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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, July 8th, 2006

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 72-76

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Another "double-duty" day (or days) for me yesterday at Clear Lake - a day trip - rest and dinner - and a night trip! 25 hours total including travel - I'm resting today! Really, they are pretty easy for me when the clients are eager to learn and the fishing is good!! I hate to say this but the larger bass were more active during the day than at night - same thing at Amador last week! It kills me to say that!!! I would like to report that we caught 50 or 60 bass, but that doesn't always happen when one is guiding. The local client hadn't fished in a year and his buddy from Tennessee hadn't bass fished much. We still boated 30 bass. What was more impressive - I thought - was our 5 fish limit of nearly 25 lbs! I was showing them how to fish a rockpile near Rattlesnake Island - especially the deep-ledge side, and a 6 lb 3 oz bass had the nerve to take my brown/orange Rodstrainer jig, about 9 am. Imagine - when I am trying to teach, har!!! We never left the Oaks arm - fishing was that good. Unfortunately, the fellow from the east struggled with setting the hook but got better as the trip went on. He probably missed 20 fish. I think together they landed 21 of the 30. The jig bite was good for me so one of them wanted to fish a jig for the first time. We were in a rocky area near Windflower Point, but I rigged him up with the "Hemphill Special" anyway. Bingo - a 5 lb 10 oz bass said: "I'll take it"! Pretty good start to jig fishing? He caught several more too. The worm bite was good too, especially anything in black/grape. Green pumpkin was yesterday's news - not a hit on that color. No crank fish either. I think the water color favors darker colors now. Most of our bass were 7 to 18 feet deep and on off-shore structure. Summer is here!! I wondered if the day bite was that good - what was the night bite going to be like. I met another great client - eager to learn - at 7 pm and off we went. Sure enough, it was slow around the narrows though we got a few quality bass and thankfully he boated a 4 1/4 pounder before dark near Anderson Island. After dark, it was mostly school size bass - 2 to 3 1/2 lbs, though I got a bull of a bass at 5 lbs 7 oz. I never thought I would get her in! This client started slow too, but wound up doing well - lots of hookups and landed most of them. We wound up with 23 bass and a limit pushing 20 lbs. Interesting to note that the fish were more active (in dingy water) when the moon was up. After it set the bite died for us. About midnight we found one small point with an adjoining cove and the fish were stacked there. Because of the wind, we would drift through - hook 2 or 3 - move the boat upwind and start over. The best bite seemed to be about midnight. Brush hogs and Kreature baits seemed to out-produce worms, again, maybe because the crawdad population must be up this year.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I know I have mention in seminars and maybe on this forum that largemouth take the rap of not fighting like a smallie or a spotted bass - and there is some truth to that. However, I have also mentioned that a spawned-out female largemouth that has recovered and now feeding heavily will really impress you when on the end of your line. They are lean and mean!! Maybe because the water temp was perfect at Clear Lake yesterday, I really can't remember largemouth being more difficult to land. Regardless of the size, they would not give up! They are also slightly heavier for their size because of the abundant food supply. I hooked that 5-7 on my 844 G. Loomis med-heavy rod - a good heavy duty stik - and I though I would never get her in. Fun, fun, fun!! Remember when taking photos - do it quickly this time of year, especially if the bass is large. They can't be out of the water very long. Also, many are afraid to fish jigs at Clear Lake because of the nasty rock structures. One advantage of summer jig fishing is that you can fish them a little faster - ticking the tops of the rocks. You don't need to deadstick a jig in the summer. I only use 1/4 oz jigs in the summer because they are easier to swim over shallow rocks. If it is real windy, go to a 3/8 oz but keep it movin' a little. Try it - you'll like it!

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Hey Lone Angler, you said the 3/8 rodstrainer jig did the trick. Were you using a trailer like a double tail, or were you just tossin the jig itself? And what were you looking for, rocks, docks, or weeds?
      City: Fremont

    • By

      Water Temp: 80-83

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: well myself and my girlfriend went out night fishing.thing started out kinda slow usinf spinner bait`s an top water...as night fell i put on 10 1/2 inche black zipper worm with red flk...frist cast BAM 3.5 lber next cast BAM and other 3.5 lber....the about 20 mins later Tick Tick BAM a 5lber and next cast same rock pile TICK TICK BAM an other bass 5.5lber...then got slow again and move about 30 yrads down,thew right by the banks line headed for deep water and BAM a 6.74lber...night was going good...about 4am it slowed down again,but by then i was so tired i couldnt set the hook if i wanted to...so i did what any bass fishermen would have did took an 30 min nap and was back at lol.....only cuaght one more fish after that and it was only 2.80lbs..but still when u can catch that good of fish when the water is as hot as it is that is good night in my book
      City: Atwater

