Submit
Report

Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Sunday, July 11th, 2004

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Tough day for fishing. Used some of the AM fishing time helping a poor guy who just bought a used 19 ft Ranger and launched for its maiden run without the plug. It was a wrestling match to get it floating again but we did it. He got it running for a few minutes but it quit with water in the gas or oil or both.
      By the time I got a line in the water there were tons of boats on the lake. It was not fun. Managed only 5 fish. Larges was 3lbs. Used grubs, carolina brush hog, and dart head worm. Main lake points in 15-17 ft. on drop offs.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: Don't fish this lake on the weekend until Sept. Too many boats that seem to come right at you while you wonder if they see you. If you don't have any other place to go then plastics in a variety of presentations off the points. Hula Grubs caught the bigger fish over other method. Nothing on drop shot.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70-74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of paradise today, got on the water at about 6:30am and started with a buzzbait.Had a few blowups in pixely and switched to a frog and caught two over 2lbs. had a good senko bite going strong all day.
      City: Sac

      Tips: Stick it out for the big bite on kermit the frog!!!!!!!!
      6" senkos in colors:rootbeer,watermelon,black with blue flake
      Tritonboy(a.k.a Lucas Boden) thinks spots but alls he does is talk a lot!!!!!!!(of B.S.)!!!!!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 70-74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of paradise today, got on the water at about 6:30am and started with a buzzbait.Had a few blowups in pixely and switched to a frog and caught two over 2lbs. had a good senko bite going strong all day.
      City: Sac

      Tips: Stick it out for the big bite on kermit the frog!!!!!!!!
      6" senkos in colors:rootbeer,watermelon,black with blue flake
      Tritonboy(a.k.a Lucas Boden) thinks spots but alls he does is talk a lot!!!!!!!(of B.S.)!!!!!!!

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: sorry this is not a report but what are the fees like to launching a boat on this lake. Thx for your responses
      City: visalia

Saturday, July 10th, 2004

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70 or so

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from about 3:30 to 5:30. Got blown all over the south end then went north to take down 5 between 1 and 2lbs. 2 carolina rigged and 3 spinnerbait fish.

      Tips: Fished mudlines with rock to grass transitions. Got one on a point within a big weedbed. All in about 6 to 12 ft of water. Work a lot of water since it is a small. No tip on why jet skiers are idiots and why rangers are complete buttheads. I think they always got picked last when they were kids and now they have a badges and assume that they should be respected. Try being nice and thoughtful it just might work.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished White Slough from shore from 5:30 to 9:00 AM. Caught three in 1-1/2 to 2 lb range, all on white spinnerbaits in the trough. Two short strikes early on topwater (one buzzbait and one spook). Tried a Junebug Kut tail on weedlines and in pockets but no bites. Can't seem to find the big ones, however, I haven't been flippin the tules.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: White spinnerbaits has been good for numbers on several outings, but not for size.

    • By

      Water Temp: 70-74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught several fish today to 3lbs on everything from buzzbaits to frogs to lipless cranks but couldn't find any concentrations of bass... weather was great.. no wind until around noon and even then it was a very manageable breeze. We were off the water by 3:30pm.
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: don't have any tips since we couldn't find a consistent bite ourselves

    • By

      Water Temp: 72-74

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Ladds for a 6-hour club tournie w/ Modesto Castmasters. Fished 14,Pixley,Bishop, Disappointment. Lots of short strikes early on surface and flipping - tide almost at low ebb. Took a limit of our five best to weigh-in and came in third w/ about nine. First had two good fish w/ approx. 19, 2nd one good fish and total of 15+. Our fish came on topwaters, zippers and hogs in green. No fish on buzz, blades, cranks or jigs!!
      City: Sonora

      Tips: Fish are still scattered. Need shade, deep water close and cover. Not a bite to be had on riprap. R

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74-78

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 1o and 11, fishing was hot. Caught over 50 fish. Drop-shoting with green,purple and brown 4 in. worms, caught only small fish nothing over 2 pounds. Switched to spinner late morning to mid day, white and chartrues-white. Caught a 5 and 6 pound fish.
      City: royal oaks

