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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, February 13th, 2011

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      Water Temp: 52.5 to 54.1

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The BASS BITE IS STILL GOOD ON BASS TO 3 1/2 POUNDS AND THEY ARE STILL FALLING TO GREEN PUMPKIN/BLACK GREEN CRYSTAL 1/4 OZ BULLET HEAD AND 3/8 OZ FOOTBALL HEAD JIGS & 208 WATERMELON 5" SINGLE TAIL YAMAMOTO GRUBS AS ARE TRAILERS. THE BASS ARE IN 18 TO 25 FEET OF WATER AND HOLDING AROUND ROCKY STRUCTURE AND ON SMALL ISOLATED ROCK PILES TRAFFIC WAS LIGHT TODAY AND THE EAST RAMP IS CLOSED DO TO A MINOR ROCK SLIDE BLOCKING THE ROAD. DAY USE SIDE IS OPEN ALSO WE SAW A COUPLE OF BOATS TROLLING FOR TROUT AND THEY DID HOOKUP ON FISH AND LAND THEM IT WAS A REALLY NICE DAY TODAY. THE LAKE IS IN GOOD SHAPE
      City: madera ca

      Tips: VERTICAL JIGGING IS A VERY GOOD WAY TO CATCH BASS HERE RIGHT NOW. DEAD STICKING YOUR BAITS WELL ALSO WORK. AREAS TO FISH ALOT OF ROOM IN THE 5MPH AREA ALSO THE COVES FROM THE EAST RAMP TOO THE DAM AREA ARE ALL HOLDING BASS.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Jones Valley. Fished Jones inlet and lower Squaw arm. Very slow weekend. Threw green lizards (black speckled) down to 30 feet and only hit 3 small specks. Switched to trolling for trout from top water down to 40 feet with riggers and various colors. No luck what so ever. Air was cold (29 degrees in morning) and water was clear (down to 20+ feet). Nothing biting nothing! Normally February is a great month for fishing Shasta Lake. This was a day before a big storm so maybe the pressure drop stopped the bite?
      City: Cottonwood

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      Water Temp: mid day 53

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: met my buddy at the lake,i got in the water and within 4 casts he stuck a fat 5.3 we went south cranking and crawlin jigs to no avail. middle of the lake and still no bites.well that leaves the north side,decided to stick with the jig got my first of the year a chunky 5.6 an hour later got a 3.4 crankn went home and pitched some shoes the first two were both ringers. very nice day!!
      City: ROSA

      Tips: stick with your confidence baits and fish em untill the paint comes off,the plastic dissolves,till the rattles dont rattle or untill those eyes fall off that spinnerbait and cover lots of water and slow at that! good luck @ tight lines. p.s seen a couple kids kill a 7.2 i woulda gave you a few bucks for mcdonalds buddy!! LET EM GO!!!! CATCH @ RELEASE! bye bye eggs and trophy fish that no one else will get to enjoy. SAD.

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 51-53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We had a beautiful Spring like day for our fifth Berryessa Pro Team Tournament, the air temperature was 70 degrees and the water temperature was 51-54 degrees. The top teams reported that the fish were chewing pretty good, but for most it was a tough tournament. Thanks to the 21 teams for coming to Markley Cove February 12, 2011; a great turnout again with some solid bags of fish coming to the scales. Blast-Off was great, clear and not too cold. At the weigh-ins it was a warm beautiful afternoon (when you were in the sun). The nice weather made the bite tough for most teams; I guess the fish haven’t moved up in a lot of places yet. The top teams managed to find some nice largemouth that moved up, fishing the points in the main lake from 2’- 20’. The top finishing teams seemed to get a lot of bites, and culled up until they got the right bites! A lot of nice 3# - 4# largemouth with a few nice smallies and spots were brought to the scales. Few fish were caught with reaction baits; most fish came on jigs, and worms with the points in the main body being the most productive. Teams reported fish being caught in 2-25 feet of water as well as 20-40 feet in crawdad colors and shad colors. I want to thank our sponsors: Centennial Batteries, Guns Fishing & Stuff, Alan Fong, Dobyns Rods, Tomat’s Restaurant, Oroville Outdoors, Don Sebastiani Winery, Kazoku Teriyaki & More, Markley Cove, and Winters True Value Hardware for supporting the 2010-2011 Berryessa Pro Team Trail! With a very impressive First Place finish by Father & Son Team Jack & Colton Jeha (Alamo) who came to the scales with a big sack of 18.77#s. Stephen Seals(Windsor) fishing by himself took Second place honors weighing an excellent 16.32# bag. Third Place went to a new Father & Son Team Shane & Tom Peirson(Roseville)weighing a solid 15.22# bag with a 4.82# kicker for the big fish honors. Fourth Place was Art Narverud (Vallejo) and James Kimura(Vallejo)with a 14.91# bag. Fifth Place was Dave Perez (San Jose) and John Trujillo (Milpitas) with a 14.42# bag and last out of the money was Shawn Taylor(El Sobrante)and Ravin Persaud(Oakland) being consistant and weighing a 14.33# bag. Again Thanks to the new teams for joining the Berryessa Pro Team Circuit and to all the other teams that fished another great tournament on Lake Berryessa! See you all at the next tournament on March 27, 2011. Check-in at Markley Cove. Any questions email me at dukekalani@yahoo.com or call me at (530)795-2659. Tournaments Remaining: 3/27/11 (Sixth); 4/17/11 (Seventh & Last) SAVE YOUR RAFFLE TIX!!!!! Gonna have over $200 cash for last tournament.

