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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, December 12th, 2005

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 56 Degrees

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Tough finding fish...they've definitely gone deeper..but late in the afternoon, caught 20 bass, 2-3 pounds drop shotting at the corner of the dam where the concrete ridge goes into the water..in about 28-30 feet. Someone submerged something, since there's a rope, and there were fish all around it on my finder. Pretty much shad color for any plastics, and I caught one on a rip bait (Shad Color)....
      City: Merced

      Tips: Shad color worms for drop shotting, and look on points and ridges with deep water nearby...also dress for cold weather since it was 45 degrees when I left with wind...

    • By

      Water Temp: probably...52

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: hey Sam.. don't worry about the mercury in that lake..I'm sure at this time of year the water is a green,, light blue green.. clear as hell..I dont know if hell is clear..but if your fishing for the planter's..the rainbow's will be 15 feet below..try trolling a borken back rapala.. two feet under the water. Rainbow's don't care about first light..I would use somthing that look's like what they eat..shad... something with some red..and when your trolling.. slow.. pull up on the rod and let it come up... injured fish...try it and let me know here.. Good luck and Happy Holiday's.. I will probably see ya out there..
      City: morgan hill

Sunday, December 11th, 2005

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 57

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: 1st time on the lake first fish of the day came on a jig. This fish was 8.11 lb Largmouth, we cought approx 15 lbs from one little stretch of bank. Ended up with 16.5 lbs throughout the day.

      Sky was hazy all day and the fish were on the chew, second place had a little of 12lbs. Come out and meet us at http://www.folsombassteam.com/

      We meet every 1st Wedensday in Orange Vale.
      City: Antelope

      Tips: Dont be afraid to fish in water above 40' ;)

      If you find Largmouth sit them out.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 48

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Went striper fishing with 2 of my buddies. Launched out of B&W around 7:30am and was fogged in. Started working down river along the riprap. About 200 yrds we came across a depth change 7ft to 14ft and wham! School of 5-7 lbers wanting to eat. Caught most on rattle and speed traps and managed a 4lb steelhead. Caught a few more in Franks but the larger schools were on the rocks.
      City: Fairfield

      Tips: presentation seemed to matter...we could only manage bits slow rolling the traps.

    • By

      Water Temp: 49-52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the hook tourney last sun & today. Last week we had a solid rip bite going with several fish in the 3 - 5 1/2lb range each day of practice. On game day we had our limit within 35 min and continued catching rip fish all day long everywhere we went, over 30 in all. Unfortunately the better fish just wouldn't cooperate for us. Finished w just under 12 lbs.

      Today's game plan was rip for a limit and flip for a kicker. The plan was fool proof...almost, save for my bad luck. I lost a limit worth of fish within the first 20 min or so including one decent 2 1/2 that sure would have helped.. damn loose drag... Finally we started boating fish, much thanx to my partner, and we got a small bag together. Made a move and brought out the jig rods. Worked patiently for a few hours without a bite then we finally got our window (or should have been) with only 20 min left to fish. I got one close to 3, my partner gets a 4.. both mushy bites.. Then comes a solid deliberate thump, and off to deep water. I set hard and ohh yes, this was the big dog we needed... I still think I did everything right, but halfway to the boat my line went slack, she just came off.. Definatetly not my day....Finished in the top 10 w a little over 15lbs. Winners had 18 1/2
      City: Tracy

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

      Report: It's too bad there won't be another Chabot tree dumping habitat project this year, but I guess some is better than none...
      City: San Leandro

      Tips: Work the trees...

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: U know stephen with ur hat off it looks like u have cancer.. Do you? Well the fish dont like you so just stay home panzy!!! Man do u have tha biggest hump back i have ever seen.. GOD DAMN!!!
      City: Antioch

      Tips: WHEN U SEE STEPHAN TEL HIM TO GO HOME!!!!!!!

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the Folsom Bass league Tourny on Sunday.To my surprise we had the privelage of fishing against Mike Iaconeli (Yup the guy on TV) He is A realy nice guy to talk with. Any way fished the North Fork drop shot and Texas rigged Robo worms for only 4 keepers 6.90lbs.finishing in 31st. Better luck next month Jan.22.
      City: Sac

      Tips: Move around and find the active fish. I didn't and paid the price of A poor finish.

    • By

      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Time for an update...the lake is down over 20 feet since earlier in the year. Fishing has been TOUGH!!! Other than an 8 lb. bass on October 30th and a 3 lb'er today, there have been very few bites and even fewer fish. Those two fish were taken on an 8-inch swimbait that mimics the stocked trout..

      The shallow zone (0 - 30 feet) seems to be devoid of fish. The graph shows lots of fish suspended between 40 and 60 feet, but they don't seem interested in hitting shad/hitch imitations like silver spoons, blade baits, or lipless crankbaits, or drop-shotted worms or Senko's. Even drop-shotted 3" and 4" Senko's don't yield any bites.

      Yes, a few bass are being caught...some were taken by others on a red crankbait today, still others on drop-shotted tiny worms, but the usually successful presentations that my son and I have been trying (jigs, Senko's, crankbaits)aren't working. The morning buzz-bait bite stopped about a month ago.
      The stocked trout have scattered and are vitually everywhere. They are aggressively feeding on the small minnows and can be caught on tiny white marabou jigs or 1/16 ounce Road Runners in white.
      This is now a very different fishery than it was about a year ago IMHO.
      We'll keep fishing San Justo, because we know it has some real lunkers, but it is now a frustrating bite that requires a lot of patience.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Downsize your dropshot presentations and keep moving until you find a pod of fish. They are bunched up very tightly.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I have been thinking about this mercury in the trout at stevens creek. If they are hatchery fish and most of them dont stay there very long before getting caught, how could they have that much mercury in them unless the hatchery has mercury?

