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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, September 26th, 2004

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      Water Temp: 70-76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: WAS OUT SUNDAY VERY NICE DAY.FISHING WAS ALOT SLOWER THAN NORMAL.FISH MOVED DOWN 15-25FT. SOME TOP WATER ACTION AROUND SUN DOWN.WATER IN BY THE DAM PEASOUP GREEN THICK & STINKY .CAUGHT OUR'S ON SMALL BAIT'S.DROPSHOTING OR SPLITSHOTING SLOWLY WASTHE WAY TO GO.ONE THING I SAW ONCE AGAIN WAS PEOPLE TAKING SMALL FISH . (POACHERS SUCK) THEY WIPE OUT GOOD FISHERIE'S. I HAVE SEEN IT DONE IN OTHER LAKE'S IN THE STATE (SO.CAL) TO BE EXACT.
      City: TURLOCK

      Tips: FISH SLOWLY WATCH OUT FOR OBSTACLE'S

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 67.8-69.2

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The sun is comming up later and later, the gate at Granite Bay is open before 6am and the boat ramp water is narrower and shallower by the day. Not much room for more than a few boats in that channel at one time. Jim Ryan and I fished the main body for the first two hours, crankbaits, drop shot and split shots were working for the few spots and smallies we got. Moving up into the north fork finding some small bass on deep rocks in 20-40 ft. Work slow and small, no top water yet. We finished with three keepers for 7 bass. The weather is great, two or three lake lice, still have not found the big fish. See you on the water.
      City: rocklin

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I Have Great News I Tried A New Rig This Weekend On Shasta- The Sloan Drop-shot Method They Go into Phils Today!!!! If You Like Catching Large Numbers Of Bass This IS it. Nothing Beats It On Suspended Fish If You Combine It with The Fancelli Drop Shot coupling at Phils You Will Probably be More Succesful Than Most, On Those Draw Down suspended Spots. I Know This Will Be The Most Used Combination In The Upcoming Bassmasters Shasta In Nov2004. it is the best rig i have ever used. i am told there are 42 different darts and are the best quality i have ever had......
      City: ANTIOCH

      Tips: the kid who makes these told me they have made them for about 3yrs. for Ice Fishing Originally.
      and now sends them to alaska,and saltwater areas I Think A Big Tackle Maker Will Pick This Very Special Young Angler up. I Dont Know How Many Fish I Caught But It Was Alot... Biggest Fish Was 3.12spot. good luck mark your a class act.

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Quin, I sent you a e-mail but I think I sent it to the wrong address, if you didn't get one then try it again and I will try not to screw it up.
      City: Redding

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: forgot?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: well, as much as i know i check on reports, i know there must be other pple who do to. and if there are i htink it would help if i contributed.
      so here it is............
      took my dad and mom out the other day and fished for a very short time. i actually only fished four aeras, but quickly. had a few topwater blow-ups but all shook off. found another aera but no bites. moved to another aera and got two lm (2.5 and 4).stayed a little more but then left. by this time i had about a hour more to fish. made another move and picked up another lm , about 5lbs. overall great day.
      City: san francisco

      Tips: i think i want to be spookman no#2 , but i think i better get JOHNNY"S permission first. j/k
      topwater was a spook and the others were on a worm w/ a splitshot. fish slow..........and if u see a black and silver monark w/ 90 hp. holla at me.........

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: 65 to 69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My buddy and I spent the last three days at the lake. This was our first trip to Trinity. We spent the entire time on the south half of the lake. All of are fish were smaller than the earlier reports for September. The biggest was a little shy of 2# and 8 to 10 fish over 1#. We caught enough fish to keep the boat moving down the structures. We did not experience the top water bite most likely to our rookie status on the lake. The only thing that worked for us was 2 1/2" Gitzits between 10' to 40' down. We will be back in the spring.
      City: Reno, NV

      Tips: I want to thank the person(s) for stealing a few items from our camp. I guess you needed the camping items and gas cans more than us. That was the only down side of the trip.

Saturday, September 25th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 70's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Dels at about 0800am. On the way out noticed a lot of activity deep in the weed beds. Didnt fish anywhere specific and actually hit some middle of no where banks I have never tried. Tried spinnerbaits, buzz baits, and poppers Got one 2.7 on a buzz around 9am and had a good bump on the spinner, but nothing else. Switched to the trusted Senko texas rigged with a small bullet weight and caught 4 more small keepers. Nothing to right home about today but 5 keepers in three hours of fishing will not get a complaint out of me. Weather lately has been great with almost no wind and decent cloud cover in the am. Cant wait until the weather fully turns...I love the fall bite!
      City: Danville

      Tips: I dont know enough to leave a tip....haha. The senko always works for me when nothing else does.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 68 night 72 day

