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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, April 15th, 2007

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

      Report: Took two novice fisherman out on a howling day (white caps)to try for some bass. Went into some coves and caught some spots on dropshots in 15'. When it calmed (meaning very small white caps)tried the east side but no takers. Went to big island with just about everyone else and caught somemore spots dropshotting. Finally, went up to the narrows and fished the day in calmer water. No big fish, a few in the 2lbs. No smallies. Caught only a dozen or so and lost a few more.
      City: south San Francisco

      Tips: Used dropshot with 3" worms. Bite very light. Caught a few on senkos when the wind calmed. Watermelon with red. Fish holding tight to cover. Stayed in 30' Afternoon bite much better with senkos and dartheads.

    • By

      Water Temp: 61-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had the priviledge of guiding a police officer from the bay area on Thursday and 2 San Fran. firefighters on Friday. Great guys - who deserved better fishing than they got! Thursday the wind only gusted to 35 MPH so we stuck in the narrows and actually caught 14 bass - the five biggest at 11 1/2 lbs - including some nice largemouth. This was his first bass trip and he caught 6 or 7 in the horrible cold wind. Friday was a mystery - the weather straightened out though it didn't warm up much and the the bite didn't either. I thought the bass would recover more but they didn't and the bite was tough. My clients were good fishermen too. We only caught 12 and the biggest came to the back seater - a 2 1/4 lb smallie - spawned out! There was an amazing amount of boats on the water Friday and they did create a mudline which did bring in some shallow bass.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Again, 6" Robo worms produced most of our bass - MMIII being the best color again. Splitshotting and Texas rigged seemed to have equal results. Friday morning one of the guys threw topwater and did get a little action. He had two small blowups and one pretty good one, but they wern't aggressive enough to connect. Topwater should take off with the next warming trend. The big bass on Thurs - a 3 lb spotted bass, hit a crankbait on the windy side of a wall. We should have followed that pattern more! Senkos worked both days for a few bass (#221 and 222). That pattern will develop in the next few weeks - just throw one off a point in about 20-25 feet of water and be patient! The females will suspend off the points and are suckers for a slow falling Senko. Number 240 starts working well for this technique. I agree with the previous poster - the bite should improve again as the weather settles down. As I am typing this, the post-front north wind is howling again here in Yuba City. Remember, bass like long streaks of steady weather and stable or warming water temps!

    • By

      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Can I just say I hate the wind The fishing started at 7am fished near the Dam with no hits
      Fished the south fork in a nice cove nothing I threw white single tail grub (my usual for nothing I was more worried about the wind than fishing so I packed it up and battled the ocean waves on the way back all in all I got my lawn mowed
      City: Roseville

      Tips: Small light boats stay home

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The water wasnt as clear as it had been 2 weeks ago. But, you could still see bedded fish 4 ft. down. I tossed a Char/White Rod Strainer spinner bait first thing around the county park, 4 fish in the boat, 2-3 lbrs. and as the wind died off from the morning, so did the bite. Went to the swim bait and started to pick up on that bite as the lake laid down. Lot's of fry already in the water. Caught another 5 fish in the 3-4 lb range.
      City: Petaluma

      Tips: For you hog hunters, Tackle It in Lakeport is getting in some more Osprey Swimbaits this week. As the Spawn is over for some of the big Females their gonna want to eat !

    • By

      Water Temp: 57-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished today from 7AM until just after 4PM. Early in the day it was windy and quite cold fishing in the wind. My day started with a nice 5lb rip fish taken after my first few casts. Surprisingly that was it for rip fish for me for the day. The conditons were quite brutal, did I mention the wind and cold? After the first rip fish I picked up the shakey head worm and went to town. I am addicted to this bait. I proceeded to catch 10 more fish over the next 45 minutes casting the shakey head into the teeth of the wind, the fish were stacked up tight and I had no issues catching them until I was too cold to and needed to seek shelter from the wind. I proceeded to head south and spent my day catching fish on the shakey head...the bite isn't quite as hot as it was two weeks ago, but I had no issues finding fish. Total for the day was 33 fish with my best 5 coming in just over 21lbs. Today I fished Buckingha, Glenhaven, Monitor Island (big rollers had to seek shelter behind the island), Boatworks and Baylis point.
      After 3PM or so the wind died completely and did the bite.
      City: Petaluma, CA

      Tips: Don't be afraid of the wind, use it to your advantage, the fish are still there for the most part.

