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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, May 4th, 2008

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 6 to 12:30. On my third cast, nailed a 5.32 on a chatterbait. The fish inhaled the bait, hooked him back by the crushers. I looked for big fish today. Threw lots of swim baits and reaction baits. Got one other fish (5.48) of size and the rest were under 3. I think fish on the beds pretty good right now.
      Z
      City: Novato

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 60's plus

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Well, its only fair to report when we do bad in a tournament and just not all the good ones. We had a lousy pre-fish and thats just how it turned out. The fish we had been pounding for the last 2 weeks moved out and we didn't react quick enough to do ourselves any good. We still caught numbers of fish on jigs, tubes and senkos. Jigs were the standard brown or brown/purple with brown purple trailer and the tubes were mainly green pumpkin. We tried swimbaits first thing with no luck and didn't try any other reaction baits. 12 plus pounds for 5 fish with 24 boats won this tournament. I suspect the better fish came from the middle or south forks as these fish probably spawned first and have had some time to rest and go back on the feed.
      City: Paradise

      Tips: Smaller fish can be caught just about anywhere using the baits I mentioned above and don't forget to throw a worm now and then. Some skiers and wake boarders are out so watch for them. The plus side is they are creating some nice mud lines to fish. Good luck

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out with a friend on Sun. Late start; hit the water at 10. Went down Warm Springs arm, fished around island then banks in vicinity. Nothing for first couple hours. Friend was drop-shotting and I was dragging a brush hog. Most fish graphed were either suspended or near the bottom in at least 10-15 feet so maybe with this warm('er' at least!) weather they're finally moving in/up. Spotted a couple in shallows, but that's it. Noted that wind plus powerboats (LOTS of skiers/tubers on Sunday) was resulting in some stirred up murky/brown water near much of the shoreline areas, but water otherwise quite clear. Buddy finally hooked up around noon, further up the warm springs arm, on the dropshot rig (maybe 1 3/4lbs) then about 30 mins later the hog paid off with a nice 3lb'er for me. Buddy got one more (2lbs) on dropshot and that was it. I threw crankbaits, jigs (even though I suck at those; really need help on 'how' to fish jigs more confidently) and a Maverick swimbait, and senkos here and there, but no takers.

      Tips: Overall, think they still want baits on bottom, fished slow. Creature baits or drop shot rigs. If 70+ degree days finally continue, would expect spawn within a week or so.

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Put in at 11:00am and had the first fish by 11:30. Caught a total of five before I got of the lake at 3:30. It was a good day.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Fish in the deeper water....8 to 15 Feet. I got all mine on a white spinner bait and a Silver shallow diving Shad Rap. Fish above the weeds.

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 63+

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: went to berryessa on saturday and got out to oak shores. we fished all the coves there and hooked into 7 fish landed 5. using watermelon black flake mini lizards, roboworms, brush hogs, and D-10 rapalas
      City: Richmond

      Tips: D-10 were in craw color, purple roboworms, and the brush hogs were black with lots of red flakes fish the robos split shot but flip the worm so its wacky splitshot the brush hog texas rig the lizard with brass and glass. the fish seem to relate to the crayfish alot. do this and youll have them all day

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Morning bite was awsome!! Blast off at 6 by 7 we had 17 lbs w/5 fish by 9 we had 22 lbs and then the bite just flat out shut down. we caught maybe 5 more by weigh-in, none cullable.
      all fish caught on texas rig lizzards and wacky rig senkos. grn/pump off tules and docks
      City: Williams

      Tips: get to your hot spot early.

    • By

      Water Temp: 59-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Bunch of guys took our kids fishing in a mini tourney, no club just 8 boats. we started at 7 and finsihed at 1. no limilts three for a boat was the most. Most of the bite came on senkos in any color, two on blades and two on cranks. Big fish was 5.4 on senko at about 730. fish should be spawning but couldn't find em. The am topwater bite was not there either, what's up with the fish? Kids had a great time ages from 8 to 15.
      City: turlock

      Tips: throw the senko, use the net(lost one on the swing in) fish the tules a little deeper. saw a 4# from another boat with a carolina.

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 65+

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out of Barrett up river. Landed lots of fish 1.5+ Found the largemouth in the flat up by Horseshoe. Spots were all over. Also afternoon bite was good in the cove by the houseboats. Everyone on the boat caught 12-15 fish. None over 2.5 lbs
      City: La Grange

      Tips: Split shot on a 3' leader 3/16 oz mojo. Curlytail robos 4-5" holo shad,warmouth, a few on shakyhead craw patterns and cranks - shad and perch pattern.

