Submit
Report

Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: All the fishing shows and all the small talk with other anglers from years past, all have boasted that FALL time fishing is great. To be honest, I've had maybe one good Fall fishing season in my life time...maybe 2. It's not exactly a super slow winter bite, but boy was it tough out there on saturday. My dad and I were out there fun fishing and saw alot of boats from local tourneys and WON BASS. So maybe they took all the fish? Anywho, worked on my jerkbait technique (something I've never put much time and effort to learn) and boy was I glad i did. I didn't catch any big fish, but I was really impressed with how fun and easy JERK BAIT fishing was. Just worked tule islands with DEEP drop offs (20+ ft) and kept the bait paralell to the tules. I played around with the cadence and found out 2-3 second pause, then drag the bait, and pause again worked out best. Lost a really good sized fish at the boat, she just nailed it right before I was about to drag the bait again. If you've never tried the LUCKY CRAFT STAYSEE, now is the time of year to get your hands on one. These baits suspend with perfection, and dive deep enough into the fish's target zone. I ended up catching 12 bass for the day, while my dad couldnt catch anything. He got to the point where he just put down the bass rod and went crappie fishing. And when I saw him pull up 10 crappie+blugill in 5 minutes, I did the same thing. Bass bite was frustrating, but fishing with dad and enjoying the water made the day all good!!!
      City: el cerrito

      Tips: When the bass aren't hitting, go for either stripers or crappie. Wish I was a better fisherman to give you a better tip....Good Luck everyone.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished with a new club buddy on Sunday. We started the day looking for Stripers in Disco with no luck and after a few hours gave up and went bass fishing. It was a brutal day over all, my partner got one blade fish at about 10:00. Otherwise, not a bite to be had. After working the south delta most of the day on an out going tide, I suggested that we work our way back to the Franks tract area and water that I knew well and should hold fish. The tough bite continues for the next few stops Holland, Gino's point and Rondo's cut. When we got to the condo complex (Named because when a fish moves out, another moves in and all of my Devil Mountain buddies know where I am talking about.) I decided to break out the Bang and douse a beaver. Sure enough, I popped two keepers at the condo and my buddy got another. The next stop, produced another 2.5 pounder. With the day almost over, I told him that I had a striper spot to try. I couldn't beleave it when he popped to keeper in the 8 lb class on a tail spinner.

      If you are tired of fishing alone, the Devil Mountain Bassmasters is the place to be. www.dmbass.com or call me at 925-639-7724

      Next meeting Nov. 7, 7:00 at Legends and Heroes in the Diablo Creek golf course off of highway 4. Please come join us.
      City: Walnut Creek

      Tips: When the going gets tough, go heavy on the scent, I was using craw.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Folsom Lake last Saturday and had six fish for 9.5 pounds. Nothing spectacular but very few fishermen were catching anything. Not a bad bag for the conditions and water level. Had to stay with the same pattern for six hours to squeak out six fish.
      City: Roseville

      Tips: Carolina Rig with a half ounce barrel weight with an eight pound leader 4 feet long. I fished a berkeley gulp worm in green pumpkin and fished a watermelon red brush hog in 20-30' of water. The key to getting the active fish was to fish windy banks with bass in the bait balls. If you found fish without bait around they would not go. The key was to keep coming back through the bait and bass as they moved and fish very thoroughly. Do not spend your time running around. When you find the bait and bass stay there and keep milking it.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Man we wacked'em fish are all over the bank. This weekend when the storm moves in the fish will more than likley be in the first 10 feet of water. We got over 50 fish today all on drop shot in 15 feet of water. Are top five were about 13 pounds. I havent done this well since the spring.
      City: yuba

      Tips: Color matters. We started tossing arons magic, nothing. Oxblood no good. The ticket was stait brown no other color. Cant wait till we get some rain. The lake is real low. The fish are starting to lose there red spots.

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 8 hours and they everything had lock jaw worse then Jenna Jameson after a porn shoot
      2 dinks all day fished all points high and low
      City: Salinas

