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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, November 14th, 2009

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55-59

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My last dozen or so trips on the lake with clients, pre fishing for tournaments and the tournaments themselves have been one of the best fall seasons I've seen on the lake in a while. This last week pre-fishing we had many limits over 10lbs. During the last A/C tournament on the 14th we ended with 10.98lb. A lot of paterns were working. Top water and rip baits were working in the morning, and plastics of all kinds were working throught the day. Everyday was a bit different so you had to be willing to change color or size or speed up or slow down your presentation to get a bite.
      City: Paradise

      Tips: A few weeks ago 240,000 coho salmon were planted. You can find them all over the lake. This is helping the top water and rip bait bite and also the swimbait bite.

Friday, November 13th, 2009

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60's?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Since I am moving to Folsom in a week and a half, I made one last trip to Berryessa after my last day of work in Napa. It provided me with everything I love about the lake! I saw the usual deer, turkeys, osprey, and griebs and was treated to seeing a coyote and two bald eagles. The gorgeous clear water and blue skies against the backdrop of mountains will be burned in my memory.

      As for the fishing, I caught a 2 lb trout on a rattletrap after watching it bust bait on the surface. I just casted what I had on the line in the direction of the activity and hooked up...way cool! Then I caught about an 8 lb catfish on a dartheaded grub a little later...a TROUT and a CATFISH! Finally, just before heading home I hooked into two nice largemouths and a fat spotted bass in about 10 casts. I even watched young spots eating baitfish along shore since there were millions of little 2-3inch minnows schooled up all over the lake. What a beautiful place and all to myself on a Friday.
      City: Napa

      Tips: Be flexible when fishing Berryessa. Luckily the lake offers just about everything to fish...there are shallow flats and shoreline weeds, rocky humps, steep bluffs and rockslide banks, bridge pilings, coves, islands, laydowns, stumps, points...and I've fished all that from the bank or a float tube! It has lots of variety which makes it fun and interesting to fish. Have fun!

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out to find the bite. Found a pretty good Darthead/Robo bite around the rockpiles just under the surface. Spot's up to 3 lbs. A little wind later in the AM stirred up a couple spinnerbait and ripbait fish. Ended up with 7 fish for about 13-14 lbs. for the best 5.
      City: Roseville

      Tips: While Jim/Wooch/Jimbo or whatever he wants to call himself is a knowledgable angler on Folsom, please DO NOT take his reports seriously. He has once said that he does it to play with peoples minds. He has punted off of WesternBass once before for being stupid and it's only a matter of time now. Sell crazy elsewhere Jim, we're all filled up here.

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: fished from 8am to3pm.thru senkos on rock banks near franks tract caught 4 bass to 4.lbs also fished potato with lucky craft lv500 in ghost. caught two more 2.5 to 3.lbs ok day fishing tournment this weekend hope to do the same.
      City: sac

      Tips: fish slow rocks seem to be the key

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I think I had more fun last night than I deserved! I had three great clients from the eastern U.S. - enjoying Clear Lake for the first time! We fish from 4 to midnight - dealing with a slower bite and lots of wind. Two of them owned Rangers and were experienced bass guys. The other one had not bass fished that much and sat in the back seat! Guess who caught the first 2 or 3 and really had the most bites - that's right - the back seater!! The other two took over my Ranger - worked the trolling motor - tied their baits - and joked around the whole time! All I had to do was point out the spots, work the black lights - and eat!!! I only made about 15 cast with a swim jig - no bites. They wound up with a pretty even trip - all of them catching 5, give or take a few. They boated 15 total bass with a nice "best 5" at 23 1/4 lbs. The highlight was my "double" net job of a 6.13 and a 4.08. Both of the front guys double hookup arrived at the net at the same time - so - into the salmon net they both went, one after the other Does that count as a "10"?!!!! We fished from Henderson Point down to Rattlesnake Island.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Our timing was pretty good as there was no rain and the cold front hadn't settled in yet. They really did well in some rough water as the bass wern't very aggressive. While their "limit" was very good, they did catch a lot of smaller 2 1/2 lb bass. Saw very few of those smaller bass in the previous 2 trips. I had them using only plastics (4 people in the boat - my rule), and the 10" Power worm was the big winner - it worked very well and produced 3 or 4 or their bigger fish. Brush hogs were good along with Yamamoto Kreature baits. Bass seemed to be more shallow last night with the rough water - some on the bank. They couldn't get those 25-35 foot fish to bite. Fish were really scattered - had to fish a lot of spots for their 15 fish.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went out with jim went up river had about a 50 fish day witha few 10 lb spots and a little 14lb largemouth i mean black...we were throwing 12 ounce deep sea spoons for the big ones in around 80-150 feet we got a lot of squaws also they were all over 6 feet but not to brag i was in my secret spot that i cant tell anyone about because my unlimited amount of 10 lb blacks could run out also got a few on a swimbait deadsticking it out in the same area.
      City: sacto

