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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, June 5th, 2005

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Yes, I agree the hike may be difficult for those not accustomed to hiking cattle trails, but for me, well worth the scenery, and hit or miss catch. It's not necessary to walk "15 miles" (although it may seem like for some) for a chance to catch a fish. Just remember to work the coves and try a few points. As for the mercury, just take the same precautions as you would for most California polluted rivers, lakes, reservoirs, etc. That's all.

      As far as the people littering the lake...Yes that is a problem, but I don't think we should waist our time complaining about it on here. If you notice the littering is done by people that arent walking the lake bass fishing. It is done by people sitting around baitfishing. (you'll notice empty worm containers amidst the trash)I have never seen a rattlesnake at this lake either, and occasional jack-rabbit and many lizzards, but never a rattlesnake...
      City: SF

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      Water Temp: mid 60's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went bass fishing ended up filling the v-boat w/ crappie. Found a weedbed in about 14ft of water and could not stop catching them. The bigger ones went 10-12in. Caught at least 50(after awhile i stopped counting) drop-shoting a red&white crappie jig w/ a 3ft tag to keep it just above the weeds. I saw one gentlemen w/ a 4+ LM on a white blade, only bass i saw all day.
      City: San jose

      Tips: A great day fishing is a great day fishing no matter what the species. Any tips on bass fishing this lake would be appreciated.

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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: me and a friend went out like at 2 today fished till 600 caught 2 one was about 1 1/2 pounds the other about 2 maybe less caught them on little beavers made by reaction inovations cought them by the barbed wire by the dock to the left
      City: morgan hill

Saturday, June 4th, 2005

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 76-79

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: nice in the morning, hot in the afternoon, nice to cool going into the night. Fished from 7am to 2pm and 6pm to 11pm. Got only 4 dinks and 1 10 pound cat in the morning. Nothing at night. All caught using a brown senko, weightless. Also tried spinners, hula grubs, poppers, and jigs. Big black worms at night. Numerous nibbles on worms, but no takers. If you set the hook, you'd yank it from their mouths. Wait a hair longer to see if they'd swallow it, they'd spit it out. Maybe they're still in post spawn, who knows. Famous Amador weeds are making their presents known in the coves.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Bring cash. $32 for 2 to fish with a boat. Not sure about fishing tips. I didn't downsize my baits. Maybe try that?

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went with wife on first ever trip to Berryessa on Saturday. Weather was calm and warm. Launched at Capel around 7:30 and ran over to a cove on the south east side and saw lots of fish on the depth finder. We caught about 18-20 fish in this one cove, mostly smallies. Best three smallies were 1.8-2.0-2.3 lb's. Caught 3 more in another samll cove on the way back to the launch when the wind picked up. As Rich said in the preveous report, all of our fish were caught drop-shotting with Robo's. Folkstead Special, Prism Shad, Arrons Magic, Baby Bluegill, etc. Those two lb. smallmouth are a heck-of-alot of fun! Great looking lake, and a Great day on the water!
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: All the fish in the cove we were at, were right in the middle of the cove in about 22- 25 ft. of water.

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: 70+

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I have actually been out every week since my last report and it isn't good. The reaction bite has been nonexistant except for some very lucky few and even then it isn't very good by the standards of years past. At this time last year I was tearing up fish on swimbaits and Buzzbaits. I have yet to get any reaction to a buzzbait this year. There are some shallow fish but they don't seem to want to commit to the swimbait ....I have been tossing my huddelston,M.S. Slammer and my new 3:16 Arramagedon and they don't care how pretty they are they are just not having anything to do with them. I have trown frogs until my arm was worn out and still nothing. I don't think there is a shallow population right now. Hard to think of a reason why...There have been major shad spawns going off and we are into another one as of this week. They were gone last week and it looked like they were going to go off this week but with this new spawn there is just a ton of bait.My best pattern right now if you NEED to catch some fish is to dropshot on the main lake on the walls. It's not a winning pattern but you will get some smallmouth and occasional largemouth. I wouldn't waste my time looking for something that just isn't there. You can blow the whole morning looking for a topwater fish but it is not there and wishing it was has not helped me yet. I will be the first to post when this outlook changes. If anyone else is doing differently it would be nice to see them post. I have been fishing here for over 25 years and this is the worst case of lockjaw I can remember.
      City: Santa Barbara

      Tips: If I was in a tournament it would be splitshot or dropshot with a robo worm 6 inch oxblood light red flake. At the very least you might overcome someones 3 pounder with your numbers! It's Really tough right now!

