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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, April 16th, 2009

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took a couple of friends out today and we managed ten fish. The biggest one was close to 5lbs and we had a few that went 2-4lbs. Probably had about 16lbs for our best five. Most of the fish we caught were females that had not bedded up yet- in fact they looked like they had a ways to go before they laid (bellies were full, but not all the way- no sores or spawning marks. We only managed one smallie. I will gladly exchange information on the largemouth if somebody could clue me in on the smallmouth!!!
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: lots of males around submerged wood. Females seem to be deeper and alone- we never caught two females in the same area. RUN and GUN.

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

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

      Report: Anybody fishing for crappie at this lake? In past years i've caught some amazing crappie this time of year at Camanche - back in the narrows and around the causeway in the main lake.
      City: PacificGrove

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took my 2 kids out to North Fork with some live worms and couldn't even catch a Blue Gill. Fished the banks around Granite Bay with plastics, spinners and dart heads and nothing. I am new to the area from Arkansas and I could walk out to the boat ramp and catch perch all day long there. Is there something I am missing here. Any recommendations on where I can at least take the kids and let them catch a fish before they never want to go again?
      City: Roseville

      Tips: Go play golf

  • Merced County
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      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Got here around 6 pm, my friend had about 20 minutes ahead of me and he had just caught a fish about 17 3/8 in long. After that they were just bitin but no catch exept a lil one about 5 in when we decided to call it quits around 8:30, This all happened on the Meridion side of San Justo over by Petro side.
      City: Hollister

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

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

      Report: My partner and i got over 20 fish in the north fork mostly in the 20 ft range. We are fishing next to trees and steep walls. We are catching them on senco's and worms on a carolina rig.The trip before this one we had over 30.
      City: cameron park

      Tips: Let the bait sit or move it slow

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Wow..I miss this place alot ever since I got pissed while I was tubing in the back lake. This is the very first lake that I learned bass fishing. Good luck to you all this is a great lake to tube in the back ponds. I never got skunk with a tube back there. Maybe I should find a time to go back to tube there. Been very busy with my new bass boat. LOL
      City: Fremont

      Tips: Make sure dump the poor bass back into the POND. Its small ponds with good fish in there, don't ever let it stop. Maybe I'll see you all in the water sometimes. Favorite technique is dropshot and wacky senko. YOU NEED TO PITCH IN TO THE TOUGHEST SPOT TO FIND THEM WHEN FISHING IS SLOW.

Monday, April 13th, 2009

  • Riverside County
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 7am to 2pm and caught twelve from 1.5 to 3.0lbs. Drop shot/Arons Magic in 10-15ft on N/E banks.
      City: DHS

      Tips: Slow

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

  • Amador County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 7 AM to 1 PM. Got 15 fish, biggest going 6 lbs, mostly males. The bites seemed to come in spurts. We would fish an hour with no bites, then all of a sudden we'd get bit back to back. We even had a double hook up.
      City: Brentwood

      Tips: The fish that aren't on beds are still feeding on shad. Find the shad and you'll have a good time.

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 60'

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started out on east side, caught 4 on drop shot and senkos. Moved to westside, nothing, headed north, nothing, up Putah and caught over 6 lost 2 at boat.
      Headed back to westside and lost a nice one at the boat. One smallie, rest are spots. Most are hitting very light on both kinami cuttails and dark senkos on carolina rigs. Only one on shaky head jig.
      City: South San Francisco

      Tips: Fish hitting lightly on dropshots, so if you feel alittle weight, set hook. Fish were all shallow. Fish were coughing up small shads so use white colors. Larger fish were hitting on dark color senkos.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 62-64

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: i dont know where these people are going but the delta water is 62 to 64 degrees in big break and sherman lake. fished with dancin eels and swim jigs and we caught 11. biggest goin 7 on swim jig
      City: disco bay

      Tips: yee ta dee rippn lipps. check out ma vids on youtube. search rippn lipps

    • By

      Water Temp: 55-60

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: why is everyone complaining about not catching any fish??? my dad and i plus he buddy went out and fished the dead end coves wit senkos and spinnerbaits and caught 20 not much size except for a 5# and 6# but still an okay day
      City: castro valley

      Tips: red flake is key in the stained water and fish slow! super soak!!!!!!

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 57-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I had a very nice trip Saturday with two guys sort of new to bass fishing. After a cold weather week, I suggested we start at noon and fish 'til dark so the water might warm a degree or two. That seemed to work pretty well - as bass boats were leaving in the afternoon - the bite was improving. We did find 60.1 degree water at 5 pm! They each brought a rod for me to check out. I quickly put a G. Loomis 782 in their hands and they learned to love a quality bass rod very quickly!! They started out missing a lot of fish because of the timid bite and lack of experience but soon were landing several - maybe 10 total and each had one over the slot. I showed them most of the popular bass bait and how to work them. Their favorite was the MMIII Robo worm - most of their action was on that one - 4 and 6 inch. Often I will have my clients use a 6 inch Robo bitten down to a 5" - more bulk. I tried several colors of Robos and also found MMIII was the best for the day. I caught 2 over the slot (16"), one a #301 Senko and the other on a white/chartreuse D&M Piranha swim jig. I thought the overall quality was good considering the weather - they had several around 14 1/2 inches. We stayed in the south fork for the whole trip.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: One of the clients "overs" was a 15 1/8" hybrid - looking more like a smallie than anything I have seen in the south fork for years. It was really fun reliving and rediscovering structure I haven't seen in ages. Fun looking at favorite areas that are 100 ft over your head too. The water level is not so fun, however! We fished flats near deep water breaks and did find a few bass that had moved to the top of creek channels late in the afternoon. Not many however. One point would have nothing and the next would provide two or three bites. As I was leaving the ramp about 9 pm, two guys showed me their giant crappie - they had no scale. I weighed it for them. Wow - 2 lbs 14 oz!! I assume that is big for Oroville. Must have been a Clear Lake transplant!!!

