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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, May 13th, 2010

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Wow..one fish early on topwater then the Dead Sea. Partner and I threw everything and everywhere. Water is super clear. After the one fish early we literally had no more bites!! Don't know if its pre-spawn, post spawn but the fishing just made you yawn!
      City: placerville

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

  • Santa Barbara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got the itch to fish Cachumas again so I hitched up the rig and headed south. Got to the front gate at 7am. Ddidn't get on the water til around 8. Had a real run around with the rangers there. I guess they didn't like the looks of the Scalper. I never washed her off after a couple seasons out crabbing off Pismo, and the hull looks like 20 grit sandpaper. We hassled about it for a while and then they just gave up and blasted the heck out of it with the jet gun.

      Forgot to put the plug in after the inspection, and my buddy had to scramble back up to the lot to get the rig while I ran around in circles. Damn quaggers.

      Went over to my favorite point and finally started fishing. Started chunking a jig n pig. Made a couple casts and wound up hanging it up just out of reach on a tree. Reached down to get her off and snapped my tip. So much for my favorite rod - the old CherryStick. Crap. I've had that since '83. Oh well.

      Regrouped and decided to freshen it up with some new stuff. Cruised down to the damn area where we usually like to toss spinners and crank plugs. Right off the bat - bam, scored a fat 14 incher. Yeah baby. Threw back at the same spot in a hurry and came up with a major backlash. Popped the dome on the spincast and saw a twisted ball of 6 pound coated with grease jibs. Damn. That rig's down.

      Down to one last set up I decided to go for broke. All I had was my crappy fluger. Ran into Harvey's and anchored up on the old dropoff. Talked to some shore danglers there who said there was a good cat bite the day before. We worked the area with jigs and worms and wound up with a couple of 12 inch smallies and a nice bull gil that went 7 inches.

      Finished the day off drifting the flats in the wind. We covered the whole of jackrabbit in about 20 minutes it was blowin so hard. Tough to tell how deep it was since my flasher crapped out on me 2 years ago. On my last cast I got the break I was looking for. I'm cranking a super deep yellow plug in open water and wham - the rod loads up. Thought I snagged into the bottom at first, but then my line just started rising up. Out of the whitecaps comes a toad shaking her head back and forth with the plug lodged in the corner of her mouth. I fumbled around for the net as my rod bent over the side of the boat. Finally sweeped her up. She went 6 1/2 on the spring scale.
      City: Grover

      Tips: Be prepared for a full inspection. Crabbers and other salty rigs aren't welcome. Clean and dry.

      Toss cranks around mud banks and off drops.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of russos marina. played in fanks tract landed a nice one on second cast....then a few others through out the day. water is very stained looks like a glass of nestles quick. fishing is tough. should pick up in a week.
      City: ROSEVILLE

      Tips: stay home get the spring chores done so you will have more time for fishing when it turns on!!!!!

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 65-67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Decent day fishing. caught several small spots and a couple larger Largemouth in Cottonwood on a variety of baits. Mostly on secondary points, near shad boils..on surface...reaction baits like crankbaits...rapala dt-10 or similar.
      City: Atwater

      Tips: look for bait on surface.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out wednesday to enterprize boat lanch with the outlaw and the jitterbug. It was around 5:00pm. jitterbug said it was one of the best fish days of the year according to the calendar, so i couldn't sleep through that. Well got down there decided to got with the grn flake baby brush hog since there was all kinds of vegetation stained water and little windy. There was a slight trickle of run off in the corner. The water level was perfect for that long flat straight down from the boat lanch. Anyways first cast got a bite missed the hook set without lipping the fish. Threw a couple more cast in same spot and nothing. So moved over to right corner all kinds of wood stacked up in there. Got a tap then a real solid pull. Did a micheal jordan pump fake on setting the hook thought i blew it. So i let it drop then jigged it once then a hard pull running with it bam easy money. Got her away from the wood she jump once trying to spit the hook out no dice. Nice 18"1/2 large mouth. Took a picture threw her back. Caught 7 fish total 5 under and 1 14"er which ran with it on the drop. Fish really active. Well jitterbug ended up catching one fish which made him content. Guess then calendars are right time to time.
      City: northern palermo

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Bert schooled all of us,ma got goosed, dixie broke off and dietz tried to stay with berts purple cuttail pattern. Cranked a few lots of fun
      City: mountain view