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

      Report: Fished around Mildred Island and Middle river on Saturday. Caught close to 30 fish on topwater, blades and cut tails...only three were keepers. I thought the bigger baits would weed out the little fish, not today.
      City: Sacto

      Tips: Biger fish came on soft top water bait which I only had two of, oh well will make sure I have more the next time I head out.

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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started out late today (10 AM) lauching out of Wimpies. Fished Hog Sloug and Sycamore. Found fish close to tule walls that were out of the current, and wood. The areas without current are usually at the minor bends of the sloughs. Major bends such as those that direct the flow of the current do not hold spawning and post spawning fish. I used Senkos, Wave Worms (Senko imitation) , and Black Jig with Yamamoto twin tail grub. The final tally was alot of dinks and three keepers. The three keepers added to 11 lbs. Not bad for three fish and the bottom of the tide. Pulled out at 4 pm
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Find fish in current breaks and outter weedline.

  • Alameda County
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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hit the lake @ noon. Took an electric boat out on the water. Went to the tules and nabbed a couple good size ones. Then we headed for the island. Caught 4 more. I couldn't believe it! What a lucky day. Thanks to the guy at the marina for some tips.

      Tips: Don't woory I caught and released. Brown and black/red worms were the ticket.

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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from shore from about 6:30pm - 8:00pm. Not a single bite. Used a couple of different type of Rapala crank baits. Tried some top water spinner bait also. Nothing took. Better luck next time hopefully.
      City: Gilroy

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing was good until 10:00Am when it just turned off. Caught 7 fish. Biggets was just under 7lbs on a PopR top water early. Good top water bite until about 8:30 along the tule lines. Switched to carolina rig and texas rig along the tules and caught several fish under 2lbs. Also caught fish throwing a jig against a wall and letting it drop into 20 ft. Wind came up strong in the afternoon and blew me off the lake.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: Top water along tule line early, then switch to carolina senko or other soft plasic. Pitching a hula grub to rocky shore in shady spots also got bit.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 65-75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 6 am to 4 pm with Jimbob and did well.We caught around 80 fish for the day between us.Most were small but some areas have better fish than others.Amost everything worked today,topwater,darterhead worms,brushhogs,senkos and flukes etc.Had one lrge mouth 3-14 and one spot 4-1 for the best fish of the day.Total weight for best 5 was 14 lbs 8 oz
      City: Granite Bay

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 74.2-72.8

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: back on the water ater a bout with pneumonia, out the last couple o nights out o Hirz Bay, in the water on both occaisions at 715 pm, lake is 4.5 t down and now starting to drop steadily, no wind either night and not much debris, Had my neighbors son with me up rom San Jose, had 38 one night and 28 the next and all small save 4 over 2 and he busted o a good one. He was using gitzits thrown right on the bank, I tossed hula grubs on 3/8oz darter heads, mine were salt and pepper yamamotos and my avorite shasta crawlers in root beer by MGM. bite went great between 730 and 10 and died around 11pm. not a soul out there except or a ellow and his wie catishing. The area around Dooles Creek was the best with a run o 17 caught on as many casts in a row, we easily lost as many as we caught and lost double that last night. I went to the 3/8 oz to slow the drop which really worked, most were right on the bank and the better ish were 10t deep, beautiul starlit night with a little moon last night, the next ew days should be better, all came o o rock walls, the more vertical the better. 89 degrees going in and 72 coming out at midnight. 108 in Redding yesterday, no more ishing in the daytime or me!
      City: Redding

Friday, June 3rd, 2005

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

      Report: forgot to mention, it was a largemouth bass, and was released safely. Please practice catch and release of all bass.
      City: Millbrae

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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: caught a 3-pounder at 1030am this morning in south lake, 5-ft of water.
      City: Millbrae

