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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, March 2nd, 2020

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: My friends and I at the Wild West (Video) https://youtu.be/rqQ2halzI5E

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      Water Temp: 59-62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: My boat is in the shop again, but that's not going to stop me from getting out there this time of year. So I dusted off the Kayak and dumped her in at one of my favorite spots. This area right next to highway 12 on the banks of the Sacramento river is where I first learned to fish the California Delta. I launched the kayak at the tail end of the falling tide around 1000-1030 am. I started out throwing a red craw colored lipless crank to see if I could get on a reaction bite with the last good hour of water movement. I had no luck except for one fish in the 3 pound range that followed it right up to the kayak. With the tide almost bottomed out and little to no current or wind I started punching. I caught my first fish on my second punch with a Cali Craw D bomb. a healthy 3 pound pre-spawn female. I let her go and preceded down the bank punching isolated grass patches. I got bit almost like clock work on the grass patches that had wood mixed in it, like a laydown, bush, or piece of drift wood. All my fish punching were decent quality, with the biggest weighing in at 4 pounds. As I worked the bank back to a spawning pocket. I began seeing multiple fish cruising the shallows looking for there best spawning locations and getting ready to do the deed. Seeing some fish in the 7-8 pound class swimming right by me and not wanting anything to do with my lure is extremely frustrating but I assure you these fish can be caught in a conventional way. I began throwing a weightless swimbait on the surface to see if I could draw a reaction bite from one of the big ones cruising the shallows, and that seemed to be the right move because I preceded to catch 20+ fish over the course of the next couple hours ranging from 1 pound to 3 pounds. Yes! Nothing giant but definitely a fun day of fishing. The tide began rising again around 230 pm which only seemed to help the bite. I ran out of swimbaits by 4 pm and had to switch to a rage toad which didn't really give me the same result. I fished until sun down cycling from top water to punching with some bites here and there but nothing big. I got off the water at 545 pm with a beautiful sunset and counted the day as a success. The last week we have had a 3 or 4 day warming trend which really helped the surface temps rise and get these fish to make a move for the shallows. The warmest water I found was 62 degrees in the back of a spawning pocket. The water has been much clearer this year compared to years past and it is definitely making it tougher to get a reaction bite on moving baits like a lipless crank and a squarebill. I am honestly a little surprised I was able to get so many bites on top, with the clear water and the water temps just barely getting over 60 degrees in most spots. We had a cold front move in this weekend bringing some wind and colder night time temps which should slow these fishes roll a little bit. One more thing before I finish up this report, I know this time of year can be tough for a lot of fisherman but please do not go around snagging fish in the shallows with treble hooks. First of all its illegal and will get you in big trouble with Fish and Game, but also its unsportsmanlike. Anyone can go around Mike Longin (aka snagging) fish and say they caught them using traditional methods but that would make you a liar and honestly an unethical person. Please do your best to take good care of the fish you catch. This means releasing the fish right away after you catch them. This helps the future bass populations and puts less stress on the fish. This time of year is notorious for poaching so keep an eye out and if you see any suspicious activity call California Fish and Games Tip line at 1800-541-4591. I hope everyone has the opportunity to get out this time of year and go bass fishing. It truly is one of the best times of the year to catch a lot of fish and your biggest fish ever. If you want to get in on the action feel free to contact me and book your trip. If you are a veteran, active military, or a first responder can enter the giveaway going on my Instagram page until Thursday March 5th. Until next time remember to Live Fast and Catch Bass!
      Website: livefastmovementoutdoors.com
      instagram: @livefastmovementoutdoors
      Facebook: livefastmovementoutdoors

Friday, February 28th, 2020

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 53-57

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: First time at the lake turned out to be a tough one. Fished hard all day for 2 fish. 1 small smallmouth on a wacky senko and 1 decent largemouth on a texas trick work. Threw jerkbaits and spinnerbait quite a bit but nothing doing on the reaction bite. Nothing on the drop shot or ned rig. Fished from 5 ft to 40 ft. Both fish i did catch were in about 20 ft. Entry was $23 and boat inspection was easy. Drop motor, pull plug and open livewells. Trout guys looked like they were doing pretty good trolling. Couldn't tell you what they were using.

