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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Friday, May 5th, 2006

  • Siskiyou County
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      Water Temp: 61am 65pm

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Well, not one of my better days on this lake but got to post the good with the bad. Started off up the creek fishing the willows. Should have stayed there the whole time. We were hoping to get on one of these huge packs of agressive spotted bass but it was not to be on this day. Jack picked up a few early in the willows pitching plastic craws and spinnerbaits. I got mine pitching plastic lizzards. The willows werent on fire so we headed out to the main lake islands. Jack hooked a nice see gull, about three pounds on a plastic craw and I managed one on a crank bait. Mine was bigger maybe 4lb. Not much of a fight.. Both were released unharmed. Jack did manage one fish on his craw and I got nothing. About 15 dollars worth of terminal tackle later with no fish we decided the willows would be less expensive to fish. Did finally figure out ( for us ) That a watermellon baby brush hog pitched deep into the cover would get bit with some consistancy. By that time it was time to leave. Jack 6 Keith 9. Guess I get braggin rights for the week even if there wasnt much to brag about. Good luck and good fishing
      City: Medford

      Tips: There was at least two club tourneys at the lake this weekend and I heard they did quite a bit better than we did. Good top water bite that we didnt even attempt. Winning weights were about 14lb. Our best five might have gone 12lb. This is a great lake when your timing is good. Fish will be spawning heavily over the next two weeks and it WILL get alot better.

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 64-66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: HAVE BEEN A BERTH HOLDER FOR TEN YEAR'S,ALWAY'S SPEND ALEASt 4 DAY'S ON CAMPING ,THREE TIME'S A YEAR..STAYED @ rustler's 1 ,fishing was the best i have caught in a long time,,day bite was'nt great,but at night on a bobber & minnow or worm..big slab's, big cat's, 2 nice 2 lb smallie's.tried trolling nothing 20 ft ,40 ft,.
      using small silver shad,& NEEDLE NOSE W/WORM

      tryed trolling on top behimd boat inflated worm nada..

      trying trolling on top with inflated worm's
      City: SAN RAFAEL

      Tips: i found the shad,as a few of you kind knowleadgable fisherman have shared your secret's with me ..& i thank u ..u know who u are...tight line's

      BILLY

    • By

      Water Temp: 59 on surface

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: launched before sun came up, few boats as well. this was one of the most windless mornings in a long time, what a treat to fish this way. fished cherry & threw everything at them,best bait was a chertruse spinner bait. 2 of us threw this same bait & landed 6 bass up to 4.7lbs.released to protect their spawn. nothing heavy, looked like they did spawn, all the bellies were gone.overcast all day until lunch & then wind started howling, then bite died & we went home. post spawn hit or miss from now on....
      City: NORCAL

      Tips: with weekend weather heating up, watch out for the water warriors.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went to lake at about 4:30PM. Fished the cove south of the dock and parking lot from the bank. Two on small brushhog. One 2lb other a dink. Water is still high but clearing.

Thursday, May 4th, 2006

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 72-75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 5:00 pm till 12:30 am on first quarter moon. Very little wind considering valley had strong delta breeze. Dead calm around 9 pm. Fishing slow and steady - got about 8 fish with biggest going a bit under 3. Worm, jig, senko worked. Debris around launch ramp almost all gone and lake has fallen 2 feet in last 2 weeks. No big fish to be seen, maybe post spawn or not enough moonlight or just an off day. Latrobe road potholes have mostly been fixed (were bad).
      City: Folsom

      Tips: Better fish in 10 - 15 feet of water about 100 feet back into coves on south-facing banks. Some bait being chased to surface in backs of coves but no topwater success, yet.

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 60-62?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Ok this report is from last week and even though I don't want to give away my secrets I did want to let people know that I've had great success with the reaction bite in Markley despite what others have said about the reaction bite being dead. I regularly float tube this area (usually every Thurs. but I might change that because my car was broken into Thursday between 9-11am) and love to throw blades. Last Thur. I caught a dozen or so fish on a white spinnerbait all in 2-4' of water in Markley. Any fish I missed I followed up with a 4" watermelon worm w/ a split shot 1.5' up. Did miss two smallies (in the exact same spot) on the blade and caught them on the worm one going maybe 2.5 lbs. So if you like to fish blades then I'd say you'll still do well for a few more weeks. If you want to stay away from the reaction bite then hey all the more fish for me :)
      City: Davis

