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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, December 30th, 2006

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Wraggs Canyon all day (10am-3pm) and caught 13 fish between 1 1/2 and 3 pounds, most of the fish were 2 pound class largemouths. I used 6" brown and green plastic worms splitshot 15-30' deep. The bite is very light and all the fish were fat, healthy, and strong. Fish were not on or near the points, mostly in the deep flats and in the middle of the coves. Graphed many fish at 40-50' that wouldn't bite.
      City: Vallejo

      Tips: Fish plastics very slow and deep - wait for the second tap before setting the hook.

    • By

      Water Temp: 51

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We started out in Markley Cove and fished until about 12:30. There was a light breeze and it was mostly sunny. In the early morning, we tried the rockslide and worked points up to the ranch house. I had no success on a rip bait so I switched to a 6-inch watermelon gulp turtleback worm on a football head jig, no takers either. I finally got bit near a steep rock face on the south side of the mouth of Wragg Canyon on a brown/watermelon finesse jig with a brown baby brush hog trailer. My buddy caught a small spot on a wiggle wart in about 4 feet of water in a cove with some laydowns in the narrows. I wasn't expecting that. The fish were deep and sluggish. I tossed out a silver and blue spoon and landed a 16-inch trout maybe 3 feet below the surface. It was completely covered in pink wormlike parasites. That was the first time I ever saw that. There were a lot of bass boats on the water. The guys I talked to back at the ramp didn't have much luck either. Clear skies and high pressure made the fishing tough. I think the afternoon bite would be a little better. Oh well, we had a good time anyway.
      City: Vacaville

      Tips: The bass are deep. If I went out again today, I would definitely be drop shotting. Colors in shades of purple seem to be what is getting bit.

    • By

      Water Temp: 53-54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The last guide trip of '06 ended in fine fashion yesterday at Lake Berryessa. I warned my two clients about what to expect after two days of scary, cold north winds. Their purpose was to learn the lake better and they would take what the lake gave us! Well, the lake gave us some bass and hopefully I gave them some knowledge! We started in Markley around 9 am and fished to dark, hoping the end of the day would provide more active fish. It did! We fished all the way to Rancho Montecello and got a bite here and there - no concertrations of bass were found. I taught them how to fish worms, jigs, ripbaits, and drop-shot. All three techniques worked well - though I missed several and I know they had bites they wern't aware of. I made one of the clients stay with the drop-shot for an hour or so, telling him that his Basstrix flashtrix-minnow would produce a nice fish. I SAW a bass nearly jerk the rod out of his hand. She turned out to be a skinny 3 1/4 lb largemouth. No matter, nice fish. About 5 minutes later I landed a 3-1 largemouth on a brown/orange Rodstrainer jig. At least mine had some girth!! This all happened after 4 pm. A nice 2-2 smallie hit a jig too. We only landed 12 bass with our limit a shade over 12 lbs. We fished a lot but also looked at several spots with our heads in the Lowrance X-26. Even when I thought we would have sun and some afternoon warmth on Friday, the lake was cloudy most of the day with a strong SOUTH wind. Ah, winter!!!!!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The best worm for drop-shotting and Texas rigging was the 6" Shakin' Zipper Robo worm in M.M. III color. Other colors didn't work well though one or two were caught on morning dawn. The first bass was caught on a black/purple/blue Rodstrainer jig w/#157 Yami grub but couldn't get bit on that color after. I tried spooning a little since I saw lots of fish in a few places on the meter but managed only one 2 lb largemouth bite on a 1 3/4 oz morning dawn Duh! spoon. Believe it or not, a client and I each got a nice bass in the back of a cove - his on the Robo worm and mine of the jig (and she nailed it)! Almost fell out of the boat from shock!! We found most of our bass on rocky points with a steep drop-off nearby. Off-shore flats in about 15-30 feet of water held fish also. This structure is worth finding! Sometimes, looking at the meter, I thought I was at Oroville. I saw fish and bait from 80 to 100 feet. That is rare for Berryessa, at least in my 40 years experience there. I know the north wind would put them down, but really now!!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 51

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: started fishing around 11am. Air temps never got warmer than 50, but if your'e dressed for it, it was very pleasant with little or no wind. Most of the stops resulted in a few bites which sometimes led to fish and sometimes not. Caught fish in capells and the main body near the entrance to the narrows. Fish were usually on rock from 18 to 40'. Most of the fish were in the 30-40ft depths and wanted it pretty slooow. A couple of jig fish, but most on split shot or droppn 4" robos. Boated about a dozen fish in pounder range with biggest about 15." A good trip to end the year...
      City: orinda

