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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, October 16th, 2006

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The pics should be up on this site soon. I'm working with dial-up here so I get to take a nap while sending E-mails or posting photos. I'd say the fall bite is wide open here but it is very site specific and maybe even a little bait specific. From what I saw on my graph Sat, I'd say that a large population of the bigger bass are schooled up in an extremely small area, porkin up on Kokanee. Find the spot and experience the fishing of a lifetime, miss it and you'll have to go through a 35 fish day like Johnny Mac and I did.
      City: Weaverville

      Tips: I've always said that this lake is too good not to share, and I've always been very generous with my information. However I'm afraid that the spot that Mr. Thurber found is a little too good to share for now. At least until I've had a decent crack at it. Stay tuned.

    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hey John,
      Where can we see the photos...??? If you have them then you should post em on your website. Has the fall bite begun?!?!?
      Cheers,
      Sean
      City: Arcata

Sunday, October 15th, 2006

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 66.7

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I finally made it back to the lake this past weekend. On Saturday Terry and his son Sean followed me in his brand new red "Ranger". I showed him some good spots to fish. He headed up to Pope Creek to try his luck. I fished three points and I could see trout about four to six feet down chasing shad. I picked up three bass and it wasn't easy fishing. I trolled from Big Island back to Steele Park and picked up a few trout. Mike from Spanish Flat told me to come by early Sunday morning because the crappie bite was great and be sure to bring a red and white jig. I got there at 11:30 am he looks at me and says the bite might be over. He shows me where to go and wishes me luck. My first fish took about two minutes, my second fish took me another minute or two and so it went for five fish. A couple of guys were fishing close to me but were not having any luck or using the right tackle. I introduced myself and asked if they would like some pointers. Divan, who is about thirteen years old, came over and asked me to show him what to do. He was a good student and caught his first fish in about four minutes. After that he was bringing them in almost a minute apart and really enjoying himself. He ended up with seven crappie ranging in weight from 1/4 lb to 2 1/2 lbs. His father used the red and white jig and must have hooked up to a catfish or large bass because the rod bent completely under the dock unfortunately he did not land it so we never will know what it was but it was big!!!! If you would like to catch some crappie I suggest you stop by Spanish Flat Marina and ask Mike or Dino what is the best tackle to use and where are the good spots. In the next few weeks the lake should turn and then the top water bite will be great. "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: Take picters or vibeos of structure thru the lake while the water is down 10 feet,when the rains come you wont be able to find those bushes,trees,rock,anh montains plus other structer.be there when the lake turns soon.

    • By

      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: i concur with larry, fished during the midday caught 5, 4 smallies 1 lm. wait for lake to turnover its only going to get better.
      City: mountain view

      Tips: huli grubs a t rig tubes

    • By

      Water Temp: 69-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I took a father-son and friend Sat. late afternoon until 2 am Sun morning. The wind was a major factor in the main body so we moved back to skiers cove and fished our way back to Markley. Everyone caught bass mostly with Texas rigged worms and some drop-shotting Basstrix minnows before dark. After dark the 7" Berkley black Power worm was the best bait. Our 15 or so bass were caught from 5 to 35 feet - slow but steady action. Biggest was only a 2 1/2 lb largemouth, but we did have a near 12 lb limit. Not too much more exciting to report.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Points and rock walls with outcroppings seemed to hold most of the biting bass. As is usual for early fall, most bass are suspended in the 10 to 40 foot range. Many shad are near the surface now but due to the frontal passage last night, there was NO surfact activity whatsoever - very unusual for mid-October. This is a very stagnate time for resevoirs until we get some rain and cold fronts to cool off the water.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Did some prefishing and fished the Hook tourney on Sunday..Saturday was clear and the water was calm..Started out in Big Break area, tried numerous baits and techniques, caught a few on lipless cranks ripped through the weeks and a couple on Senkos not much size to any of them, but figured it might be a good spot to start for the tourney..Continued to prefish went up Duthc toward Sandmound/Taylor but didn't have much luck..Continued on up to Sandmound and fished that area with no luck..Made a run to Mildred, but didn't have much luck there either..