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: 62 in main lake

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Still cloudy and cool. Fish PopR's for an hour or so. Got some rises and 6 in fish interest! Guys with me had trouble with a breeze off the dam. Went to sheltered cove and drop shot. Lot of fish 10-12 inches and a few over. Probably 30 fish. One guy fishing Optimum said he was doing well; saw him catch one very nice largemouth. Fish showing on screen on all flats. Were 6-8 ft early and moved out to 12-15 by noon. Great fishing but didnt go for big fish.
      City: Santa Barbara

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

      Report: Fished the last hour of the day between the ramp and the small dam. Caught two small bass on smoke/silver senkos in the coves and a crappie on a spinner bait. Talked to a few other shore fisherman - got the impression it was kinda' slow. Watched a few float tubers getting a lot of crappie.
      City: San Jose

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Just checking in to see if the frog bite has started. Also, is anyone seeing any carp. I got the bug to shoot some carp. Are they spawning yet? Thanks.
      City: chico

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I FISHED THE SOUTH END TODAY CAUGHT 4. NOTHING OVER 2LBS 1 ON SENKO 1 ON 6 INCH ROBOWORM OXBLOOD AND 2 ON 8 INCH DEAD RINGER WATERMELON W/RED FLAKE.NOBODY ELSE ON THE WATER
      City: SAN JOSE

  • Mendocino County
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      Water Temp: 70 degrees

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Today I went strpier fishing with a few buddys, we chaced the stripers while they were boiling. WE say about 15 boils, got to at least 8 of them. We brought in 6 stripers ranging from 28 to 32inches. I brought in 4 all from 8 to 12lbs. Two of my friends brought in one each, from 8 to 10 pounds.It was a great day to chase stripers. We fished from 6:30 till dark.

      Tips: none!

  • San Francisco County
    • By

      Water Temp: 71deggees

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: went chasing boils around 6:30 till dark, cought 6 stripers on my boat. 4 of them I cought using a rapala, 2 others on plastic minnows. All stripers were 28" to 32". The biggest one was 12lbs. It was a great day for stripers.
      City: red wood valley

    • By

      Water Temp: 71deggees

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: went chasing boils around 6:30 till dark, cought 6 stripers on my boat. 4 of them I cought using a rapala, 2 others on plastic minnows. All stripers were 28" to 32". The biggest one was 12lbs. It was a great day for stripers.
      City: red wood valley

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 66-68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Great - somebody else posted - thank you! I talked my fishin' bud Rick Tietz into letting his tackle company rest for a bit. Blade Runner tackle finally stopped runnin' for a few hours so he could remember how to catch bass, har! And catch 'em he did! I fished from 10:30 to noon before Rick arrived and I actually caught some smallies up to 3 1/4 lbs. After noon - Rick and I fished all over the main body and a little in the river arm. We caught several nice bass - Rick drop-shotting several types of Basstrix minnows and yours truely split-shotting a 4" green pumpkin Berkley Bungee Leech. I used a few other Berkely 4" worms too, but mostly the leech. I just had a feeling about green pumpkin! On a main body point about 1:30 my 6 lb test suddenly got heavy - like I had snagged a bouy. As it moved to the right I knew what it was - fish on - BIG fish on! Here it is - my trophy smallmouth on the line!! I thought I played her well on 6 lb test and then I saw her - oh no - another largemouth!!! I wasn't too disappointed - she was 8 lbs 2 oz. Rick showed me he is a master of big smallies - one at 4-2 and the other 4-12. We caught very few sight fish and none were big ones. It was really interesting - Rick would catch a smallie - I would catch a largie - and on and on - amazing! I did catch 6 good smallies from 2 3/4 to the earlier mentioned 3 1/4 - the last one finally on a jig. We had a great limit - a little over 24 lbs. We caught 35+ tournament keepers and about 7 or 8 dinks. Most of our bass were from 2 to 10 feet.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We experienced a pretty tough delta breeze, so any sight fishing was really out of the question. I always like to catch quality fish that I can't see. We didn't fish any particular type of structure - points, sides of points, secondary points, ridges. We did fish the backs of some coves and only found small fish. It should be no surprise that the bigger bass - though shallow - were on flats close to deep water. Watch out for floating wood, but most of it is safely resting on the shore. Good luck!

