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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Friday, April 27th, 2007

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60/65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Ran up to Putah Creek for a change. Love the area. My buddy Mike Dean and I caught 40 decent fish. Tubes in shad patterns worked best. I like to check the teeth of my fish to see how sharp the teeth are. Today they were like razors. So the shad bite was on. We tried to make the shakey worm work like it did on clear lake but the tubes kicked butt. We caught a real mixed bag of smallies (bless there hearts) spots and blacks. Largest fish was a nice smallie 2.5 lbs. Best 5 were 10+. Played tag with an 18 wheeler going to lake and had to wait for CHP to make report or we could have tried top water baits. My triton fender looks like a shark tried to eat it. What a bad driver. But it's all good. Bella Vista is 8 and 0 in softball Capital league and life is good.Take your camera to the lake and catch the eagles and deer.
      City: orangevale

      Tips: Some fish wanted bait dead still some ate it reeling it in? Fish 5 to 15 feet.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Hey Trevor,

      Yes there are Stipers at CFW. One of my bass club members caught a 15 pound striper about 2 years ago jigging a Kastmaster, so I know they are in there.
      City: Lincoln

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 67-72

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: the fishing was very good again in 1.5 days two in the boat we got 90 bass best around 7lbs one 5 lbs a few 4lbrs and lots of 2&3lbrs what an awesome lake when things are right.fished with big wayne for the first time looking foward to many more trips.
      City: sac

      Tips: BLACK SENKOS,BLACK SENKOS,BLACK SENKOS&DID I MENTION BLACK SENKOS.

    • By

      Water Temp: 60+

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Just got back from the FWL tour. Fist tournement since High School. I was back seat and boy was I backseat on the last day. First day got 12lbs. Second day my Pros lower unit blow up in the first 5 minutes. So we trolling motered bac k to Konocti and I got 15lbs.
      we made a decent day of a bad one. But he did bed fish a litle leaving me hanging..... The last day I got a lousy 10lbs and was lucky to get that cause we we flippin in Cache creek all day and the proI had that day would flip in evey hole first the yell net (even if the fish was 2 lbs)then he would float off the spot while he weighed and put his fish away and rerigged his line, totally F*cking me. so I spent most of the AM dealing with this. I was ready to jump in and swim back to Konocti. Any hope of qualifying for top 10 was history. FRUSTRATING. I am gong back Monday to fish FOR FUN!!!! I miss being in control of my fishing destiny in my Ranger. Even if it is an 1983 373V. Its fast and does what I want. My family was with me all 3 days so that made it worth it. My 4 and 7 year old got on stage with me the last day. Cool.
      City: Petaluma

      Tips: Stay away from back seats in big tounements. Or just pray you dont get a Pro who doesnt give a F*ck about you in the back.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Nice day, no wind, caught a few small blacks wacky wormin, then hit paydirt with a 10lb black bass. I'm ready for topwater.
      City: L.B.

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 60-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished McClure today from about 7am until noon. We fished all over the lake from Temperance to Horseshoe Bend. It was a little slow for this time of year. The water was amazingly clear, you could see the bottom in 20-25 feet of water. Caught all fish today on small soft plastics in natural colors (browns, clear-smoke). Best action came when the wind started blowing. Mostly dead calm all day though. Most fish caught w/ boat in ~40-50 feet. Fish slow and finesse them into biting. No reaction fish today.
      City: Atwater

      Tips: Slow, natural, finesse presentation. Check out the fishing section at the Snelling 76 station.

  • Mendocino County
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      Water Temp: 64 Degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Wnet fishing on saturday morning at 7:00am, picked up a large mouth with a kast-master in a cove.4 pounder! Sunday morning i went back to the same cove and picked up a 8 pounder, striper on the same lure. it slowed down and we went to the cliffs by the old winery,landed a 10.5 pound striper.few boils not to many.few minutes late a friend picked up an 18inch stiper on a rapala. it was a great day on the lake more to come!!
      City: Ukiah

      Tips: look for boils!

