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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Friday, September 17th, 2004

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 73.2-75.1

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Where to start with this report.
      Went to Jones Valley at 0530, pulled around the top of the hill on the dirt road and am confronted with a sea a cars and trucks, start down the hill slowly and stop again, bright lights on and start counting vehicles. `143 cars and 70 plus trucks with trailers behind them parked everywhere. I am figuring I won't be able to get in the water. The road into Jones Valley resort has a huge sign telling people to use the RAMP #2 which now clearly means the low water ramp. I mosey on down and actually find a spot right next to the ramp. I manuever my stuff around all the parked cars and get it in, unloaded and park. The Jones Valley resort is clear out and adjacent to the low water ramp. I see the tags in the windows of vehicles and notice some from Silverthorn also. Find two cars and one truck with their windows smashed out and covered with an inch of dust indicating they have been there a while. I figure I will keep the ramp in view and not run to far as I know that on a friday there will be a lot of houseboats coming in prior to 9AM with those folks preparing to leave.
      Go to the opposite bank south of the resort and start throwing a spook at 0610 and had a ball till 0700 with 24 fish, the largest was a 2.24 and the rest were dinks, had one jump off that might have went 2lbs. motored over to a huge submerged rock pile as the spook bite was going away and started throwing my 3/4 oz wearing the MGM hoo-dun-it in color #23 and started sticking good fish in 12-17 ft of water all around these huge boulders. I had 7 more and the best five ended up at 13.69 lbs. a 3.68, a 3.08, followed by 2.41,2.28 and the 2.24 on the spook. These all came prior to 0810 when the houseboats started moving into the Jones Valley inlet preparing to leave. I beat it back to the ramp which now has ski boats tied up to it and the Jones Valley water truck sitting on the ramp. Get out as quick as I can while a number of idiots stand around wiping their stuff down on the ramp and near it. pull out to the concrete and wipe my dust laden rig down and count 38 cars and trucks going into or coming out of the Jones Valley ramp area. What a mess! The lake is 94.5 ft down.
      City: Redding

      Tips: If you are coming up for the Won Bass TOC team event, I strongly suggest that you avoid Jones valley unless you like a 6 block walk through the gravel and dirt to park your stuff. Better to use Packers which will be down to one lane shortly or bite the bullet and put in at Bridge Bay or Centimudi. DON't go up to Hirz Bay, the float is still in but you are gonna back off the end of the ramp for sure. Sugarloaf is in should you want to pre fish the upper Sac. Pay attention running these days, there is a ton of stuff coming up that most folks have never seen before.

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: As expected, the topwater bite wasn't quite as good as yesterday, but 20+ topwater fish isn't bad. Only 2 smallies over 3lbs. Went down lake and hit main lake points for 3 more 3+ smallies on ball-jig worms, and lots of others. Best 5 today approaching 16 lbs.
      It gets a little discouraging catching all those dinks but I think of it this way, 3 years from now those same fish will be a lot of fun. At least we know there was a very successful spawn. Treat em with respect.
      City: Weaverville

      Tips: Ive said before that, on Trinity,the wind is your friend. Well,not always. Today the wind came up about 12:30 and struggle as we did, we gave up at 3:30 and could have quit at 1:00 with the same result. Why is the wind good in the spring and terrible in the fall?

Thursday, September 16th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 71

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: came up to do some fun fishing with a buddy that has never seen the delta.started by big break and then to franks tract with only a limit of keepers and probably 50 dinks most on blades with 3lbs being the biggest.Friday started in 14 mile slough little better there had some senko fish rattle trap fish and pop'rs then jumped around a lot finaly found clear water is where we found the fish biggest being 5.13 lbs had a limit in 15 minutes on blades outside tules with a little bit of weeds 2-5 feet of water caught them in dissapointment slough,had to head home about 2pm.you guys up there have it good so much fun to be able to fish reaction fish,not much of that down here.What happen to all the matte that used to be there this time of year?
      City: santa clarita

      Tips: clearer water was the key for us

    • By

      Water Temp: 73.9

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I hadn't been out for about 2 weeks, but I hit The tide just right this morning. My first fish was a 4.5 lber on the frog. In the next hour I had 4 more, 2.8,2.9, 2.3, and a 2 lber all on the frog. The rest of the day was slow for me. I picked up a few more small ones, 1 pounders. I caught a total of 17 fish, not great but I'll take the frog bite any day.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: patience

