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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Friday, June 10th, 2011

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Putah creek from 7am-3pm and had a fairly good top water bite early for small fish to 2 lbs and had one 4 pounder all on poppers. I tried spinners,drop shot and wacky for a couple good hits but I could not stick um. Later in the day when the wind picked up I tied on a swim bait and fished across heavy blown points. Letting it sink to the bottom, about 15 feet and slowly reeling. I almost had my 8 foot extra heavy rod ripped out of my hands then....NOTHIN.
      City: Napa

      Tips: I am thinking on my swim bait hit, That I made to long of a cast on mono and I was a little asleep at the switch. Good luck

      That $21.00 launch fee is way out of line.

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

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

      Report: plasticman1: My lake of choice for crappie is either lake Amador or New Melones. I've always done well there. I usually do well fishing on or (if in a boat) around the boat/fishing docks. My bait of choice is a 2" red/white tube bait or a 2 1/2" albino shad Fin S Slug-go on a 1/32 - 1/16 oz jig head. Experiment with other colors if those doesn't work, or you can't go wrong with live minnows. Also, at Amador you can get lucky and hook up to some of their hybrid trouts. Those suckers are huge and a lot of fun to catch. Not to mention, good eat'n too.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: Fish the docks. Use a 2" red/white tube or 2 1/2" Fin S Slug-go on a 1/32 - 1/16 oz jig head. Fish vertical jigging, experiment with different color lures and depths until the fish finds you then it's on.

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 66 -75

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Thursday, 6/9/11. All day there was a blue bird sky with a slight breeze starting in the morning and increasing in the afternoon. The water temperature was 66º on the main body and up to 75º in protected coves by the afternoon. The water is clear to 10 ft. in most areas. In the morning, my buddy and I fished the East side and then Putah Creek but only caught two fish. Carp on the East side were in full spawn and were splashing so much that the water was muddy close to the shore. Finally at about 2:00 PM, we found fish in coves on the South end of the lake or maybe the bite didn’t turn on until that time. My buddy and I ended the day with eight fish each. Most were in the 1 to 2 lb. range. Several were over 2 lbs with two largemouth bass close to 3 lbs. These two fish were most likely post-spawn because they were extremely skinny and would have weighed much more during the pre-spawn. The other fish were mostly spots with a few smallmouth fish mixed in. All were caught between 3 ft. to 15 ft of water. All but one of the fish was caught drop-shotting Folkstead and MM colored RoboWorms. There was also a wacky-style Senko bite but only one fish was hooked. They appeared not to be taking the Senko fully in their mouth (or I was setting the hook too soon). I had several bites and set the hook only to bring in the line with the Senko missing. The day started off slow but we ended catching some fish and having fun. I should also mention that where the water was calm enough, we could see many large schools of fry. I have never seen this many fry on Berryessa before. Hopefully, this projects even better fishing in the future. Also in one calm cove, we saw a large school of shad that made the surface of the water appear like the wind was blowing only on one large section in the middle of the cove. Again, I have never seen anything like this on Berryessa before.
      City: Pinole

      Tips: Maybe there is no need to get up so early to go bass fishing on Berryessa.

    • By

      Water Temp: 75-77

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Water level is still really high and lake clarity is unusually good! Went out at 2 PM and caught some decent bass from the time we launched till we left at 8:15 PM We sight fished structures and cover.

      Tips: We used dark colored spinner baits. The bite is still a little slow, so make sure you have a slow retrieve.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 64-68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Last 4 days on the River has offered some incredible fishing! Spent all day Thursday & Friday with Steve Colley in the flooded lakes tossing 9X Senkos in 925 & 297 colors patterns to the shallow flats in the flooded lakes. We were targetting large bass that were moving in and out around the blue gill colonies. Patience was the key in that once ya found one of these colonies of gills, ya had ta back a little off and wait out 3-5 minutes ta see if there were any giant gill raiders present, eventually when they showed themselves, we watched their roaming routine and would cast that big slug of a Senko into their path and wait for em to make their rounds. We caught 20-25 fish doing this with the biggest going 7.5 pounds, also lost a double digit fish(one of many we saw, but the only one ta grab the Senko)as she was too far back in the tules ta git control of. Friday we experienced a great poppper/chugger bite early in the flats of Frank's Tract, then we mosied around the grass flats of Frank's, Lil Mandy & Mildred, tossing Yamamoto Kreatures in 330 on a texas rig, caught a lot of fish doing this to 3 pounds. Not a big fish bite yet but certainly good for numbers, had ta really hop that Kreature ta draw strikes. If ya slow fished it like the Senko, they wouldn't touch it!