      Sunday morning launched in light breezes and overcast sky..Headed immediately for the Break..Fished several areas there and caught a couple of keepers at the start of the incoming tide..As the current increased the bites became fewer..Caught quite a few on just about everything we tossed..Our largest came on a jig..The bite pretty much stopped and we moved to Taylor and found another bite, but there was just no size to them..Another tourney day with only two fish to weigh in..One of these days we will get it figured out..
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Don't give up..

    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished mokelumne river south started about 6:30 am caught 20 bass in 2 to 3 pound range flipping one ounce jig brown w/black grub.Moved to sycamore slough caught 10 bass 2 to 3 pound range biggest being 8.20 on cul-m-rite throwing black jigs w rootbeer trailers. Best five 20.53.
      City: Clovis

      Tips: fished fast flipping way back in tules.

  • Ventura County
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      Water Temp: 65 or so

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: while others were throwing rooster tails for trout on the docks i was cranking stocker trouts and it produced a good 8 pounder crank it quick a long the surface
      City: ventura

      Tips: buy a good swimbait not some crappy castaic just look at the way castaics swims [ it sucks]

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-65

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Took 2 of my 3 little ones fishing, ya like I need an excuse to go to Clear Lake and fish. Can you believe that my 4 year old daughter asked to watch Kevin Van Dam fish videos and than says dad when we gunna go fishing again? I hope it lasts! Anyway to the report, fished 10/14 & 10/15, caught 13 on 10/15, 2 on drop shop MM and 11 on a crank bait but only 3 keepers, on 10/15 it started slow, fished the eary am byte and only got 2 fish, than breaked for lunch and 1 hr at the playground at Austin Park on the lake and went back out at 3:00, from 3:00 to 4:00 at the same places I already fished the bite picked up, I landed 10 fish in 1 hour and lost about 3 on crank baits, 2-3 lb fish all of them, oh what fun and than as quick as it picked up it died down.
      City: San Jose, CA

      Tips: Find the deepest Rocks you can find and crankem, I fished the south end of the lake by Red Bud, I did catch one on a popper and 2 on drop shot but its a reation bite right now. Use a small to medium shad color crank, I used my normal large crank bait(Bill Dance Fat Free shad) but they would not hit it, went a little smaller and that's all it took. Catch and release and God Bless!

    • By

      Water Temp: 66-67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 9AM-2PM today. Had a good day today catching 14 fish with the best 5 coming in at just over 15lbs. 9 of the fish fell to the drop shot and the other 5 were taken on the LV 500. Today I focused on Buckingham and Glenhaven. Was a very nice day, good temperatures and very light wind. One of the fish I caught had a 2" gash on its side, it was very odd looking as I could see completely the inside the fish, yet it didn't seem to bother the fish at all. Check out the photos section for a picture of this fish.
      City: Petaluma

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well not not much of a change here the bass are still in 8 to 30 feet of water and the bigger fish are falling too pumpkin green 1/4 oz bullet head jigs with a 208 watermelon single tail yamamoto grub trailers and also brushogs in watermelon with red/black flake are also working well.5mph area in 15 to 30 feet of water are holding bass to 5 pounds. Brush piles ans edges of rock piles are holding most fish. I like the mid morning bite and into the afternoon for the better fish there no need too get there before sunrise these fish bite all day here lake is at 66% of being full the good structure is still in 25 feet of water. traffic is heavier on weekends but there still plenty of room to fish. 559 - 689-3255
      City: kerman ca

      Tips: Jigs in 1/4 to 3/8 oz. Bullet head Lite green pumpkin watermelon red/black flake Yamamoto single tail grubs. Also brushogs are both working well right now. Areas too fish points, dropoffs brush piles and edges of rock piles. If your jig fishing make long cast and keep contact with the bottom by hold rod tip at 2 o' clock and reel slow bullet head jigs work best for this as you can swim them and contact is felt easier and hits are easier to detect.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: upper 60's

