Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Thursday, June 19th, 2025

    • Water Temp: 76.6° - 76.9°

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched early at Paradise, low outgo maybe an hour from bottom low tide. Since it was low tide, followed Steve Cooper's low tide guidance and stayed out in deeper water and casting in and retrieving over outer weedline and ledges. Picked up a few 12"ers and 1lbers on hula popper initially and changed to a poppin' frog when we got to surface veg. Also managed a few on wacky stick baits (6" strike king ocho and 5" senko, green pumpkin/blue flk and junebug) Brother picked up a few on t-rigged baby brush hog with 1/8oz pegged bullet sinker.
      Alternated between rock wall and tule islands and continued to pick up mostly juveniles and a few 1lbers, nothing over 2lbs. Worked the plastics slow casting to rock wall and working over weedline and letting drop at the ledge...most bites came at the ledge.
      Decent day but wished they were interested in cranks and chatterbaits...zip, zero, nada on those two. Managed a couple schoolie stripers on the jerkbait. Still a fun low tide morning. Thanx to Steve for his latest low tide overview vids Parts I and II.

      Tips: Not qualified to give tips but here's what worked for us:
      - hula popper, very subtle twitches
      - poppin' frog (snag proof) (white)
      - baby brush hog / 1/8 oz bullet pegged, t-rig
      - dropshot , junebug
      - t-rigged and wacky stick baits, crawled them from the wall, through the trough, and over weedlines, then drop at the ledge... bit at the ledge.

      hope this helps...most of the pros and experts have their proven methods and locations, so this likely doesn't matter to them. But for anyone scratchin' their heads or just lookin' for options, the above worked for us on a tough low tide bite.

Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

    • Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: First day out after being out of the area for a couple weeks on vacation. Took a little time to figure out what the fish were doing but as the tide got higher the top water bite was consistent above the weeds on the flats. Fish were relating to current cuts and were subtly taking the bait vs blowing up and hitting it hard. Overall good day with about 16 pounds for the best 5. Always fun to catch them on top. TIDAL CA Delta Fishing

Monday, May 19th, 2025

    • Report: Clear Lake Fishing Report – May 19

      Current Bite & Conditions:
      Clear Lake is producing solid limits with fish holding around docks, tulles, and ambush points. Cloud cover early in the morning helped the bite, but once the sun rose, the action slowed. Protected areas out of the wind proved most productive, especially coves with multiple dock slips. Clear Lake continues to deliver mixed patterns, with docks, tulles, and shallow vegetation all producing. Reaction bites with the LV 500 and swimbaits are strong early, while frog fishing in heavy cover provides explosive action later in the day.

      Best Techniques & Baits:
      Strolling / Mid-Strolling with Mooch Minnow on a 1/16-oz jig head, targeting roaming fish and docks.
      Drop Shot Rig near docks for key keeper fish.
      Lipless Crankbait: Lucky Craft LV 500, ripped hard to trigger reaction strikes in 6–10 ft of water near tulles and baitfish ambush zones.
      Swimbaits for additional quality bites.
      Frog Fishing: Black and white frogs pitched into tulles, duckweed, and hitch-rich areas. Follow-up bites came on 6” Yamamoto Senko when fish missed the frog.

      Key Depths:
      5–8 ft around docks
      6–10 ft near tulles and ambush points
      Frog bite shallow in 1–3 ft vegetation mats

      Tournament Spotlight:
      1st: Reed Frazier & Nick Doring (Quality Control) – Strolling with Mooch Minnow + Drop Shot near docks
      2nd: Drew Boles & Paul Mata (Slaughter Houze) – 101.00” (Big Fish: 23”) – LV 500 & Swimbaits
      3rd: Isaiah West & Shaun Leytem (Shisiah) – 101.00” – Frogs (black/white) + 6” Senko follow-up

      Tips: Tip of the Tournament:
      When the morning cloud cover keeps fish active, rip the LV 500 hard in 6–10 ft to trigger reaction strikes. As the sun rises and the bite slows, shift to finesse presentations under docks or throw a frog tight to tulles and duckweed. Always follow up missed frog strikes with a 6” Senko — those pressured fish will often commit the second time.

