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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, March 13th, 2005

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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: got out around 11, ened at 1.started in the island pond there was know one out there. caught one fish flipping. only a little bigger than a keeper. went to the big lake got one on a red crankbait. and a 3lber flipping a magnum zoom tube.fish are kinda everywhere, waiting to move in tight.
      City: livermore

      Tips: starting to get good. two weeks should be awesome with the flpp'n stick. all the fish should be moving in now go fishing. i saw one person out there.

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Had clients from Redding out today and I'd have to rate the bite as fair at best. Picked up a 4 lb Black right off before the wind blew us off all of my better spots. The AM wind made it very difficult to fish and the PM wind made it about impossible. Went into the East fork and anchored up and picked up several smallies the best at 3.75. No fish on soft plastics. All fish caught were on rip baits fished with a long pause or the fish would hit immediatly after bouncing off cover. Ended up with approx 15 lbs for best 5 which is not bad but certainly not what Trinity is capable of this time of year. Hopefully the wind will create a little color in the water which should help the bite.
      City: W

      Tips: I don't think it's possible to pause a suspending jerk bait too long.

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      Water Temp: 62.5

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Had enough Bass fishing for a spell. Wanted a good no pressure day and found it. Around 20 strippers all on fish traps. One fish to the net on a Vixen topwater but would not fit in my black bass net. She looked around 20 but tangled up the topwater in the net and pulled loose. Too big to eat anyway but I did want a photo. Most of the fish 6-8 lb range and only a couple of shakers.
      City: Carmichael

      Tips: Look for the birds.

Saturday, March 12th, 2005

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      Water Temp: ~60

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out for an hour Sat. morning, cranked up four bass to 6#, and snagged another huge carp to about 14-15lb bottom bouncing my crank. Took pictures.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Bounce crankbaits off bottom. Fish with heavy line since you will get snagged about every 5th cast.

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Thot I would try Amador again. Started about 3 pm and caught several Senko bass up to 3 1/4 lbs. The biggest surprise was a 3 1/2 lb trout jumping all my Senko in the back of a cove in some wood. Talk about weird! What a fight! I went up at dark and grabbed a burger and then got ready for night fishing. I could already see my boat getting very damp after a near 80 degree afternoon. Again, weird. Winter is not over - at least at night. I had a 4 lb 5 oz bass absolutely pound my brushhog right away and thot this would be a good night. After three hours of 3 or 4 small bites and no fish, I left. A dryer air mass will help the night fishing, I'm sure!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: With some areas holding 66 degree surface water, it was fun to see all the males bass swimming around in 2 feet of water. Saw some larger bass, but nothing too big. No nests yet. Bass wern't really active in spite of the warm temps.

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Well I first hit Coyote at 7am and decided at 8:30am without a bite to shoot to Anderson. Caught a good 20 fish all on a ripbait, most small fish with a few 2lb'ers mixed in. Had quite a few larger fish take a swipe at the ripbait at the boat. Tells me they were deeper, tried throwing a jig and blade with no sucess. All fish came in 5-8' of water.
      City: San Jose

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      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Sounds like the truth to me man!! Most of these people have no common sense about their surroundings, going clockwise of a clockwise lake, etc. That's why if at all possible I try to duck out into the sucluded coves, and sometimes even the really stupid ass holes just go running through in a no wake zone. Well I guess it's just something were gonna have to try to deal with, because there really is no shortage of ass hole out on the water. I know this isn't really a fishing report but I to think that this is an important issue.
      City: San Jose

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

      Report: Fished with my son at the Future Pro Tour and it was great. First goal is always get a fish to weigh so my son can go up there and get the experience. Next goal get five fish. Next goal on this lake was 10#. We hit them all 12.01# best five. Tommy got a nice 2.5 smallie in the last 30 minutes to move us way up (the +1.4# cull was huge in this event). Stuck to our plan for better or worse, east shore in the am nothing for the first hour and then some excitement. A 5.1 bit my ugly hangman weightless senko like bait and took it for a ride. When her head came out we both knew it was a big fish for this event. Great net job by my son and we were on the board. We abandoned teh jerk bait / crank bait for a while and went weightless. 90 minutes late we have 5 bass and lots of smiles. Went south as planned for some upgrade either in skiers cove, red dirt, points and coves behind the course. Upgraded a couple but no bed fish in the shallows worth taking. Last stop Capel cove below the ramp. Really windy, Tommy sticks a 2.5 smallie on a dropshot great fight. Back to the scales and the 2 hour weigh in. Vince and his team did a fantastic job, 201 teams and I never heard one complaint. We took 14th and my son got 2nd in the Junior division! Tommy even won a Fish Hedz mask at the raffle- thanks again Rob & Terry but with 125 horsepower it may not be necessary right now.....
      City: Pacifica

