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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, November 19th, 2005

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 62-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The Bass Classics of Santa Clara Valley had there tournament here and the bite was tough for most of us. In first place with 11.65 lbs was Scott Chong he was fishing in the narrows and catching spotted bass on a darthead and a oxblood worm. He also had fish deep on a sculpin drop shotting and on 6" dart head worms with an 1/8 oz. head in 40-50 ft on points and deep trees. In second place with 11.20 was J.R. Taylor and in third was Chris Lee who also had them very deep 40-60 ft. of water on darthead worms also and a brn jig with a grub trailer in 45 ft.He also caught some on a crank bait . In fourth place with 10.90 lbs was myself Mike Espinola I caught a 17" smallmouth in the morning 25'deep on the side of a point in the narrows. Then it shut down so I went into Putah creek and cranked a flat with standing trees and weed beds with my crawdad wiggle wart and caught 4 fish fishing the area hard for three hours up shallow in 5-10 ft.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: Crank craw dad cranks this time of year because the bass love um. Fish the narrows on the points in 20-50 ft with darthead worms or grubs to catch fish right now.

    • By

      Water Temp: 62-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Lake seemed to be turned over. We fished water w/ surface temps from 62 to 65 depending on the part of the day. Weather was in the low 50's ~ 70's from morning to the afternoon.

      Bite was slow ... I prefished the two weeks leading to the tournament. Tried to find a shallow bite, but could not reliably do so. Did find some deep fish 40-60' of water, so that was my safety valve.

      The night leading to the morning of the tournament was cold. Probably in the upper 30's. This was likely the 3rd straight night that the temps reached into the 30's ... given that, I thought that may have kicked the bass into high gear and turn on the bite. So the I tried to fish in the top 20' of water the first couple of hours. Although I had not prefished the Skiers Cove area, I decided to start there an crank this shallow point w/ a weedy cove in the back. Within the first hour, I had one missed bite on a crank bait and landed two shaker fish. That gave me some hope and I continued to fish that aread and proceeded to land one 13" class fish on the crankbait.

      When it reached past 8AM and we only had that one fish in the boat, I then decided to run south in the narrows and fish the one deep spot that I had prefish and had caught some nice fish. Upon arrival, I immediately caught a nice 15+" spot in 45' of water on my darthead w/ a 4.5" oxblood worm. Proceeding down that bank, I switched between a jig and the darthead. Catching two or three more fish in the 15-16" class on a brown jig tipped w/ a watermellon/red grub.

      For the balance of the day, we fished that general area and I caught one more fish in the 16" class on a darthead. Then another 15"er on a crank bait.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Fish deep and slow ... drop-shot, jigs, splitshot, etc all should work. Make sure you are in contact w/the bottom and shake the bait and pause ... repeat.

    • By

      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Have been on the lake the past 3 weekends, and it is SLOWLY changing. I have fished all over and yesterday decided to start at the dam. We had a limit of solid keepers in about 2 hours, that probably went 9.5lbs. Typical bag for this pond during the transistion period these fish are trying to get adjusted to. We caught fish on 5 different baits and the mojority of the bites were just pressure. We need cold nights and rain, and then this place will be ON!.
      City: Napa

      Tips: Stick with natural colors and cover water, once you catch a couple of fish from one spot. Leave and come back about 30 minutes later and you can catch them again.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 56-57

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Reading lot's of B.S. here. Went out expecting 8 pound LM and 40 pound Stripers out of Ladds. Fished my butt of using the entire bad of tackle. 1 bite and 0 fish. Saw a couple of little stripers caught but everyone I talked to was reporting the same as me. Kinda makes you wonder bout all these guys reporting 25 pound bags and such...uh huh.Maybe I just didn't fish correctly or didn't use the right bait. Whatever the case these reports seem kind of fishy to me. 8 pounders 40 pounders....sure. I got 6 of em!
      City: Delta

      Tips: Don't believe all that you read here. Just be real. See yall in the spring.

    • By

      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Basin Bassmasters TOC. Winners used 4 inch swim baits for top weight. I found lots of small bass but the big ones avoided me. I did catch dinner in the morning. A couple of hungry strippers ate my super spook. Biggest crome walleye was 6 lbs. Boy did it taste good last nite. Deep fried with pancake batter.Love delta in the fall.
      City: orangevale

      Tips: Still good time for rip baits, crank baits, worms.Tide seemed slow all day to me? I do much better when the currents is stronger.It triggers the bigger bites. We had no wind and no clouds to make my spook work on black bass today but normally they produce well.Hope the feds don't screw up Berryessa.Keep an eye open on what the feds are trying to do on berryessa guys it will scare the hell out of you. What next the delta?