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

      Report: Just a reminder that this Sat. the 6th is the last (for now) Jason Fisher tournament. Once again it's bring a kid day. This time we are even having a separate weigh-in for the kids. They'll be weighing in their biggest single fish. Prizes will be awarded. The fish the kid's weigh can also be part of the teams' bag. We'll weigh all of the kids fish before the team weigh in, so when you come in gather round and give these kids some support. Hope to see a bunch of you there. To date we've raised $850.00 for the fund.
      City: Weaverville

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006

    • By

      Water Temp: who knows

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sorry folks I fished the bank near the creek intrence to the lake and got skunked. I saw a bunch of what I thought were bass caught in a pool before the lake in the creek but I threw everything I had at them and they did'nt go for nothing which makes me think either they were not feeding or they were not bass but I know a bass when I see one.Anyway.
      City: san jose

      Tips: Take a cross bow oh that's for carp sorry.

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: AWESOME DAY ON THE WATER. HAD A SHORT DAY, BUT MANAGED TO BAG OVER SIX E-A-S-Y LIMITS ON THE GOOD OLD CRANKS BAITS. MIX OF LMB AND SMALLIES. LARGEST SMALLIE WAS 3.5 OFF A POINT. BEST FIVE WENT 12.5#'S.
      City: WINTERS

      Tips: FISH WHAT YOU HAVE A KNACK FOR. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT'S CRANKS OR IT'S PLASTICS JUST GO OUT AND HAVE A GOOD TIME. MOST OF MY FISHIES WERE CAUGHT ON POINTS AND BACK OF COVES.

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: 67'

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Partner and I set out around 7:45am. First fish at 9am on Wht.Spinner bait. WT# 7.11lbs. Second fish caught around noon on same Spinner bait. WT# 6.3lbs.
      All caught in the south/west end.
      In 3 to 4 ft. of water.
      City: Santa Clara

      Tips: Wind, Wind, Wind! Use it! It stirred up the bait fish which in turn raised the BIG ones! Please catch and release, these fish are bedding!
      Tight Lines!

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 66-69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Dropped into the water at 7:AM and the temp was already in the mid 60's so went to some usual areas including China Gulch where the water was still pretty stained so we headed to the main body toward the dam and fished shallow banks. We found them in 69 degree water on the beds and the fun began with every fish a tournament keeper with the biggest just touching 5 lbs while all the rest were 2-3 lb range. When we moved to other similar banks found the temp to be only 66 and NO beds but they were cruising everywhere and hungry for the bait. I must have boated over 35 beauties myself while my partner was half stepping but still managed a dozen or so. Water clarity was beautiful and when the wind layed down, beds or fish were clearly visible so got some training for my annual Almanor trip in a couple weeks. It is now $22 for 2 guys to get in but my bloody and tore up fingers made the price well worth it. Get there while it is totally wide open.
      City: Wheatland

      Tips: Tried topwater, ripping, cranks, blades, jigs, Senkos and not until I started with the tube on a 1/4 oz darthead did the catching light up. I use the larger darthead as it gets to the target quickly and can be controlled a lot easier when you are targeting a bed fish. Really didn't matter what color tube as long as it was a light color.

    • By

      Water Temp: 61 to 63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: THE BASS FISHING HERE HAS REALLY PICK UP WITH THE WARM WEATHER.BASS ARE RUNNING IN THE 4 POUND RANGE AND SOME ARE BEEN CAUGHT UP TO 7 POUNDS. SENKO'S LIZARDS CAROLINA RIGGED AND DART HEAD GRUGS IN CRAWDAD COLORS ARE WORKING WELL. BASS ARE IN 3 TO 10 FEET OF WATER AND THE 5 MPH AREA IS BEEN THE BEST PLACE ON THE LAKE. TRAFFIC IS HEAVY ON THE WEEKENDS AND RATTLE SNAKE ARE OUT SO BANK FISHERMAN SHOULD WATCH CLOSELY WHEN FISHING AROUND TALL GRASS OR AROUND ROCK OR BRUSH PILES LAKE IS VERY HIGH. PUTTING 10 TO 15 FISH PER ANGLER IN THE BOAT IS NOT A PROBLEM.
      City: kerman ca.

      Tips: BLANK FISHERMAN BEWARE OF SNAKES STAY ON TRAILS DOWN TO THE WATER TRAFFIC IS HEAVY ON WEEKENDS NIGHT TIME FISHING IS PICKING UP HERE ALSO. BIG PUMPKIN SEED PERCH ARE SHOWING IN THE WILLOWS UP BY THE RANGER STATION.