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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, February 7th, 2005

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      Water Temp: 46-49.7

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: The water is still muddy, but the temp has gone up some. Quency and I found some bass in 10-15 ft. Others came in 20-25 ft. caroline rig brush hogs and dragging a jigs ,brown/purple. No rip bait, spinner or cranking.
      City: rocklin

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Redwood Empire Bass Club is welcoming new members both boaters and non boaters to fish in our club tournaments.The next meeting is at 7p.m. this Wednesday at the Rohnert Park Community Center on the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder Lane.The next tournament is at Lake Sonoma on February 26th. Log onto www.rebc.net for more info.
      City: Santa Rosa

Sunday, February 6th, 2005

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 54-56

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got the boat out for the first time since October!! We started late, about 2pm, out of Markely. Fished south arm only. Had four bites and landed 2 fish. 1 1/2lb. smallie and one keeper largemouth. All bites came on plastic in about 20ft. of water. Tried speedtraps and jerkbaits also, no takers. Had to fish super slow to get a bite. Beautiful day, sunny for the most part, and very little wind. Nice to be out on the water for a change....
      City: vacaville

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: 49-51

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started off at 830am. Hit 2 fish spooning in the first 5 minutes. I have been catching a good number of fish spooning and decided to try something else. Worked a jig for a couple hours and nothing. The threw a rip bait for the last 2 hours and caught 4 more fish.

      Spoon fish were in 25' of water and the rip fish were in 10'.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Towards the end of the month the rip bait bite is going to go nuts. Had many 30+ fish days ripping in late february to early march.

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      Water Temp: NA

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Good to see the water up and fairly clear. Water temp must be a little on the cold side or my presentation sucks!!! Anyway, fished from 3 til' 5 and got 1 good bite on a jig in about 20 feet of water. It came un-buttoned!!!
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Let me know what the hot tips are. Sorry, I don't know.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 50.2

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Orwood. Fished Disco Bay - Nothing but two Sea Lions feeding on catfish. They kept bringing them up and eating the tail half, leaving the 1/2 with head swimming on the surface. Saw them eat 7-8 before leaving area.

      Fished Indian and caught one 2'11oz and that was it. Fish took a senko. Threw senkos, rat-L-trap, jigs, drop-shot, sweet beaver...inside and outside. Nada but that one.

      Other boats reported zero with the exception of one other boat who also caught only 1. Weather was warm and sunny, no wind but less than 1' visibility.

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      Water Temp: ?? not sure gau

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Ran the custom valco bass boat all the way to lincoln village west marina. With my new 15 hp Merc. 4 stroke it took roughly around 35 minutes to get there. I found some clearer water to fish in the very back of the marina. I tried every thing,but no bites. I was graghing fish and saw some surface activity from the shad. I decided to run back to Ladd's becuase it was getting dark. I finally cuaght 2 bass shaking a reeper and split shotting.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Find the clearer water. Good Luck.

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      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Lake is full and clearing up quickly. Turkey shoot yesterday produced some nice fish while my partner Dick and I managed a five fish win with 12.41. Fish are starting to move up but you have to work the 25-30 depths. Another week or so and this lake will explode, pumping out a lot of big fish so give it a look.
      City: Wheatland

      Tips: Our pattern was dragging plastic on a carolina rig, using the carolina keeper, a 1 oz brass weight with a glass bead setting it about 18". Don't try and look for the fish on your electronics, rather look for the right depth as they are moving in and out and may not be seen but are there. The new north side ramp is absolutely beautiful, they did an A1 job with plenty of paved parking and new rest facilities. Lake is full and clearing nicely.

  • Lake County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Clear Lake Oaks and ran up to Shagg Rock to get in on the hot Crappie action. Fished for about 15 minutes when we decided we didn't want to fight the wind any longer. Then, my starter broke and the motor would not start. In trying to move batteries around and pull-start my 125 I sprained my ankle. It was HORRIBLE. No bights and stranded at Shagg Rock. Partner and I trolled all the way accross to Glenhaven where Al Martin, owner of Lake Place Cottages saved our day. Drove us back to Clearlake Oaks and helped me get my boat on the trailer at his private dock.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: If you are looking for a place to stay on Clear Lake I highly recommend Al at Lake Place (707) 998-3331. His whole operation is set up for bass boats with a private ramp and boat slips. Rates are very reasonable at $60 to $125 a night. He helped a wounded basser in a time of need.

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      Water Temp: 100

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: i went fishing at dixon with my buddy on sat. we went and fished it all day. i got 4 bass one was about 2.5 pounds. my buddy got 1 bass and 2 trout. we were fishing a fire tiger crank and also a white buzzbait.

      Tips: if u catch bass all the time then plez dont keep them cuz there not stockers.