      Yesterday and this morning offered some great topwater fishing all day, the lowere tides were perfect in the middle Delta. Fishing by myself, I found popper & Spook fish in the deep grass flats off tule islands with deep drop offs near by. These were all post spawn fish that have backed off and are now moving into their summer patterns, great numbers the past two days in that 3-6 pound range on topwater.
      City: OAKLEY

      Tips: Lots of bass fry starting to show in many areas from the past week, big bucks and hens guarding these fry balls are succeptable to Senkos & Topwater. There is still a good number of pre-spawners that you can target in the shallows, some moving in on gill colonies, others out cruising wating for a buck to drag em into the bed room. Topwater bite is coming on with the warming, it's been good for me and I know the top three teams in Saturdays FPT event here got em all on frogs. Don't overlook fish burried deep in the tules, sometimes in as little as 6" of water, if it's dark in there, they are liable ta be present. Keep an eye out for gills, both small and the big spawning red ears, you find the gills spawning, you'll find some of the biggest bass this River has to offer close by raiding them fer a change while the gills spawn! Typically here, these pre-spawn giants, don't see blue gills up bedding when they are on the prowl, easy meal for the bass, likely target for the saavy bass guys!

    • By

      Water Temp: 64 - 68 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched "BASSBUSTER1" at 8:00 a.m. shortly after getting off of work and was out of the water by 12 noon. Since it was incoming tide I decided to work the shallow flats in 14 mile slough. It's nice to finally see the warm weather again. Caught/release several bass pitching/fliping 5" Black/Blu Yum Dingers to the tules along the riprap bank. Big fish was 3 lb.s, small female not spawned yet. In the main channel around the mouth of the 14 Mile Slough there was a reaction bite using red/chartruse craw pattern Rat-L-Trap.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Looking forward to the frog bite as the area begins to heat up. :-)

    • By

      Water Temp: 65-66

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Holland Tract at 7am. Went to the main channel and fished the first tules I came to.
      Pitched brush hogs into the tules with no takers.
      Fished outside of weedlines and picked up the first of 7. Nothing to write home about but had fun. Caught all my fish outside of weedlines and rip-rapfish using Brush Hogs, Senko Sytle Worms fished wacky, Berkley 7" Power worms. All fish caught on watermelon color. No other colors seemed to work. I called it a day about noon.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: 6 dinks....all fish caught up close to the shore. Missed a chunk. she was at lest 6 pounds. got a visual on her. water temp is 64.
      City: 408

      Tips: crankbaits.. or slow trigged senkos

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: No sure, didn't

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My son and I fished the Thursday nite tournament out of Lime Saddle and spent most of our time up near Berry Creek. The resavoir is all but full as mentioned in earlier reports and there is a good bit of debris most everywhere. We caught probably 25 fish mostly on worms with the longest 16". It took 17.5 to win the money. Should mention here that most of the brush hanging over or in the water is poisen oak so if you put a bait in it and then touch the bait or the line you could get a reaction from it. I know I'm extremely allergic so I have to be aware. We had no wind so I shook the bait pretty good to get my fish. We had a couple on jigs.
      City: Paradise

      Tips: I think you could get bit most anywhere but pinpointing the location of the better fish will be the challenge. There are some fish in the running water and around the points but everything looks good right now. We used Reaction Innovation worms in the Juicy color on dart heads and brown/purple jigs. I caught twice as many as my son using eighth ounce compared to the quarter ounce he was using so the speed of the fall of the bait might have had something to do with it.

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: na

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: plasticman1: only lakes i've caught crappie are clear lake, san pablo dam reservoir, and camanche. clear lake was the best but it was much warmer. when the crappie bite is on at these lakes, it's crazy but doesn't last long, maybe a few days...if you're on your boat, just gotta go find them. i've always found them at submerged structure and docks. i wish i could tell you more but this is my best shot. good deal takin' dad fishin'! i missed my opportunity for both my dad and my uncle who was the true fisherman of the family. my hat is off to you!
      City: sac

      Tips: none...just givin' plasticman1 a lead on the crappie.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61-67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: What is it with the sun today? Practically blinded us today - and probably the bass!! I had another nice trip today with 2 anglers new to bass fishing. I expected the bite to be slower today with bright skies and calm water this morning. Topwater was dead but the Senko and worm bite was a good as ever. One of the clients did well landing 10, but really had trouble hooking them. I'll bet he missed 30+. The other fellow struggled some but did land several - and a nice salmon. I sampled many colors of Robo worms today and found oxblood to be a favorite. We managed 3 over the slot again - one nice one pushing 2 3/4 lbs.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We fished the middle fork again and stuck with the numerous tree shadows available all day because of the high water (97% full)! The fish are starting to hang on walls with steep rock and overhanging trees. Actually, this afternoon we were hooking fish in the top 10 feet again when the breeze came up. The quality bass were still 20+ feet deep.

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

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

      Report: Looking to take my dad out for some crappie fishing . He is turning 75 this month can anyone help where to take him he loves to crappie fish ,He love black bass fishing but with his arthritis he cant cast well anymore but can drft bobbers and minnows, Help a fellow bass buddy out
      City: Elmira

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 70 plus

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Arrived at the lake at 7am.Fished down the north bank to the big island with no results.No surface action no spinnerbait no reaction bite.Pulled in to the first cove on the right throwing grnpurple flake 5 inch dinger and the bite was on.First fish came off a tree on the right,Second fish a big mama close to 9 on the bare bank about 50 yards from where i caught the first fish.Seven quality fish came out of that one cove.Fished around the big island and caught a couple more nice fish in the trees that blew down during the winter storms.Went to the south bank straight across from the big island and fished back towards the ramp.The fish were in the bottoms of the indents in the banks in about 10 feet of water.Best day this year. Go get em.............
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Yorty Creek is a wormers place.Very little rock for crankers but as the water warms Poppers,buzzers and big spooks will take some big fish.