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

      Report: After being sold on the spooning technique, I decided I was going to fish nothing but spoons this trip. I first started off north and fished one of the points open to the main lake. After about 15 minutes I got bit in 60+ feet of water. My confidence level increased 100 fold as I pulled my first spooning fish in. Unfortunately it was a crappie and for the next hour my buddy and I pulled in 10 crappie. We moved off the point in search of smallies and found nothing but crappie and dink LMB's for the rest of the day. We metered good structure in all depths and fished them pretty heavily with spoons but cound not locate any hungry smallies in desire of our spooning presentation. Finally at the end of the day I got bit and pulled in my first smallie in 40 feet of water. It was a dink but I was stoked. Hopefully next time will produce more smallies.
      God Bless,
      Joe
      City: Camarillo

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 37-46

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: If my temp sensors (both of them) are working corretly. This was the coldest I have ever seen the delta. 37 in the marina on both units at 7am, both read 46 at 2pm when I got off the water. I actually had to break ice crystals off my guides for the first hour of fishing. Usually when it's really cold air, the water feels warm in comparrison, not today.. Just plain cold. Anyway the report,, not a single bite for 3 hours, rip bait, drop shot, jig, slow rolled blade in my regular cold water spots, nada. I found a point at slack low with a tree leading out into deep water, got 7 up to 3.5lbs on the drop shot, again tried the jig and blade with nothing. Went to another deep water point to try and duplicate and got 4 more over 2. Had one bite off my third spot and by then the tide was moving in pretty good. Not great, nothing big, very very cold.. Good luck
      City: Tracy

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went to Deli for some bass/trout action and had a hard time finding any biters. We threw jigs, drop shot and anything we could find. No takers we did end up with one trout I got on a spoon. The narrows are really narrow now. Hope the bite picks up soon.
      City: S.L.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: did not check

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started out in South Fork with swim baits(five inch Castaic,Rainbow) no takers. Moveed up to Salmon Falls Bridge area and fished darts(1/8, green with Robo 4" AYU). homemade jigs(1/4, 3/8,1/2,3/4brown with watermelon and blck specs, Using Yamamoto watermelon grubs as a trailer), drop shotted 1/2 oz weight with basstrix pond smelt, using P-line 6 lb. All fish were aught in various dephts down to 60 ft with some as shallow as 10 feet. Limit consisteed mostly of blacks up to 5+, limit weighed 18.5 lbs. I have fished this lake for more than thirty years so, don't feel bad if you don't do as well.`
      City: sacto

      Tips: make your home lake your experimenting one, get to know it well. Ther are certain creeks that hold many bass and those that are seldom visdited, find out why and find out why other spots hold a great number of fish and some will hold mostly large one. I hope you can take this report to heart, good fishing, Jimbo

    • By

      Water Temp: probably around

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: guy's I haven't been there in a while..allthough Matt's report sound's believe'able..{sorry for the spelling}..Just about time for me to get out there again..
      City: morgan hill

      Tips: the tip of the day..Wow. If your tub'n it.. carolina rig.. start at 6 drag that freaking thing off the drop,, keep it moving..bang.. you will get bit// the bait..my favorite at this time of year is all of them...Start with a brush hog.. and or a lizrd.. tip.. if that doesn't work start throwing crank bait's.....deep diver's, crawdad color's... Take care and have a "Safe and Happy New Year".. I will see all of year.. P>S fishing licenes's are required.. Catch and release.. Your freind Zack

  • San Francisco County
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      Water Temp: Cold

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished South lake from 2:00pm to 3:30pm today. Water was cold, but the weather was pleasant, on the cool side, but nice. Fished a 3/8 oz blue and black jig with a black 6" curley tail plastic worm trailer. No fish today - maybe tomorrow.
      City: Daly City, CA

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Arrived on the water around 7:30am 35Degrees
      water around 49 or so Fished just past the bridge My Son caught first fish on first cast with a jig Second cast Second Fish Both on jigs in about 25 feet of water caught the next two later in the day under the bridge
      City: Roseville

      Tips: Fish are bitting slow not something new to hear but this lake never has been a disapointment
      water clear Fish the points slow

    • By

      Water Temp: 51

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Ended the year with a blank day...only fished about three hours in late morning and had no action on swimbaits, giant tubes, chatterbaits, or even a float-n-fly presentation. Did not even try to usual winter presentations of jigs or blade baits. There were more boats on the lake than I've ever seen...must have been a lot of guys trying out their new "toys." The parking lot was full and mostly with truck-trailer combo's. Trout trollers out-numbered bass anglers about 4 to 1. There was apparently a trout plant of 2000 lbs of trout about two weeks ago. The trollers seemed to be getting some of the stocker trout. All the popular spots for bass had multiple boats hovering around the spots.
      Many thanks to Todd and his staff at Big Red Concessions. They've taken really good care of John and me this past year. We appreciate their well-run boat-rental operation and are looking forward to many more outings in the coming year.
      Happy New Year to all, and may 2007 bring you tight lines!
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Get on the water at every opportunity!
      Give a helping hand to parents who are trying to introduce their children to fishing.
      Please practice catch, photograph and release (CPR) when bass fishing.

