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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, October 10th, 2004

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

      Report: Fished the ClearLake BASSMASTERS Bass Derby yesterday (Sat, 10-09-04)and the wind kicked our butts. It was cold a windy but we had a really good time. First I would like to thank the ClearLake Bassmasters for hosting such a teriffic event. Front start to finish the event went very smoothly, truely professional-Great Job guys, everyone involved deserves a special THANK YOU.
      Secondly I would like to send my thanks out to my partner, Len Kovats. Thanks Len for such a wonderful experience and the sacrifices you made to keep us on the fish in those horrible conditions. It really takes some extreme conditions to test a boater and his boat-and let me tell all of you that the saying is true, "Nothing Rides Like a CHAMPION!" that was more than obviously clear yesterday. That boat handled the wind and water wonderfully. The fishing deck stayed stable even in those conditions. But the ride back to weigh in truely separated the men from the boys. We were in the rattlesnake island area and had twenty min. to get back to Libray Park, no problem on a nice day but when the wind is 20 mph+ and 2-3 ft. swells it is a ball bustin' ride. That ol' girl (The Champion Boat) had her work cut out for her, but she came through, we made it with 3 min. to spare!! A true Champion! Great Job Len, that ride back was not for your novice captains, I was scared $#@*less but survived to write this post.

      The fishing was good. We had 47 teams show up to fish and we all caught 193 bass (wich 193 were released alive and healthy)good job to all anglers and the release boat staff, job wll done! The average weight for the tournament went about 2.5 #'s, the big fish was a beast, 9.5 #'s caught by my fellow Yuba City Club memeber, Jackie Cox-way to go Jackie!! Len and I finished in second place, with a weight of 18.6 #'s, big fish was 7.5 caught on a Margarita Mutilator, dropped shotted around hydrilla and docks. We caught all our fish drop shotting and crankin' red craw, shad patterns and a parrot/ fire tiger colors. It was a rough day but most anglers seemed to catch fish, thanks again to the ClearLake Bassmasters for such a wonderful tournament!
      City: YUBA CITY

      Tips: We fished wind blown points and deep docks that offered at least one additional form of cover,rock or weeds ect... We fished deep diving cranks (above) and bounced them off the bottom from 5 ft to 12 ft. The docks we hit with a drop shot, rigged mostly with MM and Aaron's magic, not shaking it too much, one or two pumps then let it sit for awhile then repeat. Good Luck, hopefully the wind goes and lays down for awhile!

    • By

      Water Temp: 66.5

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched late, 9 A.M., started at the north end in the weed beds with pumpkin/red flake senkos ....no takers. Then I tried Jay's tip and threw white senkos ... still no takers. Moved to east side and tried jigs and spinnerbaits. Nothing. The wife and son tried nightcrawlers, but kept getting half of the worm bit off, with no indication of a strike. Other anglers were catching 1 or 2 small fish on tube worms and dropshot. What does it take to catch the big fish in this lake? Or any fish for that matter!!!Off of the lake at 4:00, not wiling to try an evening bite ....
      City: Prunedale

      Tips: I wish I could give you one!

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 57-70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: got out today with Jason today..on the water at 630 at Jones valley..up the pit past no ski..got several fish on worms and jigs(3/4 oz brn/brn) and 1/4 brn dartheads with a MF# 38 and 39 6" worm. The reason for the 1/4 oz is that was the only size we could feel the bottom with in the 20-25 mph winds..after only catching 3 keepers up the Pit we headed tword the main lake and hit points ended up getting 10 lbs for 5 fish not bad for this time of year.. out at 430 pm....
      City: redding

      Tips: worms, jigs, and spooks

Saturday, October 9th, 2004

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Managed to talk the wife into a fishing vacation at Clear Lake. We rented a little cottage in Lakeport. My boat doesn't really have enough range to cover water, so I stayed in the north end. Fished as far south as the Lakeside State Park and along the northern edge by Highway 20 from Rodman to the Narrows. Weather was clear and calm in the mid 80's from Tues-Thurs, but it got cold and windy on Friday and Saturday. The bite was great early in the week and midweek, seemed to turn off when the weather changed. Just fished the mornings from sunrise to about noon - averaged about 20 fish a day, best limit on Tues went to 15lbs. Otherwise, it was probably around 10lbs a day except for Saturday where all I could manage were a few small keepers.
      City: Newark