      Tips: find were jim is to get unlimited toads smallest fish of the day was around 8lbs spot

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-62

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: backed off up river until spotted feeders. 35ft to 50ft, schooling bass. Blacks and spots from two and one half to four. Spoons again prevailed against other baits. Expect a squaw fish now and then. Bigger bass were blacks.
      City: sac

      Tips: Bass hang out with squaws. be persistent.

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61-63 Degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I needed to take the boat out to see if transome transducer was reading depth properly once on plane after re gluing. After finding out that it now reads water dept at speeds above 10mph is a good thing so I decided to fish...Found the bite good for size in the 30-40 foot depths. All of my fish came on a spoon at those depths. Quality spots all five at 2 lbs or greater with the largest near 3lbs. I left after @5 hours of fishing. There were at least 20 other boats that I seen up river and yet nobody will take the time to post which is why I am. I didn't go behond the bridge because at least 5 other boats made their way up river. Saw several boats fishing the two bridge pilings but only one piling was producing fish all small from what I could see. There were a mix of trout and bass fishermen yesterday and the weather cooperated. I was off the water by 1:30pm and wish I could have stayed longer but had things to do at home....Lake level is @75% full which is a good thing around here....
      City: EDH

      Tips: The Spots were spitting up crawdad pieces and probably should have used my jigs but I wanted to see if the Dah spoon would produce here like they did for me on Berryessa. The craw color pieces that they were spitting up was red/orange.

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had a good trip on Tuesday spooning for bass. With one client we where the first boat out of Markley Cove at 8 am. We moved to the north end of the lake and located a large school of bait in a river channel. Dropped our Blade Runner spoons down and caught fish for the next 3 hours. Smallmouth, Spotted bass with a few largemouth. We also ended up with 1, 8 pound catfish, 4 salmon, 1 rainbow trout and 6 squaw fish. All in the same spot and all eating shad. We moved up to Putah Creek bridge and spooned 4 more bass. Started heading back through the Narrows and stopped to check out a few spots. Spooned up 2 more bass in a small cove that showed some bait in 35 feet and called it a day. About 20 bass total with the rest mixed in. Only three other boats out of Markley Cove. Kind of strange this time of year not seeing any trout trollers. We did see a lot of trout chasing bait on the suface.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Find the bait, you will find the Bass and what ever else that is hungry. No pressure as you may be the only boat out.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 57.6-59.8

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Left Pirates lair to fish the last 2 hours of the outgoing and the first 3 hours of the incoming. Headed to potato slough and thru top water baits up close and tight to cover and tossed swim baits parrelel in between the sumerged grass and the rock levees. caught 3 bass and had a few followers. tough bite for me.
      City: Napa

  • Ventura County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Man the fishing here has been pretty slow for he last 2 weeks or so, but when the water warms up it isnt to bad. Fish dont ewant anything to do with reactionbaits, i found succes with sentos and robo worms.
      City: ventura ca

      Tips: fish around the boat docks with senkos and robo worms. when the water warms up i would back off and fish some points on the island.

