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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, February 5th, 2006

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54-56

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Capella at 7:30am. My plan was to fish Skiers Cove, the Narrows and Wraggs Canyon. It was pretty sloppy in the morning but nice and clear, the main lake was muddy but the canyons in the south end were stained and very fishable. Hooked a 2.5 Largemouth at skiers in wood on a senko then for the next 1.5 hours nothing, this was at 8:30am, left there at 10am and hit a couple of coves in the narrows but found nothing in the back ends so stayed out of them the rest of the day. Hooked one short spot drop shotting at the beginning of one of the coves after spending two hours on the coves I went to Wraggs and hooked three more spots drop shotting. We called it a day at 2:30pm. All in all a pretty good day for us for the first time out. I hope my next outting will be better. Used Yamamoto cut tails in white and purple for drop shotting and hooked most of the fish in 15 to 20 feet.
      City: South San Francisco

      Tips: Don't spend a lot time beating the banks. Look for deeper fish on humps that you will find here and there. Try something new before spawning time gets here and maybe you will find a new secret weapon! Tight Lines!

    • By

      Water Temp: 48-54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started off with light winds and rains. The rains stoped but the winds went up higher. Worked the narrows for the first 2 hours picking up 8 smallies and three spots with jigs and Norman crank baits in shad colors. Moved north/west of the Big Island, working some island tops in 5 - 25 ft. Jk Jigs in brown/purple with a #180 grub worked good all day. Our best five was 12 plus pounds. The wind up north got upto 20 plus mph, the ride back was rough.
      City: rocklin

      Tips: Fish all over the lake, move slow and have fun

    • By

      Water Temp: 52.9 to 54.0

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Out of Markeley by 6:45 to the main body...windy and rough! First spot was blown out. Headed to the south side of the Big Island and found some fairly wind protected water. Threw cranks and picked 2 FAT smallies within 5 minutes on back to back casts. Just covered water in the same area for the next 2.5 hours and boated 5 keepers for an 9.5 lb limit by 9:15, 4 smallies & 1 spot. Had to bug out by 9:30 and go to work...HAR!
      City: Vacaville

      Tips: Threw crawdad pattern cranks. All fish bit in less than 15 feet water.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 50.5 - 53.0

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished in several locations Sunday, I finally found a little clearer water to fish that was right around 52 degrees. Threw blk/blu pig-n-jig
      (dark blu pork)TR worms and also did a little crankin. Found fish in 4-8' range, best bite came on TR worm, 7" got all the nice fish all solid 2-3 lb fish, 1 big bite, but missed it.
      no fish crankin. I kept the worm moving slow, all bites came on movement, very slow.
      City: Oakley

      Tips: Buy the Scent Box! My bait get a soaking yet I use like half of what I used to and a heck of alot less mess.

    • By

      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Slow day today! Froze our butts off in the early morning as it was only 32 degrees at 6:00 a.m. Caught a small bass, about 1 lb+, on a red crankbait near shore very early in the morning and then nothing more the rest of the morning. Fished mostly swimbaits, including slow-trolling a 12" Hudd at 40 and 50 feet through the many fish that show on the graph in that depth range in the main lake basin. Nothing. Tried the 10" Castaic Platinum Ghost trout fast-sinker with no success. John tried smaller presentations all morning with only a single hit on a Sweet Beaver. He caught a nice 3 lb. bass on Friday on his ultralight outfit and enjoyed the fight.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Water temp remains at 53 degrees, so whatever you use will probably work better if fished VERY slowly as in deadsticking.

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: 43-45

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Ah! The ramp has melted clear of snow, it isn't raining, and I've got some time off. What a beautiful day on the Lake. A little chilly to start but after all the crap we've been experiencing for weather, it sure was a treat to get out there. The lake has been up and down like a yoyo for the last few weeks. They've been dumping water into the river like crazy for quite a while now but the lake has stayed above 30' and still is. It's been a long time since the courtesy dock has been usable this time of year. Today I launched about 8 and the first hour I struggled. As near as I can tell the bass are still using the deep tailings as ambush points but as the water moves up and down they change locations. Apparently they find better spots to ambush the Kokanee at different depths. As I said I couldn't find a thing for an hour or so, but finaly hit paydirt. One pile was holding a ton of fish. I dropped a Duh team spoon and the first bite was a 5-4 smallie. 10 min later a 4-14 smallie. Left those fish to see if piles in a similar depth also held fish. Spent the next hour locating productive piles for trips later in the week. I'm finally going to have the chance to get out quite a bit and it will be interesting to track these fish and see just how much they move around. I'm out again tomorrow. I'll let you know.
      City: Weaverville

