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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, May 18th, 2008

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 69-80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Tough to stay cool but the bite was "HOT". 2 days @ 50+ fish. Most fish in the 13-16" range with a few dinks thrown in. Small, lite baits (tiny tubes, lizards)were the ticket.
      City: Reno

      Tips: watch your line for subtle differences in fall rate....this always indicates a fish on.

    • By

      Water Temp: unknown-but waa

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: so i waited till the people were done playing.afternoooon was off the hook.my partner and i were doubled more than not,,,i threw a pop-r and he threw a spook,we both had a rod with a sinko,and would throw it at the bigger blow-ups when they would just slap the lure,most of the bigger fish are.so if you want some slightly bigger fish throw something that wont make a big splash....
      City: redding -------clear-lake

      Tips: all right -you need to find the shady shore line first thing,when the shade starts to hit the water the type of shore line wont matter.,,,,{.so save your best shore line for a little latter-when the whole lake is shaded .}did trick two over 16 "

    • By

      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Just got back from brutally hot weekend fishing club 2-day'er. Caught dozens of spotted bass, most in the 10-12 inch range. Every 20th fish or so was a keeper (13+).

      Tips: Topwater bite good on spooks from sun-up to about 7 o clock. After that, try 4" robo worms, power craws, or lizards, rigged texas-style w/ very light bullet sinker, fished against rocky ledges, retrieved slowly, twitched very slightly. All these types of baits are SMALL but very effective this weekend. To go after bigger ones, try wacky senkos against larger trees further from shore. You'll get more action with the aforementioned smaller baits, however.

Saturday, May 17th, 2008

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: You can launch for free at cappell cove. just takes more gas to get to the destination.
      City: el cerrito

      Tips: Berryessa is awesome this time of the year. Use mini lizards by zoom. B-hogs and robo's. never stop fishing.

    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 6am to 11am, 15 in the boat largest was 2 lbs, caught on darter head robo's,drop shot, spinnerbait, chatterbait, cranks.
      City: Sac

      Tips: $20 dollar launch fee I won't be back! Who do thet think they are the oil companys?

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

      Report: A ranger at Coyote explained to me that the reason they need to eliminate the mussels is because they clog the pipes and foul the pumps
      destroying the reason why these reservoirs were created in the first place, to serve as water supplies. On the Eastcoast they use dual pipes and pumps and run one set while they clean the other. In California they only have one set.
      City: Monterey

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: John landed three bass yesterday (4+, 2.5, and 1.5) and I landed three today (3+, 2+, and 1.5). We're getting them on Carolina-rigged lizards and dark jigs/trailers in 12'- 15' of water. Seems the bass have pulled back off the banks. Lots of fry visible so a lot of spawning has already happened. John saw many bass in the shallows yesterday, but today they had moved deeper.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Very slow presentations seem to work best right now. Because the water is so clear, we found long casts worked best.

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: wow. there is very little water left in this lake. big ups to the idiot who decided to let all that water out in january and february. this place will be close to bone dry by august. the entire shoreline with the reeds is exposed and down about 2-3' by my estimation...
      anyway, hiked in with my UL ugly stik and 6 lb. test. threw wacky senkos and landed three, the biggest being about 2#. two others were about 1.5#. a great fight with the UL gear. hooked and lost two others, one of which felt a bit bigger, but i never glimpsed the elusive fish. i also threw a fluke and missed one on my first cast and both yellow and white 'blades with no luck. pretty decent for about 90 minutes fishing. i didn't see anyone else out there, and very few on the trail, probably due to the heat... those i did see weren't carrying water. d-uh!
      City: petaluma

      Tips: fish these baits slow... when they do take them it's pretty quick. good fighting.
      of note: lots of fry in the water. i've heard people talk about culling some of the fish out of here due to the limited pressure. anyone else think it's a good idea? especially with the decreased habitat due to the water drop, there's going to be way to many fish in here... that's my guess, though i'm the first to say i'm not a natural resources biologist or anything.

    • By

      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: First time night fishing at this lake. Warm night with wind gusts up to 20 mph. Some action on spinner baits, sank night crawlers, landed 3-pound largemouth @ 10pm then went home.
      City: Brentwood

      Tips: Los Vaqueros opens night fishing every other Saturday until 11pm. Bring battery-powered lantern or clip-on flashlight.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: UNK

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Put in at bidwell and headed to the south arm with a little wind picking up. First point we stopped at bam, 4 fish in the boat in the first half hour...all on senkos, 3 dinks and one 4 lb spot. Moved further in the the south arm with little luck. We went back to the point we started on and again we hooked up, two more one was 3.5 lb spot. Moved to the middle arm and hit random dinks the rest of the day, nothing over 2 lbs. All in all a good day.
      City: Grass Valley

      Tips: Lots of debris in the water so be carefull. Also some of our fish never hit the bait, never moved the line, it was like we threw right in on them and they just sucked it up, went to move the bait and fish on, so always pay attention when moving your bait, might be a fish there.

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had the pleasure of taking out a single mom and her 12 year old son today. It was special to see them experience bass fishing for their first time. With them so new to fishing I had them throwing drop shot and senko's. They did fantastic with around 20 bass in half a day. There were plenty of high fives going on. A special day.
      City: Paradise

      Tips: Get out there on Lake Oroville. The post spawn bite is happening all over the lake.