      Tips: All fish bert caught on cuttail were in the grass done makin luv

  • Yuba County
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      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: On the water around 10 am and fished until 7 pm. 20+ fish but most were in the 13" range all spots.
      I did pick up a 4.03, 3.4, 3.2 and a 3.1 all on jigs. I did pick up a few with a drop shot. I tried ripping with no success. This is a steep caynon type of lake with very little flat area. Most of the time you are 40 feet off the shore and you in 40+ feet of water. Tough fishery if you don't know how to fish the steeps.
      City: Roseville

      Tips: enjoy the sights...saw at least 5 Bald Eagles.

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The wind was blowing and the fishing was hard. I spent 4 hours on the water with no bites. My son was on the water yesterday with a friend and one fish was caught.Good luck you will need it.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished out of Lime Saddle 8am-4pm. Caught 30 with 5 under slot and 2 over. The rest 13-14. Caught first 2 on football jig craw in Green w/black flecks. A couple in coves on drop shot with mourning dawn finesse worm. The rest were caught on 1/4 jig head with wacky rigged sticks in red with black flecks and watermelon with black flecks. Most fish were in 6-9 feet suspended.
      City: Colusa

      Tips: Fish slow.

Monday, May 10th, 2010

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went out in the pouring rain on monday, dragged tubes for a while with only one taker,
      then went to the trees and it was on. picked up a few in the trees with a senko and tubes.
      City: cool

      Tips: fish slow.. very slow. most bites were after dead sticking the senko on the bottom after half a minute or so

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65 - 70 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I decided to leave my custom Valco Bass Boat "BASSBUSTER1" in the garage today and did family stuff. I waited for the last 3 hours of day light to escape on foot to the sail boat club next to Ladd's Marina. It was bottom out low tide and lucky I know the holes that still hold fish during this tide. One favorite spot at low tide still holds 3 ft. of water. She was home and hungry. She weighed 9.1 lbs. on my Berkley digital scale. Tonight could have been a good night for night fishing as I walked the banks and noticed many spawning bass during this low tide. She nailed this black/yellow frog with anger. My gear: Quantum US Tour Edition Heavy Action 30 - 100 lb test, Quantum Energy reel, and 65 lb. test Power Pro Braid.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcKhp9lr-So



      Tight lines and Happy Mothers Day
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Always be persistant and work'em slow.

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out at 9:30AM and hit big winds! Forced to get in the coves and battled fight the wind. 4 dinks on D Shot and one 2lber on spinnerbait.

      Tough fishing!
      City: San Jose

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63+

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Left outta Lazy M EARLY. Very windy. At Mildred by 7:00. Did well with keepers 1.5# - 2.5# on Zoom lizards fishing slow. All fish were at "edges". Didn't matter what edge. Shadow edges, tule edges, grass edges, or depth edges. bite was good. Culling by 9:00 am. Tried frogs, spinners, swim, etc with no success so went back to lizards. Carolina rig staked about 6" up for shallow and drop shot when going deeper. WIND got unmanageable aroung noon.
      City: Hayward

      Tips: Learn to flip and pitch. Have fun.

    • By

      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Boated 8 best 5 went 12 lb. BF 5.84

      Tips: All came out of 4' to 8' on dark senco's but the BF came on a swimbait

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: fished for 2 hrs friday night and another 3-4 hrs saturday afternoon which between myself and my friend amounted to eight bass mostly small with a 1.5 and about a 3 all of the fish we caught came on baby brush hogs in fairly shallow water
      City: Castro Valley

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Friday noon to 5PM and caught about 6 dinks and a 3 pounder. Saturday did much better from 6AM to 2PM. Caught a 3-1/2 first thing in about 9 feet of water in the back of a creek on a drop-shot, then a couple ripping. Caught a 4-1/2 on a drop shot and a few 2 to 2-1/2 ripping and drop-shotting. The bite stopped at about 11AM. We ended up with 15.36 pounds for 6 fish.

      Tips: Drop-shot or split-shot in 5-10 feet of water on and around points. They aren't all spawned out yet!

