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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Friday, December 24th, 2004

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52.6-53.2

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: What a nice early Xmas present! got in at Packers at 0654, air temp 46, lake at 93.4 ft down, 12 knot wind out of the north, 5 in ahead of me, ran up the McCloud for a change to fish some stuff that just went under the past week, armed myself with the hoo dun it in #22, haven';t used it much so i figured I would give it a whirl. Went up past keluche creek, found some fish fairly shallow, third cast got me a fat 3.61. What a way to start the day. Had 10 more and only one dink, between 1.83 and the 3.61 with my best five going 12.29 and all on the #22(brown with gold flake) Didn't miss a single bite so it was a great day for me. For once remembered my camera and got a photo of the biggest one. got out at noon, 17 rigs on the beach and air temp 59 degrees with the wind swinging in around from the south. Got a presure drop starting this am and some foul stuff heading our way by Sunday, we can sure use the rain. Only saw one other boat go past me, most everybody else went south and up the Sac. My first was only 12 ft deep, the deepest was at 41 ft with the average near 29ft. The bright sun seemed best for this bait so I stuck to the sunny side of the McCloud arm. Have a good Christmas!!
      City: Redding

Thursday, December 23rd, 2004

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out on the 23rd. It was windy and a little chilly. Fished for 7 friggin hours and didnt even get a bite!!! Next time im trying in the spring when there spawning then ill knock em dead!
      City: san bruno

      Tips: SLOW!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 53 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Spent a windy day fishing with local guide Wayne Hinrichs. He put us on fish after struggling for a few hours due the strong north wind, high pressure and near full moon. We finally found the fish in 35-40' of water on breaklines and fishing slow. Some fish caught on jigs and dartheads but most on dropshot with craw colored Roboworms and shad Power worms. Key was fishing slow. Combination of 30-35 smallies, spots and blacks caught - most in the 1.25-1.75 lb range. All in all, a great day on the water with a great friend and guide.
      City: Livermore

      Tips: Slow and deep - smaller fish caught were in the 15-20' range. Better fish wer 35-40' range - find the breaklines. Fish were hugging the bottom as we graphed very few fish (or bait) that we caught.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 44 to 46

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Was 28 degrees when I left whiskey Slough Harbor at 7 AM in freezing fog. First water temp reading was 43.9. Didn't look real promising. decided to start fishing the outside weed line in 5-9 feet with a suspending husky jerk. Got a small fish on the first cast. he hit 8-9 seconds into the 1o second pause I started with. Then I got nothing at all the next 3 hours. Tossed a carolina rig with a 4 inch robo worm and got bit a couple times.Then the fog lifted and I ran to cleaner water and pulled out the husky jerk again and soon after i was into fish after shad bulging bass Caught 17-18 decent fish..2 to 3.f fish. The water temp didnt move upi but after the fog bured off the bite was pretty wide open. I'm sure this storm will affect things but I'm going tuesday
      City: Union City

      Tips: rapala huskie jerk ..3 or four feet off the outside weed line...twitch twitch twitch 7-8 second pause did the trick with 1/2 oz all silver husky jerk

    • By

      Water Temp: 51-53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well it doesn't get any more peacfull out there than it was for myself and 1 guest today at Los Banos. And we caught fish so it was a good day. Fish were from 15-25 on breaks and points. They wanted a hard bottom. They weren't related to the bait as much as I thought they would have been. Kinda lazy lathergic bites but we did manage a couple of good fish with one around 4 being the best. The lake is in good shape and only down about 3-4ft. kinda odd when all the other lakes are so low this time of year.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Drop shot,darthead and jigs caught fish. Slow presentation was important than color & Darthead 6" worms caught the best fish by far.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 53.4-53.8

