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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, April 20th, 2009

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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out late afternoon/evening. Fished around the damn area and around the bridge. picked up quite a few spotted bass in between the spillway and buoys. Also that island that is by the damn produced quite a few fish as well. We were throwing Rat L Traps in crawdad colored patterns. Also were getting fish off of Hula grubs (double tail) on jig heads. I will be out there again this weekend.
      City: Lincoln

      Tips: it was very hot (upper 90's) when we went out and we picked a lot of our fish up from shady areas.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Float tubed the keys looking for the PB fish. Ended up with 3 fish all under 3lbs. Did lose one that was big, I was picking out a professional back spin :), when my line takes off . I reeled up the extra line but didn't get a good hook set. I did tell me to sloooow down . Dead sticking caught my fish .I Caught them on 6 inch senko , (watermellon black flake). I also wanted to thank those indivuals on the docks who put up rope or cables to keep people from fishing the docks. Whatever your feelings for float tubers I wanted to give a big thak you to the guy in the ranger that pulled up to me and went around me . What was nice to see is we cruised down a 100 yards or so to give me enough bank to fish . We didn't coc* block me and gave me some fishable water. I can't say everyone used the same attitude toward me today .
      City: Rancho Cordova

      Tips: Fish Slow and watch out for rope and cables.

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      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Noticed that there isn't a lot of truthful reports surfacing recently probably due to the big tourneys coming up. Knocked the crap out of them on cranks up in the north end. Anything running 3-4 foot deep and with some purple or chart. on it worked. Speed traps, CB's fat free, it all worked. Nothing worth talking about in the Keys. Got a few decent ones between Jago and Konocti, but most of the quality fish were up north. A few on buzzbaits in the am too. Best 5 over 26lbs with an 9.1 kicker.

      good luck
      City: Benicia

      Tips: find the subtle offshore breaks and such. You might look like you are fishing int he middle of nowhere, but it will pay off.

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      Water Temp: Hope it warmer

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Me and some friends will be headed down from Washington on Thursday night to fish Clear Lake for 10 days. I can't freaking wait!!!!! See you on the water.

      We will be staying in a rented house in the keys. Look for a White, yellow and black skeeter and a Ranger fish and ski. Stop by and say hello or just have a beer.

      Mike
      City: Enumclaw

      Tips: Don't know yet but I hope to find out real quick!

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

      Report: does anyone troll with downriggers here? I have never been here before, if so, where at, the dam? or around the boat launch in the south end. Just wondering, I have a little brother and my cousin I want to get on some trout. I don't care about the size I just wanna hook up. Any tips would be appreciated
      City: Fremont

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

      Report: Can anyone tell me what the speed limit is in the lake right now? Is it still 5 mph?
      City: san mateo

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Pre fishing is and will be a problem since anglers that want to fish tournaments dont know how to PRE FISH they rip 10-20 lips all week long and then try to catch the same fish or one angler I found and spoke to boxed 10 fish and tried to re locate them to a spot where he could go back on tournament day and catch them Learn to pre fish and these big tournaments will do better
      Next Item I have to grip about is how the fish were treated We have been working to catch and release Bass but when you get to weigh in and the tournament director dosen't have a live well to hold fish in while your waiting to weigh in is killin fish or after you weigh in. then you get a dry bag of fish back did anyone see how many fish were floating after this tournament lots !!

