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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 47

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: fished all day,7lb right off the bat. then nothing for hours.
      City: pv

      Tips: fish extremely slow

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 50.5

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Weather conditions made for a tough day. We fished the Franks area in exposed water with the wind beating on it, weather stations shows gusts to 25 and I'd believe it, 2-3' rollers all day long in the steady driving rain, body is really sore today. We fished up tight flipping heavier jigs that were green pumpkin in color. one 15" striper early on a red/purple yozuri. The tide finally turned and at 10:45a with no fish in the boat my partner looked back at me and questioned "never give up, right?" me:"right". 2 casts later he hit a 7, he hit the next fish too, was an 8.3 about an hour later and just like that we felt like we were back in it. continued to grind but only managed 2 rats late in the day with 30 minutes to go, we finished with 17 and change. needed that last rat for the win, but very happy with 3rd. Sharing game day info in the hopes that others will get back to this level of sharing here in the reports
      City: Sonora

      Tips: the usual - knowing how the tide affects your spots is important, jigs produce big fish, shallow flats with deeper water nearby, spinnerbaits work in choppy water produced in rain/wind even in the winter.

Saturday, February 21st, 2009

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 50-51

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched from Holland Tract at 1:30 and fished vs. watching ABA weighin. Caught 1st fish (small) within 1 hr and 2nd (4.5 lbs)within 2nd hour, both on baby brush hogs tight to cover. Thru light color chatter bait on flats - nothing. Switched to dark and started getting bit. Found fish on flats and in deeper water off weed lines. Finished with 6 fish total, biggest 6.25 lbs. Not bad for a few hours fishing.
      City: Oakley

      Tips: Fish seem spread out, but at least their starting to feed.

    • By

      Water Temp: 48

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished saturday for a few hours in the afternoon. Launched into coco, but finally found some good looking water in frank's. For the first couple hours I tried a jig, red craw crank, and a trick worm for only one take. Switched to a war eagle spinner bait and caught a 5 and 3 within 10 minutes. My dad caught 4 on a drop shot. Wind started to pick up, so we decided to head on in.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Fish are starting to chase.

    • By

      Water Temp: below 50

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: went out on saturday.flat calm water, caught the first fish on a crawdad revenge spinnerbait it was about 2.5 pounds. next fish was on a tomato craw 4s strike king crankbait it was about 2 pounds. after the release went down about 20 yards and hooked into about a 8+ pounder and pulled off the hook. switched to a xr50 because of the weeds and instantly got a 6 pounder in a pocket. missed a 4. caught a 2. missed a 5. caught a 2.5. then caught a 7 off the xr50. on a rock bank.

    • By

      Water Temp: 50-53

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: fished north franks with chatterbaits and crankbaits and got nothing. moved to south part of franks tract next to the wall and cought two keepers between 11pm and 12pm dropshotting on points of weed lines.

      Tips: roboworm margarita mutilator. 8 inch leader

    • By

      Water Temp: 50 to 52.7

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: My son and I started in White Sl.( 1 tip tap no hookup), moved to sounding board area , nothing. Ran to Franks tract ,son had 2 light hits on swimbait, again 0 hookups . Moved to Middle River ZIP . Last stop of the day fourteen mile sl.one hit on senko no hookup. Not a very good day ,did find where they are not. Next time we will find where they are( I hope). Jack Morris . Old half of team jackbass
      City: Valley Springs

      Tips: Move until you find fish. Don't know what else to say.

    • By

      Water Temp: 50-51

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught 3 LM on jerkbait (hard bait). They were related to the outside weedlines on Franks. 2 stripers in the Old River.
      City: San Ramon

      Tips: At least some LM are shallow (5-10 feet). Cover lots of water. Concentrate on current - breaks in levees or berms. Share your findings here.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: went out this morning threw ,cranks, spinner,baits senko, with no takers water was really muddy worked all really slow and tried to get pattern with no success got out at least to get lines wet and run boat and get ready for spring time No takers today
      City: Elmira

      Tips: get out and make sure outboards are up to snuff and your gear, and get ready for the best time of the year coming up

  • Ventura County
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      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Came back to casistas and threw the spro bbz and only caught one fish. 5 pounder. very slow day out there today.
      City: San Diego

      Tips: Fish the points with rocks.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out for some clear lake giants so i went to my spro bbz fast sink and went to the south side of the lake. Fished the points letting the bait hit the bottom and it produced. caught a 4 pounder. later in the day about 10 am caught a 6 pounder. about eleven oclock. caught a ten pounder on a rock point. best fish this year!!! than at about twelve went back to the spot where i caught the 4 pounder because it normally holds a lot of fish and hooked up and landed at twelve and a half pound giant!!!!!!
      City: B hood

