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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, August 28th, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 72-74 deg

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Joe Miller and I fished the Future Pro Tour tournament out of brannan island with 130 other boats. first flight wasn't until 6:15am, the sun was already up and the morning bite was almost gone by the time our boat number came up at 6:35am. the tide was a outgoing to -1ft, we fished around tule islands and long rocky banks. most of out fish came on jigs, senkos and cranking. no frog bite, spooks or blades this time. we missed alot of bites. maybe the tournaments can get started early.
      City: rocklin

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: not sure

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Lots of bass but boy are they small. I'm talkin' 10 inchers and less. I haven't figured out a solid Big fish pattern here after 3 years of fishin' it. I have caught some bigguns' outta here but man are they tough to catch!!! I'm about to give it up and go to Calero!!!
      City: san jose

      Tips: Pray and meditate before you go to this lake. Cussing does not work!!!

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing was still good, fished the 28th and 29th caught 20 fish one going 6pd.s, use drop- shoting, spinnerbaits in white and chartrues,senkos (wacky worming) and crank baits. fished rocks and flats during the morning and evening, and docks during the middle of the day,
      City: royal oaks

      Tips: Use 4in and 6in robo worms in oxford red flake, for drop shoting, during the middle of the day use senkos and drop shoting under the shad of the docks, caught a 6 and a bunch of two's and 3's.

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Tough day at this lake. Only got 4 LM in the boat. It was a beautiful day but no wind which may have made the bite so tough. Now the only good news to report. First cast, 0700AM, top water PopR and I thought a grenade went off when my bait hit 2 ft from the bank. I wasn't ready but managed to set the hook on a 7.2 monster. Last weekend I caught a 7.0lb only 20 yards from where I got this one. Could not tell if it was the same fish. Great fight with some tail walking and under the boat and all the things that make your heart flutter thinking you'll never get this big boy on board. It drug a lot of 10lb test line off my Curado. Caught this fish in 1 ft of water on a do nothing mud bank flat near a deep water drop. The other fish were caught on carolina rigged plastics in shallow water near the weed line.

      Tips: Go early. Fish top water to the bank. Then switch to soft plastics along the weed line in shallow water. Bite is over by 10:30 so you just as well go to the house. Wind is your friend on this lake.

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

      Report: took a tour of the jone valley area this evening. It looked bad from the lakeside and it is worse from the road, the devastation is total. The low water ramp is now in with a float, the concrete ramp is still usable but no float and it will be to shallow to launch anything but a cartopper alumminum boat within the next few days.
      City: Redding

Friday, August 27th, 2004

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 80's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went up Friday evening to fish the full moon and get some TOW. Took a friend who has never fished Clear Lake, Yep that's right, Never...
      He is new to the bass scene and mainly fishes for coldwater species.
      He is new to wormin so I showed him how to drop shot a Iovono 4" spadetail in Oxblood red(out of Roboworms) and just to show em a little something different we dartheaded a 4" Berkeley rib worm as the bottom rig to see what they wanted(Bait is like 6 years old) and fish a Texas rigged 10" worm in RED SHAD and T-rigged Yamamoto craws on the deeper rockpiles. I cranked a Fat free Shad while he dragged the drop shot and we killed em. Be patient and it will pay big dividends, I knew the fish where there and when they turned on WOW... We fished the same rockpiles over and over just rotated them and the fish would up to feed and kept us busy to 1am. We caught at least 40 plus fish from 7pm to 1am and I caught 3 fish on 3 casts all in the 2 to 3 lb range on a CB in a pearl w/Blue back I was fishing hard and fast with reaction baits and I had him fish slow and deliberate. With his combo he out fished me, of the 40 plus fish we caught he had caught at least 20 to my 10 before I started to worm. (Rotator cuff was hurting, So I used that as an excuse to worm)
      Then at about 11pm the patience paid off when I caught a 4 1/2 and then another around 4. Then the big girl hit and she tipped the scales at 9.1. If you was on the lake you probaly heard me yell. Caught her on a T-rigged 10" powerworm in RED SHAD (Thanks Lunker Larry) So my friend has his best time ever with his big fish of 4lbs and our biggest 5 went about 26lbs.
      Tight Lines, Kap.
      City: Santa Clara

      Tips: Spend TOW -Go now and have the best time of your life. It is the best time to teach someone who is new to Bass Fishing. Drop shot deep water docks and Rockpiles. We caught our best fish methodically working over the rockpiles with plastics. It is easier to fish plastics at night than Hardbaits unless you like hooks.

