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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Friday, August 21st, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79-82

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I had another very nice trip Wed with a father and 13 yr old son. I was looking forward to some productive topwater fishing but a chilly wind (I didn't expect that) killed that plan. We saw no early morning surface activity at all. As we were heading to the main body, I saw a point still in shadows - one that I hadn't fished in years! Within a few minutes, the young client was fighting with a good bass. I netted his near 3 lb spotted bass - great start! It was the first spot in three trips! As we moved around the main body, I was looking for a shallow island with some deep water access. Bingo!! I found one. Remember, everything is different with the low water. In the next hour, dad puts a near 3 1/2 lb smallie, another 3 lb smallie, and a 2 3/4 lb spotted bass in the boat! Wow! also, he lost a 5 lb+ largemouth as she jumped, and I hooked a big bass which I lost in a few moments. A really good hour! Dad caught a few more before we quit in the afternoon.

      Tips: I must confess that I love the guide trips where we are able to get into some quality bass, rather than numbers. I love big bass and so do my clients!! August has been a good month for me the past several years. Again, the best bait by far was the MM 111 6" Robo worm! We were going to drop shot, but the 'ol Texas rig worked fine. Most of the bass they caught were about the 20-25 foot depth, except for the early morning spotted bass. Their limit was about 14 1/2 lbs! Fun day!!!

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: From Cooch's Fishing

      Fishing the Delta right now is a bit of a grind, unless ya git hung up on fishing fer dinks where the bite is very good fer smaller fish all over the River system. Fishing the new TNT Bobby Trap Wadda jig and focusing on much deeper fish in 16-22 foot of water has produced some very big bites our past 4 trips out. This deeper bite here takes patience and a willingness to git out of the shallow box and keep yer jig down in the zones where the big gurls are setting up nicely now in deep summer patterns. We've also experienced a really good punch bite, mostly catching fish in that 2-3 pound range, yet when ya find the right canopy sitting right on top of a deep water exit, 7-9 pounders can be sitting there and are willing ta thunp that fast moving Yamamoto Flappin Hog. Big fish bite is very good, break out the big sticks!

Wednesday, August 19th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 77-78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched today at the dam, and the dam light were out. Seems it ran out of gas or something. Launching in the dark is a weird feeling with a steep drop on the lake side and backup lights don't really show much with the boat behind you. Normally I blast off to fish, but today decided to go slow and see how many fish I could mark. I was amazed, hundreds of fish, mostly in the 40-50 foot range, but many up in the 20-30 foot range. Mostly salmon is my guess. All this before the sun came up. Headed to the north fork tossing worms at about 6:30 am. Early bite just was not going to happen today. Nothing, no fish till the sun peeked from over the hill. First fish location 10 spots, no big one though. Moved on, next stop just one fish, same the next location. Ran all over the lake looking for fish, picking up just one each stop. Headed back in about 10 am, and stopped at a rock that tends to hold big fish. Right on, picked up a 15 1/2" at this location like I do many times. Total 15 spots, just one worth a mention of size at 15 1/2" Fish were not schooling well today, and scarce, overall a decent bite. Strong breeze the whole trip.

      Tips: Most fish caught at the 25-35 foot mark. Still fishing slow, like walking a frog, except on the bottom. Cleaner water tends to hold fish better, that cloudy stuff with no circulation not so well today.

Saturday, August 15th, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78-82

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I had two guide trips this week at Berryessa. The lake was beautiful but the ride in from Winters wasn't!! What a shame!! Anyway, Wed I did a 6 hr afternoon trip with a great angler visiting from Sweden! Jolly good fella, AND - a good fisherman, though there are no bass in his country! I hope Berryessa would show its best manners, and she did. He caught several bass, but the three biggest went just under 12 lbs - including a 5 1/2 lb largemouth, taken at dusk on a MM III Robo worm. That color continues to work! Also a 3 1/4 and near 3 lb smallie for him on the same color worm. I took a guy and gal yesterday afternoon/night and found the bite much slower. Weather was perfect as was the first trip, but big fish bite was way off. Don't know why, except that is bass fishing! He caught several nice bass, but nothing bigger than 2 lbs. Wed saw several bass surfacing, chasing bait, active birds - where Friday was like the Dead Sea. NO activity - heard one fish the whole trip and no birds anywhere. I did see 2 skunks race my truck as I left about 1 am!!

