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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: fished a for about 6 hrs. on Sunday in Nice, and saw A LOT of big fish (10+) Most all of the fish that I caught were on jigs and a small realistic crawfish bait on a darthead fishing dead slow. All of the bites are EXTREMELY hard to detect, but everytime you set the hook, it's atleast a 3-1/2 lb. fish. When the water got choppy, I went to a revenge blade or a ripbait and had plenty of action. Also, do not be afraid to try senkos. The fish will absolutley engulf senkos and small sweet beavers pitched into shallow cover, but mind you, all of the shallow fish that are easily caught are males. Your best bet for the big fish is fishing out from the bank over submerged grass and tules. These fish are eating like heck, but when fishing I'm sure you guys will realize that these fish are over pressured and I believe that they have learned the many subtleties of the difference between plastic and the real thing. Just think like the bass and try to use natural colors and be as realistic as possible on your lure selection. I got a lot of fallows on a 7" mission fish but no takers!! I had one about 8-1/2 follow the thing for atleast 40 feet. I could see the fish behind the bait, and it looked like a big submarine!!!! Just remember if you find a spot that you don't absolutely kill em' in, just stay a while because there are bound to be fish there. Pay attention to your line, and use as light of line and rod that you can get away with. It will help you feel the fish pick the bait up better. They are not hammering the bait!! The bite is very subtle. Take advantage of spots you can find that do not have twenty boats in them. Just because they don't look good to the fisherman, doesn't mean they don't look good from the bass' point of view. GO FISHING!! You will catch biggins, but you need to fish slow and methodical, unless you just get lucky and fish a vicious school of 6 pounders (GOOD LUCK!)
      City: Upper Lake

      Tips: Fish slow with a methodical presentation. The fish are eating, but finding them is your task!! See ya on the lake.. The water is clear and you'll be able to see a lot of big fish shallow. Never mind them, they are hard to catch, and there are plenty of others just like her about 30 feet behind you, just think like the bass and you will see the results!!!

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: launched the boat around 10:30am headed up to the bridge. caught 5 spots in my first six casts from 1.5-2.5 lbs. With a full stringer in the first ten minutes i decided to see if i could limit out on crappie too so I found the first submerged tree i could and started working it over with crappie jigs. caught over 100 crappie in about 4 hours. kept 15 males for fish taco's.
      City: yc

      Tips: all bass caught on robo worms in purple, all crappie on shad immitation jigs.

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for 3 hours before work. Only 2 fish...First was 2 lbs. on drop shot on eastern shore along tulies. Second was a good 7 lb. female 10' off rocks on lucky craft lipless crankbait in american shad pattern. She swallowed this lure so deep I had to cut it off and remove it from behind her gill plate.
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Fish are starting to come up shallow. Saw a few shaking the tulies either making nests or chasing bluegill. Spawn should be on soon...until then, find the warmer water while the weather is cool.

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58@ Dam 60-62@

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out three days in a row last week and caught a 6+ each day(all C/R). Two off a huddleston and one off a jig. One fish was 8.1 right near the docks. I think that the only fish that are up spawning in the whole lake are right near the docks. These are the only beds that i have seen and i think that these bass spawn earlier than the rest because the structure doesn't really change in regard to the rising water. There is so little change to structure and the south end is about 3-4 degrees warmer.
      City: Dublin

      Tips: Throw swimbaits for the big ones. The lake is about to turn on when it fills up. PLEASE PRACTICE CATCH AND RELEASE!

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 57 to 61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: went out about 10:30. stuck a 6, 5, and a few 3's all spots. buddy got a 7 1/2 black. all on huds 5's and 12's any pattern.
      City: cool

      Tips: Look for area's you think a bass would spawn in and try to find some sort of structure near those spots. Could be 10 feet deep, or 25 feet deep. Some bucks are up but the big ones are watching. If you cant find them just cruse the banks looking for beds, or bass. when you find them turn around and cast to the middle. This is not the most effecient way of catching them but its how I found them.