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 58.5-60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I have gone to Pardee three times in seven days and have caught at least 20lbs for my best five each time. I caught my first post-spawn female yesterday. I am a one trick pony right now- I can only get bit on finesse, no reaction. All fish are coming on the same shad pattern Pro Worm. That is all I can say...sorry.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: Think deeper than normal for this time of year, but don't go deeper than 20ft.

    • By

      Water Temp: 70 degree

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Used all the baits in the tackle box. No bites whatsoever for bass. Used powerbait for trout. I had one hit the rest of the day. I guess one need a boat to catch anything right now, the boaters came in with so solid limits. Dock fishing is none productive at all. Sat there all afternoon and had a few solid hits but no hook ups. The trouts caught by the boaters look decent... 2-3 pounders, probaly hold overs from previous plants. A 9+ pounder bass caught by someone at the boat launch. The basses are not hitting at the launch. I give it another try next weekend.
      City: Oakland

      Tips: Wear extra clothing. It's windy. Try to fish till 6pm. That's when the fishes start biting.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: 5 trouts.
      City: Richmond, CA

      Tips: For Trouts, I used a oval sliding weight, swival, and a 15 inch line+hook with Green powerbait(make sure it floats) launch it like 30-50 yards(they're not that far). Nightcrawler works well too, but you need to pump the worm so it will float. Bass are hard to find, you have to fish all over the place to locate them. Carps are cought by using Cornmeal(make them sweet with sugar). Crapies are cought with Jigs, green jigs are my favorite.

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Worst day of the year to fish Anderson. Got there at 2:30PM and found 64 bass tourn boats camped on every fishable spot on the lake. To add to the enjoyment it was cold and windy. After the weigh in the lake got quiet. I beat the shoreline for leftovers and caught 5 bass 2lbs or less in 3-15ft of water. They all looked thin. The largest was very light looking like he had been deep and just moved up. Caught 4 on dropshot and one on shakey head worm. Off the lake at 6:00. Not fun.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: Don't bother going to Anderson when there is a bass tourny in progress. Too many boats for too small a lake. Not one of those heros posted his catch on this site.

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Markley on Saturday morning. Air temp was in the low 40's. Went around to Wragg Canyon and started out throwing swimbaits. I got one on a Triple trout about 2.3 lbs. An osprey wouldn't leave us alone so we started throwing watermelon lizards on a split shot. Hooked a 4.5 lber in the back of a cove. Continued catching a good mix of smallies and spots up and down the the Narrows. We up to the main lake and caught 2 3lb largies on beds. Water temp got up to 60 in the afternoon. The bedded fish were in 7-10' of water. The water clarity is about 15'. Fish for us were not real shallow unless there was shade on the water, otherwise they were 15-20' deep. Should be a bunch more fish moving up soon. Didn't try any topwater other than big wake baits but that should start happening soon too. Great day, we caught about 20 fish, all 3 species and no dinks. Lots of kokanee fishermen hardly any bass guys.
      City: Woodland

      Tips: Bite was very light. I was using a very small splitshot. Any weight or hesitation, swing away. The bed fish were caught on a 3" grub in bubble gum.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Got to Chesbro around 10:30am and it was pretty quite. No bites or activity what so ever. I was just fishin for about an hour and a half, then left to UVAS, it was the same there, but a lil more fish activity.
      City: Hollister

      Tips: Let the days get warmer and the wind slow down a lil, activity should pick up by the end of the month.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 54-60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got a late start at 9am, but ripped a nice 2 lb in the shade. No more bites so I switched to a soft jerkbait and managed 4 more before the shade left. Kinda struggled but spinnerbaited a few in the southern part of the lake including 2 more over 15's. The lake was colder than I thought it might be and was slow to warm up during the day. Split shot several and my buddy spinnerbaited a crappie of almost 2 lbs. His PB crappie so he was happy. We finished the day w/15 fish, 3 overs. Met Larry Hemphill later in the pm and he and his folks only had a couple. I'd say this weekend and next week will be off the hook. I did see a couple of cruisers in the backs of some protected areas, but they were not willing to play.
      City: Yuba City

    • By

      Water Temp: 52-59

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: After fishing the last couple of weeks with good numbers and some nice sizes of bass over 2+ to 3lbs and some very happy clients, Saturday the lake just turned on. Over 65 bass, 10+ over 2lbs, two over 3lbs, the largest at 3.15. We fished points and walls with tubes, worms,and jigs.
      City: Paradise

      Tips: Dragged Paradise Tackle Jigs (grn/bn) and (grn/br/prl) on points. Tubes and 4in. robo worms on points and walls from 2ft. to 30ft.