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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, July 18th, 2010

  • Ventura County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76-80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Best luck early am at daybreak and throwing wack as the day got warmer. Green Pumpkin also Watermelon flake. No lunkers mostly 2-3 lb range.
      City: Ventura

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I AGREE WITH DAVID! I have been fishing this lake for 32 years and this is the second time they have SPRAYED THIS LAKE WITH TOXINS and now all the bait fish and bluegill are GONE! This lake is a ghost-town. I use to catch 90-200 bass out of here and any given weekend. The County/F&G poisend this lake again (they did this back in the 80's and IT TOOK YEARS for the fish lake to recover. When you spray to kill the Algae, you also kill of the plankton which the BASS FRY, BLUEGILL FRY, BAITFISH, NEED THE PLANKTON TO SURVIVE AND GROW. Thank you Clearlake for killing of this lake AGAIN! Please leave this lake alone and let it go through it's natural cycle (no wonder this lake is a ghost-town)
      City: PH

      Tips: **TOO ALL GUIDES AND LOCALS, PLEASE TELL THE TRUTH ON FISHING REPORTS, THE TOILET CONDITIONS AND TELL YOUR CLIENTS THE TRUTH ALSO! THANK YOU!

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

  • Ventura County
    • By

      Water Temp: mid 70's

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Thanks to Ranger Rob for getting us on the water. $ 30.00 bucks check your vests / lights / fire extinguisher you get your ribbon for your anchor light and full plane until 8:30. They started at 3:00 and I got there at 5:00. I had immediate results on swimbaits and stuck with them until 7 ish. I had 4 3-4 pounders and pulled out a senko and stuck a four on the first cast...Hmm... woot.. I wasn't really ready for the evening thing so I tied up a dropshot/carolina rig/bubba dropshot/and big a$$ black and blue senko and went back to fishing I stayed with the swimbait but no go and I cranked for a solid hour and it got dark so I went fishing with my plastics fork...Not a tap in an hour and a half...So screw this I put down the hammer and started tossing buzzbaits. I was to lazy to find a black one so I just fished the white dbl. buzz I had tied on. I kept to the shadows throwing into spots that were frankly to dark to see.. unsure. Sometimes you'd get hung up immediately in grass but surprisingly enough I got along just fine huck'n and winding for about a mile. I made a cast and heard the bait bounce on the bank so not knowing what I'd cast into I just reeled down until I felt tension and popped it off the bank. Two cranks of the handle and BOOM. Missed her. But I said out-loud to nobody....Well that was fun! Rock2...So I kept doing the same routine of getting around corners and getting the light behind me and running the bank. You had to run the bait s l o w , s l o w, s l o w w e r. Boom! missed another.. Hilarius...Okay regroup and retie and keep go'n at 10:45 I stuck an 8 in an epic battle one point over from another boat. I put her in the livewell and got out my camera...Nope she's not going to work so I had drifted by these nice guys so we got to talking and they had just caught one on a black worm. I pulled out the fish since I couldn't take her picture and they thought she was a beauty. I went 20 feet past them and they caught a 4 pounder on the black worm....Hmmm? Na I kept going. A half mile farther down the bank i got sucked down like a little bluegill had it.... CENSORED...Those are always the BIG ones but in the ensuing hook set I failed to get enough in her when she went ape$hit and gone. Darn.. HammerHead..Back at it with 30 minutes to go I got cutoff by another boat so I dbl reversed the person unsure and they ended up beating me to where I had no intention of fishing while I continued down the bank by leapfrogging the cove. Wham! 6 pounder and time to go in. Felt sorry for the two guys whose truck didn't have the cajones to get them up the ramp...they might still be there CENSORED. Sure wish folks understood about headlights but we all got out and there were no fatalities so maybe I'll get out there again.

      August 14th
      September 18th

      are the next dates.

      Rip
      City: Ojai

      Tips: just go do what you want where you want.

