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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, July 1st, 2004

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: good

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished the south end of the like pulled out about 50 bass on motoroil senkos texas rigged. I really dont know why i caught so many fish because ive fished this like for the past 5 years and ive never had like this. Woohooo!
      Biggest bass caught was around 6 pounds.
      City: Gilroy

      Tips: fish with senkos

    • By

      Water Temp: 70-74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Calero has been really good for me lately in the mornings and in the evenings. Most of my fish were caught around weeds and off rock walls and rocky points. I have been getting good morning topwater bites, especially today. Most fish caught today were on the south end really close to the weed mats on buzz baits. We totalled 9 on buzzbaits today in 2 hours. All were around 2 lbs. My biggest fish in the past weeks has been a 3.2 on a spinnerbait reeled real slow right next to a submerged weed bed. When the sun gets high I turn to carolina rigging, shaking brush hogs, and dropshotting off of points, and rock walls. Numbers of fish have been alright but the size of my fish haven't been too big. Good Luck guys.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Roboworms, revenge spinnerbaits and buzzbaits, lucky craft jerkbaits, brush hogs and rat-l-traps. get there in the morning, or get there after 4:00.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: nice

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 1 to 5 and on the first cast caught i nice little bass on a chartreus spinnerbait then no luck for awhile until i pulled out a nice 5 pounder out of a fallen tree. We fished the very North end of the lake where theres a bunch of timber and sticks and it was very very shallow. Fun Day though.
      City: Morgan Hill

      Tips: Fish Naked......

    • By

      Water Temp: 70 degrees

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the morning from 6:30 - 10:30 a.m. I got blanked but my son, John, got six nice bass, 1.5 to 2 lbs, all of which he released, of course. He got them all on a bluegill-colored Rapala DT-10 crankbait in 6-8 feet of water on the outside of an Elodea weedbed near the dam. They all came from a small area that was loaded with small bluegill. Apparently them basses are chowing down on the bluegill.
      Unusual event was his catching a 10" trout that hit a crawfish colored DT-10. That had to be a trout with an attitude! There's no way it could have gotten the lure in its mouth to eat it.
      City: Monterey, CA

      Tips: The lake has gone down a few feet over the last several weeks. The fish appear to be moving to the outside edge of the weedbeds. In some areas, there are lots of small (3-4") bluegill which are apparently serving as forage for the bass. Bluegill imitations are recommended.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 80.2-80.9

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: out with one of my wife's co-workers', got in at Bailey Cove at 1915, lake nearly 45 ft down and this ramp will be out of the wter in a week or less, air temp 94 with a 8 knot wind out of the south, ran over into the middle Pit to fish some emerging humps with no takers and only 2 bites, moved south a bit and finally got a few in the boat, nothing going for 1 1/2 hours but started getting some small fish, finally managed a couple under 2 throwing my B&S 3 23 twintails on 1/2oz jigs. We finished up over near Jones Valley with 21 but must have missed twice as many. Tom struggled a bit with a baitcaster as he is new to that type of reel, turned out the reel was the problem and his catching improved when he laid it down and went to another rod. Beautiful night out with a full moon and the sheriff was out tending to the night skiing problem. out at 0115, air temp 73.
      City: Redding

      Tips: The lake is now dropping very fast and it is necessary to really watch what your doing, lots of stuff coming up quickly.

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Out in my tube today. Fished from the public ramp out on the main lake.Only fished about a mile of shoreline. Great topwater bite until about 9am. Lots of smallies and largemouth to 2 lbs. After the wind started up, senkos were working well. Only caught largemouth, but they were all between 3 and 4 lbs, with one going 7 lbs. Nice fish. After 13:00, very few bites on senkos. Switched to ripbaits. Good thing I switched, mostly smallies 2-4 lbs with 1 at 5.2 lbs. Thats the largest smallie I've ever caught at Sonoma.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Fish slow with plastics. Fish fast with ripbaits.
      Just wish the water skiers and jet skis would stay at least 50 yds from me.Some sure do pull a huge wake.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: The fishing report in the merc said that stripers were biting. Is this a mistake?
      City: san jose

