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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, September 3rd, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Tossed worms today with Russ, launched about 6 am, fished till about 10:30 am, and fished the middle fork, first time for me in this area. I'm amazed at how different the middle fork is from the N. fork. Going to fish the area more often now that I saw the structure. No big fish, but plenty of fish and great time. 28 fish, with the largest at 14 1/2 inch. Pretty much typical bite, most fish 20 feet or deeper, with most caught at 25-35 feet. Wind drove us off, too much work to hold the boat and have fun with that typical blowing wind.

Tuesday, September 1st, 2015

  • Amador County
    • By

      Report: The things you should know for the Labor day weekend:
      1. South shore low water courtesy ramp #3 is open
      2. Saturday 9/5/15 Free Fishing - no license, no permit
      3. Pondside sites are still available at Monument RV
      campground with full hook ups
      4. A few lakeside sides are still available at the Willows
      Campground (primitive style camping - bring shade &
      above ground firepit)
      6. Labor Day Weekend movies at the south shore amphitheater
      • Saturday night movie - Captain America the Winter Soldier
      • Sunday night movie - Frozen

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ****Oroville Afterbay****Plenty of fish, just no larger size fish today. Launched a tad after 6 am, fished till 10 am. Tossed worms, light 1/16 oz Texas rig, and 1/8 Carolina rigs, worked the outside edge of the weed beds in 8-15 feet of water. Very active early, tapering off as the sun got higher. Best fish (picture) right at 14 inch all other fish 10-13 inch with a couple smaller dinks tossed in for 23 fish for the morning. Sure wish the water could be made to come up another 2-3 feet!!! Noticed at the ramp while taking the boat out, shore line full of tiny 2-3 inch bass, like a fish aquarium darn near. Spawn seems to have been good last spring.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Report: Here's a report for Shasta: Lake Forecast: Shasta Lake, Clear, 95 Degrees, High: 95, Low 61, Wind Speed 4.0 mph, B.Pressure 29.8 inches fish are being caught in 5-20ft using jigs, worms and Crankbaits for the suspenders

Sunday, August 30th, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: This past Friday evening just before sunset I took Travis and his son Alejandro out for a couple of hours. We fished along the west side and within the first ten minutes Alejandro landed a nice bass which had him grinning from ear to ear!!!! The next fish was caught by Travis trolling a chartreuse lure that went down approximately eight feet. As the sun was setting and we were heading in for the day Alejandro caught a 3.5 pound smallmouth bass and there was that grin again good job (see photo). Next day bright and early Albert, John and I set out for the day. We started by the rock structures heading towards the Narrows. Albert is throwing top water lures with no success and I landed a couple of nice bass using a silver and blue crank bait. We decided to try the back of the big island where you can only use an electric trolling motor. In the back coves we saw many minnows and many three inch bass. I thought this would be a great spot but it turned out to be difficult because of the dense grass just below the water line. John was throwing a drop shot with about 22 inches between the weight and hook and he was catching small bass and a sunfish but nothing of any size. Albert caught a nice bass using the same rig set up (see photos). We will come back to this spot again in the future. We had a very enjoyable day. 'til next time...................................................................................good fishing!!!!
      www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share or would like to book a guided fishing trip please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.

      Tips: Water down over 41feet coves that existed before are now dry ,we found new stumps humps trees and bushes should be noted and new coves

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished out of Russo's at high tide around 6:30, northern side, caught a few shakers with chrome rattle trap. Conditions were windy initially. Got out of the wind by shooting over to Middle River where we caught LMB on Lucky Craft square bill, crawdad color and wacky-rigged worms. Outgoing tide. Caught about 15 bass up to 3 pounds initially inside the weed line. Caught an additional couple of bass on Piper Slough.

Saturday, August 29th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Report: BBt tournament went out of Konocti Vista casino this morning with overcast skies and sprinkles of rain. The lake now has a brown color pretty much the whole lake. I fished the Redbud arm on Thursday .Water was 75-79 degrees . I caught 2 on a buzzbait one was a 5 pounder. I caught fish to 6 pounds on a brown and orange jig, and some small ones cranking. Best 5 around 19-20 pounds. The LV 500 bite is coming soon as it cools a little. Lots of silversides in the south end and schools of bait on the depth finders everywhere. I personally think the bite was better when we still had some green water to fish. The frog bite comes and goes .I had an angler tell me he caught 13 on a frog one day last week. I think the spook bite will get better if the lake clears a little.
      Dave

Thursday, August 27th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: Here is a look at this weeks Delta Fishing Report by Dan Mathisen of Dans Delta Outdoors in Oakley. He is reporting that stripers are starting to show in better numbers across the Delta.