Friday, December 29th, 2006

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished all day (10:30am-4pm) on west side of the big lake between Berryessa Marina Resort and Puta Creek Resort. Caught 6 bass 4 smallmouth, 1 largemouth and 1 spot all between 2 and 3 pounds in 8 to 24 feet with splitshot 6" worms and 5" grubs. All fish were fat, healthy, and strong. Bite was better in the afternoon.
      City: Vallejo

      Tips: Fish slow and deep with plastics. The bite is very light - wait for the second tap.

    • By

      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: used swimbaits to get a couple of good fish then switched to spider jigs and finished up with darter and drop shoting worms cuaght 30 fish best five 13-15lbs
      City: el cerrito

      Tips: all tackle 20% OFF AT BAY TACKLE COME SEE ME AND I WILL HELP YOU CATCH MORE FISH RUSSELL AT BAY TACKLE GOOD THIS MONYH ONLY

    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: This holiday season from Christmas thru New Year's was very cold on the water.
      Trolling on the surface
      early in the morning produced trout and some salmon. I took someone out from
      Spanish Flats as a favor
      to Mike and we headed for the vineyards. The lake was very calm over the
      Christmas weekend and it
      was easy getting around. All over the lake there were grass mats floating which
      made trolling almost
      impossible so I changed to throwing a top water chugger in about three feet of
      water. This produced
      some activity and I landed a two and a half plus pounds spotted bass on a slow
      retrieve. Now I had him try it and
      he had a couple of good hits but didn't land any. Next I tried brass and glass
      with a pumpkin senco and
      landed another nice size bass. My deal with him was everytime I landed a fish
      he got to use the same
      rod after me and he had some bites with the brass and glass but no luck bringing
      them to the boat. The
      next day I went straight to what I call catfish cove. Using hotdogs and liver
      on two separate rods and
      listening to music I spent a couple of hours relaxing and catching six catfish
      ranging from three pounds
      to twelve pounds. The secret is to leave your rods alone and just wait for the
      action. The fish usually
      bite just when you'r about to have your lunch or are not paying any attention.
      Being I was the only
      one on the boat what do you do when both rods hit at the same time.....well this
      is how I handled it.
      I took the rod with the most line started to bring in the fish and I saw it was
      hooked securely so I put
      the rod back in the holder and went to the other rod which was almost at the end
      of the line and
      brought that fish in which happened to be the twelve pounder then went back to
      the other rod
      and brought that fish in too. Some of my friends said they had luck drop
      shotting in forty to fifty
      feet of water once they found the fish. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and
      I wish you all
      a very Happy New Year. 'til next
      week.........................................good fishing!!!!!!
      www.fishingconnection.net If you have any fishing stories you would like to
      share please email me
      at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
      City: NAPA

      Tips: fast or slow let the fish decide how they want there presentation

    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: It was a slammin' day on Lake Berryessa for one of our members yesterday. While nothing was unusual in how he fished the lake, between he and his partner they boated 28 fish with many in the 2-3 pound range. The interesting thing is that most of the fish were caught in 15'-25' range on dropshots, worms and the best fish coming on jigs. Cranks and jerk baits didn't produce.

      If you are looking for a quality club experience that is focused on fishing and not club politics, then go to www.dmbass.com and discover the Devil Mountain Bassmasters. We have a great meeting location in Walnut Creek at the Diablo Hills golf course and we are look to expand our membership with both boaters and non-boaters. Our next meeting is Wednesday January 3rd at 7:00.
      City: Walnut Creek

      Tips: Sleep in, the bite didn't start until after 8:00.

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

      Report: Pete, fyi, DFG does not plant trout in Calero. I imagine its because of the mercury in the water.
      City: San Jose

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 46

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Me and the Big A fished today, weather was cold, but nice. Pitched a jig all day while partner tried other baits. Had two legit bited but did not connect. Fished Mildred area, Victoria and Whiskey. Spoke to many other fisherman and no one I talked to was catching them.
      City: Brentwood

      Tips: Cooch, we need you!

    • By

      Water Temp: 46

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of H&H at 8:30am air temp at 37 degrees and water temp at 46(Berrr it's cold). It was a very nice day winds were calm and the sun was up but the fish were not cooperating and I think it may have been due to the front passing and high pressure building back in. Tried rip baits, slow rolling spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jigs, texas rigged baby brush hogs, drop shot worms, creature baits on jig heads and even crawfish imitators with no luck at all. Didn't run a lot and that may have been the other reason for no bites just didn't cover enough water. I have always had problems locating fish in the winter. Should you try to locate bait fish on the Delta like you would any other lake? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks !
      City: EDH

      Tips: Don't ask me I struggle on the Delta in the winter.

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 51/53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: 7 spoted bass 5 bigest went 13 to 15 lb my partner had the bigest at 4.75 and the rest where 2 to 3.5 most where in the 3 lb. range.cold in morning better in afternoon then cold in that magic hour.
      City: sacto.

      Tips: deep and slow real slow