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      Water Temp: 50.2 - 54-6

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I guided two good fishermen yesterday and we found the bite to be fairly decent in spite of the 30-31 degree morning, and the previous very cold morning. They are preparing for a tournament so, as is my policy, cannot say much on this post. We did fish spots from Markley Cove to well up the main body - and some did produce quality bass. They caught 6 of our 7 bass and lost about as many. I caught one and missed a few too. Their best bass was a 3 lb+ largemouth that was very shallow. I was pleased with the quality that they put together with limit a little over 13 lbs. I thought that was good since we ran around the lake as much as we fished. Beautiful day (after the first 2 hours, brrrrr), green hills, and good loking bass. I always complain about the lack of wind there lately, especially last fall. Well - here it is - the slight breeze yesterday was perfect for fishing!!!!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: As many of you know, we keep our head in the meter during the fall looking for bait. In the late winter and spring, we keep out head in the meter looking at the water temp numbers. Those numbers dictate what the bass are going to do this time of year. It's not the number so much as whether the numbers are going up or going down. And - where is the highest number likely to be! Then you need to match the water temp with the present air temps! Solving that puzzle is one of the major keys to success in the spring!!

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the 12th and 13th. Tough fishin'. Moved around a lot trying different terrains, working jigs, drop shot, plastics, some deep, slow crank baits. Couldn't find a pattern. Missed a few because of some over-aggressive hook sets. Soft bite! Otherwise, skunked two days in a row. Trolled for steel head on the way out of Warm Springs in desperation.
      City: Rohnert Park

      Tips: A storm front was off the coast on this beautiful weekend. My hopes weren't high but skunked? Sure is a pretty lake though and there was hardly a boat on it all weekend. It was a good day to test props!

Friday, February 11th, 2011

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Up from Sacramneto for a day and a half of fishing. Fished with minnows and found 12 bass between 3 and 6 lbs. All fish were in 20-25 feet. tried deeper tried shallower, that depth was the key. Also tried artificals with no luck even when we knew the fish were there.
      City: Sacramento

  • Merced
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      Water Temp: 53-54

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Great Day on Kelsey Bass Ranch. Three boats and six guys boating around 40 bass in the 2.5-3.5 lb range in 4 hours. Im the first one back, and they are still out there fishing as I type.

      They started out with a Norman Deep N in a shad pattern, and Steve of Berserkbaits had an easy limit. BY 830-900 the rest of us showed up, doing better on slop jigs and dropshot. River2Sea 3/8 host minnow spinnerbait claimed its due as well. Also the Prototype new River2sea mini frog showed up as I was leaving, it looked awesome. Angelo from Bait barn and river2sea prostaff even started fishing the River2sea rover...and its February! ...62+ degree weather...t-shirts...February!
      City: Atwater

      Tips: Look in the middle for better fish. The wood had fish too but we weren't even counting the fish under 2 lbs.

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: i am interested in when the lake re-opens for boats?
      thanks in advance
      City: san jose

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: the bites are still out there, it is tougher but I got 7 nice keepers on senkos, and two nice rip bait fish. All very fat fish. We have been doing well on the dam, spillway and the temperance area.
      many are coming inot my Merced store "inside lines" and buying rip baits for McClure.
      City: Merced

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 47

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Clients had a very good week using minnows in the northern end of the lake, in water from 4' to 9'. One of my very good clients had one of the best days ever, catching 22 quality bass in just 5 hours. He had a 2-6's, 3-5's & his personal best a nice 9.2, all the rest were from 3 to 4 plus pounds. In all there were 58 bass caught on just 3 half day trips. The lure bite is there but its not the best, however with this warm weather, things are starting to pick up. Now if the very cool nights were too warm, things should start to get the pre- spawen'ers moving up and feeding a lot more. Tight-Lines" Hope to see you on the water.
      City: Kelseyville

      Tips: A varity of lures are working ie:rip baits, lipless crank baits & jig's, in both the deep water & shallow. It's just a very slow bite, so if you wan't to just have fun and catch some very nice bass, try the minnows..