      In honor of that, this Weekend at Dan’s Delta Outdoors he will be hosting a “Fall bite kick-off Sale” which includes 10% Off Strike King Square Bills and Red-Eye Shad. Buy One Get One half off Mega Strike Spinnerbaits.

      Isleton
      Finally and handful of Salmon Anglers have seen success, a few fishing finally started getting an occasional report of success from Salmon searching anglers. 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. Catfish are the best target species this time of year that can help you beat the summer doldrums . Anchovies, Mackeral and Sardinescs are good choices here for the whiskerfish.

      Walnut Grove
      No Change, Bank anglers Pile worms and cut baits prevail. Catfish action is getting the most praise, 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. Best area has been Courtland to Walnut grove. The Sacramento Turning Basin continues to be decent with stripes caught there by lure tossers. Red Eye Shad and small shad patterned plastics are the top choices here as well.

      Discovery Bay
      Hint of fall? Cooler evenings have the bite changing. Current and shade are the key. Stay near main river current with Crankbaits Strike King XD 6 and 2.5 square bills. Punching is scoring bass on the main river points. Bass pushing the 4 to 6 mark are showing on occasion. 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 !

      West Delta
      A few more Salmon success stories have come on the incoming tide with Mepp’s Flying C’s in Pittsburgh and Humphries areas . More Anglers in search of stripers are finding a few keepers on occasion from both boat and bank. Most of the nice stripers coming soaking Shad. Antioch Pier scored stripers to 30 inches this week. From as far west as Honker Bay to the Broad Slough plug casting is getting fish when wind cooperates. Bass Bite stays solid in the Break and surrounding cuts. Cranking and spinnerbaits is starting to improve daily. Punching get’s the bites the key is staying square to your target and setting hard.

Wednesday, August 26th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: This week the report is provided by Gary Dobyns.


      Delta
      Quite a few big fish have been caught recently. Not any double digits, but a few bumpin' 10, definitely some big nines. The Senko bite is good as usual, targeting tules and grass lines. Flippin' a jig and punchin' is still strong. Topwater is good and the Spook bite has turned on.

      Howard Swarts shows off his 9.5, his Delta PB from this past week. He caught it on a Strike King Sexy Dawg using a Dobyns 733 and a Daiwa Tatula reel. See pic here: http://www.westernbass.com/forum/dobyns-fishing-updates-t97717.html

  • Lake County
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      Report: This week the report is provided by Gary Dobyns.

      Clear Lake
      Fishing is good. It is actually fishing better this summer than it has in the last couple of summers. Topwater, crankbait and jig are all good. The night bite is stronger in the south and so is the crankbait bite, including Shag and Henderson in that. Still fishing the grass in the north.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Report: This week the report is provided by Gary Dobyns.

      Oroville
      The water is low and there is not a lot of traffic. Guys are catching a bunch of fish, but nothing of real size - 8 lb limits are the norm.
      Roboworms and jigs are doing the best for catching numbers. The topwater bite is slow, almost non-existent. The afterbay can be dynamite unless they are pulling and pushing water. When the temperature changes there, the fishing drops off. The weights at the Tuesday nighters are pretty good with a big fish going about 4 or 4.5 lbs.

Tuesday, August 25th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 77

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished lake Oroville today as I do most every week. Launched about 6a m, fished till about 10 am. Slight breeze in the morning coming off the hills as it always does and the 10 am delta breeze as always. I managed only 14 fish today, hard locating schools for some reason. ?Fist location got 7 spots, including the 15 1/2 inch in the picture. The only big fish of the day. All other fish 13-14" as typical for the lake. One was a 14" lM, slightly unusual catch. I have noticed that LM are being caught more this year then past years, but not many large ones yet. All fish taken in water 28-35 feet, so fish deep. Roboworm sculpin did it for me today. Small bait, but it catches fish. Think it's the pearl white bottom that makes spots like them. Texas rig, fished more like a drop shot, nearly straight down works well for me. Spillway Ramp still looking good, 4wd or you might get stuck pulling the boat out. Bite seemed off today, many of my honey holes, no fish!!!

Saturday, August 22nd, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Hit Frank's Tract around 7:00 on Saturday, incoming tide. Started the day fishing for SB and my buddy and I caught about 15 with the largest around 3 pounds. Caught him foul-hooked on the dorsal fin and he gave me a run for the money. Moved on to another spot and caught another 3 pound fish all of which came on chrome rattle trap. No top water bite. Moved into false river after the bite ended and caught about 20 fish, assorted striped bass and LMB fishing the rip rap with a orange craw colored Lucky Craft square bill 3 foot deep diving crank bait. Caught a few throwing wacky senkos behind the weed line too

      Tips: Get out early if you want the SB bite. I think we caught the tail end of it. Plenty of birds. Everything is biting right now so throw stuff you haven't thrown in a while.