      Tips: senko

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I spent 2 delightful days guiding at Oroville (Wed and Thurs). Can't remember when the last time I fished back-to-back SUNNY days!! The lake is in its rare stage - nearly overflowing! It is fun to fish the bank and look right into the forest rather than bare banks. It is more challenging to fish it when full, but it is exciting (except for the debris) to fish when conditions are different!! My Wed client was doing his first serious bass trip (he is of the trout crowd - maybe no so much now!) and had a ball - and did very well. We put 27 in the boat - all spots - with the largest at 2 lbs 9 oz. Larger fish were active which helped us to a 10 1/2 lb limit! We stayed in the south fork all day. My Thurs client was an upcoming tournament angler and excellent fisherman - but the bass wern't as excellent, maybe because of a slight cool front. We did catch 26, but there were more small ones and the biggest was only 2 1/4. We had a limit a few ounces over 9 lbs. The fish wern't as aggressive and seemed to be harder to hook. We did do more running around the south and middle forks since this was his first trip to Oroville, so we wern't fishing every minute. As folks have been reporting for some time, there sure are a lot of skinny spots at Oroville now - but, they can still fight with the best. Some of the females had obviously already spawned.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I am limited as to what I can say about techniques since we did many of the same things both days and Mr. Thursday is fishing an upcoming tournament. We fished a lot of 4 to 7 inch worms, mostly split-shotted and Texas rigged. The bass changed their color preference both days. Don't be afraid to switch colors often. We finally got a little topwater action on Thurs, providing we found the right kind of structure. I hope that holds up - my client will do well! We caught bass from 0 to 30 feet both days.

Thursday, June 2nd, 2005

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 70+

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Today, I had a party of two. Launch at Markley Cove at 7:30 and went north for a topwater bite first thing in the morning. Went clear up too the Northend and fished the willows. First cast a 2lb smallmouth. Tninking to myself "man this is going to be a blast". Well guess what??? The fish were there but they all just short hit the TW with no hookups. Changed to cranks and started right away connecting to smallmouth in the 1lb in a half range. Man can they fight. After the sun rose some I start in another bay flippin worms "Robo" 6in FAT in "Mutilator lll" One of the clients connected with a 3lb that didn't look has if she had spawned, Caught her in 3ft of water. Released her right away. By Noon we caught among us around 15 fish from 3ft of water to 12ft moving off shore dropshotting Roboworm's in 5 1/2inch Arron Majic's. From there I went to the very northend of the lake on the westside and fished a point and caught a couple of more. The client wanted to catch some bigger largemouth. I thought, hmmmm 2PM so I headed for the Dam and fished the far wall. There's some long points that drop off into the main. We tried Dropshottin from 10ft to 40 using a 3/8 dropshot weight. Connected on many 2+ spots around 25-30ft. Caught 1 fish at 45ft but lost it half way up that bent the rod some. Tried Markley Cove some with zip results. After running around the lake, one thing I did notice was the difference in location of fish including the specie of bass. The north, all Smallmouth and largemouth 50-50. Down near the dam area all Spots, no Largemouth nor Smallmouth. A Solid 30 fish day with room for more if you just wanted to catch fish.

      Have a good weekend
      Rich Thiel's Guiding Service
      (925)292-5024
      City: Livermore

      Tips: Dropshot in 15-30ft of water off of points to main water or go North in the moring looking for topwater, Then switch to flipping in shady pockets. At Noon move out to deeping water and dropshot in Roboworm's 6inch FATS or 5 1/2 Prism curly tails. Any Purple or Green will work.

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

      Report: Newbie,
      Don't give up. The lake can be sporadic at times. When the bite is on it is definitely fun. Be sure to hit the weedless frog bite in August. Also, try and resist fishing with live minnows. Although it is very productive it is certainly as close as you can come to "cheating" in the sport of bass fishing.
      City: san jose

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

      Report: Caught a nice 54 lbr LMB off the point. Also got a 19.3 lbr Trout at the other point
      City: Belmont

      Tips: Dont believe me

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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: went to the bigger back pond today. Caught about 10 fish. most of the fish run about 1lb. I landed a real nice one that's 20inch long and 12inch wide. I wish i have a scale with me. released all the fish.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: dropshot and senkos. nightcrawler is working good too. avoid bluegills!!!!!!!