Submit
Report

Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Friday, May 15th, 2009

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      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
    • By

      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
    • By

      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
    • By

      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
    • By

      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
    • By

      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

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: lets lie

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: dont listen to this idiot. dropshotting a 7 inch senko. shut the hell up garb city man. u didnt catch anything
      City: tards

      Tips: dont listen to tards that say they caught a 4 lbr dropshotin 7 inch senkos

    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: went out today and caught lots of nice fish in the narrows on rock wall..spooks in the morning (rainbow trout with feather on tail) and later in the day on custom painted tripletrouts...dropshotted a nice 4lbr in 45ft of water on a 7in senko watermelon red flake...

      Tips: good luck !!

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 67-75

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 4 days on houseboat trip. All fish from 0-20 feet. Most consistant bite for better fish was 15-20 feet. Easy 50-70 fish days on plastics. Got a few ripping, but most were on plastics. The Sacramento arm was the warmest 72-75. McCloud and main body 67-70. Majority of fish were 13-14 inches. Caught a few 2 1/2 to 3 lbs.

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: NA

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Not a report - On 04-18-2009 I posted that 'Cooch" Cuccia would be speaking at our club meeting this month. Due to an illness in his family he will not be able to make this months meeting but promisses to make it in June.

      Hope all goes well Cooch!
      - Mike
      City: Santa Riosa

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65 -70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Tuesday, 5/12/09, my retired fishing buddy and I (also retired) started at about 9 am fishing the South end of the lake. Within a hour, we had 5 fish in the boat drop-shotting RoboWorms worms - MM and Prism Shad. We then crossed paths with another boat and exchanged information on how we were doing. He told us that he had caught many fish using a wacky-rigged Senko. Not only did he tell us what he was using but also offered to give us some of his Senkos and the wacky-style hooks he was using. We really appreciated his offer but it so happened that we had the Senkos and the hooks. So thanks again for your advice and for your generous offer. I immediately started fishing with Senkos which probably changed a good day fishing into a great day of fishing. We ended up with about 30 fish by early afternoon. Most were keepers but none greater than 2 lbs. Most were caught on rocky points with deep water nearby. I did miss many bites as I was probably using the wrong technique for setting the wacky hook. It seemed that I was having the best success with a horizontal sweeping set. I

      Tips: Don

    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fry everywhere. Lots of bucks caught. You can catch them with whatever your favorite bait is. They are not partial. Mama's are still stressed and recovering. They may need another week. Water still low. 20%
      City: Madera

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65-68

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started the morning off with wind and water temp at 65 degrees. Wake baits and swim baits did not work today although the weather dictated otherwise. Fished North today had one reaction bite it was a spawned out LM on a tube. All other fish came off of their beds. Only had 4 fish today 3 LM and one spot. Total weigh probably near 11lbs. Broke my Dobyns swimbait rod again that makes 3 rods that have broke in the same location during a cast with a wakebait on. I don't think I am going to purchase another dobyns rod. Sorry Gary but they keep breaking!!
      City: EDH

      Tips: Hopefully the reaction bite will take off soon...

    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished north again today caught a few bass on points and in trees.alot of fish up in the tops of trees no takers
      City: Roseville

      Tips: rip those lips

Monday, May 11th, 2009

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got to the lake at 7:30am. Started out at Cappell Cove and went to the northern end of the lake past Pope Bridge. Found a nice cove that was steep and rocky. There was a little wind blowing and was in 38 feet of water in the middle of the cove. Used Senkos with no weight and tossed them at the banks edge and twitched slowly. When it was about 5 feet off the bank, i let it sit there for a couple minutes then twitched it once and repeated this till it was by the boat. I ended up catching 6 bass, the largest being 2 lbs. My friend caught 4 and his largest was 3lbs. All the fish were 1.5 plus but one which was a dink. All in all it was a good day. By the way, it was pretty warm i believe close to 80.
      City: Napa

      Tips: Fish slowly, let worm sit and they will hook themselves!

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: fish in beaver slough incoming tide got 1 fish, hog slough on slack tide 1 fish, lost slough on slack tide but river seem over flow(10 ft higher in each sides)caught close to a dozen fish in a 1/4 mile strip. Nothing big 2lbs n under. Had a blast n fish from 9-2pm. Fish slow with worms n brush hog in front of weed lines, trees,n stumps. Fish are feeding mostly males. Great place to practice jigs n worms.
      City: elk grove

      Tips: u can pull up 2 or more fish in a pile of trees n stumps. Feel for the bit n watch ur line go sideway. Feels great to set hook on bass n watch them do dolphin dance...woohoo..fish on !!! Water is warmer n they are very aggressive n the bit are much harder not like cold times. OH.. get ur frogs ready to ..haha

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Just drove to the lake to check water level, it's full. The ramp I've been using the last month is covered with water. Only the upper launches available. May be three feet to go and it's full capacity. Every tree in the lake is fishable, I'll be there to fish tomorrow
      City: Granite Bay

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Right on Ryan, see ya on the water

      Tips: Yummy, pray and hope I don't see you on the water.