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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Friday, November 13th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Just read Gary Dobyns report on fall fishing. Good report! I have a good one too for Clear Lake. After a month off from Clear Lake, buddy Mike and I hit the lake Thursday afternoon - and found the dinks - some up to 14 inches now, everywhere! At sundown, we got serious with the night gear. But just before we did that, Mike had one more fish for me to net. Not 9 inches - but 9 pounds!! She hit a small plastic bait and went 9.08 lbs! Been awhile since I had seen one of those! I started throwing a D&M Piranha swim jig after dark, thinking maybe the water had cooled enough to use it. I also thought the new Yamamoto Heart Tail would be a good trailer for bigger bass. Decisions are great when they work!!! My first bass was 7 1/4 lbs. She crunched it!! After I got two more in the 3 1/2 lb range, I was thinking how cool it would be to catch a 7, 8, and Mike's 9. One of us would need an 8. About 15 minutes later, I got crunched again - and she went 8.14!! It has been awhile since we have seen 3 bass in a short period of time for 24+ pounds. The bite died after and we soon left with good memories of a 31 lb limit.

      Tips: It seems that the bigger bass still are in deeper water. Following the bait is hard now - since it is everywhere. The 3 bigger bass were 20 + feet deep. They simply attacked our baits, so the fall feed may have begun!

Thursday, November 12th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 6am til 1pm in whiskey slough and caught bass up to 7lbs throwing crankbaits and traps. Some senkos and dropshot in the mix.

Wednesday, November 11th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Report: From Clear Lake Outdoors
      The weather is finally cooling down and the fall bite is here. Water temps around 60 degrees. It was foggy and frozen this morning. Guys are catching fish north and south. The A rig bite has started. You can catch fish on shallow and deep crankbaits . The lv 500 bite has been good and will be thru march. The jig bite is slowing down. We just got a shipment of minnows and they are bigger than they have been, that bite is just starting to get good. Catfish and Crappie bite is good.
      Our winter hours are mon-sat 7am -5 pm and closed on sundays.707-262-5852
      The fall /winter is when big fish are caught here.
      Dave

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: Never looked or forgot!

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched about 6:30 am, from the dam again, ramp is getting longer, but still just fine for anyone with 4wd. Burr, darn cold beginning today. Went to the middle fork and fished anything with rocks, the more the better. Bite was really good, caught 26 fish today. No lunkers, but most were keepers, 4-5 14 1/2" fish, most 12-14" range with maybe 4-5 dinks under 12" Nice misty like fog coming off the water in the wee hours, giving the lake a kind of spooky look. Gave up fishing at 10:30 and called it a day. Busy ramp when I got back. Many boats on the water today. These are a few of the better fish, right at 14 1/2". Pictures in forum, under fishing.

Tuesday, November 10th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Wimpy's and fished the back half of the sloughs that run out to the east. Fished the A-rig all afternoon and landed nothing but stripes all day. All caught in 8-12 ft of water and fished it as close to bottom as possible. 5 fish that went 6.5 -7.8 lbs and another 5 in the 3-5lb range. Rigged up shad pattern paddle tails for the most part. I used 6 different plastics throughout the day and they were eating just about anything I stuck on the rig.

      Tips: Anything that mimics the bait fish that are back in the sloughs is gonna get bit. Bigger fish are definitely out off the bank in deeper water. Look for the birds and rip rap with spaced out tule patches.

Saturday, November 7th, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Another great trip yesterday as I took a media personality, helping him get into a good spoon bite. And did he get into the program! After we found a good school of feeding bass, we put 2 1/2 to near 3 1/2 lb smallies into the boat for almost an hour straight. Two bass anglers were watching the show in their boat, They came over and we showed them what we were doing. I saw them catch one or two after that. We fished other parts of the lake and found the bite kinda slow. Again, in the afternoon, no topwater bite! As always, we used 1 1/2 oz Blade Runner spoons with UV Morning Dawn the best color. On the way in, I spotted a new rock area that just became visable. We fished it and spooned a few more and I was able to spoon a 4 lb spot. Great spoon bass!! Lake is still dropping, but slowly.

      Tips: The Lowrance is your friend. Move around 'til you find the bait!

