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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Tuesday, December 11th, 2018

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Bite was tough all day. I’ve been fishing this lake for 10+ years and haven’t seen it this tough during this time of year ever. I fished last month and it was extremely tough too. I tried big baits for 3 days in the rain and only yielded a big catfish. Finesse only yielded small spots. Lots of fishing pressure has definitely had an affect on these lakes. Saw over 30 bass boats on Sunday.

Sunday, December 9th, 2018

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the water around 9am after another awesome breakfast at the cafe at the marina. Best part of the day. We trolled for trout using copper colored fly's for a while, Had no luck so changed to Shad colored crank baits, got nothing. We stopped for a while and tried Bass fishing. I used a jig with a white trailer, my son used a crank bait. Again got nothing. We decided to go back to trout and drove all over the lake dragging fly's using lead line. Focusing on between 15 and 30 foot deep. Had one bite but lost it on the way to the boat. After talking to a friend last night, he said the best option on Amador is Night Crawlers with a Flasher.
      Weather was in the high 40's with grey skies. Just one of those days.

  • Lake County
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      Report: by Larry Hemphill » Sun Dec 09, 2018 12:02 am

      Winter fishing at Clear Lake is not like other lakes that have spots and smallies which are more active in the winter. And Clear Lake water is very warm in the summer and can be VERY COLD in the winter. The cold air sinks into the "bowl" where the lake is - and can even have some snow in the winter. The feeding window is very short - maybe an hour or two, day or night, maybe every 2 or 3 days for each bass. I have been told, and have read, that a bass can digest a crawdad in about 18 hours during the summer, but it takes around 3 days in the winter. Answer - they don't need to feed much. I remember a sudden trip I made to Clear Lake a few years ago on January 4th. Very cold weather as you would expect, but dead flat water as much of the winter is there, except for storms. No bites before dark and nothing for the next 5 hours. About 11 pm I heard a carp roll, then another, and another until they were making merry on a winter night. I was fishing jigs with a big Yamamoto grub tail. Suddenly a good bite and a 4 pounder in the boat! For the next hour I had 5 bites - aggressive bites!! In about an hour and a half I had 5 bites and 5 bass in the boat for 20 + pounds, including a 7 pounder. And these were feeding bites - how could they hit this hard in 44 degree water? The window may be short, but it could be the favorite window of your career. Obviously, they are not bothered by fishing pressure in January, especially at night. Winter fishing is about location and timing. Other than the spawning period, winter is the time to catch the bass of a lifetime - day or night!! Where was I that night? Near Rattlesnake Island - really!!!!

Monday, December 3rd, 2018

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 57

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Horrible day of fishing ... launched in Markley and started fishing east side up from Dam. Worked my way out to the main lake... started in 20 ft and worked my way up to 50ft... tried crank baits, drop shot, Ned rig, swim baits and could not locate the active fish... I heard it was slow but my performance was pathetic!

Saturday, December 1st, 2018

  • Solano County
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      Report: by Kyle46N » Sat Dec 01, 2018 8:55 am

      This was our second trip this week to the Delta, the first was slooooowwww, but we found them chewing good Friday. On the water by 9, and fished till dark. Tossed the IMA Flit 120 and Strike King KVD jerkbaits all day. Boated 30 bass between my son and I, highlighted by a 6 lb, 12 oz fish. Also had a 4 lber, and a 3.5er. Best 5 went 17 lbs. The fish were in the 3-8 foot range, located on grass and points. They were definitely feeding, albeit sluggishly. If the bait was moving, they wouldn't touch it. We started out in a pond type set up, and it was loaded. So, next stop was going to be the back of a slough to duplicate the setting, but we never made it, as every island point seemed to have fish on it in the front of the slough. Obviously it was great to catch fish all day, but I'm pretty psyched to get an idea of how these fish will position in the winter when they feed. Water temps were 53-55 and visibility about 3 ft.

