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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, May 13th, 2019

  • Amador County
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      Report: by StanL » Mon May 13, 2019 7:55 pm

      Fishing Camanche This Week

      I went out with my buddy John. We did not hit the water until 11 o’clock.

      The surface temperature was 71 degrees. The water clarity was visible to about 12 feet.

      We started off throwing reaction baits with no luck. We fished a variety of structure.
      The productive spots were shallow type of flats that were in 10-feet of water and less.

      There are still pre-spawn, spawning and post spawn fish.

      We caught them on a variety of baits. The best choices were a Frenzy Biats Nail with a Trick Worm, a Carolina-rigged Zoom Lizard and also dropshotting any shad colored worm.

      We caught about 16 fish in only four hours.

      I hope this helps ..good luck fishing!

      Stan

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I think the spawn is mostly over , the bite was good . Launched from lime saddle for the first time ever . fished the north arm from Berry creek to the edge of the main body . Fished mainly senkos the first three hours and we caught about fifty . then switched to Keitecs and did well all those . Blades were working as well . We ended up with 90 bass , almost all were spots . best 5 was probably 9.5 lbs . We had a few that were 2 lbs and a lot that were close . Had a lot of fun catching all day long . we were there about 7 hours .

      Tips: Mud lines were the ticket for the Keitec . senkos anywhere seemed to work , all weightless and wacky .

Friday, May 10th, 2019

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68-71

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Well, I guess it's called post-spawn. I took a father, son-in-law team yesterday to Berryessa. We started early. about 7 am. First top-water bite for my boat this spring - fun, fun!! We all had action and one of them lost a big bass. They brought their own equipment and baits and fished very well. The lake was pretty quiet and we could fish several good areas. The summer pattern seems to be setting up already. After the early morning action, a lull for awhile. And then about noon, the bite picks up again and they caught bass thru the afternoon. I had some success with the Keitech swimbaits as usual and their drop-shot baits worked well. We caught lots of largemouth and spots but very few smallies.

      Tips: If no cold fronts are coming thru, go for the topwater fun! Berryessa has always been a good topwater lake - the most fun in bass fishing!! The lake is dropping very slowly, so the bite should remain good. Just too many tournaments and relocation of the bass. the recent cool night has dropped the surface temp about 3 or 4 degrees. Don't know if that matters much - didn't hurt the topwater bite!!!

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 68-71

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Wind didn’t kick up as forecasted so headed out to B & W and ran up the Mokelumne around 3 for the bottom end of the outgo.

      First Delta trip of the Spring so dropped in outside of Westgate Landing to get a sense of where fish were in the spawn cycle to see tons of fry of all sizes as well as quite a few cruising bass. Stumbled on to a couple of quick bed fish before moving on.

      Started covering water along irregular weed edges with a Sammy for 5 nice fish and a couple of missed blowups up to about 4#. Moved up in to Hog with the Sammy for a couple more fish and flipped a few bucks before the wind machine started and muddied up the water with the incoming tide.

      Tips: Normally would have thrown a frog but happened to have the Sammy on the deck from a previous trip and got bit on the 2nd cast. Broken weed edges concentrated fish allowing me to bypass long stretches of weed walls with both the topwater and flip baits

Wednesday, May 8th, 2019

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 68-74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: After being out of the country for two weeks, it was nice to return to guiding on beautiful Lake Berryessa. It is still beautiful but we are about to loose the spring green hills as the "golden hills" are just around the corner. It didn't take long to realize that post-spawn had set in. Many areas that were "on fire" before I left were a shadow of their former self. Time to "re-dial" the conditions - and we did. My client, who I have guided a few times before, and I figured out the mid-day bite (he didn't want to start early). We finished near the mouth of the narrows with one here and one there. Again, dead flat, clear water. In a matter of minutes, a little breeze, then a little more, and then. waves!! And then - the BITE!! We caught several quality largemouth and spots in an hour!. By the end of the trip, best five around 13+ lbs including two spots at 3 lbs each.











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      Tips: The bite was similar to before I left for France. The #980 Senko was still the preferred bait of the day. He was doing a lot of drop-shotting with his favorite color of worms. They were darker colors I think. We saw a big sign of the summer to come. About 2 PM in the back of a major narrows cove, bass started to bust shad. Fun to see again - summer is here!! We were able to catch a few - some of the leftover bass around 12 to 15 inches. Was surprised to see the water temp at 74 already. Guess there was some warm weather while I was gone.

Tuesday, May 7th, 2019

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the south end coves just about at the 5 mph markers and flipped 5 inch watermelon pumpkin seed senkos wacky rigged with o rings with weed guard to fish I could see and next to structure where I knew they would be and got 4 12-14 inchers doing that using 20 lb braid with 12 lb floro leader, The 12 lb floro leader rally makes that bait fall nice and slow with great action. I also caste to any mud lines I could find, main body or cove and caught 7 doing it that way. I fished a dart head with a 5 inch pumpkin seed worm for about 20 minutes with no luck an went back to the senko. I spoke to a nice guy in a Champion bass boat and he was tossing a 2-3 inch Kitech swim bait with an under spin and he was doing pretty good doing that.