    • By

      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I finaly got to go to clear lake today,I must say if you can fish the california delta good you can tear up clear lake the fish are so easy to catch.Nothing huge big fish 6.0 lbs but a lot of action I really only could fish out of the oaks behind rattle snack but I put plenty of fish in the boat.
      City: P-town

      Tips: I found that the jig bite is really good small 1/4 brown with red and a small craw trailer all fish were in 5 to 10 of water

    • By

      Water Temp: 60's?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Wanted to say thanks to Tom for posting. His tip about shad cranks on the dam rip-rap paid off for me with a 6#, 3#, and 1.5# to help me place 2nd in the Bass-n-Tubes tourney held today. I was crankin a chart/white Norman Deep Little N. The wind was howling!
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Take others advice and expand on it.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 58-61 around th

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I used some of the tips and suggestions you guys had for me. I went and bought some senko watermelon black flake worms. the fish were not really biting and I lost about 5 of them suckers but eventually I got a 14 inch bass, not to big but it was pretty exciting to get the first fish of the day. they stopped biting that where we were and were devouring our night crawlers so i swapped up and we walked away with 5 that day in about a hour or so of fishing.
      but the tips helped a lot.

      thanks again for helping me out, i really do appreciate it.
      City: Chico

Saturday, April 14th, 2007

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Nasty Weather with rain all day. PapaJohn and I had the lake to ourselves with only a couple of other boats out. He went north and I went south. I caught 19 bass with the largest 2lbs. Caught all fish on C-rig plasitcs and 4"robo worm fished using a horizontal drop shot technique in 2-10 ft. Caught them on them main lake mud lines, points and coves - primarily coves due to the calmer winds. Also tried senko with no takers and threw an occasional spinner bait.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: Fish from the bank to 10 ft along mud lines and areas where there is vegetation in the water. Fish flats. Recommend darker colored plastics due to the stained water conditions.

    • By

      Water Temp: 58.8

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Rainy. Fished NW end Caught 8, largest 3#, All on an olive colored Giggy Head (shakey head) with a 6" oxblood straight tailed Roboworm, and C-rig 4" black twirl tail worm. Largest 3#.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Fish were shallow, up against the banks and in the back of the coves.

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We fished from 7:30 to 2:00 and stayed on the Vineyards all day. It rained most of the day and the water temp dropped 5 degrees from last week, making it tough. There was a lot more color in the water and skies were overcast and very little wind. We got a few in the boat on Senkos early in the day then the bite shut off until about 1:00. We started to zero in on a pattern after lunch. Cotton candy/pink plastics were starting to get bit, but the action was not heavy like last week. The bites started coming in the afternoon on carolina rigged lizards and weightless worms dragged slowly along the edge of the weeds. When the sun finally poked through, I cut a pink/purple lizard in half and used the tail end on a brown/purple jig, hopping and swimming it fast through some shallow weeds and that got me a largemouth a little over 3 pounds. We scratched out a limit of about 10.5 pounds in some very tough conditions. The fish were caught in water from 3 to 20 feet and we had to work for them. We ran into some tournament guys having about the same luck as us.
      City: Vacaville

      Tips: It looked like the cold weather this week backed the fish off. Last week, weightless senkos fished above the weeds was working, but this week the fish were definitely not in the same place and when we did find them, they were real picky. When water temps rise again, they should be back up on the beds.

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I got three bed fish in the last three days. I do not consider that to bad considering sight fishing from shore with clouds and wind is pretty tough. All three were around 2 lbs. Yesterday, I walked and tossed my swimbait from the start of Harvey's all the way out of the bay. Turned around and walked back and fished the drop shot. Caught several 1-2 lb fish and a 4 1/4 fatty on a 6" roboworm MMIII. In one bay I lost the biggest smallmouth I have ever seen alive. I tossed my MMIII to the other bank and crawled it down to the bottom (15-20ft) then back up my side. One cast, the line just starting swimming out to the main lake. Set the hook, still swimming out. My Medium G-loomis drop shot rod with 8 lb flourocarbon made me pretty nervous but I finally got it to shore. Trying to find some footing to lip her, I gave her slack. She turned, came unbuttoned and will now just be a memory. That was the one I wanted a replica of. The bites were all very subtle. The long pause or even just a slow drag produced. I wouldnt call it a pattern that would win you a check but from the shore it was fun.

