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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, September 9th, 2004

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74.78.8

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: took a trip down after reading all the favorable reports and they were spot on. Got in the water at the M&M ampground behind rattlesnake at 0615 and motored over to rattlesnake throwing at the toolies with baldes , cranks and rip baits but didn't get bit. Went back over to the area just north of M&M and started throwing a docks and nothing again. Crossed over to some other docks and found a bunch of fish in the 12-15 ft depth so started throwing jigs tipped with the amgm twintail in #23 and got 5 fish, the smallest was at 2.07. Went to Buckingham and fished from the seawall down to Shag Rock? and got a bunch of the same. Moved around down the other side of the point and fished past a lot of great looking homes and put more in the boat. Went back to Shag after the bite slowed around 1030 and fished there again and got on fish in the 19-23ft range and finished the day off with 43 of these fat little largemouth. what a great day, cool and a lot of fish. got things loaded up and went to Northlake Ford for 4 gallons of their Merc Premium Plus (thanks John) and drove home. Well worth the time and miles.
      City: Redding

      Tips: Used a brand new bait made by MGMLURES called a hoo-dun-it. it's about 6 inches long with long narrow tails and some wings and a ribbed body. used a brown with gold flake one, one called melon pepper and one that was red with some black flake. Those baits got pounded.MGM is at (530)347-1782 up in Cottonwood www.MGMLURES.net

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: In at Packers at 6:45am. The morning started slow for me but the Blonde in the back started picking up fish with a 6" in #36 Blue Shad/C. I finally managed a dink with a new color I was trying, clear w/a rainbow of colored glitter. I finally switched to my new "HOO-DUN-IT" in good old #23 Melon Pepper, and quickly stuck a 2.4 spot. A couple of hours after a little boat ride we returned to the same area and I hit a 3.0 and another about 2.5 in about 3 casts. I think the MGM "HOO-DUN-IT" might be a fair creature bait. By the way Jerry, this bait is only 4 to 4 1/2 in. long, (you know how fishermen stretch things, LOL). Had a good morning on the lake with the boat traffic at a minimum till about noon. Out at 1:30 with 11 or 12 total.
      City: c

      Tips: The better fish came out of 30 feet of water. The banks are loaded with dinks.

    • By

      Water Temp: 74.6

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: 43 fish in the boat this morning, and a few others that hopped off. In a M&M at 0615, air temp a cool 61 the lake was down about 5 ft, motored over near rattlesnake and started throwing a blade and rip baits with no takers, moved back east to just north of M&M and pitched docks until 0730 and not one bite, moved across a flat with a cut in the middle and suddenly found a ton of fish in the 12-15 ft brackett versus the 6-7 ft docks. picked up 5 just over 2lbs on a football head wearing an MGM #23 twintail, got into the box and pulled out some new creations by MGM called a, get this, hoo-dun-it. god awful looking thing with real long very thin tails and wings. moved down near buckingham and stayed in the 12-15 level and moved towards shag rock( I think that's what they call it) and boated 23 more fat 2-3 lbers. Moved past this big chuck of rock and some other folks and went downthe other side of Buckingham and picked up a half dozen more until 1030 whn it came to a halt.
      oops! in case this sounds fishy it is. i went down to Clealake this morning. This new bait by MGM is about 6-7 inches long, round body, slighty ribbed with two very long thin tails and wings on both sides. motored back to shag rock as most of the guys had left and only one boat there now. can't get bit so go a little deeper and start getting them again in 19-23 ft with the bait fished straight up and down to avoid getting stuck on the rocks. Ended up with 43 total and all fat as footballs and had a lot of fun with a very effective new bait. Out of the water at 1215, air temp 84 and drove over to Lakeport to Northlake Ford to purchase 4 gallons of their very reasonable Merc Premium Plus in bulk. Thanks to John Brossard for doing this for us bass fisherman
      City: Redding

      Tips: did see one guy with a 4+, most were dropshotting. The depth was very specific, not enough or too much and no bites. Used these new baits in melon pepper, black root beer and a reddish colored one(don't know the number) or color name.