      Tips: GO BIG AN GO BLACK...I ALWAYS USE 10-16 BLACK WORMS OR LIZZ THIS TIME OF THE YEAR AT ANY OF THE LAKES AN U MAY NOT CATCH A LOT OF FISH BUT THE ONE`S U DO CATCH ARE BIG......GOOD LUCK AN HOPE TO SEE U ON THE WATER

    • By

      Water Temp: 83 to 85

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: There still a algae bloom on the upper end of the lake and is starting to break up. Bass are hold ing in brush piles and around bases of rock piles and in trees in deeper water.Brown jigs arkie/ fiberguard in 3/8 oz tiped with a yamamoto 208 watermelon red/black flake 5" single tail grub works well in the trees. brushogs robo wormsand also black/blue jigs in 3/8 oz with a smoke single tail 5" grub with black/blue flake as a trailer also works. Bass are up to 4 pounds and are hold in 15 to 30 feet of water. Topwater buzzbaits and big spooks in the wind work on flats and points in the 5mph area. N ight fishing is starting to pick up also blade fish are starting to show. Lake is still full and not much water going out. Traffic should be back to normal by this week end.
      City: kerman ca.

      Tips: Early morning or later in the day as in 5pm into the evening and fish in the deeper water structure. Top water early or late also.

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

      Report: Fished a club night tourney. I can't believe how those night fish are so close to shore. I didn't do so well as I lost too many fish, but the winner had over 25 lbs for Sat/Sun, with over 14lbs on sat. Of course he didn't reveal how or where he did it. And a 7 pounder was caught! Now that's amazing for this lake.
      City: Fresno

      Tips: Black blades and 10" worms.

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

      Report: Tom,
      You can't go wrong with "Green Pumpkin" or "Watermelon" at Oroville. Try to drop shot a 4" or 6" worm on those fish. You might also try "Morning Dawn" it can be a great producer as well. Tight Lines!
      City: Sacramento

    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Yesterday, after a slow morning, John experienced a super buzz-bait bite from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. He caught nine bass, topped by a 5 lb. scrapper, three 3 lb'rs, and three 2 1/2 lb'rs, all caught on a white buzz-bait on the outside of the weed-line on mud banks and 15-20 feet out on rock banks. The wind had come up by then and it was choppy, which seemed to turn the bass on to the buzz-baits.
      We tried to repeat the pattern today but it didn't happen up until noon. There was little wind and glass-like calm through most of the morning. About 8:30 a.m., I caught a nice 2 1/2 lb. bass on a Spit-n-Image dog-walked along a rock bank, and hooked a 2 lb'r on the same lure a few minutes later on a mud bank, but he came un-buttoned.
      The wind finally did pick up a bit later in the morning, but neither of us could get any bites on the buzz-baits today. Other presentations, including crankbaits, spinner-baits, and swimbaits failed to produce for us today, and we had to be off the late at noon.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Wait 'til the wind picks up around noon, and sling the white buzz-baits on an angle toward the shore. Expect the hits as the lure passes over the outside of the weeds. Casting parallel to the outside of the weeds can increase the exposure to bass holding outside the weeds.

    • By

      Water Temp: 70ish

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: My first time at San Pablo. Water was really murky and there was this green film on some parts of the lake. Water is very low. Got the boat in the water around 6:30. Saw fish jumping everywhere but didn't catch anything till around noon. Caught a 12-13 inch LM on a white/chart spinner bait. He was hanging under a tracter sized tire in about 3 feet of water. My buddy caught 2 6-8 inchers on the same bait and of course "the huge one" that got away. Bring your sun screen.
      City: Santa Cruz

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: First time here and there was alot of people BBQing on a hot day. 100 degrees out there. Started off on the first pier with no luck. Hiked over to Arroyo with no luck as well. Saw some float tubers out there that had little luck as well. Ended up at the end near the bridge where there were a bunch of fallen trees. My buddy had a fish on his line. Only action all day. Used everything from top water frogs, spinnerbaits, brush hogs, lizards, jigs, and grubs. Nice place though. Will be back.
      City: San Francisco

Friday, July 7th, 2006

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: if your into dinks, the shore fishing has been pretty good of late. The wind is still going Cachuma style but patients is paying off. I have been throwing a lot of the new X Rap lately with pretty good success around shallow flats. I only get bites on a slower than normal two pump pause retrieve. This is the only bait I seem to catch keepers on. Crappie are biting around the pier. Yesterday I watched about 10 being caught in about an hour. Drop shotting will get numbers of small fish. I have been throwing a lot of 4" MMIII Sculpins about 18" from the bottom. Senkos and baby brush hogs are slow (for me) Anybody needs someone to share the expense of gas, my wife makes a mean sandwich and I would love to get a real taste for the lake. I am a Delta fisherman without a boat down here. Havent figured out how to do well for size yet. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. The carp are in every bay. If your not to proud and just want a tug, they are there for the fight.
      City: Goleta

