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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, January 21st, 2006

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I hadn't been out on the lake in nearly two months, entirely way too long. Started out with my go to 1/2 oz br/purp hand tied jig. First cast landed a 2.4...good start. I went to lift him into the boat and was surprised when my rod bent like it did. Caught a number close to this size within about an hour. My pops then landed our best fish for the day a 3.4# spot followed by a largemouth I cought the weighed 3.1. To say the least, we were pretty excited about this considering we've not been out in some time. The larger spot came on a custom poured Webbs baits 6" work on a t-rig, the others all came on either a tube or 1/2 oz br/purp jig. This time of year i'll change my jig color and trailer around depending on water color and light conditions...but I was lazy yesterday and fished with a jig I had on since November!! We didn't weight all of our fish, but I would be comfortable saying we had close to 13#'s. Once the sun broke through and a little breeze started blowing, the bite go much tougher. I think had we stayed on some of the fish we would have kept on them, but we moved around a bit looking for other concentrations of fish. Great quality fish, I'm glad the lake got a good stirring!!!
      P.S. Watch out for debris...there is a big slug of it in the WB upriver from Lime Saddle. There is also a bunch of it about 8' from the current water level, once the lake starts to creep up, this will be liberated, as always, stay safe (and save yourself some repair money!!!)

      MIke
      City: Chico

      Tips: Dont be bashful to fish big and fast!

    • By

      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Arrived to lake at sunrise and there were only two other boats in the water, by 9.00am, the lake was packed. Bass dudes everywhere. I htink that might have slowed the bite all day. I think. We hit a spot that had big breaks off a point with deep water on both sides and proceeded to catch one trout on a brush hog grn/pumkin red flake texas rigged in about 8 ft. Of water. Not the fish we're looking for. Down the bank where rock met gravel, my buddy landed a keeper on the same rig in about 6 ft. of water. I hooked a fish on a different point with similar characteristics as the last one on a carolina rigged junebug brush hog in about 13ft of water. Saw people drop shotting and catching fish. Looked as if they were looking for trees on their graph and pound them with their drop shots. Talked to a kid who pounded the banks with a crankbait and landed 5. He mentioned the crankbait bite turned off around 10.00am. Evening crankbait bite produced 2 keeper bass, one to 3 pounds(i think), near sundown off of main lake points on a Deep Little N in about 7-10ft of water. Bite was slow for our boat all day with action only in the morning and the evening.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Crank em' early in the morning. Just work points and breaks, hell just troll around th whole lake and cast, and cast, and cast. Throw senkos, carolina rigged baits too because of their slow fall. Buy a swimbait rig and chuck that thing all day. Those are only tips to people coming out here soon. Lake opens FEB 1 on a wed so get there then or any other Wed. after and avoid the weekend warriors.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Out at first light cloudy to start the day.
      crank up the pit on flats with a white bill norman about 6 fish in a hour one at 2lbs the rest just keepers then fished creeks just small fish. Fish cuts next with 1/2oz jigs back on fish nothing big just keepers. Sun is out now dropshoted trees lots of fish not many keepers. Fished points on the way back in with swinbaits two keepers about 15". That a day about 12 keepers with lots of dinks.
      City: Redding

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Heh Lee. Was wondering how the bassers turkey shoot went. Give us some results if you have time. Thanks
      City: Klamath Falls Or.

Friday, January 20th, 2006

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

      Report: Cold out there. Tried rippin' some pointers and staycees, no luck. Switched to darthead worms, 4inch, in shad and purple colors. 12 in the boat, for 4 hours fishing. Best day out here since October. The fish seem to be moving up. Fished the north end in the flater water, on mud banks.

      Tips: dart head curly tails

Thursday, January 19th, 2006

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 45-48

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Brrrrr was right..I went out with one of the West's best fishing guides and he did not let me down. Andy "Cooch" Cuccia taught me so much about Clearlake and how to fish it and I now know why he is in such demand as a guide. I can not wait to go out with him again. Andy thanks for everything! Also want to thank Bob Higgins of Limit out tackle in Clearlake Oaks..He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. So when you're up in Clearlake Oaks or in Clearlake stop by his shop for some lake pointers and meet this great person.
      City: EDH

      Tips: Just read Andy's previous report.

