Submit
Report

Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Sunday, May 1st, 2005

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Was hoping to see some bed fish, but I think the dropping water has them messed up. The water temp is right there, but cruising the shallows was pretty baren with fish. We caught about 16 fish all day, biggest ones about 3 pounds. Best five would have been around 13 pounds. All but one fish were caught on main and secondary points in 6-12 feet. One rip, the rest plastics. Brown and purple colors for the plastics, Luckycraft ghose minnow Pointer 100 for the rip. Really had to work for what we got. All our fish looked like flat tires too, so they must have spawned already. I sure hope the spawn doesn't get ruined with the dropping water. That would sure hurt the fishing in years to come.
      City: Hanford

      Tips: The bottom half of the lake paid off better for us. Brown/purple plastics.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took the wife and 2 kids out for a day of fun, sun and fishing. Arrived at Brown's Revine about 8:00 AM and headed for a few of my favorite areas in the South Fork. After catching a few small darthead fish in a spawning pocket, I moved to an adjacent pocket and found just what I was looking for - a long, shallow secondary point with a shale rock bottom and a 30' creek channel on one side. The point topped out in 8' and gradually sloped into 17' on the end. My wife immediately got her first bite of the day - a beautiful 5lb. 14oz. spot! She then proceeded to boat 2 other spots weighing 4-09 and 4-06, followed by a 4-00 largemouth! The best fish I could muster was a 3-09 spot on a dropshot (which my 4 year-old son was kind enough to land for me) and several in the 2+ lb. class (most of which my 7 year-old daughter landed). In all, we caught over 25 keepers from that one spot, the best five of which went well over 20 lbs. A truly amazing day!
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: Fish are still in prespawn mode - EVERY female we landed was still brimming with eggs. Caught fish dropshotting, dartheading and splitshotting 4.5" and 6" Oxblood/Red flake Roboworms.

    • By

      Water Temp: 59-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Chris Carson and I meet two other bass fisherman from Basin Bass Masters for a fun day on the water. I brought along my rain gear not knowing what a great day it was going to be. The morning started out with dark clouds and light winds fromthe east and turned out a sunny day. We started out fishing in the new flooded area near the camp ground. Using carolina rig and split shot with a pumkin or green pumkin lizards in 10 to 20 ft. Green senkos in the base of the trees in flooded waters, finding 6 nice keepers. Most of our spots and smallies came on rocks, points and out front of trees and rock piles. We stayed in the north fork until 12:30 and then off to lunch.
      City: rocklin

      Tips: fish slow, try blades and work around the trees for the bigger fish.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: GOT TO THE SPOT AROUND 6:30 AM FISHED A SENKO ON A BRASS AND GLASS I DIDNT HIT NOTHING THE ONLY ACTION I GOT WERE SOME FATTY CARP ABOUT 5 10LBERS THAT KEPT STIRRING UP THE BASS SPAWNING BEDS EATING ALL THEIR EGGS!I THINK THE CARP SPOOKED THE BASS!!!!

      Tips: TO MANY DAMN CARP!!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: slow.. got there early.. 4 all day.. biggest was 2..threw everything at them...didn't matter..Summary.. Thanks to John George.. who opened the gate's I had a great day..
      City: los gatos

      Tips: The tip of the day is send a freindly "Hi" to Santa Clara Parks and Recreation for doing a great job.. Hey people..if it wasn't for the ranger's and all the staff, where would we be. and or go..If anyone disagrees with this.. well .. figure it out.. thank's let me know

  • Mariposa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68 degrees

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Had a pretty good day on the water. My dad and I caught aroud 30 fish all on the same mold, a 4 inch green weenie 082 and salt and pepper keeper worms. Anywhere on the lake seemed to produce a bunch of slot sized fish.
      City: Hilmar