Monday, June 6th, 2011

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: -------> ATTENTION ALL ANGLERS <-------
      I urge you all to come out and support the "SQUAWFISH" Derby @ lake Pillsbury ! It will be held July 9th. (GREAT family fishing outing) Help rid our waterways of this paracste fish ! ------ Did you know that just one Squawfish will eat 16 million salmon fry in one year? So yes, every Squawfish that is removed does ,make a difference !! -- for more information call the Soda Creek Store = (707)743-2148
      City: Ukiah

      Tips: Squawfish are easy to catch.. Pretty-much they will eat anything that moves. Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, swimbaits and top water lures will all work. Go have a great time at the Squawfish Derby July 9th and enjoy the beauty of Lake Pillsbury

    • By

      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: it finally broke who woulda thought it takes the rain got 13 fish today most big smallest went 2 lbs alot of 4s and 5s one 9.7 biggest yeaboy finaly the fish turned on will be fishing hard next two days to get sum studs
      City: Richmond

      Tips: keep at it they are there and they are big

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: With all the rain, me and my buddy decided to lauch from markley and cough up the twenty bucks for launch. We figured less we run the dryer we will be in this weather. I guess we made a ok decision. We caught bunch of bass. we caught about twenty five bass. Around 15 were spots, 5 smallies and 5 largies. Most spots were small. Few decent laries about the usual 1.5 lbs to 2.0 lbs. All were caught on sinkos.
      City: daly city

      Tips: Fish coves an trees. Fish are about 10 ft. deep. WE didn't try drop shotting, dart heading, or any reaction baits. I don't think we would of caught much if we did try.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 62-66

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: left Rivers End after the first rain of the day. Boated a 3#er out of the gate in the weeds on a b/b jig.continued to fish weeds with jig with little sucsess. The rain busted loose for about an hour. We almost called it quits. got back after it an they were busten on top. My buddy put on a frog only to watch them bust on it and fling it into the air. I put on a rage toad wtrmln red got a blow up and misssed, slowed it down and was nailn em about every 20 minutes for the rest of the evening
      City: tracy

      Tips: fish slow be safe

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: mid 50's

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Thought I would try and repeat the day before and maybe get a big one. Fished the south end and on the water by 5:30am. The weather was horrible, no rain, and the sun came out early. Fished all new spots with the baby spook with no luck. Went back to two spots I fished the day before and had two nice fish explode on it but not take it. I did end up catching on 3lb small mouth. Off the water at 9:30am.
      City: Weaverville

      Tips: go when its raining!

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 64-66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Can't believe I'm saying this, but I was able to complete 2 guide trips before the winter, err, summer storm hit! Weather went from post-front to clear on Thurs and clear to pre-front on Friday. Wow!! Fishing was excellent both days with a father-son team catching most of our 35+ bass on Thurs - including 5 over the slot and dad's near 19 inch spot! Most of their bass were caught on 6" Robo worms in green craw and junebug colors. Friday was new experience for me as I guided 2 sets of father-son pairs (all adults), and the fishing techniques were new for me also. They came from all over the country for a fishing reunion - with nightcrawlers!!! That's right! I had nightcrawlers wiggling all over my new carpet on my new Z521!! Actually, that's not true -they were very careful and it was a hoot for me to watch! One of the dads had a 40 year old fly rod break on a big spotted bass as he was dragging the crawler. We saw the fish - she was big. After 30 years of guiding I thought I had seen it all - this was a new territory for me. I did make 2 casts with a Robo PLASTIC worm and caught a nice spot - so as not to defame the reputation of my Ranger, har!! "LUNKERS LOVE NIGHTCRAWLERS" was a famous book that I got to see first-hand. They finally ran out of their 15(?) boxes of crawlers about the time to go home. They caught around 50 or so bass with 3 "overs". I spend the day amazed and getting to know my new 101 Minn Kota Fortrex which moved us around very well.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I was most concerned about the number of fish that might be harmed by using live bait. I was amazed that the guys were very quick on the hookset and only gut hooked about 5 of the bass. And the hook that remained in their gullet was a very small one. I fished the middle fork both days - finding fish very shallow and active about 10 am to 1 pm. When the sun came out, everything died. Fri morning it was clear and the bite was pretty good but seemed to slow after 11 am when it clouded up. Weird. Most bass were on points and clay/rock gentle slope banks. Thurday I had the guys fishing willows too - with good results. Watch for wood, but I found the lake to be amazingly clear of debris.

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: mid 50's

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the south end. on the water by 6am. Fished a baby spook till 3pm. Caught 9 small mouth and 1 large mouth. 6 in the 2-3lb range. Lost 4 respectable fish and had several other hits. Had a couple big fish explode on the bait but they were not taking it. Was a lot of fun. Rained the entire day and the bite basically stopped at 11:00am. I think I caught one fish and had two hits after 11:00am.
      City: Weaverville