    • By

      Water Temp: 45.8-48

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Brrrrrrr, Very chilly day on ClearLake Thursday. Started out in the RattleSnake arm and work towards the Narrows, then over to Konocti and down below the old Boat works before heading back to the Oaks. Post frontal High seemed to slow the fishing down today. We did manage about 18 keepers with the biggest going 5lb 8oz on a lizard. C-riggin' was our ticket for the day as it caught most of our fish. Lizards and Baby Brush hogs in Green pumkin. Never caught a fish under 15 feet, most came in 18-23 foot of water, out in front of docks. Caught one 3 pounder on a jig up at the rock piles of Konocti, as we also caught 5 nice keepers on Jumbo minners. Minner bite was very slow today, only used 6 minners ALL day, just wouldn't eat it. Crappie fishing at Konocti was also very slow, lotta guys on the docks all whinin' as they was catching blue gills by the scores. A large mudline has blown down from the south, you could see a distinct line from SeaBreeze accross to Anderson Island. Tons of birds chasin Shad way off shore from WindFlower all the way down to the old Boat Works. A lot of birds in the Glenhaven area south towards the Oaks as well. These two areas seemed to be the most productive for us all day. West side of both south legs seemed dead and we caught only a couple of fish at Konocti.
      City: Oakley

      Tips: Not a bad day for post front High pressure conditions, but certainly not the typical bite that has been going on here for the past month.

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: cold

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: nothin, nadda bite, nothing. It was the same with others we spoke with as well. although "reports" of fish being caught in the norther dry creek arms.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Can't wait for spring.

Wednesday, January 18th, 2006

  • Santa Barbara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Cold air temps greeted me along with assorted Eagles and Osprey's. It was a good day to nature watch all day long. I started out cranking my favorite winter holes in Big Chachuma but was only rewarded with some trout and a 12 inch largemouth. I switched to jigs for an hour without so much as a tap. I pulled out and started spooning and things are different from two weeks ago. Yes I caught 20+ fish but they were not of the quality from the weeks before. I mean the average fish was just keeper size I might have had about 13-14 pounds but I had to work for the fish. I did manage 3 largemouth in the 3 pound range but in the morning I had no smallmouth. I had lunch and went back out. Since the wind was picking up I decided to spoon the walls. First cast was a smallmouth. I caught maybe 5 smallmouth but there was no rhyme or reason to their location. I'd get one in 10 feet and the next in 40. The deeper fish seemed larger. I went along the breaks and points using my bouys to precisely fish the areas and found that it made a world of difference as I could look back and relize that the time it takes to take a fish off and start fishing again really puts you way off from where you located that fish. It was strange to me but areas that had produced on my last outing were no where near as good. A bigger surprise was when I located the wood on these areas there was nobody home. The biggest surprise however came when I got bit and could not move my rod. I thought at first that I had a fish stuck in the wood but then it started moving around and by god I just couldn't get her to come up. I spent 15 minutes slowly making ground when I got her up...Well if you ever seen the catfish on the wall at the marina it was bigger. I really just wanted my spoon back so I went to the back locker and got out my net. It is telescopic so that was fun...dealing with this grandma cat and trying to get the net ready. The only problem was she didn't fit in the net! So I worked her up front and got down on the deck and grabed the hook with my needle nose pliers. She then procedid to start rolling like an alligator. Snap! I broke the hook and away she went. I don't know what she weighed but it was the biggest catfish I've ever seen in my life alive and swimming. I figure a modest 40 pounds. The rest of the day was very anticlimatic as the wind just plain stopped and the lake turned to glass. That was it for everything. I managed 3 fish in the last hour and got off the lake at 4:00. Most of my action took place on main lake points on the side that normally gets wind. Once I got on the down current side it was way less productive. I think the fish are moving shallow now and I will only have less action on the spoon even though the water temps fell and I'm sure that a lot of shad died because of it. I did better at 25-30 than deeper. I thought for sure the cold water would have the fish used to seeing more shad dying which to me meant that they would have been on the spoon better as they had shad fluttering around them more but that was not the case. It's time to go shallow and that is were I'll be going on my next trip.
      City: Santa Barbara

      Tips: mainlake areas with shallow deep access were best. If you have wind breakout your dropshot and hit the walls as they are much more active with the wind. They will soon be on the crawfish with a vengance so get you jigs in order!