Wednesday, June 30th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 00

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished all day by myself, caught forty plus fish. Best 5 = 16.76lbs. With a kicker weighting 6.84lbs. The largest fish and most of the others took a brown and green 6" worm dropshotted, near current in less than 4' of water. I used a small tube and also a baby brush hog on about ten other fish.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: I want to thank everyone, I have met on the water, in the clubs and at the boat shows the very best of luck fishing and in life. I am leaving the area in August. But I will be fishing two lake regions of WON BASS in the 2005 season coming up soon.
      Good Luck Cliff Herrin

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 71-73

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I ran another marathon at Clear Lake Wed, with a five hour day trip from 6 to 11 am and a night trip from 4 pm to 3 am with an hour dinner break at Konocti. The fellow from southern Cal loved his first time on Clear Lake - weather perfect and bass biting. We started in Konocti Bay with Chug Bugs near the edges of weed patches and rocks and landed 4 to 2 1/2 pounds. The jig and drop-shop bite was excellent also, winding up with 20 bass in the five hour period. He lost the biggest, hooked on a Rodstrainer jig, that seemed to be in the 3 lb plus range. We just stayed in the Konocti Resort area since it was a short trip. The electric grape 4" Berkley Pulse worm was our best drop-shot bait along with the Basstrix bluegill minnow. The afternoon-night trip started with a bang when a regular client (who brought his 9 year-old son for his first night trip) hooked a big bass behind a dock on a 6" purple Senko. I jammed the trolling motor in reverse and with some effort, he got the fish to swim out into open water. I soon netted his beautiful 6 lb 2 oz bass, along with about 6 feet of frayed line! Wow!! Good fish for 5:45 on a summer afternoon. We drop-shotted and Senkoed bass like crazy until dark. The young lad got his share - his biggest at 2-9. After dinner, the wind behaved itself pretty good while we worked the docks at Buckingham and Konotci Bay. While they were worming and Brush hogging, I made myself throw a Rodstrainer Monster King black spinner-bait - ticking the weeds I say that because I know I should be doing that more. I was rewarded with a five pounder and a 2 3/4 pounder. Guess I will be doing that more! Dad was having a lot of success with the black emerald brush hog until we got to Dollar Island! He set on a good fish which made a huge boil in a moonlight after about 15 seconds of battle - and that was it - gone! Trust me - that was a hawg!! The young man was good to go the whole time until he got a little tired after 1 am, losing several on tired hooksets! What a trooper though - he had a ball! What a fabulous trip - over 40 bass and 4 bluegill, with out best five at 20 1/4 lbs! Yes, I think the bite is ok!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: It will be very interesting to see if the lake returns to the thick algae. So far, it is only on the surface. However, it still smelled the same when I put my boat back in the garage. Dark colors worked well during the daylight hours - black/grape, electric grape, and junebug were the best. They are excellent when the lake gets color. Look for the bass a little shallower if the algae is thick on top. Don't forget your jigs this summer - they are working fine.

  • Alameda County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out for a couple of hours yesterday. Had a blast. Too bad they are going to close the lake if people don't speak up. Caught some solid fish dropshotting.
      City: Livermore

      Tips: Fish 10 to 15 feet on sharp drop offs.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79.6-80.4

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: got to Bailey Cove at 1945 and waiting for a guy who wanted to fish and was to meet me. lake is doen to 43.5 ft, air temp 83, water murky with visibility to 5 ft. Stayed around til 2040 and left, had 17 before 1030 with 11 coming between 2050 and 2110. Best was a fat 2.74 spot, the smallest was a 1.6 and no dinks and all came on a 3/4 oz jig tied up with 2 colors and a B&S twintail in #23(melon pepper) and soaked in their goop. Tossed a blade for a bit right off with no takers over in the lower pit and most caught on long submerged humps with a little rock on them. NOt a lot of traffic tonight and easy to get around with the full moon, out at 2245 at 73 degrees, very pleasant and the fish were pounding my offering, no doubt when you got bit, just had to crank like crazy to stay ahead of em.
      City: Redding

