Submit
Report

Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Sunday, July 3rd, 2005

  • Plumas County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Thanks again to those who threw out some info for my first smally mission to Almanor. It was a successful recon mission, unfortunately though, I couldn't buy a rip, crank, or topwater bite! Stayed mainly in the north end and found the larger fish on only a few points. The smallies did eat the heck out of split and drop shot iovino hand pours in the morning, late afternoon, and evening. Alot of 10 inchers, but each outing yielded several fish around 2-3 lbs. Tried everything, but nothing on any senkos, tubes or jigs, but got a few on a yabby and even a few on the flyrod with a hex nymph!
      City: SF

      Tips: I hear the rip, crank, and topwater can get real good, but don't go without some handpours and 8lb floro!

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Took the boys out for a day on the river. The general plan was to avoid the crazies on the holiday weekend, so we took the slough "less traveled". That turned out to be a great decision. No boat traffic to speak of and our best five in at just under 16lbs. Big fish came on a speedtrap off outside weed edge, 4.41lbs.
      City: Benicia

      Tips: Found most of our fish right on outside edges of the weeds,a little deeper than last week.

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: First time on this little lake. How nice to NOT have to deal with all the lake lice that comes out on the holiday weekends.
      As for the fishing, it was pretty good with over a dozen nice bass caught most in the 2# range. 1 nice smallie the rest Lgmouth. topwater, senko, and split or drop shottin all worked. Split shottin worked the best. any worm with a little blue or purple seemed to work.
      City: Suisun City

      Tips: forget the tules find the laydowns and the rocky shorelines.

    • By

      Water Temp: bathtub

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: EK - for the spinner whites, greens and purple worked well on their own or any combo. blade collor did not seem to matter.

      all white three blade buzzbait.......they loved it
      City: redwood

Saturday, July 2nd, 2005

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75-80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I just read Larry's report from the nite before. Joe Miller, Tom Ericson and I fished from 5:30am to noon and had found fourty or more bass. We had two boats covering more water this way not knowing the bite yet, I found the bait fish in the back of the coves with 1-2 lb bass chasing them. Using a dart head with a Blue Pearl grub s/t landing it right on top of the school the bass were hitting it on every cast, Found some bigger bass around the down trees. Green pumking Senko or lizards got the 3-4 lbers. The senkos you did not feel the bit until you picked up the bait. Mid morning I started using a JK brown/Brown jig with a #180 grub (larry's special grub) find more bass in 1-2 lbs. Before noon I was in the back of a cove with my jig around rocks with shade, this 8.9 lb cat grabed my jig and ran under the boat pulling me from side to side before I got him netted. Early Joe got a 6.7 cat and the same JK jig (my special home made). With the 4th of July weekend here his is the place to be, I saw four boats all morning.
      City: rocklin

      Tips: find some moving bait, stay in the shade and have fun, good luck.

  • Ventura County
    • By

      Water Temp: 71.5

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We were throwing our new Basstek Lure Spinnerbaits, west of the launch ramp, when we hook up with our first 6lb bass. No matter were you threw the shad were busting up tight in the brush. As we continued to worked down the shore we picked up several more bass.
      We moved to another spot and continued with the same pattern throwing spinnerbaits along the shore when I hooked up with a 8lb bass. This bite lasted about 2 hours, that was great.
      We then drop-shot different colors and did very well with a 4lb being the biggest worm fish. By noon the wind came up and we decided to leave.
      City: Culver City

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: at the lake about 9am. Tried texas rigged rubber worms (green&yellow & purple&blue). Nothing. Tried brown&yellow crawdad crank bait and yellow&green small fish crankbait. Nothing.

      Not sure why they're not biting out at Chesbro.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75-81

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well ... I wanted to bang my head on the wall for fun again yesterday (i.e., fish Folsom). The goal was to get out before the zoo creatures were loose ... but that was not really possible yesterday. They were out awfully early yesterday, each trying to outdo the next with the most vulgar displays of selfishness. (Plus ... I did sleep a little long.) Fished from 7:30 to 12:30 in the North Fork. The 5 mph zone was more like an Eminem concert, fully equipped with loud radios blasting F-Bombs, wholesome stories of rape, violence and love, and jet-skiers running at 50+ mph ... niceeeeeeee.

      Anyway, like Paul's post before mine I had two bites. One of them was on a rockpile in the middle of the N. Fork. About 15 feet of water on an 1/8 oz darter head smoke colored 4 inch worm. 'Twas a beautiful 3-lb smallmouth equipped with a DFG tag ... hey, $10 bucks! Better than my typical tournament winnings! =( The other was on a steep rock with wood nearby, LM on a root beer colored 3.75 inch tube on a 1/4 oz darterhead. I had no bites cranking Summer craw patters and one chaser on a clown colored 1/2 oz spinnerbait.
      City: Auburn

      Tips: Ha! Wish I had some to offer. Best tip ... fish from 4:30 AM to 9:00 AM and then get out before Armageddon sets in.

    • By

      Water Temp: 75-77

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out 6-28 after work with a friend from 4:30 to 9:00 pm.We caught 7 total with the biggest 2 lbs. Ended up throwing weightless senkos, thats all I could get to work.Tried darter head worms for a while and split shot 4'' worms with 1/32 oz weights and the fish would have no part of it.
      Went out this morning for 2 hrs before the madness starts up.Tried the weightless senko to no avail, when I got smacked reeling in I threw a rip bait and nailed two right away.That was it,my only two fish and two bites for the day
      City: Granite Bay

      Tips: Don't ask me, I can't catch 50 to 100 fish a day at Folsom

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished the rock wall for a few hours today. Started out with a Luhr Jensen texas red colored crankbait...nothing. Then switched to a Lucky Craft LVR-D7 Lipless crank in aurora black...nothing. I then dropshotted 6" Roboworm's in various colors like Margarita Mutilator etc. Nothing. Than, tried texas rigging a Watermelon/Red Yamamoto 5" Super Grub...nothing. I saw two bass cruising, 5 feet from shore, swimming real fast, probably about 5 to 6 pounds each. Due to my lack of success at that point, and noticing the cruisers, I tried fishing weightless Roboworms instead...nothing.
      City: clayton

      Tips: The only bass I saw all day looked like big post-spawn female cruisers, not interested in much. Tough fishing.

    • By

      Water Temp: bathtub

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: active fish!!!! numbers!!!! lots of spinner bait fish. top water with buzz bait worked well all day long. plastics were slow. fished senko all morning no luck. My buudy caught two on a 5" watermellon senko late in the day. spinners=willowleaf bleeding baits produced big numbers & fish up to 3lbs. 14oz.
      City: redwood

      Tips: plastics were slow today fish were chasing and swallowing baits........... speed up!

Friday, July 1st, 2005

    • By

      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for 1.5 hours this morning before work. Caught 2 long and skinny bass (both about 2 - 2 1/4 lbs.) cranking a speed trap and the other on a rogue jerkbait.

      Saw a 5 pounder look at my senko. Missed a frog bite on my first cast. Nothing on tube, dropshot or rat'l trap.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Fish fast to trigger a reaction bite.