      Tips: throw swimbaits on rock points. big rocks preferably

    • By

      Water Temp: 47-50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Mike Sperbeck and I decided to check out the afternoon bite Fri afternoon and, of course, had to do some night fishing. The jig bite was good in the afternoon with the "Hemphill" special - brown/orange Rodstrainer jig with #180 Yamamoto grub. My first bass was 4 lbs 10 oz. Lost the next big one and then landed another 4 lber. Mike couldn't get bit on brown/purple He later switched to brown/orange and caught 3 in a row. Eight bass before dark averaging 3 3/4 lbs. After dark I caught a near 4 and a 5-5 on Brush hogs which must have made Mike mad!! He pitched into a dock corner with a weed mat - dragged the brush hog over the weeds and when it sank - someone nailed it! His "momma" weighed 8 lbs 11 oz. She was happy to be released and he was happy with his biggest of the year! We fished until midnight, catching 10 night bass to go with our 8 day bass. Mike "allowed me" to catch a 7-1 on a D&M swim jig w/Yamamoto trailer. Our goal was a 30 lb limit and we did it - 30 lbs 3 oz!! Night wasn't too cold, either.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: With the rising water, warmer days, and higher sun, the bass seem to be moving up a bit. The water temp is still about the same - lots of snow on the mountains. The jig bite seems to be improving, along with small worms. A decent rip bite should be just around the corner - maybe after this upcoming warmer rain. Don't be afraid to try different color combinations - expecially with your jigs.

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 43-44

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well took my buddy matt to collins started out on the east side of the lake around 9am fished till noon using splitshots,jigs,worms,senko'sand of coarse huds no takers. Fished from shore to 60 feet no takers. Then the wind came up about 1 o'clock and the clouds rolled in. Around 2 we headed back to east side looking for points next to deep water threw out the rof 12 hud bam!! first bite 5LB large next point bam!! 5LB large went to elmers point had a big girl around 10LBS miss my hud at the boat. Then fished the swim beach got another bite got off around 4LBS. Great day with good friend! NICE NET JOB MATT LOL. Make sure you get some lessons from c before season starts
      City: grass valley

      Tips: Go with your gut the bites not great but they got to eat sometime. points with deep water access seemed to be key for me.

    • By

      Water Temp: 48-50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished most of the day with jumbo minnows. Didn't have a single bite on the minnows. Started flipping a small jig near the deep water around the dam and got one bass (about 12"), let 'em go.
      It was great to be out on the lake but a hard day's work for one fish. Didn't see any fish moving shallow yet.
      City: Fresno

      Tips: Fish SLOWWWWWW.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 49-51.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think folsom has turned on yet.

      Fished Friday from 1-4. calm and sunny, marking scattered fish in 15-30ft. couldn't get bit on deep cranks, jigs or dartheads.

      Saturday brought the storm in. Fished from 10-3p with no bites again. Imainly fished a rof12 hudd while my buddy was throwing a darter. Water was 49 by the dam and 51 by the dyke (didn't go up the forks). Fish were marking shallower than the previous day between 10-25 ft, but weren't feeling bitey. I have a feeling we missed the bite window.

      I would say that judging by the lack of schooling fish on points or steep walls, the pre-spawn hasn't turned on yet. Perhaps after this next storm rolls through it will be game on.

      Keep those reports coming in guys.
      City: EDH

  • Nevada County
    • By

      Water Temp: 47-49

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: 17 fish in a long day. fishing turned on when the clouds rolled. 1 fish on a darthead senko. 1 on a spinnerbait. a 5# on a 1 ounce lipless. The 14 other fish came on either a sppedtrap or a big O. The biggest went 6#.
      Most fish came in coves with deeper water. 8 ft. was the magic number.
      City: auburn

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: we fished all day with few bits tried everything rip, crank, worm, jig, d shot, every color but no fish. we tried the main lake, coves points and trees. any suggestions
      City: concord

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 49 - 51

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Saturday and Sunday. Most fish on Saturday were in 25-35 feet of water off of rocky points with flooded timber. Most fish came on 1/2 ounce football jigs with a hula grub. Several were caught on darterheads and two on a spinnerbait. Caught around 20-25 fish between two people, mostly spots with a few smallies. Sunday was stormy, but the fish were happy to eat. Found a gradual shelf adjacent to deep water where the fish were activly feeding. Caught 7 fish in 30 minutes, all on the jig. Only fished for 2 1/2 hours on Sunday, but managed 9 fish between the two of us.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Hula grub! just slowely drag the jig. If you find a spot where fish are holding, work up and down with a jig or darterhead. Also, the lake is coming up fast. The water came up several feet in the 3 hours we were on the lake on Sunday.

    • By

      Water Temp: 46-50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished small club tournament Saturday. Very tough bite. All fish were caught on main lake chunk rock points in 15-30 feet. No takers on swim baits, one on rip bait the rest on worms. My take is that the fish are scattered due to the bait fish starting to scatter.

      Tips: Fish main lake since the creeks are staring to get murky due to the rain. I have heard of some swimbait fish being caught but we couldn't make it happen, stick with the worms for bites in tough conditions.

Friday, February 20th, 2009

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The first big storm of the year rolled through last week. It was quite cold and nasty. Once last weeks storm passed, it warmed up quite fast. Having three consecutive days of warm weather, I figured flipping wood should be a solid afternoon pattern.
      We put the boat in around 12:30, and worked our way up the main lake, jumping from one piece of wood to the next. The water was still quite cold, 54 degrees, so we made sure to work our baits slow. Starting out with Brush Hogs and Jigs, we were unsuccessful. Finally after tying on a 6

      Tips: <a href="http://www.russnyders.com/">Rus Snyders Guide Service</a>