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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, January 4th, 2009

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 43-45

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Did a little trout fishing the other day and noticed a bass boat on the water in this cold weather still. I stopped and asked how he was doing and he said he had one fish with several bites on a texas rigged plastic bait, looked like a crawfish pattern of some sort. Larry if your out there, I'm an avid delta rat but lakes are not my specialty. I see all kinds of trees and stickups where the bass may be hiding but I was wondering if you had any tips for me. I plan on heading to the lake Wednesday the 7th of January. I also noticed a coulple of islands now that the water levels are so low. Pretty cool to see where the bass are hiding when the water is at normal capacity. Any help for my first amador winter bass trip would be great! Thanks and happy new year to all!
      City: manteca

      Tips: The TV fishing shows have started their 09' season so if the fish aren't biting, stay warm and learn some tips from the real pro's!

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      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Spent 45 min on Saturday and pulled out a 5lb LMB on spinnerbait from the dam. Sunday wnt back to same spot and caught two nice 3lb LMB on texas rigged beaver. Never fished here before this weekend, but I plan to return soon.
      City: Fair Oaks

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 45

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: This time of the year is cold, but using Jumbo Minnows from Limited-Out Bait& Tackle is the best bait. Hook it on a small cycle hook and a #4 split shot and just drag it over rock piles in the South end of the lake will get you 25 of the largest bass for the winter. Most of ours were 3-5 lbs. The Junior Bass Club and I stayed in the water all day just catching fish after fish. See Bob at Limited Out for these Great Minnows and have fun.
      City: Rocklin

      Tips: Drag very slow and stay on the rocks.

    • By

      Water Temp: 48.9

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Blanked on my first trip of 2009. Only a couple of other boats on the lake and a float tuber. First few hours tried trolling big swimbaits parallel to the banks, nada. Then went to dropshot and jigs fishing deep 35-50 ft with same results. Graphed bait out in the middle of the lake.

      <p>Next weekend 10,11 Jan is the last time the Lake will be open to vessels until April.
      City: Monterey

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: More trout plants are coming and bass are on the move. Some nice bass are starting to show but not many anglers insterested in fishing the lake dont let low water stop you there are some nice jig fish been caught right now. 559- 689-3255

      Tips: Fish slow work and area well drop offs ledges around rock piles humps and flats next to deeper water fish will move in and off these areas from mid morning to late afternoon.

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

  • Ventura County
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      Water Temp: 59.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished NW points area near Deep Cat...Station Canyon?... Sorry I forgot the location. Had an unexpected surprise this morning. Fished a crankbait uphill on a long point, very tight to the bank. The surprise part was I caught a 2 pnd. very fat Spotted bass on a crankbait I colored myself! The CB dove to about 10 feet and was actually a saltwater CB. I drudged the rocks and red clay when it hit. That was the only fish for today.Skies very foggy for about three hours then cleared.Metered alot of fish off points. Water temp is actually dropping
      City: Oxnard

      Tips: Crankbait points uphill bouncing off the bottom. These fish were 8-15 ft. Nice day.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: cold

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went oout with my buddy brad, got on the water around 9:30 and fished until about 2pm...rain pissed on us all morning and i loved every minute of it. Began 100 yards off of the damn throwing football jigs and drop shotting...no takers...drifted the east bank one taker on swimbaits...1 lb maybe...threw the hook

      kept drifting the bank watching the scope and dragging jigs down the banks...4lb. spot ended the afternoon
      City: Foresthill

      Tips: small shad colored swimbaits and brown football jigs with beast trailers seemed to be the ticket


      my recommendation is to fish as slow as you can if not dead stick and keep the trolling motor down pointing the boat into the wind to slow your drift

      bring thick gloves btw...i learned that the hard way

    • By

      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: On the H20 around 10:30 and fished until 4 with a limit of Spots all on jigs in 15-22 feet. No guess work all solid thumps nothing huge but all were around 2.25 with one pushing 3.
      Nothing on cranks, jerks or swimbaits.
      City: Lincoln

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

      Report: anybody have any tips on catching the catfish here during the winter?
      City: El Sobrante

      Tips: anybody looking for a fishing partner for any kind of fishing, please let me know.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 51

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Good news they have a dock at the dam now. Boated to dry creek fishing a small swinbait caught 3 fish the biggest about 21/2 lbs. moved to big backbone fishing a brown jig got lots of fish. Nothing big.Went back to the swinbait catching some better fish even a good 3lber. It was wet and cold but a real good bit for the day. Well over 20 fish for a half day trip.
      City: REDDING

Thursday, January 1st, 2009

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 44-50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: We had a tough day fishing. We pulled one largemouth but could not seem to touch a small or spot.
      All others we talked had also only caught one fish per boat. We caught ours on a shad colored worm on a shaky head. The others caught one on a brushhog, or a brn purple jig
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Don't follow me, unless you want to get skunked..