Friday, November 30th, 2018

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: Delta Report…Stripers Sturgeon Solid Bass action settling in

      ABA Kicks off Out Of Russo’s Marina Saturday morning promises to be a good tight Tournament as Fall winter conditions settle in.

      Isleton Looks good as anglers take advantage of cooler water temperatures with Stripers and Smallmouth leading the way. Water temperatures have dropped with the cooler storms. VBO Vince Borges has been putting on a clinic and for huge Stripers in the shallows as we fin ally got some weather!

      Walnut Grove . Fair for the trolling anglers, but fish cracking the 15 pound plus keeps anglers hopes up. Savage Prey series and Angry Eyes are the top choices here as well, there seems to bit more call for chartreuse patterns here. Bank anglers livers and cut baits prevail for plenty 2 to 4 pound catfish evenings are top for those looking for a few bites. Bass anglers try some smallie fishing, crankbaits and brown blue jigs and getting the Smallmouth.

      Discovery Bay Some nice fish coming out of Discovery Bay this week. Bigger fish have been falling for a 8" Savage Gear 3D SHINE GLIDE. Dropshot will put more fish in the boat but the size is just not there. A-rigs and Rip Baits starting to work well now. Dress warm and enjoy the your time in Discovery Bay. Some Nice fish are coming Cranking Square bills like the DDO custom KP used to land several like the one pictured this week.

      Frank’s Tract Stripers and bass bite both OK but ya gotta Slow down with the cold temperatures. It’s no secret what a little fall weather can do. Ripbaits are great options while small swim baits and swim jigs get the mention. We found plenty of Stripers and Black Bass with A-rigs, Swim Baits, like the Bone Colored Shine Glides getting grabbed. Lot of Stripers in main River and Mildred areas.

      West Delta The West as in Honker Bay to the Bait tossers are getting fish when wind cooperates. Sturgeon quietly is slipping into the spotlight. Eel is the best bait over all, but night crawlers, roe and shad also scoring diamondbacks Broad slough and surrounding cuts. There were many shaker sturgeon reports in double power lines in Decker Island and Sherman Island. There were few shaker sturgeons also reports from Light 42 to Light 49 in the deep channel Most of the nice stripers coming soaking Shad, anchovies and sardines .

      Las Vaqueros Fishing for trout continues to be good even with the increased water temperature. They are being caught in South Cove and Oak Point as well as Peninsula Cove. The baits of choice for shore anglers are garlic-scented PowerBaits, nightcrawlers or Kastmaster lures. Trout average a pound and a half but range to over 5 lbs. There was a 1000 pound Lassen plant. Light tackle is important for catching trout with 4-6 pound test being plenty. Trout fishing is good especially in the morning, with limits being caught from around the reservoir and more fish being caught overall. Several large trout were brought into the Marina this week. These included an 8 pound fish caught on a Kastmaster in South Cove, a 7.1 pounder caught in Cowboy Cove on powerbait and a 7.2 pound trout caught on a nightcrawler in South Cove. More limits are starting to show up from South Cove and from boats around the lake.

      Contra Loma 500 Pounds of trout planted this week have anglers smiling. While there are very few anglers taking advantage of the put and take trout fishery here that action is solid. Kastmasters and floating baits are the keys. Marshmallows and crawlers are working for Loma regulars.

      Provided by Dan’s Delta Outdoors, 1625 Main St Oakley CA 925/234-4694 Follow us on Facebook

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Report: by steve black » Fri Nov 30, 2018 8:46 pm

      My opinion, New Melones, only because I've had better success in winter months fishing for large spotted bass. The R2S s-waver that you asked about in you previous post is the next best thing than the A-rig on that lake for me. The Spots don't seem to be effected by weather on Melones than on Pedro IMO. Maybe because of all the near by cover in that lake or more food chain for them. Either one can produce big limits if fished correctly, but I lean more to New Melones. Don't forget Glory Hole Sports, always a great excuse to stop in if you think you might have forgotten something. If you ever get the chance go look at their trophy wall of whats come out of that lake, very impressive. Great info from the staff their if you've never fished the lake. Good luck, try both lakes , you cant go wrong with either one. :D