    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Team Bunting whacked them today...19 nice bass caught and released. John got 11 and I got 8. Biggest were 3 1/4, several 2 1/2, and some at about a pound. John's came on craw and creature-bait plastics either T-rigged or Carolina rigged. Mine came on buzzbaits and a T-rigged Swimming Senko. While a few were taken by sight-fishing in the shallows, most came from 10 to 12 feet deep. Not as crowded as on the weekends but there were still several bass anglers on the lake. Weather was as nice as it gets with clear sunny sky and virtually no wind until about 2:30 p.m. when it started up.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Long casts are needed to keep from spooking the fish in the very clear water. Slower retrieves of soft plastics seem to work best. Even a slow retrieve of buzzbait seemed to draw the most strikes.

Thursday, April 26th, 2007

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

      Report: Hey guys-- Almanor is heating up! Back to back tournaments coming up May 5&6. Great Basin Bassers on Saturday, Cal. Bass Fed. on Sunday. Both of these are team opens and you can sign up at the launch(The Dam). Be there early. With this weather and moon........ Email if you need to.
      City: Redding

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: 63 or so

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Wife and I tried drop shot off flats and near island; not many takers. Went to senko on edges of bays, very good. Lot of fish just not much size. Mix of small and large mouth. Fished medium banks, not the cliffs.
      City: Santa Barbara

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: WOW Kevin you were'nt BSing. i couldnt get a top water going but anything else that hit the water got nailed. big fish 6.9 on a blade, traps working big time. and the first thing in the morning was a flip bite. a really great day, bout time things started for the non pros. very large schools of 6" bass all over the place.
      City: san ramon

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Gin clear water could see bottom at 14 ft in all 5 areas I fished during a 4 hr trip today. I managed 7 total including a 3 1/2 smallie. Used senkos,drop shot, small rip. I am surprised JimS was able to get a vibration bite because of the clear water in the main lake, must have been pretty windy. I tried my proven spots this time of year with the same baits I usually use and it was much slower then expected. I did have 1 swim bait hit off a rock pile 40 ft from shore in 5ft of water, must have been small because it did not load up all the way. I also had 1 5lb spot follower later in the day and in the same cove I did get 1 bed fish, a male but it was fun. Try the swimbaits on Folsom, the fish seem interested.
      City: Sacramento

    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 4 hours in the afternnon. 5 fish - biggest was 5 pounds. Used shakey head trick worms, wackey senkos and drop-shot. Big fish came on drop-shot in Whiskey Creek.
      City: Valley Springs

      Tips: Fish the points, very slow with Robo's margarita multilater.

  • Palo Pinto County
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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: launched at 930 went strait to the "narrows" or channels in the back. Met a cool dude named Scott there and he was slayin' them for pinto's standards. Ended up hangin with him and pullin in 2 up the 3.5 lbs. Scott had 5 good tourney fish right around 14 lbs for the 5. I think we "might" have found a pattern here but I'm not sure....
      City: Watsonville, Ca

      Tips: persistance is key. I have visited this local lake here in watsonville over 15 times in the last 10 months and have yet to get on a pattern that will last. Thrown everything and done laps around the lake with little luck.

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I thought I was at Clear Lake today! The wind blew from the north this morning and then rather strongly from the south in the afternoon as clouds moved in. The cool down didn't help the bite as my client and I only caught 14 and missed several. We fished the narrows and Skiers Cove. We caught a few on topwater this morning which was fun. The fish got bigger about noon with another spot a little under 3 lbs being the biggest. We caught other nice spots between 2 and 2 1/2 lbs also. Things really changed in two days. The smallies were very active in preceeding trips - today, only one! Only 2 or 3 largemouth also, the rest - all spots. Thankfully the spots bite when the weather acts up!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We caught bass from 5 feet deep to 20+ feet - really no pattern. Our quality spots were all found on off-shore structure. Smaller bass were on the bank. The small brush hog in watermelon and green pumpkin again was the top attracter. The Chug Bug and the Sammey produced our topwater action, though most of the bass we caught and missed were smaller. Tough day to figure out the bite. I thought the cloud cover would turn them on - it didn't!