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I have been thinking about this mercury in the trout at stevens creek. If they are hatchery fish and most of them dont stay there very long before getting caught, how could they have that much mercury in them unless the hatchery has mercury?

Saturday, December 10th, 2005

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: We got a late start and were on the lake by 9am. Fished less than five minutes and we had our first three pound largemouth. The fish were just wacking the cranks today. All in all, we caught six largemouth and four smallies three pounds or better and one thirteen inch largemouth.Nothing on plastics today. We fished twelve to eighteen feet and there had to be weeds. The bite died when the whitecaps started.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Find deep weeds and you've found the fish. We did a lot of pulling weeds off the hooks, but the bass were there and aggressive.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: ROCK BOTTOM JIGS ROCK UP HERE IN THE WINTER..

      Tips: JIGS

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: i will be there at 9:00 am saturday 17 dec if need info and show you baits i use. i have my own lure company you only need basic's to catch bass here
      City: kerman ca

    • By

      Water Temp: 51 to 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: bass fishing here been fair to good on bass 2 to 3 pounds brown jigs with watermelon single our twin tail grubs are working in 18 to 30 of water. rocky area like the ledge in swimming area 3 ramp on eastside of the lake are holding fish also 5mph area holding bass on the humps in the brush stay in that 18 to 30 feet of water water very clear green line a must. brushhogs in watermelon & greenpumpkin also work ( baby brushhogs )dam area also holding some fish but end of jan middle feb the big females move up on the dam in 20 to 50 feet of water big blades and big daddy pork on1/2 oz to 3/4 oz brown & greenpumpkin skirt - brown uncle josh pork
      City: kerman ca.

      Tips: fish slow contact is important with bottom swim the baits and slowwwwww down no rush in cold weather

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: low 50"s

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched day break, proceeded to main lake stairstep structure with gobs of pond smelt and fresh trout plants. Light wind from right direction, skys just right, temp was nice and cool.Fished 55ft with 6# P-Line CXX and used homemade jig head with Robo special plastic. First keeper over threelbs(spot), next over 4Lb(spot), next over three lbd (smallie), next oner 4lb (spot) etc, etc,.Finished in about an hour on that spot with about 18 lbs. Then proceeded to check out underwater forrest with my camera where I saw numerous blacks over 5 lbs. They probably could not be brought out of the forrest so I decided not to try. Spent the rest of the morning using cmera and catching some two pounders on special areas. All in all I would say it was not a good string for Folsum that time of the year. Good luck in fishing.
      City: Sacramento

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 57

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I fish the Angler's Choice Semi Pro Team at Oroville Lake, My team partner Linda Henderson was unable to fish the tournament, for personal reason. I fish the midddle fork using Rainbow worms # 99, which had been working for me during the week. Came in with 10.41 lbs. for third place.
      The tournament was very professional, and friendly.
      It was a great day to be fishing.
      Bob Smith
      Bassfishing Professional Guide Servic
      City: Cottonwood

      Tips: Most of the bass came form around 30 to 35 feet. Fishing very slow.

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: We also had a tough time of it at Sonoma on Saturday. I took my son and a couple of friends took their boat out and the results were similar to Mike's. We started by the marina and my boy caught a 1 1/2 on a 4" Roboworm right off of the bat making me think we were in for a great day. Well, it was a great day (fishing with my son and two good friends always makes it a great day) with beautiful weather for December but the bite was very slow. We fished the Warm Springs arm all day and found a few fish in the 10-20 foot range but getting them to open wide and say ahhh when your worm was in front of them proved to be a challenge. I threw a spider grub and drop shot pretty much all day and got 4 bites and hooked and landed two fish. My boy also got two for a total of 6 bites in 7 1/2 hrs of fishing. The other boat with us had a little better day with one getting a limit with a 3 lb kicker and the other catching I believe 3 fish. They too were fishing grubs, worms ang jigs. The few people we talked to seemed to stuggle with the bite too, but agreed it was such a nice day weather wise, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We were glad to return to the ramp and find our vehicles unmolested since three out of the last four trips there resulted in some kind of vandalism or theft of our tow rigs.
      City: Ukiah

      Tips: It seemd the fish we found were nosed up against steep banks with most of the bites coming as the bait worked its way down but it is possible there were suspended fish behind us in the trees thet we were not fishing for. The water was much clearer than anticipated so the 12 lb test we were using probably contributed to the slow bite. Fish deep as we had no activity in less than 10 ft of water.

Friday, December 9th, 2005

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: fished rattle trapps chrome/black and spoons for 2 limits of strippers then dropped shot plastics in under 20 feet for a limit
      City: el cerrito

      Tips: dropshot flat water less current is better slow slow slow limited in a hour and a half sand bottom

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: not sure

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: one of my favorite lakes for numbers. problem is the lake is dropping swiftly and getting drained out real quick for the winter rains. one, visibilty is about 7 inches and cover is basically gone. But, for the persistent, big fish can be caught.
      City: san jose

      Tips: Big spinner-baits and big plastics.