      Tips: I'm sure there are other baits that are productive now, but those spoons get down in a hurry and will attract a bite from agressive fish right now. Also from looking at my notes from past years the next 2 months are when the BIG DOGS come out an play.

Saturday, February 4th, 2006

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Markely at safe light with my two kids and some rain. We were drop shotting and my son Colin brought in the only fish of our 4 hours on the lake. He boated a nice 2 pounder in about 25 feet of water.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Take your kids fishing......They will teach you alot!

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: fished pedro saturaday during the rain and had around 15 1/2 for five fish .fished deep slow main lake very tough to get bites but when you do there pretty good fish.still tryin to get my first swimbait fish threw hudd. rof12 for hours and never got bite any tips
      City: merced

      Tips: 45-60 ft split-shot craw colors caught no fish shallow .

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Rain was the name of the game early but cleared to glass later.Started off with six inch optima swim bait, third toss 5.5 largemouth. Went up river to check temp. Too low and fish were scarse. Moved back past temp line sarted with swim bait again, no takers. I had a real fast retrieve, just wanted to break some of my records. Moved to mouth of south fork dragged one ton 50-75 feet, fish were stacked. Couldn't move it more than 30 feet wihtout a taker. Enjoed the bite(kept it quiet).
      City: Sac

      Tips: Watch electronics for shad and pond smelt, know the difference. If they are in that depht range big limits are possible. Shallow fish will almost always be there but, if you want your monies worth seek the schools this time of year. Good fishing, Jim

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

      Report: The Sonoma County Belly Boat BASS Club kicked of their 2006 season opener at Lake Sonoma last Saturday at the Yorte Creek launch out of Cloverdale.

      27 anglers braved the rains and weather to make check in Cloverdale, some from as far as San Jose and even Auburn. At launch these brave anglers were greeted with extremely tough conditions however the rain stopped and the day itself turned out to be beautiful, weather wise.

      Only 19 BASS were brought to the scales and it only took 2 bass to win it all! Todd Iwamoto from San Jose was back to show why he has 4 out of the last 5 Angler of the Year trophy's sitting at home. On a tough day Todd was able to entice 2 nice bass to take his custom made jig and that's all he needed to claim not only the 1st place position but also the day

Friday, February 3rd, 2006

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54-55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Markley and started fishing before leaving the cove. Caught a nice 2 pounder with a C-rig...Moved down the narrows trying to locate aggressive fish on reaction type baits. No takers on my jerkbaits..I told myself that I would not drop shot today so I started throwing a Margarita Mutilator on a split shot rig and picked up about another 10 fish or so but all in the 1lb range. All fish came in about 15 feet of water.
      City: EDH

      Tips: Stay out of the North side of the lake because of water clarity(Muddy)..Smallies seem to be staging for their spawn..Yes, my friends I think that with a couple of warm weeks and it will be spawn time again... I love this time of year...Tight lines and take a kid fishing.

    • By

      Water Temp: 55-57

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from Markley all throughout the narrows with earth-tone worms and caught easily twenty with our best ten going 10lbs. The fish were anywhere from 16-30 feet in the mornig and once the Sun got up the fish seemed to more up.
      City: MArtinez

      Tips: Fish slow all the fish that we caught were just weight. And makesure that you always have bottom contact.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launch out of Markley at about 8:45 AM under overcast sklies. Tried some deep running crank baits first thing with no success. At 10:00 AM switched over to drop shotting. I caught 12 keeper bass during the next 3 hours. The fish were all between 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 pounds. I talked to two other boats who only caught one fish between them. So I guess I had a pretty good day. It was nice to have the lake basically to yourself.
      City: Suisun City

      Tips: Drop shot baits that worked for me were a scalpin in ox blood color and 4" straigth tail worm in morning dawn color. Caught all the fish between 14 to 16 feet of water. Hope this helps.