      Tips: Cranks and Jerk baits did not work for us Sat, only a couple small fish. Many fish on wetermelon Helix (Thanks Rob Riehl & Terry White for turning me on to this bait), Cinnamon Senko, dropshot witches T & MM purple. Big fish on a Chompers super sinker (who would even throw that)

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      Water Temp: 62.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: What a great day last Saturday was. 178 boats in the first Future pro tour season and what a great event, smooth and well organized. Not much different than my pre-fish trips, spent the day North, had a good limit by 8:45 on C-riged lizards, ripping a Stasybe 90 svp in ghost, and senkos. Spent way too much time getting a big female to eat. Caught the male , 2.14 lber on a senko and she left circled and locked back in. Somewher around 8-10 lbs, anyway we spent way too much time on her and never really significantly increased our weight. Lot of fish today, probably caught 30 fish.
      City: Carmichael

      Tips: Unlike other lakes, Clear Lake , for example for whatever reason the Bass in Berryessa are VERY hard to catch if they see you, that is if you can see them they can see you. I made long pitches and cast and used cover to hide my boat. Pulled more than one fish out of the tree, literaly netted while hanging in the limbs. The pattern today was behind the trees, a lot of boats were working the outide edge of the sunken brush, we went to the inside 2-3 feet of water under the boat and worked the inside. Unfortunately my favorite spot had a boat on it all day. We played the 25 yard cat and mouse game for hours. Our best five went 9.59 lbs, should have played for oz, not pounds but is sooo hard to leave a big fish , she did head butt a pink senko once though. Get on Berryessa this month .

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      Water Temp: 58-62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The water was clear and mud along the shore with all the boats from Future Pro Tour Tourament, (170) at last count. Blast off was at 6:15am for the first flight of 25 boats, my boat was # 111. My partner was Quincy Malone.. With 110 boats out in front of us we made the first stop in Skiers Cove near Steele Park. No bites on spinners, cranking but all our bass came on small lizards in 5-20 ft. Quincy got the first limit, then I replaced them all later with 1-4 ozs each more on a flat in front of the Boys Scout camp. For most of us a 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs was all we could find. We did get two largies 8 smallies and 10 spots. The winds came in around 2 pm and the main body was rough coming in at 4pm. Our weight was 8.23 lbs. for five, somebody got at 13 + lb on a swimbait. Carolina or split shot rig for plastics, brown/green jigs. Berryessa colors are green and browns for most the part, 3" to 5 " for plastics. Points, long and deep. Smallies and spots are moving upon the beds but not locked on yet for most, largies will be up within 3-4 weeks.
      City: rocklin

      Tips: Look for bass in shallow in the morning, when the sun comes out move a little deeper until the water warms up.

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      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished berryessa the 12th. Launched out of Campell Cove and found a nice shore to fish off. First thing i get on the beach i see a HUGE bass. So i try to get it to bite and it took a couple minutes he took and ran off with it! I set the hook! It was a nice 4 pounder! Good way to start off the day! Well ill make this short. I caught 7 bass and 2 bluegill while i was there. I also caught a squawfish. Most of the bass i caught were over 1 pound. It was a Good Day!


      Email me if you have any questions
      City: San Bruno

      Tips: Bass are only in less then 5 feet in water and are now starting to make there beds.

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: 60F

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Hey,
      My friend and I caught 12 bass between us that ranged from 1.5lbs to 5lbs from 8am to 1pm. We caught most of our fish in two locations. So, if you hook one work the area pretty hard. We were fishing between 1 and 10 feet of water.

      Please practice catch and release in these reservoirs the mercury levels are pretty high in these fish. Some people may not be aware of the mercury levels warning for the fish; so try to inform them politely.

      Good luck
      Mark M

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      Water Temp: upper 50's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out to Calero today around two, with clouds and a little bit of wind. Walked the bank throwin the craft jerk baits, fishin or tryin to fish the flats in baily cove towards the stream that leads into the lake. I came up with a big zero but as i walked down the stream towards some guys, this one guy was just reeling in a small bluegill and he threw it into a bucket up on shore. As I get closer to the bucket there are three really big fish in there which at first i thought were carp. But I picked one of em up just to see and it was a seven plus largemouth. I was a little bit ticked from not catchin anything that day but that really capped it off. I mean your not really suppossed to keep those fish with the mercury and everything, but these fish in his bucket were FULL of eggs and they were big. To me that is really unethical, and it really got me mad. If anything if he were to keep any fish I would rather it be the smaller ones who don't reproduce and yeild as many eggs as the bigger ones. I think if we all try to practice some catch and release that in the long run there will be more big trophies and more enjoyment for years to come. So to me if you ever see anyone doing this, just try to at least talk them into releasing the big ones and at best if they want to keep some, keep the smaller ones. It might seem like I'm barkin up the wrong tree here but I'm just concerned for the future of this lake and keeping its populations of BIG bass high as possible.
      Greg
      City: San Jose

