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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, January 28th, 2016

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      Water Temp: 48

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Bass are hold in in 18 to 30 feet water is stained water target isolated rock piles and humps vertical jiggin with a dead stick approach very slow movement has been working on bass to 3 pounds. Trout plant last week so active will start thing moving for bigger fishing in a week or so. Black/blue jigs arkie or football jigs 3/8 oz.or 1/2 oz. Trailers Yamamoto smoke black/blue flake 5" double tail or single tail grubs work.also junebug colors are also working 5/7 fish in 8 hour trip is possible per angler water is slowly coming up and is stained but fish are there if your hitting the right targets and fishing the dead stick approach.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Finally, Lime Saddle is back, so launched here, only 22 minutes from home. Got going about 7 am, fished till 10 am, leaving because the rains began and didn't want to get soaked. This trip was a tad better then last, first cast a spot. Fished about 8 locations, most in the north fork or the way to it. Managed to get 6 spots today, all the basic 13" range variety so typical of the lake. Most fish taken right at 40 foot deep, one about 35 feet. Water still 49 degrees, and lots of larger wood on the lake now, be careful. Lime Saddle water looked like mud, N. fork not as bad, but getting pretty murky looking. Pictures in fishing forum.

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      Report: Could probably launch at foreman now. Found one straggler in my hour of fishing before raindrops kept falling on my head. Pictures in forums.

Wednesday, January 27th, 2016

  • Yuba County
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      Report: by kraetzer » Wed Jan 27, 2016 8:30 am

      Got a random day off yesterday and thought I go up there - 10 to 15 trailers on the dark day ramp parking lot, guess the word got out :lol:
      Fished from 11am till 5pm mostly in the Willow Creek arm. Water temp was from 48 to 51 degrees. Watch out for debris!!! Big floaters all over the lake.
      Nice warm day and the water has some color to it, so we fished the 0 - 40 feet range most of the day.
      Got a couple of dinks and missed a couple of bites. I think we should have fished deeper. Later in the day we moved out into 60-70 feet of water and got a couple of bites and also saw some fish on the meter.
      All bites came on a shaky head with a mm roboworm and a brown and purple jig.
      No recommendations or tips but I think I will stay out deeper the next time.

      Good luck and tight lines.

Tuesday, January 26th, 2016

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 48

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Burr, brisk morning on the water. Went to the spillway and it was open, one lane, but better then gravel. Got launched a tad before 7 am, fished till 10 am. Fished the middle fork, where are the fish today, very few for me, got 2 small spots, 12 1/2" to small for a picture. Just could not locate fish today, fished 30 to 55 feet and just two bites, two fish. Tried several baits, nada! one of those days I guess. More larger wood on the water, so be careful. Water stained like winter rains do, still 49 degrees. Water is coming in great, 16 feet since my last trip on the 20th, not bad for 6 days. Up 64.67 feet from low water mark, now at 714.18 feet, only about 185.82 to full pool!!!! No one using the ramp!

Monday, January 25th, 2016

Sunday, January 24th, 2016

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: na

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Walked / hiked the shoreline at Brown's Ravine tossing a junebug 5" senko. Picked up a 13" smallie and a 14" spot. Was actually surprised to catch something much less two. The smallie was on the outside open lake side of one of the points I walked to. The spot must have just been cruising the shoreline and the senko probably landed on top of its head. Made me stay there an extra half hour but nothing else. Just had fun throwing a lure into Folsom lake again since we couldn't get out to the delta.

      Tips: Not qualified to give tips. But what I did.... fished slow. I was throwing out, letting it hit bottom, then walk a few steps and just drag the bottom, then stop for 2 mins., then walk again. Once I could see it was parallel to the shoreline, I'd reel up and cast at 45degrees ahead of the direction I was walking. Then do the same thing. got some good exercise too.

Saturday, January 23rd, 2016

  • Solano County
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      Report: From Cooch's Fishing
      The big fish bite was crazy on the River today, we got five toads, the first one being the only one that's worthy of posting. After nearly two hours of not getting bit with a black blue jig, I picked up the brown jig with the olive pork, very first pitch and was immediately rewarded with my first teener of 2016! That's the second 10+ ta fall for a jig in a week here for me! The bite was a slow grind, but really got good about 12:30-1:00p when we had that 45 minute gully washer of a down pour. I had Ray take a pic of the scale, 13lb 2oz, I'll take it!