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: went out and its been the same for about the last month all fish over 5 lbs, but ive been going at it with a lavender shad crank, and a storm swimbait, im am tossing a lot of large swimbaits and they seem to do the trick. i got 6 fish averaging 5to8lbs, on the boat dock side in the rocks. On the backside ive got them in about 6 to 10 feet of water. look for the fish in the shallows they seem to be getting a tan on the backside. If anyone is looking for someone to go out with i need a boater I am on the shore for now!! i know berryessa, hennessy and delta, for stripers I get em good in the napa river and have some secret areas. thanks good fishing!!
      City: st helena/vacaville

      Tips: remember to spot, dont scare em in the shallows there some biggies in them. I know everyone at this lake likes the soft plastics and spinners, get on the cranks and you'll see some great fish.

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 64 Degrees

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: It was overcast and raining off and on from 0730 to 0900. I used smoke senkos in the corner of the dam and along the rock wall. After 10 Bass averaging 3 pounds, I switched to cinnamon brown 5" Senkos and on the first cast landed a 6 lb spot along the point 100 feet up from the west side of the dam. The fish went nuts over this as the sky was darker. I had better luck throwing up on the bank and dragging it in. Most of the hits were in 2 feet of water, but at least 50 feet away from the boat. What I would do is drift and throw parallel to the bank. All Senkos were hooked up wacky style...Saw alot of big fish. Caught alot of 2-3 pounders in Temperance as well, mostly on baby bass laminate senkos after the sky cleared up a little... After all was said and done, caught 50+ Bass. My best five would have gone for 22 lbs.
      City: Merced, CA

      Tips: give the fish room....they still spook easy. If they see you, they head out...I think right now that senkos are the best choice, wacky style...saw many bass fisherman throwing and nailing lots of fish...All the fish had mangled tails..so you know what that means...

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: THE BRUSH HOG IS ZOOM COLOR #86

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: KW,

      I forgot to mention that we caught a nice crappie on a spinnerbait. It must have been 12-14", it shook off just as we were getting ready to lip it. Did catch a few on wacky rigged senkos over the week but didn't stick w/ it to see how effective it could be. Midnight Chart. baby brush hogs? Is that a new color?
      City: Atwater

      Tips: KW is right, the fish are everywhere. We caught fish at every stop throughout the week. Never made it into Piney or Horseshoe though. I was trying to conserve fuel w/ prices over $3.00 a gallon.

    • By

      Water Temp: 60s

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Got to my spot at 3:oop.m. Started with lizards and senkos. Caught 3 within a hour,all under 4#.I did release all 3






      Started with lizards and senkos,caught 3 under 4#.I did release all Crissy!! Topwater later in the day. Bass went crazy.White and green lure?
      2 monsters at 5:30 to 6:00.
      City: Richmond

      Tips: Look for a protected area with no wind.

Monday, March 19th, 2007

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Putah Creek from sunrise 'till about 12:30. Great day, had a 15 lb limit in the first hour. It slowed a bit in mid-morning, but then picked up again. I went through an entire bag of Senkos. Caught a few spots, 2 smallies, and the rest were LMB up to 4.5 lb, nothing deeper than 10 feet. Caught fish on points, coves, and on nothing banks. Areas with standing timber worked particularly well. Fish seemed to like pumpkin colors best on the plastics and a white spinnerbait was working too. Putah had good color. The main lake was gin clear, even with a 10-15 mph wind.
      City: Vacaville

      Tips: Bass in the clear water were spooky. Cast ahead of them. Fish shallow.

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Tried for an encore to Anderson's hot bite over the hill at Calero. On the water at 745 (they were open early!!!!!) and headed to the big cove in the back, caught 5 up to 3 lbs. then started to move arround the entire puddle. My buddy Jared and I ended the day with 17 fish all on dropshot. Another productive day on the lake my best day here at calero. Got pretty windy with the storm front moving in so i called it a day.
      City: Watsonville

      Tips: fish in 10-20 feet and keep your bait moving eraticly then poause and they will hit it.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: COLD

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Got out late becuase of battery issues. Only managed a couple of bites all day on Kreature baits and jigs. My GF caught a 5 pound 8 ouncer off the tules near Russo's.
      City: Newark

      Tips: Fish slow...

