Submit
Report

Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Tuesday, February 7th, 2006

    • By

      Water Temp: unkn

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for a few hours. The water is still to dirty from all the rain. I think I might of got a bite, but with all the weeds and branches in the water who knows what was down there. I can't wait for the water to clear up, but who knows when that will be. We fished crank baites, jigs, and what ever else we could use. But NOTHING!!!
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Need some if anyone has any to offer.

Monday, February 6th, 2006

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55-57

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: On water from 10:30 am til 4:30 pm. Landed a four, a three and two ones. Largest fish taken with a one ounce jighead hula grub while boat-drifting in 20ft water. All others on a dropshot...Aaron's Magic Robo worm. Fish released. Beautiful day to be on the water.
      City: Santa Clara

      Tips: Slow plastics around rocky points.

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I agree with you jaybizzle - Chabot is too muddy right now for trout or bass fishing. I've been fishing at this lake for almost 10 years and I've never seen the lake this muddy - ever! I know Chabot like the back of my hand and I rarely go home empty handed but it happened two weekends ago when I spent a morning on a boat fishing in this "chocolate milk"! I spoke with the guys at the marina and they told me not to bother until it clears up. In the mean time, try another lake like Shadow Cliffs in Pleasanton.
      City: San Leandro

      Tips: Don't even waste your time at Chabot right now!

    • By

      Water Temp: 51 to 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Will the bass are still on a good bite with fish going up to 4 pounds. The bass are in 8 to 25 feet of water and jigs in pumpkin green are still working well. Now that the weather is warming up get the lizards and brushogs & spinnerbaits out because the bass are moving up shallow. traffic was heavy on saturday because of superbowl sunday and the bite slowed in the afternoon saturday with that quick little front that came through. Sunday it pick up again with the bass back up as shallow as 5 feet in some areas. the east side of the lake from ranger station to the keep out byous are still the areas to hit. also the swimming area on the day use side is holding fish. The 5 mph area is also holding bass in 8 to 25 feet of water as some bigger fish are shallowing up and there still some swim bait action going on. The weather should really be good this week and some bigger fish should come up shallow so pick and area and work it slowly.
      City: kerman ca

      Tips: jigs,brushogs.lizards,spinnerbaits.swimbaits take your pick there all good right now any questions e mail me anytime GOOD LUCK

  • San Francisco County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: hey ray ray i fish merced a couple times a month i fish all three lakes mostly south. i fish from a kakhi kayak some times in my kayak i rarely see other people fish for bass or fish at all lately. anyway always looking for someone to fish w/ and tell fish stories so if you wanna fish e mail me im always down when im not working! fish north and south lake today on foot caught a few small ones and one nice 4 pounder on a blue and black pig and jig. threw senkos with no luck. shacking a jig in place was the only way i got bit GOOD DAY! <*){{}}><
      City: pcifica

      Tips: FISH SLOW DARK COLORS SHOULD GET MORE ACTION SOON WEATHRS GETTING NICER LOOK FOR PRE SPAWN STAGING AREAS AJSENT TO THE FLATS

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Yo Jaybizzle. I've fish Merced for over twenty years and I've never seen any other bass fisherman except for the ones I know and I fish that lake quite often.. Just wondering who you were because I might of seen you once or twice... Anyways,, fished the Northlake for a couple hours on Sat. morning and caught a couple bass about 3-4 pounds each on a spinnerbait..
      City: Pacifica

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 46-50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: What a privalage to live just 2 1/2 hours from this world class fishery! Kevin and I were in need of a warm weather break from the Rouge Valley cold. The bend in a fishing rod is just the icing on the cake. Launched at Packers at 6;30. Picked one up on a spinnerbait while warming up the Merc just spitting distance from the ramp. Man I love this lake! Headed up the Pit to the Arbuckle flat area. Got a few right off the bat on some of the points in that area useing spinnerbaits and dart head worms. Nothing at all on the flat. Headed back toward the main lake and picked up a few more on numerouse points once again on dart head worms and football head hula grubs 3/8 ounce pumpkin pepper. Figured out that the further we moved into an arm the fewer bights we would get. No real magic, no hogs but plenty of biters. Wound up with about 30 fish total, only 2 shakers in the bunch, largest going 2.25. Wind and cloud cover might have made for better catching but then again it would have been colder so this was probably the perfect day for what I was needeing. Godd luck and good fishing!!
      City: medford

      Tips: Until the lake starts to fill I suspect the fish will remain within the first 25% of the creek arms. With the weather warming up this week, I would concentrate on the shallow flats and coves with alot of sun exposure in the main lake.

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: 44

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Yep, just like I said, I got out again today. Spent a most enjoyable day with a writer from the Fish Sniffer. As usual, however, get someone with a camera and a pen in the boat and the fish head for the other end of the lake. I just don't know what makes fish so camera shy. Maybe we need to figure out how to hook them up on-line so they can see themselves on a screen and they'll be a little more co-operative. Geez, maybe we should just offer them a sponsorship, that ought to do it. Anyway fishing was fishing today not catching. We did end up with a half dozen fish, all smallies, with a 4 lber leading the way. Saw plenty of fish where I expected to find them, but it was tough to get them to go...... I just realized after browsing through reports from other Nor-Cal lakes, maybe I shouldn't be apologizing for for a 6 fish day or for a 4 lb smallie as top dog. D#@m, this lake can sure distort one's values. Thanks Richard for a fun day. Next time, we'll tell the fish you're a bird watcher. Maybe that'll help.
      City: Weaverville

      Tips: After the day we had I'm not sure what tips I have to offer except, if you want to do well on Trinity, leave the press on the dock.

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
    • By

      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
    • By

      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.