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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, September 27th, 2008

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

      Report: got off work late and didnt have time to get the boat out so decided to hit it up from shore a little bit.the algae problem is getting a little better and water is starting to clear. saw massive amount of schoolers eating shad in the back of santa ana near the creek. managed to scratch a few off throwing the spoon. biggest being 4.5 then got a 5.0 throwing the frog right before dark in the sticks.stuff is starting to change. this week should be fun
      City: ojai

      Tips: lake fork crome spoon.snag proof bobbys perfect frog(cicadia). 7 ft 844 imx.new curado 7 to 1.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: A little slow up river (s), boats surrounded me shutting down the bite. Still caught some, no size. Moved to main body to a depression and caught a little over two limits, quit, tired and went home.
      City: sac

      Tips: All fish on reverse carolina rig. tossed out and worked back.

    • By

      Water Temp: 64 (up river)

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: same as last week except only about 75 fish. Fishermen who saw ma probably hit it pretty hard or the cloud cover and no wind had an effect on numbers and larger fish. No large ones caught in area. I park my boat and fan cast the immediate area which has many fish gorging on bait.
      City: sac

      Tips: Take a friend or acquaintance to enjoy this kind of fishing.

  • Merced County
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      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: fished oniel forebay,got there aat sunrise and got 1 fish 21" with sara spook at 7:00 and nothing else,fished for 4 hrs and wint home,tryed flukes with no fish,any addvice for me,oh yeah check 12 is where i fished,what is the secret to cathing stripers here,
      City: los banos

      Tips: super sara spook

    • By

      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well I ariived about a half hour before sunrise and the word must be out becouse they were lined up ahead of me.Well nobody's was putting in so I did what are we waiting for.Well it was not so good today.Between the new moon and them stopping the pumping in of new water the bite was not very good.I did catch fish but all small 17"-19" all on Rat-L-Traps.There were quit a few boat's fishing the area I like to so the pressure was there also.I lost two good fish one on a Spook and one on the Trap.One odd thing happened that I have never witnessed.The larger fish I lost on the Trap becouse my line broke did the strangest thing.After my line broke that fish thrashed on top of the water for about 15 seconds like it was pissed or something strange.The bait bite was not happenig either and no boils at all.
      City: Salinas

      Tips: None just go fishing

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

      Report: called shasta rec. no answer, drove by, no one there, only guy I have seen is the guy cleaning the restrooms, no dock guys around in the am. losing 3 months use of my ramp pass ain't gettin it. gonaa go next year and not pay a dime to these idiots. not a single float in the water.
      City: bella vista

      Tips: dont buy a ramp pass, wasted money

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: fishing was awesome in the morning then slow down in the afternoon all in all was a good day on the water lots of 4# smallies and a few 5-6# larges.
      City: shasta

      Tips: go deep

Friday, September 26th, 2008

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: South end, Fri 9/26. North end, Sat 9/27. I love this lake (the few times I've fished it) and I'm an 'average' bass fisherman, at best (admittedly) but holy cow, was this the slowest I've ever seen this place or what? Yes, it was.

      Launched out of Red Bud Fri morning and fished several recommended areas, throwing anything from chatterbaits to swim baits. Got first (and last keeper size for 2 days of fishing, perhaps 1.5 lbs) within about 15 minutes. Thought things might be decent with that start; boy was I wrong.

      Threw medium to deep running crankbaits/Rat L Traps/Speedtraps after no success with spinnerbaits or topwater. Nothing. Around noon, got one on a dropshot (oxblood 6" roboworm), perhaps 10 inches. That would be the last fish of the weekend. TWO other bites after that. Whoa... it was just plain shut down.

      Great weather though! Ha. Interesting notes: Talked to others in adjacent boats and was glad to know it wasn't 'just us'... similarly awful for them as well. The weeds were still pretty heavy closer to shore. Water level down about 5-6 feet (thanks to the drought; we all know that). Let's see what else... Oh, dead carp floating on the surface EVERYWHERE (both North and South), including washed ashore and throughout the water itself; kinda creepy almost), and aside from the weeds, lots of algae. Poor Clear Lake was more like 'Death Lake' and the smell was pretty bad in some places from the decomposing carp.

