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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, May 16th, 2009

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

      Report: wow!! what beautiful clear day. got on the water around 8:30am. the water level looks great. the weather was in the 90's by 11am. the fishing was tough around the south in. there was a lot of boats. trout fishermen catching 15 inch trout on powerbait. i caught 3 small fish... all under 10 inches... one trout, one largemouth, and one smallmouth. all on rattletrap. wind picked up... off the water by 1pm.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: next time i'm heading north toward the dam.

    • By

      Water Temp: 68?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Lake looks fantastic. Making a 4 day trip up in a few weeks, just had to come take an early look. Got at lake by 6 and walked shoreline left of the day use launch. Caught 3 on worms. Moved to other side caught 3 more on worms. Nothing on swimbaits or cranks. It was hot, split by 11. Can't wait to get back up in the boat to fish it right. Fry everywhere as earlier post indicated. I Fished slow and shallow and in 3-6 ft. Water is in great shape; crystal clear and no algae bloom... yet.
      City: Pacific Grove

      Tips: Fish a lot.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 71

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished South Fork coves/trees; 3 on topwater LC Sammy behind a FrontRunner. Only fish for me. Brother picked up on c-rigged morning dawn deep in the cove. Nothing else worked. Tried darter head and dropshot, which worked previous weeks.
      City: Folsom

      Tips: Have none other than topwater very early before the skiers and boarders start churnin' up the water. Mine hit as I paused the lure at the trees. I'd welcome any other clues! Deeper??

    • By

      Water Temp: 66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: CBL- Christain Bass League had another great day on the water. 17 teams enjoyed an unbelievable day of sight fishing. All the top finishers say parking in the tulies and targeting the beds was the key. Six teams were father/son type and all got prizes. Brushhogs, worms and even the drop-shot brought fish to the boat. We didn't have any fish in the boat at 1230 and by 1330 we had 6+ pounds at the scale. The BOY, Colton, caught his first bed fish. All for us came on the sweet beaver and Besersk creature style baits. M&R Gomez was the top Competitive finsiher with 12#11oz and the Taylors were the top Mixed team with 9#4oz.
      City: Turlockl

      Tips: The sight fishing is on like crazy. If you can teach someone how, now is the time. If you are bed fishing RELEASE ALL YOU CATCH for next year!!!

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I started fishing my usual hot spot and the fish are always there when I think like a fish. Got there at 7am and first fish ate a 7inch senko. She was full of eggs. She went 6lbs. Ok,Pay attention.Go to the dam where theres deep water.You have to figure the rest out,I did.
      City: Richmond

      Tips: I throwing a baby bass lure in the rocks.The biggest bass I ever caught. 10lbs,what a fight!Just 2 fish but huge ones. Throw anything that you like see what happens?

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 69 -71

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started in the South Fork at 7:00 am and stuck 2 within 50 yds on big rocks, then struggled for 2 hrs. Saw a lot of bass boats moving a-lot most stopped on grass area between small rock area's, so started to fish these area's and picked up 6 or 7 more all slot fish.
      City: Sac

      Tips: Have fun and do your best.

  • Merced County
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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: fish jumping were carp, striper are biting on night crawlers at check 12 I hate using live bait so I havent caught any of those...................try main lake with the spooks and pencil poppers, you can even throw a fluke..dino point is good

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went out to the forebay this morning at 6 a.m. and alot fish jumping,threw spooks and nothing hit it at all not even a boil, any suggestions ? fished only 1 hr......
      City: los banos

      Tips: none.....

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 67 - 75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Two friends and I started fishing Cherry Creek about 8:30 am on Saturday, May 16. The water temperature started at 67 deg. and went to 75 deg. in the hot 90 deg. afternoon. The water was only clear to 2 -3 ft. and the wind was absolutely calm. These conditions allowed us to see many fish swimming in the trees on both sides of the creek mainly on the flats just before Skunk Camp. There were schools of 10

      Tips: Be careful of the cables hooked to the dock. My fishing buddy tripped on one of them and fractured his arm at end of the day. Also watch the tracking of your trailer while parking it. My other fishing buddy tried to park my rig next to my other buddy

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Okay guys, let's keep it real......as far as the looser is concern, he will get his, some day.
      City: S.S.F

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: 61-63.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at trinity alps marina no problems parking a little limited. fished north fork up to tailings caught a few fish on tubes and worms tried the reaction baits but with no wind no luck.
      City: redding

Friday, May 15th, 2009

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: n\a

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Hello All, It's been two weeks sence I have fished Berryessa, I been up at shasta and it was great! Does anybody know if the top water bite has gone off yet? Thanks for any help..John
      City: berkeley

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 70-74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: With all the tough bite reports I thought I would add mine: yes, it's been tricky. Went out Wed and Fri afternoons. Worked the N Fork from the Big Turn to the 5 mph buoys catching 5 on Wed, only 2 on Fri. Biggest was a 2 on Wed, all the rest smaller.

      No afternoon reaction bite, only caught them near trees on dropshot with 4-5" shad-color worms or darthead with 4" worms. Best depth was 15-25 feet. Deeper structure didn't work for me.

      Tips: Maybe if water depth stabilizes it will help the bite. I would keep working trees and deeper when sun is blazing. Watch out for wood; I damaged my prop hitting a big chunk of wood while running in choppy (wakeboard boat wake) water.