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 81

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Christian Bass League (CBL) headed out for a dusk tourney 4-10pm. It was hot and the water was rough. Most teams were able to bring in at least 1 fish. The top team was Sexton and McGee bringing 14#8oz to the scale. They caught them on topwater- buzzers and poppers. Most everyone else found them on dropshoting purple worms, senkos or brushhogs. Join us for our next tourney at the delta(Sept) and then back to Pedro(Oct). Check-us out on Facebook or call me 209-988-5818
      City: Turlock

      Tips: Keep your fish cool. We put a bag of ice in the livewell with Rejuvenade and a little water until we had fish. Later I added a frozen 1gl bottle mixed with Rejuvenade and took the lid off so it could melt. After 6 hrs the water was still cool and the fish feisty.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 81

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: nothing. not even a bite. on the water at 6am fished till 10am- fished south fork. trees, drug tubes, cranked, topwater in am, senkos, roboworms, splitshot, darter head, spinnerbaits, there were 4 of us and not one bite
      City: auburn

      Tips: wish i had some.... what happen my last few trips to folsom were great.

Friday, July 16th, 2010

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 85-88

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went fishing with Gill, from GILL's GUIDE SERVICE on Friday Night from 7 PM to 2 AM. Had a great time and Gill really set me up on some fish. He pulled out some kind of new "creature bait" that I had never seen before. He said the fish would like it... and they did !!! I caught 8 fish... biggest was a 5 lb 13 oz. Gill had a really Big Fish on but lost it at the boat.
      City: Shasta Lake

      Tips: I'd find out what new bait Gill had and head to the lake !!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 80-83

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: The lake wasn't muddy, just a major algae bloom! Yesterday provided one of the most amazing catches in my 29 years of guiding. I was taking a repeat customer - and his 11 year old grandson this time - from Colorado. We started about 5:30 am. After catching 4 up to 3 lbs and losing a few, I took him to a point in the Mountain Spring arm that featured a good drop-off. Near the end of the trip, about 12:40 pm with the temp pushing 100 degrees, he makes a cast with a 4 1/2" custom-made green pumpkin worm that he brought with him. When the bait reached the 20 foot depth, he set the hook and said it felt pretty good. We wern't prepared for a huge bass coming to the surface so we could see her, then diving deep. It took him over 4 minutes to bring her up again - the guide praying all the while that he had good line (he was using his equipment). Finally she jumped again, dove a little more, then came up and dove into the net! A beautiful spawned-out female at about 7 lbs 3 oz. My first reading was over 8, but will check out the scale tonight. Let me put it this way. This is not a normal bite at noon in the heat of summer at most of our lakes. Wow, what a great surprise and congrats to my client that handled the fish like a pro. What made it especially nice for this guide is that he lost a 12 lb class bass with me at Clear Lake about 4 years ago. Redemption is sweet!!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We only boated 5 bass, client's 2 1/2 and near 2 lb bass on Senkos. I have always found the summer jig bite to be fairly good and it paid off with a 3 pounder for me and a 12 incher - wow! We tried many types of lures and not much worked. He missed one on a spook early in the morning. The lake was absolutely dead in the early morning - NO fish activity except for a few dimpling shad. The lake appears to be dropping a little quicker now as a mudline is now showing on the bank. I think that killed the frog bite - I tried that quite a bit. Most fish and bait seem to be above the 30 foot depth right now.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 72+

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got to "pink house" near Widdow Island by first light. stayed 30 minutes, threw everything. NO takers. I'm guessing the 6 otters that call this home have something to do with this. Headed to (south) Mildred Island. Fished tight. Nothing to brag about. Went back to Widdow Island and fished the entrance. Lot's of "followers" and even saw some in 5lb range but only aggressive males hit me. Ended up fishing mouth to Italian slough at high tide and got pounded by 1-2 pounders using green worms. Got hot out so i got the boat back on the trailer around noon. Left the marina and the temp outside was 94 degrees. Too hot to have fun.