Thursday, February 27th, 2020

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 52-58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out on Monday the 24th and Tuesday the 25th.

      Monday ended up with 20 fish. The biggest going around 2.5 pounds. Caught 9 on a jerkbait, one on small swimbait and 10 on a jig. The jerkbait fish were suspended fish near brush and large submerged rocks. The jig fish were in 30-40 feet of water on points. Was a good constant wind all day from all directions.

      Tuesday got 25 fish. Nothing of size to note. 10 more on the jerkbait and 14 on a brown zoom trick work on a shakey head. Got one more on a crankbait early in the day. After exploring i went back to where the jig fish were mostly yesterday and they were gone. Overnight they disappeared. The warm weather may have moved them shallower. I found the fish on the shakey head between 10 and 25 feet. I did get a few tossing it in a few feet of water near trees which were leaning in the water. Wind today was non-existent.

      This lake is ahead of the other larger lakes in the area. Fish are mostly deep but seem to be heading shallow to feed. Caught 17 smallmouth total for both days. The smallies were all over the jerkbait.

      Tips: Jig fish liked a slow drag and pause 3-4 seconds every foot or so. Jerkbait fish liked erratic action and 5 second or so pause after a series of one, two and three jerks.

Sunday, February 23rd, 2020

    • By

      Report: by StanL » Sun Feb 23, 2020 12:24 am

      Fishing Hogan This Week Feb 22

      Today I had a chance to fish with one of my longtime fishing buddies, Bud Porter. We got a late start and finally hit the water at about 10 am. Right away we saw the water clarity was stained with about 10 feet of visibility. The surface temp was 54 degrees and the lake was at 48 percent.

      We started throwing a lot of moving baits with no luck. After trying a few different down baits we ended up catching all of our fish on a Frenzy Baits Nail and WackaSack. We used a Strike King Ocho in the MoonJuice color. We were throwing all the baits on 20 pound braided mainline with an 8 pound Gama fluorocarbon leader.

      We were surprised how shallow the fish were. We managed to catch a mixed bag of smallmouth and largemouth. We got nine fish total all in less than 10 feet of water.

      All the fish came on secondary points. We would throw up in to about 5 feet of water and let it set there. After about a 10 count there would be a slight tick on the line. That is how every fish bit.

      I hope this helps.
      Stan L

    • By

      Report: By San Pablo Reservoir

      SAN PABLO RESERVOIR FISH REPORT
      2/23/2020
      Fishing for trout is still 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 at the Marina on Thursday 2-20-20.

      Park Information
      Laurence Reyes of San Francisco caught a 6.75 lb. trout in front of Gazebo #2 using chartreuse power-bait on 2-13-20.
      Sierra Lee of El Cerrito caught 4 trout at the rock wall using worms on Monday 2-17-20 total weight of stringer 10.87 the largest weighing 4.77.
      Benson and Avery of Martinez caught a 1.75lb trout using power-bait on 2-17-20.
      Nick Jenkins of Hercules caught 3 trout at the oaks point using green power-bait on 2-20-20.
      Ron Abitia of Pinole caught 4 trout the largest weighing 7.4 lbs using Power-bait at the oaks point on 2-20-20.
      Mason Clinton of Alameda caught 2 trout no location or bait given on 2-20-20.
      Dave Hanis of San Pablo caught a 7.21 lb. trout fishing by the Gazebo’s using power-bait on 2-21-20.
      Paulo Abad of Pittsburg caught a 6.62lb trout by the gazebo’s using green pumpkin power-bait on 2-21-20.
      Mason and Dominic Cox from Pacifica caught a nice stringer of trout on 2-21-20.

Saturday, February 22nd, 2020

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 48 in am 54 at 2pm.

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing getting better , Fished yesterday and caught around 12 fish, Nothing over 3 pounds for the day. Theres been some big ones caught this week.Stayed north and caught fish on swimbaits, Arigs, squarebills, underspins and ned rigs. Theres clear water or stained to fish but we need some rain . Still 3 ft to full.

