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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, July 22nd, 2007

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 72-77

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I spent Fri and Sat on a butt seat guiding in strong wind for 14 of the 16 hours! Ouch! Clients were up to the task and the bite was great as usual. Dad and 8 yr old son had a good day on Fri and the boy landed his first bass - cast, hooked, fought, and landed - in the wind!! Another victim of the bass bug!!!! He had a tussle too since it was 2 3/4 lbs. I don't count totals much anymore at Clear Lake but we landed 35+. 6-1 was the biggest and our limit was decent 22-6. Dad caught his biggest in the afternoon. Sat found me with a great fellow and fisherman. As we rocked and rolled, around 45 bass found their way into the boat - his two biggest were 4-13 and 5-0. Decent limit of just under 20 lbs.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I have been converted to the black/blue jig bite - and I add the #157 purple/smoke Yamamoto grub as a trailer - giving me my favorite tri/color - black, blue, purple! If you arn't using the #213 Yamamoto Kreature bait - you should be, especially as the water is finally starting to get slightly dingy. That has really been a good bait lately, even better than my favorite #301. We just Texas rig it - nothing fancy. The green pumpkin Berkley Power worms continue to very good also, especially as the sun get higher in the sky. Both out trips were spend from Anderson Island south - where it is real windy!!!!! Where we can get away with it, many of our quality bass have been in the 20-28 foot depth - even in the wind. However, the 6-1 was in 6 to 7 feet of water in weeds at 11 am. She dined on a 10" Power worm!

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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught several, biggest going 7lbs 3oz on a Yum Dinger near the dam. Thanks to Joel and Zack for helping me find a bag to get the fish to the kiosk for a pic. Release in good shape at the launch.
      City: antioch

      Tips: Keep trying different things until you find what the fish want to eat. Senkos worked last time I was here, but not today.

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Does anyone know if I can launch a 20ft bass boat out there yet.
      City: Hollister

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      Water Temp: 81

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fred and I launched at 2PM and fished till sunset.
      Caught around 10 biggest 2.5#. Picked up one on a jerk bait. Couple on 7" black worms. Water was super clear. Did better toward the back of the lake where the water clouded up slightly. Nothing on a spinner. Lost the fish of a lifetime on a white Snag Proof frog with green rubber strand legs right on the edge of the tules. The water was covered with white tule seed (guessing)? Saw
      her come to the surface open a bucket of a mouth, shake and sent the frog flying, darn!! After that nothing more on the frog despite throwing it the rest of the day ;) We switched to jigs and picked up a few more. Fred caught 4 nice ones on a brown
      jig with a black craw trailer. I got one on a black and blue jig. Toward sunset we started throwing white buzzbaits and picked up two more. Fun day, but hot. Bring lots of water.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Jig the edge of the tules.

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

      Report: Started out launching from spill way Water low but I didnt have to climb up the regular launch. Ha Ha. My son and I went to our usual spot to start the day 5:30am My son started with spinner baits and was on top with 3 nice size spots all in the slot. I was usuing football jig with a hula grub I didnt land a fish untill about 7am then it was on I hit several nice size just below the slot until the mud lines started then we both hit several all out of the slot and 2 went for 4lbs each yes good fish with a good fight ended our day around 1pm at the bridge and landed two small fish with big hearts all fish were released best 5 13lbs
      Always good fishing in Oroville
      City: Rosevile

      Tips: when using jig heads stay in contact with the bottom try different colors during the day they all will work