      Future pro needs to spend some money on getting the right things to help the lakes keep the fish alive instead of fishing them to death and then throwing dead fish back the seminars they have prior to tournaments should include how to pre fish a lake not just where they are bitting
      `
      City: Roseville

      Tips: Before you take the time spend the money to fish tournaments learn the basic Pre fish is mostly finding a pattern useing your finder to locate fish then fish it hard on game day aerate those live wells and keep your fish alive thats the only way we will keep our lakes going good when you have 160 boats ripping lips

      And yes I have emailed Vince to voice my concerns

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 68-71

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at the ramp by the damn. headed down past the damn and hit a few coves. we hit the water at about 0730hrs and was fishing by 0800hrs. the fish were coming up and hitting bugs on top of the water. I decided to throw a suspending jerk bait. the bite was very active. they were all small (about 1/2lb) but it was still fun. once it got hot though, the bite died
      City: Newman

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hey Shawn if you want to know more about smallies at Pardee, send me a email, Matt
      City: El Dorado Hills

Sunday, April 19th, 2009

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 67-71

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sorry this is a week late..been kinda busy. Wife and I hit the lake late in afternoon on sunday, the place was slammed!!! Fished south end only. Found fish on beds behind weed lines. The boat traffic had the shored lines stirred up, so no sight fishing, but they were still there, boated 7 keepers, after hooking 10. Best going about 4lbs. Fished senkos wacky rigged. Kept changing colors to see if they liked one over other, natural tones seemed to be getting most attention.
      City: vacaville

      Tips: Fish it slow, they are just picking the bait up and moving it usually..and watch that line.

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: 65-70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Slow. Fred and I caught 7 fishing from 8am-4pm, largest 2.5. One on a senko the rest on C-Rigged BBrushHogs and worms. No spin, crank or swimbait action.

      Lots of dead crappie floating on the lake. An osprey and an eagle and of course the vultures seemed to be taking advantage of the free meals.

      Just fisherman till around 11:00 then the wakeboarders and jetskiers came out pretty thick.

      While fishing the shallow east end, saw lots of dead fry floating on the surface.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: C-Rigged Baby Brushhogs in watermelon on main lake banks seemed to provide the best results.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 62 to 68

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Redbud at 9:30 am for four hours my wife and I fished the rocky bank and docks to the left as you leave the launch and hit open water. the bite was hard we only Caught 6 fish running 2 to 4 pounds...talked to a few others and the same thing for them as well...
      Then pulled out and went to Lakeport where we staying at Skylark...got our room and headed back out on the water for a couple hours of fishing, and caught a 4 more males on MMII worms.
      went back to the room and takled with a few people that were there from Wyo. and Oregon...they too were having a bad day as well. I figured with the weather warming over the next couple days the bite should really turn on...
      Monday hit the water at 6am headed to the tules...(I love fishing them)...Started throwing a FatFree Shad in the fry size and third cast put a 10.11 in the boat. As the wife was lipping the fish the crankbait came lose and slammed into her hand...that was a first for her, you talk about someone going ghostly white...
      We only pulled 5 fish out of the tulies..so we cruised on down to the rock pile and fished that for a bit and the wife caught 4 fish on 7" purple worms. She was fishing it super slow...
      Tuesday was a much better day...we cruised over to Niece, Luceren and then over to Soda bay and found all kinds of fish on beds...we fished every thing from white grubs with blue pearl to senkos to pyrple worms and ended up with 122 fish for the day...nothing huge all 3 to 5 pounds..we got back to the room and the wife made a comment that her thumbs were so tore up and sore from lipping so many fish....
      City: Roseville

      Tips: Overall once again Clearlake is the best CA lake to fish...the weather was very warm and the fish were really moving up on the beds...everywhere you looked there were fish...
      When you tossed something at em they would split..found out that you really had to agitate and piss them off to get them to bite...unless you backed off and tossed that worm or grub 20-25 feet and slowly worked it back in and with every cast you got a fish...
      The best numbers of fish came from inside of coves fishing open water in 4 to 7 feet...
      I love this lake, and it has produced my two biggest bass...the 10.11 is my biggest ever...
      I have stayed at Skylark prior to this time and I don't know what has gone wrong with the place but the service has really gone to the crapper...
      We stayed there Sunday through Wednesday and had to call the front desk for towels, coffee every single day we were there. Then on Tuesday late afternoon we tried to get into our room and we had to go get our card keys reactivated...
      The only good thing about staying there was we launched from the launch ramp at the motel and the size of the rooms that were on the water...