Friday, February 21st, 2020

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 50-53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched early out of Paradise with high outgoing tide. First outing for 2020 so didn't have any high hopes; glad we approached it that way because we had zip, zero, goose egg, and a boat that smelled like skunk! Tried long pause jerkbaits at different depths, then plastics including drop shot, ned, and neko (5" stick bait in usual fish-catching fav colors green pumpkin and junebug, blk/blue flk, natural shad.... zip, zero, goose egg. Noticed some of our favorite areas had little to no growth on smooth bottoms. Lots of dead hyacinth and in some areas, we got closer to islands than we'd ever been. In one slough, we saw lots of growth in sections with open pockets where you could see straight down to the mud; and a smooth lane of no vegetation straight down one side. We also tried moving out to drop offs and ledges... zip, zero, goose egg. Decided to call it early and beat the traffic home... off the water at noon. Chatted with a few bass boats launching late morning and they too had either low numbers or nothing since first of the year. I guess I didn't feel too bad but I know there are others "in the know" and are able to catch. I guess my fishing buds and I will just wait for things to heat up a bit.

      Tips: Have nothing to offer; I don't ever feel qualified to give any tips but I usually offer up what worked for us; today, nothing we tried worked. Zip, Zero, Goose Egg. I'm open for any meaningful suggestions to try during these present conditions. Gonna keep going out during the week and hoping at some point any kind of bite will turn on. Any helpful insights appreciated!

Wednesday, February 19th, 2020

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 48-52

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out to Folsom yesterday (2/18/20) and the wife and I spent 2 hours driving around looking for baitfish. After locating some in the North fork I hooked up and caught a 10 inch dink in the first 30 minutes of fishing. I caught him in 25ft drop shotting a 3.5" Keitech and the poor little guys eyes bulged out and was upside down from the air in him. I felt horrible and spent 30 minutes trying to revive him to get him to swim down but the lil guy was just to tuckered out and died. I didn't have a venting/fizzing needle on me and I even flagged down another bass boat to see if he had one on him, which he didn't. There was nothing else I could do. He was a dink and I couldn't keep him. There was DF&G all over the launch ramp when we left and I didn't want to risk keeping him. The wife wanted to move spots cause she couldn't stand seeing the lil fella, I tried explaining to her that we just spent 2 hours driving around looking for this exact spot and ended up getting in an agreement and just said fine, you want to move spots...I packed up my gear and drove right back to the launch ramp.

      Tips: My tip on this trip is to leave your wife at home if she's not a fisher-person and carry a fizzing needle which I ordered from Amazon the second I got home. Haha.

Monday, February 17th, 2020

    • By

      Report: From San Pablo Reservoir

      SAN PABLO RESERVOIR FISH REPORT
      2/17/2020
      Fishing for trout is very very good. We are seeing a lot of limits coming in. The best bet is using bright colors like Chartruese, Rainbow, Garlic and Garlic sent dip or spray. The Rock Wall, Sandy Point and Scow Canyon are the best bet for Boaters. The Pines picnic area is a good start for shore fishing. We are also seeing a lot of Bass action from the bank and from the boaters.
      Lake Conditions
      Lake Level 303.4
      Surface Temp 53 degrees
      Plants We did not plant any fish this week. Next Plant Scheduled for Thursday 2-20-19 at the Marina from 1,200 lbs. from Mt Lassen.

      Park Information
      Ryan Grisso and His Son Ryan Grisso caught some nice Bass on 2-9-20 at the Marina no town or bait given.
      Jose no last name given caught 2 trout the largest weighing 3.5 at Sandy Point on 2-9-20.
      Chris Carter and his Grandpa Phil Carter of Sacramento caught 8 trout including a 8 lb’r on 2-10-20.
      James Stoker of San Rafeal caught 2 trout on 2-10-20 no location or bait given.
      Raul Martinez of San Pablo caught his limit on 2-10-20 no location or bait given.
      Dan Prows and Scott of San Jose caught 2 limits using mice-tails in Scow Canyon the weight of the stringer was 16lbs. on 2-11-20
      Gregg Webber of El Sobrante caught 1 trout weighing 5 lbs using power-bait at the pines on 2-11-20.
      Raul Martinez and Friend of San Pablo caught 2 limits no location or bait given on 2-11-20.
      Hlev Phan of San Pablo caught 5 trout using a minnow lure on 2-11-20 the weight of the largest 4.14 lbs.
      Jim Ducato of San Jose caught 3 trout on his Birthday in Scow Canyon using worms and power-bait on 2-12-20.
      Julian Valdez of El Sobrante caught his first two fish ever at the Rock Wall on 2-12-20.
      Philip Takington and Tim Green of Vallejo and Berkeley caught 5 trout the weight of Stringer 8 lbs using power-bait in Scow Canyon on 2-13-20.
      Dan Prows and Scott of San Jose caught 2 limits using power-bait on 2-14-20. The weight of Stringer 8 lbs.
      Sean Flanagan of Livermore caught 5 trout the weight of stringer 7.98 lbs on 2-16-20.
      Scott Sauro of San Lorenzo caught 5 trout the weight of stringer 8.8 lbs on 2-16-20.

