Submit
Report

Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

    • By

      Water Temp: 56-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Water was super clear. Could easily see the bottom at 14'. Could also easily see lots of bass cruising the shallows and near the surface and they could see us. It was interesting to watch them ignore lures that practically hit them in the nose.

      Caught 7. 1 on a brown jig, 1 on a chrome and black Rat'ln Rogue, The rest on split shot worms either black or MMIII. Largest was 2.5 full of eggs.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Fishing got better later in the day as the water warmed up. The key seemed to be plastics fished on long casts.

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 53-58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Water was clear to 15 feet. Two small fish were caught on a split shot thrown near the shore. Four bigger fish (2 lbs aveage) were caught on a wacky senko in deeper water.

      Tips: No tips

    • By

      Water Temp: 60's

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for about 3 hours in the afternoon to 7. Caught 10 fish on reaction baits and and shaking brush hogs. Biggest fish was a 4 lbs, a lot of males in the 1.5-2.5 range. Good day, should get red hot. Catch Release, especially the Females.
      Z
      City: Novato

      Tips: Reaction baits dark colors and brass and glass shaking.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 47-53

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing was terrible
      City: Redding

      Tips: just try and find them. since i think the water came up to fast

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I ran all the way to the north end sense I did not pre fish. I know the north better then the south. When I got there I was surprised that I was the only boat in the area. I started throwing a spinnerbait and caught my first fish. The fish was a largemouth only 13 inches long. I stayed with the spinner for a while and never got another bite,so I started throwing a small swimbait and caught one 14 inch fish. I decided to swing for the fence,and started throwing a Huddleston swimbait until my arm felt like it was going to fall off. No bite on that, so I needed to take a brake from the reaction baits and picked up my senko. Wham got a bite first cast,so I stayed with it the rest of the day. I was fishing a tailing and spotted some males on top in about a foot of water tried to catch them but they were not very big and very spooky.I had a feeling that the females had to be there some place, so I started targeting the deeper water around the edge of the tailing and that is how I caught my bigger fish. While I was fihing there was a Man and his son that asked me if I had a scale to weight his big small mouth with it was over six pounds.What a beauty? If anyone knows who he is please have him contact me.Thanks Joe Ashworth
      City: Redding

      Tips: Don't get stuck on one bait.Sometimes the little baits catch big fish.By the way I go second place in the trounament.

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Quite a few small fish in the top 6ft., some where making beds. Caught 5 nicer fish (3 to 5lb.)in 20 to 30ft.on points and rock piles, useing a brown/orange jig. Tried spinnerbaits and swim baits but no takers. Gill (local guide)also caught some nice fish on a black/blue jig in deep water.
      City: Sacramento

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60'

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Started in Franks, and only caught one 2.7 on red rattle trap, and lost one on a worm. Went to Mildred, zero, went to Whiskey, zero, then just tried alot of other areas, still zero. Threw jigs, cranks, worms and swim baits. Nothing so went back to Franks at noonish and threw senkos and finally got one 6.10. Barely felt the fish, just heavy weight. same as in am with rattle trap, stop and go retrieve and on the stop, LMB took it, just felt the heavy weight.
      City: South San Francisco

      Tips: No tips as I only got two and lost two. No pattern other than the senkos were dark color.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: What is all the talk about cutting limits on bass in the delta? How can they do that?
      City: El Cerrito

      Tips: I'm confused.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Additional info regarding the (mis)management of the delta

      http://aquafornia.com/archives/category/endangered-species
      City: San Ramon

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: http://cbs5.com/business/bass.fishing.delta.2.960749.html
      City: San Ramon

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from first light until 3pm. Nailed around 20 or so with the biggest going 2 1/4 pounds. Had a smoking shallow bite going until the wind shifted from the south to the north. The north wind just killed everything until the fished repositioned themselves in the afternoon when I got on a good Voodoo and crankbait bite.

      Tips: Was hoping for a rip bite in the morning, but only got one. It will get hot as the lake clears. Fish were sickly looking. Just real skinny. Almost like they were spawned out, but I knew they weren't because the fins were in great shape. I think the super low water really hurt the health of the fish.

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out today for bass today from the shore. good day. fished for a few with nothing to show. then got on a very steep rocky bank. missed one on a jig than caught one on a jig than caught one on a tube and missed a few others. fish came out of 20 feet of water. than went to a new spot and fished the points. almost on everypoint caught a fish or missed one. ended up with 11 total fish and missed many more. used senkos, worms, tubes and jigs
      City: Bhood

      Tips: senkos and worms were best on ponts with some rocks on them

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 53 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: TRIED EVERYTHING TO GET A REACTION BITE. NO FISH THE FIRST 2 HOURS AND FINALLY FIGURED OUT A PATTERN YOU HAVE TO BURN RATTLE TRAPS ON LONG POINTS IN THE MAIN LAKE.BROWN AND ORANGE DID THE TRICK ON SOME REAL NICE SMALLIES TO 3 POUNDS...THE FISH HAD NOT SPAWNED YET AND WERE FOOTBALLS.
      City: SANTA ROSA

      Tips: LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME I SLAUTERED THEM ON JERKBAITS. THE WIND HAS TO BLOW A BIT. THE POINTER MINNOW IN AURORA BLUE OR BLACK IS THE TICKET.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Mar 16, 2009 5:18 pm US/Pacific
      Overfishing Likely Under Delta Bass ProposalSTOCKTON (CBS 5) ―
      Click to enlarge
      Striped Bass
      AP 1 of 1
      Close



      numSlides of totalImages Bass fishing and the Delta are synonymous. In a sports industry that has no parallel in America, hundreds of thousands of dollars are won each year in Delta tournaments stocked with anglers wheeling around in specially built boats that can cost $75,000 or more. But pretty soon bass fishermen on the Delta may become an endangered species.