      Tips: Haven't figured the pattern for low tide yet. High tide is good.

    • By

      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I've fished here a few more times, and I can now see why boating is such a big deal here. Much (if not most) of the shoreline is nearly impossible to access which means a lot of the lake (shoreline, that is) is effectively off limits without some means for getting out on the water. I'd love to get out there with my inflatable kayak. Anyways, I'm going to complain but I don't expect it to do any good.
      City: Los Gatos

      Tips: I still just catch little ones, but I've talked to a lot of people who claim to have caught good sized ones recently, so it seems they are out there...

  • Mendocino County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: lAKE MENDO IS STILL VERY , VERY FULL. LOTS OF FLOODED TIMBER. WATER TEMP IS WARM 80 - 83 DEGREES. FISH ARE ACTIVE . BEST TIME IS MORNING, EARLY. THE BITE IS PRETTY MUCH DONE BY 10;30 AM. MY WIFE CAUGHT HER 1ST CRAPPIE. NICE FISH. 1 1/2 PONDER. SHE CAUGHT IT ON A CHAD COLORED CLACK'IN-RAP WHILE FISHING FOR BASS. GREAT MORNING ON THE LAKE!!!
      City: UKIAH

      Tips: TRY WATERMELON-CANDY BABY BRUSH HOGS. WHITE SPINNERBAITS. RATTLE TRAPS. SENKOS AND SO ON. HAVE A POLE SET-UP & READY FOR STRIPERS. THEY WILL COME UP BOILING @ ANY TIME RIGHT NEXT TO THE BOAT. AND MOST OF ALL KEEP IT REEL.
      DON

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78 to 82

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: fished friday thru saturday night, first fish was a 4lb smallmouth on the swimbait...then a 2lb largemouth on swimbait, got a few more smallmouth but nothing real big, only a couple fish after dark one 3.5 largemouth on the brushhog but it was real slow. saturday was a little slow in the morning as I lost my favorite swimbait but once the breeze picked up so did the fishing, caught a bunch of smallmouth on the drop shot with aarons magic, nothing real big but lots of fun 1 to 2 lbrs that fought like crazy. Saturday evening I lost two real big ones on two consecutive casts with an xrap on a submerged rock pile I found that afternoon and went back to...great trip, cant wait to go back.
      City: medford

      Tips: drop shot worked well also the osprey 5" swimbait and xrap in the evening, was surprised that the zara didnt work to well for me.

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

    • By

      Water Temp: 81.9/82.6

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from about 0800 until 1330, boated 5 fish. Two on spinnerbaits on weedlines, one on a crank, one spot on a rip bait, and one 4.3lb largemouth flipping a jig into willows. Missed a couple drop shotting and had a couple whacks that I missed on the spinner. Pretty slow, no real consistent bite.
      City: Orland

      Tips: Tons of shad. Tons. Everywhere you go. Fish are gorging themselves on 'em. Lots of suspended fish as well. I couldn't get them to hit though.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Orwood @3pm. Fished outside of Indian Slough and got a lot bites, but many were pretty dinky. Fished a buzz and frog = 0. Crank and threw swim bait with the same results. My bud started catching them on a Ika. Until the last hour of light most of the fish were 1-2#. He was half of the double we had and they both buried in the weeds. We had to debate whose fish to go after first. He finally relented and we went after my fish first. . Somehow the small senko hook held, as we weed through and pulled out a beautiful 6-10! Then we also got his pounder in. What a great way to finish the day. Ran out of light.
      City: orinda

      Tips: Threw reaction baits without a touch. All fish on plastics. Even tho most of the fish are under 2#, it's alot fun.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76-79

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hey Mike, thanx for the straight up word on current condition at Folsom. Have always known it can be good at times but it's a hard lake..many others have said the same thing. But you're right, just gotta keep at it! My brother and I are thinkin' they're moving or have moved deeper. Next time out we're gonna brave the chop and skiers/wakeboarders and hit our favorite structure out on the main body.
      Thanx again for the true skinny on Folsom!!
      City: folsom