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

      Report: Just an FYI. I fished Chabot once back in the mid 90's and for a lake that looked quite Bassy after 6 hours of hard fishin' I finally caught 1. I tried all the proven lures of that era and could not get them to bite!!! Finally, I walked the banks just for fun when I suddenly came upon a lone fish who was kinda sittin' in one particular spot. Nesting? Homepride? Waiting for the next meal? Who knows? Anyways, the Bass would leave every now and then and come back to the exact spot. I presented every surefire lure to this fish and it would come up to it and then swim away. I finally put the nightcrawler on and it did the same thing!!! (swim close to it and swim away). It came back after a few minutes and somehow decided I'm gonna put it in my mouth this time and the fight was on. My personal best at the time (9 pounds) but 30 minutes to catch this one fish. From that experience I would say that the big fish in this Lake are very hard to catch. Seventeen pounds was the Lake record back then. They would not take a picture of my fish because it was under 10 pounds. There are Big Bass in this lake boys & girls. Go and gettum' and then release them.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Do onto others as you would have them do onto you and then practice catch and release.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Oop! Sorry about the spelling. I meant to say "South End". (Thanks TIDEPOINT for correcting it.)
      City: Palo Alto

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I AM SURE HE MENT "SOUTH END" HOPE THAT HELPS YOU.
      City: WATSONVILLE

      Tips: USE YOUR MIND

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I AM SURE HE MENT "SOUTH END" HOPE THAT HELPS YOU.
      City: WATSONVILLE

      Tips: USE YOUR MIND

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: "Sound end"? Can you explain this term? Never heard this. Do you mean the side closest to hwy17? By the dam? Don't know "sound end"
      City: Scotts Valley

    • By

      Water Temp: ------

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Wow, this whole 'all trout have mercury or some amount' could make bass fishing more dominant. less people will go trout fishing which keeps more of them in the lakes for the bass to eat. Hope thats true.

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Finally got up to the lake for a while today to do a little scouting for a guide trip tomorrow. I had no clue what to expect but got there early and as usual threw a little topwater. At 9:30 the wind died and the topwater bite did too. From 6 until 9:30 I'm guessing I had 40 blowups and hooked approx. 25 fish. Absolutly the best day with topwater I've ever had on Trinity. It was one of those days where sometimes I'd go 2-3 casts in a row without a blowup.
      I started out throwing a spook but had little luck. Switched to a Pop-R and the fun began. I fished steep banks, gradual banks, drop-offs, it just didn't matter. Stumps helped but were not necessary. The Pop-R worked good until about 8 when the sun was solidly on the water and the action slowed a little. That's when I picked up a Speed Trap. I know it's a crankbait but I fish it as a topwater. Throw it out, let it set until you can't stand it, then just barely twitch it. Hang on! This technique worked really well until it got really calm. The remarkable thing about today was that of the 40 blowups only 3 or 4 came during the retreive. Sometimes I let it set for 30-45 seconds before it happened. The really interesting thing is that the longer it sat, the bigger the fish. I guess where momma is hangin out the little guys hunt somewhere else.
      City: Weaverville

      Tips: OK, so no hogs. You have to wade through a bunch of little guys to get a decent fish. My best today was an almost 4 LM. Several smallies in the 2-3 lb class, best smallie 3-2.
      It seems that most topwater bites happen when you least expect it. Today I sat there saying to myself " I least expect it now " and sure enough, Wham. Try it, it works.

Wednesday, September 15th, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: not tested

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at the place off delta rd. with 2 buddies. fished to the right (down river I guess) started of slow, getting alot of dinks with spinners 1 ft from shore, tossed Yum Dinger worms and still nailing those dinks. around 10am my buddy got a nice 4 pounder using a spinner, I got about a 3 pounder fishing plastic worm by the boat docks... only 2 fish worth mentioning, any tips for larger fish would be great. stupid dinks :p
      City: San Pablo

      Tips: I need some myself

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: fished for the big bite today, I'm just not ready to put down that darn frog. bites were few and far between for me today. I did manage to give a five pounder a taste of my baby duck snagproof first thing in the morning, but he outsmarted me and ran off to tell all of his other bass buddies about his experience. Super windy day made for quite the challenge. I boated about 10 fish all together, the biggest going for 3 pounds plus. I wish I had today off, cause now the weather is perfect. Damn delta!
      City: Oakley

      Tips: go fishing today!
      submit a report! We all love to read em, whether good or bad!