      If you like bed fishing, get up to the delta! 2 weeks ago I had a 31.25 five fish limit!
      City: Goleta

      Tips: Submit reports! Lots of guys out there are reading these and even if your like me, and not to sure. All the puzzle pieces help.

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

      Report: Went out for a couple of hours late afternoon. Caught 3 on wacky rigged green watermelon senko from the shore. Small ones, 1 to 1.5 lb.
      City: Santa Clara

      Tips: You could surf on the waves out there. Wind was howling!

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: don't know

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: my son and i went to clear lake for the first time ever yesterday. taken out by my friend, mark lavine. started at about 9:00 and and finished aroun 4:00. whacked 30 - 35 fish. nothing of size, largest about 3 and a half. not the 30 fish a person days but a hecl of a lot of fun!!! what a fishery!!!! can't wait to get back.
      City: Orinda

      Tips: fished slow with finesse. shakey heads and drop shot caught all but two fish and those two were caught on weightless senkos. got zero reaction bites.

      also got a chance to meet lionkiller. :-)

    • By

      Water Temp: mid 50s

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: cold front made things alot tougher than last week.on the lake for three days two people about 50 fish best one 6 pounds.
      City: sac

      Tips: wait for the water to warm

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out at safe light to 1:45 pm today with my sponsor(LHB). Tons of short strikes on topwater, only hooking up with 2 or 3 of them. Worm bite was still there, along with a blade bite. Fish were smaller for us today, and most of them were spots(only 2 male LMs). Caught about 15 keepers with about 13 lbs. for our best five. The wind continued to change speeds and directions all day plus on and off rain made us keep trying to ajust to what they wanted throught the day. We did get some valuable info though...and that is "My new BPS 100 mph Raingear was well worth the $$$"!
      City: Rocklin

      Tips: Take kids fishing!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Dennie Howard and I fished up the North Fork staying around small rock banks with sand. Most of our 3.0 plus lbs came on a new "capt Jack's" fishing jig in "Green Pumkin with green/purple flake" in 10-15 ft of water. Darter head a small worm and using a leach also. By the end of the day we had 12 bass over 3 lbs and 2 over five. A total of 35 bass and a 5 fish for 17.5 lbs.

      I just got back from two weeks with B.A.S.S. in Stockton and at Clear Lake. what a fun job working with the PRO'S from the Elite Series.
      City: Rocklin

      Tips: Have fun and wait for this cold front to by.

    • By

      Water Temp: Didn't check

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Threw swimbait for an hour, nothing. Went upriver to NY and area to underwater bridge. !/4 oz brown jigs, thumbs are sore and torn up. Only saw two other bass boats.
      City: Sac

      Tips: Throw to the bank, they are everywhere. Dumped about twenty keepers on the old bridge. Good luck Jim

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

      Report: I started with senkos and nailed a few decent fish.Then I started throwing a lunker punker top water and had numerous large fish follow. I finally got one big blow up. After a short fight I landed what my berkley scale said was a 7.3lb Bass. My first swimbait fish! Lookin forward to more swimbaiting.
      City: farmington

      Tips: If you get fish following. Keep throwing because eventually one is going to grab it!

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 59-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Off the chart fishing as usual this time of year. I don't know how not to catch fish in this lake. Has to be the most fertile, healthy lake in California. In three days the four of us caught and released 372 spotted bass with about 35 over the slot. (Last year we had 552 for three days). Biggest went 17 inches. This is a fun lake. Carolina rigged morning dawn worms from 2' down to 25 '. Also spinner baits from time to time. Others were throwing jigs and catching them too.

      Tips: Fish were everywhere. Trees are always holding fish. Waterfalls also. Steep rocky banks. Everywhere we went we caught fish. Shold only get better as the water warms.