      Tips: Split shot worms mainly in about 15' to 25' water along rock walls with steep drop offs and points.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: stayed with and old friend in his new house in jones valley,the fishing is great. the skitterpop is by and far the best lure ever made,as every bass pro that works at the quarry will atest too.we caught over 60 fish each day only on the skitter and robert and ron tell me it has caught more fish and won more money than any lure on the lake,thanks for the great time and i will tell everybody to bring those skitters as you can't find them in redding,we fished nothing but willows targeting spawn fish and pre-spawn,thanks again bob
      City: paradise

      Tips: weekends are best according to robert as they have a 80% work comp rate in jones valley so the people just collect checks and fish,the store is filled with them in the morning and after they fish in afternoon,they are real lazy and dont fish on weekends but like robert says US LOCALS CATCH THE TOADS SO YOU DON't get to scared.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Im curious as to where and what time you guys were fishing the top water lures. I cant wait until its time to throw top water all day. Anywho.... went fishing over the weekened with my girlfriend, we basically stuck with trout colored sinko's or brown gitzits or smoke with red and black flaked gitzits. Started out fishing rocky shores with lots of fish, but nothing above 1.5 - 2 lbs. Then moved to some willows and stuck with sinkos and gitzits, did very well near willows, but again, nothing big what so ever. Would say prolly 90% were smallies near the damn. Next day we went up Mcloud arm with same gear, caught about half the fish as the first day (still nothing big) and caught all spots or largemouth.
      City: Redding

    • By

      Water Temp: 62-65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: thanks for the stay robert,your new place in jones valley is nice,like the acreage.the skitterpop gave me a whole new look at bass fishing.it is as you say the greatest lure ever made for shasta i will always have one tied on.i hope the kid slows down at the quarry and lets the sticks do some work for once !!!.
      City: paradise

      Tips: dont lose track of your old fishing pals,they might have been holding back and teach you something.

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out sunday with Steve and Tiger trying to find some bigger fish. Started the morning in Cherry seeing if the fish were deep or not no luck. Moved closer to shore and Tiger started with a Senko fish 1.5 and Steve followed with a nice 4.9 (spawned out)in very shallow water. I got a 4.2 (also spawned out)still on Senkos. Tiger and I each got a Jig fish but no real size. Moved to North end of lake but no real luck, tried Yorty and picked up a few better ones. Steve did well with a Chompers super sinker and we went back to cherry for some more. finished till 5:30 with 19 fish Steve took the honors with big fish and 7 fish. Best 5 went 16.6 lbs. No rain and sun much of the day.
      City: Pacifica

      Tips: Majority of the fish came on senko / helix. Some on Drop shot and the salty sinker as well as a couple on Jigs nothing on blades or crank bait. More luck on Grass than on trees/structure. Saw several fish in shallows but none locked on beds, probably too late for that. Did not fish the south end not sure of water temp or spawn status that direction. Did see some fish chasing bait occasionally.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Cottonwood Bass clubs team fishoff, my partner could not make it so I fished alone. Blastoff @0545 ran to Oak Bottom Marina, caught my first anb best fish a 3 # black on a jitterbug, lost a good fish there checked the curtin near by, no fish on it. Ran to Brandy Creek and started to look for bedfish, only caught one appox 2#, flipped the back of several coves with wood for three more and splitshot several small ones on a Yum worm.
      Ran to Whiskey creek and culled my three 1.5 fish for three blacks from one down tree. Finished a little over 10# , winner had a nice 6 lb'er for almost 20# all my fish were largelouths
      City: Redding

      Tips: Bass are on there beds now had too much ripple from wind for good visability

Saturday, April 30th, 2005

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took a friend out to learn dropshotting and senko fishing. Had great day but no size. I also fished the eastern shores in the morning but only caught small SMB on drop shot. Moved into some coves and caught plenty of spots. Late morning, moved into Wagg and caught more spots on inside of coves and smallies on points. Mostly dropshot, didn't matter what color, hitting on both robo and kutails. In afternoon, plenty of water skiers in wagg.
      City: SoSF

      Tips: Most of the fish on dropshot were on light color kunami Kutails, a few on dark robo, and one on swimbait. Fish holding shallow.