      Tips: We did try the spoon bite on Wed but didn't find big schools of shad - a bit early yet. We lost 3 good bass on the blade runner spoons and landed a few small ones. I tried Senkos on both trips - not a bite!! Most bass were on "new" off-shore structure - some I had never seen before. His 5 1/2 came from such a structure - I WILL remember that place!! Not a topwater hit on both trips - usually I get at least one in August and it is a good fish! Last night, the 7" black Berkely Power worm was again the bait of choice - bass were hitting it well after dark.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched 630 @Paradise...ran down to Mildred but on the way, saw some nice calm tule islands.. worked the bone whopper plopper and picked up several 11" to 1 lbers. Just before we picked up to head to Mildred a 2-14 blew up the plopper. Ran down to Mildred and picked up a bunch more 1-lbers on senkos and d-bomb under a 1/2oz tungsten working from tule edges to inside to outside weed lines...hits came in the thick of the weeds.
      Then my bro nailed an even 5lber on an orange suspending cordell spot at a tule island point. Ended early (about 8am) cuz we couldn't stop thinkin' about our fishin' buddy, my pooch who was diagnosed with a tumor on his spleen. left him home this time....first time ever! felt guilty that my pooch wasn't with so we packed it in and at this writing, he's at my feet, but tomorrow gotta do the inevitable. dang! oh sorry, back to the report. fishin' wasn't the same without him up on deck or crowdin' my bro at the back seat.

      Tips: topwater, senko, suspending spot, and d-bomb worked for us today. best I can offer cuz we're not really qualified to give tips. other than if you take your pooch with ya, savor every moment.

Friday, August 14th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Report: The bite here at Clear Lake remains pretty awesome this week with a lot of anglers putting some decent numbers in the boat for their effort. The hot bite is definitely in the middle and southern arms of the lake where the water is deeper with a rocky bottom. The key to being successful right now is paying attention to the water color. Try to avoid areas where the water is a tannic brown color that looks like gravy. Those are the areas where the weeds are decomposing & oxygen levels are low and pretty much devoid of fish.

      The Jig bite is nothing short of EPIC right now in the south end of the lake. Throw a 1/2 or 3/4oz football head in the brown/orange or brown/purple with a beaver trailer & smother it in some smelly jelly & marinate that bad boy on the rockpiles & rocky shoreline in 8' to 25'. There is also a great crank bite down south with guys doing well on everything from a square bill to the XD10 in crawdad and baitfish patterns. The top water is going strong early & late on buzzbaits, Rio Rico's and walk the dog style baits like the super spook and G2 Lunker Punker. The frog bite is good but the overall lack of weeds is puzzling this year but I still have it on the deck ready to go if the opportunity presents itself & you stumble on to a decent mat. Chatterbait bite is good on dark colors especially in the afternoon when the wind comes up.

      There is not a lot of boat traffic or fishing pressure up here on the lake right now. All the ramps & roads are open & the lake is in great shape. If you guys get a chance, I would highly recommend coming up and getting on the good bite. Next month the FLW boys will be here beating them into remission. LOL. so get it while we can.

      tight lines & huge sacks,

      Troy Bellah Clearlake Outdoors

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: Forgot to check!!

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Big fish day. Launched at the damn, gravel! about 6 am, began tossing worms about 6:30 am, finished fishing at 10:15 am. Great day, got 27 spots, 13 spots first location, 14 spots second location. Ended up with a one nice 18 1/2", one 16 1/2" one 15 1/2", one 15" and one 14 1/2" to fill my bag. Most all the other fish from 12-14", average 13". By my chart, around 11.22, maybe more if I had gotten down to the 1/8" measuring.

      Tips: All my fish were 28 feet to 38 feet, so get deeper this time of year. Shallow fishing yields dinks too often. If you catch a fish, give the area some time, don't move on as most do. Go as light as you can on weight, me, mostly 1/8 oz 90% of the time. Lighter weights help prevent hang ups!! 3/16 oz is as heavy as I toss. Bite if super soft on bigger fish, pay attention, smaller fish not so soft a bite.

