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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

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

      Report: See the lake is up about 4 feet and wondering if anybody had noticed how much higher the water would have to get in order to use the new Bidwell ramp? I understand its done and they are now working on the road that leads in. And it looks like a good bit of rain is forcast for the next week or 2. And it appears they have cut back on the releases which is a good thing.
      City: Paradise

Monday, February 9th, 2009

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 50s

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: fun day on anderson overcast some rain little wind.fished 11am to 4pm 5 fish biggest 2+ lots of boats, ranger was very worried about turkey shoot,didnt bring my rifle ???? fish seemed stacked 10 foot range tough bite caught first 3 early 2 more 330 pm bite seemed to pick up later but had to be off lake.fish sloooow bite very week
      City: salinas

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 50.9-51.6

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: launched at whimpy's and fished the back sloughs in the morning and caught 5 spots averaging 2.5 and 1 smallie about 2lbs. before noon got a decent bite in lost slough ended up with 7 all caught on 6" roboworms on a drop shot rig
      City: sacramento

      Tips: concentrate on river mouths and points out 4-16' all fishes where pretty schooled up . dragging slowly was the key

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 47ish

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The salmon fishing sucked by the dam....no bites in an hour.

      Bass fishing a little better. 4 bites in 3 hours for nice slot fish. Staycees got the only hits.

      As far as I can tell, it looks like the bidwell ramp is 5 vertical feet from hitting the bottom of the new ramp. So Probably 8-10 vertical feet from being usable.
      City: Yuba City

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: WOW! I caught the fish of a lifetime at Berryessa today!

      After only one bite at Oak Shores I headed to Putah Creek area. I saw the Warden on the bridge and he said every boat and shore fisherman he talked to had either blanked or caught one fish (see other report from 2/8 below). I figured I should be happy with the one bite I did have. I decided to keep fishing anyway...good choice! I caught a 3lb. spotted bass and then missed two other bites. As I pondered taking my last couple casts I got another bite...I missed setting the hook but dropped the bait in place and waited...a second later another hit and I sunk the hook. I could barely move the fish and thought I might have a big catfish on. When it came up enough to see it, I realized it was the biggest bass of my life!

      I didn't have a scale but took pictures with my cell phone and measured it's length and girth with a length of fishing line: 27 in. long and 24.5 in girth. A website weight calculator puts the fish somewhere between 13.5 and 15.5 lbs. depending on "small", "average", or "large" class. It had a fat belly (eggs probably?) and HUGE mouth. I think you could fit a volleyball in there!
      City: Napa

      Tips: I caught both fish on a green pumpkin Baby Brush Hog texas rigged on a 1/0 EWG hook on 12lb Berkeley Big Game line in about 20 feet of water. (The big fish's mouth was so big the 1/0 hook barely penetrated it!). The spot had a small fish in it's mouth that looked like a gobey...? It had a big head and slender body, was about 3 in. long, and was the exact same color as my Brush Hog.

      I guess the "tip" is that anything is possible when you go out, even when everyone else is struggling.

    • By

      Water Temp: 51.3

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Tough fishing sunday. very cold morning. Caught 1 SM first thing am on dropshot. The rest of the day, zilch! Tried everything from senkos, swimbaits, jerkbaits...jigs. Nothing. Tried mainly the main lake: west/east side and every cove inbetween. Talked with another bassboat and they had 0. They fished deep while we fished from 30' in. Wind picked up but that had no effect on the zero hits. Fish and game reported that a 15lb was caught last week.
      City: South San Francisco

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: fished franks from 7am to 1pm sat. for 18# did the same on sunday for 30#s fish came from 2 to 17 feet DELLA BAITS 13in sinko brown&orange big fish sat. 5#er sun. 10#er.
      City: rio vista

      Tips: FISH SLOWWWWWWWW.

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 53-56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: No reaction bites again for Ron Howe and Jon Bradford we cranked,spinnerbaited, and tossed swimbaits 3hrs of the day. Berserk Baits dartheads tipped with Plastics 4 and 6" in natural colors and Berserk Baits Jigs in green craw tipped with a double tail grub got as many bites as you could stand. Fish were in 30-34ft and as deep as 55ft on ledges like the edge of a stair case. Fish slow and keep your line tight.

      We caught over 35fish and lost many others no big ones but we had a fun day on the water.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: Fish slow keep your line tight they are biting good now!

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 46

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Anglers Choice on Sunday. Thought it was going to be a really tough day when we woke to gin clear conditions and a big fat moon in the sky. However, it didn't take long for the weather to change and the edge of a storm moved in. Anyway, we fished the main body and found fish in the top 10 feet of water. It was total junk fishing. We caught em on darters, jigs, d-shot, rip, crank and voodoos. All quality fish. Not on fish on the day was under 13 inches. You had to let the fish eat the bait for 3-5 seconds before setting the hook when they hit the plastics. We must have went thru 35 fish or so and wound up with a limit of 10.83 pounds, which was good for first. We missed big fish by .006 of an ounce.
      City: Roseville

      Tips: Main body seemd to be the ticket for us. We were fortunate to find quality fish in shallow water. Always nice to not have to chase em deep. Any color seems to work when they are eating. Don't put too much action on your plastics. they seem to like it more subtle when the water temp is in the 40's.

    • By

      Water Temp: 50+

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out first thing. Lake has gone up to normal with this last rain but the water is still clear, not gin clear but clear.

      Found fish in the usual spots but they had lockjaw. Once this water hits 55 I think the prespawn will be on and then the action will start.