      Tips: Don't teach a pig to sing it frustrates you and irritates the pig

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63-68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Wow! A no-wind day and bluebird skies with clear water and my 3 clients actually caught a bunch of bass! This was their first time with a guide and first serious bass trip. They are all brothers and a hoot to fish with. However, they sure found every snag at the bottom of Berryessa, har!!! How many times did I retie for them? We did find bass in some submerged wood, thus the snags. But many bass too!! They really picked up drop-shotting very quickly and one of the guys did well split-shotting Robo worms (MMIII). Again, we looked for the bait and bass were there, but not as many as previous trips. Amazingly, maybe because of flat water conditions, the spoon bite really died - we only got a few. The subtle drop-shot bite with Basstrix flashtrix 4" minnows was a good as ever. 4" Berkley Power worms worked too. Near the end of the trip, about 1:30 pm, as I was running to a new spot, I made a last minute turn to a point that I knew had deep water and shadows - bingo!!!! They caught a bunch!! Two brothers were on the back of my 520 Ranger hooking bass after bass and including a double hookup. Fun to watch people enjoying the heck out of bass fishing! The other brother got big fish for the 3 man tournament - a 2 3/4 lb smallie. We wound up with 26 in the boat - including several largemouth, and a best 5 of near 12 lbs. They probably missed as many as they landed - pretty good bite for tough conditions! After letting them off at Markley, I got a burger at Steele Park and tried a little night fishing. A north wind came up in the evening at killed the topwater bite, though I got a 3 1/4 largemouth on a Chug Bug. About 4 or 5 more after dark - all smallies - but very slow fishing since most of the bass are suspending now after dark. A fun 22 hour day (and night)!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: There are more and more shadows now since the sun is lower on the horizon, and the lake is down 23 feet. By the way, the lake seems to have stabalized for the time being - still at the 23/24 foot level. On clear days, look for shadows in the narrows along steep walls - they should hold daytime fish. The bait seems to have stayed in the same places but the bass are moving some. I fooled around with Rodstrainer jigs and got a few bites but couldn't nail 'em. We saw some surface activity once in awhile, but most were small bass. We are now having early fall weather in late fall which is keeping the water temp above average and might delay the appearence of large bass, pre-feed for winter. It will happen eventually!!

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-63

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out for a bit with the better half, been slayin em crankin the grass. Top was around 9 lots in the 2-5 range. Been a great summer/fall for cranks, blue and silver worked best for me hands down, though craw a close second. As always cover is the key, run the cranks right through!
      City: Modesto

    • By

      Water Temp: 63.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got to Rivers End Marina only to find 40 boats getting ready for a tournament. Got out 15 minutes ahead of them got to my spot off Clifton forebay, and got two stripers right away. One small keeper and a 6# keeper. Then here they came, not only the 40 plus boats from Rivers End, there were 60 boats from another marina. Over 40 minutes of boats flying by which put the stripers down and killed the bite. Headed off to find Black bass and everywhere I went there were boats parked on the spots. Went to middle river and discovery bay, all loaded with boats and all the boats complaining, NO FISH . I ended up with 5 bass that totaled 13#s. My friend with me got only 2 small fish. we got out before the tournament boats got back. When they came in the first few boats had No fish. We left before the rest got in. Blacks came on top water and spinnerbaits fished real slow. Stripers came on top water also.
      City: brisbane

      Tips: get away from the crowd. should be a crankbait bite but it is not on yet. Fish topwater SLOW. Pop it and leave it sit, then pop it again. Spinnerbaits gently laid down, then just tick the tops of the weeds as it falls.

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sonora Bass Anglers held their November Tournament here today. 16 teams launched out of North Shore. Only 2 teams brought in limits. Tough day for most but not for all. The winners, Mike & Larry Freeman had 12.36 lbs for 5 fish. All were caught on the main lake cranking, top water, and plastics. The top 7 teams all fished the main lake. Big fish of the tournament was caught by Chris Richardson on a shad crankbait. Top water in the morning over grass beds, jigs & dropshotting the breaks caught most of the fish. All the bigger fish came on reaction early in the morning. Good Luck

      Tips: The fish were all relating to shad. Find the shad and you find the fish. Throw a Sammy over grass beds at first light. As the sun gets higher, fish the breaks and islands tops on the main lake. DO NOT FISH UPRIVER!!! Only small fish. Fish are not in the wood, don't waste your time. Remember SHAD presentaion!!!!

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: not sure

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went out of the oaks at 630 am. fished paradise cove, caught a 3 pounder on a hologram shad robo worm. drop shoting and I was throwing a yamamoto hula grub. I caught 2 3 pounders 1 4 pounds. and several others in the 2 pound range. all on the hula grub,I would take the legs off of the grub and drop shot the grub and hula skirt. we ended up with a total 13 fish. the water temperature has definetley droped since last week.not to bad for not having any electronics.
      City: sacramento ca.

      Tips: fish slow most of the fish were caught in about 10 to 15 foot .off rocks.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Alright, the bass are not in feeding mode. Spent 3 hours on the water this morning and got one lousy shaker on a green/silver worm drop shotting. We tried chatters, swimbaits, spinners, spoons, lipless cranks and jigs. Anyone been able to catch a decent amount of fish in this last week? I think we are getting killed by the barometric pressure. It's finaly on the downtick as I write this so hopefully the fall bass'n will pick up this week....not sure if I'll make it out though.
      City: Rocklin

      Tips: Don't eat yellow snow.