Friday, November 6th, 2015

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished bullards for the third time in my life. Fish were stacked up in the ends of rivers, where fresh rain had water pouring in. Fished the mud line, and foam canopy and saw some true giants nosing the baits. No takers. Fished from 5-15' with jerk baits, swim baits, and jigs. The jerk bait was hot, every cast, or every other cast. Even had a 6 lb squawfish eat the jerk bait.
      Didn't find any bait balls to spoon, but one was on the deck all day....

      Tips: Move around till you find them. They're definatley schooled up.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: Delta Report…. Strong bite continues for Delta anglers
      Dan’s Delta Outdoors Fall Striper Series #3 Goes out of Big Break Marina Saturday November 7th. catch and release tournament is the Final of 3 events. Registration 5 to 6 am target draw and blast off right at first light. ALL BOATS must leave from Big Break Marina. This is the Finally of the 2015 Series “The Open” 24 inches or better no slot, Go get ‘em Boys and girls!
      Bait fishing tactics from both boat and Bank Seminar November 19th. Come receive instruction From The Dan’s Delta Staff on the best striper bait fishing tactics and techniques.
      Isleton The salmon bite remains strong as cooler evening temps take hold. The bite in the area just improved all week. Salmon anglers are seeing success. a few fishing finally started getting solid reports of success from Salmon searching anglers with Silvertrons leading the way. Water temperatures have dropped with the cooler evenings. Many anglers to the west are seeing more salmon daily… getting close. Silvertron’s are the best bet for those who want to try.
      Walnut Grove Continuing solid Salmon numbers with many decnt Scores reported Silvertrons and K-14 getting mentioned. Best area has been Courtland to Walnut grove. Few Stripes are in the area as anglers recover still around as temperatures return more seasonable in the Walnut Grove area as the trolling bite is OK mostly small fish.. Red Eye Shad and small shad patterned plastics are the top choices here as well. Small swimbaits are scoring Largemouth and Smallmouth in the Meadows.
      Discovery Bay Where did they go? Stripers that had been starting to group up in the Marina side seem to have disappeared. Have faith! They are still in the area, the bait and stripes are in main river Holland riverside south to Italian Slough. Dan’s Classic Shimmer Jigs and Strike King RedEye Shad getting bit. Black Bass cooler evening temps have water temperatures dropping and the bite on upswing!. Strike King small Double Buzz and Poppers getting mentioned often. Jig bite on points is also good, the all new TNT Booby Trap is a great replica of Delta Craws come by and check them out !
      Frank’s Tract Stripers and bass bite both responded well to the cooler temperatures. It’s no secret what a little fall weather can do. Walking baits are great topwater options while small swim baits and swim jigs get the mention. We found plenty of Stripers and Black Bass with Hair Jigs, Weedless Swimmers like the BIG 6thSense Hollow Bodies getting grabbed. Lot of Stripers on Old River Flats.
      West Delta Anglers in search of stripers are finding solid numbers of keeper stripers from both boat and bank. Most of the nice stripers coming soaking Shad . Antioch Pier scored stripers to27 inches this week. Shad is top offering. The West as in Honker Bay to the Broad Slough plug casting is getting fish when wind cooperates. Go On Top with Dan’s Delta Mizers, during the day go old school with Hair Jigs Like Dan’s Classic Shimmer jigs or Spro in open water White/Dark Green and White/Blue best this week . Sturgeon quietly is slipping into the spotlight. Eel is the best bait over all, but roe and shad also scoring diamondbacks Break and surrounding cuts. Cranking Lucke Strike Square bills in bait fish patterns and spinnerbaits is key.
      Provided by Dan’s Delta Outdoors, 1625 Main St Oakley CA 925/234-4694 Follow us on Facebook

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: On the water at 1200 fished primarily sycamore slough. Pretty steady breeze today and sunny, found a decent spinner bait bite on wind blown side of the tule islands. Mostly 1.5- 2 lb fish there. Moved back in the slough and got on a insane crank bite in shad pattern deep diving. Caught 20+ fish during that last 2 hours of the outgoing tide. All came on windblown rip rap banks in 6-12 ft of water. Fish in the 2-3 lb range and then landed one that went 6.8 right at dusk. Quite a few blow ups in the area but the crank bite was to good to switch to topwater.

