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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, December 19th, 2004

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      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
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      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
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      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...

Saturday, December 18th, 2004

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

      Report: Fished about 2-3 hours in the morning, got one lost a couple. Dropshot very very slow. The fish that hit, really ate it. Not the funnest way to go but you can get em. After fishing for a while, motor wouldn't start so I took off. Real nice day but really bummed about the motor.

      Tips: Must admit I am Still trying to figure the winter bite out here and if I could have spent a bit more time that would've helped. Slow dropshot and next time throwing a spoon.

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      Water Temp: 49-50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started off at 8am with a jig and no success. Then dropshotted for another hour and nothing. Around 10am I decided to try out the spoon. First hookup was a real brute, when I spoon I kep my drag pretty tight and this fish was able to strip out some serious line before coming unbuttoned.

      Continued throwing the spoon and found some awesome action in the 28' mark. Ended up catching 10 fish in the next 1.5 hours with the largest going 5.6. Lost 4-5 other fish and a couple felt real nice.

      Every fish I caught the graph read 28' and I few fish were spitting up shad at the boat. Going to head out again tomorrow and try the same pattern.
      City: San Jose

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

      Report: pull up on nephew,he has a broken trolling motor rope,he is getting it back together and offers to let me burn his water,i was suprised as he is grinning ear to ear,i picked up 2 rats and a snag and head back over to my nephew and he is still grinning,we BS for about 10mins, till he couldn,t keep it in anymore HE SHOWED ME THE BIGGEST BAG OF SPOTTED BASS I HAVE EVER SEEN I ASKED HIM HIS WEIGHT HE SAID 225 I LOL So Hard i about fell off my boat.he was catching them so fast he didn,t have time to weigh them.i took pictures and told how proud of him i was and got ready to leave when he casted this new proto-type into my seat and i cut the line and thanked him,for the holes in my seat LOL.AND THE LURE...Part2 Of The Uncles Revenge To Follow.
      City: redding

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished local club tourney Saturday and found the fishing so-so but the weather was great. We started in the marina and my partner found a little honey hole under one of the docks and we pulled 5 keepers and 4 or 5 dinks out of an area the size of our boat all on drop shot worms in blue and pumpkin. We then went to the bridge pilings and the electronics went black with fish from 20-50 feet but we couldn't get a bite if our lives depended on it. Headed to the dam and caught 4 more in about 3 hours of fishing but boy did that sun feel good. Fished the big point by the public ramp and hooked what felt like a very big fish, after catching 12-14 inchers all day the headshake was real different with this one, but she took me down and wrapped me around something and that was it. It would have been my limit fish so it hurt even more. Ended our day in a main lake cove filled with trees and my partner caught 3 more that helped his weight and I had my limit fish on again but so iffy net work by my partner was enough to let a good fish live to laugh at me once again (Thanks Rod!) I took third with 4 fish for 5 pounds, my partner took second with 5 fish for just over 6 pounds(yes they were all pretty small)and the winner had 4 for just over 7 lbs.
      City: Ukiah

      Tips: A lot of our guys found the fishing a little tougher than we did. There was a few that didn't catch any or only one fish all day so we felt good about our day. We caught almost everything on 4 and 6 inch worms drop shotting in 20-30 foot of water. If we got out of that range we didn't get bit it was as simple as that. Pumpkin was by far the best producer with blue the next best. I hope everyone who reads this remembers to post their day on the lake too. This is a great way to share good info so please don't forget.

Friday, December 17th, 2004

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: 50-52.5

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Todays instruction trip was with Jay Johnson of Hayward, Ca. We spent the day in 25-35 with plastics. 30+ fish for the day and a couple of firsts for Jay. He had never caught a fish on a drop shot rig and had never caught a smallmouth.Well he turned it around and he actually acomplished both goals on the second cast of the day. Good fisherman and had him self about a 13lb limit for 5 by days end.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: With the stable weather and water levels the fishing will be cosistant thru the 1st of the year. There right where there going to be all winter now.

  • Riverside County
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      Water Temp: 57

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: awesome fishing. i had 14 fish. top 5 culled out to over 26 lbs. all my fish were on rip baits. the key was a fast rip, then a long pause, then a grind, then a pause, then 2 more rips, then i put the rod down and took a leak, then picked it up again and wam! one after another.
      City: LA

      Tips: fish the shallow cover

Thursday, December 16th, 2004

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: 50 -52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught two fish early, one @ 4.9 lbs, other @ 2.4 lbs. Caught two more after lunch, one @ 3.5 lbs. other @ 2.2 lbs. good day with light winds and cool temps. Both large fish came in less than 6' of water, other 2lbs'ers in deeper water 15 plus feet. Used large and small plastics and small tubes. Fish real slow and maintain contact with bottom.
      City: Santa Cruz

      Tips: Fish slowwwwwwww! Fish move up and down points and return to try again and again.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: Low 50's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Sycamore, Hog, and Beaver sloughs today with my cousin. Was a tough day. Each of us had only 1 hit for the entire day tossing Rat L Traps (Musta toss that 3/4 oz trap at least 250 times during the 5 hours of fishing). My 1 hit was a 16 lb striper so it was worth it. Cousin caught a 2 lb bass.
      City: Dixon

      Tips: Keep tossing them Rat L Traps.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 51

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Showed up around 10:30am. Fishing was decent caught a couple fish over two pounds. best five went 9.5lbs. Threw jigs on the main body.
      City: paradise

      Tips: Find wind blown points and fish them slowly. the bite was light, they would just pick up the bait and just sit on.