    • By

      Water Temp: 72-74

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Had a guide trip from 10pm to 7am. Started at Rattlesnake but wind pushed us out of the area. Ran up to Lakeport where the wind was not a factor and caught 2 small fish over 4 hours. Tried top water, spinneraits, dropshot and Senkos...both fish came on Senkos shallow. At 2 am we ran to Konocti and Dollar Island where we finally started catching fish. Caught 26 total with best five only 13-14 pounds. Most came on white spinnerbaits with a few on Senkos and 10" grubs. Largest went 3 pounds and most were 1-2 pounds and most fish came shallow. Couldn't find any kicker fish shallow or deep. Fish seemed to be in schools. We'd cover a couple hundred yards with no fish, then catch a bunch of bites in a small length of shoreline.
      City: Fair Oaks

      Tips: Cover water! Fish thoroughly and when you get a fish fan cast that area with repeated casts until the school plays out.

Friday, July 9th, 2004

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: mid-70s

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Windy all day, with high fog until just after noon. Good frog bite throughout the morning, with fish (all largemouths) in about 1 foot of water -- once the fog lifted, the frog bite was over. The only fish (all spots between 10 and 13 inches) I was able to coax into biting in the afternoon came on dartheads -- just about any color 4-inch worm worked, but something with red seemed to work a bit better. Ended up with about a dozen fish, the biggest maybe 2-pounds.
      City: Pinole

      Tips: Fish the very back of every cove in the morning, with topwater, before the sun is visible!

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: Unknown

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I stayed at Reel Inn trailer park on Saturday, July 3, started fishing from the shore with about a dozen other people. Drop shot was slaying them! Color didn't seem to matter. Biggest fish was 3 plus lbs. I ended up with 9 for the day. I had to work on the 4th. Came back and fished Tuedsay July 7 with my buddy Bob. Not positive, but I think it was at Ben's rock! North west of Konocti about 1 to 2 miles. Bob started with a drop shot and I started with a Crank bait. From 6:20 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. we caught and released about 60 fish. Bob caught some on a Senko too! I did not stray from a crank bait the whole time. Bob switched to a Lucky Craft crank and started slaying them the last hour! He outfished me 3 to 1. I fish Lake Sonoma mostly, but today was my best day ever. 28 fish in 5 hours! Fish went from 1 to 3 lbs.
      City: Windsor

      Tips: I used crank baits both white and shad color. Bob's Lucky Craft had green and blue in it. Fish varied in dept from 2 feet to about 8 feet. We only covered about 1/2 mile during the whole morning. The bite never slowed much.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Tried the top water striper bite without much success. On the water about 10 a.m. and stayed till 4 p.m. and only saw 4 boils, and 3 of them happened in the space of ten minutes. Managed to boat 1 to 3.5 lbs. Not much traffic on the lake so I can't blame it on that. Had a little more success on black bass though with 6 to 3 lbs. on baby brush hogs and pop-r.
      City: Stockton

Thursday, July 8th, 2004

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing the N. shore from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM produced three fish: dink, 1# 11oz., and a 2# 1oz. The larger fish took a 6" Yamamoto grub in white. Calero bass are always suckers for grubs. Hooked-up with a small one on a white spinnerbait, but it unbuttoned. HEAVY WINDS, bro! Pretty slow for 6 hours of fishing, but that's the way it is with shore fishing.
      City: Belmont, CA

      Tips: Grubs on/around the weed mats, and cast sporadically for cruisers. Senko produced no fish, spinnerbait was only mildly effective. Try doughballs for the huge goldfish in the shallows. Saw a bassboat catching small ones on small cranks off main points.

    • By

      Water Temp: 72-76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Biggest fish this week was a 2.8lbr on a medium running crankbait off a mainlake point in 4ft of water and another 2.8 off a rocky point on a buzzbait. Lots of smaller bass out there hitting everything from brush hogs(carolina and texas rigged), spinnerbaits(slow with a jerk here and there), senkos(let em sit), dead ringers(carolina rigged, splitshotted), jig and grub combos(jiggity jig jig jig), and topwater action. Fishing weedlines has worked out a bit and fish tend to be in a variety of depths every day. Most action has come in the 5-10ft range. Go away wind please. FROG BITE WHERE YOU AT?!!
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Dropshot for dinks and for an occaisional bigger fish, spinner baits around the weeds, Brush hogs in deeper water.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70-72

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at the break and headed to franks tract. Stopped at one of the marinas and caught one on a speed trap about 3lbs. Hit franks tract and threw mr. 6in. senko for a while few dinks and one that was 4lbs. Decided to hit this concrete wall for a little flipn and caught six over 2lbs.
      City: Sac

      Tips: Throw 6in. senkos in watermelon with red/green flake.Also throw 5in in color 916(coreshot)
      Speed trap:firetiger
      Stay out of the wind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      Good luck!