    • By

      Water Temp: 61-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I did a tournament prep trip Sat. for two enthusiastic bass guys who really had a good day. One of the fellows put together his own 11 1/2 lb limit together on baits that he likes. His missed a great fish right out of the gate on topwater that we would have talked about all day! Too bad! We fished the narrows and some on the main body. Boat traffic wasn't bad for a weekend and we could fish pretty much where we wanted. We caught 26 bass total and they caught most of them. I finally added a good smallie for our total weight that went over 12 lbs for 5. Biggest bass was about 2 3/4 lbs. As it clouded up in the afternoon, I fished them on one last eastside point and we each caught a smallie of 2 1/2, 2-2, and 1 3/4. I was doing so poorly I tried a blue ghost worm for the first time in a year and landed the 2-2. At least I went home with my head slightly high!! Seriously, they really had a good day and that is what make the drive home pleasant!! Those are the days I love my job!!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Since they have an upcoming tournament, I can't say much about techniques. I did feel a change in the lake and the mood of the bass. We are moving into a post-spawn period, and that brings out a lot of small bass that we don't see in Feb and Mar. So, you get a mixed bag. As was mentioned in a previous report, topwater will work better every day if the weather stabilizes, and other techniques will work also. I will mention some of those in a future report.

  • Santa Barbara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63+

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Water has cleared up even more and there was more activity than last week. I was right on about the jerkbait swimbait prediction. Santa Barbara Bass Club had something like 12 fish for fourteen anglers and two guy's had 9 of those. It is not really that good yet. I got some fish basically all day long and cannot wait for this weekend to see if I can get some of the better fish I saw to go. There were a bunch of fish that seemed uncommited to a bed and a few that were. If it's possible the lake is a foot-1/2foot higher than last week. Smaller fish on dropshot this week.
      City: Santa Barbara

      Tips: If you open your eyes and look you will see the microscopic bass fry that seem to be all over the shallows...you might try fishing your stuff near them and see if you can get one that is trying to protect the fry.

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Both these bass were caught off the point to the west of the dam.
      City: Morgan Hill

    • By

      Water Temp: 64-66

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Took the family out for a day on the lake. The 2 teenagers caught a couple og nice LM's 3.2# and 6.5#. Both were caught on live minnows. Personally I was throwing everthing(senko, brushhog, spinnerbait, crank) and could not get bit.
      City: Morgan Hill

      Tips: The klive minnows seemed to be working real well. Was the first trip to Claero so any tips would be appreciated.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the water around nine. Fished only till one thirty. My brother and I caught 15 fish all on spinnerbaits and senkos. Best five around 14lbs. Been hearing about all these toads being caught. I sure can't figure out how to catch them. SHould have been throwing frogs.
      City: Boraga

    • By

      Water Temp: 62-67.2

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Whiskey and empire cut on Saturday. First Delta trip in the new Ranger. Wife and I caught 11 fish. All but one were keepers. Nothing over three. All fish caught inside weedline on Spinerbaits,beavers,9x senko, and split shot red straight tail worm 4inch. Became windy and dark skies and the bite died for us. High tide and first bit of outgoing best for us.
      City: San Jose

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The water was stained to clear in the back of the coves. Quency Malone and I started out at 6:30am and found our first 15 bass in Quarter mile cove draging brush hogs and 4 " lizards in green pumkin. Move over to the dam finding the same size with the same lures. Moving again into the back of Rock creek and way in back of the coves in 5-3 ft of water working the trees and bushes with senkos. We picked up 5 nice largies with the bigest @ 3.5 lbs. Most of the bass you wil find are in the 1.5 - 2.0 range. Work em slow and in 10-15 ft. When the sun came out your can see the fish in the shallow water
      City: rocklin

      Tips: use a scent in garlic and you will catch more fish.

  • Fresno County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: MY PARTNER AND I CAUGHT OVER 50 FISH DAYLIGHT TO TWO.
      City: FRESNO

      Tips: BRING YOUR SENKOS.