Thursday, February 13th, 2020

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I spent 4 hours on the lake yesterday thinking the warmer days might make for decent fishing. I was wrong. It took me almost an hour to find a spot holding even a few fish, and this spot had no baitfish to speak of. I got zero bites. Maybe the bait was so shallow it didn't register in my cone beam.

Monday, February 10th, 2020

  • Amador County
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      Report: Fishing Lake Camanche This Week Feb 10

      Today I had the privilege of jumping in the boat with George and Jessie West at Camanche.We had about four hours to fish and it turned out to be a challenging fishing day.

      We had blue bird sky with no wind and 6’ to 10’ visibility. The he surface temperature was at 53 degrees and the lake outflow was at 330 CFS and the inflow was at 240CFS. It was pretty tuff fishing for us but we managed to catch 7 fish. All of the fish we did catch were related to vertical breaks.

      What that means is if you'refishing an island top and the top of the island is in 20‘ and one side drops straight off to 40,’thats the kind of stuff the fish will suspend next to.The best approach is to throw your baits on top and let itdrop as close to the break as possible.

      The best baits for us was a drop shot with a shad colored worm or a Frenzy Nail with a Berkley the General worm.I hope this helps and good luck fishing.
      Stan Lafever

Friday, February 7th, 2020

  • Butte County
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      Report: by Joe daddy » Fri Feb 07, 2020 3:32 am

      Jittterbug and I again, one fish on rock wall next to bank. Running water in the cove with deep water access. Pretty slow, glassy water, only that bite. I’m sure more wind would of helped. Just nice to get out.(In one of the pics you can see where the hook set was in the right side of its mouth)

Saturday, February 1st, 2020

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 49-52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the water yesterday at 7:30am and dishes until 3:30. Fog was very dense in the morning. After the fog lifted it was sunny and hardly any wind. Fishing was very tough. Threw a-rig, crankbaits,jerkbaits,underspin,finesse swimbait s,drop shot,jigs and ned. Only got 1 fish all day and came in the ned in 6ft of water. Fished from 2-30ft of water on north,south and mid lake. Talked to a lot of guys out fishing and all reported catching 0-1 all day also.

Friday, January 31st, 2020

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 52 to 56 degrees

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: After last weeks "blowout" at Oroville with only one bite, we hit Berryessa today and did some better. I had my first fish on my first cast, a smallie, but it slowed down from there. We stayed pretty much in the narrows today and I ended with six bass with no size. Buddy Doug ended the day with just two. We found bait both shallow and deep but could not get them to bite. All eight of our fish came from less than 20 ft., with the shallowest at about 8 to 10 feet.

Thursday, January 30th, 2020

  • Lake County
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      Report: Postby On The Water Guide Service » Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:48 pm