Saturday, July 21st, 2007

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I was on the water by 6:30 am. There was an Anglers Choice tournament going on with about 20 - 25 boats. I did not stick around to see what the largest fish or largest weigh in was. I started off at the cistern and threw my favorite Cachuma go-to rip bait, the Rapala X-rap ghost white. I caught 2 small smallies real quick but nothing else. I switched over to a weighless wacky-rigged senko (oxblood) and caught 3 lmb's, all about 1 pound. I cruised over to Johnson's bay and through my X-rap again and caught a 1# smallie. I worked my way down the cliffs/walls and did not catch anything. I then cruised back to the cistern and worked my way into Harvey's cove only to get a couple small fish and a few taps. By this time it was about 11:00 am. I decided to try my luck off the drop offs down south. I cruised over to drop off next to buoys between Santa Cruz point and the Tunnel Area. I through a weightless senko wacky-sytle and caught a 1 1/2 # lmb. I then decided to switch over to one of my custom made jigs with a green yamamoto twin tail grub. I caught my cachuma personal best off the second cast. 4 lb's 7 ounces lmb. She fought amazing and I ended my day. I probably caught a total fish of 13 bass and my partner unfortunately could not catch a break with only 3 bites and no fish.
      City: Camarillo

  • Ventura County
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      Water Temp: 76.3

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the night ABA meet with buddy -- A few problems at the start with batteries but we made it to our first stop 20 minutes after blast-off.. Started with dropshot and a few cranks with only short fish and no weighers. Headed to a 2nd stop and hit it with buzz and cranks with one keeper on the crank. was surprosed that the second 'sweet' spot didn't hold up to it's previous takers so we moved again and more or less waited for dark to come. Hit spot three which turned out to be a decent stop and we started pulling in weight - not huge by Casitas standards but they weighed. Culled maybe 5 fish looking for a heavy before the time frame hit but only managed 12 maybe 13-1/2 pounds on 5. Winners in with 23.23 and a big fish weighed in at 8 plus. Not the huge bags as a week or so before but it was a decent night.
      City: Santa Maria

      Tips: Most fish were caught on black baits

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      Water Temp: 76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: TWO,3LBERS FIRST THING ON BLADES,FOUND POCKET OF SHAD AGAINST SHORE LINE AND LILYS PADS,SLOW ROLL BLADE,THEN WENT TO DROP SHOT SHALLOW TO 25 FEET,7IN OX BLOOD LIGHT RED FLAKE AND RED CRAW,1 FISH FOR 7LBS,SMALL BAITS SEEM TO TAKE SMALL FISH,LAST KEEPER SHAKY HEAD 7IN POINT INSIDE CHISMAHOO,5 FISH FOR 18LBS
      City: LA CANADA

      Tips: SHAD AM,THEN SLOW DROP SHOT OUTSIDE WEEDS,POINTS INSIDE OUT OUTSIDE COVES

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

      Report: Made it out early today to very windy conditions. Found some wind relief, fished some tulies and then moved to rocky shorelines Didn't catch anything on the spook, threw the brown and purple jig with twin tail grub trailer and started getting them. Also caught a few on senkos and drop shot MMIII. Overall it was a little slow for me Caught between 15 to 20 but nothing more than 3lbs. Tried for a night bite last night. Not much action before dark. Right before total darkness, nailed 7 or 8 within 10 mins on the same jig, and then nothing else Was out of the water by 1130. Caught these by the county park.
      City: Kelseyville

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 79

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: So a buddy of mine calls me late Friday night to go fishing on his boat. I shouldn't go because I have a whole bunch of things to do, but hey it's fishing! We hit the lake about 6:30AM and we start catching fish right away up river towards Bagby (32 in all.) I am throwing a 6" paddle worm on a light spinning rod catching your typical McClure spotted bass, just having a good ole' time. At 9:00AM I get this hook-up and right away I could tell it had some shoulders to it. I tell my buddy to back up the boat a little (it was a little breezy and we were moving pretty good) as this thing starts peeling off some line. I then get this thing coming back parallel to the boat and it comes to the top of the water and we get a look at it. My buddy says it looks like a four, but I said I think it is a five and the heart really starts pumping. I asked my buddy to get a net because we are going to need it. I get it to the boat, it sees the net, and it just dives. I get it back to the net (this all took about 8 to 10 minutes) and bang, it fills the net. Well, it was not a five. Nope......... IT WAS A 10!!!!!!! What can I say, a fish of a lifetime! What A Day! Thanks Lance for the phone call! I have some pics if anybody would like to see it. Just email me.
      City: Salida