      Tips: The water is pretty clear everywhere I went, under that mud line is clear water also so what ever to throw, throw natural colors.

Monday, May 6th, 2019

  • Napa County
    • By

      Report: by Duke » Mon May 06, 2019 1:42 pm
      Thanks to the 28 Teams that fished the 8th event of the Pasote Tequila & Berryessa Bass Tournaments Circuit that was on Cinco de Mayo and hosted out of Markley Cove. We had a cool & breezy Blast Off! Wind did pick up by weigh-ins! Most of the teams got there limit while searching for a big bite all day, looks like a ton of bucks are being caught! Most reported catching their fish in 1 – 15 feet of water. Water temps are up into the 68 degree to low 70’s range with the water clarity slightly murky tan/green in areas and crystal clear in other areas. Teams reported catching their fish on Swim Baits, Drop Shot, and Reaction Baits. Most teams were fishing on the Main Body of the lake.

  • Lake County
    • By

      Report: by On The Water Guide Service » Mon May 06, 2019 7:54 pm

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      The spawn is on up here at Clear Lake. That huge full moon we had towards the middle of April got the first few waves of fish to move up and begin the spawning process. The lake is currently at the official "full" level of 7.50 on the Rumsey gauge which gives the fish plenty of back water areas to do their thing. water temps have been in the high 60's to low 70's range. Both ends of the lake have fish in all three stages; pre spawn, spawn, and post spawn. Sight fishing has been a little challenging in the north end with the combination of slightly stained water and with afternoon algae blooms and floating pollen on top of the water. The south end of the lake has a bit better water clarity but not much better.

      Fishing has been pretty good despite quite a bit of pressure from all the tournaments and recreational fisherman. There is a good flipping bite right now on the tule edges and pockets. It is hard to beat a 5" or 6" whacky or Texas rigged weightless Senko right now. Drop shotting a plastic worm has also been highly effective in the same areas. You can catch a lot of fish just fan casting in areas with a gravel or hard bottom. There is a lot of post spawn fish suspended underneath the docks especially in the south end of the lake. just remember that by the time you see them, they have already seen you long before. you can throw the kitchen sink in there and they wont touch it. The key is to make a long skip cast to the next dock ahead. Not the dock the boat is currently on.

      The very beginning of the topwater bite is just starting up around certain areas of the lake recently. There has been a few frog fish caught as well as a few Whopper Plopper fish. I have noticed huge clouds of fry up in the shallows and it wont be long until those fry guarders become fry eaters and the topwater bite will get crackin'. All we need is a good week of warm weather and it will get good.

      The crappie have slowed down a bit now their spawn is pretty much wrapped up. Although they were harvested at an alarming rate from the lake all spring, you can still manage to catch a few if you find the right docks where they are holding under. Talked with some folks that were catching a few catfish off the public pier at Red Bud park on cut maceral and shrimp. I did see some good size Bluegill in the north end around isolated tule patches. And finally for you bow fisherman, there are some monster carp schooled up in the shallows messing up my bass fishing. So come up and get those suckers.

      Tight Lines Y'all,
      Troy Bellah
      https://bassfishingclearlake.com/

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 72+

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: There was a high school TOC with 16 boats that went out of Glory Hole Sunday. All teams brought in nice limits over ten pounds. The best of the best chased bass that were chasing baitfish schools up the river. They used topwater and S-wavers to get their fish. Another team used jigs to target big largemouth they found on beds in Angels Creek. It took over 17 to crack the top five and 22.53 pounds to win it. So it is fair to say that New Melones Bass fishing is hot!!

      Tips: We got fish on Spooks, poppers, crank baits, drop shot worms, jigs, S-wavers, and senkos. So, throw what you like and have fun!!

Sunday, May 5th, 2019

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the southern end of the lake with good success. Found some post spawners and one sight fish. Post spawners were roaming and could be picked off with a reaction bait, Sexy Shad motif lipless was working well. Chartreuse/black back medium diving crank worked well too. Ned rig had turned off on me when I threw it, and so did the jig bite but after catching them on the cranks I just continued cranking all day/evening. Wind was minimal, sun was out, I figured I'd see more boats out this weekend but I didn't.

      Tips: Chartreuse was working well with crankbaits, Sexy Shad to Chartreuse Black Back and everything inbetween.