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63/67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: FISHED SAME AREAS I DID ON MONDAY FOUND CONDITIONS TOUGH BRCAUSE OF WIND AND FRONT MOVING THROUGH MANAGED 3 FISH LARGEST 4 PDS ON A WATERMELLON LIZARD 15/20 FT LEVEL LET THE WIND DRIFT RHE BOAT
      City: ANTIOCH

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished the recent FLW Stren series at Clear Lake as a co-angler. I had a great time, caught quite a few fish and met a few fellow nutcases from this site. Overall I finished very poorly (128/189) as I missed several key bites that would have helped me greatly. I thought the tournament was very organized and very well run. My day 1 pro was a very nice fisherman from AZ. We fished the Red Bud arm targeting rocks and docks and suspended fish (BIG, BIG fish too). Overall I ended up catching about 10 fish on the shakey head worm weighing in 5 that went just over 11 lbs. My big fish bite for the day was a 4-6lb fish that spit the shakey head on its 2nd jump. Shoot. My day 2 pro was a very patient, shakey head fisherman from WI. We spent the day mainly fishing the shaky head worm in the south lake. I didn't land many fish this day. I did however catch a nice, fat 4-14 on a Basstrix minnow skipped under a dock. Unfortunately this
      turned out to be my biggest fish landed for the entire tournament. Ten minutes before we were due to check-in I hooked a GIANT in the tules
      south of Fraser point (possibly approaching a PB size) on the Basstrix minnow, but this fish also spit the hook after a brief fight. I got a decent look at the fish, enough to make me just about break down and cry. Shoot. My best 5 on this day tipped the scales at just over 13 lbs. My day 3 pro was a fisherman from SoCal and he was AWESOME. I had an excellent, excellent time fishing with this pro, learned a lot, lost a few more big fish (uggh) and got a nice and very much appreciated, up close and personal lesson in flipping heavy cover for monster fish. Was funny as heck too as I really cannot say I've flipped much before and whenever my pro would set the hook on a fish in the heavy cover it was like a bomb went off in the front of the boat; tules, sticks and weeds flying everywhere and here comes a fish rocketing into the boat. In all honesty the first few times this occured it scared the bejesus out of me. Funny indeed. I was able to catch 3 nice fish behind the pro drop shotting a MMII fat worm while he was flipping. Earlier in the day I caught a small 2.5
      on the Basstrix (one good thing about this tournament is I now have a ton of confidence in this bait) lost about a 3.5-4 on the Basstrix
      minnow and then lost a decent fish (I would guess over 5 but I never saw it) on the shakey head worm (Shoot). I also lost a nice 3.5+ on a
      spinnerbait early in the afternoon. We spent the morning fishing the south lake and flipping in Cache Creek. The afternoon was spent sight fishing and throwing frogs in the north end of the lake. My pro caught several fish on the frog, but again nothing over 4.5 lbs. Bummer.
      I took my 5th and final fish on the drop shot and ended the day with a small 12lb limit. I ended the tournament with just over 37lbs and felt I could have ended closer to 47 or 50 if I could have landed a few key bites. Overall it was an excellent experience for my 2nd tournament ever and it got me quite pumped to fish the FLW NG at Clear Lake this coming October. For now back to fun fishing at one of the world's best bass fisheries.
      City: Petaluma, CA

      Tips: Get out and fish. MMII worms, Basstrix 6" Paddletail swimbaits, shakey head worm in watermelon and MMII colors.

    • By

      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Wow was it windy...started out of Red Bud but way to windy so I found some sheltered areas and managed 20-25 bass with most between 3 and 4 pounds with a 5.14 kicker. It was the first day of the Stren tournament and with that came several Stren teams that would pull right up on my boat less than 20 feet at times (unreal) 19 miles of lake and they have to sniff my behind. I took down a couple of hull #'s and I hope to report them and with any luck they will be DQ'd.
      Water very rough all day and while coming back must have speard at least 8 waves. Fishing was still very good to say the least. All my fish came off of jigs 3/8 oz brown head with 5" DT 221 hula grub.
      City: Lincoln

      Tips: Bring extra clothes when it's windy like that becasue you will get wet.

    • By

      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: SKUNKED!!! We tried every lure known to man. I suspect it has something to do with the lake level having been lowered by at least a foot in the last week or so. Overcast with lots of wind.
      City: Concord

      Tips: Call ahead to check lake level.

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I will be camping up there this week and will report back. Hoping to catch alot of crappie and bass. Ive fished this lake like 6 times in my life and have never managed a keeper bass. They all seem to be very small. Hopefully i can change that this week!
      City: San Bruno