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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, May 26th, 2011

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started fishing @ 7:30 and fished a couple of areas throwing mostly reaction baits. By the time I was on my 3rd stop and it was 2.5 hours later with no fish. Finally started throwing a tube on a 3/16 jig head and the catching started. It wasn't wide open and they weren't tourney fish, but it was steady fun. These were definitely postspawn fish, and they were healthy, chunky, feisty fish. Most of them were spitn up bits of shad and crawdaddies. I thought I would see more than the couple of bass boats that I did see, but most of trailers in the lot look like trout/salmon dudes. From 10:30-4:30 boated around 20-25 keeps up to 2#.
      City: orinda

      Tips: Fish were in the 4-12 ft depths. Once in awhile i would mark fish in the 18-20 ft range, but could not get them to go. I basically caught them on 2 baits; tubes and grubs. Tubes in the beginning and grubs in the end. I think they really liked the tubes as they swallowed some of those, while the grub fish were all hooked on the lips. Most of the fish were on small points with a few fish in between....good luck.

  • Stanislaus County
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      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Started at 4 pm threw spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jigs, and plastics only 1 bite on a 12 ribbon worm. Off the water at 8.
      City: turlock

      Tips: Find a new lake.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went here with my brother for the first time in the float tubes. We fished the south end and I caught a 6 and an 8 and lost a catfish. My bro gets a 6.5. Then nothing for three trips after, no bass, only catfish. You see bass swimming around, they're there. Catfish eat plasics. We didn't experiment with too many baits. Beginner's luck maybe.
      City: Concord

      Tips: 6" Senko's in watermelon/red or black/blue depending on clarity. Lizard in black/red for my brother.

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

    • By

      Water Temp: 66-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started early and got on the buzz bait, first one close to 4lbs the second right at 3 lbs. Nothing for a little after that. Then got a few on the jig and senko. North end of the lake. Went down by the damn at 9 am. Started throwing the big slammer and had a 10lb plus fish come up and suck in the tail got one hook in her but she didn't finish taking the bait. Fished the area for about an hout tossing the big baits but couldn't get her. Started tossing the crank bait against the dam and landed around 20 fish in about 30 mins. Nothing big mostly small fish. Did get a couple close to 2lbs. Ended the day with a good number of fish but just about 12lbs and one lost between 10-13lbs. Needed that kicker.
      City: Clovis

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61 - 64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started with top water at 6am. No luck. switch to plastics and crankbait at 7 am and it was on.40 fish between me and my partner. Fish were around 1.5 lbs each nothing big but lots of fun. Lake was full and only $13 to launch at Bidwell Marina.
      City: Citrus Heights

      Tips: Fish the points 10 to 15 feet. Any plastics will work.

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

    • By

      Water Temp: 68-71

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Good Senko bite all morning and early afternoon. Threw crankbait in the early morning catching only two dinks.
      City: Planada

      Tips: Watermelon red flake

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Day use side of the lake will be open on May 23 for anyone interested
      City: Planada

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Windy on main body spent all day in Hay Flat. Dropshot roboworm morning dawn and not the action I expected. It sure is nice to have water in the lake maybe this year they will keep it that way
      City: Coast

      Tips: SLOW

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76-69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the West side of the big island, caught all of our fish in cuts and small wind blown coves in 8 to 10 feet of water. We caught 10 fish on drop-shot robo worm in morning dawn color. Had another 8 to 10 bites but couldn't land them in the boat. Our best five fish went 17.5 lbs with the biggest fish at 3.5 lbs and included three smallies.

      No takers on rattle traps, crank baits, jerk baits or top water...Drop-Shot was the meal of the day.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: When you get your first bite look at your depth finder and see how deep of water your boat is in...then keep your boat in that depth as you fish. Every time we moved deeper we lost our bite; once we got the boat back at the right depth of our first bite we would get hit again.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 5:30 am - 1:00 pm in the east. Fished last 1/2 of incoming to last 1/2 of outgoing. I was in a jacket and beanie until 10 am! The incoming tide was slower and as it was cold, I was not surprised I got skunked incoming. Once things warmed up at 10:30 for outgoing and with a faster tide...the bite picked up. Got them crankin. Caught 10 bass and 4 stripers. For the most part the bass were all the males too small to be on beds (most were about 12"ers with a few 1 1/2 - 2 lbers). The stripers were 12"-14" also the fish too small to try to head up river to spawn.

      Tried senko a bit with no bites. Tried topwater first hour with two nibbles and one good boil with no hook ups. Tried small swimbait late in the day with 3 nibbles and 2 strikes.

      Wow, saw quite a few school of bait (too small for the bass to focus on), but it nice to see some of them back! I thought they might be baby bass, but they were not. Threadfin shad if I had to guess. They schooled under my boat while I was taking lunch at 10 am.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: None as I did not do to well...