      Tips: My only tip, just keep fishing. You never know when all the stars are going to align and it is going to be your day.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 68-74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had a great opportunity today to take out two daughters and their Dad. They booked a trip for their Dad for Fathers Day and today was the day. As I've been doing lately in this Summer bite, we started out with top water (pop-r's). This morning the bait fish were not out in the open water,but were against the banks. With a good 15 or so blow-ups they landed 8 Spots, one being about 16 inches and the rest in the bracket. After the sun hit the water we started with Gitizts. They had about 8 more bracket fish with the tubes. As it was nearing time to go,we through some rattle-traps in the mud lines for 2 more spots. For just learning to bass fish they did real good with 20 bass.
      City: Paradise

      Tips: Take advantage of the top water action with either pop-r's or spooks first thing in the morning and evening til dark. As the sun hits the water start fishing deeper with tubes, worms or jigs and drop-shots. Anything in the shad colores and brown has been working.

Friday, July 20th, 2007

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: A club buddy and I went out for our third round of the "Delta Classic". With each of us take the title in the two previous, we launched from Russo's in search of honor and glory. The calm of the morning had our hopes high for a great Friday of fishing, but by mid morning we could feel the wind start to build. So having caught several fish in Franks track, we made our way to the middle delta where we found light cooling breezes. 1-3 pound fish were the norm of the day on plastics. In the late morning, we turned to blades around rock and wood with consistance and painfully broke off a good fish with tandem willow in white. We took a break for lunch at Orwoods then decided that we should leave the area before pleasure boaters really got started.

      Heading back to the tract, the wind was in full force, so crossing the tract was out of the question. We started working the protected area around the west side, finding a areas where fish were group up. Spinnerbaits and a red rattle trap continued to produce, with a nice 4+ pound bass inhaling the trap.

      All in all, it was a great day with a club buddy and we must have stroked well over 30 fish on a windy Friday. If you are interested in joining us for future Classics, just go to www.dmbass.com and check out the Devil Mountain Bassmasters. We are a fun and exciting club of recreational fishermen that are dedicated to the pleasure of the sport. Or feel free to give me a call 925-639-7724 and I will be happy to tell you all about the club.
      City: Walnut Creek

      Tips: The Blade bite has really picked up for me. Last week the double willow spinnerbait produced a 9 lb delta monster. This week, I was lighting them up and I broke it off on a solid fish.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 75-80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Is there a better place to fish for Black bass than Clear Lake? I don't think so! Buddy Forrest my son Brandon and myself went out for 3 days of slammin the bucket mouths, we got 24 on Fri 7/20 with a 5.9 on sweeeeeeeat beaver bubba shotin and a 5.3 10 minutes later on sweeeeat beaver shakey head with lots of 1.5 to 3.5 mixed in, 21 lbs on Fri. Sat went up to Shag rock and got 24 little guys 1.5 to 2.5 drop shot watermellon zoom tricks and yamamoto rootbeer hula's on shakey head, 12 lbs on Sat:(, Sunday we tried goosehead and landed 7 and than off to new water we have never fished before in the cove just south of Kanacti and got 23 more to 3.14, 14 lbs on Sat.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Find deep rock, deep tullies lines, deep weeds. On the deep rock just toss up your offering to the bank and drag her back until you get one:)Bubba shot those weeds & tullies with 15 lb test
      with sweet beavers or Robo creatures in watermellon any flake during bright hrs and black blue during darker hrs.Humble time, I can not buy a top water fish:( Help!!!!!!