Saturday, May 17th, 2025

    • Report: Report by Lucca Rossetti
      27.34 with a 7.80 big ol' bass!!!
      Here's what Lucca said....
      We caught 'em on spinnerbaits, ChatterBaits, and Senkos in the trough by the tules and rocks.

Monday, May 12th, 2025

    • Water Temp: 62 and up

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We pent the day on Clear Lake. We launched out of Red Bud. The water temp when we launched at 6:30 am was 62 degrees. We started with reaction baits, Trash Fish, spinner bait, and an underpin.We fished the docks to the south of Redbud for about an hour and got 3 catfish but zero bass. We moved over into some coves, throwing the same baits. The water was an off-green color, but at about 9 am we started looking for beds. We caught a couple 3's. The fish where acting really funny, maybe because they were so shallow. We could only see shallow beds due to time of day.Throwing a minnow around, we caught one around 5. WE kept fishing around and found a couple small fish on beds and left 'em. WE went around to the Rattlesnake arm and start throwing minnow baits around docks, a Sakamoto Shad and Sixth Sense juggle minnow and caught about 10 to 12 fish up to 3 pounds. When we ended the day the water temp was at 66, the water clarity was up to 3.5 ft and best five went 20 pounds.

Friday, May 9th, 2025

    • Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Headed up to Amador to see if the bass were ready to play. Started out with a couple reaction baits to test the water and the spinner produced a great bite in the first five minutes. Finally got the fish close to the boat and was disappointed too see a big hungry 4 pound catfish. Worked all the local hotspots and deep cover to shallow shaded areas. Ended up with five total fish for the day. Bass were not aggressive as all were caught off slow fishing soft plastics. All fish were in the 2-3 pound range. It was a grind in the heat.

      Tips: Bring sun screen, something to drink, and a lot of patience. Hopefully the bite will pick up as the temperature increases over the next week or two.

Sunday, April 27th, 2025

    • By

      Water Temp: 64-68

      Report: I have made a trip a week for the last month. The fishing has been very good, 20 to 30 plus fish a day. Have caught fish on just about every thing you can tie on. With plastics being the method that has been catching the most fish, there are times when I’ll get fish on a crank bait 2-3 cast in a row, then nothing for a while. Pick up the plastic though and bam. The tough thing has been, how many small fish to get to a 3lb plus?

      Tips: Dead sticking has been almost essential at times, wacky rig has been very good.

Saturday, April 19th, 2025

    • Report: by dfishing1 » Fri Apr 18, 2025 6:22 pm

      Here is my experience. Went to Beals Point at 5am. Was the 14th one in line. At 630 gate opened w the rangers. The line is split into 4 lanes, each has an inspector. At 930 inspections start. All compartments open and inspected. Done in 10 mins and on my way. Now, your quarantine is 30 DAYS from your inspection date. Mello Marine does them by appt for $50 BUT state parks is free for now. When quarantine is up you can launch after inspection and removal of quarantine tag. They say there will be inspectors at ramps during PARK hours to give your green tag at take out. Decon stations are pending and will cost upwards of $100 or more depending on your boat but will be by appointment. Be patient with the inspectors and they will get u in and out.
      Top

Tuesday, April 15th, 2025

    • By

      Report: Spent a week on Clear Lake
      Weather temps ranged from 44-78 degrees
      Water temps ranged from 56-61 degrees

      The fish were moving up on beds as would be expected with the big moon. Let me say hats off to all the guys who did successfully at the Open. Big fish were everywhere on the North end. I could see them in bushes and on beds, but the bed fish where super skittish due to the only ones that I could see where the ones that where less than 3 feet deep. I caught em fishing the old tule line with a 1/2 ounce spinnnerbait (white on white), a flashy swimmer with 3.8 Keitech for first hour in the morning. After the sun came up, I would start flipping a dropshot and a Missle bBait Destroyer to all the holes in the tules. After I found minor success with that, although everything seemed right, I went to forward facing mode and started catching them although it was not easy. By far, the best way to catch fish for me the last three days was throwing a Crush City boot tail strolling bait that I didn’t have to shake to get it to roll. I’m one of the guys that has fought FFS trend but it’s a dealbreaker at Clear Lake.