      Tips: All fish caught were caught while bumping the deep diving crank off the bottom. Pausing and then fast cranking on snags draws most of the hits. Fished parallel to the shore to keep it on bottom the while time in the 10ft range

    • By

      Report: From Cooch's Fishing October closed out last week with the Delta bass moving up and starting ta chew. Water temps have settled into the mid 60s and stablized driving active fish into the shallows and grass bed in numbers. The baracade in False River has been removed and current flows through Franks Tract and the middle part of the River are back to normal. Days of fighting through 50 dinks ta git a decent limit have been replaced with days of catchin 20+ keepers in the 2-6 pound range. The bigger fish for us have become more active later in the day after noon time. Active fish are now chasing down liplwess cranks and ripbaits fished over the top of the grass on the higher tides. As the tide begins to fall, the bigger fish are starting to position on the grass line breaks in 5-9 foot and are snapping both Jigs and a Yamamoto Kreature. Green pumpkins and Watermelon reds are working best and ya need to rotate between em constantly as their preference changes spot to spot, hour by hour. If yer not getting bit, or catching short fish, keep moving and cover water to find those bigger active fish that are schooling up.

Saturday, October 31st, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got out for a fun Halloween fishing run. Caught alot of rats on top water. Had some decent blowups with no hookups on froggy though. Water is getting cooler, saw a salmon swimming in old river. Lots of stripers to play with everywhere. The hyacinth is thick in some areas, careful of logs in the stuff.
      Most of all....Have fun !

      Tips: STOP THE TUNNELS

Thursday, October 29th, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68-69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I took one of my favorite clients to Berryessa Tuesday, finding cloudy skies and calm wind. We were going to work on spooning mostly, using Blade Runner 1 1/2 oz spoons. I had him used the new UV morning dawn color and I used a few different colors. All spring and summer long I have wondered, as others have, where all the spotted bass were. Bingo - we found them - and they have been growing!! We located a school of them feeding on shad and we spooned 3 to 3 1/2 lb spots for about an hour, with a few smallies mixed in. We weighed several of the spots to make sure the weights were accurate. These were the fattest spots I have every seen at Berryessa. This makes me think the lake is in excellent shape because it has been a big largemouth year also. We moved around the lake for hours looking for other baits balls with bass, but didn't find many. We went back to our morning area and caught a bunch more before we left. Funny, like Almanor last week, fishing great on the sunny day and slower on the cloudy day.

      Tips: We saw bait on my new Gen 3 Lowrance meters from 10 to 60 feet, but the spoon bite was best at about 35 to 40 feet. As for surface activity, there was NONE! Never saw a fish come to the surface. We did get a few bass drop-shotting Robo worms, but they were smaller bass. After all the largemouth this summer, we only caught three this trip - two dinks and a 13 incher! Guess they were on vacation!!

Tuesday, October 27th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at 6:45 am today at the dam, tossed worms till 10 am and called it a day. Not the best bite, but all fish were decent size for a change. Got 9 spots is all, one 15 1/2", 2 15" with all the rest right at 14". Most fish taken at about the 30 foot mark, as I tend to fish deep. Cloudy the whole time, just a light breeze. Water about 68 degrees from what I remember. I'll take a slower bite any day if they all have better size like today. Ramp is still fine.