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Started 7:00 pm Saturday with a 4.65 lb crank bait fish near rattlesnake. Quick action till dark then the winds picked up a bit. I quit at 1:30 am, too long a week at work. Total weight for the pm shift was 17.6 lbs for the best 5 with a total of 14 fish caught. Nothing on my usual night spots and all most all my night fish came on crank baits and maybe 20% on jigs. Nothing on big worms. 7:30 am till 3:30 pm was somewhat slow with a total of 12 fish caught , best 5 going 12.6 lbs. Most everything on double wide beaver and jigs with a few drop shot fish inbetween. I also tried to spoon the deeper breaks with mixed results, too early yet.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Big time transition over the last 2 weeks. Lots of bait balls and in Soda Bay at night the bait literally blacked out my Lowrance for 100 yard streaches at a time. A lot of 3 inch shad would jump in the boat around the black light. All the fish I caught were stuffed to the gills and fat. I would expect the crank bait bite to continue and cover a lot of water for the better fish. One tip , I spent 4 hours or so in Rodman, waste of time. I did pick up a few on traps in the grass but nothing wanted to play with froggie.

    • By

      Water Temp: 70-74

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: The bass Classics had thier tournament here and almost everyone had limits. However there were alot of small 1-2 lb fish and everyone struggled to get 10 keepers average a day. In first place with 27.65 lbs and the second big fish a 4.75 lber was Chris Lee. He said he caught most of his fish on robo worms 7" in margarita mutilator color on shallow dock poles in the back of a cove and some on senkos fished wacky style on deep water rocky points in henderson bay.In second place was Dieter Spicker with 24.40 lbs he caught all of his fish flippin the Senko's in black with blue flake and watermelon red flake fished texas style way back in the tulles on braided line.In third place was myself I had fish going on rock banks and docks with white spinnerbaits with gold blades. Some of the better fish were on the cement launch ramp corners as well. On Sunday the bite slowed down and I had to split-shot my limit on robo worms out in front of the docks in 7-10 ft of water down in the south arm near bass alley.In fourth place and with the 6.72 lb big fish was Dave Brown he had 24.17 lbs for 10 fish. He said the big girl was caught on a bluegill hula grub on a ramp with a wall and on a windy bank. He also had some on the fat free shad and senko's.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: The bite was tough move around until you find the fish then work them hard because they will keep biting and they are schooling together so try the same area a couple of times.

    • By

      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: My partner and I were night fishing saturday night, catching the saturday evening and sunday morning transition times as well. Water was muddy with alot of suspended particulate...chocolate brown with near zero visibility. Some areas were green, but still almost no visibility. Nice breeze to give a slight chop to the water, except during the brief transition to dark sat night when a small amount have heavier chop existed. We were fishing mostly rocks on the south half of the lake, hitting some docks and bank areas as well. For us the bite was extremly slow and spotty. When they took a bait it was very subtle. For us it was mostly 2 to 3 pounders, but few in number. Tons of bait fish everywhere....huge bait concentrations with some bait "balls"...you can definately see fish on your electronics hanging near the bait....doesn't surprise me that a drop shot or verticle jig in/near those bait balls might work. Absolutely no top water bite for me.
      City: Concord

      Tips: I'd watch your electronics for bait concentrations. Top water doesn't seem to be working....I'd rotate between cranks, jigs, and worms and cover alot of area...and be ready for subtle bites. Sounds like a drop shot setup might be a must-have.

    • By

      Water Temp: 68.7

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Waited until tournaments finished and fished mid-afternoon to 10:00 PM from Shag Rock down
      to Bayliss Point. Bite was hit and miss during daylight hours; however, with the bright moon and lights from Brooks and Dunn concert, found very good action right in front of Konocti Harbor. Lots of fish in 1-2 pound range, with a couple in the 4 pound range. Bite quickly ended once the boats vacated the courtesy dock after the show. Lost count, but probably ended evening with 25-30 fish.
      City: Sebastopol

      Tips: Dark jigs and drop-shotting "anything" over rocks in 10-15 ft range produced well.

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      Water Temp: Unknown

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the West side from Konocti to Jago Bay using a variety of baits. Caught five fish on white & blue spinner bait with a Gary Yamamoto split tail grub trailer. My buddy caught fish on a shad colored rattle trap, Storm Minnow imatation fished drop-shotting. He also hooked a few fish finess rigging a 5" pumpkin seed worm with a chartreuse colored tail, including one nice one which broke of on his light tackle. All the fish that we caught were in the 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 lb. range. ALOT of bass boats on the water due to 2 tourmaments out of Red Bud park. Fishing has slowed down a bit since the unbeliveable action a month ago. All in all, still a great day on the water.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Fish slow and be patient. All of the fish we caught seemed to want a slow presentation.

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: 68-70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started off today break'n in a new Ranger/Yamaha at 10AM. Ran it down to the Dam and began to fish checkout all the bells and whistle's.