Wednesday, September 8th, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Solo trip today. Started off throwing a black buzzbait just outside of veale tract, dumped a hog there. Continued to get short striked by smaller fish so I decided to head to Connection. Fished the rock side, sparce tulle was the key. I found some areas not choked up with hyacinth and also found some fish. Throwing the frog, I finally nailed a hog. One problem, nick in the 50 pound power pro. bink! broken heart. One of those days I guess. continued on and kept getting short strikes so I changed up to a black scum frog. wow what a difference. those fish were inhailing that smaller frog! It really saved the day. I lost count of the fish I caught. Noting real big though. biggest went 3 plus pounds. Lots of 2's.
      City: Oakley

      Tips: wear sunscreen

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74-78

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: To continue what i said in my last report. The work of Jon Walton and Don Osborne in restoring the fish habitat at Lake Del Valle, and Lake Chabot is fantastic, i will help this year, i encourage others to do the same. What i meant to say in the last report in which i said their are too many people KEEPING their fish. This lake more than most needs people to release their bass.Their were alot of bass harvested this year, in talking to the guys at the boat dock, alot of people were keeping their bass, hopefully with the mercury warnings, guys will throw back their bass especially their bigger bass. I RECOMMEND ANY OF YOU BASSERS WHO ARE HAVING TROUBLE CATCHING FISH, GO TO WALTON'S POND ON WASHINGTON ST. IN SAN LEANDRO IN THE FLORESTA CENTER. HE HAS ALL THE HOT BAITS, AND WILL POINT YOU IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION TO CATCHING FISH NO MATTER WHERE YOUR FISHING OR WHAT SPECIES YOUR FISHING FOR.
      City: hayward

      Tips: MINNOW BAITS, DEEPER WATER WITH WEEDS. PLEASE RELEASE YOUR BASS.

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74.7

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started fishing at 7 AM. Only activity was in the first 45 minutes. Fished Senko's and plastic swim baits in the weed beds.I caught two large mouth, 1#and 4.5#, buddy got one,3.5#.
      Once the Sun hit the water the bite was off. Water
      clarity was 25'.
      City: Orangevale

      Tips: Start fishing as early as posible. Use crawdad colored plastics.

Tuesday, September 7th, 2004

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 73-78

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I HAD TO WRITE THIS REPORT TO THANK A COUPLE OF PEOPLE FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE BASS FISHING AT CHABOT THIS YEAR. JON WALTON OF WALTON'S POND ON WASHINGTON/FORESTA IN SAN LEANDRO. I ENCOURAGE ANY OF YOU BASSERS, TROUTERS, CATTERS TO SHOP AT HIS TACKLE STORE. HE HAS BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN RESTORING THE HABITAT AT CHABOT, AND THE NUMBERS OF SMALLER BASS ARE WAY UP THIS YEAR. I GO TO HIS STORE, AND NO MATTER HOW BUSY HE IS, HE'LL TAKE TIME TO EXPLAIN HOW TO USE A CERTAIN LURE. HE AND DON OSBORNE HAVE ORGANIZED THE XMAS TREES IN THE WATER, AND THE NUMBER OF 12-13 BASS IS THE MOST I HAVE SEEN IN 15 YEARS. THERE IS STILL TOO MANY PEOPLE CATCHING THEIR FISH, AND THAT NEEDS TO IMPROVE FOR CHABOT TO TRULY COME BACK. THANKS TO PEOPLE LIKE JON WALTON AND DON OSBORNE , YOU CAN ACTUALLY CATCH A FEW BASS THERE LIKE JON SAYS, IT DOESN'T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT AND MY OWN OBSERVATION PEOPLE ARE STILL KEEPING TOO MANY FISH. MY BASSING HAS IMPROVED, JON WALTON HAS HELPED ME IN UNDERSTANDING BIG FISH HABITS, HOW TO USE LURES, ETC. I WILL HELP WITH THE XMAS TREES THIS YEAR. THANKS JON, THANKS DON.
      City: hayward

      Tips: MINNOW BAITS, THEIR SEEMS TO BE MORE BAITFISH THIS YEAR AND RAPALAS, WILL GET YOU AT LEAST A COUPLE OF FISH. FOR BIGGER FISH, MY BIGGEST A 6 LBER CAME ON A JIG

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: Not Tested

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well what do you know I finally did visit this lake and boy was there a bass, well first started looking for boat rentals yes there are a lot of place but all of them don't have enough, too many anglers 2 of the place we went all boats are rented. so my buddie end up in soda bay but we still got luck although it's quite windy my buddy caught 5lbs+ and most of them are clone 2-3lbs total fish for two of us 20-25 lost count including 4 huge catfish caught on powerbait thanks all of you for such a honest report and all the tips tight lines Catch and Release.. its worth a trip maybe I'll go there again weekdays.. ;-)
      City: San Francisco

      Tips: Most of my fish caught on swimbait castaic bluegill and banjo minnow, waveworm (tiki worm) also did well green pumkin with orange stipe, I'll be back and bring some catfish bait..