Friday, November 23rd, 2018

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52-54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We decided to fish a little turkey shoot out of Tracy Oasis. Fished south past the Grant Line Bridge for the day. We began the day throwing a jerkbait and a drop shot. Had decent one 3lb+ come off on jerkbait. Alot of small fish on the drop shot 12-14"; not the ones you want on derby day. We started out fishing some dead end sloughs with minimal current with not much activity. We made a move out to the main river channel where the current was flowing heavier. I decided since always we were catching on the drop shot was mainly shorts to start dragging around a lipless crankbait on the steeper rock banks. Boom about 3 casts after making the switch we had a 5.5lber in the boat. A little bit further down another 3lber then i couldn't get another bite on the lipless. Switched to a chatterbait and start ripping out of the grass on a similar steeper rocky bank with good current and another 5lber in the boat. Chatterbait caught another 3lber to make a cull before weigh in as well. Best 5 bass went 17.19.

      Tips: The bite seemed to pick up during the incoming tide when current picked up. On a side note after the weigh-in we went back out and found stripers running shad right at the Grant Line bridge and about 45 minutes of non-stop action with stripers up to 27" caught.

Wednesday, November 21st, 2018

  • Lake County
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      Report: by clearlakeoutdoors » Wed Nov 21, 2018 3:21 pm

      The bite has been good if fishing shallow up north 2'-6' of water. Lucky craft LV 500, Jerkbaits, small shad colored Keitechs have been best around the schools of shad. Heard of people struggling down south and deep water bite wasn't has good as a few weeks ago. There was a 25lb and 30lb bag brought in Saturday for the American Bass tournament. I've been told fish from 2.5lbs to 8.5lb have been caught in the last couple of Days. Start fishing early take a long lunch break and get back out for the afternoon bite.

Sunday, November 18th, 2018

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I took a father/adult son team to Berryessa on Saturday - mid-morning to the twilight hour. Dad was a former client who had caught a 7 1/2 pounder with me. Started off good with the son drop/shotting a 2 3/4 lb largemouth on a MM111 Robo worm. That was the best fish on a weird, smoky day on the lake. Dead flat again with not a hint of a breeze. Dead flat surface fish activity and the birds weren't diving. Dad caught 2 nice crappie on the drop-shot rig. They had 3 or 4 more bass and that was it. I had the HDS 12 on most of the day, showing small groups of bass from 60 to 80 feet. Several areas had no fish on the meter from the 30 to 60 foot zone. The bait balls we did see were mostly tight with no bass nearby. The father/son team went again today (Sun) in their own boat and had a better day. They told me birds were everywhere and bass were somewhat active. They had several bass from 2 1/4 to 3 lbs. What a difference a day makes!

      Tips: The weather has to change and some storms are finally predicted for this week. If we do get quality amounts of rain, the incoming streams and creeks will have incoming fresh water and will attract feeding bass, especially if the rains have warmer water. This may not be a bigger deal than normal since the lake water is not cold yet. Fresh water is always welcome for bass as long as it isn't from hail or snow melt. Soon it will be time to watch your temperature gauge!

Wednesday, November 14th, 2018

  • Napa County
    • By

      Report: by Duke » Wed Nov 14, 2018 6:47 pm

      We had another good turnout on a spooctacular Fall Sunday on Lake Berryessa for the second tournament of the 2018-2019 Season! Thanks to the 40 Teams that fished the 2nd event of the Pasote Tequila & Berryessa Bass Tournaments Circuit that was on November 4, 2018 and hosted out of Markley Cove. There was a little cloud cover at blast off and beautiful 80 degree weigh-in! The lake is still fishing pretty tough for a few teams, but most of the field found the spoon bite to get limits. Lots of teams struggled for a large fish all day, but a few teams got a big one! Evidence again of a tough bite was most of the weights being low, but someone always gets them.