Monday, April 14th, 2025

    • Water Temp: 64-66

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Today fished the outgoing tide and it was slow until the tide bottomed out. Then the topwater bite fired off. The frog bite was solid at the low switch on the weed flats near spawning pockets. The key is not to spook those fish with the TM and moving through these areas at low tide is brutal. I'd chop through to areas and then power pole down and let it settle. After about 5 minutes I'd thoroghly work the area with a buzz bait and the frog. Most fish came on the frog worked very slowly and they were all quality fish 3-4.5lbs. Missed one big bite. It is a lot of work fishing this way, but the opportunity at a big bite is there. Good Fishing to All! TIDALCADeltaFishing.

Friday, April 4th, 2025

    • Report: Started in East Delta, water temperatures rising.. Water temps range from the mid-50s to low 60s, depending on location - prime spawning temperature. Some areas are experiencing clearer water, especially on outgoing tides, while others remain more stained. High tides are pushing fish into shallow cover, while low tides are concentrating them along deeper edges. Some success has been when targeting shallow areas with tules, submerged vegetation and laydowns – less on riprap. Soft plastic have been best still. Thrown everything from Senkos, creature baits, and craw imitations rigged Texas-style or on a Carolina rig.

Monday, March 24th, 2025

    • Water Temp: 56-58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Things are starting to get right. These next few days of warm weather will really speed up the bite. Spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday on the water focusing on central Delta (Franks, Mildred and Old River). The weather was cold in the mornings with a pretty good wind. The bite on the high tide (last part of high and the switch to outgoing) was good. Fish seemed to prefer senkos and dropshot. Tried to force feed them reaction due to the wind, but only caught smaller fish. All better bites (3-5lbs) came on flipping shallow pockets on high tide. The fish are super healthy and fat. It is getting really fun out on the river right now and will only continue to improve. Tight lines! Tidal CA Delta Fishing.

      Tips: Slow down in areas that look good. The areas where fish seemed to concentrate were pockets that had minimal weed growth surrounded by areas of thicker dense weeds. These little pockets held multiple fish and will be the same places I will start looking for the fish to spawn. When the tide drops out go look in these areas to find these pockets and then fish them on the high tide. One other area that consistently got bites was points with sparse tules and moving current.

Thursday, March 20th, 2025

    • Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched early at Paradise; long story short, only caught 2 fish; buddy's first few casts caught an early morning keeper on a 4" jerkbait; we thought that was a sign of things to come but nope, nothing for the next 4 hours, trying everything but the kitchen sink. Decided it just wasn't a good day (we blamed it on the previous night's front/rain but we really don't know), so we headed back up Disappointment back to Paradise. We stopped and tried one of our usual islands that had a visible weedline ledge; I threw a dark red crankbait along the dropoff and hooked a heavy 2lber (almost a 3lber). That at least salvaged an uneventful day. Water was heavy stained, not sure if I'd call it muddy but well, yeah, I guess it was.... lost sight of my lure a foot down. Oh well, there's always next week and the weeks to come.

      Tips: Not qualified to give tips and definitely not from today. But I guess we just kept trying with everything we had. We didn't quit and at least got an almost 3lber. Really don't know why but oh well, kicked the skunk outta the boat for me.

Monday, March 10th, 2025

    • Report: Went out on the old DirtyD this week. It was the last part of the outgoing tide and then the incoming started. The water clarity was less than a foot and the temperature ranged from 54-60.

      My plan was that I would take advantage of the low water and look around in the marinas as the full moon was coming soon. I wanted to see if there were any fish that had moved up. well after viewing 5 of my favorite spawning areas, I seen only 2 little bucks as I was pulling out of one of the marinas. I found a pretty good school of stripers on my Lowrance FFS so I spent about a hour catching them on a ripbait.

      Back to the bass. I threw a chatterbait and a crankbait where I thought they where gonna be but nothing happened. I started throwing a 5inch wacky rig Senko and caught one little guy. I made a run West where the water was higher and found a tree in the middle of the slough with the FFS. I caught 2 bass,1 stripper and a crappie all out of that same tree. The Delta is pretty tough for me right now.

    • Report: Reed Fraziers day was equivalent to 38 Pounds as he had two fish over 9 Pounds anchoring his bag! Close behind him with an honorable limit of 103.50” was Joseph Silva! Both anglers were utilizing their live scope and a Crush City “Mooch Minnow” to bring home a well deserved finish! They targeted cruising fish in 10-20 feet of water, and utilized Sniper Marine “Scout Poles” to keep their Garmin LiveScope on the fish. Pestering them with a 3/32 ounce rangeroller, Reed found the winning fish! Soda Bay seemed to be the ticket for a lot of anglers in this event!