Friday, May 3rd, 2019

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The bite has been pretty good last few trips but today couldn’t find any fish feeding. Spawn is in full affect, fished locked in on beds everywhere. Caught a couple just to get the skunk off the boat but bed fishing isn’t what I’m out there for. Think I was the only bass boat on the water. Stayed on main lake most of the day due to all the debris floating down the arm. Love starting the year fishing the lakes but think it’s time to get back on the delta

      Tips: Pardee in my opinion is primarily a finesse lake, 99% of all the fish I caught are on some type of plastics

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 64-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing was decent when I went down a week ago. Was able to pick up quite a few top water bites in the morning and in the evening, but was pretty tough to pick up bites during the daytime. I changed up baits quite a bit and found the most consistency on a wacky rig and spinner bait. Biggest spot was around 3lbs on top water, but other than that I didn’t catch any decent fish.

    • By

      Report: by Wilson » Fri May 03, 2019 8:05 am

      Was on Shasta from April 25th-28th. Fished about 13 hours each day except for Sunday. Total fish caught was 404 between the two of us. We learned having a clicker counter helps keep track of total fish caught when the fishing is off the hook!!! Best day was Friday with 144. All really nice fish from 1.5lbs-3lbs.

Wednesday, May 1st, 2019

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing the southern part of the lake from 6am to 6pm. The day started slow with only 5 fish for the first 3 hours. All in the tules off sinko. All solid fish from 3 to 5.43 lb. Fished the rock in the 10 to 17 foot range and started to catch numbers all on jigs. Moved to docks and the frog fish came to play. Ended the day with 30 plus fish with the numbers coming on plastic under the docks and rocks.

      Tips: All is working right know but things are changing and this great fishing will not last much longer. Don't forget to support the local tackle shops around the lake.

  • Shasta County
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      Report: y Inland fisheries advocate » Wed May 01, 2019 3:08 pm

      If you can get to Shasta lake it is the best fishing I've had in 40 years. We were on Sacramento arm for a week. Most fish in first 15 foot. Senkos in baby bass & rainbow trout... Bass are far and have nice shad in their mouths. Willows are packed with fish & the lake is basically full

Sunday, April 28th, 2019

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Spent the weekend in Lakeport with the family. Bass are in full spawn mode, we caught 9 sight fishing in the backyard of the house we rented. First morning at Rodman was our worst day with only 1 bass (and a very large Crappie), but it was our biggest of the trip. Spent the rest of the time fishing docs and the grasses in between them, up and down Lakeport. Everything came on plastics, either Senko or shakey heads of various colors. It wasn’t our best trip for size or numbers but the ones we caught up to 3 1/2#’s were all fighters.

Thursday, April 25th, 2019

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the water at 2;00 pm and fished til 6;00 pm . started at Mooney and blanked , went to beals by the swim beach and fished the trees , caught one . Then went to the peninsula to fish the trees and started getting them . The shady side is where the fish were . Some trees hold one and others might have three or four . The real problem is the trees that hold none , it seems you fish four trees and only one of them will have fish .
      Mornings are a lot slower than afternoon , that will change as the warmer weather is starting .
      Ended up with my five best over 14 lbs , Had a 3.5 SM , 3 plus LM , Lots of spots over 2.5 . My last tree I caught ten spots in thirty minutes , almost every cast . Had a little over twenty fish , most came the last two hours .

      Tips: All on weightless wacky senkos , color didn't matter that much , used green pumpkin and baby bass 5'' on wide gap 2/0 . cast leave 8' of slack and watch your line for a fish swimming away . You wont feel the bite if your doing it correct . cast every thirty seconds or so to cover lots of water ,

  • Shasta County
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      Report: by Inland fisheries advocate » Thu Apr 25, 2019 6:37 am

      Don't hear much on lake shasta... it is fishing great... We're fishing senkos..
      Time to get out & enjoy this fabulous fishery

Wednesday, April 24th, 2019

  • Napa County
    • By

      Report: by Kyle46N » Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:14 pm

      I've read plenty about Berryessa post spawn, and that there are bass everywhere in the shallows, but up until today, never had the chance to fish this time of the year. Deployed last year mid April and missed it, but my wife and kids had a ton of fun today. Looks like we missed the crappie spawn, but there bass everywhere in 10 ft or less. Threw small craw plastics on light jihheads, darter heads with TRDs, and Neko'd senkos, and ended up with fiftyish largies, spots, and smallies. Too much fun. Nothing big.....also like I've read, but fun. Surprisingly, our biggest fish came on flukes in 30 ft of water over balls of shad. Spots and largies around 3 lbs. Pretty cool. Anyhow, get out there and have some fun!

Friday, April 19th, 2019

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 60-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 8:00 am - 3-00 pm. Bite began to pick up around 10 once the sun hit the water. I could see down about 10 foot up the North fork, and if I saw one, there were multiple in the area. Largest fish was a 4.54, with one 3.4 to follow, and some other little keepers.

      Tips: Fish brush from 10-17 ft of water. Especially focus on the isolated tree tops off from shore. I caught them all on a nekorigged senko in a natural shad color. I did throw an S-Waver for a little and got lots of followers.