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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, February 26th, 2006

  • San Francisco County
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      Water Temp: cold

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Decided to go out in the rain. Out there for about 45 minutes at yesterday's spot - before the rain started down. Fished a purple/red flake Kinami creature bait on a 3/8 oz football jig head. Poked around the tules with the YUM Wooly Hawg from yesterday's bass bite. Rain made me go home...no fish, but still got out there and gave it a go.
      City: Daly City

Saturday, February 25th, 2006

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The Bass Classics of Santa Clara Valley had there tournament and the weather was great we had 25 guys catch 95 fish with two 6.72 lbers caught for the big fish. In first place with 16.00 lbs. was Russell Witkowsky he was Carolina rigging baby brush hogs near main lake points and boat docks for the win. In second place with 14.1 was Dieter Spicker he said he caught fish in pockets off the main lake points on spider grubs. In third place with 13.85 lbs was David Malley and he was Carolina rigging lizards. There were two big fish caught one by Tom Mordue on a shad crankbait and the other by Jason Giamonna.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: Throw crankbaits in the morning and afternoons and fish spider grubs and worms in the middle of the day. Main lake points and boat docks for the best fish.

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: 54-56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Had an awesome day on Cachuma Saturday. I took out a new friend and we were the only ones in line when they opened the gate so off we went. Because I had some preconcieved ideas about where the fish were and what they were doing after the snow of last week our morning started slow. I missed one and my partner dumped one. We hit another spot just like the first and my partner got a largemouth on a blade but I didn't want to throw blades as the water was VERY clear. The coming rains should help that out a bit. We kept at it and had a slow pick on both largemouth and smallmouth on cranks,blades,jerkbaits and dropshot. Around 10:30 the wind picked up in earnest and I picked up a spider jig. On 3 consecutive casts I caught smallmouth that were 3+ pounds. We went in and had lunch and back on the lake the wind had died off some and so had the bite. we caught maybe 6-7 more fish and I put him on the dock at 4:00. I went back out and fished until 5:15. The last hour and a half the fish went nutz. I lost count on the smallmouth and had 3 very nice largemouth also. The smallmouth were all very big..For Cachuma as they were all at or better than three pounds. I caught some and there would be fish chasing the hooked fish trying to snatch the bait out of the hooked fishes mouth. It is still early and the water has cooled so the fish backed off aways waiting out the late winter pattern before their push to spawn. It will only get better so put on some fresh line and sharpen your hooks so you are ready when The whole lake goes off.
      City: Santa Barbara

      Tips: oxblood robo worms, 3/4 oz spider jigs, brown and purple jigs, white with chrome willow leaf blade, Chrome black jerkbait and craw colored cranks. They still haven't settled down onto a typical spring pattern but time will cure this ill.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 50ish

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: went to east delta to prefish for wonbass proam in march. found clear water and stained water.I traveloed and hit a spot here and there. Stained areas were warmer and i only had two bites for over seventeen pounds. The gorillas were right where they have been year after ytear, just bigger.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: For right now check out the migration routes from the main waterways in stained, warmer water. Cruisers are checking it out.Tossing Bob's frogs are a sure bet.

    • By

      Water Temp: 53'

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out for strippers in the morning and caught a few on cranks, the best only 4.8. Around 11, tried for LMB. I was pitching jigs and worms and only had two taps. There was a Tournament still in progress and one boat reported catching limits and I was watching them catch them tight in the tules flipping worms. No size they reported. I moved out to deeper water and fished weed clumps. Put on a helix worm and finally picked up a 5.11oz, released the fish then left at 1pm. Tough fishing and what little bites I had were very light.
      City: South SF

      Tips: While I didn't get any fish and only 2 taps, most of the fish I saw being caught were very tight in the tules.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 48-53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I was thinking about going fishing and I read a guys report names Kamron, so I emailed him and said thanks for the report, that he made up my mind by the his report to go to Clear Lake. He emailed me back and said no problem if I need a buddy to go along to let him know because his truck was down and could not drop his boat in the water so I picked him up at a dock near his house and he put us on the fish. He said ripping is the way to go so we started at south end and ripped 30-40 fish each to 4lbs before lunch time, I nicked named Karmon RML (rip master lips) this guy could cast like no one I have ever fished with before and thats 35 year of fishing on my end. I kept up with him until about 2PM and than my lack of slip and 40 year old arms got tired (He is 29). We ended the day with David 45-50 fish and Kamron 65-70 fish, 110-120 fish total. Had 2 4lbrs, 3-4 3 lbers and a ton of 1 1/2 to 2lb cookie cutters. The next day was a dif story, the front came in Sunday but the barometric presure must have change over night becuase we had to beg still and borrow for a fish. I caught 2 on dart head and 2 on split shot and Kamron got 3 or 4 fish on worms and he did rip one or 2. Had a great time with Kamron and I am sure we will hook up again.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Before the front the fish were in shallow 1-10 feet with deep water near by, 95% of our fish were between the docks not under them. rip rip rip with very short pauses but they hit it on the pause. Stacy 90 in any color but the crazier the color the more fish. The few worm fish with caught on robo's in purple and brown and magic worm green weenie.