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Monster spotted bass today, 9lds 13 oz on culmrite.Started out early tossing LA Sliders, no takers. Moved to underwater bridge, jack's Shack area, tossed jigs for about 20 minutes, no takers. Kinda tough from yesterdays fiasco. Checked out deeper structures , little or no fishing, dropped camera a lot. Spooned a little got two tail swingers.Checked out a lot of areas to see what was there at the time. About 1;00 took my toad and had to be back home. My third spot over nine at Folsom.
      City: Sacto

      Tips: Tournaments affect bass fishing the next day, however the toads could care less if is transition period. Good fishing, Jimbo
      Mike from C&C Marine, you should have stayed.

    • By

      Water Temp: 66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Ok so my plan was to be the 1st one on the old salmonfalls bridge.....On the water between 6:20 -6:30....cant drivr too fast because it was still dark!!! so i go south and turn through the bottle neck and it appears Mr Scarlet beat me there! dang jim did you sleep in yur boat there? geez........I got bit a couple times on that bridge, once on a jig & once on a dropshot. After the 3rd boat pulled on that bridge Mr scarlet had enough and took off as did I 10 min later....Headed up north toward the narrow I ended up only getting one little rat draggin a 4 in lizzard on a CR. Jim did you catch anything on that bridge before i got there?
      City: Lincoln

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started at first light using topwater and caught a 3 pounder right away , I stayed with topwater until 9:00 and had 4 fish . Then caught a few on a darter head worm and missed a few on a jig. Then went to a football jig with a hula grub and had non stop action for three hours.Almost all the fish came from 20 to 30 feet.I tied on 15 set ups easy, those rocks tend to eat the football head as well as the fish. Ended up with about 50 fish with the best five going !0.25 pounds. Oroville sure beats the heck out of Folsom right now.
      City: Granite Bay Ca.

      Tips: Cut off your weed guard, the bites are soft.Fished topwater on the main body and hula grubs up the South arm.

  • Ventura County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65-67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started out in Diablo throwing traps first fish 4.86 worked out of the cove and along the bluff walls. Kept the boat out in about 22ft throwing almost parrallel to the walls working in about 12-15ft. Lots of small fish under 13 but keep throwing because the bigger fish will come.
      City: Los Angeles

      Tips: Look for the bait, fish were up underneath. Constantly vary your retrieve speed fast, burn it,slow crank etc. just keep throwing

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Yesterday I had the priveledge of witnessing something really special. I photographed and weighed a 30.19 limit of Northern strain Largemouths. Last Monday I went out with a gent from southern Cal who was going to be camping and fishing on Trinity for the week. After showing him around some of the deeper structure, and explaining how I felt the bass would be keying on the Kokanee this time of year, he took that info and refined the location and techniques and parlayed it into one of the best fishing days I've ever witnessed. He found the proverbial sweet spot on the sweet spot and caught 20 bass over 3 lbs. The largest being 7.97. I watched him cull a solid 5 lber before the bite finally died around 11 o'clock. This happened on a day when Johnny Mac and I couldn't hook a decent fish fishing nearby. Those fish were caught in the middle of the lake in an area about the size of your living room. Talk about a graph lighting up. Congratulations Mr. Thurber. If I couldn't be the one getting my string stretched, I was, at least, proud to be there and watch. Oh did I forget to mention the 8-4 he caught the day before?
      City: Weaverville

      Tips: These fish are in the same area they were holding last Nov when we were catching 25+ sacks. I figure I'll let them settle down for a couple of days before I go out and try to get my record back. The best I'd ever done on Trinity was 29-15.