Saturday, October 24th, 2015

  • Plumas County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My buddy Mike and I made our annual fall assault on beautiful Lake Almanor and found a good bite! We caught 23 on Thurs and about 14-15 on Fri. Nothing under 2 lbs with the average 2 3/4 to 3 1/4 lbs. Fun to fish when there are no dinks biting - all good fish. Our first day limit about 18 1/2 lbs, second day about 17 1/4 lbs. Not sure if the weather helped - kind of strange. First day was flat water with bright sun and a great bite. Second day was flat water and all day cloudy. Should have been ideal, but the bite was slower. Go figure!!! The trees that change color have barely begun to change and the water temp was up to 63 degrees still. The biggest thrill was my sudden decision to throw a topwater late Thurs afternoon. First cast put a Storm Chug Bug near the bank. I let it set about 10 seconds, twitched it twice, and a small bomb went off in the form of a 4 lb smallmouth! She nearly cleared the water totally and the next 2 1/2 - 3 minutes were terror. Surely she wouldn't stay on, but with my drag set perfectly, she found Mike's net. And he brought the small net!!!! Great fish for Almanor, and for a few coins in my "hot" hand, I will tell you the "hot" spot where she was released!! (I loved that joke when I read it!!). We caught the smallies from 4 feet to about 25 feet - on the bank to about 200 yards off-shore. Mike's biggest, just under 4 lbs, was the one in 4 feet of water!! So, pick your depth!!

      Tips: We fished the whole south area of the lake up to mid-lake. We did not try cranking and topwater was off the second day - it's like they wanted the sun! I forgot to mention that after the big topwater bass, a second big smallie hit it twice, but wouldn't stay hooked. We had the most success on small bulk baits like beavers, small Flappin' Hogs, and Berkley 4" baits. Green Pumpkin was good, as were blue shades. We could not get these fall bass to hit plastic worms. For example, they tear up Robo worms in the spring and summer, but would not take a worm on this trip.

Friday, October 23rd, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: Delta Report….
      Fall Bite continues to gain momentum
      Dan’s Delta Outdoors Fall Striper Series #3 Goes out of Big Break Marina Saturday November 7th. This catch and release tournament is the 2nd of 3 events. Registration 5 to 6 am target draw and blast off right at first light. ALL BOATS must leave from Big Break Marina. This is the Finally of the 2015 Series “The Open” 24 inches or better no slot, Go get ‘em Boys and girls!

      Isleton
      Finally the salmon bite remains strong as cooler evening temps take hold. The bite in the area just improved all week. Salmon anglers are seeing success, a few fishing finally started getting solid reports of success from Salmon searching anglers with silvertrons leading the way. Water temperatures have dropped with the cooler evenings. Many anglers to the west are seeing more salmon daily… getting close. Silvertron’s are the best bet for those who want to try. Smallies are getting more attention now as 2 to 4 pound fish show more often now… Jigs and flukes are getting them!

      Walnut Grove
      Continuing solid Salmon numbers with many Great Scores reported Silvertrons and K-14 getting mentioned. Best area has been Courtland to Walnut grove. Few Stripes are in the area as anglers recover still around as temperatures return more seasonable in the Walnut Grove area as the trolling bite is OK mostly small fish.. Red Eye Shad and small shad patterned plastics are the top choices here as well. Small swimbaits are scoring Largemouth and Smallmouth in the Meadows.

      Discovery Bay
      More Stripers now starting to group up in the Marina side. Dan’s Classic Shimmer Jigs and Strike King RedEye Shad getting mentioned. Black Bass cooler evening temps have water temperatures dropping and the bite on upswing!. Crankbaits baitfish patterned Rick Clunn Square Bills and Livingston Baits getting the attention of the bass anglers. Strike King small Double Buzz and Poppers getting mentioned often. Jig bite on points is also good, the all new TNT Booby Trap is a great replica of Delta Craws come by and check them out !

      Frank’s Tract
      Stripers and bass bite both responded well to the removal of the False River dam. It’s no secret what a little current can do. Walking baits are great topwater options while small swim baits and swim jigs get the mention. We found plenty of Stripers and Black Bass with Hair Jigs, Weedless Swimmers like the BIG 6thSense Hollow Bodies getting grabbed. Lot of Stripes on Old River Flats.

      West Delta
      Salmon success stories still abound. Slime Rockets best on the incoming tide with Mepp’s Flying C’s in Pittsburgh and Humphries areas. More Anglers in search of stripers are finding solid numbers of keeper stripers from both boat and bank. Most of the nice stripers coming soaking Shad. Antioch Pier scored stripers to47 inches this week. Shad is top offering. The West as in Honker Bay to the Broad Slough plug casting is getting fish when wind cooperates. Go On Top with Dan’s Delta Mizers, during the day go old school with Hair Jigs Like Dan’s Classic Shimmer jigs or Spro in open water White/Dark Green and White/Blue best this week . Bass Bite stays solid in the Break and surrounding cuts. Cranking Lucke Strike Square bills in bait fish patterns and spinnerbaits is key.

