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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: got a late start but it was ok. been on a fair to good bite with a 25 fish average. some days better than others with the size but the numbers are there. i have noticed that the wacky worm is about the best thing to throw early to mid afternoon. carolina rig is where my bite has come from the most had a great day on the 25th 42 fish with a 4 lbs average.

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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sorry guys... The last post was for McClure. I will try to get it corrected.
      City: Modesto

    • By

      Water Temp: 66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from safe-light until 10AM. Managed 18 total with a 19" spot that went over 3 lbs and two large mouth that were both 4 lbs. Too bad it wasn't a tournament day. Best five would have been over 15 lbs.

      Secondary points, rock walls and wood structure were our targets. Bigger fish were on the rock walls in 10 feet of water. We didn't bed fish, but there were lots of fish on beds in the back of the coves. We just didn't see anything worth stopping for... mostly small bucks.

      All of our fish came on the Senko in natural colors. We threw other baits, but the Senko was working early, so we just stuck with it.
      City: Modesto

      Tips: From what I could see, the bass seem to be in all stages of the spawn. Now is the time to get out there while the lake is wide-open.

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from safe-light until 10AM. Managed 18 total with a 19" spot that went over 3 lbs and two large mouth that were both 4 lbs. Too bad it wasn't a tournament day. Best five would have been over 15 lbs.

      Secondary points, rock walls and wood structure were our targets. Bigger fish were on the rock walls in 10 feet of water. We didn't bed fish, but there were lots of fish on beds in the back of the coves. We just didn't see anything worth stopping for... mostly small bucks.

      All of our fish came on the Senko in natural colors. We threw other baits, but the Senko was working early, so we just stuck with it.
      City: Modesto

      Tips: Bass are in all stages of the spawn... Wide Open!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 64 to 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fairly good at McClure today. Started kind of slow but picked up about the same time as the breeze. Fished between Barret and Horseshoe. Very subtle bite, mostly picking up slow moving bait. picked most fish off the bottom with plastics.. Hula grubs, Jig N Pig, drop shots etc.. in a variety of color. Good action cranking the points today as well. 37 on the boat..
      City: Atwater

      Tips: bottom baits in shad or smoke working good,

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 65-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Headed out for my first time this year to Berryessa. Man, the lake is only ~4 foot from the Glory Hole! Launched at 2 pm. Talked to a few coming off the water. They said it was slow. But it was a warm day. I had my light weight shirt on for a change which was nice. So we headed out with mixed feelings.

      We tried plastics from dropshot, tubes, shaky heads, senkos with limited success. Thought it was going to be a slow day. I figured with this only being a day after the storm, I could not expect to much more anyway. We decided to stay and finish out the evening. I know sometimes the darker water conditions can turn things around. Well it did.

      The crankbait bite turned on. We started catching nice sized post spawn spots with some largemouth mixed in. Average depth was 10'. Moved into gin clear water and the bite slowed. It was too late to try to find water with a little more color with it getting late. But we switched over to jerkbaits and keep the bite going. All and All ending up being a good day on the water...
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: Don't Give Up...

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 59 - 64 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: To get out of the wind I ran my Custom Valco "BASSBUSTER1" to LVW Marina in 14 Mile Sluogh. Once again it was a fenesse bite for me Mojo shotting Zoom Trick Worms Black/Red Flake until 11:00 a.m.

      I then decided to check a couple of spots and try froggin. I normally don't do my froggin until some time in May, but I think I will start in April for now on. I wish I could have stayed on the water for a few more hours to verify a frog bite pattern.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: The slop/junk/cheese what ever you like to call it was holding fish with the bright sunny skies today.

  • Siskiyou County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: lale sucks dont fish there
      City: oooo

      Tips: dont go there

Sunday, April 24th, 2011

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught several 4 to 5 lbers. fishing large senkos and small swimbaits around typical spawning areas out of current. It's nice to see the Delta percentages coming back this year.
      City: Milpitas

      Tips: Fish shallow on low tide. Fish shallow on high tide.

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      Water Temp: 59-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: An ok day, windy out today. Fished mostly rip raps with weeds. Mostly came off of senkos wacky rigged with a lil weight to sink a lil faster, then let it sink, work it back. Most fish caught already spawned seems like. A lot of dinks in the mix, biggest was a 6lber. All in all biggest 5 went 16-17 lbs. Not too bad for a rec angler like me.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Share some knowledge n some love people, dont hate. Have fun out there.

    • By

      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: started at beaver, hog, sycamore and picked up a couple 1-2 lbs on senkos and c-rig lizards. then moved to connection slough and st francis snot club and picked up a couple more on dropshot oxblood. a couple 1 lbers on speed traps too but doesn't seem to be a reaction bite yet.
      hey nick, i think the reason these guys start off with their "custom" boat mention is because they know they love bass fishing, but they don't have the glitter boats like the guys that snob alot of people. yeah that's right, bass fisherman have an element of snobs in their circle too! just like salmon, fly, and whatever other arrogant fisherman who don't like anyone who don't walk their walk. yeah, i'm a bass fisherman and i don't have a glittery 250-300hp boat...but i've run into a mixed bag of bassers on the glitter boats who are either super nice and share their knowlege with you, or they're super snotty and look down on you because that's just the way they are, whether bass fishing or duck hunting, they're DH's (I'll give ya one guess what that stands for. Ok, I'll probably be banned here for awhile for writing this but I hope that answers your question....at least that's my take on it. I get a laugh and wanna see these "custom" boats.
      City: sac

      Tips: share your knowledge, share the experience, and don't be so snotty...there's always someone else out there BETTER than you.