Saturday, March 8th, 2025

    • Report: by Mark Lassagne from BAM » Sat Mar 08, 2025 7:25 pm
      Super fun day on the Delta yesterday- 25-30 with a few good ones mixed in. River2Sea biggie, Chatter and Senkos did the damage. Different area today so we’ll see how different it is.

Sunday, March 2nd, 2025

    • Water Temp: 57-58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished central delta and found the best quality fish holding in sparse tules on the flats. Today we caught fish with spinnerbaits and senkos. The spinnerbait is perfect for this time of year when the fish love to stage in the sparse tules before moving shallower to spawn. The spinnerbait is awesome to bounce through the tules and most the strikes come after hitting the tules. The chatterbait is good too but gets hung up a lot more and the spinnerbait rarely gets snagged. The 6" senko caught the biggest fish which was a 4.8. Fun fishing right now! Tidal CA Delta Fishing

      Tips: Today the key was sparse tules on flats.

Saturday, March 1st, 2025

    • Report: From Damian Thao: John and I practiced the day before but I had found fishing tough; however, John was hammering them with tubes and jigs. On the tournament day (March 1) the fish changed up and wanted the bait pulled up hill with a Neko Rigged Senko in Green Pumpkin. I couldn’t get bit pulling it downhill so I moved shallow and was able to trigger the bass into biting. Also, during practice the fish didn’t want the spoon but during tournament day, the fish wanted the spoon. I caught several nice fish on the spoon during the tournament. I had found a huge school of big fish that were competing for the spoon which made the fish easier to catch. I was fishing from10 to 30 feet deep. It was nice to find that huge school of big fish with my forward-facing unit. It was quick and fast once I had found the mega school of fish. The cadence of the spoon was a slow pull once the spoon was near the fish. The fish were schooled up tight so the bites were fast once the lure was near the fish.

      From Dustin Brown: I caught around 40 fish using bottom contact lures but most were in the 15-to-16-inch range.I did catch one that went 19.50” in the back of a cove. I decided to start in the cove where I had caught that 19.50” bass. I started about half was back into that cove and caught 7 fish total during the tournament hours. I tried to catch those fish that were in the back of the cove but they were not willing to bite. I was using my forward-facing unit and could see the school of fish but they just didn’t want to bite. My partner was fishing a different part of the lake and had lost a few fish on the chatter bait and other bottom bouncing baits.

Friday, February 28th, 2025

    • Water Temp: 55-57

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Never left Franks Tract today and slowed way down. Caught 17-18lbs with all fish coming on 6" Senkos. Started the day targeting outside edge tules thinking the big girls would be feeding up in preparation to move shallow. Caught a few fish on the outer edge, but the quality was not great. Low tide hit and decided to move shallow to look around. Water was still too stained. to see any beds, BUT long casting the Senko to the edges of old dormant mats started to produce regular bites of quality fish. As the tide switched and started to come in the bite was consistent flipping to the old edges. These bass were in pockets with sand and hard bottoms. These areas are easy to find when you notice the weed growth at low tide goes away and leaves clean pockets. Wishing you good fishing! Tidal CA Delta Fishing.

      Tips: Get behind the tules and look for shallow pockets with harder sandy bottoms. The bass will move into these pockets over the next couple months and they will provide a consistent bite. Start on the outer staging edges and move shallow until you find the fish and then SLOW down and pick apart the areas. There's a real chance of hooking a giant.

Tuesday, February 25th, 2025

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

      Report: So as always the Delta is a fickle place, and going out to try and duplicate the outing can be a challegne, but had to give it a go. Fishing was tought. It was a small tide and started fishing all the same areas as last time. Besides a couple days difference, so a little change in the tide timing, there was warmer water temps. Flipped a jig most of the day. I know this time of the year it should be a great bait to catch a giant on, but it did not pay off today. Started tossing around a Senko when the water got up, later in the day to save getting skunked! Got a couple no more than 3 pounds.

      Tips: Takeaways - don’t get stuck on a technique! Water is warming. Starting to see a couple of blooms, so we all know wat that means the fish will be on the move.