  • Lake County
    • By

      Report: The bite remains good up here at Clear Lake with very little fishing pressure to speak of. The more productive areas of the lake continue to be mid lake & the two southern arms. The' rust' like brown colored water seems to be slowly creeping southward but it has little to no effect on the deeper fish. Lot's of customers having 15 to 30+ fish days on a combination of jigs & crank baits over the rock piles & main lake points. Dropshotting baby brush hogs & 6" straight tail worm's has also been effective under & in between deep water docks . The top water bite just keeps getting better day by day also. There is a magical little one hour window in the morning, just as it is getting light out, where the fish are just getting silly on the Super Spook. I had some really nice fish in the 4 to 6lb range just blast the bait and come completely cartwheeling out of the water after it this past week. It pays to get an early start for sure.

      Spoke with a few guys punching & flipping some fish mid day on deeper grass with creature baits. Hollow bodied & solid bodied frogs are still working good as well. I look for the North end bite to get rolling here pretty soon we just need some cooler overnight temperatures to help with the water clarity. Don't get me wrong, you can catch them up North, you just have to hit them in the head. As for the smoke... it's pretty much none existent right now & all roads leading to the lake remain open at this time.

      Tight lines, Troy Bellah CLEAR LAKE OUTDOORS

Friday, August 21st, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79-82

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I had another very nice trip Wed with a father and 13 yr old son. I was looking forward to some productive topwater fishing but a chilly wind (I didn't expect that) killed that plan. We saw no early morning surface activity at all. As we were heading to the main body, I saw a point still in shadows - one that I hadn't fished in years! Within a few minutes, the young client was fighting with a good bass. I netted his near 3 lb spotted bass - great start! It was the first spot in three trips! As we moved around the main body, I was looking for a shallow island with some deep water access. Bingo!! I found one. Remember, everything is different with the low water. In the next hour, dad puts a near 3 1/2 lb smallie, another 3 lb smallie, and a 2 3/4 lb spotted bass in the boat! Wow! also, he lost a 5 lb+ largemouth as she jumped, and I hooked a big bass which I lost in a few moments. A really good hour! Dad caught a few more before we quit in the afternoon.

      Tips: I must confess that I love the guide trips where we are able to get into some quality bass, rather than numbers. I love big bass and so do my clients!! August has been a good month for me the past several years. Again, the best bait by far was the MM 111 6" Robo worm! We were going to drop shot, but the 'ol Texas rig worked fine. Most of the bass they caught were about the 20-25 foot depth, except for the early morning spotted bass. Their limit was about 14 1/2 lbs! Fun day!!!

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: From Cooch's Fishing

      Fishing the Delta right now is a bit of a grind, unless ya git hung up on fishing fer dinks where the bite is very good fer smaller fish all over the River system. Fishing the new TNT Bobby Trap Wadda jig and focusing on much deeper fish in 16-22 foot of water has produced some very big bites our past 4 trips out. This deeper bite here takes patience and a willingness to git out of the shallow box and keep yer jig down in the zones where the big gurls are setting up nicely now in deep summer patterns. We've also experienced a really good punch bite, mostly catching fish in that 2-3 pound range, yet when ya find the right canopy sitting right on top of a deep water exit, 7-9 pounders can be sitting there and are willing ta thunp that fast moving Yamamoto Flappin Hog. Big fish bite is very good, break out the big sticks!

Wednesday, August 19th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 77-78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched today at the dam, and the dam light were out. Seems it ran out of gas or something. Launching in the dark is a weird feeling with a steep drop on the lake side and backup lights don't really show much with the boat behind you. Normally I blast off to fish, but today decided to go slow and see how many fish I could mark. I was amazed, hundreds of fish, mostly in the 40-50 foot range, but many up in the 20-30 foot range. Mostly salmon is my guess. All this before the sun came up. Headed to the north fork tossing worms at about 6:30 am. Early bite just was not going to happen today. Nothing, no fish till the sun peeked from over the hill. First fish location 10 spots, no big one though. Moved on, next stop just one fish, same the next location. Ran all over the lake looking for fish, picking up just one each stop. Headed back in about 10 am, and stopped at a rock that tends to hold big fish. Right on, picked up a 15 1/2" at this location like I do many times. Total 15 spots, just one worth a mention of size at 15 1/2" Fish were not schooling well today, and scarce, overall a decent bite. Strong breeze the whole trip.