      Tips: Flipping green pumpkin senkos into shallow tulles accounted for over 50% of my fish. Had a good gold/gold white/chart spinnerbait bite in front of tulle lines that went on and off throughout the week. Also had luck with texas-rigged 6" worms under shady docks tight to shallow pilings.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 68-74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took Norm and Lucas out to play on Folsom Saturday. Fully expected the overcast day and weather change to turn the fish on. I'm not sure if it did or not, but the catching fell far short of what I expected. We did catch 25-30 fish with the largest being a 4 pound blackie, caught on a One Ton. We did catch one other black on a Norman Crank. Norm stuck a real nice smalley close to 3 pounds on the same Hula grub(he caught the largie too!) The rest of the fish were spotted bass that ranged from a pound to 2 1/2 pounds. Most fish we caught were on bait schools in 10-15 foot of water. As the sun came out and the skies cleared, this seemed to drive both the bait and the bass very deep. We struggle to catch fish after 1:00pm and leaving the main lake area, Norm & Lucas just did not want to fish below 50 feet, and that's where the majority of the fish were when we graphed areas up both the North and South forks. So we ran around exploring major largemouth locals. We only had one taker all afternoon fishing the rock piles of the north fork. Although that 3+ showed his mug, he was not willing ta grab the crank and take a photo opt in our boat. The fish appeared very sluggish on this overcast day.
      City: Oakley

      Tips: On this day, we had to key on the bait fish and some form of a point. Electronics were critical, because if we saw the fish near or in the school of bait, we could catch it. Never caught a fish on a dropshot, Lizards, Hulas and a brown jig-n-pig where the table fair for the day.

    • By

      Water Temp: 68-69 deg

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Only a few fisherman came out in the cloudy cool morning, so Denny Howard and I had most of the lake anywhere and with out shearing the fish. We found bait fish first thing on banks in open water with spots and smallies. With in the first hour we boated 3 smallies and 20 spots. By noon we had moved around finding more balls of bait and larger bass upto 3 lbs. By the time we pulled out of Granite Bay we boated 40 bass using jigs, worms on split shot and drop shot. The water has stayed the same for the last few weeks. Good luck you fisherman at the next upcoming Future Pro Tour tourament.
      City: rocklin

      Tips: try top water, cranks, blades and worms, something will work.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for just an hour 12-1 from the bank with grubs again, and was assaulted by dinkers. It seems like the fish, big and small are tight to the green vegetation.
      City: Hollister

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished half day from rental boat. Managed to catch two 4lbers on back to back cast. Fish were holding tight to the outside edge of a sunken weed bed. Caught on 6" green pumpkin senko.Great to see so many fathers taking their kids out for a day of fishing. (must of been 75 people fishing from banks)
      City: Salinas

      Tips: Give them. Talked to several boats of frustrated fisherman who were unable to "make a catch". By no means am I the master but if I can offer some advice to up the chances of a dad getting his kids "into the fish",why not?

Friday, October 8th, 2004

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 71

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I guided a fellow in his boat Thursday, showing him how to fish Clear Lake in the fall. It was a nice day and the fishing was fair. Since the lake was calm, the crank bite wasn't good for us. We had several short worm strikes for some reason, most of the day. The worm bite still worked however, again, topped by the red shad Dead Ringer. The last spot I showed him, a little known ledge down south, produced one bite, but she was almost 4 1/2 lbs. The red shad worm did the trick. We fished most of the time, but did a lot of looking and running around. We caught around 12 or 13 bass for a limit near 14 pounds.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: My clients and I are having more success Carolina-rigging the larger worms rather than Texas rigging. They are a little harder to cast in the wind, but the bass seem to like the worm off the bottom a bit. We threw spinnerbaits a lot but don't think we got a single bass on one. I got out a Senko for the first time in awhile and, fishing them in shade pockets on Henderson Point, caught 2 and missed a good one. My client is a good fisherman and did well. I know he now understands the importance of his meter during the fall and winter season at Clear Lake!

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: 66-68

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught 5 of my fish on 3/8 jigs -brown/brown in 15ft. Fish hit the jig hard. Also caught 4 on a small plastics dropshotting. They lake is going through its yearly draw down. It should start to turn over soon 2 weeks or so.
      City: Livermore

      Tips: follow the bait balls and dropshot through the middle of them.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: SCOTT: YES I,HAVE BUT I GUESS UNTIL THEY ACTUALLY CATCH THEM IN THE ACT IT DON,T MATTER.AT LEAST THAT,S WHAT I UNDERSTOOD. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THERE IS LITTLE OR NO SUPERVISION. THREFORE IT IS A FREE FOR ALL.
      City: TURLOCK

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 69 D

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished most of the morning near the dam on the first 3 major points. Fished jigs, spinnerbaits,cranks and worms. Decided not to fish dropshot or slip shot and that may have been the reason for NANA! Third time on the lake in 3 weeks and the water is getting lower, much lower. Down to 7 ft in the channel near the old salmon bridge in the south fork. I have yet to figure this lake out and today may have been my last trip to folsom. Fishing just isn't that great on this lake.
      City: El dorado hills

      Tips: Fish another lake......

    • By

      Water Temp: 69-71

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Friday the 8th starting about 8:30 am. No stripe activity on the main lake so we headed into one of the major creeks in the south end. Noticed some surface activity off a point and started there. Caught a bunch of dinks on a Floating Rapala and split shot worms. Moved into other coves and did catch a nice 2-pounder on the Rapala. Tons of shad in the back of the creek but nobody bothering them. Did get some smallies on the surface about 6 pm but didn't see any boils.
      City: Concord

      Tips: Was mainly targeting stripers but ended up fishing for bass. Floating Rapala and 2-3 different worms were working. Key to the Rapala was to tie it on with a loop so that you get maximum wobble. Otherwise they just followed it.

