out of Fleming. I don't know how many boats... around 30 maybe. We fished on the other end just to stay out of the way and found a lot of action of our own. We caught a lot of fish on dropshot 2lb average and topwater which got me my biggest of the day, 5lber. Saw a few cruising but nothing big or locked on beds.Goodtime to be on the water. Goodluck!
      City: Bay Area

      Tips: Fish your basic colors, greens, purples and shad pattern topwater. 5 to 25 feet worked for us.composition

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: Mid 60s

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Changed the clarity to reflect reality
      City: Chico

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      Water Temp: Mid 60s

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Awesome fishing day today. 97 fish for 3 people in our boat. Mixed bass and mixed size from dinks to over 3 pounds. Lots of baits worked, from spinnerbaits and rip baits to jigs and drop shot. Winner bait turned out to be 4-6inch robo worms rigged texas style with open hook on 1/32oz crappie jigs. The slow drop really worked on them.
      City: Chico

      Tips: Broken rocky banks and rock slides produced the most, as did any submerged vegitation/trees and debry mats. From right up tight to the shore, to 25-30 feet deep. No rhyme or reason to the size vs. depth.

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: 54-61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the East Fork arm and Squirrel Gulch for 2 days. Only caught one LM over 3#, a couple between 2 and 3, and a half-dozen small bass (all but one were LMB). Used various flies, topwater frogs/divers and deep sinking streamers. Thought I'd do better - too bad others aren't reporting as it might have helped me out!
      City: Eureka

      Tips: Please report more often, especially you John Gray!

Friday, May 4th, 2012

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: A tough day, but I was only 5 bass away from a limit. It was cool and windy most of the time and I thought that might help me fool them in the clear shallow water. I was wrong. I saw around 10 bass when the sun was right and the wind calmed. I even had a lot of them admiring my lure but they would quit chasing when they saw me and the boat. One was a 5# smallmouth. The stripers ignored my swimbaits the first 3 hours on the water.

      Tips: The only thing the bass would show interest in was a jerkbait. They ignored tubes, worms and dragged cranks. I wouldn't have known there was any fish in the lake without the jerkbait. A lot of the areas had algae slime coating my lures and that was another reason for the lure choice.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 62-63 (colder

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished coves and trees for 4 hrs. with plastics. Just one bite and one fish (in 15-20 ft. of water,) but a nice 4-5 lb. spot-- one of the prettiest ones I've seen. Colors were great. Have these fish already spawned in this colder water?
      City: Folsom

      Tips: They must be either: shallower than 15-20 ft. or deeper than 15-20 ft. or didn't like what I was throwing....

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Friday afternoon and caught 2 on a Senko, 2 on a drop shot and 1 with a popper. Lost another on the drop shot. Launched from the ramp and went to the north. First came within 30 yds. All others came around the island on the inside. Made it as far as the north corner by the dam but only 1 bite in that area. Water appears to be clearing along the shoreline but dirty everywhere else.
      City: Rohnert Park

      Tips: Weightless senkos along the shorelines work top waters slowly. Shad color baits worked better tha. The darker colors.

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

  • Solano County
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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Hey Joe -

      I hope wasn't a slam. I for one appreciate the reports that DeltaBassBuster gives us. Regular reports from guys that know what they are doing gives us a clear picture of the action out there. Perhaps we'll see more FISHING reports from Joe in the future???

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 67 to 72

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Clear water got to love it. Sight fishing is always fun. Me and my partner got abot 25 bass from 1 to 3 lbs. All on plasics. Robos,Sincos and anything that was plastic. My partner hooked a bass around 10 lbs but could not land it. "8lb test P Line" Dumb Ass. Mix of spots and florida bass. Tons of fun. Lots of big bass at this lake.
      City: Citrus Heights

      Tips: Use line stronger than 8lb test

Monday, April 30th, 2012

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 70-76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: launched outta ladds round noon and ran into delta bass buster and after a short convo had a game plan. i tossed l.c. fat bds in red craw along rip rap in 14 mile and did well boating 12 with a best of about 4.5 (alot of dink bucks chasing cranks) decided to chase bigger fish and picked up the flipping stick and targeted tullies on riprap which was closer to deep water and flipped a 6 on a beaver blk/red and matching skirt then nothing. found a mat that ive punched some big ones out of in the past and punched it for a few flips and boated a nice one but she didnt make it (trie to revive her for 15 minutes).
      City: stockton

      Tips: all bass are holding super tight to cover on the shady sides. flip jigs, creatures or drop shots for the best results. not getting many big bites on cranks due to alot of em being on beds rt now and not chasing baits. if its too windy try and find cover in marinas or tullies so you can sight fish and fish effectively, fish slow!!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Ladd's at ~ 9am, out at 3:30pm. Ran north towards 14 mile but got sidetracked on a nice looking spot (riprap with sparse tules). Weren't bagging anything until we started throwing a red/orange Bomber 4A craw colored crank. Probably had 25-30 fish between 2 of us, best 2 were ~ 4 lbs, few in the 2 lb range, and a BUNCH of 1 lbers/dinks. Tide was outgoing and we were picking them up casting to the shore and running the crank down to the top of the weeds (5 ft or so). Couple of schoolie stripers in the mix, but they were small. This was one of the funnest days I've spent on the delta for sure. Both of us threw the same exact crank - were hooking up every other cast at times - it was crazy fun!
      City: Sunnyvale

      Tips: Two weeks in a row a red/craw bomber crank was slaying them. Nothing off the tules, most of the riprap. Topwater blowups - my biggest came from topwater...

    • By

      Water Temp: 68 - 73 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Luanched the Custom Valco "BASSBUSTER1" out of Ladd's at 8:30 a.m. and was off the water by 2:30 p.m. I started fishing at the Turning Basin casting green punkin and white sparkle tubes. It was junk fishing catching largemouth bass and stripers. What was wierd though the stripers preferred the green punkin tube and the LM bass were hitting my white sparkle tubes. Fished here at the basin for roughly an hour then made a run all the way to the back end of 14 Mile Slough behind LVW Marina. I started fishing at the bridge and worked my way out. With the sunny high blue skies I concentrated punchin tubes in the heaviest weed cover I was able to find. I managed 4 bass back here up 4.5 lbs and lost 2 others in the thick weed beds.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Look for the heaviest cover you can find, it's punchin time!!!!

Sunday, April 29th, 2012

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 65-73

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: worked south delta, launched from rivers end marina. very slow in the morning for me. was flippin jigs but had no takers. found a pump running and got a 21" striper, came back to same spot later in the day and got a pair of 16" stripers. around noon i worked an area i call "snag island" throwing a t-rigged brush hog and immediately boat a 4lb, 3 casts later and i hook my new PB 9.5 pounder! a 3 pounder and a few smller fish out of same area. not many fish, but quality fish
      City: livermore

      Tips: RED colors were hot today. red brush hog in the beds caught the fattys and red craw crankbait got the stripers

    • By

      Water Temp: 69-70

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Luanched from Ladds about 9am...went straight to Ski Beach fished the point and rip rap and tuly breaks, Started with a Speed trap nada, went to brush hog nada, motored the short distance to 14 mile fished the point down to the irrgation pipes with zero hookups but a tons of short strikes.
      Headed to Whisky slough, boated 6 in 45 min largest to 3.5lbs. Again on speed traps.
      Headed back to Ladds and the Stockton Channel was congested with every boat imaginable!....
      Foul hooked a 3+ pounder on the entry Ladds. right on the top of the head!..
      City: Ripon

      Tips: Be careful, keep an eye out for the wreckless.