Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Monday, April 2nd, 2012

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      Water Temp: 56 - 59 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Luanched the Custom Valco "BASSBUSTER1" out of Ladd's today at 8:30 a.m. and was off the water by 2:30 p.m. My focus today to fish was Big Al's area (light 19). 7 bass today on a reaction bite first three hours. I believe I made the mistake of leaving when I got tired of the windy conditions. I used spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and my california swim jig. I also cuaght my first bass on a lunker punker 5"(modified). Big fish of the day was a 6 pounder that came off at the boat when I tried to grab her(firetiger rapala). All my fish were cuaght on or near tules. No fish were cuaght along the rock wall today. I circled around the big island and small island twice, the fish were holding on the windy sides on the out side edge of the weed beds during the incoming tide.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Tough it out on those windy days as best you can, it can be rewarding.

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      Water Temp: 50s

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: the bite is picking up. was on water for 2 hours and got 4 in 1-2lb range. the bite was really really light, no tap tap tap just the line starts getting heavy. was throwin t-rig grubs and wacky rig senkos, all fish were on wacky rig. spawn is coming soon, just need water temp to rise a little more
      City: livermore

      Tips: slow it down to get bit. be patient 1-2 more weeks before they take bigger baits/faster retreive

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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: the weather conditions were right for a good day of fishing and indeed it was. arrived at about 7:00 and hit the back ponds. no bites early but about 8:30 or so when the sun got higher the action picked up. saw at least 20 fish all very close to shore on their beds. they roll in pairs with a lot of 2-4 pound males and a lot of big females anywhere from 3-9 pounds. got 2 males to eat my jig both about 3 pounds. the females are a little difficult to entice because the males will block them from eating your bait. anyways sight fishing is a good way to hook up right now.
      City: daly city

      Tips: use any bait that resembles cray fish. worms got us a few looks but as soon as they see a cray figure on the bottom almost everytime males and females swam up and gave it a chomp. please catch and release there are quite a few very large fish in these waters

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      Water Temp: 48.5 - 50.3

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: If that was the Jerry posting from past years, good to hear from you. It would be great to see a post from you again on the Shasta happenings.

      Fished 3-27 thru 3-31. We got 8" of rain and hail, lake rose 11 ft while we were on it. Some crazy winds like I have not seen on the lake before, waterspouts and all. We found fish in the Pit mostly on long shallow points darterhead worms 4-6" of almost any color, 10 to 45 ft. The evening bite was hot on worms with brite chartreuse tails steep rock rite at the bank. We moved up the Mcloud and got on fish on the same long points but also foudn fish in "any" incoming water. slow rolling white spinnerbaits took the bigger fish. Found my best fishing at Shasta ever for numbers and quality mid day in a river channel, grassy sloping points toward running water. 2 of us caught over 60 fish in 4 hours 30 of them between 2 and 3 lbs. what a final day. Nothing at this lake is ever the same for me.
      City: California Delta

      Tips: Typical worms. oxblood, aarons magic, green weinies, salt and pepper, white blades. All slow.

Saturday, March 31st, 2012

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      Water Temp: 58-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched outta tracy headed for coney,caught five keepers on wackey rig senco. Went to victoria and fished it for an haour with no bites, heade back to coney and bottom of tide picked up the frog caught one and missed two more.
      City: modesto

      Tips: Even though we had no size to our fish, the better pattern was grass with wood.

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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Cloudy with a slight breeze, and the fish were back in the coves with their eyelids hanging outta the water. 23 fish. the biggest 5 went close to #35 anchored by a beautiful fish over #8. We have about half a dozen over #6. Most came on dark blades, but a few came on creatures and power worms.
      City: grass valley

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: some spots were nailed by trouters trolling crawlers. Local legend Willy targeted cats with whole troutheads and nailed a 20#er.
      City: Twain Fart

      Tips: If willy approaches you act like you def of he'll talk till your ears bleed.