    • By

      Water Temp: 66

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: hey delta buster!! No dis, but why u always start ur reports off with "took the old custom valco out. Gay!!
      City: turlock

      Tips: Annoying

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 68-76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I spent the day prefishing for an upcoming guide trip. The wind was blowing 20+ mph most of the day but the fishing remained quite good. The key was flipping tullie pockets near deep water. The fish were up shallow in the gaps between tullie clumps, most likely on beds but hidden by the murky water. I ended the day with 26 lbs for the best 5 fish. They were caught on senkos, creature baits, and one swimbait fish. Colors were green pumpkin and black/blue.
      City: Vacaville

      Tips: Keep moving until you find clearer water. The fish are shallow and active. Don't give up until you find fish that are willing to feed. Also, don't be afraid to throw topwater. The wind held it back today but the bites are there.

    • By

      Water Temp: 59-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of big break at 9:00am started out throwing topwater to no takers till about 11:30am and bite turned on throwing horny toads watermelon red flake color 8-9 bites connected on four of them they dont seem to really be crushing it just yet but repeated casts to fish seem to aggravate them into biting we were throwing the frogs into the swiss cheese grass around the marinawhen bite slowed down we switched to flipping the new pit boss creature baits california color and picked off a couple of two pounders great day on the water never went farther than a two miles from the marina ended up with a 15lb limit no giants but loads of fun

      Tips: if fish swirl on the frog stick with it fish is most likely catchable pitch creatures with light weight for slow fall i threw them on 1/8 oz. weights, dad pitched them weightless plenty of bed fish around fish slow and you will see them tightlines

    • By

      Water Temp: 63 - 67 degrees

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Today I decided to run my custom valco "BASSBUSTER1" south to Whiskey Slough, but ended up going just as far as Tiki Lagoon. The weekend boating traffic did not help the water conditions at all, but made it murkier to fish. No reaction bite, no jig bite, but did manage a few fish using a carolina rig with black red flake zoom trick worms.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Today I reinforced why I prefer to fish the week days only. It's nice to have a night job.

  • Merced
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      Water Temp: 66 - 70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: caught and released well over 100 fish in the 3 - 4 lb range. caught em on everything. what a blast. these fish are really lookin good. there bodies are catchin up with there heads and there color was awesome. the 1.5 and 2.5 really killed em.
      City: Hilmar

      Tips: throw what you like to use and be ready at all times.

  • Leon County
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      Water Temp: 61-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: K so I see some other guys rippin out here and thought I'd get this lafayette report going again. Fishing was alright we ran all over and took a while to actually find some fish. Threw everything including a little top water and swimbaits (hudds & 3:16) but only got em on drop-shot and wacky senkos. Fish are closer to the tules and on the bottom. There are some post-spawn fish hangin around the surface but the majority of the bass are still pre-spawn. Looked everywhere for beds but only found 1 that looked pretty old. This bite should spark up pretty soon. Anyone who fishes here knows it can be a grind but the reward can be awesome! Best 5 only went about 10.
      City: aranzbabak@yahoo.com

      Tips: Anyone reading this and fishes lafayette (which can be a very high-quality fishery if you know what you're doing) please post about your success and failure. We gotta get this report going again so we can help each other. Going back out on Sat and hope to see some other guys out here. Remember this is pretty small lake that gets a load of pressure when you think about how small it is so remember, as always, please practice catch and release.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Friday and Saturday. Weather was perfect. Partner and I caught around 15 fish each day hitting the Middle and South forks. As much as I tried topwater I was only able to coax one blowup. Hoefully once the lake and weather stablize ripping and topwater will turn on. Lake does look great!!!! Tons of active eagles!!!
      City: Oroville

      Tips: Most of our fish caught on Senkos and tube baits.
      Most main points produced a fish or two. The spots look like they are ready to burst! Biggest fish went around 2.8#.
      Watch out for logs and trees floating around open water.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 57-59

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished about 8 hours. Cool, rainy weather most of day. Smaller green tubes produced around 7 fish for me in the 12-14 inch range. I switched to Senko (style) rigged wacky with o-ring and caught 3 pounder on first cast. 2 casts later I lost a trophy at the boat. 8-9 pound range...wow. Heart pounding now. Caught about 15 more off this rig in about 15-25 feet of water. Am guessing with stabilized weather the bite will really be on.
      City: Reno

      Tips: Greens/Earthtones worked best. Wacky rigging with o-ring, #4 Owner mosquito hook, and small splitshot. Very light bite, watch your line.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished silverthorn on sat. Minnows were a no go. Switched to baby bass senkos and the fight was on! 6 fish in an hour all were 2 pounds or bigger. Find submerged trees or bushes and throw up against them. Fish r taking it on the fall.
      City: Redding

      Tips: FIsh r full of eggs and ready to spawn. Let the good times begin!