Tuesday, June 29th, 2004

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Took a friend new to night fishing out. Started at 5:30 pm and left at 1:30 am. The bite from last week in Rock Creek near the weed mats was gone and there was some residue or film on the surface of the water. Anyway, zero fish from Rock Creek. We started in Jackson just past the wall and found shad busting the surface even in a pretty brisk wind. Got a couple there on crankbaits and spinnerbaits. We then went to Rock Creek - zip and moved on to the cove just west of Rock Creek. At the back of this cove we found a pocket of active (small) bass and picked up a few more on crankbaits. Then moved to Mountain Spring at dark. The bite was dead until about 10 pm and then it picked up with smaller fish on worms and jigs. Big worms (12" black power worms) got bites but the fish were too small to eat the hook. About midnight the bite dropped off again and we got the "big" bite but wrapped the fish around a tree limb. The fish could have been anywhere from 6 - 12 pounds - very heavy and strong. Picked up a few more fish in the main body and the dam and that was it. Biggest fish was about 2.5 pounds caught at the dam on a spinnerbait at 2:30 am.
      City: Folsom

      Tips: First, sometimes you'll learn a lesson and then gradually forget that lesson after a few years until you re-learn that lesson again the hard way. I used to do the following in the past but haven't done it recently and now it seems I need to keep this tact in mind in the future. When you get a good fish on and you know from previous experience there are trees under the boat, MOVE YOUR BOAT RAPIDLY TO DEEP WATER ASAP THE MINUTE YOU KNOW THE FISH IS A GOOD ONE. I knew this point and knew there was timber on it and didn't get the boat out of the danger zone like I used to do automatically. The result is I lost what could have been a great fish and the only quality fish of the trip. Second, I've noted this pattern before 1) small fish bite, 2) dead period, 3) big fish bite. In other words, the small fish don't always feed when the big fish feed. So when you get a big bite signaling the big fish are feeding, you need to fish hard on your very best spots to take advantage of this short-term bite. The next two nights should be very good. Amador was its "old self" last night (pretty good action with a shot at a big fish).

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Was on the ponds by 5 am, nailed 3 to 2 lbs on a persuader buzz, once the sun hit the water switched to a yamamoto spider grub texas rigged caught 6 more including a 7.42 lb hog that was missing half of her upper lip. damn thing was nearly towing me around the pond, but what a ride. Off the water by 9 am, beautiful morning. The night before I nailed 8 to 2.5 lbs during the last 2 hours of light.
      City: pleasanton

      Tips: I don't know how much this had to do with it but right after the sun came up the fog rolled in and out for about the last 2 hours I was there. the lighting conditions were trippy and the water was like glass, and one more thing.....unless starvation is an issue for you THROW THEM BACK ALL YOU JACKASSES THAT ARE KEEPING THEM. Thank you

Monday, June 28th, 2004

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

      Report: WENT OUT TO MERCED THISMORNING CAUGHT 2 BASS 15 INCHES IN JUST 15 MINUTES I NEVER KNEW THAT THERE WERE THAT MUCH BASS IN THAT LAKE I THOUGHT THERE WAS VERY FEW FISH IN THE LAKE
      City: SAN BRUNO

      Tips: THERE ARE FISH IN THIS LAKE STILL.U JUST HAVE TO FIND THE HOT SPOT.

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

      Report: Since no one has posted for a while on Trinity I
      was in hopes that John Gray might let us know what
      the happenings were for him in both recent Sundays
      of American Bass on the lake. John, I have enjoyed your posts on this site and would like to
      hear what worked and what you might have done differently to get checks both weeks. I have had
      two good trips recently to the lake but it fishes
      so much (as do most lakes) differently on weekends. God love those big "smallies" there, Jim M.
      City: Redding