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: It's on baby. Finally fished a lake that was wide open. Tubes worms jigs oh my. Color not so important today. the color would change in an hour. 2.7 spot was my biggest. Mike D and I had maybe 12 lbs best 5. Caught 10 over slot. Middle fork was the best. Just fun fishin. Dart heads 1/8 tp 1/4 depending on the wind.
      City: orangevale

      Tips: Fish were 5 to 15 feet deep. dart head, drop shot split shot jigs. Fish slow but not dead stick, some would hit and let go just to hit you half way back to the boat? Watermelon was best color. bubble gum 4 inch worms too? Bidwell was closed to launching. Oroville outdoors didn't know that?
      Spillway lower ramp about 50 foot walk to parking lot. Just right. Good fishin.

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I fished Thurs afternoon and found the fishing difficult with a strong north wind. As a result, I fished up the river arm and did catch 5 largemouth up to 3 lbs. The biggest was caught drop-shotting a brown/chartreuse Robo worm and the other were caught on #301 and 330 Senkos. All were caught in small cuts in the shoreline. Friday my fishing bud Rick Tietz joined me for a day of possible sight fishing if the wind let us. It did, sorta. The day started of with a bang - a savage hit on my #301 Senko!! Soon I realized this was no ordinary bass, because if was a......trout!! Wow - 22 inches, 3lbs 5 oz. So now you know what to throw for trout! Rick and I fished most of the day, landing 5 smallies, 1 largemouth - and - a FULL-BLOODED SPOTTED BASS - about 14 inches. Rick caught it - I would have been too embarrassed to catch it since it is not supposed to exist in Pardee. The fellow at the gate didn't believe us so Rick showed it to him. He is a believer now! We were fishing with small Basstrix minnow baits, Senkos, and 4" Power worms. The 2 1/2 in chartreuse minnow worked best. All of our smallies were nice but not big - 2 1/2 lb average. Largemouth were showing up in the afternoon but were very skittish. We did spot some big smallmouth and largemouth but could't get them to bite. And speaking about big fish - the carp are warming in the afternoon sun. Wow! Some don't take a back seat to Clear Lake carp - some were 20 lbs+. How come they don't show up on our meters?! Water is still somewhat cool. Lots of boats Friday - pre-fishing for a tournament today I think.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: As for the spotted bass, they do exist in Pardee - obviously. Some of you may remember that I caught one at Amador several years ago. Pardee feeds Amador. There has been a lot of discussion noting that some of the recent big smallies caught looked like a hybrid variety of smallies - especially with the tell-tail black horizontal line near the tail. Pure smallies only have vertical bars. We have the same type of bass (not as big!) at Berryessa. Cross-breeding does take place for sure. I have always wanted to see one for myself (a spot in Pardee) to see if they did exist. Now I know. Some of you might have already caught a spotted bass in Pardee. I am not trying to make a big deal out of this, but after some 40 years of bass fishing, it is fun to see something unexpected!!

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58-59

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched Jones Valley, tent camped up Squaw-arm and fished dusk to dawn. Mornings I threw a watermellon green (black speckled) 6 inch lizard with gamagaski 0/1 hook and sm splitshot from bank. Almost every cast there was a bump or a sharp hit of which I could only get about 50% to hook-up. I caught 23 bass am fishing, biggest a 3.5lb hen. Mid-late fishing was spent trolling 15-25 feet deep with seps flashers and silver/blue kastmasters & humdingers. Caught 16 rainbows only ranging 12-14" with biggest at 17". Water is clear and lake is full!
      City: Cottonwood

Friday, May 7th, 2010

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76-68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I fished the lake for about 3 hours Thurs evening from 7:30 pm to 10:45 pm. I was surprised to see a small tourny winding down on a Thursday! I was told that it is a group that takes the week off and fishes several lakes. Kinda cool!! I think their big fish was 4lb 3oz. Anyway, I started with topwater - trying to force the issue. Not a swirl which wasn't unexpected with 2 days of north wind. I got a 2 pounder on a Robo worm and then, using a D&M Piranha swim jig on a point - just before dark - I got a tremendous hit and landed a bass just under 5 lbs. Must have been her first post-spawn meal!!! I only fished an hour or so after dark since I had to get up early and figured the bite would be dead after the wind.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The Senko, frog, and topwater bite should be on soon if the weather ever warms up more that 2 or 3 days in a row. I was amazed that the water temp was only 67 degrees - in May???? It is the cool nights that cause this. Without much heat, the water is very clear now.