    • By

      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Wazzup fellow anglers I've been seeing a lot of nice report regarding this lake I haven't actually been there.. yet, But I'm planning to.. is there a boat rentals around this lake? if so..., can you please kindly email it to me?!!.. any additional info about this lake will be highly appreciated.. Thanks a lot thight lines!!!
      City: San Francisco

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 77

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Spent a nice evening on the lake with the family. Was continuing to try plastics and blades but only caught fish on lipless crank. Fished in the South Fork in various spots and caught 6. Largest going 3.6 lbs. The others were in the 1-2 pound range.
      City: Fair Oaks

      Tips: Take the kids fishing. If they are young...hook-up and hand-it-over to them to reel in. If not, patiently teach them. Oh, and if you want to catch fish...Rat-L-Trap in 1/2oz size in shad colors is still working for me. Please practice Catch-And-Release.

Thursday, August 26th, 2004

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 77

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: The fishing was pretty much the same yesterday, but the weather wasn't! Had jackets on 'till late morning and, oh my, WIND! I guided a local uncle and his 15 year old nephew visiting from the mid-west. Like other recent clients, the lad had to come to Clear Lake to catch the biggest bass of his life - 5 lbs 1 oz, on the, what else, red shad Dead Ringer worm. Another nice fish in Horseshoe Bay! We started by hiding behind Anderson Island and fishing several of the rock structures, casting Carolina-rigging big worms. I finally got a semi-big bite on a black 10" Power Worm and she turned out to be 6 lbs 9 oz. 'Bout time! She was on a ledge in about 8 feet of water. The quality and the numbers worked well all day with this setup. Another good color was muscadine, along with black grape. I don't think this has ever happened to me before but this is the third trip in a row with the exact same top five weight - 20 lbs 3 oz. We caught a few over 40 bass and didn't catch any under 12 inches. Funny how that changes from day to day. Last Friday we caught several 11 and 12 inchers. I enjoyed hearing the uncle ask his nephew if it was worth getting up at 4 am to which the reply was "YOU BET"!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The young man's five pounder was as fat as the smaller footballs we have been catching. My 6-9 wasn't. I thought she might go 7 1/2 or so but just didn't have the weight. I have noticed that about some of the other quality bass we have caught. They don't seem to be as beafy as the smaller ones. Just my observation and I could be way off. Maybe we're not fishing in "Fat City". We have been working the worms off the bottom at a fairly fast clip. Deadsticking has also been working. The Yamamoto Kreatures worked again very well. I tested the crank bite and it was dead. The jig bite wasn't as good as normal either. They love that floating worm. You will catch average fish with a big worm, but I think you have a chance for a big one using some bulk in the dingy water.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 77.2

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: In at packers at 1800, air temp 83 with a strong north wind blowing, ran over into the McCloud again and promptly got on fish as the other day but all dinks throwing the MGM #23 melon pepper twintail and the black root beer twintail. Did manage one on a rip bait and one on a blade but the majority came on my MGM stuff. Fished till midnight but nothing in the boat after 2245. Wind still blowing at midnight and the air temp was down to 68 when I got out. I stopped counting with the 35th fish. No size for me but three of my friends did ok with a few over 2 lbs.
      City: Redding

      Tips: as far as the evening goes, its best right before and an hour after sunset, steep rock walls were the ticket for me.

Wednesday, August 25th, 2004

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Thanks for the tips Craig! good luck fishing....
      P.S. since you're in Yuba, how's Collins lake for bass fishing?
      City: San bruno

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: One person guide trip, nice guy form Vegas. Today we got to look for some better fish. We threw top water all morning to about, we missed a big one on a buzz bait then the first fish in the boat was over 10lbs on a spook, then a 3.5 on a Nip-i-didee and a couple of 2s on the spook. After the 10 I gave the spook to the client I felt bad that I caught it, it was out in open water about 8ft deep. We then fished the tules arounf Franks using a white frog and landed 3 more 2-2.5lbers. As the tide started out the top water bite died, but the speed trap bite was on and we got a couple close to 3lbs and a bunch of keppper to 2lbs cranking close to the current on the islands around Franks. Then we hopped around Holland to Mildred, Orowood and the bite really slowed we caught a few but not very many. At 1::30 we rand over to Quimby and the bite was back on we got 2 3lber flippin one on the new Doc waters Man-o-war and a bunch on the speed trap. Pretty good day about 70 or so fish a limit of 3lber and a 10lb kicker
      City: Concord