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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out for a few hours this evening. Fishing was slow despite the good conditions. Saw a couple beds but no fish on them. Had a few bites but couldn't get a good hook set. I'm thinking it's going to be on fire in a few weeks. Good luck.
      City: Pleasanton

      Tips: I'll try to catch some fish first and then I'll let you know.

Friday, March 30th, 2012

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      Water Temp: 55 - 56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Friday, 3/30/12. Except for a period from about 11:00 to 2:00, the day was windy. The sky was heavily overcast all day. The water temperature is now up to 55°. In spite of the wind, my buddy and I caught 13 fish for the day. The biggest was a nice 6 lb 11 oz. Our best five also included a 4:12, 3:14, 3:11, and a 3:3 fish for a total of 22 lbs. 3 oz. Four of these five were female large mouths. The fifth was a 3:3 lb female small mouth. Their tails were all normal color with no sign of bed preparation. All were caught in 10 – 15 ft of water. The largest fish was caught on jig. The rest were caught casting and slowly working a drop-shot setup with 4½ and 6 inch Roboworms. We also tried fishing shallow with no success. A 4-inch swim bait and a wacky Senko were tried with no success.
      City: Pinole

      Tips: The fish appeared to be in the pre-spawn stage and are ready to move up to the bedding areas when the water temperature warms up a couple of more degrees.

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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished on my birthday for 3 hours. The fish gods smiled upon me. I had three in the boat in a little over an hour, including one 4 pounder. I caught them all on crank baits close to B&W. Nothing else worked. Tried: Senkos, Drop-Shot, and Spinner Bait.

      Note to Tourney anglers, you don't own the water. Attempting to shoo me off a spot with hand signals will only result in a well casted crankbait up-side yo head Lol!!
      City: W.Sac

      Tips: Prior to launching, the dock talk recommended: Chatter Baits, Buzz Baits, and Rattle traps. Being the contraian that I am; I did not throw any of them...I caught my fish on muddy exposed levees with trees. I really got geeked if I saw crawdad holes on the side of the levee. All my fish spit up Crawdad shells in my live-well.

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      Water Temp: 50-51

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I'm sorry that there aren't more reports lately - good or bad. I don't understand why. Anyway, Mike Sperbeck and I hit the lake with good intentions in spite of the latest weather patterns. We started out of the Oaks about 4 pm and worked several areas on the east shore. The Senko bite was good for him while I couldn't manage a bite before dark. He had me 8 to 0! I hoped to change that after dark and I did - sort of, 6 to 1 after dark!!! We wound up having a nice trip with five of our bass from 5 lbs 2 oz to 5 lbs 13 oz. We caught 15 bass total for an approx 26 1/2 lb best five limit. Other than one 2 lber, the rest were 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 lbs. We could not break 6 lbs! Our night baits were on the new Berkley Havoc "Pit Boss" (Skeet Reese design) and brush hogs. Our day fish were 10 to 15 feet and night fish were 10 to 25 feet. The night bites ranged from absolute nothing bites to major slams (for 50 degree water!) The bass were in fantastic shape and the females were getting "their bellies on"!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The lake is rising nicely and still pretty clear down south. Some algae is already forming. The is a little debris floating around, but not much.

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: the float at Bailey Cove is back in
      City: Redding

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

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      Water Temp: didn't even loo

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: o heim, you're not alone...my bro and me have been fishing folsom since late 80s and now that i'm a decade resident (my bro's been here since mather was an air force base), we still have a love/hate relationship with folsom lake. sometimes we come out with 10-12 fish (no, we're not gonna tell you stories like these other guys with 30 fish, probably true for some but most are fudgin'. But yeah, we have some spots we tend to catch, but not all the time. I've actually caught my limit waiting for my bro to park the trailer at Dike 8. But then we've also been skunked so many times, we're not welcome at family gatherings. But yeah, it's our back yard too, but we fish the Delta.
      City: folsom

      Tips: Find what works for you and work it. Everyone will tell you, whatever worked at some other lake will likely not work at Folsom. I've had Pro-Am friends come up to Folsom and say 'NEVER AGAIN'.
      It's not Clear Lake, it's not anything like you've ever fished. But sometimes, the fishin' is catchin'. Headin' to the Delta......

