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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, April 5th, 2008

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Entirely different than last weekend with staging fish stacked on points in 0-15'.

      Now...Very windy, Water dropped 2' since last weekend, MAJOR algae bloom ("Delta Cheese") all over the lake now (Hmmm, Frog bite coming soon!) and Fish locked on nests now.
      City: Cameron Park

      Tips: Fish nests with fish on them, don't fish the empty nests. Seriously though, I didn't sight fish, but would cast onto bank and if I got bit and missed, would cast back to that spot until I hooked the fish. All 2+ lbs. Couple followers on swimbaits too.

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      Water Temp: 55-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: First time fishing the lake only fished for about an hour, the wind began to pick up at about 3:30. Caught three fish on robo-worms off a rocky edge on the east side of the lake.
      City: Chico

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: forgot to add the date
      City: Chico

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 59-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Nor-Cal Bass tourney out of South Shore, started out throwing a white/chartrues blade on the points with stick ups and with no results. Saw fish busting bait fish in the adjacent cove so i started throwing MS-Slammer/Rainbow and got chrushed by a nice three pounder. Kept throwing it for the next hour and nothing else.
      I tried cranking, ripping and blades but could not get a reaction bite going.
      So i switched to a Senko, Grn/Punpking Blk/Flake and stared picking them up on a pretty consistant basis, but i had to hit areas with wood/stick-ups to get bit.
      Lost two nice fish that would have put me in the 13-14 lb range; but ended up with best five going 11.35.
      City: Himar

      Tips: Start by giving top water a try; Spook, Popper, Slammer. Then go to Senko and Jigs; browns seem to be the thing. Fish the wood starting at the deepest stick ups first and fish your way in to the shallow stuff, be looking for bedding fish also, they are starting to move into the coves.

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      Water Temp: 58-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Some of the water you can see 5-10 ft deep. Tom Erickson and I fished Saturday and Sunday staying in the North Shore Camp Ground with some friends. The wind came up for each morning but the bass were biting. We started out with cranks and ripping, no takes. Jigs in Brown/Purple got some in 15-20 ft. Most of the bass are still waiting to spawn and some have. The bass are spooky along the banks. Saw no beds yet.
      Drop shot in front of the dam just at the drop off point 25 ft, just full of small bass in 1-1 1/2 lb. Go up the Rock Creek and use a Fluke (white) with a small weight and let it fall slow along the banks. Use a small weight on the drop-shot and a Pro Worm Leach, can't miss.
      City: Rocklin

      Tips: Look for the bait and big stacks of fish.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 53-55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had a nice trip yesterday with clients from the midwest! The "new" hip behaved well and the Evinrude fired right up after a 5 week break! The bite did seem slow to me and was confirmed by several I talked to after pulling the boat out. We fished out of Red Bud but didn't go north of Wheeler because of the increasing wind and 4 of us in the boat. Dad and the oldest son did ok, catching 4 nice bass up to 3 1/2 lbs. The young son hooked one but lost it. I fished some when the youngest took an extended nap!! I hooked a nice one in the afternoon but forgot how to set the hook - lost it! The bass were a little more aggressive in the afternoon when the sun appeared. Good to be back in the saddle, 'er, butt seat!!!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The jig bite was best for us with a black/blue Blade Runner jig. Only two bites on brown/orange. First bass was on a drop/shot rig - Berkley 4" green craw Power Worm. No drop/shot fish after that - strange. We didn't try anything with treble hooks with 4 in the boat. We did use some Basstrix swimbaits, but no takers this day. We probably could have finessed some more bass, but I did spend most of the time helping them look for the "big" bite. Alas, it still may take a week or so - warm weather should help at the end of next week, just in time for the big tourney!

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      Water Temp: 50s

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: used chatterbaits, worms and swimbaits near swim area for a 2 pounder--pressure mounting, 5 boats on lake and didnt see any caught
      City: antioch

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      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: 1 hour on the lake, got a 5.14 on a white chatterbait with white trailer.
      SE bank ~8' photo'd and released and then the motor died. A new PB for me so I didn't mind
      (too much) out of action for a month.
      City: Monterey

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 58-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Padro for the first time.Fished a small tournament with Auburn bassmasters. Sat best 5 13 lbs. Caught alaught of fish but majority 1.5 one 5 lbr. Sunday got one to go just under 6 lbs but played dumb and was late to weigh in would hav had 3rd place instead. we took last lol. used drop shot ox blood/ morning dawn. who said u cant catch big fish on small baits.
      City: Riolinda

      Tips: Drop shot/ Shakie heads /Dartheads all with fx or Robo worms fish slow. Fish back side of windblown points and sloped bankes. Alaught of the fish have spawned out already so about 2 weeks it will b on Fire.