Sunday, June 27th, 2004

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the lake at the worst time of day - 3:00PM. Fished for 3 hrs and caught 7 bass up to 2 lbs. Caught fish on drop shot, carolina rig, and hula grub in 5-20 ft. Most fish were taken on points or off shore structure shallow to deep drops. Tried weed lines with no luck. Nothing on reaction baits. No other fishing boats on the lake for good reason.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: Don't go at 3:00. Too many boats. Soft plastics in deeper water if you fish mid day. Find an edge and fish the deep side.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 72-74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fish today with Tom Wardrop, launched out of Holland on just a dead calm gorgeous morning. Initially the plan was to play around and find some of those deeper, better quality fish, but it was impossible not to pick up a topwater bait. This just turned out to catch the ebst fish al day. We caught a number of fish on jigs, worms, ect, found one deep tulle berm that held some crankin fish, but not of these produce the quality of fish in the 3-5 pound range that we caught on topwater. No one bait worked best, we caught em on a Trixie shad, Spook, buzzbait and frogs. Outstanding dy of just plain fun fishing on the River!
      City: Oakley

      Tips: Keep moving, not finding concentrations of fish. Fish seemed to be in open water areas surrounded by weeds, points and the backs of "U" bend levee banks held the best fish. No current, deep water with in 10 feet of the strike.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Not muddy but green goo on the surface, below which is clear. I fished the night shift till about 3:00 am and took a nap till 9:00 am. A total of 10 fish at night the largest only went 3.2 but enough bites to keep it interesting. Monday was a different story. I had marked a bunch of off shore rock piles around Rattlesnake that topped out around 8-10 feet deep. Thank God for way points and GPS. Crankbaits, lucky craft deep diver in ghost and white normanDD-22 pulled a fish or two of each pile and then I went back through drop shotting the ledges down to 25-27 feet. Good pattern for that day. Cul em rite said best 5 went 17.6 and probably picked up 20 or so fish that morning. A good come back from my Delta Tourn. on Saturday with my big bag of 4.65 lbs. Lesson learned , don't make a run from Big Break to Lost Slough in a 6 hr. Tourn.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Fish are concentrated on off shore rock piles in 8-25 foot of water, ( South). I did not fish the North end. The crank bait bite was aggressive and produced the bigger fish by far. Seemed like the first 3-4 casts accross the structure produced the larger more aggresive fish . Drop shotted a pearch colored 3 inch swim bait nose hooked about 12 inches from the weight. This also produced 2 BIG bluegill, Cannabels, and a crappie. Does anyone hear the makings of a milk run? anyway had to leave at 1:00 pm and they were still biting.
      Night fishing for my last two trips is a hit and miss. Last trip the better bite was in the daylight. Beats the gagibbers out of the Delta right now.

Saturday, June 26th, 2004

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished in an aluminum boat for a couple of hours in the morning. Caught a 2+lber and a 4.5lber on husky jerks. Lost a small one. Tons of small baitfish in this lake. Bite was slow. Water is very clear.
      City: San Jose

  • Plumas County
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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Well like Larry said, the fishing was a bit slower than past times, but that didnt stop us from pulling in some nice fish. I actually believe i saw you fishing with the father and son Larry, you came right in front of our dock and then the little guy caught a decent fish about 200 feet away from us. Caught all of our fish on 4 and 3 inch senkos in green and brown colors, also picked up a few fish on Spider Jigs. All but a few smallmouth were very nice fish. As Larry H. reported the fish were not holding on rock points at all. I noticed that transitions from rocky points to weedy beaches held lots of fish. We probably ended up catching 15 fish that were all over 2.5 pounds, with 2 of the fish being over 3 pounds. On the last night i went over to Lassen View docks where we had caught a few others before, my girlfriend had a 5++ smallmouth follow in here senko all the way to the dock, biggest i have seen in the lake ever. Then i hooked into a monster, a for sure 4+ fish on a senko in about 30 feet of water. I could feel the fish was rubbing on something, then noticed the evil dock cable in front of me. I tried to get over the cable but the fish took one more good run snapping my 8 pound maxima. I was really depressed considering it was our last night and my girlfriend had a bigger fish than me for the week. Oh well, theres always next time. Most of our fish were caught early in the morning from about 6-noon and then in the evening from about 7-9, with the exception of a few rather windy nights. The lake usually becomes very windy from about 3-7 in the evening but we had a few noon-10 windy days. The lake is beautiful, we will be returning this august for another week.
      City: Rancho Cordova