Wednesday, January 20th, 2016

  • Lake County
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      Report: We have had lots of rain. Water level has come up almost 3 ft. 4 more ft. and we will be full. Storms have been warmer than usual and lake temp has been in the 48 degree range. Water is stained to muddy around creek mouths but mid lake remains pretty clear.
      Fishing has been tough for most but ABA last Sunday produced some good bags and it took over 26 pounds to win. Jan and Feb. are still one of the best times for a really big fish and there was 2 over 8 pounds in the ABA. Also heard of a 11.5 caught last weekend. Still lots of Crappie being caught deep.
      There are fish being caught on just about all techniques .Swimbaits ,spoons, ripbaits and dropshots seem to be the best.
      Hopefully the rains will continue and we will have a full lake to fish this year.
      Not to many people minnow fishing yet but that bite is there if you just want to have fun.
      Dave
      Clearlake Outdoors
      707-262-5852

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The day sure didn't start right. Went to the spillway to launch and the low water ramp was closed, so went to the main ramp, closed, with water right to the edge of the concrete. Another week it should be open. Went to the gravel bidwell ramp, closed, so went to the concrete ramp, and lauched. Talk about getting ramp-ed around!! So, yes, Bidwell is open for now, no sign of parking lot work!! Left the ramp at 7am, fished till 10:15 am. More wood in the water, so be careful. Slow bite as expected, just 6 spots, nothing of any size, but one in the picture was extra fat. Water was not too dirty looking in the middle fork. Lake has come up 39.63 feet since hitting low water mark back on 12/9/15, and a couple days ago, came up 8 feet!! that's one heck of a lot of water in just 24 hours. Pictures min fishing forum.

      Tips: Tried the 3.5" Yum baby christie critter, half the fish on this, kind of like the look, almost a craw like look. Others on roboworms.

Tuesday, January 19th, 2016

  • Shasta County
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      Report: From Shasta Lake

      Holy soaked skies Batman!!! This rain has been tremendous the past 24 hours!!!

      The first 2 photos are taken two days apart, you can see that the water level is starting to shoot up rather quickly now. As a matter of fact, it has risen 3.36' in the past 24 hours (9 am to 9 am).

      The rain levels have been spectacular as well:
      01/16 - 1.97"
      01/17 - 3.65"
      01/18 - 1.47"
      01/19 (midnight to 10 am) - 2.13"...and climbing

      Let's put this into perspective of how much water this is...

      Last Friday, we had a storage of 1,569,318 af. Since then we have gained 169,561 more acre feet of water. That is the equivalent of 55,251,694,642 gallons of water...SINCE FRIDAY!!!

      Keep that rain coming!!!

      Lake Level Report (01/19/2016 at 08:00)
      Lake Elevation: 941.39' (125.61' below full pool)
      Lake Elevation (2015): 954.40' (112.60' below full pool)
      Storage: 1,738,879 af
      Storage (2015): 1,950,468 af
      Outflow: 1,070 cfs
      Inflow: 30,388 cfs
      Precipitation (24 hr @ dam): 2.48" (Estimate)
      Precipitation (Season @ dam): 28.21" (Estimate)
      Precipitation (2015 Season @ dam): 33.36"

Sunday, January 17th, 2016

Saturday, January 9th, 2016

Friday, January 8th, 2016

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Burr, darn cool this morning, glad I dress for cool mornings. Left the ramp at about 6:45, tossing worms about 7:10 am, stopped fishing about 10 am. Must be a tournament Sat, more bass boats on the water then I normally see. Slow bite as expected with the cold rising water. I only managed 4 fish today, nothing special in size. Largest spot 13 3/4" with the others right at 13", with one being a smallie. All fish taken right about 35 feet. I fished the middle fork and larger wood now showing, so be careful. Spillway ramp not nearly as long now, actually good except for the parking area, which is wet and muddy. Lake is now 19.94 feet up from low water mark, so were gaining at a good clip. Might be too rainy next week to fish, hope not!! but in a way hope so, to get the lake up. Picture in fishing forum.