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 57

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took the day off from work today and took my two sons ages 14 and 18 out for a day of fishing. Father's day came early for me today. We started rip baiting on wind blown shorelines and took 17 fish within the first hour and a half including a big bug eyed 6-9 taken by my eldest son. Today was the first time my youngest son tried rip bait fishing and after a few lessons from Dad he was sticking fish after fish. Once the wind died Dad switched to a shakey head worm and after the old man put 5 in a row in the boat my sons threated mutiny unless I showed them how to fish the shakey head worm. I commenced the lesson and it was on after that. I set the anchor off of a decent size tule bed and we caught fish after fish after fish. This was a completely different spot than the one I posted in my previous report. This lake is absolutely ON FIRE. Our tally at the end of the day went like this: Dad 33 fish, eldest son 31 fish, youngest son 27 fish - I kid you not 91 fish for three of us fishing for 6 hours today. Our best 5 went; 6-9, 4-12, 4-10, 4-8 and 3-12 for a total of 24-3.
      City: Petaluma

      Tips: Megabass Ito Vision 110 rip bait was the ticket today (they spurned Dad's bigger Pointer 128 today) Find the right cadence (today it was slow and steady) on a wind blown shoreline and you should do well. When the wind subsides find some tules and break out a shakey head worm. Last tip FISH THIS LAKE NOW, skip work, take a vacation day whatever, the bite is white hot.

    • By

      Water Temp: 62 to 64.5

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Will over the weekend the reports i got this morning were bass on black/blue jigs and wacky worm senko's. Two bass a 7 pounder was taken on a senko watermelon red/blk flake in 6 feet of water the other bass was 8 pounds caught on a lizard carolina rigged in 12 feet of water. Theirs also reports of a good bite on bass in the 3 to 4 pound range. In the 5mph there are small bass all over the spawning area. The main body of the lake had the better fish. Traffic was heavier but still lots of room to fish. Flats islands coves isolated rock piles brush piles you cant miss here now fishing any of these areas. a small cold front coming through but the bass wont move now midweek should be good time too hit the lake again
      City: kerman ca

      Tips: senko,s jigs lizards cranks spinnerbaits there all catching fish right now. Hit the banks in 5 to 15 feet of water you cant go worng here now.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well well well, Jim sure does get alot of unwanted BS from people who refuse to identify themselves. I just "met" Jim myself and with my partner watched him haul in a 4 2+ pounders in about 20 minutes right in front of us, all the while he was gratious enough to give us a few tips. The man fishes a bunch, therefore he catches a bunch, very easy to comprehend. And for the rude naysayers...grow up.
      City: Carmichale

      Tips: Hey Jim, thanks for all your advise, some of it paid off in prefishing but could not put it together on game day.....Joe, Blue Ranger 492, EGBass President

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

      Report: Is anybody fishing here this year?
      City: San Jose

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: John,

      Can you give us some information on the water level? With the lack of rain down south here I am a little nervous on how the lake level will be this summer? I will be up there in June for a small tournament.(I am sure we will meet then)
      and again in September for a family vacation. It is
      my hope that the Trinity Alps ramp will still be wet for both events. Speaking of Trinity Alps.
      Have they re opened the ramp yet? Last September
      they closed it to refurbish it and add docks.

      Hope all is well,

      Thanks,
      Mike
      City: San Jose

Sunday, March 18th, 2007

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Great Day, Had a total of 23 fish between me and my buddy Jared. Most came on drop shot, jigs, senko's and darthead. Most were close to the shore and in the south end of the lake. Threw my spinner bait but nada.
      City: Watsonville

      Tips: shake shake shake........pause......fish on!

    • By

      Water Temp: 59-62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The fishing was great. I took a couple of buddies with me and we caught over 100 fish. Most of them in the 1lb and 2lb range. A few of them hit the 3lb mark. Most fish came on a worm but i did manage a few from a rip bait and a crank bait. We fished with all colors and they all worked.