      Tips: xrap fished slower than normal.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: while visiting a friend on his house boat at the Bidwell marina his fish finder showed fish at 35 feet and 55/65 feet for two dumbies what where the fish and what would you use to fish for them thanks from the not so fish smart
      City: Chico

Thursday, July 6th, 2006

  • Yuba County
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      Water Temp: 82.9

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Spent 2 weeks at collins lake and really struggled the first few days. I started to nail them at all sizes on the east side of the lake at the sides of points w/ small sized rocks going all the way down deep. There were also lots of schooling sized bass which bit small plastics. Caught a few on topwater buzz baits early in the morning, caught a couple on cranks, but most on plastic worms. Take time on a point and dont just gun and run all over the place. My trolling motor broke and I was forced to fish from teh opposite shore. I shore fished and wham.. i started to see the paterns. Good luck. I love this lake.
      City: San Diego

      Tips: Fish 8'-10' clear water, slowly with plastics. I used straight tailed chocolate colored / w/ blue vein or green/purple..

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 66*-68*

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 3 separate days last week with good success for lots of little guys and several nice hens. Best bite dead sticking 6" senkos around trees in 5-10' of water on main body and north end of lake. Trick was going S-L-O-W. I mean let it sit for 3-5 minutes and then give it a twitch.
      Several fish on chatterbaits and soft jerkbaits. Lite bite. Scent helps a lot.
      City: San Anselmo

      Tips: slow, lots of scent.

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

      Report: Maybe Trinity lake needs its own forum!!!can anyone tell me how the fishing is? its a three hour drive from Medford.I look here each day for the fishing report and there is always an argument on this report page.How is the fishing?????
      City: Medford

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 82

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: took the family camping after the vast majority of people had gone home ,camped on the water from 7-5-8-2006. We caught on average 25-30 bass per day trolling shad raps along the shore. Bass were suspended at 10ft-15ft. I normally don't troll for bas( not very exciting but its a great for 5 people in the boat to catch fish) We caught Spots, Smallmouth and large mouth.At night we fished for catfish in fron tof our camp site with hotdog/linguisa (combo), ended up with 7 channel cats in two night with 4 fish over 5 lbs the others about 12" long. A great family trip.
      City: tracy

      Tips: We camped out of the lake berryessa resort, we fished in Putah creek, only caught fish on the left side. It was great until all the loud people ruined the enviroment so we left saturday morning, but during the week it was wonderful!

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 65-73

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: had a awesome day most of our bass were small but we kept one bass that was about 2 pounds,and I lost one that was about 3 pounds we pretty much caught all types of bass largemouth,spotted,and smaalmouth.bluegill action was great too and we caught many keeper bluegills.
      City: vally springs

      Tips: all bass were caught on spinnerbaits,and the best lure was a green twintail grub.spinnerbaits were retrived fast most of the bass came up to 2-4 feet water on the spinnerbait.green twintail grubs caugt most fish fish them with a dart head and let them sink then retrive them slow.bluegill were all caught on night crawlers

Tuesday, July 4th, 2006

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 78 deg

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out of b&w 5:00 am Bite was slow On the incoming tide went to my usual spots close by. caught a few dinks . was throwing 51/2 inch watermelon tube t style. was slow till water started out. found them stacked up caught some really nice fish my brother fished top water he had a few blow ups nothing big. caught 13 fish by 9:30 am we got the hell out before boat traffic . had a good short fix in . kicker was a 5 pounder lost a really nice one, when i went to set hook i hit the bail release and you all know what happens.. yep it sucked .bird nest from hell....Going out on sat or sun early tight lines to all c you on the water
      City: Elmira

      Tips: Big plastics produce big fish must have patients

    • By

      Water Temp: 82

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the H2O at 6am and fished the south end with frogs and poppers. No takers. Threw a 5 inch senko along the back wall with no takers. arround 9 am tried a drop shotted 5 inch robo worm and slaughtered them. Finished up the day with 21 fish w/ the largest of 2.5 at 2:30. Best numbers day i have had in my life. Loved it.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Drop shot.....never fails

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: senko no go buzz bait no go take a kid trout fishing
      City: mountain view

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

      Report: MR MODE.
      FISHING LISCENSES ARE NOT FOOD STAMP CARDS.
      City: McKinleyville

      Tips: MR. MODE
      GO KILL FISH SOMEWHERE ELSE LIKE ARIZONA