Thursday, August 13th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Report: Provided by Dobyns Rods

      Frog bite is still decent. The buzzbait bite good. Flip/punch bite is best. Look for main current berms (Old River, Middle River), outside of lakes (Mildred). Chatterbait is working pretty good too.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Report: Provided by Dobyns Rods
      The water situation isn't good. It is very low. The concrete ramp at Bidwell will be out of the water any day now. It could be out by the time you finish reading this post. The fishing is tougher due to the time of year. The topwater bite is decent. Better in the late evening. Suggested lures are Vixens, Spooks and Ricos. Mid-day the fish are deeper 30 to 40-feet. Suggested baits are a darthead, dropshot or other finesse type presentation with Robos in Morning Dawn or Green Crawler.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Report: Provided by Dobyns Rods
      The water is low here too. The numbers of fish aren't huge but there are some good spots being caught on topwater (5-plus pounds). Suggested lures Punkers, Spooks, Vixen. There is an occasional big spot being caught deeper with plastics and jigs.

Tuesday, August 11th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75-80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Water on north end is tanic looking and most of the weed beds are gone. south end is green but no thick blooms. The jig bite is good. some people are struggling with the topwater bite and some are doing real well. The silversides are starting to show everywhere down south. Lots of bait balls on the depthfinders. lake level is 1.80 above rumsey
      no smoke on the lake. fishing is good

      Tips: windy days throw crankbaits
      jig bite has been real good
      some swimbait fish being caught
      the lv 500 bite is getting ready to bust loose.
      you can catch fish on just about any bait you have confidence in

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Oroville AFTERBAY, not the lake. Fished my first trip here with Jeff today, what a change from the lake. We launched about 6 am, fished till about 10 am. Very odd feeling having tules and weeds in a lake!! We manages 6 LM, the largest at about 14-14 1/2" All fish taken on rubber worms, shallow, less then 10 feet. I'm going to have to learn this place and get some bigger fish.

Tuesday, August 4th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79

      Report: Tossed worms today from about 6:15 am to 9:45 am. Shitty day, the bite is way, way off from my last few trips. Fished seemed to have gone deep or full from eating all night in the full moon. Fished all my favorite locations and couldn't get but a couple fish out of each location. I only managed 13 fish today, largest a 14 1/2" large mouth, surprise me. All the rest of the fish were the basic fish, maybe a tad on the small side, smallest fish a whopper at 6", good bait size. I did get a catfish right at 5 pounds or so.

      Tips: Maybe don't fish with a full moon, I feel like I got skunked with not catching a normal catch for me. !!!!

Monday, August 3rd, 2015

  • Amador County
    • By

      Report: From Lake Camanche
      Water temperature at the south shore ramp is approximately 79 degrees. The inflow from Pardee Lake is 11 c.s.f. as of 8/2/15 and the outflow from Lake Camanche is 250 c.s.f. Spill level is currently 63.62′ with approximately 3,300 surface acres of water.

      One North Shore courtesy ramp is open while the other is being repaired by EBMUD. Sorry for any inconvenience.

      Both South Shore courtesy ramps are currently open

    • By

      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished with two of my daughters and hit the water a few minutes before sunrise. Started around the island on the south end of the dam and my oldest quickly boated two keepers around a pound and a half each dropshotting People's worm in 5-15' of water. She called the score 2-0-0.
      I responded quickly by hooking a solid 3.5 that threw the hook at boat and she updated my score to -2.
      We fished until 1230 and finished with our best five going 7.82. Even managed to catch a 3# channel cat on a drop shot back near the quarry.

      Tips: Dropshotting is a great producer for the kids, and anything in red, pink, purple works great! Best fish were on the inside of main lake points.

Wednesday, July 29th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at 6am, tossed worms at 6:15am till 9:30am, to hot to fish much longer for me. Fished the same location again today, what a honey hole. Got 28 fish, 20 from the same steep point, then it died down and moved on. I ended up with one 17 1/2", two 15", 3-4 14 1/2", 3-4 14", the rest 12-13" basic fish. Also got 2 catfish at about 3-4 pounds. Love this lake, seems fish everywhere, if you choose the right locations. Second location gave up 8 fish when heading my way back to dock.

      Tips: All fish today from 20-38 feet, fish deeper, slow, with patience. I fished the first point about 2 1/2 hours. sometimes hot fishing, sometimes a tad slow, fish tend to come and go, not just hang out like other fish.