    • By

      Water Temp: 66

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Someone help me: try not to feel discouraged it happens to alot more anglers than you may think. This sat I went all day with only 2 bass and today I didn't catch one dang bass all day but I did come across the mother load of a striped school though. Like deep v said create a mental check list and just go down the list of what works and what doesn't. I like black and chartruse color jigs with a sweet beaver or a rage draw. Post spawn u want red cranks lipless or not it don't matter. Senkos always work but I don't have the patience for them; same for drop shotting. Spinner baits in a white and chartruse color parallel to grass lines on low tide and between the tules and grass on high tide. But im no pro so I have good and bad days also so try not to get discouraged and have fun while your out there.
      City: stockton

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: got a real nice 6 1/2 pounder yesterday man was he fat!. sinko's and drop shoting was about the only thing working i spoke to some guys just comeing in from a tournament on sunday and thay told me that it was a slow and hard day on the water. the bite is hard right now but if you fish hard and try to find them you just mite get lucky?....the fish are just not realy eating much right now but give it 2 to 4 weeks from now the fishing will be on!
      City: sacramento

      Tips: the fish are out there. just get on the water have a good time good luck!

Saturday, May 21st, 2011

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 9-1 today. WX was great. Bite was on early and seemed to slow down around 10:30. Caught 12 bass up to 2 lbs. Caught 2 on crank bait, 1 on tube, and 9 on Crig plastics. All fish were up shallow around shoreline with stick-ups. Water is rising.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: Fish shallow with plastics along shoreline with weeds or sticks in the water.

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Subject: Fishing with Sid

      This past weekend I went fishing with Albert and Jory. What a difference a week makes the lake was calm and clear and I decided to retrace our pattern from last week. We started out by the Ranch house and the water was crystal clear we could see the bass 12 feet down but they would not bite. I guess if we could see them they could see us. Decided to head straight to the Vineyard. The first fish was caught on brass and glass so were the next few. Albert had set up his rod with a weight that was too heavy so I suggested he make it lighter. He decided to use only the glass bead and boy he was raking them in. His first fish (which he lost) must have weighed almost 8 pounds but every fish he brought in was a good size. Of course Jory and I switched to using the same setup and it worked for us as well. I believe that part of the formula was using the Procure crawdad scent on the worm and the other part was using a very light weight. Albert had to go home early so after leaving him off Jory and I went to my favorite cove and I threw a six inch watermelon red senco on top of a submerged tree and "POW" a five pound bass hit it on the way down (see photo). That was a nice catch!!! Jory largest fish did not make it into the boat because he got so excited he lifted it out of the water to early and the fish spit out the hook and waved goodbye. Jory did catch some nice bass that he did land using a rattle trap. The top water bite is not happening yet at least not for me and trust me I tried very hard. The water temperature was close to 68 degrees which was a huge difference from last weekend. All in all it was a great weekend for fishing.
      'til next weekend.................................................................good fishing!!!
      www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
      City: Napa

      Tips: Waiting for top water to turn on,fish were caught in 5 feet of water,try shallow to deep,try everything in your fishing tackle box till you figure out a patern.cesparce abcence

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61.8 to 65.2

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: My sister-in-law's brother, Johnny, had not gotten to fish the Delta this year. I launched at Russo's and fished in Franks, catching a few, while I waited for him to arrive. He was at the dock at 6:00, as scheduled. We fished around Franks for a couple hours and caught about 15 fish in the .5# to 3+# range using Speed Traps, Senkos and Spinnerbaits. No action on topwater. We hit three more areas heading East in the main river with only a few more fish in the 1# to 3# range. The last are we fished was a marina that we got another 5 fish in 2# to 4.5# range. Johnny tossed a small orangeish spinnerbait and got the best fish of the day 4.81#, it was the same one that he was getting the 5" fish on in the early morning. Great day fishing, fair day catching and our best 5 would go about 14.5#. The Senko bite was very light most of the time.
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Fish slow and pay attention to your line when throwing Senkos. The Speed Trap and Spinnerbait hits were solid.

    • By

      Water Temp: 56-58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: someone help me: you're not any different than a bunch of other bassers who employ techniques that you're aware of. keep logs or mental notes of what worked for you and be open to experiment with techniques you read or hear about. my brother and i have techniques that work when it's really on, and those techniques shut down at certain times. that's when we start going through the list of possibilities. don't give up! my brother caught plenty on dropshotting when i wouldn't give up my spinnerbait or crankbait. list of things that work on the delta...lipless crankbaits (my fav) in red crawdad/chartreuse belly or straight red crawdad. same colors in speed traps (dive 3-5-7ft)...work slow when over weedbeds, work hard and bump bottom in shallow clear areas (bro caught nice 3lb12oz fatbelly near a lone dock bumpin mud). spinnerbaits...outside weedline or right up against the tules...look out for grass/weed clumps. dropshot...up against the tules, in the pockets between the tules, and deeper dropoff outside the weedline (7-15 or deeper)...watermelon or oxblood works for us 4-6". Senkos in watermelon/red, junebug, pumpkinseed, or sweet tater pie also work (4-5"). Bro loves to throw jigs/beavers too; i like punchin' with sweet beavers or rage craws or creatures (anything similar works) in pumpkin, watermelon, blue/black, and whatever combination works for you. but my fav delta presentation is crankin', and it can happen any time. Look for transition points where moving water riffles and meets a different current like in points entering inlets or main channel current creating some eddies. also fish wind-blown tules or if it's a tule island, fish the inside lane and not the main channel. then go back up and fish the rockwall side of that same lane. all these are hit or miss but eventually you'll run into fish. really!!!
      City: sac