    • By

      Water Temp: 46-54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished today with Jerry and Mike Cossey of Petaluma and had an absolutely amazing day on ClearLake. Our first stop produce 5 football fish in 20 minutes, 3 of them 4 pounders on Lizards. We then ran to the stained water of the north to toss jigs and found a million boats! LOL! We did manage 3 long skinney two pounders. After an hour fishing, a chat with Seig and some guy on a dock speaking cajun yiddish er something, (kept talking of this 100 pound bass he caught in the state park! LOL), I decided this wasn't gonna work like it had been and we needed to go back south, so off we went. Along the way we stopped and tossed some blades and jerkbaits with only a couple of strikes but no fish. We then pulled into a cove on the RedBud arm where the wind was blowin into the bay out of the south and commenced to just stroke fish from 11:30-4:00pm. In all, we caught 103 keepers and two dinks over the entire day. 11 of these fish were over 4 lbs 5 ozs, with the biggest going 8 lb 10oz. Best five were 8.10, 6.9, 4.13, 4.10 & 4.10 for a total of 29 pounds 4 oz. All but 6 of our fish were caught on lizards in 6-12 foot of water on big flats between docks with deep water behind us. We just put the trolling motor on low and kept our baits wet and moving. We did catch 6 jig fish, but amazingly, none of them were more than 2 pounds.
      City: Oakley

      Tips: The big flat pattern has been working for me at Clearlake for over 3 monthes now. Typically I'll work that lizard from 3-20 feet until we locate which ledge or level the fish are at. On this day, we got very lucky to find one bay that was just loaded with a ton of fish up shallow and the temperature, when we got there, was 52 degrees and was 54 by the time we left. We talked to a lot of anglers who struggled today and many of the boats were grouped up. Heard at Limit Out that it took 31 lbs to win the 100% Team event. Look for those areas void of boats, where the big flats are being overlooked! This will be a tough task this week with the Stren series taking place. But I believe this will be a good pattern that will be overlooked in the tournament by most anglers and if yer not in that event, you should have a great time like we did today.

    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: It is definitliey a afternoon bite. went out friday caught one on a craw speed trap five on drop shot.
      City: ukiah

      Tips: throw crawdad speed traps in sparsh tulies and end of docks drop shot under docks.

    • By

      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Sierra Bass Club fished last Saturday with some sorry limits brought in. 15.14 took home the goodies, Brian Orange was the lucky angler with 2 fish over 5lbs. Big Fish went to Clayton Cope over 7lbs they were fishing in the same boat. we were fishing for 4 fish and seemed like the limits were hard to come up with. Seems like the cold front and the lake coming up moved the fish all over. My boater was catching fish in 50' but the top 3 of the tournament were 15' and up. 23 boats and the lake was full.
      City: Clovis

      Tips: better fish came off the humps. lots of fish in the rocks 0-10' Jigs in black/blue and jigs in brown/purple and solid brown. trailers were yamamoto and sweet beaver.
      Spawn should start any day.

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

      Report: WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL THE FISHING REPORTS FOR THIS LAKE? C'MON!!! I WANNA KNOW HOW THE BASS/CRAPPIE/CATFISH BITE IS AT LAFFEYETTE RESERVOIR....
      City: San Bruno

  • Mendocino County
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      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Hi my name is casey im 13 years old,i went out to mendocino today caught five nice fish including a 8 and a half. I started throwing a swim bait then tied on a blade and nailed a 8.then caught three on a drop shot.right before i left i caught a 3 pound smallie on a crank bait.
      City: ukiah

      Tips: throw spinner baits deep water and drop shot deep water.throw cranks shallow and try to find rock pillings.