  • Siskiyou County
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      Water Temp: 60-65 and risin

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: prefished for a weekend club tournament friday for couple hours early am good blade bite caught 4 to 4lbs got off water primed to go for the next morning....caught 1 on sat and 2 on sun all on buzz bait couldn't get bit the rest of the days on plastics or anything else fished till noon both days.... our club weighed in 4 fish each day....club big fish 5.52 on sat....2.37 on sun....
      City: K-Falls

      Tips: friday was the day the fish bit good.... fish were caught in the morning and late evening...this lake has been frustrating last year and now this year so far....the water level went up and down on the weekend

  • Fresno County
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      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished both the 15th and 16th. Friday 5:30-11:00am caught 30 fish 15 keepers and 15 shorts. All spots. Best 5 10 lbs. Saturday 9am - 2pm caught 40 fish. All spots except for 1 smallie. 20 keepers and 20 shorts. Best 5 12 lbs

      Dropshot in 18-20ft on flats with no structure. Fish are gorged with baby shad, spitting them out as you bring them up.
      City: Madera

      Tips: Get on the electronics and find them. They will stay on the deep flats as long as the stripers are not after them. They are grouped together after the shad. Lots of fun

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

  • Plumas County
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      Water Temp: 54-58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Wow, no reports for 7 months? Fishing isn't that bad. But the wind is!!!! I fished Monday evening in bad wind and only caught 1 smallie. Tues I went out at 11:30 am and was back to the dock about an hour or so later - wind was getting ugly. Wed I had a guide trip with two great guys. I wish the fishing was as great - the cold wind really put a hurt on the bite. One of them had a bite or two while the other caught a 14" smallie and missed two or three others - one a nice one that hit at the boat. I fished for a lot of the trip, trying to see what was happening to the bite. I cranked and threw other lures to find out what they wanted - nothing worked except the small Beaver. I think I got 4 or 5 bites, landing 4, one close to 3 lbs and one beauty near 3 1/2 lbs that had not spawned. I am always amazed at how beautiful those fish are. I am very disappointed when clients don't have "catching" success, though I make sure to teach them all I can about techniques and fishing spots. They were casting beautifully to docks and other structures after I showed them how to "feather" their casts with a spinning reel. Good students!! They deserved better but the bite was just very slow. The big one I caught just climbed on my bait as I was reeling in and stayed on somehow. No skill involved!! The boat ride in however did require some skill. Clear Lake, Folsom, and Almanor can be scary and our trip back to the ramp was an event. We rounded the corner of the peninsula, heading north - nasty, nasty! Swells were 3 feet or so and breaking at the top. The guide made sure he got the wettest!! My Ranger 520 got us back safely but that was the ugliest water I've seen in years. One of the clients said his Triton would have kept us drier. Why were his fingers crossed??!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I met a nice angler at the lower ramp on Monday who told me about the weigh-in (Canyon Dam ramp) over the weekend. He said somecot of the fish were handled poorly and some were belly-up after being released. Was I there - did I see that? No. The only reason I bring this up on a wb.com report is that Almanor has possibly been my favorite lake for many years - certainly the most beautiful. Things are changing there - bass fishing pressure is a new thing. Tuesday I saw 3 boats launching and pulling out - all bass boats! In the last several years I have had 5 or 6 different folks "vent" to me about the poor handling of the bass at local tournaments. Are they setting me up? I doubt it. I have seen that very thing at other lakes - mostly club tournaments, but not at Almanor since I am not there much on weekends. If anyone wants to get mad at me for mentioning this - go ahead. I care far more about the fishery and its survival for future generations than what you think about me. Again, I am not the important ingredient here - future good bass fishing for tournament folks, guides, and bassin' in general - IS what is important!

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: went out early morning. caught a couple of good fish on keeper worms about 3lbs. came up on a bed with a huge momma on top of it. threw the jig and she didn't want any part of it. threw the white brushhog and still do anything but push it off the bed. she eventually hit the hud. when i set the hook she spit it back at me. overall was a good day
      City: Modesto

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Mostly Post spawn/suspended bass. Only thing in the trees were carp and bluegill. Some male bass protecting fry on secondary points.
      City: Cameron Park

    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Well, with the lake only 6 feet from being full, I thought I could get into some fish. I thought with all the trees and nice rocks in the water I could find the fish. Well maybe that was the problem. Maybe with so much structure the fish are all spread out. I do know. I am used to catching 20 + fish at Folsom in the spring when conditions are pretty good. I thought I had perfect conditions Thurs. I would normal say it just had a bad day, but a few weeks ago, I could not get into them either. Today, I was only able to scratch up a limit of spots on a dropshot. Nothing on Darthead etc...I tried trees, rocks, points, secondary points, back of coves too.

      On a different note, I have never marked so much bait/fry at Folsom. Most of it looked like fry. They were from 2ft - 20 feet. I don't know what kind of fry it was (bass or carp?) but there were tons. And I mean millions everywhere - I only fished the middle of the lake to 1/2 way up north fork and I found it every stop I made. All the fry I saw was 1" if that.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: I got none! I won't go back to Folsom this year. I don't know if fishery got hurt with low water the past few years or what. Maybe it is the crazy weather this year....I hope other people have been doing better, but looking at the recent posts, it does not look like it...

  • Westchester County
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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Sorry, no report here, just a question. Does anyone know if this lake has a good panfish population? I'm looking for a good lake to take my 4 year old daughter fishing for the first time. I'd like to catch some bluegill. Thanks