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Sorry for the late post. It was a good weekend for me at Clear lake. Fished hard in the Keys for 8 fish up to 2 lbs on senkos and beavers. Moved to redbud area and things picked up. Started getting bit on white blades with double gold colorado blades. I tried other combos, but this one worked the best. Picked up another 8 fish, but the quality was better. All 2-3 lbs. Tried Rattlesnake and got nothing shallow or deep. Not sure what is going on there because I usually get them at that spot. Went to a couple of places in the north end and fished swimbaits in the tulles. Big fish was 7+ and 4 5lb ers. Nothing smaller than a 3 on the basstricks.

      Will be back there this weekend up north going for a 10!!!
      City: Sac

      Tips: fish slow with blades and swimbaits

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 59-61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had a trip on Sunday with two guys learning the lake. They caught 12 nice fish up to 3 lbs. Most were on a Carolina rigged robo worm, the rest on a smoke grub with 1/8oz. dart head and a 4 inch senko on a Pag rig. Most every boat in the greater Sacramento area was out that day which made for rough water afternoon. Stayed in the North fork all day. Ripped one fish in the morning on a Lucky Craft Pointer 110 Ghost.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: To get those suspended fish in the trees try swimming a grub through it or a 4 inch slim senko Pag rigged. (Weedless Wacky)

  • Fresno County
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished main lake flats with topwater in the morning and caught 2 2.5-3#. When the sun came out I started to look for beds. I found 6 fish locked on and 8 or 9 up getting some sun. 3 of the fish i caught one was a 5 pounder. I then went upriver and caught about 10 throwing at the bank with a fluke, lemon shad. They were a little smaller 1-2# i did however catch a black that went 3 1/2. I caught alot on a jig in about 20ft of water with biggest about 2#. Fishing is starting to get real good. By the time the won tourney gets here there should be lots on beds.
      City: Kingsburg

      Tips: Overall a great day. The bed fish are coming!!!
      I can not wait till sat!!!

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 52-55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: fishing was tough caught a few rippin in the mmorning on river 2 sea fetch minnow an then flipped jigs and brush hawgs in fallen trees for largemouth once the water warms around 2pm we skipped senkos under docks for a couple more bites.
      City: medford

      Tips: fishing is still tough and the water is very clear 12-14 foot visibility in most places be stealthy when you go up on the trees and the docks.

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 59-62

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished topwater in the morning around 7:00 AM and landed a couple on a spook and buzz bait...Best going a 3.5 lb. Tide sucked and slowly changed and didn't get bit again until about noon, middle of the incoming tide. Flipping red flaked senkos and beavers in sparsed tullies...Absolutely hammered them in Franks tract, fish the tullies along Sugar Barge, next to the wall. Slow your roll and fish in the middle of the tullie clumps and you will nail them...a lot of pre-spawn fish moving up...
      City: Bay Area

      Tips: slow fall and dead stick...fish are willing to bite....

    • By

      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Fourteen Mile Slough, Disappointment slough and the Tract. Far from exciting 5 @ 1-2.5 all day. One one tight to the tullies on a tube. The rest were caught on cranking inside the weedline / drop off.
      City: Sac

      Tips: Cranking shad and crawdad colors got a few.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Slow but consistent with what they were biting on. Mainly Senko's and Sweet Beavers (Dirty Sanchez). All in Lower Lake near docks. 9 fish total with an average weight of 3 lbs ea.
      City: Livermore

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      Water Temp: 53-59'

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Friday and Sat. with my friend Ben. Still tuff fishing all the South end haunts. Rock piles, points, docks, etc. managed 8 fish total, with a 7.34 toad at 3 pm on the pipeline near Redbud. All fish were caught on an MGM 5" senko, weighted wacky style. Christmas Tree in color. Threw many baits, just couldn't get bit.
      City: Redding

      Tips: The water is warming, I'd like to go back later this week. I'll bet the bite will really turn on.