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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, February 14th, 2009

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out today expecting to get a few fish. started throwing swimbaits, swimjigs and chatterbaits. one missed bite on the swim jig jigging by a pipe. the fished and had no bites for a few hours. tossed out a revenge shad color spinnerbait an and 2 3/4 pounder nailed it. than tossed out a lucky craft mad craw color crankbait and caught a 3 3/4 pounder. fished a little more and had one more bite on a white and chartruse spinnerbait
      City: Brentwood

      Tips: keep covering water and try 2 find a pattern. the fish will be descent fish at least 2 pounds. dont expect to catch fish left and right. about a bite per hour.

  • Yuba County
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      Water Temp: 47

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished swimbaits and jigs for Spots to 4.5 pounds.

      Tips: fish were 12 to 22 feet deep but wind and cloud cover were present the swimbait bite improved. Great Fun place look forward to this weekend.

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I have no tips but i will tell you what i did that scored me a limit of ZERO, ZILCH, NADA.

      i launched out of capel and ran north east. looked for some good shoreline but it seems all my usuals spots were out of water. All of the gravel and rock banks i usually fish were out of the water. I did not meter any fish or bait.

      I then ran towards putah creek. Metered bait on the right side of the bridge but not a bit spooning. i even tried a crappie jig on a drop loop w/ spoon still nothing. the bait was suspended 20' - down to the bottom, 80' fished all the points on the left side running further up river. i stopped right at the 5mph zone.

      I ripped, dart head, drop shot, threw a jig and wacky rigged to get zero. the sun did not get a chance to heat up any bank long enough to help.

      I should have just brought one rod w/ me and one type bait, a HUDD. If i were to go out again that's what i would do. I could not graph anything and the areas i did fish looked good to. I am still scratching my head.
      City: san francisco

      Tips: I think right now it's worth going big especially if you not going to get numbers.

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

      Report: Last night I attended a seminar hosted by Larry Hemphill at Fisherman's Warehouse in Sacramento. The topic of conversation was strictly Jig fishing. I've always known that jigs can catch big Bass but rarely use them. Larry proved jig fishing can be deadly for monster Bass! For those of you who don't throw jigs very often and would like to but lack confidence, you really should get in contact with Larry! He's a very nice man and has too much jig fishing experience for any of us not to pick his brain.
      ps- Thanks again Larry for the free tackle and educational seminar! I needed a little pick me up in the jiggin arena!
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: If you want to learn the ins and outs of jig fishin at Clearlake or several other major lakes? Contact Larry! He posts here often!

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: started outat thedamn and hikedoverthe hills immediatly.fished the runoffs.hooked up on a small dinker with a brass andglass brush hawg.walked the shoreline back and nothing.stoped at the damn and hooked upand again with the brass and glassfor a decent 2-3lber.
      City: petaluma

      Tips: water is pretty clear forthe rain weve had.stillfished really slow.

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 51

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Tues was fair and cold. Could only manage 5 bites all day.Decent quality -- two 2 1/2- two 4's- and one 8 plus. However, it sounds like we should all go to Franks Tract. Most fish came on rock-jigs and plastic.
      City: lodi

      Tips: I still think they strted there move.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Can someone explain to me how to find a 13 inch senko? Is this the type of bait to use on Falcon Lake where two stickbaits are glued together? Big baits=big fish I guess!! Glad to see more reports are starting to come in, keep em comin' boys!
      City: manteca

  • 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
    • By

      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
    • By

      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
    • By

      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
    • By

      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