      Provided by Dan’s Delta Outdoors, 1625 Main St Oakley CA 925/234-4694 Follow us on Facebook

Wednesday, October 21st, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Should have paid attention to the weather man but didn't. Got to the lake and the wind was howling big time, no idea how much but the lake had 30" waves in the middle after my launch at 6:30 am. Actually a tad scary in my small 14ft Klamath. Headed to the north side of the main lake to get shelter from the hills. The most wind I've ever encountered on any lake!! I did manage 9 spots, lost a nice one that had that feel, never saw it!! One 14 1/2", one 14", with all the others about 13" and one catfish, small. Darn thing liked that roboworm!! Launch ramp still good. Gave up and off the water at 10 am.

Monday, October 19th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: Coochs Fishing
      After three weeks of battling undersized dinks every day on the Delta, the cool weather of fall finally drops the River temps below 70 degrees. By Sunday, 67 degrees greeted us in the morning and the afternoon highs peaked at 69.5. Add to this the removal of the barricade in False River, we now have normal current flows in all areas from Franks down to Disco Bay and areas off Old River. This has brought up a larger group of fish who are now going on the fall feed. In weeks past, you could punch all day and catch some very nice fish, yet the affects of the past three weeks of spraying the surface canopies, has had a drastic, negative affect on that bite in many of the good areas where punch fish were being caught. The topwater bite had been very good as well, especially with that Whopper Plopper and Spook, you could stick it out in the right areas and also acquire 5-7 really good bites tossing it all day. Yet the cool mornings and temp drops paired with the spraying, has hindered that bite as well. The one constant through all this for us has been the deeper jig bite, where we have been catching quite a few fish in the 5-9 pound range in 10-18 feet. With the recent cool down of the water temps, and the return of normal current flows to the middle Delta, the fish have become more active and are willing to hit other baits like the dropshot, T-rigger Kreature, Paddle tails and lipless cranks, along with that jig. The timing for this bite couldn't have come at a better time for me as my clients of the past 4 days have been inexperienced bass anglers, who just wanted to catch fish and have a great time on the water. Yet the more experienced anglers looking to improve their Delta fishing, get to see great results when targeting bigger fish with the jig. That great fall bite is finally here!

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Report: Shasta Reports provided by Phils Props
      Visit them at http://www.philsprop.com/
      Lake Shasta is fishing fantastically! Bass are being caught on 6" worms on dart heads, Senko's, Tube's, Jig's, Crankbaits and topwater lure's. All arm's of the lake are fishing well so pick your favorite one and go for it!
      The trout fishing is turning on as well! The trout are getting closer to the surface with the shad schools in the main channels. Popular area's have been the main body of the lake from Toupee Island to the dam, The lower part of the Sacramento arm and the upper pit river above the thermocline

    • By

      Report: From Phils Props
      10/19/2015
      Lake Shasta is fishing fantastically! Bass are being caught on 6" worms on dart heads, Senko's, Tube's, Jig's, Crankbaits and topwater lure's. All arm's of the lake are fishing well so pick your favorite one and go for it!
      The trout fishing is turning on as well! The trout are getting closer to the surface with the shad schools in the main channels. Popular area's have been the main body of the lake from Toupee Island to the dam, The lower part of the Sacramento arm and the upper pit river above the thermocline

Sunday, October 18th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: ***WARNING****FALSE RIVER DAM NOT OPEN****

      Contrary to the WB report I fished the Delta yesterday, I attempted to cross the False River Dam area and was immediately red-flagged and told to go back. Although they removed the floating rope with buoys IT IS NOT SAFE TO CROSS!!!

      That said my fishing buddy and I went the long-way around from Big Break to fish around Little Frank's. The Striped bass bite was not on in the morning, no birds, nothing taking any rattle-traps. A fellow fisherman did catch legal limits using blue-gill. We traced our way back to Big Break via Taylor Slough, caught a few, then back into big break to catch about 10 LMB, biggest about 2pounds. Fished wacky style.