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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, August 5th, 2006

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 79-82F

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the water at about 6:30 and fished until 11:30. Started in the spillway area and then headed upriver. Caught a few largemouths and had a few blow-ups on a double-jointed topwater walker in ghost shad. Once the sun was high overhead, switched to dart-headin' and split-shottin' 4 and 6" worms. Caught 2 nice spots and the rest were largemouth.
      City: Atwater

      Tips: They seemed to like the dark colors the best. Best luck w/ green pumpkin, black, and rootbeer electric blue - www.berserkbaits.com

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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: fished the island with my buddy John. We caught fish on top water, crank baits, brush hogs, superhogs, beavers. 18 fish in all, nothing big. Lots of ticks.
      City: novato

      Tips: catch and rtelease

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      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., trying to work the buzz-bait bite after the wind came up. Wind was whipping across the lake at 10-20 mph. Fished the windward mud bank again, making several passes with white (silver), black, and red buzz-baits, Tiger Tube, and waterdog swimbait...Nada, zip, nothing...not a single bite or even a swirl.
      Most bass anglers are experiencing a very slow bite now on this lake. But the bigun's were there...a bank fisherman using a nightcrawler caught a 12 lb. and a 5 lb bass from the rocky bank next to the parking lot.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Last week's aggressive bite occurred right around noon, so I was probably late for it today. Next time I'll be ready from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
      Please practice catch and release.

Friday, August 4th, 2006

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 79-83

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Nothing earth-shaking about this report since everyone seems to be doing pretty well! What a lake!! One thing this lake can do is get a new visitor hooked right off the bat! I guided a good angler from southern Cal Friday who had never been to the lake and was going to be up for a week with his family. It has been a fun month for me as clients have caught a big bass the very first time they have used a new bait - like a Senko or a jig. On this trip, the Clear Lake bass welcoming staff allowed one of its members to eat his crankbait! His first-ever CL bass was 5 lbs 2 oz - and still is unless she lost a few ounces over the experience of seeing daylight!! I showed him some rockpiles and other areas that should work for him this week. We got into a good bite near Anderson Island and even a double hookup. I managed to land a 4-3 there on a black 10" Power worm. About noon, near some Soda Bay docks, the bass started showing themselves - which they rarely do - as they cornered some shad against rock structure. Wow - I thought I was fishing SF bay for feeding stripers as grebes, gulls, and bass attacked the shad as we tried to catch the frenzied bass without catching a bird!! He used a ripbait and for me - a white Berkley Frenzy (fitting name!) did the trick. In about 30 to 40 minutes it was over. We did not catch a lot because each bass seemed to target a single big shad. We each lost a 5+ but did get a few over 3 lbs. After 1 pm the bite died and the wind was coming alive. We wound up with 32-35 bass and a nice 18+ lb limit. Exciting day!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Bob Higgins of Limit Out tackle in Clearlake Oaks told me as I was leaving the lake that someone else had a similar experience with bass bustin' shad. One doesn't often see that at Clear Lake like one might at Berryessa or Amador. That was an exciting half hour!! Black grape and green pumpkin worms also worked in the early morning. The jig bite continues to amaze this summer - excellent! It was interesting to note that the carp and bird activity was almost non-existant in the early morning and sure enough - the early bite wasn't so good - at least for us. I happened to mention to my client that the bite sometimes begins at 9 or 10 am. He reminded me about 10:30 what I said as we were sticking bass after bass. It's nice to be right once in awhile!! It is hard to give too many good tips when the bite is so wide open. I did notice that some bass have moved their home area, probably because of the record heat and the fact that the lake is dropping now. They seem to be near deeper tule lines and rock ledges with 20-25 feet of water nearby. The only real tip I can give - go do it!!!