      Tips: all of the above. that's the best i can offer you since no one else wants to lend you a hand. my brother and i are in a tracker 185 targa and you'll see my yellow lab, tofu with us. if bass fishing was the only fishing we do, we'd be in a glitter boat, but since we enjoy so much other fishing, we have the tracker. feel free to say hello if you see us. we're happy to share what little we know that has worked for us. some of the pro-am guys we've met have also shared their knowledge with us. some don't. oh well, we love to fish! best of luck!

    • By

      Water Temp: 63-66

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I knew Saturday would be great since it was overcast and very little wind, unlike the week prior. Got busy right off the bat and it never stopped as I worked spawning banks and coves using a tube all day. When something is working, why change? It got stupidly congested with power boats and skiers and called it a day by 1:00 but I gotta say that I normally don't count my catches, today I did and I caught and released 71 bass with my best 5 only going about 13 lbs. Great day but looks like you need to go middle of the week.
      City: Wheatland

      Tips: Tubes on a 1/4 darthead worked off shallow banks and into the backs of coves.

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: est. 57-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Its hit and miss out there for all you bass hunters, with the spawning taking place 95% of bass are suspended...and boy do I mean suspended. I had two 3-5 pounders bedding in about 6-7 feet of water near 5th street launching facility, literally hit them in the head with everything from senkos, jigs, pop-r, spook, #13 rapala diver, minnows, spinbait (you get my point) and they still wouldnt bite. most everyone i talked to was getting skunked...except those who used a VERY sligh stealth approach and presentation (i.e. kyack with a trolling engine or paddles, or waiting a few minutes after a cast to retieve). Bass were hitting in 3-12 ft of water in gravel beds, near the tullies,marsh, high grass and other covered areas mostly on minnows, senkos, and 4-6foot diving shad replicas with light coloring/white tummy(rapalas were killin it). for catfish stick to 3-10 ft deep densely covered vegatation or along the veg line and other natural/man made variations in landscape (i.e. points, submerged fence, retaining wall etc.) with brawtwurst or chickenliver. as for the carp, try whole kernel corn cut fresh off the cob, boil it in cherry cool-aid in the marshy, dense veg areas. chum out 4-6+ cup fulls(the more the better) and let it soak in real good in ur area of presentation. then string some up on a brushless hook like you would salmon egss and drop shot it 4-12 inchs from the bottom of just sink it down to the bottom. theres nothing more exciting to a 12 year old than settin the hook and fighting in a 15-20 pound carp. not much for eating but sure makes for one hell of a fishin story, good luck and happy catching
      City: Roseville

      Tips: be as stealthy as possible, and be patient. you can fish for 2 days straight and not catch nothin but a cold, but it only takes half a second to land that trophy status lunker so dont give up. they are out there its just gettin them to bite is the hard part. I had multiple anglers on $50,000 dollar boats come in skunked yet i watched a guy on a grapes of wrath style kyack with a trolling motor jerry-rigged to it reel in twp 4-6 pound large mouths and a 7 year old boy land a 6 pounder of the dock at the skylark by flippin a minnow 5 feet off the dock for less than 10 minutes.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58-61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got exactly 30 fish today. Most Fish were tuckeys...two smalljaw...Big fish #3 spot. Most 13 - 16 inches , one 18 inches. Caught fish on yum DIngers in watermelon \Red flake in 3 inch , and yamammoto 4 and 5 inch senkos...baby bass. Drop shot hook barbless...got rid of wide gap and caught more fish. Only lost one fish barbless. Fish fought well better than in the usual summer. Fish scattered in coves and off points 15-35 feet. Great weather till about 7pm started raining..didnt stop the fish in evening bite. Heard there was a lot of tourney traffic..didnt see much of it though. Great day!
      City: Klamath falls ,

      Tips: Be patient....bouncing techniques not working like usual...slow down presentation a little bit...unless you already fish slow..!

Friday, May 20th, 2011

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60 morning - 66

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Its been a while since the last report. The lake is full again and looking great.We caught a lot of fish yesterday but nothing big, 2lb. average.They still seem to be in a spawn mode, weird spring and changing water levels has seem to prolong the spawn. Tried jigs on steep banks, spinnerbaits with no takers the first hour,then went flippin' the tules with creature baits... Hogs etc. About 15 fish for the day. Primetime if you like to flip.Stayed mainly in the south end. Goodluck!
      City: Fremont

      Tips: Cover water and flip deep into the tules,let the bait sit for a few seconds,lift and watch your line as it moves. 17lb. florocarbon and 1/4oz. blk.tungsten pegged. Have Fun!