  • Riverside County
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      Water Temp: 70+/-

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Rather slow with bass off lot 5-7. Although some friends and I have caught largemouth all the way up to 14-15" dropshotting with 4" plastic worm. I even caught a spotted bass with a crankbait there. I wish they would stock that lake
      City: moreno valley

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 68.9

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Spent a few hours Friday evening to see how Fall bite is progressing. Very windy on main body of lake, no sign of action at entrance to creek arms, so I moved up into Skunk Creek. Hooked seven fish and landed four chunky bass 3-4 pounds that hit my lipless crankbait like a freight train. Good fighting fish that ran, jumped and fought hard. All fish were caught in 4-5 ft of water over a weed bed along the edge of the creek channel. No sign of baitfish being chased on surface.
      City: Sebastopol

      Tips: Not enough time and too much wind to establish any real pattern. The fish I caught were right along the tops of the weedlines. Use a Lucky Craft lipless crankbait and "burn" it over the top of the weeds.

Thursday, October 7th, 2004

  • Plumas County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I was able to spend Tues and Wed fishing beautiful Lake Almanor, soaking up the sun and blue sky. It was fun guiding myself! Actually, the weather was too good for great fishing - the lake was basically flat for the two days I fished, along with bright sun. Each day I was out from about noon to 6:30 pm. I caught about seven the first day, losing several for some reason. One was a near 4 pound smallie I brought to the boat that hit a rip bait as soon as it hit the water. She exploded on it, but the hooks let me down at the end. I did get a 3-7 on a crankbait, which was the biggest of the trip. My 5 fish limit was near 15 pounds. The second day I landed 12 to 3 1/4 lbs with a 13-6 limit. I was able to drop-shot 2 fish, land 1 on a jig, and 2 split-shotting. On a tip from local guide Ted Pilgrim, I targeted stumps rather than rock and mainly threw rip baits and crankbaits. Ted was right on! I was surprised that some smallies would hit a rip bait in 2 to 3 feet of water with bright sky in the middle of the day. The crank bite got better as the sun got lower. I think I only saw one bass fisherman and just a few trout fishermen. I was honing my fall skills for some future guide trips next year. The bite was slow but the quality was good.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Have you ever been on the water and just enjoyed watching the bass? When I threw the Lucky Craft rip baits, 3 to 5 smallies would follow it out to the boat, swim around and watch me (I guess)! We just stared at each other!! I saw two over 5 pounds. They were very spooky in the shallow water - if they saw me - no chance to get them to bite. Occasionally there would be a little riffle on the water and that helped the bite. I was using a Storm Wiggle Wart (color #37 - red craw) and the old standby - a brown craw Rebel deep wee-R. I did throw the magnum black Wiggle Wart as I do at dark - looking for the toad. My toad Tues evening was embarrasing - 8 inches! My only dink however!! All my bass were 1 3/4 lbs to 3 1/2 pounds, mostly over 2 3/4 lbs. I wanted to night fish, but thought better of it since I had 4 guide trips in a row when I got home. I'll bet it would have been good!!

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

      Report: The answer to the previous post:No, Calero nor , Uvas, or Chesboro , or Anderson all in San Jose do not rent or have any types of equipment rentals or consession..Closest one to san jose that has that I believe would be Del Valle in Livermore.
      City: san jose

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 68-70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished backyard today. Great conditions for tournament frog. no wind, sunny,(protected)
      Fished for about 30 mins and caught 4 keepers. A four pounder, 3, and two 1 pounders. Wish I could've fished more but I had football.
      City: Disco Bay

      Tips: Frog was on, don't be afraid to throw it if conditions permit you to.

    • By

      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fish out of B&W today with to friends. We caught 8 keepers to 2 lbs and had 10 shakers. Fish came on buzz baits crankbaits and worms. Most of the fish were on the outside weedline.
      Jon
      City: San Bruno

      Tips: None to offer except keep your line wet.

    • By

      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I went out fishing on Sunday for the first time in about a month. At first i worked the whole south part of the lake and got nothing. One suprised me in a small cove near some weeds, but i missed that one. It would have been a solid 2 lb. I then started working the whole north shore. There were schools of bass feeding on little bait fish about 20-30ft out. The senko bite wasn't working in that spot, so i threw my white spinnerbait. I ended up catching 4 there, and got a lot of big bass chasing and attacking it. My biggest there was about a 2 pounder. There were many big bass that i saw, but no takers. The other three were caught off senkos on the boat and channel point dock. All were about one pound.
      City: Oakley

      Tips: i went back there on tuesday and all i got were two big bites and i lost one in a weed bed. So make sure you try different lures, because they were biting differently at the same good spots.