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 77.6

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: last night trip of the year, 102 in town, 83 at Packers at 745 PM, the lake is 90 ft down and folks are starting to see some things they have never sen before, started throwing a spook on the way out and caught one on it and had two blowups if you could call them that, all small fish, went to the darter head and the MGM #23 for 5 more by the time I got out side and the bite quit at 2030, nothing till 2130 when it got going again for 5 more and no size to speak of, 2 rigs in the lot when I got there and none going out at 2230, air temp at 76 on the way out, I am glad the summer is over, my reports wil be much fewer now as I have some local tournaments coming up. e-mail for info if you care to.
      City: Redding

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ANY NEW REPORTS OUT THERE FOR TRINITY LAKE??? INCLUDING WATER LEVELS.
      City: Coast

Monday, September 6th, 2004

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: dfhyhjgk
      City: Oakdale

      Tips: tyj

  • Santa Barbara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I went out at 7 and immediatly caught a 3 pounder on a yellow buzzbait. Later in the day about 9 i caught a 5 pound largemouth right off of jackrabbit flats. All my fish were off buzzbaits.
      City: Santa maria ca

      Tips: use a buzzbait in 3-10 feet of water. after about 10 top water is slow try a drop shot with a four inch senko

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Great year so far striper fishing. Sunday the 5th my friend Frank and I started out towards Pittsburg in Honker Bay and four fish into it, I stick a nice 8lb striper, then a few minutes later the hooks pulled out of a 10+ pounder. So I was pretty pissed. Caught a few more dinks while fishing way up towards Mothball fleet. I made a quick cast to some tules that came off the main bank about 15 ft,(nothin) I made a second cast 10 ft to the right of that and BAM!!!! My half ounce rattle trap came to a dead stop. I saw a huge swirl and I knew I had a hog. After a 10 minute fight on 15lb test I subdued a 29lb striper. High light my weekend. But it continued into Monday. The next morning my father who is not going to be out done. We go out and start up towards, our first stop yields nothin. 20 minutes later we're in our second spot and its going well. With some really nice fish in the boat to 12lbs. Im workin the trollin motor while my father is talkin smack. I make a cast and my rattle trap goes flyin snap. So I sit down to tie up. ANd the next cast my father makes yields him a 31 lber. Oh my unbelievable, I was beside myself but I was happy my father got him one. So later that day my friend Frank wants to go out and to make an already long story short, he sticks a 25 on a zara, and we've got matching pictures of some delta hogs.
      City: Oakley

      Tips: Never stop casting and good fishin

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Chesbro on labor day, very hot day 100deg, fishing was slow, caught a few dinks on rattle trap and t-rig robo worm. Nothing on drop shot, was marking fish on finder but they weren't hungry.

      Saw this one guy with a 24 lbs catfish on a stinger that he caught at 2:30am on an anchovie, possibly a lake record. He was chatting with a park ranger about it.
      City: Morgan Hill

      Tips: Fishing should improve as we head into the Fall season. More reports to follow.

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: Never looked

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got a chance to venture up here for a night guide trip on Sunday. Fished with Jim and his dad Don. When we started out it was very hot and balmy due to the fire to the south and lots of boater traffic in the south arms. Needless to say out early evening bite was slow and we managed two topwater fish, both on the Cicada frog. Then I got stung by a Yellow jacket that climbed down in my shirt, thank goodness he popped me on the opposite side of my heart, man that stung, burned, swelled up and itched all night long, might have been a blessing, better than any redbull and kept me up all night. We were'nt gonna have any moon till after mid night, so we began fishing deeper ledges with brown 1/2 oz jigs with a black Yamamoto single tail grub trailer. We started to then catch some nice three pounders, but it still seemed very slow, so I moved us over to Konocti resort to fish around the lighted area. Turns out it was lit well for the Alabama show, we spanked fish in here from the courtsey dock all through the front of the patio, putting on a special show for the crowd out on the rail. No giants, but a lot of fish in the 2.-3.5 range, fat porkers they were. As the moon came out we vacated to some other areas and the bite just kept picking up. Dropped dad off at 1:00am and Jim and I ran to some areas in Konocti & Jago and began catching a little better quality up to 4.5 pounds now. We never put the jig down until we pulled up and left at 9:00am. Great trip, we caught so many fish it was just too furious to try and keep count.
      City: Oakley

      Tips: The jig bite here is still off the hook. And although we didn't fish a lot of areas, a clear pattern was established that provided constant bites at every place we stopped. Shallow, rocky banks with a slight sloping bottom or a flat bottom at 6-7 feet. Any type of structural change or ambush cover, held the better fish over 4 pounds. All the fish came from 0-6 feet. During the night, we put a ratle on and fished the jig fast and erratic with the black grub, during the day light, we removed the rattle and changed to a the 164 grub. The day fish clocked it on the fall every time. On this trip, we never got bit below 10 feet, simply because our jigs never got that far!