    • By

      Water Temp: 55 deg

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well the T.O.C. was held out of Pardise Point for the Best top five fishermen from Basin Bass Masters on Saturday (boaters and non boaters). The tide was still coming in along with the fog. When the tide started out so did the fog and it seamed that the fish did too. The tide swing was slow with very slow moving water.Quency Malone and I teamed up for the last time this year for a day of dinks and more dinks. We moved all over the east side of the Delta looking for bigger bass and some moving waters. At the end of the day back at the marina the six teams came for the last time for 2005, ( a good year for all). Jim Malm and Bonner took first place with 10.64 and Jim got the big fish for 3.7 lbs. Lets all now go striper and salmon fishing. For those fishermen that charge there boats at home before leaving in the morning, be sure to disconnect the cord before hitting the road. Be safe on the water and good fishing
      City: rocklin

      Tips: swim baits was the lure of the day

  • Merced County
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      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got there at 6:30am ran to the big bay,i believe it is Goosehead and fished about half hour with Zara Spook nothing not a swirl.Then ran over to the flat's by the windmill's and picked up three on spook all 26".That dried up and switched to jerkbait and cought 7 more all small about 18".A few duck hunter's in blind's right where i useualy fish so i left dont want to ruin there day.Then went to the back of the cove at dino point and picked up four more trolling this plug i dont even know what it is or where i even got them.They are about 6"long clear with black stripe.I do know they go about 20' becouse when my meter read that depth they would hit bottom.
      City: SALINAS

      Tips: Rip bait's and spook's in flat's seem to be the best for me.Good luck

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

      Report: I post this with a heavy heart and terrible feeling of loss. My mentor, friend and teacher, John Coyle, passed away today.
      God Bless you John, I know you are sticking fifteen pound spots right now in the upper Sacramento arm. Services pending.
      City: Redding

Friday, November 18th, 2005

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: 3 days after full moon, fished from 7:30 pm to 2:30 am, air temp upper 40's. Very slow until about 9 when a short hot bite was on in a small cove but ended abruptly when another boat drove in and out and back in again and seemed to spook the bass. Only got 3 fish with the biggest going 2.5+. Fished shallow and deep: offshore structure and structure related to the shoreline. Graphed the best population of fish in 35 feet on structure.
      City: Folsom

      Tips: Maybe fish days but the trout crowd is likely a zoo. Because of this, I'd recommend going to Clear Lake if you can afford the gas - I can't!

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 61 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I went out with my friend Terry on Friday we started at eight o'clock on the main lake at the entrance to Putah Creek fishing points with drop offs we caught 16 fish total in the 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pound range. We caught mostly largemouths but did catch a few smallmouths once we moved into putah creek. All of our fish were caught in 8 to 20 feet of water. The large mouths were caught on a peehead with a 6" fat morning dawn robo worm. The smallmouths were caught on a peehead & drop shot 6" fat new ayu robo worm. No dinks nice day on the water. We left at 3 o'clock.
      City: Sonoma

      Tips: There are fish shallow you just have move around and find them.

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

      Report: when is the last time you posted a fishing report tom ?
      City: san ho

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Hey where still waiting your report
      where is it

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I check out this site to get fishing reports for the local lakes. The last 6 posts were of people whining about the rangers. THIS IS A FISHING REPORT FORUM! How about some FISHING reports!
      City: Santa Clara

      Tips: about the rangers; Deal with it!

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

      Report: I took a guide trip with Randy Pringle to catch some stripers. Boy! did he put me on some fish.
      In our first area, we had 12 blow-ups and caught 6 fish. The best three went 65 pounds. One at 12#s, one at 15#s and my best ever 38#s. It was just unbelieveable. All fish were released alive. All fish were caught on top water plugs and the 15# was caught on a swimbait. Later in the day we spooned up some stripers in the 3 to 5 pound range. I took two of these home for dinner. If you want to experience some fantastic striper fishing, book a trip with Randy. The picture of the 38# pound should be up on his site soon.
      City: Suisun

      Tips: Book a guide trip to find out how it is done.

    • By

      Water Temp: high 50s

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: On Thursday, fished w/my cousin Gene in Disappointment and Sycamore. He had one of those days that you don't forget -- caught a limit of bass, stripers, and salmon. I only caught a limit of bass. Best 5 bass: 12+ lbs.

      On Friday, I fished with Gene and his brother, John. We fished Beaver, Hog, and Sycamore. Caught 6 salmon (largest 22+ lbs) and 1 bass.
      City: Dixon

      Tips: For both days, almost all of the fish were caught on Rat L Traps -- 1/2 and 3/4 oz. Colors were either shad or chrome w/blue.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hit the lake around 9:00 and went to Potters Ravine. Didn't get bit in several spots there. Went to the other end of the lake in the McCabe Creek area and managed to get 8 bites...landed 7. All 7 were over the slot with the best going 2.2 lbs. 6 bites on a medium running crankbait, the other two on a jerkbait. Most fish seemed to came in the back of pockets. Good Luck
      City: Lincoln