    • By

      Water Temp: 68-70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: 2nd time out to the Delta. Went to Taylor/Dutch slough. Lots of wind and dinks. Great bite on poppers and a couple on senkos and one on a speed trap. No luck on ika's, buzz/spinner bait or frogs. Plenty of Dragon flys and fry in the water.
      City: San Francisco

      Tips: None yet. I'd say I need a few more dozen times out there before giving any tips.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79.8-81.6

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: In at packers at 0412, use only the lanes nearest the ramp, #3&4 or at the end of their usefulness, us them and damage your trailer, Bailey Cove is out now also, Lake is 49.6 ft down, air temp a cool 66, moved away from the ramp throwing my jigs with no luck, cranked up and ran over into the lower Sac and throwing at points with no takers, ran up into the gooseneck and got my first at 0545 on a surface bait, a fat 2.84 spot, 2 casts later get a big roll but I missed it, ran acorss a mess of fish in 18ft and out came the jig rod, dropped it straight down and hooked up a good fish and out comes 3.54 spot. Moved to a rock wall and about a half hour later connected with a 3.18 spot after changing to a 1/2 oz jig. Finshed the morning off with a 2.76 spot on the 1/2oz and missed a couple of others. Turned out to be a great morning with a slight breeze out of the north and much better fish just not nearly the numbers from the night fishing, but good solid weight for only 4 fish. used my usual B & S twintails in melon pepper except for the first. out at Packers at 0920 as the skiers got cranked up. air temp 80 degrees and a nice cooling trend from the folks in the Bay area. Only saw one other bassboat this am but lots of trout trollers.
      City: Redding

Wednesday, July 7th, 2004

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: This report won't be too exciting because the fishing wasn't too exciting - but my two clients learned a lot and we had a great time. Fighting a sustained wind of 15-20 mph wasn't such a great time for the guide, har!! This was a typical cold front summer trip at Berryessa - good fishing before dark - no topwater action - and slow night fishing with lots of small bass biting. We did well before dark, split-shotting green craw 6" worms and 4" electric grape Berkely pulse worms. One of the fellows lost the biggest on the second jump a 2 1/2+ largemouth, hooked on a margarita mutilator worm. We landed 9 before dark with the biggest a 2 lb smallie that did not want to see the inside of my boat. Wow, what a fight! The action was great but the fish averaged only 1 1/2 lbs with two very skinny largemouth in the bunch. A second spawn? After dark, the bite started ok but as it good cooler with heavy wind, it really slowed down. We finished in the narrows on one of my favorite points where the other client could have given us a happy ending. He hooked a big fish which quickly broke he 12# test. Must have been a nick. We wound up with 14 total, including 2 spotted bass which we havn't seen for awhile. Overall, not bad considering wind, fog, and chilly temps. Is this July?!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I showed my clients how to located quality summer bass in flats with dropoffs. These areas had a lot of fish, but the quality wasn't there this trip. If you are planning a night trip to Berryessa or Clear Lake, it is wise not to go during a major cooling period. The hotter the weather (nights too) the better the fishing. We were hoping to catch the bite before all the cool air moved in. As it was, I talked them into one night earlier, but we should have gone Tues night when the wind first started. If you hit that situation right - fishing can be excellent for trophy bass - wind before the cold air sets in sort of a pre-front bite. We fished all around Big Island, Berryessa Marina, and the narrows - anywhere we could get out of the wind a bit.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: My neice and nephew are comong to visit this weekend (5yr old and 3 yr old). I have been fishing the Delta lately and do not know how Berryessa is doing. Can someone put me on to some dinks, panfish or something that will bite well enough for the neice and nephew not to get too bored on a Saturday morning trip? Thanks in advance for the advice.
      City: woodland