Monday, January 16th, 2006

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: muddy!!!!!!! looks like yohoo fished from 10 till 4:30 trolled for trout and nothing. then switched to bass w/ dropshots, nothing, texas rigged worms, nothing. saw some fish jumping tried top water and nothing. no fish all day thru my whole tackle bag at em and got nothing! bad day fishing! A BAD DAY ON THE LAKE IS STILL BETTER THEN A GOOD DAY AT WORK!!!
      City: pacifica

      Tips: DONT BOTHER TILL LAKE CLEARS UP!!!!!

Monday, January 9th, 2006

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: great day considering 2 friends of mine fished out of 2 boats throwing everything including hudds the past 2 days and never got a bump. Pretty amazing. Got any Pics?

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: great day considering 2 friends of mine fished out of 2 boats throwing everything including hudds the past 2 days and never got a bump. Pretty amazing. Got any Pics?

Sunday, January 8th, 2006

  • Ventura County
    • By

      Water Temp: no temp gauge o

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Was throwing an Osprey on the points and got a big SMACK so I smacked back and after a pull here and a jump there I had my biggest out of Casitas..7lbs. Yeah I know not as big as some but almost to the day I caught a 6.7 doing the same thing with the same type of lure. Had another come look but not other bites for the day. It was a nice fish to break in my new swimbait rig.
      City: Simi Valley

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006

  • Santa Barbara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55 or so

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out Friday, 01/03 and Sunday 01/05. Mostly fishing trout with Wife and GKids. Trolling needlefish worked great Friday but continued warm weather slowed the bite for me.

      Saw bas marking at 25 fet or so along flats. Caught 2 big Crappie trolling also.
      City: Santa Barbara

Sunday, January 1st, 2006

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: try little mandeville. it's a flooded island, easy to reach from holland riverside marina
      easy access by john boat or other shallow draft boat. you should start seeing ducks anytime now.
      City: knightsen

Saturday, December 31st, 2005

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: i moved away from brownsville and i am no longer fishing bullards, so its open, i am going to miss it. good luck

    • By

      Water Temp: 53 to 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I've been getting alot of e mails from different fisherman on the best places to catch fish and what areas of the lake to fish.The east side banks from the dam to the keep out area is one of the best spots to start also in mid jan to mid feb the dam is my favorite also the ledge of the swimming area it run out about 150to 200 yards towards the tower. rock piles all over the lake hold fish as do drop offs.In the 5 mph area in 30 to 40 feet of water work towards the main island point as there is very good structer the fish will hold to trees in this area are good also. that is a big bay and bass well lay there up is shallower water i like to fish in 15 to 50 feet of water this time of year . these storms we have be having in the past few weeks have been warm so some bass have been in less than 10 feet of water. basic lures like bass jigs brown or brown & purple also pumpkin green have been working for me i have my own lure company (bass jigs)ive excess to a variety of colors & yamamoto grubs are my favorite grubs.I fish jigs year round ripbait & swimbaits work towards spring as do senkos also drop shotting. remember though you only need the basic a few worms & jigs & grubs and you can have alot of fun at this lake oh yes a camera is a must.
      City: kerman ca.

      Tips: rock piles points dropoff trees and under water structer all hold fish.YOU DONT NEED HIGH DOLLAR TACKLE TO CATCH BIG BASS HERE.

Friday, December 30th, 2005

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: has anybody been out in the past weeks and any tips for where and wat to catch the bass are?

    • By

      Water Temp: 53-54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sun up to 4pm. Most fish were not too deep, from off of the shore to 15-20 feet. A couple of sluggish bites to straight out pole pullers. Biggest was 3-3/4 with mostly 3's and 2's. Caught them on crawdad crankbaits, brown jigs with green/redflake trailers, drop shotting sweet beavers >8), and a couple carolina rigged fish. We tried swimbaits, but no takers :(
      City: Tulare

      Tips: If you fish it they will bite. Never a dull moment at Eastman. it's a great lake and well worth the drive.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launced 7:30 hit big fish point 60ft then up to shore, notakers. Hit poinmts farther upstream, no luck. Went to deep ravine bridge no sign of fish, water had cooled from storm. Decided main body would not be influenced by storms. Pulled up to first spot 45-60 ft, caught two and one half limits fairly quickly on drop shot.
      City: sacto

      Tips: Bite was very light. You had to continually have contact with bait. Good luck.