  • Mariposa County
    • By

      Water Temp: Water temp- 64-66*

      Report: Lake McClure Fishing Report
      11-9-18
      On the water - 6:30 am
      Off the water- 12:30 pm
      Water clarity- clear

      Today I took a couple of clients (Henry and Naz) out on beautiful Lake McClure for a half day trip. We started off on the south end of the lake fishing main lake points and creek channels between 25 and 50 foot of water, drop shotting 4” shad pattern worms. We caught a lot of fish between 12 inches and 2 1/2 pounds, the bite was fast and furious for the first couple of hours!
      After about 9:30 am we decided to start bouncing main lake points and steep rock bluff style banks throwing some more drop shot baits, tube style baits, and jigs. We caught several more fish, with the biggest still going right around the 2.5 to 3 pound range.
      We ended the day with well over 75 fish, not bad for a couple who has never been bass fishing a day in their life! The fish seem to be following the shad, so when you find the bait, you find the fish, simple as that.

Monday, November 12th, 2018

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The fishing on New Melones and most of the Motherlode lakes has been a little bit tough. But the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. The fish are in transition from summer to fall and the weather has been so nice they are stuck in limbo. This has spread out the baitfish and the bass. We have been successfully catching fish in shallow water and deep water from 5’ to 70’. The most difficult part has been they are there one day and gone the next, leaving us searching and starting with a clean slate each trip. Regardless of the tough bite we are still have a great time on the lake and finding plenty fish on each outing, we are just having to work a little harder to locate them. Using a variety of search baits and finesse presentations has been key. Along with using our fish finders to locate balls of bait. Umbrella rigs, underspins and rip-baits can be fished at various depths and used to cover water. Dropshots, jigs, Ned rigs and shakeyheads work best when slowing down to comb and area. With a little bit of cloud cover and rain we should start to see the epic fall bite we have all been waiting for.

      Tips: Xperience Fishing Guide Service
      www.xperiencefishing.net
      xperiencefishing@yahoo.com
      John Liechty (209)743-9932

Wednesday, November 7th, 2018

  • Mariposa County
    • By

      Water Temp: Water temp- 64/67*

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: by RCook » Wed Nov 07, 2018 1:47 pm

      Fishing report for Lake McClure Sunday 11-4-18

      On the water at 6:00 am.
      Off the water at 5:00 pm.
      Water clarity- very clear.
      Water temp- 64/67*

      Today I took a couple of new friends Darren and Lizzie out to Lake McClure for a day of fun fishing.

      We started off in one of the creek channels throwing top water, as there were a lot of smaller fish busting bait on the surface. We had a fun time for the first couple of hours and caught several on top water, as well as a few others on plastics out deeper.

      When we had had enough of the smaller fish we decided to go look for the bigger ones, which I have been noticing are moving quite a bit deeper.

      We fished main lake points near steep drop off’s with tube baits rugged on 1/4 oz dartheads, made by Fattys Worms, And drop shotted six-inch morning dawn worms.

      Once we moved out deeper (50-80’) we did not get nearly as many bites but we found the quality.

      We ended the day with around 14lbs for our best 5, with a beautiful spotted bass kicker weighing just over 4 lbs (caught by Lizzie of course!)

      Both Lizzie and Darren caught their personal best spotted bass, so it was a great day with great friend.

      There is great fishing to be had at all of our Motherlode lakes right now, time to get out there!

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Mark you calendars for the annual Redwood Empire Bass Club open tournament to be held on December 8th at Lake Sonoma. Blast off at safe light and weigh in begins at 3:00. Entry fee is $100 per team which includes big fish option. Sign up in advance by downloading the entry form at www.rebc.net or enter the day of the event. See you there.