Tuesday, December 14th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: Low 50's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Met Fire Jon in Sycamore. Had my greatest days catching stripers on Rat L Traps. I caught 6 and my buddy caught 1. My biggest 4 were 21, 15, 15, and 10 lbs. Caught them in the morning at the end of the incoming tide. Didn't try for bass.
      City: Dixon

      Tips: 3/4 oz shad colored traps fished with "stop n go" retrieve. That made the difference yesterday. Both of us used the same colored trap, but my buddy used a steady retrieve while I used "stop n go".

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      Water Temp: 50.3

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for stripers and black bass in sycamore sl. Met a friend who did well on stripers. We could not catch any ourselves. We did manage four black bass two two lbs. They were caught on Kreature bait and pumpkin curly tail worm. Great weather all day and it was cold but not too cold. Thanks for the fishing lesson Burke!
      City: San Bruno

      Tips: Bass were on the outside weedline and when they hit they were not shy.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Bridge Bay at 0630 to try and brake in my new motor that Evinrude was nice enough to give me. I made my way to the I-5 bridge pillars, tried ripping and throwing a blade on three pillars until it was light enough to head up the McCloud arm, no takers on the pillars, the fish must have been still sleeping, 0730 first stop Shallow point throwing a rip bait as I moved down the east bank, switched to a spinnerbait and hit a 2.6 spot on the side of a long point, threw the blade until 0900 no more bites, switch to 3/4 oz. football head with brown hula grub working mostly the points on the outside managed 3 more spots about 1.5 each.wind came up from the north around 1130 so I started ripping again caught a nice 2.7 spot on the first point on the south side of Greens Creek, on to the next point and a 3.0 spot, ripped until about 1400 lost one good fish. I fished until 1600 caught 4 more small fish on a crankbait. a good day overall with beautiful weather. However I did not do much to brake-in my motor, too busy fishing
      City: Redding

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      Water Temp: 54.6-55.8

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: In at Packers at 0705, lake down to 95.15 ft, air temp 52 and no wind. Went over and stayed in the lower Pit for 12 total and the best 5 went 8.58 so I am back to my standard ways. no spook or rip bite, one on a blade and the rest on the MGM #109 hoo-dun-it, best went 1.96, dumped a couple of small fish but no misses on the better fish. The blade fish was a fluke, made a long cast to a submerged rock pile just as nature called, while answering the call this 1.6 spot smacked the blade and I managed to get him hooked up and in and managed to NOT soil myself. Left me laughing all by myself. A bit of wind came up out of the south at 1030 as the skies cleared and things warmed up to 63 when I got out at 1215. 2nd rig in this am and only 8 total when I left. Lots of flotation foam floating around in the pit amongst all the fire debris that has been washed in especially around the mouth of Squaw Creek.
      City: Redding

Monday, December 13th, 2004

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      Water Temp: 55-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Put in at the dam at 11:00am and blown off at 2:30.Ran to the head of stony creek to find 52 degree water that produced no action.Fished the chalk banks on the east side on the way out and had no takers.Ran to burris creek and picked up three small blacks in water that was 63 degrees.Fished the north face with no fish.We used spinnerbaits and flipping tubes at the wood,a clown colored pointer and green pumpkin spidergrub on the main body.
      City: Willows

      Tips: A few warm days run together and the shallow bite should pick up.The lake is FULL and the walk-out is in at the ramp near the dam.

Sunday, December 12th, 2004

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 54-55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Today was a half day guide trip with Nicholaus Gorman of Redwood City and Colin Page of San Mateo. The fishing was fair with 15 fish to the boat, with 2 limits of keepers. The bite has tightened up with the falling water here and its a searching game right now to find decent fish. Both these guys were proficient with pretty good feel for just starting out in the sport. They would manage 2 or 3 fish at each area and we had to move on to stay with bait. A few missed and unbuttoned fish but they did a good job and stuck most of there bites..35-40' on dropshot and one jig fish. we wraped it up at 12:45pm..Some stable water levels and a little cooler water temps will improve fishing.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: No bait=no bites..As long as we don't experience real blown out conditions the fishing should be consistant and improve a little as move into the dead of winter.

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

      Report: Only spent a couple hours out and got skunked. Marked lots of fish in 50+ and threw a jig mostly with a ittle drop shot thrown in. I didn't move around enough, I thought I could get these fish to bite and was wrong, decided to watch football.

      Tips: Find fish relating to structure in the 20 to 30 ft range. Water has dropped so fish have moved off in 50+ and suspended. Don't try and make em bite, find some bait instead.

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      Water Temp: 49-50

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Dropshotted 6 fish. Largest went 2lbs. All fish were in the 18'-25' range. Threw a jig and got one hit, cranked for 30 minutes and nothing. Stuck with the 4" robo worm. Off the water at noon...
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Fish slow...