Monday, July 27th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Report: Clear Lake this week 7/27/2015

      Lake level this week is 2.29 Rumsey, and it’s supposed to get hot, hot, hot this week so this will definitely go down again this week.

      Water temps are running 79-82 degrees and the algae is at a minimum due to the winds., this is a really good time to get out.

      This past weekend BBT had another 78 boats duel it out on Saturday with 27+ lbs to take the win once more. Great timing on their part.

      Right now the top water, and jig bite will get you through the morning, then it will begin to slow considerable as the day progresses. Still, if you grind it out with the jig and move a little deeper, you may just get rewarded for your efforts. Today we started with the jig and stuck with it, moving every half hour or so and we managed to put 27lbs in the boat with a 10 lb kicker. Half to three quarter pound jigs with an assortment of trailers brought 16 keepers in total to the boat. Brown, Brown Black, Brown Purple, Brown Red all contributed.

      Moving forward this rising moon will/is beginning to have an effect on the bite, to the extent it’s becoming an early morning, late evening pattern which will continue as the moon fills out. Not to worry though, that just means the night bite is about to explode, and I think it’s really going to get good!

      Warm temps, minimal bugs, biting fish, and a FULL MOON! Have at em’ and be careful out there!

      Thank you again for the opportunity WBass, I've had FUN this past year!

Sunday, July 26th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished out of Russo's, north side of Frank's Tract around 7:30. Low tide, slack, threw a frog for a while, but switched to a chrome and red- bellied rattle trap to discover a major striped bass bite that lasted for about 2 hours. Mostly all were shakers, caught 25, a few 14 inch fish and one 3 pound over the legal limit. Fished the main channel, incoming tide and caught two 2-pound LMBass using a Texas-rigged flappin' hog in black. Not a drop of wind for most of the day/morning. Off the water at 1:30PM

Friday, July 24th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took my son fishing today, he had not fished in nearly 20 years. Launched about 6 am, fished till 9:30 am. Took a while to get him to learn how not to get hung up on the bottom so much, but he got it. We caught about equal fish, got 27 fish total, with one nice 16 1/2", a 15", with the rest the basic 13-14" size. Also got 2 catfish, largest about 3 1/2 pounds. We fished just one location again, nice steep point I fished last trip.

      Tips: Fish were in the 20-35 foot range, with a couple in the 35-40 foot mark. Fish deeper and slow, and don't be afraid to hold on an area, as spots come and go a lot and roam an area. Today, great example, fished just one location the whole trip.

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 77 to 82

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: This past Thursday I took Ken out. We headed out at 7 AM sharp Ken had asked me for a tour of the lake and that's what we did first. We went to the Narrows then the ranch house all the way to the stumps and then the vineyards which were under water two weeks ago and now are part of the shore line. We headed to the boy scout camp which is past the bridge and we started fishing in the trees. Up to now no fish and the water was less then one foot visibility. I decided to go where the water was clearer and deeper which was by the Big Island and we started catching bass. At the end of the day he had a nice limit with bass up to 4 pounds (see photos). The next morning at 7 sharp Lawrence and Pete headed out with me . We started catching fish almost instantly. When Lawrence caught a fish Pete netted it and vice versa . We had limits (see photos) so we took a tour of a few spots on the lake that I know they will like to fish in the future in their boat. As we were starting to head in for the day I couldn't start the main motor. I turned to my back up motor and it would run for about twenty feet and die not good!!!! I got hold of the sheriff and they came out and towed us in. In case of emergencies we are very fortunate to have the services of the sheriff's department. Luckily I only needed a new starter which was repaired that afternoon and I was able to use my boat Sunday with Mark and his kids Akiva, Yakira and their friend Zusya. We started to troll and the kids wanted to jump in the water because it was very hot out. Since it was so hot the kids wanted to stay in the water so I decided to go to the Monticello Ski School and let them swim in a safe and enclosed area if no one objected. When we got there it was Kid's Day and Lucy invited the kids to stay and participate in all the events. Needless to say they had a fabulous time (see photos). 'til next time...............................................good fishing!!!!!!
      www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share or are interested in booking a guided fishing trip please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.

      Tips: Thank you Lucy,Frank ,David,lonny,and all the members of the Monticello ski school for making 3 kids very happy.