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      Water Temp: 78 Degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at the Oaks,Ran to the Narrows.Threw spinnerbaits and dartheads/robo MM III.Solid bite untill about 2:00pm then the bite got tougher poked out a few more then headed home.Total fish caught 42 mostly 1 1/2 to 2 lb fish.One over five.
      City: Marysville

      Tips: Spinnerbait chart/white early.Darthead with MM III,shake it hard

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: First trip to Clear Lake with our new boat. Wife and I fished southend picked up a few on senkos. Best bite was on Chartreuse and Blue Norman Deep Little N crankbaits in front of seawalls. Picked up 15 on this bite largest to 4lbs. Great day despite the wind.
      City: Sacramento

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      Water Temp: Unknown

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught and released 5 bass between 10:30am and noon. Don't have a scale: four of the fish were 16-17 inches; largest was 23 inches. Caught these in 5mph area on 3/8 oz. Lefty's brown/purple jigs with Yamamoto 208 single-tail trailer in 15-20 feet. From 6am to 10:30, not one strike. I was using double-tail trailers all that time. Of course, the wind came up around 10:30, too...or it might just be a solunar thing.
      City: Clovis

      Tips: It can be a long time between bites, but one good fish makes your day...

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: didnot check

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: 16lbs, action to 1200 noon, acvtive fish shallow, top water great until noon. Pick your area from spawn to deeper. Fast action baits the call of the day followed by jigs or darts on missed strikes. good luck
      City: sacramento

      Tips: Use eight pound seguar line with loop knot for right action.

Thursday, August 3rd, 2006

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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I took my float tube out to the Grizzley Flat area at about 3pm. I was off the water by 8pm with 30 fish. Half were caught on a popper and the other half were caught on a spinner bait.
      City: chico

      Tips: The fish are on cover within the first 50ft from shore. Look for bait fish.

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: 75 at marina --

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: A kwel mornining launch at about 6:30. Had a great companion today in one of our readers and posters. I invited ShoreGuy out for a 1/2 day on the water and really enjoyed his company and chat. Thanks Don. Hope you had a nice time and even if we didn't hog um in, we still had fun and enjoyment.

      Started at the reeds to the South of the island pitching Rico's and a few swins and blades but only a couple dinks. Moved off to another cove across from Arrowhead and about the same but I lost a pretty nice one and an almost keeper.

      Water is noticably down as the stick-ups were becoming quite present in the backside from Chalk Cliffs. Was slow going most of the day but hey, it better than any day at work RIGHT! Keep your line wet!
      City: Santa Maria

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 78-80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the same areas as Tuesday's report, but we only caught 3 keeper size bass. However, I caught my biggest bass of the year, 7 lbs 2 oz, on a 1/2 oz white chatterbait. Took a couple of pictures and let her go. Nice fat fish with no marks -- appears to be the first time that she's ever been caught.
      City: Dixon

      Tips: She was caught on the outside edge of a weedbed in about 4 feet of water at the point of an island.

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

      Report: Went out around 3pm started off around some hazards by folsom point caught a few nice 2lb spots went across to some more hazards and just started wackin them on a drop shot 4 and 6 inch aarons magic caught 37 in all it was a great day on folsom fishing has not been like this for a while. I was off the water at around 8:30 my biggest fish was a 4lb smallie that faught like hell best five would have went 16lbs
      City: orangevale

      Tips: all i have to say is rock piles they are holding in about 5-10ft good luck

    • By

      Water Temp: 82

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Cought 3 babies and one keeper. Still useing the green worm and fishing slow. The fish where hanging out along the grass bed. Can't wait for the spinner bait season.
      City: Mather

      Tips: Glad to hear about the cat fishing.

  • Calaveras County
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      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went for a short trip, 5pm to 10pm. Caught a few fish up the Black Creek arm. All largemouth, on rattlebaits and Senkos. Big fish was on a rattlebait in about 6ft of water. She had a huge stomach and weighed about 4#. Little late for the spawn but she looked it. And the only reason I caught this fish is because my wife said we should go fish these shallow, dilapitated docks in about a foot of water! If she keeps finding spots like that I'll have a new fishing partner, sorry son!
      City: Oakdale

      Tips: Not alot of time for a real pattern. Caught most of my good fish on the rattlebait. Dinks will eat a Senko no matter what size!