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: 60ish

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: It was one of those days on Trinity Lake. This lake will humble you, believe me I've been there. But it can also produce some of the finest bass fishing in Northern California. I fished today with John Gray. The day started out slow. We managed a couple of smaller fish on gitzit and dropshot around the ballpark area. We moved out to a little deeper water and all %#@& broke loose! First, John hooks a dandy. Got her in the boat, 5 lb. 1 oz. Next cast, a six lber. It went on like this with us alternating hogs, including a six coming off right at the boat. I am not a tournament fisherman but I have been fishing bass for over 15 years. I have never had a day like this! I caught my personal best largemouth and my personal best smallie on the same day! We only fished for about 5 hours. The best seven fish went 36lb. 3 oz. Big fish was just over 7lbs. What a day! I owe it all to John. He is not only a wealth of knowledge and a genuinely nice guy but I have never met a man with more heart. If you spend an afternoon with him, you'll know what I mean. I recommend him as a guide to the beginner as well as the seasoned veteran.
      City: Eureka

      Tips: Get out into a little deeper water. We all get stuck in our comfort zone, don't be afraid to try something new.

Wednesday, November 16th, 2005

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

      Report: Zack, Sorry for taken a shot at you.The following letter I sent to every goverment angency I could. Hopefully it will explain my attitude towards rangers.
      -------------------------------------------------
      My wife and I have a 4 month old and needless to say I haven

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

      Report: Went to Clear lake for a 2 day mid week trip...and JUST KILLED'EM!!! over 20 bass all over 3lbs!! mostly 5-7lbs but the smallest being 3lbs! got the pics to proove that too!! I do want to thank the shasta boys..that we fished next too for the tips. that was incredibly nice..Ive noticed that many bass fisherman are too serious and not friendly so thank you!!
      anyways..fish on action all day...maybe 1 hour pause but the fish were all deep. 2 boat lengths from shore in 25ft water. we were fishing with Drop shot robo worms in a shad like color. with about 8 inch drop. just boucing it down from 10ft -25ft shelfs.. also we were using kastmasters that produced alot too. but maining the dropshot hooking into them almost right under the boat. very suddle bite..tap tap tap..then a little pressure...felt very much like the perch that we were catching all day too. some nice big ones...if you like that sort of thing :) but a unbeliveable bass fishing trip..a touney guys dream! saw a few boats fishing close to us..but t didnt seem that they were getting the action we did..kinda funny seeing them get pissed and leaving.
      bigeest fish of the day was on a carolina rig. I casted it out and I got a HUGE black lash..I was picking it out for about 10 minutes and i didnt even get a chance to get it all out.. when my pole doubles over! A nice 7lb 4oz! it was so funny that that happened! :) Ill post pics some where on this site
      Thank YOU!
      City: walnut creek

      Tips: look for 25ft water on rocky shoes that have like 8-10 ft right off the shore! a good spot where everyone fishes is the little rock islands by the narrows..went there and fished by 3 other boats..with in 5 minutes a 5 and a 6 lber fish are in the deep...at least the big ones are.. DropShoT rocks if you shake and work it slow.. and use shad color 4-6in. carolina worked for the one fish...and we caught a few on spoons...but mostly dropshot... if you have no fishfinder.. 2 boat lengths away from a steep shoreline..is where they are at..

  • Yuba County
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I took a friend of mine to Collins today for an afternoon bite - hoping the warm afternoon would trigger a better bite than previous trips. Bingo - it did - in a big way!! The bass were biting a little when we started around 11:30 as I caught a 13 inch largemouth under the boat docks. That was followed by a 2 lb spotted bass and then a 3 lb 2 oz largemouth. I definately felt things were going in the right direction! Little did I know!! I lost the next bass on a west shore bank - snapped my 10 lb test! We saw the fish try to spit the jig - she was at least 4 lbs. After another nice largemouth was caught and released, around 2:30 pm, it happened! Collins is usually tough mid-afternoon when the water is clear and the sun is bright. There is really no shade around the lake. Only one big bass has come in my boat during those conditions at Collins and that was an 8-10 largemouth caught by a lady client - in late November, several years ago. I was casting the same brown/orange Rodstrainer jig with a #180 Yamamoto grub that had caught the previous 4 bass, in about 20 feet of water when my line just got tight. I was about 100 yards off-shore on a favorite rocky area in the main body. Thinking it was probably a bass, I set the hook. Wow! The line just kept moving!! VERY soon I yelled "get the net"! After about 3 1/2 minutes, my friend netted a bass that nearly made me freak when I realized it was a spotted bass! She tipped three scales at 7 lbs 7 oz - 3 ounces better than my previous biggest (at Collins) of 7 lbs 4 oz. What a beauty (photo on westernbass.com)! After photos, she was put back in the lake in prime condition! My friend didn't catch any this trip. after beating me during the last trip. My 5 fish limit was around 16 1/2 lbs. What a great trip!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I think the bass are tired of waiting for foul weather and are beginning their fall feed. I saw several good fish on the meter in 20 to 30 feet of water, as well as 60 feet too! There are fish on the steep dropoffs at Collins and the underwater islands. Most of those are still underwater since Collins is about 10 or so feet above average for this time of year. In the afternoon, try to fish facing west, fishing the shadows that form above and below the water line. A cloudy day should produce better results, but as this big spot proved, miracles do happen!!