    • By

      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I decided to take my daughter to go fishing. We got there around 3:00 as the wind began to pick-up.We hiked down to a patch of tule, lilly pads, and and fallen tree. My daughter tried a green snag proof frog and had no luck. While I tried a light brown rubber weed less crawdad. No luck either. About 45minutes later we hiked back up to my truck to try a point with the wind with us, but when we reached my truck,my #@%* window was smashed and someone ramsacked my car. DO NOT FISH AT NICASIO RESEVOIR EVER AGAIN YOU'LL GET ROBBED!!!!!!!!!!
      City: Rohnert park

      Tips: Use weedless lures to get back in the corners and the tule.I'd wait a little longer to try topwater but it is beginning to work. HAVE SOMEBODY GAURD YOUR CAR!!!!!

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

    • By

      Water Temp: High 60's

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 5 til 8 pm and figured out the topwater bite is on. Zara spook in baby bass color and the popr in light blue with pearl belly. All fish in 0-4 ft and most on rocky banks. caught 20 plus(all spots) but biggest was 2lbs.
      City: Loomis

      Tips: crash the spook on the rocks and in shade pockets and hold on.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 58-61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Thank you, Cooch! This is a report - honest!! My first back to back guides since my surgery - all is well! Thurs my client showed me he really knows how to bass fish. He caught most of our 24 bass and we combined for a 22 1/4 lb limit. Big bass was an 8 1/4 pounder that took my wacky rigged #301 Senko. We launched out of Red Bud with the idea that he could become more familiar with the south end. I really can't say what bait he was using most of the day since he fishes tournaments and he adds some home made touches. For the first time I fished a variety of 5" Senko colors wacky style - which I really haven't done much. I usually fish them the ol' fashioned way. That does work better in the green slime we are seeing this year in places. I used the 2/0 Gami hook with the weedguard. It worked well but I did loose quite a few. We fished many types of shallow structure - docks, etc., and finally saw bass hide under docks during the warm afternoon - even caught one or two! Today I had two clients out of the Oaks. We launched in beautiful weather about 8 am - no sooner left the ramp and it totally clouded up and winded - yes, a new term for instant wind! Since one of the men had a physical handicap, we needed to try and stay in calm water. We fished the keys, Rattlesnake area, and finally the west shore of the Oaks arm. They struggled some but each did catch a few nice bass and missed a lot of bites. One guy lost a good one when it jumped. We discussed setting the hook. We wound up with only 12 bass up to 4 lbs, mostly 2 1/2 to 3 lb males. Senkos were working again along with green pumpkin Power worms and dead ringers. A rock flat I usually fish in the summer produced one of the biggest bass for one of the guys. We found bass from 3 to 12 feet.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Friday morning I again tried a few things that my client wasn't throwing - cranks, rips, and jigs, trying to read the mood of the fish. Again, nada! I knew the worm bite would be ok, and it was. We did try some off-shore structure in the morning with no success. It might have been better in the afternoon - we didn't try then. As for the spawn - who knows? This may be another long period of early and late spawns. Most of the baits we threw both days were darker colors - combinations of browns, greens, and purples. I even caught my first bass on a #157 (smoke w/purple flake) Senko. I often used that color as a jig trailer. Of course, Cooch has me using #164 on occasion too!!!

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished lower end in Temperance...caught 2 Bass on Lucky Craft Chartreuse Ripbait. Fished along the wall outside Temperance and missed a few. Worked the tree tops in Horse shoe and caught 3 crappie, and two 3#bass on ripbaits...the upper river was
      non-productive. I fished the cove across from the marina that has two large boulders and stream fed. I caught 6 nice 2-3# on my new favorite Senko: Brown/purple/green/gold flake. The best fishing was along the rock walls between horseshoe and the main lake. I spotted numerous bass staging below shelves in 10-15 feet of water, and caught 12 along the wall using natural shad senkos.
      I hit the point near the houseboats on the way in and caught 3 more on DD20 Crankbaits. All in all a good day, but still not quite as active as last year. The cold nights are still keeping the bass down, but maybe with hot weather, things will fire up.
      City: Merced, CA

      Tips: Senkos, ripbaits, and plastics in Crawdad with green, and hit submerged structure. You could see fish coming up and feeding, then going back down. Catch and Release!!!

