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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, May 5th, 2008

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      Water Temp: not sure

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: whoa...whoa....i never said i ever bass fished here with live or dead trout- i was just trying to make a point that the bass fishing is tough. i'm not a poacher by ANY means. sorry for the misunderstanding.

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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Sunday morning for short 2 and half hr in the morning. Started drop shop can not get a bite. Switch to Jig and fish across side hoping to get that Hog again. No chance to see the big one again but I caught 4 total with the biggest one close to 3lb. Pitch in the jig under the trees and dead sticking in there. They will hit it as soon as it gets there. Use heavy line because you need to pull the fish out hard.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: Jig with some attractant so the fish won't let go. trust me it does make difference. And u get a better time to hook. How's the island pond? anybody have any idea? Frog bite on yet?

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Spent 4 days on Pit arm with 13 other fishermen on houseboat out of Silverthorn Marina. Wind blew hard every day but fish were still biteing. I went to 1/4 ounce jig heads to get gitzits and worms down in the wind, fish were picking bait up off the bottom plenty of fish.
      City: Penn Valley

      Tips: fish sinkos, gitzets,rubber worms, patience throw to bank and let bait sink to bottom before starting your retrive. Most strikes occur on the fall. fish topwater at dusk with pop-r or something similar. water is low but still fantastic fishing. Hope this helps Brandon.

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Just a reminder that the next Jason Fisher Memorial Vocational Scholarship tournament is coming up May 17th. It's take a kid fishing time guys. A 3rd team member is allowed as long as they are 15 or under. If more of you don't start bringing kids, I might make it mandatory that there is a junior in the boat for the June and July tournies.
      City: Trinity Center

      Tips: Trinity is pretty much on fire for those in the know. The fish have moved shallow and are munching. Remember there is a 2 fish limit right now, and I have it on good authority that enforcement has being stepped up.

Sunday, May 4th, 2008

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 67.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: This past weekend I got to the lake late Friday afternoon. I set off to my
      favorite cove for the late bite. I threw my chugger at least fifty times until
      I got my first top-water fish and then for about an hour (from 8 to 9 PM) every
      cast was action. The following day I went out with my wife and we used plastics
      only for the bass. We caught a few and lost a few. The bite was tough because
      the bass are on their nests and did not have any interest in feeding but only in
      protecting the nests and teased us by moving the lines before we could set
      the hook. I went out later in the evening with my friend Albert and we had better
      luck. Once again I was looking for that evening top-water bite but nothing happened
      until around 8:30 PM. I was throwing a chugger and Albert was throwing a Zaro Spook
      and we just kept hitting fish. We landed a limit in no time. Fish were jumping all
      around us but not all bass. During the day light Albert threw Cast Masters at the
      boiling fish and they turned out to be trout. Hooking them was no problem for Albert
      but he had a hard time landing them. It turned out to be a great night (see photos).
      Sunday I went out for a couple of hours on my own. The wind had picked up and I
      decided to troll most of the morning. I used a crankbait that only went down about
      two feet and hooked up around nineteen trout. The water temperature ranged from
      65 to 67.5 degrees. If next weekend is warmer, I look forward to a great fishing
      weekend. In the photo Albert is holding an eight pound catfish. 'til next week..............
      ................good fishing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! www.fishingconnection.net If you have any
      fishing stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or
      call me at 650-583-3333.
      City: Napa

      Tips: Cats,crappie,bass,trout,salmon,carp,sunfish now active

    • By

      Water Temp: 63.5 in the a.m

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the water about 6:30a.m. out of marlkley cove, we started in the 5mph and caught a few on dartheads shallow.We moved to wragg and caught a few spots outside the weed lines and from there went to the vineyard with no sucess. went about halfway up putah creek and found a cove with solid 2.5 lm and a couple smallies mixed in. wind picked up so we went back to the narrows before it got to rough. We found most of the fish were near the backs of cuts with grass and on the sides of points with chunk rock and a weedline. best five around 13lbs.off the water at 3 p.m. and bot traffic was picking up.
      City: knightsen,ca

      Tips: Best bite today was on darter heads 0 to 15 feet and best worm was fat body robo worm 6" orange crusher. ;ine seemed to make a difference with the clear water, I was throwing 6lb yo-zuri and my partener was throwing 8lb they definately bit the rig with 6lb by 4to1.

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: 63-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Water stained to clear, improving gradually over last 2 weeks or so. Went out 8:30 w wacky rig senkos along shore. Good bite with 3 4 lbs fish and a few small ones also. Fished about 3 hrs with best bite about 10am.
      City: Santa Barbara

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      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Sunday and got on a good blade bite first thing in the morning landing 2 good 2.5's and a few 1.5 to 2's on jerk bites. After sun came up the bite slowed, but picked up buck bass on senkos, dart heads, shaky heads, and drop shot. Bite picked back up again after 2pm.
      City: Fresno

      Tips: reactions early (no luck on top water) then plastics later.

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      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: nice day today,caught 10 and my dad did to but,male bass wher the only ones on the beds waiting on the females to come up.
      City: Fresno

      Tips: jerkbaits worked fast.

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      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.

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      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.

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      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.

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      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

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      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!!!