      Other notes: Trillions of tiny white bait fish (not sure what they are, but are they common for this time of year?) so we figure 'wow---that's not exactly helpful for 'competition' where the bass' menu is concerned. Also, there were a ton of 'fingerling' bass but mommas and poppas were nowhere to be seen.
      City: San Rafael

      Tips: Wait for the fall bite; perhaps that will turn on in a couple weeks.... or maybe tomorrow. Who knows? But you did yourself a favor if you didn't fish CL this particular weekend. Oh---and bring a few beers along, while drinking 'responsibly', but of course!

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

  • Plumas County
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      Water Temp: 65-68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I decided to make a short trip to Almanor Tues and Wed after getting my Ranger serviced at Oasis Marine in Redding. The water is very clear, though there was a slight algae bloom on the west side. The fall bite hasn't started yet - daytime was very tough though I did't start 'til noon on Tues. Once the shadows formed about 5:30 pm, I got into a fair topwater bite on shad colored Chug Bugs. I missed the first 3 - nice smallies in the 2 1/2 - 3 lb range. Finally I landed the one that made the trip. I fought her over 3 minutes, not wanting the Bug to pull out again! I won this time and she weighed almost 3 1/2 lbs! Always a thrill to see a beautiful smallie! Later I missed another 2 - one big one missed the lure going up and coming down!! Completely cleared the water! Wed was also very slow and to top it off, a big south wind came up and blew all day! I did land a near 2 lb smallie on a brown/orange Rodstrainer jig and missed another good one on topwater. The wind killed the topwater bite and cooled the surface temp 2 degrees. I landed another Robo worm smallie and missed the final bite. The quality was excellent but the numbers were poor. Scenery like that helps soothe the ego!!
      City: Yuba city

      Tips: I didn't see too many shallow quality bass, though I did see lots of this years spawn - 3 or 4 inches! I fished mostly on the west side - did not do well on the east side. Did not try the early morning bite either day. Maybe it was good. Nights are getting chilly - days were great!! Lake is down quite a bit - lower than normal for this time of year. I did a lot of dragging worms but found it difficult as the weeds are still everywhere.

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for a few hours and picked up 10 bass with the largest just under 6 lbs. It was my second largest bass on Anderson. Fished a combination of drop shot and top water from 9-12. Caught a 3.5, a 2.5 and the rest were smaller. All fish were caught in 3-5ft of water around grassy areas. The pig was caught on a frog on the inside weed edge at noon with blue bird clear skies and no wind. Who would have thought to even throw it. I missed a number of fish on the frog in open water. Big explosive bites. My rigging was a little off causing the misses. Tried a PopR in the same areas and no luck. Used a 4" cut tail worm in shad color on the drop shot.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: Fish top water around weeds in shallow water. Fish drop shot on the outside weed edge. Be sure you boat is dry before inspection. A guy with a big bass boat was rejected because he some how forgot the 20gal of water in his live well.The inspector sent him packing.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: First time on central delta in many years today. We launched out of B&W, and since its like starting all over again for us.....we began fishing the Mokelume at first light. Several missed bites pitching plastic crawdads; damn I'm out of practice!!! One blow up on a topwater. Went down Lil Potato, nothing to show for it. Took a ride down to fisherman's cut, and stuck a nice 4.5lber. Fished a frog hard down that way...no blow ups? Hmmmm. Going out tommorrow first thing in am.....need more practice!! LOL
      City: vacaville