Monday, November 9th, 2009

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Tough bite, bounced all over south end with the only action coming from Goat Rock area Cranking DD22's.Marked fish from 12 to 20ft but couldn't get them to commit suicide only one fish for me\but did get some Blow ups on the Punker but without hookup.(weather partial clouds and calm)
      not many boats out now I know why
      City: woodpile

      Tips: No clues

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

  • Santa Barbara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62.5-64.2

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught several on jigs off the main lake points, grn pumkin, lost several and my new Powell 735 (story in another post) caught one off the river side of Arrow head Island, nice 3.5 pounder
      City: Lompoc

      Tips: slowly crawl the jig, one reaction on a crank bait

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61-62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Skunked. Windy all day. Water was stained to muddy. Lake was very low. Wanted a crankbait fish unfortunately stuck with them too long. Tried Lucky Craft Skeet Reese in Chartruese Shad, Norman Lil N in Natural Shad Norman DD22 in Red and Black and Bomber in orange and red, also tried a 5" Big Hammer in Wookie Wacker. No takers. When I finally I realized I might be in trouble I switched to darthead grubs, split-shot Robo Worm in OxBlood with red flake and C-rigged Baby Brushhog in green pumpkin. Not a bite.

      Spoke with another fisherman at the ramp on departure (3:30 pm) and they did equally badly.

      Just a dues paying day.
      City: Monterey

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59 up river

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went to falling water collection area and found no fish. I moved down stream and found a big school in 35 ft, spoons were the ticket. Got tired and moved around that area, both sides and caught feeders, a bit larger on one tons.

      Tips: When water is falling, follow the bait. Reaction baits usually do not prevail unless fish are in an ambush area.

Friday, November 6th, 2009

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63=64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the water around 1130 on friday. Ended fishing the Narrows and we caught 17 drop-shotting worms in purple and green. Most fish came in 15 to 25 ft. of water. Biggest was 2.4 Lmb. Best 5...if we had 7 lbs, I would have been surprised. Still fun for numbers. Ran out of daylight.
      City: Pleasant Hill

      Tips: Fish points with sand/smaller chunk rock. Caught fish on anything that was sticking out whether a well defined point or just a sticking out a little more than the rest of the bank.

    • By

      Water Temp: 63/64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: launched out of capell cove and fished the banks with mm 6inc t riged worms and only caught 2 dinks in 3 hrs of trolling the shores to steele park and spanish flats . had alot of big fish feeding in front of me. I saw a couple really big fish surface.
      City: fairfield

      Tips: fish slow and the fish are starting to move into shore closer.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out of "Lazy M" early this morning to see if there was any kind of top water bite. Only 1 fish on a popper around 2lbs. Moved and fished Old River just outside of Widows, caught 3 more bass throwing only a "delta craw" speed trap up shallow ripping through weeds. Got into a school of stripers closer to Rivers End Marina and stuck with that for about an hour largest going 6lbs. All came on Delta Craw speed trap. Fished a drop shot for one more largemouth, all in the southern end of the Delta. Stuck with reaction bait and seemed to pay off. Not an outstanding day but it sure beats going to work.
      City: Pleasanton

      Tips: Fished shallow all day, all fish in about 5ft of water, eratic retrieve with the speed trap worked for both largemouth and stripers. Also along tule edges.

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: no idea

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: fished Ilsanjo for about thirty minutes last week. caught 5 fish on my first 8 casts. started off with small dinks, but eventually they got a bit bigger with the largest being about 1.5#. total of about 12 fish landed, two or three lost. all on a red/orange timber tiger.
      City: Petaluma

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Lake Berryessa 11/05/09

      Thursday, 11/05/09, about 9:00 am my buddy and I headed toward the North end of the lake to try some spoon fishing. Water temperature was about 64

      Tips: The water temperature continues to drop and the fish are moving closer to shore. Start fishing deep before fishing shallow. It has been a long time since I have seen so many diving birds on the lake. They are working in large groups and are much closer to shore than two weeks ago. Hopefully, the abundance of bait fish will result in heavier fish next year.