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      Water Temp: 56 degs at 8am

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: After having been skunked for all the trips in 2005, I really needed to prove I still have a capability to catch a fish. So I decided to go to my most reliable lake, Lexington. I checked the water level on the Santa Clara website and saw it was on the rise. As expected the water was quite muddy with about 11 inches visibility. I started about 7:50am and it was cold. While launghing my float tube, I saw a bait fish jumping in one cove. So I headed directly to that cove and threw spinnerbaits, worms, and Rat-L-trap but didn't get any bite. Then I fished a point near a summerged creek channel with dropshots (without any success). It was about 10am and I was ready to change me game plan. I kicked all the way across that point to the submerged pipe and stayed there for an hour and a half, mostly fished dropshot and Rat-L-Trap. I graphed some fish in 26 feet of water but couldn't tricker them to bite. About noon I was almost ready to quit, so I headed back to the launch point but for some reasons I decided to try my luck on a large flat. I fan-casted a Carolina rigged worm most toward deeper water most of the time -nothing. At one point, I was desperate enough to throw the rig into a brush. The first cast returned me with nothing. The next cast, which was off the same brush about 5 feet, the fish was on! Yahoo, my first fish of 2005 (largemouth, 15 inches long). The fish looked healty, very fat, very pale, and had red upper lip (indicating they are eating crawdad). It also told me I was wrong targeting only the deep water bass. For the next hour, I mostly fished brushes and got a very similar-looking bass on a 7 inches Texas rigged worm, pitching to a brush and working back to 16 feet of water. I called it a day about 1:45PM, ready for the Super Bowl. Well, 2 bass and I am a happy man now. :-)
      City: Palo Alto

      Tips: Water is pretty muddy now and scents seem to play a critical role. A interesting part was that the same brush I pitched to many time didn't seem to hold a fish. Then another cast with a fresh worm right off the package gave me a fish. This also happened to the first fish I caught.

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Sorry about the faulty tip(no pun intended)! It's been awhile since I repaired a rod tip, but the person who said NO SUPER GLUE, is right. If I remember correctly, the super glue might not even want to dry amongst the fiberglass. All ya need is a lighter to glue that sucker on. Again, sorry about the bad info.
      City: Oakland

      Tips: bASSHOLE, cool. See ya Sunday!
      (Just got back from Chabot... 0 fish.)

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I got in the water around 10:15 and caught my first fish about 10:45 a nice 3.8 on a suspending jerkbait fished very slow. I continued on down and caught several on drop-shot in 10 to 15 feet. I finished out the day at 3:45 and caught the last on in 25 feet on a carolina rig which was a nice fat 4.4. Altogether a 5 fish limit for around 12 pounds.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: All fish came on the outside of cuts fishing slow.

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: how is this lake in spring, im planning a trip. do they have campsites? boat rentals? largemouth,smallmouth any thing else? thanks so much
      City: the bay

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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Water level is kinda low right now. Alot of debris (i.e. tree's and schrub) in water. Was out there from 8 A.M. to noon and no bass but switched to trout and caught 2 Med. size trout.
      City: Santa Clara

      Tips: Stevens Creek Res. will probably be better in a month. Water is still to muddy.

Saturday, February 5th, 2005

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Very slow. Fished from 1100 - 4:00. Only picked up 4 LM up to 2.5lbs. Tried crank, spinner bait, dart head and drop shot - nothing. All fish were caught on Carolina rig brush hog in 15-20 ft. Talked to another fisherman that picked up seven (2 people) all on drop shot. Water is still pretty cold and muddy.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: Recommend waiting a few more weeks before trying this lake. The water needs to warm up and clear up for the bite to improve. Use electronics and try drop shot or soft plastics from shore to 25 ft. and fish slow.

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 50-57

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Water was Stained to Clear. Fished from 9 am to 3 pm. Launched out of Markley Cove with a buddy. All in all we landed 4 spots and a smallie. All fish from 1 lb to 2 lbs. Beautiful day with bass boats on every bank. Our two bigger fish were caught on 1/2 oz. white spinnerbaits. The other three on darterheads with 4 and 6 inch green weenie Magic Worms. Fish were between 15 and 30 feet deep. Had no luck with tubes and crankbait.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Work slow, very slow. For us ... the bite from 9 am to noon was best.

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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: fish are moving up. caught them on points halfway back and in pockets. 3 limits all under 2 lbs. mixed bag of spots smallies and blacks. afternoon bite best. Bass boats on every point saturday. Seems they left quite a few bass behind them? Graf showed fish in 85 feet but I didn't have the heart to try and catch them because they would die on the way up.my buddy pulled one up from 50 feet and it's eyes and air bladder sticking out of it's mouth looked like some rock fish I've caught in the ocean. Reel them up slow darn it.
      City: orangevale

      Tips: fish slow. fish deep. adjust to conditions.The bucks are moving into the area. females aren't up yet? use smelly jelly on everything.

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      Water Temp: 50 to 55

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Tired of fishing Folsom lake so I have spent the last few Saturdays here.Came late and fished 9:00 to 3:00, launched at Markely. Fished a few spots in the Narrows then around 12:30 went north past Putah creek to fish the little islands.Had three in the Narrows and three up North.All came on drop-shot 4'' purple robo curly tail worms.I certainly tried every thing else with no luck, jigs,senko,cranks,darterhead,and even splitshot.Water temp up North was up to 55 deg.I was amazed the bite was'nt more active.All fish were keepers but nothing over two lbs.
      City: Granite Bay Ca.

      Tips: Two rods going, drop-shot on the deck and what-ever in your hands

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      Water Temp: 50-55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: started off early, im still trying to learn bass fishing just got into it. Launched from markley fished a cliff face just off the speed markers land a 2 lb smally day went good took to the coves and the points, tryed grubs and spinners but what really took the smallies was purple death 6in from proworms and a puple with chartrues tail 6in from angler tech, me and my partner landed four each with only two not being keepers.
      City: vacaville

      Tips: 5-20 ft of water, i belive the water is to clear for them to be super shallow and keep it slow drag the worm if you have to slowly along your boat or pop it off the bottom, hope the helps .