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Days like this ... I sure do miss Jim..aka..jimmyCrackCorn...fishing report. Pulling up a 10 plus lbers back 2 back when all else is struggling.. jim we miss u!!! He must be practicing for Coffee Cup tournament

      Tips: When jim speaks. All else should listen. Plz dont be rude n raise ya hands b4 asking questions for tips..words to yo ma-da

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

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      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well hit the "Dead Sea" again for 5 hours... same old story....na da! I refuse to drag a Robo worm behind the boat with the trolling motor on slow! I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE DO THIS, BUT I REFUSE!
      City: folsom

      Tips: Metered a lot of fish between 40-55 foot. I did what I could, but no results. Went to the delta about a week ago, and caught a 5lbr. on my 3rd cast..... I'm starting to wonder why I waste my time here. Being only 5 miles away makes it my backyard.... but.....oh well keep trying!

Monday, March 26th, 2012

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      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out today and punched some hydrilla gorillas!!! Found them in less than 3 feet during middle low tide. Fished around Franks and Middle. Most bites came from a Mr. flippy ob a 2 oz punchin weight. Boom.
      City: sac-tucky

      Tips: Get out the broom sticks cause the fat girls are here, double barrel locked and loaded!!! Har!

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      Water Temp: 55 - 57 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Luanched the Custom Valco "BASSBUSTER!" out of Ladd's at 8:30 a.m. and was off the water by 3:00 p.m. Over all the bite was tough for me, my focus was to fish the back side of 14 Mile Slough between the marina and the bridge. It was top of the high tide starting the out going tide. Also the wind was blowing pretty good this morning making it tough to fish slowly. I decided at 12 noon to head for the sailboat club next to Ladd's and fish for the bass I know are spawning there. Saturday afternoon and evening I enjoyed fishing from the bank after work and cuaght 5 bass off the beds.

      So for my last 3 hours I enjoyed catching the males (5 today up to 2.5 lbs) using my spinning rod and wacky zoom trick worms with nails for weight.

      Also while in the cove I tossed my california swim jig and noticed the larger females were willing to follow my swimbait to the boat, but would not commit. When this weather finally stabilizes I believe the bite is going to explode.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Get out of the wind the best you can so you can fish. If fishing clear enough water look for the spawning beds.

Saturday, March 24th, 2012

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      Water Temp: 56.5 Sat and 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Mildred Saturday and Sunday. Very different bite each day.

      Crazy topwater/reaction bite for striper for the first 45 minutes on Saturday. One big (10+ est) lost at the boat on the first cast. Fairly consistent 10" to 14" fish for the rest of the day with two 3 lbers thrown in. All caught on reaction baits.

      Went out Sunday to get more of the morning striper bite but a sea lion cruised through just as we arrived. Not even a sniff for the first couple hours. Around 10:30 the bite started on dropshot and senkos with one reaction fish for a tease. Mostly 12-14" fish but two 4's on the Senko so that made it a good day and the predicted rain stayed away.
      City: Davis

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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched 8am from New Hope; light choc milk til we hit Sycamore area and into Mokulemne...straight to fav tule islands and dock..tried spinnerbaits, senkos, and cranks...ZIP. Worked our way back to just around the bend from Tower bridge and worked the islands...managed a 4.2lber on senko in 6ft in the weedline...full of eggs. Couldn't figure 'em out much less find 'em. Well not realy, graphed a bunch in 10-20ft but just couldn't figure out what they'd hit.
      City: folsom

      Tips: Not much other than try everything you know in cold, stained, whatever. Hope someone posts something that helps.

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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught a hard fighting 4.5 lber on a 6" black worm.
      Fish was in 12 feet of water.No beds spotted. Next four to six weeks should be fun.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Try different presentations to catch Chabot bass. Today an aggressive lift and drop retrieve worked.