      The Bass are biting pretty good up here at Clear Lake. The A rig is still the deal for both numbers and size for me on both ends of the lake. It seems like we were catching a little bit bigger fish in the deeper water in the south but getting fewer bites, whereas we are doing really well with numbers in the North end but they are mostly two pounders. One of the better days I had recently is when we caught and released 33 fish in about 5 hours fishing the North end from Lakeport to Nice/Lucerne. These fish were out in front of docks holding in 7' to 9' on a rocky bottom. That same day I talked to two other boats that had been worm fishing and hadn't even had a single bite. We had two doubles and they were hitting the A rig good enough where it was hard to put it down. If fishing the A rig is not your cup of tea, you can catch fish on a underspin with a 3.8" Keitech swimbait or a suspending jerkbait or LV500. For me the good bite was definitely around the docks. I tried hitting the tule edges and points from the Casino to State park but it wasn't happening yet.
      Water temps have come up slightly with the nice sunny weather we have been getting. I was getting 48 degrees in the morning and it was as high as 51 degrees by early afternoon. Tomorrow we are supposed to have a high of 70 degrees and I think the fish are really going to be chewing this weekend. Water clarity is really good with a slight stained look up north and pretty clear down south with about 2 1/2' visibility. The lake level is holding at 4.50 on the Rumsey gauge and we are only about 3' from being at full pool. This winter has been pretty mild so far and it has made for some good fishing conditions for being in January.

      Good fishing and we will see you on the water,
      Troy Bellah

Tuesday, January 28th, 2020

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48-51

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got out to Folsom for a few hours today, Found tons of baitfish but had trouble hookin up. Caught 2, one was just over a pound and the other was just under 2lbs. Got 1 on a drop shot and 1 draggin a 4" Keitech Impact. Hung out at the ramp for a bit cleaning out the boat and spoke with 2 other bass boats and 2 trout boats at the ramp and 1 bass boat had 1 keeper just over a pound and the other bass boat got skunked. One of the trout guys caught a decent size king salmon and the other trout boat said they should have stayed home. Water is low, islands popping up every where, State park boats constantly putting up buoys but they're not catching all the big rocks poppin up so be careful. Launched out of Granite Bay at 5%, had to drive through mud and huge mud puddles just to get to a ramp. Went to Folsom Pointe last week and had to back up my truck to the exhaust just to get my boat off the trailer cause the ramp is darn near flat. Rattlesnake ramp is closed. Browns Ravine seems to be the best place to launch from but my last trip to the South fork I got skunked so I wanted to try going North today. Was only out for 3 hours, saw massive amounts of baitfish and tried everything from NV500's, rip baits, wacky rigged small senko's, ned rig, back spinner, under spins, but all they wanted was something slowwwwww and small on the bottom.

      Tips: Everyone keeps saying to find baitfish and you'll get fish but just a simple tip that I didn't even think of until today...look for the big red lines under or around the schools of baitfish. I fished a massive school of baitfish in 15-20foot of water today for over an hour and didn't even get a bite. Then it dawned on me I hadn't seen a single bigger red lines (bass) under or around the baitfish. Took off and drove around until I found the bigger red lines going through the schools of baitfish and got those 2 within an hour. Schools of baitfish are everywhere, if you don't see the bigger red lines by the schools just keep on looking.

Friday, January 24th, 2020

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 50-51 degrees

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Oroville Friday with Rick J. caught 20+ in the slot area and Forman Creek area. All fish were caught on dropshot with wacky rigged prism shad. No size fish ranged 1.25 to 1.75. Fish were caught from 20 to 55 ft.

      Tips: Find steeper rock walls and bait . Bait is stuck in the bottom and varied from 1' to as much as 8' thick. Fish slow!

    • By

      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had the itch to fish Oroville today for my first trip of the year. I satisfied my itch but did not catch any fish. I had one bite all day and missed it. My buddy got two bites and missed one and caught the second, which was about a 5 lb Channel Catfish. Fished glide baits, small swim baits, jigs, ned rig, lipless cranks. Fished a few points around the main lake, Potters Ravine, and up the middle fork. We did find some fish, mostly in 20 to 25 foot range but just could not get them to bite. Water is very clear.

      Tips: Sorry, I can't give any tips here but I could sure use some. Bass Union makes it look so easy. Maybe I should invest in some of his jigs.

Tuesday, January 7th, 2020

  • Lake County
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      Report: by Dave Brabec » Tue Jan 07, 2020 6:54 am

      I was out yesterday, More bait equals more birds.The Redbud arm is filled with Grebes . Some winters more than others. The lake has so many big shad right now even the coots are coming up with them.Fish are really fat . Catching fish that look like 3 pounders that weigh 5. Water was 49 degrees at noon . Only caught fish on the Arig.