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: In at county park at 0630 hrs. First stop was Shag Rock where there were numerous other boats. Made a few cast and left. Hit several other areas near Bradus and Buckingham. No fish and no blowups on Frogs or Horney Toads. Finally went to the area of the "Tires" near Lucern and caught one 2 lbs on a Horney Toad. We then hit several of my key areas including shallow and deep structure. We threw crank baits, Carolina rigs, Buzz Baits, Brush Hogs, Senkos and lizards. Our best fish (3 lb)came in shallow water throwing a shollow running craw dad crank bait. I noted the area was void of mats had a gravel bottom and it seemed the bass had corraled balls of bait near shore. I also observed numerous dead carp everywhere and that is not an exageration. I have never seen so many dead carp in my life. Small ones big ones and a lot in between, everywhere, and they stink. I also observed a whole heck of a lot of young bass. Both last year and this years spawn are activley feeding on silversides. There is also a ton of bait everywhere. Also crappee are making a come back as there young are everywhere in the tules. The carp I oberved, that are not dead yet, have numerous white sores on them that are about the size of a quarter.
      City: Lakeport

      Tips: In the area of Nice and Lucern try a Craw Dad Crank in shallow water 1' to 5'. Cover a lot of water quickly. Watch for actively feeding fish. Throw to agressive fish with a top water of your choice. I had a white horney toad and colored the legs yellow. Small bass in the tules will hit small worms on a light slick shake jig head wackey. The smell of rotting carp in the morning is still better then going to work!

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: 11 bass from 1-2 lbs on lipless crankbait, swimbait, and dropshot.
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Find schools of bass chasing shad and tear it up!

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Rumors are circulating that Coyote and Stevens Creek will close to all watercraft activity at the end of October.

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

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

      Report: Not sure about Calero but Coyote will be closing some time in late Oct. Since San Luis is so low they will use the water to keep Anderson full. Why did the spend all that money to make the campgrounds bigger and nicer if they just shut the lake down all the time? No 10lbrs this winter. It is possible they will also use calero's water for something as well. hopefully we get a ton of rain this year and have coyote open by spring.

  • Lake County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: dave and I put in at red bud at about 7am went to tip of indian is. and on first cast I caught a 1 lber.on a lt grn sinko whacky style. didn't get another bight for next twohours.then at the boat docks I caught a 7 lb cat on a worm also a 2.6 smallie . by 1:30 we caught 16, most very small
      City: santa rosa

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: warm to touch

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Two of my friends and I rented about a bout 6:30am, we were the second ones out to rent a boat.. We tried kastmaster, senkos, jiggs, topwater, everything and about 8:30 I got bit on an anchovy.. It was a nice 2.5-3lb catfish, then shortly after my friends got doubles on a nice stiper and catfish also on anchovys.. Then my friend got another cat, we moved out by the dam I got a cat!! Then...!!!!!!! My friend pulled in a 36" 11 pound striped bass at about 11:00 am!!!!! We had to go after that our stinger was about full and we had no where to keep that monster besides layin on the floor of the boat! If we would have stayed we would have caught even more fish!! But we didnt have another or big enough stringer for the big one. Best day of fishing I ever had!!
      City: $an Leandro

      Tips: Get out EARLY and use ANCHOVYs!!!!!! And call me cuz i can't wait to go bak!!!!!

Monday, September 22nd, 2008

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 73-74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: launched at 3:30 and fished the southern banks. WINDY, which made it pretty tough. managed to catch 6 fish with the biggest about 3#. caught them on baby bass crank and a 10" power worm. talked to 3 other guys and they all had a pretty tough day as well.
      City: carmel valley

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Goodjob was that post necessary?

      I've been hearing rumors about the possibility of Calero closing in November. Please post any updates that might pertain to this issue. Thanks.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 71-74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished a tournament with the Fresno Bass Club last weekend. We had guys with 30+ bags. My fish came shallow on cranks and Sankos. There are in deep water as well in the 20-25 foot range dragging drop shot or Texas rigs. Purple death or robo worms in oxblood seams to work. I hit on deep crank baits worked like a jerk bait.
      City: Fresno

      Tips: Bills report should do you a world of good as he kicked butt last weekend with a 30+ bag at weigh-in.