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: at packers at 0658, one guy in ahead of me, wind out of the north 12-15 with gusts to 30, airtemp 50 lake is at 93.5 ft down. decided to do a bit different today, no #109 tossed today but went with a new color in the HDI, #66 called violet melon and #35 which is red with black flake, also picked up a castaic 6in swimbait(trout) from Phils about a month ago and haven';t thrown it much. Motored over just south of Bridge Bay and tossed it at some windblown banks and point and backlashed it on the 3rd cast, it was like trying to throw a pancake into the wind. I am sitting there being blown down the bank and picking this mess out, get it done and make 2 turns on the reel and it gets attacked by what turned out to be a 2.56 spot that narly inhaled the bait in about 12 ft of water off a red mud point. throw it some more with no takers and head down by the dam and start throwing the #66 on a one ounce football head because of the wind. Get a couple down there(1.75 & 1.81) and go back towards packers to get out of the 4 ft waves, stop south of Packers and fishsome cuts for 5 more on the #66 and then used the #35 for 3 more and the best of the ho-dun-it fish at 2.21. These were fairly deep with one at nearly 60ft. The bite was better today than last sunday when they were just loading up. Out at 1215, air temp at 59 and the wind was still cookin at nearly 20mph. Maybe 36 rigs in the lot and down below.
      City: Redding

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 50.0

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Sycamore Slough for 5 stripers to 17 lbs. On Rat l traps 3/4 oz stop n go retrieve. One black bass on a creature bait. Weather was cold in the morning and beautiful the rest of the day.
      Fire Jon
      City: San Bruno

      Tips: Cast alot it can happen at any time. Stop & go helps

Tuesday, December 21st, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?? no temp gaug

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Ran the custom valco bass boat, "BASS BUSTER 1", to Dad's Point to start loooking for feeding stripers. Then ran all the way past Garlic Brother's in 14 Mile Slough stopping off at spots on the way checking some favorite sports. It was a really tuogh day today. Just one striper, 5 lbs., and one bass, 2.5 lbs. Both hit a super fluke on a darter jig head. There was a seal today at the mouth of 14 mile. He definitely cuaght more fish than me. I stopped for a while just to watch him do his stuff. Wish he saved some fish for me. heh heh!!
      City: Stockton, Ladd's

      Tips: High blue skies forced me to fish deeper today and slower. Both fish were taken in 10 to 15 feet of water off of channel points.

    • By

      Water Temp: 47

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Tough cold day on the water. Launched out of Big Break and fished for stripers along the marina mouths and the Antioch bridge. Had 1 bite in a few hours but watched a seal eat probably 50 fish not far from where we were. Hope the fog lifts soon.
      City: Tracy

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: na

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Not a report, but a question. Tom J., where could one find this new rig your nephew has created?
      Please e-mail me at the above address. Thanks !
      City: Red Bluff

Monday, December 20th, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 47

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: WOOT!! WOOT!! Awesome day today. Four stripers, one sturgeon, and one nice large mouth.
      City: Stockton, Ladd's

      Tips: Change species to try your luck and just have fun before Chrictmas. Merry Chistmas every body. Hey Steve thanks for the awesome day.

    • By

      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at B&W, cruised around corner to Oxbow. Fished jigs, red, brown, chart worms to no avail. At around 2pm hit a 1 1/2 lb and a 2 1/2 lb five minuets apart on dark green 6in Senko. I trimmed about 2 inches off, so it was still fat. Was surprised how lively they were. Coming back tomorrow.
      City: Clayton

  • Ventura County
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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I am going to Piru within this upcoming week (21-24th).
      I have not been there in a while so I don't know the state of transition that the fis are in.
      Has anyone been there latley?
      Are the fish still eating on the late fall shad balls or are they on a trout bite with the winter stockings being underway?
      Oooooooor, have they begun to munch on the crawdads? If anyone has been there recently, Please drop me a line so that I can clue in and gear up accordingly for my long awaited trip.
      Thanks,
      Kent
      City: reseda

    • By

      Water Temp: 51

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Went fishing for sturgeon and striper. Started the day at the yellow can than when the fog lifted went into the big cut for a few hours than ran out to the fire line. And all day not one bit or run.
      City: bay point area

      Tips: I'm thinking of going up river by the powerlines. In the sac river. Or up by Decker Island. Does anyone have any input?

