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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Friday, February 19th, 2016

Thursday, February 18th, 2016

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Report: From Lake Shasta
      Good morning Shasta Lake Fans and welcome FLW anglers!

      During the midst of our recent storm, we have the kick off of the Fishing League Worldwide Tournament this morning. Follow this link to find out more about the event and updates on the leader board: http://www.flwfishing.com/tournaments/2016-02-18-shasta-lake

      After several weeks of sun and high temperatures, we settled back down into a little wet weather which started yesterday. At our location on the McCloud we had just shy of 1" of rain since it started yesterday. Currently it is 44 degrees and we are having some strong gusts of wind with white caps in the main channel.

      It looks as if this sporadic rain will stay with us over the next several weeks. Bouncing from sunny weather to rain.

      Fortunately we are getting close to surpassing last year's "high" lake level of 71.96' (04/15/2015 & 04/16/2015). With this recent storm, I suspect we should pass that by early next week. Which puts us a whole 2 months ahead of last years level with plenty of the rainy season left!

      We have already overtaken the year-to-date lake level from last year.

      Good luck anglers!!!

      Lake Level Report (02/18/2016 at 07:00)
      Lake Elevation: 988.68' (78.32' below full pool)
      Lake Elevation (2015): 986.02' (80.98' below full pool)
      Storage: 2,589,514 af (estimated)
      Storage (2015): 2,535,448 af
      Outflow: 2,110 cfs
      Inflow: 17,186 cfs
      Precipitation (24 hr @ dam): 0.00"
      Precipitation (Season @ dam): 39.81"
      Precipitation (2015 Season @ dam): 44.50"

Tuesday, February 16th, 2016

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished my normal 3 hour fishing today, launched at 6:45 am, fished till 10:15 am. First cast, still tied to the dock a little better 14 1/4" spot on a tube bait, made my day right from the beginning. Fished my way to the North fork. picked up a couple more 13" spots on tubes again. Tried 3-4 location heading towards the main lake and got 3 more spots, 1 on roboworm, 2 on tubes. Fish are scatted, most being taken between 25-35 feet. All except the first fish, about 10 foot of water. Lake has warmed to 52 degrees. Not much wood, think the winds blew it to shore, or it sank! Picture in Fishing Forum.

Monday, February 15th, 2016

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: On Monday I took Lloyd and his son Blake out for a day of fishing. Lloyd had requested to learn some of the key spots on the lake for catching bass so that was our agenda for the day. I set up two rods for trolling one with a blue and silver Speed Trap lure and one with a fire tiger Speed Trap lure. It was a beautiful sunny day with a little breeze on the main lake the water was stained with about a one foot deep visibility. We fished for about thirty minutes with no luck so I moved on to the back of the Monticello Ski School with the intention to show Lloyd where the minnows hide in the grass and the bass follow the minnow but that area was all dry as we turned to troll out to the main lake Lloyd hooked up with his first fish which was about a 1.5 pound bass now we were getting excited. We trolled about ten minutes more and tried top water at the same time with no luck. I moved on towards the Ranch house and again saw no indication of fish. I kept going north at full speed looking for any signs that would indicate fish in the area. While Lloyd and Blake were having their lunch I drove to the back of Big Island to the furthest point which was pretty shallow. Lloyd hooked his second bass there so we stayed for awhile and sure enough he landed another nice bass drop shooting in 2 to 5 feet of water. Heading back towards the Bureau of Reclamation we fished parallel to the shore line. The wind was picking up and would push me from 4 feet deep to 12 feet so I was moving the boat back towards the shore line all of a sudden Lloyd gets smacked in about 3 feet of water his rod is completely bowed and he is reeling like crazy with a huge grin on his face he hands the rod to his son so he can share in the moment too. The bass was about 7 pounds with a good size girth. After taking pictures with their catch they released the bass so it could keep growing. That ended our day on a very happy note (see photos).
      'til next time.............................................................................good fishing!!!
      www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share or are interested in booking a guided fishing trip please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.

      Tips: plastic was the success in 2 to 4 feet

  • Lake County
    • By

      Report: From Clear Lake OUtdoors

      Its been a amazing couple of weeks with the warm weather, just wish I could get out fishing!
      Water was up to 56 degrees yesterday. I've heard of so many limits over 30 pounds I've lost count. Fish up to 14 pounds have been caught. I've even heard of some fish on frogs and spooks already.
      Guys are coming in and saying its the best fishing they have ever had here. They are getting them on everything. Crappie limits everywhere and the Crappie have started to move shallow. The rain coming Wednesday thru Friday is going to be a warm storm so it shouldn't effect the bite , might even make the swimbait bite better!
      Dave

Sunday, February 14th, 2016

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched 815am Brown's Ravine - wanted to test my new Minn Kota Riptide 70lb with iPilot...wow, what a difference from the old 55lb powerdrive unit. Love the spot-lock anchor option.
      Anyways, went across to the peninsula and headed for the far side inlet before heading up South Fork. First cast on a dropshot 3.5" tube and a nice 2lb smallie grabbed it. I didn't expect to hook up on this watermelon/red flk tube as it was left on the rig from fishing the delta a month and a half ago. I was too lazy to replace it and got lucky. No more hits in that cove so we headed up the s.fork to one of our fav points and my brother stuck a scrappy 1.5lber dropshotting a 6" Aaron's Magic in about 10ft. Ran into New York and graphed fish deep at about 50ft but couldn't get another bite. Headed in about 1pm. Accomplished what we set out to do and that was to test the new trolling motor and learn a little about iPilot.

      Tips: Not qualified to give any tips but the dropshot worked for a couple of isolated hits...one smallie, one spot. First time on Folsom Lake in the boat in a long while. I'm thinkin' N.Fork submerged boulders is next if we go again....but likely hittin' the Delta.

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started at 4pm walking the ramp side throwing jigs & senco's and caught 7 bass up to 2 1/2 lbs till dark. The lake is full pool. Will be on the lake over the weekend will give report then.

Friday, February 12th, 2016

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: Delta Report…. Big Black Bass, Plentiful Crappie and warming temperatures! Fitzgerald GIANT!
      Isleton Water temps raised a bit this week and a few stripers in the Cache Slough area responded. Catfish started stirring in dead end sloughs, Cut Baits and Crawlers get the top call. Sturgeon remains the focus here. Diamondback anglers are heading to 41, Liberty and Cache Slough areas with roe and eel reporting success.
      Rio Vista- Small stripes and occasionally, a 10-pounder is caught. Eel continues to lead the way for sturgeon anglers in front of Collinsville. Rio Vista Pier also is scoring both species.
      The best place to score a striped bass or sturgeon remains below Decker Island in the area of the Power Lines at Light 14 and the Red Barn, where boaters anchor and use threadfin shad or Red’s Bloody Eel.

      Walnut Grove . Most are sturgeon fishing now with eel and cured ghost shrimp. Slow for the minnow drifting anglers, but stripers cracking the 15 pound plus keeps anglers hopes up. Bank anglers tossing shad and eel prevail for an occasional sturgeon or Striper those looking for bigger bites.

      Discovery Bay As water temps reach mid-fifties the black bass bite is getting started! Most Blackie anglers are sticking with jigs and slow rolling blades searching ledges near sparse tuie flats. Others looking to beat the clear conditions arestarting to crank Red-Eye Shad and Big Poppa’s. Keeper sized stripes are grabbing Bad Bubba Shad a bit more this week ..

      Frank’s Tract It’s no secret what a little warmer water can do. Skinny Dippers and A-rigs are great options while Bobby D’s spinnerbaits and swim jigs get the mention as well. We found a few Stripers and Black Bass with Jigs, vibrating jigs and Red Eye Shad.
      West Delta Sturgeon leads the way. Eel is the best bait over all, but roe and shad also scoring diamondbacks Broad slough and surrounding cuts. There were many shaker sturgeon reports and double hook ups. Bouy 18 at Collinsville West to Honker Bay has been best. There were few shaker sturgeon and keepers in the Antioch area around The Bridge, Broad Slough and New York Slough. A few more nice stripers coming soaking Shad, anchovies and sardines in many areas, bank anglers, Antioch Pier and along Sherman Island rd.
      Contra Loma - Black bass have been biting on artificial baits/lures and nightcrawlers around the lake. Try a wake bait or a party crasher. Trout fishing is still good at the east side, north side of lake or from a boat with nightcrawlers, Power Eggs, or mice tails. Try fishing at Channel Point, Loma Island or from a boat with nightcrawlers or chicken liver.. Try fishing for Crappie or Bluegill with jigs or worms at the boat ramp area, Loma Island or Channel Point area.
      Provided by Dan’s Delta Outdoors, 1625 Main St Oakley CA 925/234-4694 Follow us on Facebook

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 50-52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got an early launch at Lime Saddle today, about 6:45 am and fished till about 10:30 am. Water has warmed a tad, found water from 50 to 52 degrees depending on where one is at. Slow bite continues, managed just 5 fish, all small 12-13" size. Most fish taken at about the 35 foot mark. Best bait today, a watermelon tube, got 3 fish on it, second, good old roboworms. So much wood in the north fork, kind of scary, some big old logs waiting to cause issues, so be careful. Sure wish the water would warm up some. Picture in fishing forum.

Thursday, February 11th, 2016

Wednesday, February 10th, 2016

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 51-52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: So, who says Clear Lake is always cold in the winter - I have!! Not yesterday though! What a beautiful afternoon. Buddy Mike and I started fishing about 4 pm, until about 9 pm. Just had to test it out after a month or so. The bite was ok, especially around dusk. We caught them from Jenson area to north of Henderson. The 9 we caught were from 10 inches to my 6.63 pounder. Mike had a 4 and a 6.36. Mine was soooooo much bigger - LOL!! We did have a little over 21 lbs for our 5 best, so the long trip home was good! The first one I caught - at Jenson - was a grown up dink - 14 inches! Those 10 and 11 inchers should be keepers this summer!

      Tips: We caught our early bass on Senkos. Robo worms, and beavers. In spite of the warmth. all our bass, big and small, were over 20 feet deep. Mike's and my 6's were again caught on D&M Piranha swimjigs with Yamamoto Heart Tail trailers. Those are awesome trailers - and the big bass think so too!! It was my turn to miss two more big bites - both being right under the boat - which are often very hard to hook well. As is normal for this time of year, the bite really slowed down after 8 pm

Tuesday, February 9th, 2016

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: From Coochs Fishing
      So I git out with my buddy Nathan and his new to bass fishing neighbor SJ, put a dropshot in his hand and his first ever bass is about a 1 pounder, two more one pounders and at 2:00 he's asking if the bait he has will catch any more fish today, so I take his Robo worm off and replace it with an Iovino S20w Spade, very first pitch he pops a new personal best of 10 lb 4oz Delta pig! Tough fishin today for us, had plenty of bites, but only managed ta put in the boat SJ's 4 fish, a Big Hammer fish fer Nathan, three small Senko fish and the 9lb 9oz fish I stuck on a Wadda Jig round 8:30am! A 10 & a 9, we'll take that!

Sunday, February 7th, 2016

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52-53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I was supposed to guide Friday, but the guys went to the wrong area and we could not connect. That was a first for me in over 30 years of guiding at Berryessa. We later decided to postpone their trip - so I fished solo for about 4 1/2 hours -from noon to 4:30. In one spot I caught 3 largemouth up to 2 1/2 lbs in about 10 minutes - in the narrows! That was a shock!! In the main body I landed a 13" spot but ended the trip with a great 3 lb 11 oz spot! That made the trip home much better!! Lake is in good shape - a little color, and my fish were in the top 10 feet. I was pretty happy with the bite since it was a post-front day. This warm front now might get an early Feb bite going - until the next storm.

      Tips: The 2 1/2 lb largemouth took a brown/purple jig while all the others hit a MM111 6" Robo worm - Texas rigged! I was lazy!!! All were caught on rocky ledges close to shore. I memorized some new structure last fall with the low water - it worked!! The lake only seems to be up about 6 feet. You can STILL get your daily exercise launching at Markley Cove - health tip of the day!!

  • Lake County
    • By

      Report: clearlakeoutdoors » Sun Feb 07, 2016 7:15 am

      Lake is in great shape and fishing is good for 48 degree water. ABA today should have some good bags.Our local club tournament yesterday took 26 + to win. I took third with 20.87. Fish being caught on A rigs, swimbaits , Rattletraps, Jigs, Dropsot, Chatterbaits, ripbaits . If it stays warm the bite should really turn on this week.
      Dave

    • By

      Report: From Clear Lake Outdoors
      Lake is in great shape and fishing is good for 48 degree water. ABA today should have some good bags.Our local club tournament yesterday took 26 + to win. I took third with 20.87. Fish being caught on A rigs, swimbaits , Rattletraps, Jigs, Dropsot, Chatterbaits, ripbaits . If it stays warm the bite should really turn on this week.
      Dave

Saturday, February 6th, 2016

Friday, February 5th, 2016

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 49-54

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Finally got to go fishin'! No one has posted for a while so I guess l'll be the 1st for the year. The lake has come up a little from all the rain and a little dirty, but not bad. 8 nice fatties managed to find our jigs & dropshot worms in the muddy water. ( 5 smallies & 3 nice Lgm to 3plus lbs.) It was a beautiful day to be on the water about 65 or so. Had to move around a lot but found the smallies on do nothing banks and lgm on big rocks in less than 15 ft. of water. Brn. jigs and grn. candy worms. It's going to be warming up next week and should improve the bite. Go get em'!

      Tips: Fish Slooooow.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Got an early launch at Lime saddle at 6:45 am, fished till 10 am. Amazed at how much the ramp changed since my last trip lat week on Thursday. Water had come up another 23.41 feet in the last 7 days. Not bad for a slow rain week. Now 92.96 feet gain since our low water level, just another 157 feet to go. The lake is beginning to look close to normal! Crappy day fishing for me. Just one 13" spot taken in 35 feet of water. I hunted, and hunted, tried every bait I know, nada, could not locate fish today. Think the large increase of water made it a tough bite, at least for me. Temp went down one degree to 48* Ton's of large wood on the lake, some areas thick like a log jam. Be extra careful now. Better fishing next week, maybe I'll skip a week? Pictures in fishing forum.

Thursday, February 4th, 2016

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Report: by greatwhite888 » Thu Feb 04, 2016 8:32 am

      Both Dark Day and Emerald Cove are open. I tried to go Tuesday morning but it was snowing pretty good as I got to Dobbins. As I started up the hill I saw a car that had slid off an embankment and several other drivers that talked me out of towing the boat up through the snow so I turned around. Was pretty sure I could make it with 4 wheel drive but didn't want to risk it while towing a boat. I'm sure whatever snow fell has melted by now though and the low Friday morning is supposed to be around 40 so their shouldn't be any ice on the ramps. I hope not because I'm headed up Friday morning as well! Good luck!

Thursday, January 28th, 2016

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Rivers end at 09;00. Had to go around the island, Hyacinth was too bad in front of pump station. Fished around Coney Island to avoid the Hyacinth. No luck, tried top water, spoon, and winter crawdad jig. Got desperate, and tried anchovies. Lots of small bites on main river next to Clifton Fore bay. Tried to make it back past the Hyacinth at the pump station and got stuck. Had to leave boat overnight. The pumping station boys pulled me out on the next morning. Thanks guys. Needless to say, won't be using Rivers End for awhile.

      Tips: It's not getting out of Rivers End that's the problem. The pump station gang clears the weeds during the day, but they go home around 4;30. After that the weeds just start pilling up. So getting back can be very difficult.