      Tips: Most fish caught at the 25-35 foot mark. Still fishing slow, like walking a frog, except on the bottom. Cleaner water tends to hold fish better, that cloudy stuff with no circulation not so well today.

Saturday, August 15th, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78-82

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I had two guide trips this week at Berryessa. The lake was beautiful but the ride in from Winters wasn't!! What a shame!! Anyway, Wed I did a 6 hr afternoon trip with a great angler visiting from Sweden! Jolly good fella, AND - a good fisherman, though there are no bass in his country! I hope Berryessa would show its best manners, and she did. He caught several bass, but the three biggest went just under 12 lbs - including a 5 1/2 lb largemouth, taken at dusk on a MM III Robo worm. That color continues to work! Also a 3 1/4 and near 3 lb smallie for him on the same color worm. I took a guy and gal yesterday afternoon/night and found the bite much slower. Weather was perfect as was the first trip, but big fish bite was way off. Don't know why, except that is bass fishing! He caught several nice bass, but nothing bigger than 2 lbs. Wed saw several bass surfacing, chasing bait, active birds - where Friday was like the Dead Sea. NO activity - heard one fish the whole trip and no birds anywhere. I did see 2 skunks race my truck as I left about 1 am!!

      Tips: We did try the spoon bite on Wed but didn't find big schools of shad - a bit early yet. We lost 3 good bass on the blade runner spoons and landed a few small ones. I tried Senkos on both trips - not a bite!! Most bass were on "new" off-shore structure - some I had never seen before. His 5 1/2 came from such a structure - I WILL remember that place!! Not a topwater hit on both trips - usually I get at least one in August and it is a good fish! Last night, the 7" black Berkely Power worm was again the bait of choice - bass were hitting it well after dark.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched 630 @Paradise...ran down to Mildred but on the way, saw some nice calm tule islands.. worked the bone whopper plopper and picked up several 11" to 1 lbers. Just before we picked up to head to Mildred a 2-14 blew up the plopper. Ran down to Mildred and picked up a bunch more 1-lbers on senkos and d-bomb under a 1/2oz tungsten working from tule edges to inside to outside weed lines...hits came in the thick of the weeds.
      Then my bro nailed an even 5lber on an orange suspending cordell spot at a tule island point. Ended early (about 8am) cuz we couldn't stop thinkin' about our fishin' buddy, my pooch who was diagnosed with a tumor on his spleen. left him home this time....first time ever! felt guilty that my pooch wasn't with so we packed it in and at this writing, he's at my feet, but tomorrow gotta do the inevitable. dang! oh sorry, back to the report. fishin' wasn't the same without him up on deck or crowdin' my bro at the back seat.

      Tips: topwater, senko, suspending spot, and d-bomb worked for us today. best I can offer cuz we're not really qualified to give tips. other than if you take your pooch with ya, savor every moment.

Friday, August 14th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Report: The bite here at Clear Lake remains pretty awesome this week with a lot of anglers putting some decent numbers in the boat for their effort. The hot bite is definitely in the middle and southern arms of the lake where the water is deeper with a rocky bottom. The key to being successful right now is paying attention to the water color. Try to avoid areas where the water is a tannic brown color that looks like gravy. Those are the areas where the weeds are decomposing & oxygen levels are low and pretty much devoid of fish.

      The Jig bite is nothing short of EPIC right now in the south end of the lake. Throw a 1/2 or 3/4oz football head in the brown/orange or brown/purple with a beaver trailer & smother it in some smelly jelly & marinate that bad boy on the rockpiles & rocky shoreline in 8' to 25'. There is also a great crank bite down south with guys doing well on everything from a square bill to the XD10 in crawdad and baitfish patterns. The top water is going strong early & late on buzzbaits, Rio Rico's and walk the dog style baits like the super spook and G2 Lunker Punker. The frog bite is good but the overall lack of weeds is puzzling this year but I still have it on the deck ready to go if the opportunity presents itself & you stumble on to a decent mat. Chatterbait bite is good on dark colors especially in the afternoon when the wind comes up.

      There is not a lot of boat traffic or fishing pressure up here on the lake right now. All the ramps & roads are open & the lake is in great shape. If you guys get a chance, I would highly recommend coming up and getting on the good bite. Next month the FLW boys will be here beating them into remission. LOL. so get it while we can.

      tight lines & huge sacks,

      Troy Bellah Clearlake Outdoors