Sunday, December 19th, 2004

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ON WATER 7 AM,CAUGHT ALL FISH EARLY DRAGGING 4 TO 6 INCH WORMS. ONLY 1 BITE AFTER LUNCH, HE SCARED AND I MISSED JIG BITE.
      OVERALL BEUATIFUL DAY OFF WATER BY 2PM
      City: MOUNTAIN VIEW

      Tips: FISH SLOW AND GET OUT EARLY

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 49.5

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Threw a jig for 30 minutes in the morning and nothing. Switched to spooning and had a awesome day. Hit a total of 15 fish from 8:30-11am. First toss with the spoon landed me a nice 4lber. After 11am I only got one fish at 2pm and it was a nice 6lber. This was a awesome day that was pretty hard to believe. Was so great I had called my buddy at 10am and told him he had to come out. Funny thing is he came out and we only got the one fish. Definately a morning bite..
      City: San Jose

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Bounced around 14 mile, dissapointment & whites sun morn tossn' rip baits. Started w a 7.5lb salmon, nice. Then off to 12 largies ranging from barely keeper to 2 1/2lbs for a 5 fish bag of about 11.5lbs. Most bites were on the pause, the longer our baits sat motionless the better.
      City: TRACY

      Tips: Find clean water, fish at a slow pace till you get bit, then slow down even more as they're schooled up pretty good this time of year.

    • By

      Water Temp: 50 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Son, John, and I fished Saturday and Sunday, the 18th and 19th, both beautiful days with virtually no wind, cold in the early morning but warming later in the day. Many of the off-shore weeds are turning brown now, and only fish we caught came from rock bottoms with no weeds. On Saturday, John got four bass up to 4 pounds, taken on jigs. Sunday I lost two on jigs, and boated one, on a bluegill finish Rapala DT-10 crankbait. As it gets warmer later in the morning, the fish seem to move into the shallows on the rock banks. Apparently, the dying weeds are no longer attractive to them, and being members of the sunfish family, they like to move shallow to get some "rays" and scarf up some crawfish.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Try the shallows on the rock banks, with brown jigs tipped with either Uncle Josh brown No. 11 pork frogs or green pumpkin Yum plastic crawfish. Crankbaits retrieved slowly in the shallow zone can also work.

  • Merced County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: started out where the water comes in threw rat-l-trap nothing.then went over and fished the rock wall rat-l-trap jerkbait hairaiser nothing.went out and fished the channell with bait nothing.never had a bite or seen any cought.well might as well troll for awhile same result.skunked
      water was very dirty not good for these stripers.
      City: salinas

      Tips: dont go by what won magazine say's.by the way i was fishing the forbay.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: at packers at 5am for the Red Bluff anglers turkey shoot..#3 out..but had one small problem, my partners troling motor took a dive, so we went all day just drifting and trying to keep the boat in the best positions as possible...up the sac we went and got three hits on a staycee..hooked up with one a small keeper(culled it later) we move further back in this area and fish jigs, in the next two hrs we proceed to put 3 more keepers in the well including a 2.5..all jig fish were on Mother Finest 1/2 oz brn jig with a yamamoto twintail...move back out toward the channel and I through my 1/4 oz darthead with a MF#16 6" worm into a cut in the bank and before it hits bottom fish on, it feels good and I dead lift a 3lb spot into the boat..now were really feeling good we got a limit for 9.5 lbs..and all this without a trolling motor..we motor across the channel into some similar looking areas and Jason culls out our two smaller fish..to get us to 11 lbs...thats where we ended the day with 11.17lbs..bite was all over we got them at 2 feet..and at 50 feet..
      City: redding

      Tips: rips and blades early..then worm and jigs...stick to your areas the fish will show up...