  • San Francisco County
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      Water Temp: Cold

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished South Lake and Impoundment from 11:00am to 2:30pm. Caught 2 LMB from John Muir Drive Pier on South Lake. Got both with 4 inch pumpkin green YUM Wooly Hawg on 1/4 oz round jighead and my spinning outfit. Just flippin' the tules at the corners of the pier... Caught both fish within 5 minutes of each other. The first was 2-3 lbs. The second 1 lb.

      I also met a fellow basser named Leo - who was fishing a very light tackle drop shot rig. We fished at the pier for a while. He is a pretty good dude.
      City: Daly City

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 53-56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Gilroy Bassmassters held a one day tourny with a winning weight of just over 12#. Fish were caught all over the lake with various techniques.
      City: San Martin

      Tips: Fish very slow.

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Wow, I expected to see some fresh reports in '06 - especially with some big smallies caught in the last two weeks. I went to Pardee yesterday by myself to get up to speed on lake conditions and found them good except for a drop in water temp that had to happen with 2 record cold nights this week. Unfortunately it was a bluebird day to boot but some light wind did help with the clear water. I ripped some and fished small worms a bit but really just stuck to Weapon and Rodstrainer jigs. My favorite brown/orange color again was the ticket. I seem to have a way with largemouth at this lake and not the smallies. I caught 2 smallies at 2 lbs each and 11 largemouth from 13 1/8 inches (the only small one) to 6 1/2 lbs and including a 5-14 beauty! At 2 pm I either found them or they turned on. I say that because they nailed the jig and I had to dig them out of the back of their mouth!! My 5 best largies went 21 lbs 2 oz so, I guess I can't complain. I was in the river arm when the fish turned on. At least I can show my clients how to catch largemouth - and catfish!!! I had heard about the nice catfish fishery at Pardee and they too,love my Rodstrainer jig. It went 15 lbs and gave me a cheap thrill!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I though it was very interesting that the 8.7 and 8.22 (?) were caught the same day. There is something about being at the right lake at the right time. Congrats to both of those skilled anglers! I caught most of my bass off-shore on different types of rock structure. Most of the bass were 15 to 30 feet deep, and mostly in the sun. I fished a lot of shadows but didn't do very well. I was really surprised I couldn't get bit on a ripbait. I guess the drop in the lake temp did in that bite for now!

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

      Report: Had a good day fishing at jones valley, however there were two idiots in a jet boat fishing minnows at the big rocks making alot of racket and messed up our fishing. We still caught a limit and had a great time..
      City: jones valley

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Jones Valley our favorite place. We caught alot of bass and a few trout. We were using night crawlers and minnows and some cheese bait we actually caught bass on cheese bait. This is only my third time fishing ever...man I love to catch bass.
      City: San Francisco

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: We had a wonderfull time on the lake, we launched out of Jones Valley. Lots of other people enjoying the lake. We fished with minnows at the big rock pile and caught six nice keeper bass. We went up the Pit arm aways and fished our minnows catching some good ones. We took home a nice bunch of fish to eat. Just a fabulous day.
      City: Shasta Lake City

      Tips: Use minnows, anyone I mean anyone can catch em with minnows, If you can't you should give up fishing.

    • By

      Water Temp: 49.8

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Worked a little harder at the Bass today. My 12 yr old got a nice 3-4 lb. We picked up a nice 4-5 lb salmon as well. Another 12 year old caught his first fish today. An enjoyable day at the lake with 3 boys.
      City: Cottonwood

      Tips: Boat ramps are full. A lot of boats on the lake today. With the nicer weather the lake is quickly filling up.

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: quite cold

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Arrived at 7ish, quite a few boats out. Threw them the kitchen sink. nothing down under to bite. Everyone just driving around the lake looking for fish. Nothing, with another storm headed this way, it will be nothing for awhile. Hooked into 3 fish all day on Plastics. They were pale looking & not much life in them. Better ride out the boring Olympics & wait till we get some good weather!
      City: NORTHERN CALIF

      Tips: Watch the Winter Olympics & sip Hot coffee.
      SLOW & DEEP!

    • By

      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: thanks Jake for your report.. I figure that within .. the next two to three week's.. shit will hit.. don't know about you guy's but spring has sprung... 1 or 2 two good rain's.. I think they are ready...
      City: morgan hill

      Tips: right now air temp.. get's cold.... a couple of week's allthough.. some rain.. will warm them up.. Take care and fish safe.. Zack