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 49 -52 degree

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished with two friends out of Sugar barge on sunday, one of them is first time bass fishing, he was so happy I took him out fishing, even on rainy and windy day, he had only three solid bites, no hook ups. the other friend he thinks what all the bass doing , he got zero bite. I was pretty lucky yesterday, got nine fishes on plastic, no taker on rip baits, cranks, spinners, overall pretty tough day, I will be out again this sunday for our shop turkey shoot out of Lundberg. see you out there.
      City: EL CERRITO, CA

      Tips: water is very cold now, fish plastics very slow. have good time!

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      Water Temp: 61/62

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Lazy M launches both Sat and Sun just before sunrise and had some major + tides. Only fished till 9 or so but had another real strong few hours both days. On Sat I caught a 2 2+ pounders 2 1 1/2. At some point I started screwin around with the shallow dinks but moved back to the jig around wood. Better on Sunday (not weather wise) another big + tide but 2 3's and a 4 by 9! Can't fish a full day but it is smokin hot in the morning. All these fish from the M to Widows. I know there were tournaments both days near by. Saw a LOT of unproductive dudes in a hurry with all there spinnerbaits and even a buzzbait. I watched em come and watched em go...empty. I just fished my water inch by inch, minute by minute, made some real nice casts and I think I did pretty good. Even caught a 22 inch striper on sat during the last 5 feet of the retreive...he pissed milk all in my boat! I know for a fact that these next weeks will be some of the best down here all year. I've caught em and lost em. Real big ones. Temps comming up and so is the moon.
      City: San Leandro

      Tips: Spend the time getting familiar with the water and what's under it. Sounds stupid but it's true. It's taken me like 3 years to get these bigger fish. Using the jig effectivly in still,or fast and feeling up the water or rather what's down there.

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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The BASS gods smiled on Big Daddy today. After being out of commision for a few months w a wrist injury from motocross. I'd been trying some one-handed bass fishing therapy with fair success, but no quality until today. Fished senko's in a marina for a few hours down south w my girlfriend. Second fish didn't budge on the hookset, I knew she was solid. But before I could hand off the rod (I still can't really reel a fish in yet) she starts rippin drag. She's got me around a dock, through some foam blocks and is now boiling on the other side of the boat trying to get to deep water. No worries right, not to mention 4 other boats around watching this fiasco. Slowly but surely I gave a little and reeled up the slack, my only choice. Finally out goes the net and in comes my new PB 11lbs 9oz. WOW! Caught a dozen or so more in the 2-3lb range and finished up by sticking a 5lb11oz fatty. Best five just under 25lbs. Side note..Watched another basser stick a 9lb 12oz toad right next to us....The big girls are on the move
      City: TRACY

      Tips: Our presentation varied between slow and deadsticking,,less than 5 feet of water

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: drove 2.5 straight hours to finally get on the water. lots of bass boats out there, i heard rip baits and soft plastics were the key, i also heard the fishing was great. thats not what i found. i fished from 8:30 am to 12, 1 fish, no other bites. it was on a rip bait in about 3 feet of water, and the bite was nothing, he just swam away with it. So yea, the dam tournament scared all the fish.
      City: larkspur

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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: On Friday 3/11, caught three bass to 4 lbs. on june bug brush hog and drop shotting Marguarita Multilator. However, on Saturday had little luck. Saturday was the last day of a big four day tournament that I understand finally shut down the bite. I did talk to a few anglers who did well rippin a Stacee 90 in Chartruse Shad.
      City: Novato

      Tips: Wait a week for the bass to calm down.

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Hello out there--Hi everyone! I just wanted to know somethings about clear lake. What type of bait fish are in the lake? I will take your emails at eldoradokid@comcast.net that way the reports will not get messed up. Thanks in advance and may God bless you.
      City: El Dorado Hills

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: 58-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Guide trip today with Barry Damond of Alberta, Canada. Barry had never fished for bass before but is an accomplished Walleye and Pike fisherman so he adapted quick..He started in the narrows with plastics and it was wasn't long before he had his first ever largemouth. He also had a big carp EAT a drop shot bait that had me running for the net!! I was thinking big bass!! Anyway, we bounced around and found fish in most places of the lake from the south all the way up to the north end but fishing in the mid lake area was most productive. Lucky craft Stacey, Split shot wroms and crankbaits brought both largemouth and a few smallies in. Lake is in great shape.

      Dave
      City: San Jose