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 50-55 deg.

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing for stripers is ok if your using live bait. Lures that look like shad are getting lots of action, also rattle traps, both on a slow retreive.
      City: Tracy,CA

      Tips: What ever lures you are using, try a slow retrieve.

    • By

      Water Temp: 40's I think

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Managed to find Raley's open at 7:30 with a full book of fishing licenses. Thank you Raley's.

      Fished all over today... from Mildred dodging the shotgun blasts all the way back inside of Franks. Caught two by Mildred with two other misses and one in Franks. All stripers just keeper size. Is it me or is the striper population diminishing dramatically? Shims jigs and rattle traps were the ticket today.

  • Nevada County
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      Water Temp: 44

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: We couldn't get bit working jigs slow in deep water.
      So we started throwing crank baits in the shallows and picked up 4 later in the afternoon. The biggest was about 5 pounds on a rattletrap.
      City: auburn

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Time: 6am-2pm
      Water Temp: 54 approx. 6 ft visability
      Weather: cold, slightly foggy
      Boats on water:16
      Most activity between temperence and cottonwood

      Trout action on swimbaits or Rapala or similar coutdown baits like cd-7 silver is excellent..crazy good in fact.

      Bass.....er...didnt catch any.
      City: Atwater

      Tips: If your fishing the tourney on Saturday...dont fish swimbaits or crankbaits, you will only catch trout.

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      Water Temp: ??

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The fish at Hogan are not the same as the delta. The fish here feed on tiny little pondsmelt and don't seem to like the big baits. We catch more fish on 4# test and crappie jigs or kastmasters than anything. You can fish live bait but yu have to find the schools to do that. My success has always been to find the boils, sneak up and fish the small baits and light line. Buddies and I have outfished other boats doing this. The only large bait I fish is a Sammy 128 in a clear/ purple. It looks like a couple of smelt waking the surface and the bigger ones just hammer it! Most the fish in here are about 4 to 7 pounds, so don't be looking for those 20's like the Delta! Good luck and have fun!!

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      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Latest info from San Benito County Water District is that the environmental review process to comply with NEPA and CEQA will probably take until the fall of 2009 (regarding the use of potash as a means of eradicating the mussels). Another complication that has been added is the discovery of the red-legged frog in a pond downstream from the San Justo dam. Since that frog is an endangered species, the planners must do what is necessary to mitigate the impact of the partial drainage of the reservoir on the frogs. The partial draining of the reservoir must be done during the winter season so it doesn't impact the downstream agricultural users. The plan is to partially drain the reservoir over the winter of 2009-2010 and apply the potash in the sping of 2010. Likelihood is that the earliest San Justo Reservoir could be open for recreational fishing will be the fall of 2010.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Hang in there, San Justo devotees! The good news is that all of the agencies concerned with eradicating the mussels from San Justo are cooperating well together. Hopefully, that will keep the bureaucratic processes from taking any longer than necessary.

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

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

      Report: Anybody heard from John Gray??????
      City: mountain view

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: Didn't check

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Water clarity changes with location. Caught a big and a little trout. Limits on bass were not very difficult. Four pounds was the biggest. All fish were caught in less than 5 feet of water on a reverse carolina rig, 4lb test line. Fished only around Browns ramp and across channel. met kent brown and the ABA guys, Happy New year Guys.
      City: sac

      Tips: Two inch baits in pond smelt did the trick with 4lb test line up shallow. Did not try reaction baits this trip. Sun was out all day.

Monday, December 29th, 2008

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 49 - 51

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Bite was tough for us today. Only boated 2-3 fish each. All were keepers in the 1lb. to 2lb. range, and all were caught on plastics in 10' to 25' of water. Water is lower than I have ever seen it.
      City: Modesto

      Tips: Watch your graph, when you find them fish slow with plastics, jigs, and spoons.