      Tips: This time of yera the bite is pretty good so if they aren't biting move. Big ones are mostly on the best ambush sites.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 72-76

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Ran up for the afternoon, launched at redbud, wind blowing good. Found great fishing in protected coves. Good crank bite in water 5-15 feet near docks. Great flip bite near tules and docks using sencos. Overall good fishing 40 fish all keepers up to 6lbs.
      City: Napa

      Tips: After sunset, flip tight to cover. Find protected coves when the wind blows you off the lake.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 75-77 deg

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: what a nice afternoon on the water of folsom lake. water still going down, we saw four skiers and three other fisherman. Jim Ryan and I left Granite bay boat ramp at 4:pm with light winds and 92 deg temp. we worked our way into the north fork draging a leach worm and cranking, jim got the first smallie cranking and even the rest of his came on cranking a shad color. I went to jiging a brown/brown with # 180 grub for my fish. no blow ups on top water or no bits on blades. the sun went down too early, next week we will start early. will folsom ever stop going down ?????
      City: rocklin

      Tips: fish in 10 to 20 feet with small plastic.

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 78-80.2

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Thought I would check out whether Melones is still in it's annual summer shut-down. Found levels low and falling, warm surface temps. Expected to strike out as falling levels and surface temps usually pull the fish out and down and they orient on shad schools. I was surprised to find that some spots were still close to shore and would hit on surface, dinner-plates and worms. Took 8 to 10 with several keepers icluding one 2.2 that ate my popper. R
      City: Sonora

      Tips: Up river, in the shade, try surface last 90 minutes of day. Top-waters 15 to 25 feet off of shoreline. Worm fish came from points in 20-25 feet. Don't eat largies, keep spots for dinner!!

Tuesday, August 24th, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: 3 person guide trip, Father and two daughters almost whipped the guys from Texas with about 149 fish and I didn't fish. We started right by Lundborg landing and picked up a couple small one then moved around Franks on the high tide and over the Quimby fishing rocks and weeds out a little deep and finished up in little mandeville. Every fish was caught on a drop shot rig using a Sniper Lures snub in either brown / purple or dark green, eagle claw #2 drop shot hook rigged open. The big fish of the day was only 2.25lb we did get about 50-60 keepers. The guys were beginners and lost atleast as many fish as they caught.
      City: Concord

      Tips: The drop shot fish really wanted a small bait, a great time to get the kids out they will stay busy all day.

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

      Report: took acouple girl friends out, they had no idea what they were doin, had to spend hella time trying to teach them how to cast. So we actually started fishing the south end along some docks at about 11am, we were throwing cranks out, we only got 4, the fish really arent hitting it hard at all, they just swim with it. I regretfully forgot to bring my soft plastics with me, cuz i saw hella fish out there caught on worms, brush hogs, and senkos.

      Tips: brush hogs, and senkos, thats all i can say, and get there early. good luck

    • By

      Water Temp: 70ish

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went out at about 12 noon and started with spinners in the grass. didnt pick up anything until about 1:00 when we worked the weedlines. the senko bite seems to on all day. lost a 5 lbr under the bushes, They hit when you least expect it. look for the heaviest cover you can find and get that bait deep into it
      City: petaluma

      Tips: cover as much water as you can with a spinner or a crankbaitthey are spread out all over the weeds

Monday, August 23rd, 2004

    • By

      Water Temp: WARM

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: WENT LATE TO GET US SOME CATFISH AND HAD PLENTY OF FISH AND FUN TOTAL OF 16 RANGING FROM 4 OUNCES TO ABOUT 3 LBS STAYED ALL NIGHT FISHING COULDN'T WALK AWAY FROM MY POLE CONSTANT FISH ACTION ON ALL POLES. FISHED USING FULL ANCHOVIES WRAPPED UP WITH BAIT WRAP
      City: RED BLUFF

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

      Report: In reply to Donald Osbourne.How long ago were these determinations about the mercury levels in the lakes you mentioned made. The reason I ask is I will sometimes keep my less of fairshare of Bass from the lakes you mentioned and never knew that mercury was a problem. I go to those lakes very regularly and never was the mercury problem mentioned to me by the lake authorities or by any publications except for Calero, Almaden, and the Coleman Perc ponds. Can you give me names or numbers where I can follow up on this. I sure would like to contact the appropriate people if my loved-ones were affected by mercury especially when the fish consumed were not from lakes where formal signs were not posted.