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 61-62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started fishing at 0730, unfortunately, there was a tournament today. Fished the wall on the south end of the lake from the dam. Caught 6 bass in 2 hours, avg 1-2 lbs, on Blades, and Natural Shad Senkos (Wacky Style). After that, the bite dropped off. caught two more slot-sized spots at Temperance. Bad news: No bass seen in the shallows, the Good News: Eyes have turned red, and some had messed up tails. According to one fisherman who I towed in, he saw males swiming in the shallows at cottonwood, hopefully the spawn will be here soon.
      City: Merced, CA

      Tips: Have patience, fish slow, and avoid Saturdays, almost everyone for the next two onths will have a tournament.

  • San Francisco County
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      Water Temp: cold

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: no luck. 4 bites total. no fish in the tube.
      City: san francisco

      Tips: we fished super slow. some drop shotting was done and some jig flipping. found i lot of lures though.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 55-56

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Saturday took my 8 year old son out for 4 hours. Fished Goat Ranch and Dark Canon. Took about twelve fish on drop shot. My son Zack took two nice slot fish. No reaction bite. I spent alot of time teaching my son how to tie knots. I used the three inch Berkley fluke tyle and purple Robo worms. A little of wind at times. I just wanted to get the boat out with my son
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Not a lot to offer. Drop shot worked for me from 10 to 20 feet. No takers on tubes or jigs

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

      Report: I mean the wind at Sonoma?
      City: Pacifica

Friday, April 4th, 2008

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 54-58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: We held our Annual Fab-4 Spring Fly Fishing Derby on Friday 4/4/08 at Lake Berryessa. The water was very clear, with 15+ feet of visibility. The wind was blowing strong all day. Most fish were showing at 18 - 25 ft deep which meant throwing LC-13 on 8wt or 9wt rods. First place went to the team of Frank & Gary of San Jose while 2nd place went to Tom & Karl of Fremont. All fish were caught in 18+ deep on light-green colored baits. Rocky points with some protection from the wind were the most productive areas.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Fishing slow and deep were the keys to success. One fisherman who broke ranks by using spinning gear reported that drop-shotting minnow patterns in 20+ feet of water produced smallmouth, along with Carolina-rigged 4" worms of light green with sparkle.

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      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The lake is filling, don't know if it will fill completely but it might get close. It is fishable now and will only get better. I caught 10 bass and only fished from 1pm to 5pm. I wish more people would post this lake. It is a nice little lake to fish and has some quality fish.
      City: Red Bluff

      Tips: Take Carol with you she didn't catch a single fish, man is she pissed.

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: 56-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got on water 7AM and had no luck early using dropshot, spinnerbait and spook. Partner caught keeper on senko 9 AM. I caught spinnerbait fish keeper 10am. Lost about 3 pounder behind island 11am on shaking worm and partner caught to keepers on senko there also. Bit of wind and boat enter went really well, used partners boat and he was there last saturday and had lock on so went right in. Guys were really nailing trout. lots of boats and lots of fish. Hope to be going on Monday
      City: Santa Maria

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Is the lake open to private boats?
      City: SB

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: low 60s

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Cliff Croxall of Benicia, CA and I fished April 4&5 (Fri/Sat)in the Frank's Tract and Mildred areas. Air temps were a little warmer than at clear lake, but still cool and windy (wore warm clothes all day). We caught 20 plus bass in two full days of fishing. Highlight for me was catching a 6-6 on a jig/sweet beaver combo in 6-10 feet (my biggest jig fish to date). She was all spawned out in the mid-section but had a huge head (probably a 7-8 lb fish a couple weeks prior). Cliff caught three or four 4 lbers. The rest were in the 2-3 lb range. We primarily pitched sweet beavers on a 3/16 oz texas rig (sprayed grass) and 6" senkos in green or purple. The primary pattern to success was pitching to tule island points with deeper water nearby (5'-20'). Following the high, outgoing tide seem to be best.
      This was my third time fishing the delta. Finally starting to find a method to this madness. Some of Cliff's club members stated they were catching bass on red cranks and spinnerbaits along rock shorelines (7 lber on spinnerbait). We took several great pictures with cliff's new digital camera that could have ended up on the cover of Basswest magazine!
      City: San Diego, CA

      Tips: fish tule island points with deep water access, during the outgoing tide.
      If you get "blown out" of Frank's track with white caps, head to the Holland/Mildred areas where it remains calm and out of the bay breeze.

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      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: d-castro hang in there, the last two weeks we either hit them big or struggled all day. spinner baits worked a week and a half ago. jigs black and blue still ok, chatter bait with swim sinko guarenteed.speed trap crank bait on the rock walls 50 50.today we saw a ten pounder caught on chad crank, it was not us,two days ago fished the incoming with crank and spinning nothing to speak of then put a chatter with a sinko,got a 4 5 5 8 lost a 6 to a seven at boat within thirty minutes then nothing after tide whent high, use the sinko off island tullys when nothing elese works
      City: san ramon

      Tips: weather change are the days not to miss....

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went to the state park today cuz i heard it was on fire last week...fished the launch ramp exclusively..and nailed a nice 3 pounder that fought like a 6...they should start spawning soon...:)
      City: clearlake

      Tips: wait a week or so and the bite should be on fire!!!!!