  • Merced County
    • By

      Water Temp: 66.1

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The fishing was slow at the trash racks. Managed to land one 4 lb'er on a jumbo minnow. Ran to Portuguese cove and metered some fish at 60'. Landed some the 2-5 lb range. The lake is rising fast.
      City: Menlo Park, CA

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: I dunno

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Humboldt Bass "Club" had a turkeyshoot out there on the 3rd. Winners won with ~15 lbs of smallies. Fish were picked up by drop-shotting in 50+ ft of water. Thats about all I know!
      City: McKinleyville

      Tips: All I know is that if i had fished it, I certainly wouldn't have been dropshotting and probly would have lost!

Friday, November 2nd, 2007

  • Santa Barbara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63-67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished with a nice guy ( Sam ) looking to further his understanding of the lake today. We had a tough bite and took it in stride. I believe we would have done much better if we had had the wind from a few days earlier but on this day it was very minimal. While that makes it easier to fish...it makes it harder to catch! We caught fish on spoons, jigs, and dropshot worms. The shad all seem to be from Santa Cruz to the river. We ( I ) wasted alot of our day looking for fish on the ledges off of the flats but there was nothing going on there or on the shear walls. Very different year than last. Did catch a crappie on a spoon and briefly had a big carp on the line ( again! ). We could see fish in 4 feet of water so we left them and came back an hour later where I caught one of the healthiest 4 1/2 pounders (weighed on a scale) I've seen in the lake this year. One bigger 2 1/2 pound smallmouth ....Things were downright tough. The largemouth was in 10 feet of water on a Peanut butter and jelly 1/2 0z. jig with a brown black and red flake trailer and the smallie came on a chrome 3/4 oz. spoon cast to a ledge and hopped back to the boat. The smallmouth was hacking up really large and red crawfish so I think oxblood light red flake is a good worm choice and a little orange or red on the jig might help too.
      City: Ojai

      Tips: The lake is turning over to some degree and will be tough for a while if there is no wind. If the wind blows do not retreat but get out a blade (shad in nature) or a ROF5 Huddleston ( shallow running swimbait) and fish the wind blown banks. The fish that are eating seem to be the shallow ones. I think the deep fish are full ;)

  • Riverside County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Topwater & LC staysee bite is going great on the main lake in the AM. Once the sun gets up I'm finding big fish on the main lake points suspended about 35-40 feet down and getting them on weighted swimbaits. My bait is probably about 25 feet down.

      Drop shots are also taking some fish shallow as well.

      Water Temp: 68 degrees
      Water Visibility: 12 feet down
      Conditions: Sunny, light breeze
      Rod: Dobyns 795 Mike Long Swimbait rod
      Reel: Rick Clunn BPS 5:2
      Line: Sunline Shooter 15lb
      Fish Depth: 35-40 feet
      Bait: New prototype swimbait (2008 release) 5" w/ 1oz weight


      <img src="/shared/photos/photos/resized/4928_resized.jpg">
      City: Irvine, CA

      Tips: Mark the fish on the main lake, back off, and throw swimbaits at them or spoons.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: played hookie friday and sure glad I did. Was able to find quality fish feeding on bait balls in 25-35ft. best areas were close to deep water. the bite was almost every cast from 11am-12:30pm. did best on drop shot and dragging. stuck out spooning. Caught 13 spots and 2 smallies; best 5 going around 12-13 lbs.
      City: EDH

      Tips: don't pee on the electric fence

Thursday, November 1st, 2007

    • By

      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: No Reaction bite today. All the fish came on Hula grubs (any colors). Windy points hold the most and the better fish. Best 5 for about 10#.
      Much slower than the past week.
      City: folsom

      Tips: Take your boots, so you don't get your feet wet putting the boat...

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: i concure with the last report. thought i was in the FLW yesterday. 2 boats on every spot. all the fish i managed ware small and dragging a jig and pig in 20 to 30 foot of water. missed a lot of bits the ones i caught were like the lure was hung or a little resistance and i set.
      but the weather could not have been better.
      all the boat traffic sucked.
      City: san ramon

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I wanted to get to the lake at sunrise but didn't make it. Started fishing about 9 am and quit at 12:30 pm. Very bright sky and no wind made for tough conditions. My first Duh! spoon fish was a bluegill about 3/4 lbs in 40 feet of water!! I missed 4 or 5 bites on the 3/4 oz spoon but did land 5 spots to 3 lbs 2 oz. The total weight was only about 11 lbs. I fished the main body structure and did fish some up the river arm. A few bass were working bait but overall kinda slow because of the bluebird skies. One of the bass I lost was a good one, and, I had a brown trout follow my spoon all the way to the boat. Would have been fun to hook her (maybe?)! Oddly enough, most of the ones I lost were on a jig.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: While most bass are still deep, some are moving to more shallow water. Unfortunately, the lake is still dropping, which hinders shallow migrations.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: went out today with my daughter drop shot all fish worked water from 20' to 40' small 4 inch worms soft bite caught a nice 3 pound smallmouth jumped right in the boat.
      City: Roseville

      Tips: there were about 10 bass boats out today didnt see anyone else catch anything anyone care to share there day email me