      Bowing to water interests, the state legislature will consider lifting all restrictions on bass fishing-in effect allowing fishermen to take as much catch as they want - possibly decimating the population.
      City: Newark

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: On the water at 2:30, nice spring afternoon. Worked main body south of GB launch to about halfway to Beals. Caught 4 spots total, biggest was 2 lb. 3 caught on darthead with 4" worm, 1 caught on spinnerbait. All fish in 8-12'.

      Tips: Look for rockpiles and areas near buoys, then rotate through baits and colors until you find the right combo.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48-50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Now that the Anglers choice Pro-Am is over I can report about my bite. I fished the 2 weekends before the event when the lake was rising like crazy. during those practices, with the exception of an occasional swimbait fish, my bite was senko fish. I used black/blue 4" baits because of the water color. I was keying on the flattest points for the few, but quality, bites I got each day. I practiced for the event on 3/12 with my travel partner, Ken Allerton. I felt that the fish were trying to spawn, so we fished from 0 to about 6 ft deep only. we were throwing 1/8 darters with 6" MM and 4" senkos in black/blue or Junebug. We easily had a 25-30 bites. we cut our hooks for most of the day, but the fish we boated went right at 13 lbs. I was focusing on the inside of secondary points, usually the first 50 yards had the bigger fish. tournament conditions changed drasically, and pushed the fish off a bit. for the event I stayed with the darter right on the bank, and had my am fish deeper with an izzy type rig. both mornings were slow with the bite picking up around noon both days. I had 9.58 on Sat. and 9.82 Sun., enough for a 15th place check, as the weights dropped off a bunch from practice. As for what kind of bank, it seemed to change from hour to hour. Points seemed to hold staging fish in the morning, but the vast majority of my quality fish came on smooth, red clay in the afternoon. My big fish each day came ultra shallow,off a smooth clay spot on rocky banks. thats where the girls were. The rest of our fish came out just outside that 6 ft. depth, probably around 8 ft. these fish were PRE SPAWN!! 14" fish were pushing 2 lbs. Super fat! I think the moon had them up, and they got trapped by the barometer change. The reaction guys ripped alot fish as well, so that bite is coming on. I think quite a few of the anglers that finished above me ripped most of there fish. I caught alot of fish that were trying to bed, so dont be afraid to fish real shallow for the bigger fish, especially later in the day. want to talk?, go ahead and send me an e-mail. Jason
      City: Hollister

      Tips: I fished darterheads and senkos exclusively. however, those shallow fish wanted the bait REAL slow. my dart presentation was to rock the bait, like a jig for awhile, then drag it an inch or two, and rock it some more. the bite would be a pure pressure bite. Ditto for the senko. I would throw into 2 feet of water, and count to 15. slowly drag it about a foot, kill it and count to 15 again. no shaking, wiggling, nothing. it would just swim off, when the fish was on. with both presentations, WAIT to set the hook!!! let them eat the bait or they wont get to the boat. Also, when they started biting short, I changed to a 4" mm for my darter and that fixed the problem.

  • Riverside County
    • By

      Water Temp: didn't check

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Had a great day with Guide Pete Marino. Had a great day learning how to look for active biting fish. Pete worked really hard on putting the pattern together. Once we found the active biting fish it was game one for my cousin and brother-in-law. We caught at least 40 fish. all fish were healthy and chunky. we brought in a few 4 1/2 - 5's and the rest were all 2 - 3 1/2lbs. Pete taught me some valuable info that i will be taking back to my home waters.

      we fished water from 8' all the way out to 30'
      City: san francisco visiting S.D.

      Tips: If your looking or a good guide Pete Marino is worth it!

Monday, March 16th, 2009

    • By

      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: spring lake was all right. 5 fish caught total between me and my buddy.(cold front...)
      just watch some of the video
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDe-BWmYohk
      City: santa rosa

      Tips: cranks, dropshot, dont eat bass...

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 51-53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I took two great guys on a 6 hr trip Sat but found the fishing not so great. We fished the narrows and some of the southern past of the main body. Water was a nice color but still cold. I think the later afternoon bite would have been better but we had to quit earlier. We caught most of our bass on jigs and MMIII Robo worms. Nothing bigger than 2 lbs - disappointing! Our last stop - in Markely Cove - one of the fellows had a good hit on a 5" Basstrix swimbait/Blade Runner Swim Spin head - but lost it. That was a nice fish that had moved shallow.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: A pretty stiff wind made it a little difficult to fish - they missed a few bites. If the warm weather does make an appearance this week, I'm sure the bite will pick up. Berryessa is usually a bit warmer by mid-March.

  • Santa Barbara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 53.6 - 55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fish are definitely on their beds, not all but spooked some toads. Came back later to a clamshell lipped LMB. Managed to put 4 in the boat for approx 7 pounds. 3 smallies and one LMB. LMB on a drop shot in 3 feet, smallies on a DLN in sexy shad
      City: Lompoc

      Tips: even the cranks were slowly cranked. If you didn't hit structure you didn't get bit. Watermelon green seemed to be the best on the stained water