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 51

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I went up the sac today, way better than pit. The fish seem fatter also.
      City: redding

      Tips: Still throwing that brown jig in 20-40 feet.

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      Water Temp: 47-48

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Two of us fished this past Saturday and Sunday. Boy it was TOUGH!!!!! On Saturday we fished the Sacramento arm and were only able to catch4 fish drifting a live minnow. We saw quite a few groups of fish, but most of them were not feeding. Also quite a few balls of bait. We threw senko's in 4 different colors, we tried dart headed worm (mothers finest) in three different colors, hula grub on football head, and flukes. Sunday we fished the main body and again only caught 4 fish on minnows. Again saws lots of fish in 50 to 100 feet of water, saw bait, but only would get one fish or none. Most fish though were fat??? They must be feeding sometime????? Water was clear down to at least 20 feet.
      City: Rough and Ready

Monday, February 7th, 2011

  • Yuba County
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      Water Temp: 48-52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished Collins today (sunny warm day with a few clouds), and after discounting any reaction bite (cranks/rips), I went to a small spider jig. After the switch, I connected on 7 fat spots with the heaviest @3.2lbs (all other fish >2.25lbs with only one 1.5lber). All of my fish were between 23-27'with no particular area being better than another -stay near deep water.
      City: Loma Rica

      Tips: Dragging the 1/4ounce jigs appeared to work the best...bite is subtle, so work your bait slowly.

Sunday, February 6th, 2011

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      Water Temp: 46-50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing was pretty slow today. Got out about 0730 this morning and started fishing near the Bear River area. Water temp in that area was about 46 degress. Only one hit on Tx Rig Black Burkley Power Bait. Moved over to the Rock Creek area with no Luck. Ran into a guy who had caught two Bass (2 lb each) in the Rock Creek area but that was it. No one else I talked to had any luck. Water Temp in the Rock Creek area was a little warmer at 50 degrees. Hopefully it will start picking up in the next few weeks. Tried the dam area trying jigs and rattle trap with no luck. The wind was about 15-20 so the boat was moving a little fast to have any luck in the area around the Dam.
      City: Plumas Lake

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught four fish between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM, 2-1/2 lbs., 3 lbs, 3-1/2 lbs. and 4 lbs. in that order. I wonder if I'd fished the rest of the day if that pattern would have continued? Caught on 1/2 oz. jig and lizard. The four pounder was caught on a jig and reg. sized brush hog.
      City: Rohnert Park

      Tips: Winter fishing...all solo fish. Moved around a lot looking for rocky points with submerged brush. Fishing from 32'-35' of water toward the points, dragging slow, not jigging. All caught in about 20'-25' of water. Soft bite so lighter line and sensitive 7' rod did well.

Saturday, February 5th, 2011

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I'm a total amateur, I caught 2 fish on the boat, 25 ft deep, mostly north end, drop shotting with a purple robo worm. Pretty windy out there at times which made it tough. Didn't fish much by the dam. Falling barometer. Talked to some other boats that got 10+.
      City: San Jose, CA

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Weather temp was 70 and windy with lots of chop on the water on the main lake. Launched out of Markley Cove around 8:00 and fished until 1:00 pm. Caught three nice fish all around 2.5 lbs on drop shot Robo Worm, Oxblood in 20-25 feet of water on main points. Missed one bite but it felt like a quick tap from a small fish. Lots of boats on the water, seemed like a boat on every point at times.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: Watch your graph...every time I saw three or four fish on the graph together is when I got my bite; could never cast back in the same spot and get bit again.

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      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Weather temp was 70 and windy with lots of chop on the water on the main lake. Launched out of Markley Cove around 8:00 and fished until 1:00 pm. Caught three nice fish all around 2.5 lbs on drop shot Robo Worm, Oxblood in 20-25 feet of water on main points. Missed one bite but it felt like a quick tap from a small fish. Lots of boats on the water, seemed like a boat on every point at times.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: Watch your graph...every time I saw three or four fish on the graph together is when I got my bite; could never cast back in the same spot and get bit again.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 49 - 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched "BASSBUSTER1" out of Ladd's today noticed motor starting to sputter so did not travel as far as I wanted,time for service lol.

      Any ways decided to work the main channel points before the wind came up. Looked for outside weed lines and drop offs. Black/Blue jig&pigs in 10 - 15 feet of water was the ticket for me out to 14 Mile Slough and back.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Look for the warmer water temps, coves were 1 to 2 degrees warmer than the main channel. The north wind forced me off the water.