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

      Report: Dropshotted 9 fish off Konocti Harbor docks Friday. Biggest was about 2 pounds.Roboworm MM did the trick.

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished Collins today for about 4 1/2 hours, just checking it out and trying to find some cleaner water. It still had low visability and is still spilling. I tried jigs, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits on the westside from 11am to 1pm without a bite. I switched to a few ofshore rocky areas on the eastside in about 15-20 feet of water, using a brown/orange Rattlin' Weapon jig with #180 Yamamoto single-tail trailer. As my jig got to about 18 feet of water the line tightened and I set the hook. There was no bite. What a great feeling after being off the water for 6 weeks!! I knew I would hook a good one since I left my net at home! Works every time! She fought good in the cold water and soon I lipped a 4-15 largemouth. Close to 5 but no cigar! Still a good start for '06!! I continued to work my way down towards the dam and worked another rocky dropoff with the jig and nailed a 2-2 spotted bass. I switched back to Elmer's Cove and had a feeble bite but missed it and that was it for my first '06 trip! I could have stayed longer but I don't have much success during late-afternoons in the winter. I think the bass need the light of day to get them feeding a bit in winter murky water.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I think spinnerbaits will work well as soon as the water warms up a few degrees and it may this week! I caught a 9 pounder on a crankbait several years ago at Collins on a very warm afternoon in mid-Feb. Jigs should work well also. Always look for the steep dropoffs.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: LATE STATR AT 1330 HOURS. ONE LARGEMOUTH SOUTH FORK, WEST SIDE. SEVERAL BASS BOATS ON LAKE TODAY; MUST BE A TOURNAMENT THIS WEEKEND. DIDN'T SEE ANY FISH CAUGHT. WATER RISING WITH PIECES OF WOOD FLOATING DOWN THE SIDES OF FORK.
      City: CARMICHAEL

Thursday, February 2nd, 2006

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55-56 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Hit the lake at 1 p.m., off the water at 5 p.m. Typical day at "Smallville"...landed a couple of one-pounders and a dink on cinnamon/black flake hula grub, 1 ounce football jighead...approx 15 feet deep. Used technique that Gary Dobyns shared during his seminar at this year's Cow Palace Fred Hall show. Still a tough bite today, though.

      Only two other boats on the water when I arrived. Spoke to one guy who said the going had been tough for him and his partner...only three small fish between them, all on a dropshot. They left the lake as I was arriving.
      City: Santa Clara

      Tips: Can't really say I found a good pattern today. But you might try using just the current/wind to boat drift hula grub on bottom across rocky points. When conditions don't permit this technique, drag the hula grub on the bottom using a slow, steady retrieve. I also ripped a Stacee for about 15 minutes and tossed a T-rigged baby brush hog for 30 minutes without a hit or a tap.

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48-53

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: got on the water at about 1230. half a dozen other fishing boat trailers in the parking lot. saw only one other fisherman in the dry creek arm, other must have been on the other arm. fished 12 to 40 ft. deep. fished the first breaks on points and several rocky humps. used grubs, jigs, and drop shot. no bites. cranked the dam from 330 to 430. nothing. sunny and crisp day on the water, so I still had fun, but i'm beginning to wonder what it takes to bag some bass on this lake in the winter!?!

      Tips: try not to get skunked. it doesn't feel good.

Wednesday, February 1st, 2006

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Another Great Report from Zack. For as many times you post, you havent fished all year? You are hardcore. Awesome tip about the jetskiers, that really helps out. My favorite is the fast always doesn't work... I am afraid to ask what you meant with that.
      City: Morgan Hill

      Tips: Skip over Zack's reports

    • By

      Water Temp: not sure

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: power walk around the lake with one rod. I use powerbait, no luck. I use all lures including my lucky krocodile and kastmaster. This lake "Sucks."
      As longs as it continues 2 rain. Water is just 2 muddy. Maybe next month or the begining of spring.
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Go 2 a lake with more clearer water.