Sunday, November 4th, 2018

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: On the water at 7AM out of Frank's Tract. Water temperature around 63 degrees, no wind, low tide, fished until 1PM. Caught 3-4 striped bass in the main channel, biggest around 4 pounds (two keepers). All were caught on jerk baits against the rip rap. Switched to fishing for large mouth bass outside of Little Frank's and caught one on top water, then a few more on wacky worm, biggest to 2 pounds. Beautiful day on the water.

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing was still slow but the bites were bigger. My best 5 went 18 lbs. Most caught off a shaky head. Heard they're eating jigs but I never threw any. Evening time I caught a few on a jerkbait and missed one on a Pop-R.

Friday, November 2nd, 2018

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 67-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Spoonmeister Rick Tietz (Blade Runner Tackle) and I finally got to Berryessa yesterday for a great day of spooning for bass. That's all you are allowed to do when you fish with him - LOL!! I did drop-shot a bit, but most mostly spooned all day. I still have feeling in my fishing arm after 7 hours of spooning!! You don't count the number of spoon fish when you fish with Rick - he will catch a million and I am only in the thousands!! What a day! We covered the whole lake - even into Putah Creek some. There were a few slow areas, but when you found the feeding schools of bass - WOW! One doesn't keep count on a day like that - but at least 80 plus. AND - my 9 lb catfish hooked at 50 feet which took several minutes out of my day. Who knew they would take a spoon! As Rick would say - we saw massive schools of bait in the main body - and the bass were eatin'!! Our best five - about 16+ pounds. Since we were in short sleeves on a November 1st day, I guess the bass felt a need to feed as winter is in doubt! By the way, the 7th out of 8 trips at Berryessa with totally flat water - not a HINT of a breeze all day - even into evening. This on the main body - there was some breeze in the narrows.

      Tips: Some days when a spoon bite like that is on, it seems any color will work. Rick and I do have our favorites - he was using his UV Morning Dawn most of the day and I went with my favorite Black Shad. He even makes a UV Black Shad, but I was using the old fashioned plain Black Shad. He tells me after the trip - "Oh, I have a UV Black Shad!" He tells me that after he is assured that he caught the most - LOL!!! We only use the 1 3/4 oz size as one wants to get down to the "eatin zone" quickly - where the action is!! The bait balls were always near the bottom but later in the afternoon moved up to the 25-30 foot depth. Remember, don't spoon below their feeding depth because fish can't see down, only level and up. Fishing for suspended bass is always a little more tricky. That is why you always see fish in an aquarium feeding on the bottom at a 45 degree angle. If their food source is at their level or above, fish will always be horizontal or head raised. That is why they spook so easy when you approach them from above - on a bank or on a dock. The vibration will do it too - why do our boats have carpet? Anyway - great day with a great and talented friend. If I could just get him out of the shop more often.....!

Thursday, November 1st, 2018

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got in a little late this morning and the fall bite is here! Millions of bait fish right at the doc at Merkley Cove. Used rattle trap, deep dive swim bait, Ned rig, drop shot and Senko. Cought some nice fish.

      Tips: Always keep your eyes open... lots of birds usually means bait fish which equals big bass

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: Never looked!!

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Another rough launch at Bidwell at 6:30 am, but no water into the boat this time. Decent bite, found a place that kept me out of the winds, fishing about 75-100 foot of shoreline the entire trip. Caught 14 spots, a couple 15", couple 14 1/2, couple 14" and none less then 13". Most fish caught at 30-35 foot mark, none deeper today. Every time the sun pokes through the clouds, the bite picked up, then slowed as clouds came back. Anything with chartreuse worked best today, mixed with browns. Gave up fishing at 9:45 am, as the winds seemed to pick up again. Steep rubble rock like banks did the trick today. Sure has been good fishing the last three or more weeks, always better sized fish end of Sept, through Oct. like most years. Pictures in fishing forum.