Tuesday, August 1st, 2006

  • Plumas County
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      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: AWESOME SMALLIE FISHERY, DONT KNOW WHY MORE PEOPLE FISH OR REPORT HERE? OUT WITH FAMILY WENT OUT WHENEVER WIFE WOULD LET ME AND HAMMERED THEM.
      ENJOY THIS LAKE I WILL BE BACK NEXT YEAR.
      PS
      NO REPORTS ON TROUT DID NOT HAVE TIME OR PATIENCE
      City: MOUNTAIN VIEW

      Tips: DROPSHOT WORKED BEST BROWN SEEMED TO BE COLOR

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 77-79

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Paradise at 5:45A and fished Disappointment and Columbia Cut. We caught over 20 keeper size bass and plenty of small ones. Best 5: 15 lbs (largest 5.1 lbs). Biggest fish of the day was a 6.5 lb catfish that swallowed a 1/2 oz white chatterbait right next to the boat.
      City: Dixon

      Tips: Most of the time, we swam a 1/2 oz white or white/chartruse chatterbait over the top of the weeds or along edge of weedline. Also caught a lot of fish on white spinnerbaits.

Monday, July 31st, 2006

  • Solano County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the Sheriffs fund raiser tourney on Sat. Was a little tough due to the winds, but managed a very average 7 fish limit of 16 pounds for 6th place. Lost a 5+ first thing in the morning on a frog that would have really helped the limit, but that's frog fishing. Most of the fish were caught on Frogs and senkos. Though later in the day we pulled up real tight and started to puncture the mats with 1 ounce tungsten weights and beavers. Got 6 or 7 bites this way, but missed most of them . You have to be pretty quick on the hook set when you are using 1 ounce weights. One of the fish I did stick was a monster perch. What is it about the delta that makes the fish act/eat the way they do? Though I guess nothing should surprise me after drop shotting a 41 pound carp 2 years. I guess never knowing when that huge carp is going to hit a d-shot, or when that 30 pound salmon is going to hit a rip bait is what makes the delta so much damn fun.
      City: Roseville

      Tips: A little bit of a change from the week before. Temps drop almost 20 degrees and that always affects the bite on the delta. The winds really make for tougher frog fishing, by bowing the braided line and pushing the mats real tight together. Oh, by the way, to the nut who posted last week. That was pretty funny. Had me laughing the whole way through. Oh, and to answer your question on what type of knot for the bobber fishing. Definitely double palomar. :-)

Sunday, July 30th, 2006

  • Riverside County
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      Water Temp: Very warm

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Really good bite throwing 6 - 8 inch Roboworms in 35 feet of water. Awesome fishing!
      City: Fullerton

      Tips: Throw Oxblood Light w. Red Flake

    • By

      Water Temp: real warm

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from my tube in the spillway area and caught bass non-stop but nothing over 10 inches. It didn't matter where I dropped the worm, I would get bit. Any color worked. Caught some on cranks too.
      City: Wishon

      Tips: Bring a boat.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 84-86

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took the GF out for a morning of fishing at Folsom. First time out on Folsom. Launched out of Granite Bay at 6:30am and headed up the North Fork Arm. Started out on some rocky banks and points catching 1 dink on a dartheaded roboworm. Then had trolling motor problems. After we figured out how to get it going again, we headed up further and tried to fish trees. Had 2 good size fish, 2 pound healthy guys. 1 Largemouth and 1 smallie/spot hybrid (it was bronze with spot like features on top) 1 on a wacky senko and the other on a dartheaded MM Robo. Threw a spook out on an island and had a fish blast it 2 feet into the air, but, no hookup :( Had several other followers and swirls, but, they weren't commiting. Quiet for the rest of the day. Got off the water around 11:30am. The topwater is definitely there, we just didn't throw it enough.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Could use some. Tried to read through the Folsom reports and only really picked up the tree tip. Anyhow, thought I'd report and help out. Dartheaded MMIII robos.