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Lake Amador is a lake that giveth and taketh away when fishing, depending on her mood. Bass fishing is often great or horrible. My buddy Rick Tietz, owner of the increasingly popular Blade Runner Tackle and I decided to combine our 60 years of fishing knowledge on the lake to see if we could get her to give up some nice bass! We started at 8 pm last night and quit at 8 am this morning. Well, Amador gave and gave and gave!! We finally put a good plan together for night and morning. We boated 52 bass to 4 1/4 lbs and I continue my winning ways with catfish (see Clear Lake report), catching an 8 pounder on a 6" Senko at night, and catching another 8 pounder on a crankbait in the early morning. After catching a 5-2 on a Snag Proof frog on my previous trip, I started the evening with another frog fish - a little over 3 lbs. Rick and I each missed a blowup. The night fishing was pretty good from 11 pm to 1 am and the rest of the night was fair. I used a 6" Senko most of the night and Rick was using brush hogs - mostly sour grape color. Worms did not seem to do well. By first light we had 24 bass, but the size was disappointing - mostly 1 1/2 to 2 pounders. After first light, the fun began. I witnessed the most awesome spinnerbait bite I have ever seen! Rick caught most of them on his 5/8 oz Rainbow Trout spinnerbait. The bass loved it to the point that he was getting bit on EVERY cast when we located a feeding school of bass!! It was crazy. With the hot weather setting in, I know the early bite would be good. I used spooks and cranks and caught a few and eventually caught a few on his spinner bait. We boated 28 bass in about 2 hours and lost I don't know how many. The bass were bigger too - several from 3 1/2 to 4 1/4. No real big ones however. Numbers-wise, that is probably one of our best Amador trips ever! Maybe after our combined 60 years - we have finally learned something, har!!!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We fished open water points, waiting for the bass to run shad up shallow. After the sun was on the water for awhile, we started fishing shadows. Bass were shallow early and late, and at night were anywhere from 5 to 20 feet. We don't doubt that larger bass were deeper, but they didn't want to bite. Points were better in the daylight and walls better at night. Go figure!!

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went out on the families runabout, fished whenever we anchored. Caught one on dropshot and one on rattle trap...nothing worth braggin about

      Tips: dropshot, rattle traps, carlonia rigged lizards produce at berryessa. Any one catching on top water??

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Temp: -

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I arrived at 8AM today and hooked up with a 1.5lb fish slow-rolling a spinnerbait in about 4 feet of water. I walked down to the far dam and hooked up with another 1lb fish on a dropshot rig. Around 10:30 the jet ski, wake board circus came into town with the heat of the sun and the day was done. I saw several other shore fishermen and a few bass boats but I didn't see anyone hook up.
      City: san jose

    • By

      Water Temp: upper 60's - 70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Hey Zack! I don't know what you are using, but try moving up in size. If you're dropshotting 4" worm go to 6" worm or try a taxas rigged brush hog or jig. Also try a rip bait because those better fish are keying in on baitfish and baby bass fry early and late in the day.It's a lot of fun when a 2-3lb bass stops your lure dead in it's tracks. Also if you find any type of weedline at all "flip it" .
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Don't listen to idiots like Johnny "BOY". These are some real tips that should get you that quality fish you are looking for.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78-80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: What a day! Launched at 5:30A and fished Beaver/Hog/Sycamore sloughs area. We caught 7 keeper size stripers (largest 8 lbs) before we caught 3 keeper size bass. All of this action happened before 7:00A. Ended the day catching 15 keeper size bass (largest 5.1 lbs). Off the water by 11:00A.
      City: Dixon

      Tips: Stripers were real active this morning and caught outside the weedline on spinnerbaits. Majority of bass also caught on spinnerbait (wht or wht/char). It's hot out there so bring plenty of liquids to drink. Don't forget your sun screen.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: ???????

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: eric, no one cares about bluegill reports. U can catch those anytime, anywhere.
      City: san jose

    • By

      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: went out today caught a small bass on a night crawler and 3 cat fish 1-4 pounds i was by the brigde saw a bunch of people leavein with some nice lookin cats
      City: Antioch

    • By

      Water Temp: Warm

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: David, Jeremy, and I went started out today at the western corner of the dam. We got a couple small drop shot fish there and a little further down I caught a 1lb. 5oz. jig fish. Jeremy caught a few more dinks in the back cove and back dock on a drop shotted flirt worm. We didn't get anything near the lagoon but we didn't fish it much. David got one blowup on a frog but missed the fish. We ended the day at the boat ramp. I caught 4 more jig fish which were all dinks except for one that was maybe 12inches. David caught a dink on a small finesse worm and one on a jig. Jeremey caught some more dinks drop shotting. A tough day overall. Has anyone been catching any nice fish lately?
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Brown/black jigs and brownish or pumpkin colored drop shot worms with some blue or purple in them. The best spots right now seem to be past the back dock to the corner of the dam and the boat ramp...at least for us anyway.