Saturday, October 14th, 2006

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

      Report: Something I forgot to add to the last post.....There were a couple of hundred dead trout all over the launch ramp and in the marina area. They have dumped in 10,000 trout in the last ten days. The die off occured when a pump on the hatchery truck had malfunctioned on one plant according to one of the kids on the dock.....Can you say swimbait time?
      City: Santa Barbara

      Tips: I watched a cormmorant eat two trout in two attempts right at the launch ramp at high noon so the trout are thick there and are slowly spreading down the banks....the kids at the docks have seen a couple of great big ol' fish right under the gas dock whomp'n on the trout ...good luck all and see ya on the water in three weeks.

    • By

      Water Temp: 68.4

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Of course because I had my friend Mace with me the bite wasn't as spectacular as last week but just when things were really bad we would find some fish. I was first out this morning and there was a small club tournament behind me. I had only brought my spoon outfit and another for Mace so any notion of fishing another way was out. My intention was to make Mace fish the spoon until he could with his own eyes see how productive it could be and to build his confidence in this technique. While there was a stalled weather pattern over us I didn't think it would change the bite much from the previous week as deep fish are not usually effected as much by barometric swings. What was apparent from the get go was the grebes had left my area and were not seen in any numbers all day long where I was fishing. We started slow and I think the lack of wind had a lot to do with this. During the course of the day I caught Largemouth, Smallmouth, crappie, Red ear, trout and at around 4:00 I was pretty sure I was reeling in the next Cachuma Smallmouth record but it turned out to be an 8 or so pound catfish. I knew when it started rolling about 15 feet from getting it to the boat that I was into a catfish but it was a good fight and I released it to fight another day. My number one smallmouth spot kicked out our best smallmouth of the day for Mace but not until our second trip there. I was proving to Mace that the wind would change the bite everywhere we had been in the morning and he had a smile on his face as he loves a good smallmouth as do most of us. I put Mace on the dock and fished until 4:30 and was surprised where I found the best bite of the day and will have to check out this spot more often.
      City: Santa Barbara

      Tips: I sometimes don't worry too much when I can't see fish on my meter. The fact that I am fishing where the bait level intersects the bottom is good enough for me. The fish that don't range far and wide following the shad and have taken up residence on some good structure are usually my better fish. I can see my spoon drop on my meter and I have noticed that it will go a few feet past what my meter shows as the bottom so if the fish are REALLY tight to the bottom or in between rocks I don't have enough resolution to see them. I will fish through these areas quicker but fish them none the less.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 66-68

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished small club tourney out of Orwood. Stayed south to avoid tourney traffic. Folks reported the topwater bite was on, tho i could only manage a small striper. couldn't get anywhere for a while due to fog. BE CAREFUL - i carry a boat horn in my pocket when I'm fishing in the fog, cause there are too many people who think that they can see farther than they can stop in the fog. Sloughs are narrower than you think.
      Anyway, i ended up with only 9#s tough day. Fished the whole water column. The deep jig bite wasn't working for me, And i gave it a good try. Bigger fish were in 4 - 8 feet, where current hits the bank, or goes by. Slow Current was key. Ended up in Disco to catch a few small fish and our limits..
      City: belmont

      Tips: Bigger fish came on beavers, flapping hogs and senkos fished realllly slow. look for islands in the current with deep water access nearby. Slow flow was better than moderate flow. lite bite, though they ate it really well. They were just sluggish.

    • By

      Water Temp: ~64 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out with my brother and nephew today in search of the striper bite. Started out in Big Break fishing the cuts and found success throwing LC 100DD's and LV500's in Aurora Black and American Shad patterns. Largest striper for us went 7lbs. Switched up later in the day in pursuit of black bass and found most of our fish on the outside weed lines with lipless cranks. Switched up later to chase after the striper again with swimbaits and was rewarded with a 5lb Largemouth. Lots of boats on the water today with the club tourney out of Russo's and a striper derby out of Rio Vista but we managed a decent day.
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Search for the cuts with good waterflow if you're after the Striper and make sure you fish out a spot to your satisfaction because it may not be free if you decide to leave and come back later.