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      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Another day for the weather man. 6 to 10 mph winds? Double or triple that again? Hit the water with Moto Mike at about 11 am. Mike Nailed a nice keeper 3lbs on brown cooch's wadda jig.Ran to west side to escape wind and found lots of goo and not much water depth around tullies. Still caught 2 nice fish on buzz bait. Moto mike flipped a 6lb'er. Dollar fish for the day. Threw in right after me to same spot? Left west side ran to narrow and many deep docks. Hard work in front with the 3 footers and wind. Still caught lots of 3+ pounders. We left early around 5 pm when our hunger took control. Nice place to eat next to limit out tackle. Best mushroom burgers in Calif. Mike and I had 19 or 20 lbs for a short day in the wind. Still are great place to spend the day.
      City: orangevale

      Tips: Go to heavy jigs and weights in the wind. You don't catch as many but 20 fish in 5 or 6 hours still is nice considering the weather. I go to limit out tackle and look at the lake. If the wind is blowing there I proceed to Lakeport or Lucerne and launch. Saves the day. Red Budd is nice but the ride in the waves can be a long one even in a 21 foot triton.

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

      Report: Well I have been on the sideline lately but finally got on the water.Well I arrived about 6:30am and to my suprise the lake was extremly low.You have to use one of the secondary ramp's now the main one is way out of the water.

      And it was extremly windy even for here.The lake probably should not have been open but went ahead and launched.I tried to fish reaction bait's but it was just to windy i would say at least 30mph.Never had a bite and fished until 11:00.
      City: Salinas

      Tips: Call 1-800-805-4805 before you go here to get the wind condition.

Thursday, July 19th, 2007

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: A duplicate report of T2's except I only caught 8.
      Got the first and biggest of the day on a DT watermelon HulaGrub on the rocky point near the launch ramp, 2#+ (dragging uphill). Very, very windy all day, 1 foot chop with white caps. Caught the rest dropshotting small plastics off of rocky points (15-25')and a few cranking a Rapala DT10 sunfish imitation in the mudlines near stickups.
      City: Monterey

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: well, I tell you what, This is worth the 2 1/2 hr drive any day of the week. This is a real Bass fishery, not a wannabe. Took my 11 year old boy anda rrived early out of Redbud but found too strong of a North wind in my favorite top water spot where I slammed them last year so I had to find the calmest water and that was Buckingham. I quickly nailed a 4.5 on the spook and thought the game was on. Only managed a couple more so I took off to brand new water down south out of the wind, any small little cove I could find to escape the 3 ft rollers and nailed 3 more on the spook including a 5.4. Once sun was up I just targeted the shady docks with my drop shot rig and I tell you what, I have never caught this many 4 lbrs in my life and many 3's. We weighed our first few to make sure they were 4's and sure enough the first 5 were all over 4. It was amazing. took lunch break at 1:00 and started up again in the same spots and you got it, the replenished with a new stock of 3's and 4's. Ended the day around 5:00 looking for shade with top water and the spook came alive with a huge 6.6 that fooled me, I was sure it went 7 but tripled checked the xtool only a 6.6. She was wide but had that post spawn skinny thing going(see photo). ended with 40+ fish for the day best five went just under 26. What a blast!
      City: sac

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      Water Temp: 79-85

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well, really it was my first time fishing Clear lake. I gotta say I had a great time. I mainly fised of the docks of the resort I was staying at, and just killed it!! Almost every cast between 5:30pm and 8:30 was ringer! 2 - 3.5 good fighters all on ZOOM lizards and senko's wacky rig style. On my last day about 1:30pm I got my biggest fish yet 5.5 pounder. My personal best! Now to most people thats not too big, but for me with no boat and no fancy fish locator, I think thats good! In all cought about 25-30 fish on a dock in a 4 day span.
      City: modesto

      Tips: I did real good with 6" ZOOM watermelon red Lizards and any green color 6" senko. My dad had luck with 4"-6" swim baits (minnow and crappie)

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: idk

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: fishing was harsh today. lots of wind. decided to quit the senko for the rest of the day and use a thomas boynton for some crappie. one bite. one bluegill haha.

      i noticed the weeks before this day i saw threadfin shad jumping like crazy in the creeks. im guessing there is active bass in the area.im going there when the wind cuts down.
      City: santa rosa

      Tips: go when the wind breaks down

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Did well at night, caught one 4.2lb spot, and a few over three, several two's. First time fishing here, overall did well for a very clear lake. Mainly spinnerbaits at night
      City: medford

      Tips: Black spinnerbaits and rattle traps