      Dropshot first keeper and missed a couple (caught them related to windy points), Morning Dawn 4" worm. Drove the boat around some more at varies RPM's

      Decided to try Jig's below 20ft off of rock and caught 3 more (1/4oz football head/Brown/Green/Ch/w GYBC Twin Grub 208. Biggiest went too 3lb 6oz's.

      Was off the water at 4PM. Tomorrow the Delta (Home) LOL. Need the hour's on the Engine.
      City: Livermore

      Tips: Fish slow and key in at 15 to 25ft near medium Rock or long points. Swim the Jig. Shad are shallow. The fish I noticed where skinny. The jig fish thumped it hard.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 67.8-69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: In the water @ 6:15am with Denny Howard, very light winds. We headed over to the wind sock area using split shot and a leach, finding 9 spots and one smallie within 1 hour, three were keepers. Moved over to Beals Point area for the next hour and got one more small spot. Headed up the north fork to Anderson Island aroung the big rocks in 15-30 ft using a jig, picked up four more spots and one smallmouth. The morning seems better than the afternoon. Look for large rock with deep water near and bait fish. It's nice to have that 5 mph bouys but it takes so long to travel up to Rattlesnake. See you on the water soon.
      City: rcoklin

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 70's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We hit the lake from Lime Saddle Marina and had nothing but the lake to ourselfs until...........BAM! Here come the tournament fishermen. It sure would be nice of those fellows to recognize that not everyone is out here to be so serious that they cut off a father and 9 year old son out for a nice day of fishing. We did well with Senkos and Kastmasters all day. I hope the two guys in the boat that cut between us on the wrong side between us and the bank had a good day on the lake. I sure wish my son had not been with me so I could have told them a thing or two about boating. My son had a great day and it was worth everything to see his face as he caught bass with a big grin one after another.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Fish are deep, and only reacted to a very slow presentation. Rocky points and rocky banks held most of the fish.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Late report: Tubed the back ponds last Saturday. Had a great day and had the place to myself. Fished the island pond from 6:15am to about 1:30pm. Caught first fish about 7am on a senko(nice fat chunck) about 6'-8' of water on the edge of the weeds. Fish in the morning seem to be on the outside of the structure, I actually spooked a couple just kickin around. Once the sun got higher started flipping into the cover, texas rigged a tube and caught a couple largest going 3+. Caught 3 out of 1 spot on the island practicing my drop-shotting skills...biggest was 4+ on 6lbs line(YEAH BABY). Made my way over to the tules and switched to a hula-grub and caught another nice 4+. Almost the same spot two cast later caught one with half his face missing. I thought I heard someone before mention this, anyhow he's still swimming but for sure skinnier than the others. Total fish count was just under 20.
      Dudeman to answer your question. There are HUGE carp in these ponds, you can see them jumping in the morning. Biggest one I have seem was an easy 40+ lbs and there were two other with him just a tad smaller. Would love to hook into one of these!!!
      City: San Jose

      Tips: When flipping into the cover try and have as little splash/noice when entering the water. Most of my big fish come on these "perfect" type casts. Saw three dinks heads in the back trash can. PLEASE PLEASE CATCH AND RELEASE.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: backlakes.... notihng off the shore ... never have caught a fish here maybe im just no good. wanna go out on the island pond on my float tube but no one to go with
      City: pleasanton

Friday, September 24th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 68-69 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: 2 of us were on the water by 7:00A from Paradise Point Marina. My cousin sticks a 5.5 lb bass on a buzzbait in the first 5 minutes. For the next 2.5 hours, we catch 4 other keepers (1-1.5 lbs each) fishing inside or over weedlines using spinners or buzzbait. The minus tide making fishing over/inside the weeds tough so I decided to fish a shad color Rat L Trap on the outside edge of the weedline. In the next 45 minutes, I caught 8 keepers (2-2.5 lbs each). We culled the smaller bass and released the big one.

      Did a little exploring, so didn't get off the water until noon. Ended the day with 10 keepers in the 2-2.5 lb range.
      City: Dixon

      Tips: When they aren't biting inside or over the weeds, try outside the weedline.

Thursday, September 23rd, 2004

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 74-70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well, warming trend and more stable weather made the fishing poor. We only managed 5 small fish all under 2 pounds and a couple were under 8 inches long. Fished from 5:30 pm till 2:30 am. Absolutely no crankbait bite, almost non-existent senko/worm bite. What a difference 2 days can make! Fish were shallow and 15' deep but tried deeper with no luck. Lake pretty low.
      City: Folsom

      Tips: Bring warm clothes - getting cold out there.

  • Solano County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I had a pretty good day today. Caught numerous small fish on a shad pattern spittn image. I had my best luck on Bobby's perfect frog in the smoke color. My biggest fish went 4 plus pounds. It could have been a 5 pounder if it had been eating good, it was a little on the skinny side. I also fished blades, brush hogs and jigs. All of my fish came on top. I also had some fun with the small stripers bustin on all the shad out there.
      City: Oakley

      Tips: Moving water with ambush points for bigger fish.