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the lake after boat inspection 7am.
      Tried some top water dart head drag some worms no takers. Ok what's up with this lake? Went to my go too spinner bait and fishing got good then. Third cast 4/1/2 small mouth two large mouth over 3/lbs the rest just keepers and ended up with 16 fish. See ya on the water just look for the blue and white Astro

      Tips: Never think its to sunny for spinner baits.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 66-78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Spent 3 1/2 days on the lake running up and down the Sac arm and the McCloud. Found a great top water bit in the morning up to 2.5 lbs. Caught a lot of fish on senkos near the shore then a crankbait along the mud lines in the afternoon. Caught a 5.3 pound spot on a speedtrap at 2 pm in the dirty water near the shore line.
      City: Rohnert Park

      Tips: Top water early and crankbaits along the mud lines in the afternoon. Great time to take the kids fishing because you'll catch a lot of fish.

Friday, May 16th, 2008

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 64-66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had the pleasure of taking our westernbass.com website boss, Tony Stoltz, to Berryessa yesterday morning where we shot an instructional video - when we could find areas to fish during the 3rd day of tough north wind!! We had to stay in the narrows because of the wind, but that area can be a video in itself. I think it will be fine. We Texas-rigged and drop-shotted Robo Worms in oxblood (good color yesterday), morning dawn, and green pumpkin. I was having us use the 6" worm - biting an inch off to make a bulker 5" version. We did alright and yes, Tony caught the 2 biggest! Contrary to rumors - he really CAN fish, har!!! In the time we did fish, we probably boated around 15 bass - all spots except one lm and one sm. It was nice that a couple of the structures I was describing in the video DID produce some bass. We found bass on windy banks to be quite shallow and others about 10 to 20 feet. The mudlines that were forming with the wind were probably very good in the afternoon - a great pattern at Berryessa on the clay banks.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I really can't say much about other techniques since we really only fished worms. I did try a little topwater but felt conditions wern't worth the effort. Structures that I describe in the video did hold fish as they usually do most of the year. After we were done, I realized that we could have shot 4 videos - I wasn't done talking and we had more structures to fish!!! Fun day with Mr. wb.com!

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: On water 6:30 clear and warm allday long.Temp reached low 90's and light breeze. Bite was very slow, 2 shorts, 1 senko and one dropshot. Threw spook for about 3 hours nothing. Three tournaments over weekend so lots of prefishing going on. Bite seemed to be tough for everyone.
      City: santa maria

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

      Report: We got out there around 4pm, we fished the south end to the left of the swim beach and my buddy caught a 2lb trout within 10 minutes on white power eggs. I caught a couple of small trout on a kastmaster. No LMB though. We stayed until closing and my buddy caught a catfish and some other fish that I couldn't identify on chicken liver. I had a HUGE bite from a striper, but he shook off the hook.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: Go for stipers after 6pm with chicken liver or top water lures.

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: around 76

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished around fleming most the afternoon.Catching fish between 2 to 6lbs hitting shollow points with shale rocks.fish liked brushogs& senkos,and topwater right at dark.Was going to try fishing after dark but but caught over twenty five fish so quit at dark
      City: Modesto

      Tips: work brushog 0 to 20 feet super slow makes fish angry and that good

  • Nevada County
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      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: fished all night friday till the sun was just about to come up.
      My buddy Randy and I caught 40 bass, the biggest 5 went maybe 25 pounds.
      Broke off a few bigger ones because I bought cheap line.
      Most fish were in the last foot of water. we finally started catching them on top (buzzbaits).
      Most came on reaction baits though. like cb.'s in darker colors. Its a tougher bite when the water is 77 during the day.
      They are spraying weed killer on the hydrilla the 19th, and 20th, so the lake will be closed then.
      The chemical they use (syngenta reward) really has a noticeable effect on the bite.
      last year they wouldnt touch anything for 5 days, and the grass grew right back within 2 weeks. The powers that be need to consider adding dye to the lake instead of poison. the chemical binds itself to the lake sediment, i.e (the bottom and bass beds including eggs).
      Im not a biologist but it wouldn't surprise me to hear in 5 years that it is being pulled from the shelves because of adverse and unexpected reactions.
      City: auburn

      Tips: If you live here please take care of this treasure we have.

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

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

      Report: Has anyone fished this lake recently? I am going camping there memorial day weekend and wondering if is even worth bringing my boat based on the last few reports. Any info would help.
      City: bay area

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: O.k. now we have lost our local lakes to the zebra mussel for at least 2 weeks and they could be gone forever!! They state these lakes will be open again with an inspection of every boat and charging $7 to do so. Now what is it going to cost to get onto these lakes $20 per day, another way for this state to suck the money out of our pockets. Ohh yeah I just payed $135 for a venture pass so I would not have to pay every time, now they even screwed us with that.

      This mussel is across the united states and the lakes look twice as clear as these mercury tainted lakes and probably healthier. Please educate me on why they are trying to stop the introduction of this filter feeding mollusks.

      Around this area you have to take your boat out of the water daily anyways killing the larvae (Veligers) after 3 days of being dry.

      Now what happens if this mussel gets spread, we get to go fishing without a hassle again?
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Open the lakes so we can fish!!