      Tips: Same as Mike's and Chris B's and others who know Folsom.....keep at it and don't let low numbers discourage..I did and now I'm back with a purpose!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Folsom is really tough right now brother, we went out of Granie Bay yesterday morning and went all the way up the North fork to the river. We manged to get 2 fish up there and that was it. We then hit the main body and Browns Ravine with no luck. All I can say is keep at it.
      City: Anterlope

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80-82

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I guided a great fisherman yesterday in his boat with the idea of teaching him some good off-shore structure areas for summer and fall trips. We started with topwater baits of all sizes and one paid off for him! I saw this smallie clear the water by at least a foot in the morning sun - what a sight!! She went 3.84 lbs - post spawn fish. He hooked another good bass on the same bait but lost it right away. The rest of the time we ran over the whole lake - looking and fishing several shoreline and off-shore structures. The cold front had pretty well shut the bite down with a very chilly morning wind and fog in the distance. We caught several small largemouth and smallmouth for our efforts. We did see lots of suspended fish on his meter, but couldn't get them to bite.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Topwater is always a good bet this time of year. Fish shadows for as long as you can. Several color worms worked for us, mostly drop-shotted and dart heading.

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 71.6 - 77.4

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished before first light until noon. Started with top water on rocky points and spinners around wood. there was a bit of wind until around 8am. Caught a few bass,then swithed to cranks a little deeper back in coves on steep rocky banks for a few more bass. I did try on of my favorite spots with no bites at all(skiers Cove)Usally a hot spot.
      City: Napa

      Tips: We were the only bass fisherman I saw all morning. Keep fishin

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78-81

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Sorry AB, but I was there on july 13-14...why would I lie about the water quality. Anybody who has been there lately will have to agree with me. The water is terrible. I love Clear Lake, we used to catch 80+ fish a day during this time in the past. We were lucky to catch 15 fish in two days now...and 1 cat! if you say the water is fine you must be talking abot a different Clear Lake.
      City: S.S.Francisco

      Tips: Be prepared to work very hard to find a clear spot to fish. I did catch one 4.5 lb on a rago swimbait (Velvick BV 3D) and the most on sweet beavers. 2 on jigs.

    • By

      Water Temp: 78-81

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: ok Steve, why don't you tell your possible clients about the worst water quality I've seen at DIRTY LAKE since I started fishing there about 10-12 years ago...I know is not your foult, but it's hard to read a report that doesn't even mention all the crap in the water. If you bring a boat there, be prepared to have wash it right after, not to mention having to replace all you line in all the reels. the only clear water I found was at the south west side near the end by some rocks. from konocti vista marina it's a loooong run to find clear water...I used to love this lake. Now I'm sad to say: no wounder all the for sale signs!
      City: S.S.Francisco

      Tips: try a different lake.

    • By

      Water Temp: MId 80s

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the north end to the narrows the last couple days, we caught lots of fish up to 4 pounds. Most were strong fighting 3 pounders.

      The bite was different both days, yesterday we got into a great swim bait bite, We caught them on the 6" Osprey and the 5" Hippo. We also caught fish on soft plastics, frogs and the shakey head.

      I took out a guy (Chris) that wanted to learn how to catch them on swimbaits, well he flat out whacked them and I think he is addicted.

      I was fishing the sinko with only 1 bite and he was throwing the swim bait and had a limit in about an hour once we found out how they wanted it.
      We continued to run our pattern all the way down to anderson island and back up north.
      City: Clear Lake

      Tips: Tips: We covered allot of water to find the fish and changed our presentation until we found out how they wanted it.
      If you can get a pattern going it should work on most of the lake now. Each day the pattern has changed for me from a slow presentation to a reaction bite.

      Have fun !
      ...
      StevePerkinsFishing.com