      Still would be nice to see the DFG stock this lake again instead of Ralphine but the ranger said it will never happen.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Wait for more rain and the water temps to go up a bit. By the end of Feb this lake should start to turn over.

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Thurs. in the rain and like Cooch had action from 9:00 till 12:30, and afternoon reallly slow. Caught 8 total w/ an 8 and 7 in the mix--the rest were regulars(2/12 to 3) On Sat. only got 6 , but in the same time frame. Confuseing because Sat. was a nice day and I would have thought afternoon would have been better. 5 regulars and one garilla(11 1/2) my best delta fish to date. fish came on plastics in heavey cover and on rocks. Big girl was on rock in about 3ft.
      City: Lodi

      Tips: Fish are starting there move - you know the program.

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: WE CAUGHT 10 FISH ALL BLACK BASS RANGING FROM 2 TO 2 3/4 POUNDS.I WOULD RATHER CATCH BLACKBASS THAN SPOTS ANY DAY.SPOTS HAVE MADE THIS GREAT LAKE A MENICE.REALLY NICE TO SEE THE BLACKBASS POPULATION SERVIVING .
      City: PLANADA

      Tips: 30 TO 40 FEET DEEP DROPSHOT WORMS.

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: no winds, good sun..no bass..swim baits, jigs, spinner, all were no good..we hooked many trouts on brown tubes..1 bass was reported around 4pm
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: good luck on bass fishing....you'll need it..boats get in early for inspections

    • By

      Water Temp: 51.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished all day Saturday with Big fish mike. I won the dollar fish one over 2 lbs. Too bad it was the only fish other than trout which are everywhere.Not bad for $23.00 for 2. Get there early for the zebra muscle check. Gates open at 5am.
      City: orangevale

      Tips: We used a cabellas underwater camer to locate some nice fish and got one to bite. We only saw 4 Bass all day and caught one? Go to clear lake and fish with minnows in the winter.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 49.7-50.1

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Just fished tournament at Shasta. Tough bite in post front conditions but still managed 2nd place weight (9.91 lbs.). Fish were holding in 35 ft. but would move up to about 10 ft once water warmed. Certainly don't overlook the shallow bite first thing in the morning in low light conditions although it didn't play out well for us on tourney day. Run points. About ramps because of low water situation... Jones Valley is in decent shape and so is Centimude. Jones Valley has no dock. Packers is a no go.
      City: Nevada

      Tips: Run points but fish them slow.

Friday, February 6th, 2009

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 47-50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Tues evening I was able to guide the father of one of my previous clients. Great guy and good fisherman! He wanted to try night fishing for the first time - in the winter?!! He did well considering the bite was fair. He did land a limit with his last one being 4 1/2 lbs. He missed several fish, as did I. The bass just wern't taking the baits like normal. I landed 5 or 6 also - one did go 6 1/2 lbs. A couple of monster bites for us, but they didn't see the net. Wed night I fished with my hometown buddy, Mike Sperbeck. We did well but struggled to land any good fish - he caught the biggest at 4 lbs 6 oz. He was fishing the back of my boat and landed 15, I, only 5! Payback for our previous trip!!! My client caught all of his on a sweet beaver and most of mine were on a D&M spin jig. Wed night Mike and I found the jig to be the bait of choice. I think the Rodstrainer jig is all he threw. I showed him a subtle ledge that I have been fishing recently and he stuck 5 the half hour before dark - all 3 to 4 lbs. I got one bite! He had the magic color - purple/brown. My client and I had a limit of nearly 21 lbs while Mike and I could only manage an 18 1/4 lb limit.
      City: Yuba city

      Tips: Once in awhile folks say that the person in front of the boat catches most of the fish. That may be true if they are fishing down a bank. Not so in open water! It's just who is doing the right technique with the right bait. Mike cleaned my clock in back of the boat! It was interesting that a few areas that were good Tues evening had no takers on Wed evening! It was finally cloudy and warmer Wed evening but it didn't seem to help the bite at all. I was surprised. I talked to another friend who was out Wed night and he reported slow fishing also - until after 1 am where he did find some quality bass. In winter is it a good idea to keep moving!

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Water is terribly low! Thank god its raining. Saw a kid fishing with red worms hook into a 8+ pound largemouth that snapped his line right at the shoreline. Happy to see that there are some fish left in that "pond".
      City: San Jose

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

    • By

      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished at about 5pm under the Coleman bridge on the north side of the lake. Just testing some new Dobyns rods from shore & not expecting to catch anything. Pitched a 7" watermelon color Senko with flakes and was dead sticking it. 15 seconds later....tap, tap....Landed a 3 lbers for my first for 2009. The bass was in 5 feet of water.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Nothin on spinnerbaits, or crankbaits.....just the Senko worked. Plastics always works better than hard lures.

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 52.7

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished at safe light to 2Pm Didn't catch first fish till 130...Tough bite for some reason. Saw bass guys all over (Shallow to Deep) Didn't look any better for them. Please post any tips for this tough time...

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 50-53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished with a client yesterday, rained early, then stopped until about 2:00pm when it started again. Bite was really good during periods when it was raining and very slow in the middle of the day. Most fish caught on the rocks with deep water near by as the fish are once again with this storm as the last, moving up and becoming aggressive. Many patterns are still not there yet for this time of year and the bite can still be tough if ya plan to fish tulles all day.
      City: Oakley

      Tips: If you for any reason plan to catch fish and put them in yer livewells, either fer photos or tournaments this weekend, be sure ya bring yer needles! The fish here are just beginning to run up to the bank ta feed from deep water and heading right back down. Even here on the River, when doing this, their gass bladders will fill quickly when placed in yer livewells.