Thursday, January 7th, 2016

  • Shasta County
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      Report: From Lake Shasta
      Good afternoon Shasta Lake!

      RAIN! RAIN! RAIN!

      Although we have a break today, we have had some fantastic amounts of rain over the past several days! It seems that this is the start of El Nino! Here are the totals on the McCloud section:

      1/4 - 0.86"
      1/5 - 3.34"
      1/6 - 2.03"
      1/7 - 0.05"
      Monthly Total - 6.28" at this location.

      The ground is saturated and the runoff is plentiful, rising the lake faster than in the previous month. Fortunately there is more rain in the forecast. Long term forecast suggest that there will only be a couple more sunny days this month with the large majority consisting of rainy days. February seems to be the same. This is excellent news for Shasta! In comparison, 2015 only saw two more substantial rainfall totals after today's date. One in the first week of February and then again in April. All of which is good news for the replenishment of Shasta Lake levels. Currently we are sitting 32% capacity and steadily rising!

      Keep the rain dances up! grin emoticon

      Lake Level Report (01/07/2015 at 13:00)
      Lake Elevation: 923.62' (143.38' below full pool)
      Lake Elevation (2014): 952.07' (114.93' below full pool)
      Storage: 1,474,918 af
      Storage (2014): 1,849,144 af
      Outflow: 2,058 cfs
      Inflow: 10,133 cfs
      Precipitation (24 hr @ dam): 1.42" (Estimate)
      Precipitation (Season @ dam): 20.07" (Estimate)
      Precipitation (2014 Season @ dam): 32.83"

Tuesday, January 5th, 2016

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 52-53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: So, who would be dumb enough to guide on a Monday after a 3 day weekend? Well - me, I guess. They sounded like great guys on the phone, so we went - out of Markley. This was my first time to guide on my private lake - yes, Lake Berryessa. No kiddin" - we were the ONLY rig in the parking area!! We saw one other boat - all day! I think that was a first for me in several decades!!! The bite was slow of course, but with the 8 rods they brought, something should have worked, and it did! They had about 8 to 10 hits and landed 4, the biggest a 2 1/4 lb smallie. I caught a largemouth about 2 lbs. The lake was dead flat calm in the morning until a big wind came up as the next front moved in. That killed the bite, but we stuck it out 'til 5 pm.

      Tips: Tips are tough since they threw all types of baits all day. Their biggest smallie was caught on a Senko - I think!! Very hard to find any bait on the meter, but found a few bass sitting on the bottom. I did hook a good bass trying a Blade Runner spoon, but lost it. The willing bass we did find were in about 30-50 feet of water on steep bluffs. The lake has not come up any - as of yesterday. Maybe the rain this week will help - lets hope!!

Sunday, January 3rd, 2016

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      Water Temp: 57

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well, the recent rains have helped this poor, low lake. Last report I heard was it was at 7% capacity. I can tell the recent rains have risen the lake about 3 feet. Several of the abundant islands are now under water (drive carefully!!). Fished for about 5 hrs. with the wife. Fished plastic worms and managed only one bite and one fish...but it was a toad, just over 6 pounds. Nice day on the lake.

      Tips: Fish Slooowww.

Saturday, January 2nd, 2016

  • Solano County
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      Report: by ElGuapo » Sun Jan 03, 2016 10:38 am

      Launched out of Russo's at 9 thinking it would be warm enough. Froze all day anyway.

      Dropped a P-Line spoon through several schools of fish and couldn't even snag one.

      Finally caught a short striper on A-rig around 1:30PM followed up with a nice 4# bass on a jerkbait an hour and a half later.

      Not a ton of action but just happy to be out on the water and catching anything in the freezing (relatively) cold. :D

      Happy New Year!

      Watch vid: http://www.westernbass.com/forum/post555467.html#p555467

Wednesday, December 30th, 2015

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 48

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Bite is surprisingly wide open on reaction baits, blades, cranks, ripbaits, jigs and of coarse dropshot all producing. if you are tough to brave the cold mornings you can be rewarded with some stud bass right now.
      best depth has been 8-11ft. no problem getting 20 or more bites a day and mid- high teens for 5 fish