  • Fresno County
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      Water Temp: 63- 68

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Only fished the lake for a couple of hours. Got on the lake around 3 p.m. There wasnt too much going on fished with a clear sparkle keeper worm or anything brown and green. later on in the day jerk baits ripped them up. total number of fish was 25 or so with only three keepers.
      City: Fresno

      Tips: bigger fish seem to be in the main lake off of submerged humps and structure. keep your eyes open for shad breaking the surface fish are becoming active

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Hit the lake about 9am just a layed back day. Started at the first bend up river we worked the river up to the 5 MPH. Jigs in bluegil and brown worked good the best bite was on red/gold robo worms. Drop shot about 6 to 10" off the bottom in 12' to 20' of water. The lake has been up and down I don't think the fish know what to do the beds I found last week were high and dry today. I looks like the water is back up a bit now. Well we boated about 30 fish today but I'm sad to say only about 5 keepers big fish of the day was just over 2lbs. Some on the jigs but most on the drop shot and Texas rigs.
      City: Fresno

      Tips: Stay below the water temp break about 1/4 mile inside the 5 MPH there are fish back into the coves in the warmer water there. S L O W is how they like it today. The points are working to. Good luck and look out as the wacko's will be out soon. We even had a jet boat HAMMER down the 35 MPH zone today doing about 80.

  • Ventura County
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      Water Temp: 65-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Great looking conditons but a tuogh bite. Found 1 fish late deep (20 ft.) on an inside point. Found more, and larger fish in the backs of coves, especially if there was a creek channel. Another angler put me on to this as the smaller fish are chasing fry. Didn't see any bedding fish. Practically no wind all day until about 2:30 and then only a moderate s.w. breeze. Still lots of debris in the water.

      Tips: Fish in the backs of coves wanted a light colored swimming grub or wham-type lure. Not many anglers out, which might have been a clue. Conditions looked ideal but the bite wasn't.

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went on a 2 day run of the Delta, different water both days. Frank's was unfishable day 1. Big wind, chocolate water, and swell. Ran into small cuts around mildred, and sandmound. Ended up with good numbers 2 swimbait fish 5.5 and a 7, 1 good senko fish 8, 1 chart'white spinner bait fish 5.2 ended up just over 27lbs best five. About 12 fish total. Day 2 fished Franks, Fishermans cut, and Taylor. 12 more fish, first fish 6.13 on a senko, 5.5 on a rattletrap, a some beaver fish 2-3. Top 5 ..21.4lbs. Good fish spread out, only small pockets.
      City: San Francisco

      Tips: Swimbaits hit and miss, senko's most consistent, stay in 5-7 feet of water. Try mixing it up, rocks/tules depending on the area either one can be better than the other. Fish EVERYTHING SLOW!

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: Doesn't Matter

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Notice!!

      This is a fishing reports page. We ask that you please respect the intent of this section of Westernbass and stick to posting reports regarding you fishing experieinces on the lake on any given day. Please keep the banter and jibber jabber talk to the Personal Messaging provided with your Log in account. We would also ask that any queries in regards to the QM inspections, be discussed on the Main Public Forum as well. You'll receive faster responses that are easily search for and readily available, versus congesting up the reports pages with non-fishing related posts. There are many users who come to read the reports and these posts are a pain to have to sort through, as well as a waist of our time to have to come in here and clean them up.
      City: OAKLEY

      Tips: Use the resources of WesternBass as they are intended. As with the Folsom Reports page, we are now implimenting a ZERO tolerance policy here where this page will now be checked daily and non fishing report posts will be removed immediately. Thank You for visiting WesternBass.COM and enjoy your time here.

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished lower end out of Flemming. Bite was fair. Found some 1.5-2 lbs on split shot 4" robo hologram also live bait crawler fly lined or minnows with a small split (1/16)
      City: La Grange

      Tips: May have to work for it a little but they are out there. Scattered all over the place. Fish 25+ ft to the shallows.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 57-58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Dodged the wind until about 1pm and no crowds,so itwas a nice day to fish. Fished the trees on the peninsula and near Beals Pt. for one 3# spot and lost a nice one. One fish for two bites. Seemed pretty slow, maybe all this cold weather has an affect. Tried Senko and worms, but maybe they wanted something else, somewhere else?
      City: Folsom

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 59TO63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: FISHED 7AM TONOON WITH MODERATE SUCCESS..NOTHING ON REACTION BAITS EARLY...CAUGHT SEVERAL TO ABOUT 3 POUNDS ON SMALL WATERMELONRED BRUSHHOGS IN 4 TO 10 FEET OF WATER IN FRONT OF THE WEEDS...NOTHING ON A SPINNERBAIT AFTER THE WIND PICKED UP..CAUGHT ONE MORE SMALL FISH ON A NORMANS CRANKBAIT AND THAT WAS IT...A FRONT WAS MOVING THROUGH AND RAIN BEGAN TO FALL AT 11AM.. TUFF BITE TODAY ... BUT IF YOU WANT TO CATCH MORE FISH GO 6 OR 8 POUND TEST LINE SMALL WEIGHTS
      OR NO WEIGHT AND PEG THE HEADS OF YOUR WORMS......
      City: SANTA ROSA