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69-73 deg

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Jim Ryan and I launched out of Granite Bay @ 6am, the first in the water. The lake is at the same level as 5 days ago. About 10 ft. in front of the ramp. We headed into the north fork south side using top water, no luck. Cranking at points and steep walls, no luck, light breeze. Using split shot and a "white ears weapon" 6" worm getting the next four spots and smallies 1-2 lbs off long rocky points in 10 - 25 ft. The morning skiers are slow coming out. At 9:30 we moved out to the wind sock, drop shot a oxblood 6" robo worm and picking up another spot. Our five bass wt was 8.5 lbs. Home to see the New Fisherman's warehouse in Rocklin on Granite drive. They will be open in a few weeks.
      City: rocklin

      Tips: after the sun hits the water, fish deep in 20-35 ft slow.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: launched the boat around 7 with my buddy for some moing fishing. Caught the first one around 3 pounds on a white spinner and the bite was on. after the fist fish caught about three more 1-1.5 lbs each. went to the oposite side of the lake and started throwing spinners. at about 10 the big mama hit the spinner. When it jumped i knew it was the biggest bass I'v ever seen or caught. I cant believe we actually landed a fish that big. my guess was about 10-11 pounds and i could hardly hold it up with one hand. we forgot the camra but i at least have one witness. after we released it we caught about 8 more bass that were not that big. also a dink on the senko
      City: Petaluma

      Tips: tie a few spinners on for morning fishing and keep tossin them out with a slow retreive. You will do fine if you keep throwing your comfortable baits constantaly. Stick to two pattrns at the most

Sunday, September 5th, 2004

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went up to Sonoma friday morning at about 0800. Was worried about getting a late start, but found fish right away off of points and thick grass beds in about 10' of water. Ended up with about 20 fish total, 18 came on a deep running crankbait in shad color, and 2 on a dropshot. Was a pretty good day until i came back to the parking lot and found the drivers window on my pickup smashed in. Had 40+ cds stolen plus my wallet and cell phone which were in the glove box. Was out in my float tube at Yorty when it happened, and i was the only car in the parking lot when i got there. The sheriff said that this has been happening a lot lately at yorty and the main launch ramp. DO NOT leave anything valuable in your vehicle, because it may walk away on you. Nothing was visible, but they busted out the window anyway. They also ran up over $800 on my credit cards before i had a chance to cancel them.
      City: R.P.

      Tips: The crankbait bite is hot right now. I couldnt get any to go on topwater, but they are chasing shad all over the place. All fish caught were fat and healthy and looked like they had been gorging themselves on shad. Be careful what you leave in your truck, some piece of $#&@ might decide to take it.

Saturday, September 4th, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: started off fishing old river near Tracy, flippin beavers, only got one fish, around a pound or so. continued south and started tossing a 3/16 strike king spinnerbait, wow, what a change,boated 10 keepers in the next hour and a half, outgoing tide, tight to clumps of grass.
      got out sunday afternoon, couple on the blades but the bite was alot slower, more pleasure traffic and heat,so headed up by the Tracy blvd bridge, throwing a crystal shad speedtrap. tight to the bank in the shade, got 4 there, with a 6 1/2pounder thrown in! what a fish, second biggest ever for me, and it took the entire bait in it's mouth, bout 2inches in, was fun to unbotton that one.
      all in all a good weekend.
      City: Tracy

      Tips: saw lots of boils and small bait flying out of the water, they're chasin smaller fish, thats why the 3/16 blade.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 14 mile slough and found a good wall. Worked it hard for a while and probably squeezed out at least 30 fish before 11am. I had good success drop shotting a 4" lizard and robo worms but seemed to target a lot of smaller fish but 3 of my 3 keepers came on the drop. My partner worked the outside of the second weed line with speed traps with some success. I fished the same area last week and didn't do much until I picked up the drop shot rig and immediately started picking up fish. You really gotta shake it sometimes. I had several fish that didn't give me the "tap, tap" but picked up and went the other way so watch the line. At the very end the fish really started to pick up on my partners split shot rig.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Don't be afraid to try something new if you're not gettin bit. If you're drop shottin, use firm sweeping hook sets, I learned this one the hard way to the tune of at least 3 or 4 break offs. Colors that worked for us were almost anything with purple or purple flake.