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of big break around 9:20. Fished the marina with two fish right off the bat on blades. Headed to franks and started nailing them on blades. Switched to chrome rattletraps and started to rip them. Landed 27 fish for the day losing only six. Only three keeper fish. Couldn't catch a keeper to save my ass. Fishing was awsome. Left the water at 2:00.
      City: Boraga

      Tips: If you want to catch fish for fun throw rattle traps. If you want keeper fish ask someone else for hints. Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Thanks for the info Dave. I'll have to try using small plastics and jigs. Do you know how the shad population is? Havn't heard much success on crankin at this lake.
      City: San Ramon

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74.2

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: In at Packers at 0615, lake down to 93.5 ft, air temp 68 with 6 other folks for our monthly old guys and gals tournament, I ran up the McCloud and found a rip bite if you like small fish, went to the MGM hoo-dun-it quickly on a 1/2oz football head after sticking 8 small ones and got a few better fish with the #23 and #22 colors. Moved south and ran into Dick who had a couple of decent fish and we talked a bit, lots of dinks being caught. Went back down near bridge bay and ran into the owners of MGM and Bryce said he had one good one. Weighed in at noon and Dick took bragging rights with 2 fish at just under 4 lbs, Bryce came in 2nd on the strength of his 3.02 spot. Bob and I tied for 3rd with just under 3 lbs. I had about 24 total and most reported similiar situations. Not a lot of traffic this am and only a few jet skiers and skiers but lots of houseboats on the lake for this time of year. Out at 1215 air temp 83, Packers will be down to one lane shortly because of the mud hump coming up farthest away from the ramp.
      City: Redding

      Tips: 2 fish limit so that is why things seem kinda light for the weights.

Tuesday, September 14th, 2004

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Hello again guys well just curious anyone know's about boating? well I'm considering buying a used boat but all of them are 2 stroke what are the that allow you to use 2 stroke lakes that are not please email me thanks
      City: San Francisco

Monday, September 13th, 2004

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught two LM bass on 9/11 (1 lb. each) by the island and Alder Point. The first one took my buzzbait around 9am and the other one bit my plastic worm on a drop-shot. Also a few nibbles on a pumpkin jig. The first bass spit out half of an orange color crawdad it just ate. Pete H. - there is plenty of 1-2 lb. bass at Chabot and they are a lot of fun to catch. I would recommend drop-shotin near points and weeds at the above locations. Good luck.
      City: San Leandro

      Tips: Buzzbait early in the morning and crawdad jigs, plastic worms when the sun is up.

    • By

      Water Temp: I don't know

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Ok, so I'm a beginner...I've read All of the posts that are relevant to my surroundings (Shadow Cliffs, Del Valle) and yet I still cannot catch a worthy bass.Today I caught six fish total,5 of which were only 11" and 1 14"er. I was fishing the bank on the main lake ALL day. I was having some success (if u wanna call it that) with the pink color roboworm.besides that, I tried PopR's, crankbaits, white and chartruse spinnerbaits.What does it take to catch a big bass? I'm a beginner, any help whould be appreciated.I worked the baits slow, fast and everything inbetween.
      City: Pleasanton

Sunday, September 12th, 2004

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ON MONDAY SEPT 5th.MY FRIEND KIRK RHODD AND I WENT TO LAKE AMADOR AFTER SPENDING SOME TIME WORKING ON MY COMPUTER(almost didn'T go) ANYWAYS, WE GOT THERE AROUND 8:00 pm.WE CAUGHT A FEW FISH.AROUND 1:30am WE WERE BETWEEN THE DAM AND THE SPILLWAY,I WAS HAVING PROBLEMS WITH MY TROLLING MOTOR,KIRK WAS UP FRONT,SO I SAID"let me up there"I REACHED DOWN TO WIGGLE THE PLUG ,WHEN I FELT HER.I LET GO OF THE PLUG AND SET THE HOOK,SHE PULLED LIKE HELL!!!I YELLED"get the net its a good one".SHE MADE THREE RUNS AND KIRK NETTED HER (perfectly).I WAS SHOCKED WHEN I SAW HOW BIG SHE WAS.WE WENT OVER TO MY FRIEND GIL'S TRAILER FROM (GIL'S GUIDE SERVICE).I BANGED ON HIS DOOR AND WOKEM UP(scared the hell out fo him)AND YELLED"gil,gil i got a 17-18lbs hog".WE MET DOWN BY THE LAUNCH RAMP TO DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.SHE WAS 29in.LONG BY 23 1/4in. GIRTH AND WEIGHT 17lbs 1.6oz OR A LITTLE OVER 17.1 1/2 lbs,IN TWO DIFFERENT SCALES (NEW LAKE RECORD). I WAS USING 10lb STREN CLEAR BLUE,15-25ft DEPTH,4in YUM CRAWBUG.AND THE GOOD NEWS IS,WE LET HER GO!!!SHE SHOULD BE 19-19 1/2lbs DURING THE SPAWN OF 05.
      City: OAKDALE

      Tips: FISH SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW .