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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, June 26th, 2004

  • Plumas County
    • By

      Water Temp: 71

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Well, I finally hit for the cycle! I caught a smallmouth a few years ago at Clear Lake and I just caught my first largemouth at Almanor. She was fat! I fished near the north end and got 5 good hits but only landed 2. I got a 3 lb 2 oz smallie followed by the 3 lb 12 oz largemouth. They were both caught on Rodstrainer Jigs w/ #180 Yamamoto grub. I caught another 2-9 on the same jig another evening. My wife and I stayed again at Lake Almanor Resort for a little over a week. Frank and Holly run a great place with good docks for the boats (530 596-3337). We arrived at the beginning of post-spawn and the fishing was very tough compared to the time I was there last year. The reaction bite was better however as I caught several on rip baits and topwater. I lost two big smallies on my Chug Bug - maybe one about 4 lbs. Darn! One evening I got onto a fairly good crankbait bite (Wiggle Warts, color #37) and actually landed 5 for 9 1/2 pounds! The biggest was 2-11. The next night - nothing! We had several evenings of heavy south winds which might have something to do with the sporadic bite. I had a very nice guide trip over last weekend with a father and 9 year old son. We caught 10 in about 6 hours with the boy landing a 1-15 smallie and dad finally getting a 2-2 smallie on the last cast - around noon! Wow, what a surprise!! Morning dawn and purple ghost worms, split-shotted, did the trick that day. Drop-shotting was a dead issue the whole trip and dragging wasn't much better. Many good fish hit the worms but wouldn't take 'em! Sounds like I was there at the wrong time?! I'm sure the day and night bite will pick up in a week or two. Anyway, we did have 10 smallies over 2 pounds in the boat and the scenery was as beautiful as ever! Great thunderstorm too - hail and an inch of rain. I'll bet the bass loved that!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Contrary to last year, I did not find many bass in rocky areas. They had moved away from rock walls and points. I found most of the action near weeds and stump flats - in about 6 to 10 feet of water. The evening bite was always better as it usually is for me. The largemouth morning was the exception. I got the most action in shadows or when the sun was low. Six pound test is a must when the sun is high.

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

      Report: I just read Joe from San Brunos report and he makes a good point. You don't need a boat to catch nice bass but you do have to keep your eyes open and fish carefully. Good job Joe- you beat me fair and square. On the other hand I've never heard of anyone getting bit by a rattlesnake in their boat. Keep on fishin' Joe!
      City: napa

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

      Report: the lake is slow right now i caught 3 of top water totaling about 8 pounds. The fish seem to be holding good in the cove just west of harveys cove. I also caught a few off some crawdad imitations
      City: santa maria

      Tips: use top water in the morning and just before the sun breaks try spinners and even crawdads.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went out of holland riverside on friday after work. got on to water a little after 4:00 pm. went up 21 mile cut into a side slough and caught two on first two casts of the day on spinnerbait, both about 2 pounds. then frogged for about an hour with no results fishing weed on the riprap side, so decided to fish it on the mud shore side and caught three on same black tourny frog up to about 4 lbs, and then fished the riprap shore right across from the marina and caught one about 4 1/2 pounds on a six inch senko and 2 others about 2 lbs each on same senkos. off water by 8:15.
      City: concord

      Tips: fished frog and senko slow. fished spinnerbait fast above the weeds and slow in open water.

Friday, June 25th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Took out a trip on Tuesday and caught fish on chug bug and PJ pop on and off all day with the bigest going 4.5lbs. Also caught fish on senko along rocks and weeds. Today I had a trip that did not produce as many fish. Most where caught on Buzz Baits. I had 2 on a frog and had 4 blow ups. Tide was very weak. Hope for better next week with the minas tides.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Current always helps.

    • By

      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Have not been on the water for over a month, but had a "dream day" today. Lauched @ Orwood around 6:30 am, an d ran towards Franks Tract. First Stop @ Franks south end on weeds and mat. Second cast w/ frog got a 3.5 lber. A couple of minutes later, bam, 5.18 lber. Threw a senko on weedline and proceeded to catch another 7 - 10 fish. Moved toward concrete wall, and kept throwing frog. Got another 5 lber and acouple of smaller ones. Threw a buzzbait and caught a few more. Moved to Little Franks whern the real action started. I caught a 5.81 lber on a frog, acouple of 2.5 lbers on senkos, and numerous fish on worms.

      Had a 50 fish day easy!! Off the water by 1:30.
      City: Brentwood

      Tips: I went out to have fun and did!! Do the same.

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

      Report: Got to lake about 7 pm, caught 3 fish dropshotting a reaper in first 10 min. One fish went 3 lbs, didn't catch another fish until dark. Fished until 1 am with jigs on rocky points. Caught 17 more from the bank to about 15 foot. All but a couple were quality fish. Best 5 12-13 lbs.
      City: Hilmar

      Tips: Fish the rocky points, most bites were after jig sat on bottom for a couple seconds shaking jig slightly.

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

      Report: had some e mails regarding BnS Lures, their items can be obtained by calling (530)347-1779 or emailing brycensusan@juno.com. The owner is making a number of new products some of which, I have found effective. They are located in Cottonwood, Ca and can ship your order promptly.
      City: Redding

Thursday, June 24th, 2004

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 3 p.m to 8 p.m.. My son and I caught ten bass. Used flukes, texas rigged worms and poppers. Nothing bigger than 2.5 lbs.. Fun evening.
      City: R.C.

      Tips: Largest fish came on popper near sundown.

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74 degrees 8 fe

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: i was at berryessa for 4 days went fishing in campell cove of bank tuesday. as im walking down the shore line and i spy a huge bass throw my plastic worm right in front of his face and he takes it instantly. let him take of with it and then i set the hook. i got him up on shore and weighed 7 pounds. theres a picture of it in spanish flat marina.beat u bassnbob.LOL
      City: san bruno

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68-74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took a trip up to the lake for old times since it might be closing July 1 (budget cuts). Fishing for me wasn't so good it might have been because of the fry in the lake.I have never seen such a good hatch at Del Valle in the past 23 years I have been fishing the lake. Their was 1in to 2in fry on every part of the lake.
      City: Livermore

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 70's

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: WENT OUT THURSDAY 6-24,ARRIVED A LITTLE AFTER 6AM .STARTED IN THE NORTH FORK AROUND ROCK USING A ZARA SPOOK FIRST CAST MISSED A 3 MAYBE 4 LB. FISH DRAG TO LOOSE FIRST JUMP THE FISH THREW THE
      LURE ,WENT BACK TO THE OLD RELIABLE THE LUCK CRAFT,FINALLY TIED INTO TWO IN THE 2LB. RANGE FURTHER UP THE FORK. AT THIS POINT MY PARTNER HAS'T HOOKED A FISH THE LAST THREE TRIPS ,SO I TOLD HIM TO USE ANY LURE IN MY BOX JUST BEFORE WE WERE LEAVING HE HIT A LARGEMOUTH IN THE ROCKS THAT WAS CLOSE TO 5 LBS .NOTE BAD FOR A COUPLE HOURS .SEE YAH ON THE LAKE WHATS LEFT OF IT .
      City: Roseville

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 78.8

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: In at Jones Valley at 2100, air temp at 86, lake down to 39 1/2 ft, ran over to my rock pile in Fort Creek and no fish on or around it but 4 houseboats and ski boats back in there, moved over into the lower Squaw creek on a hump that came up overnight and tossed a 3/4oz footballhead tied up and a BnS Lures twin tail in #23(melon pepper) with some of their goop added and caught 12 dinks on and around this hump. between 2130 and 2200. Left there and moved over into the pit on a submerged hump for 4 more the biggest being a 1.74 smallmouth. Went back inside Jones Valley and got 2 more by 11PM when some fools in a ski boat started skiing without any lights on. I got out to avoid getting run over along with another guy in a john boat. These fish were very aggresive tonight, I swam my baits just ticking them along the bottom. and reel like crazy to stay ahead of these fish as every one of them ran at the boat after I set on them. MIssed at least 10 others but no size to speak of.
      City: Redding

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Several fish on a buzzbait early, my partner had 3 blow up on a frog without a hookup. Several more flipping a tube. No size to talk about, Top water was good until the wind came up.
      City: Fairfield

      Tips: Don't take advise from a lousy fisherman like me.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Frog bite seems to be coming on strong. Last two days the frog has put quit a few fish in the boat, with 3lbers being the smallest and 5lb+ being the bigger fish on both days. Until I started throwing the frog yesterday,most everything I had been catching had not topped the 2.5lb. mark.
      City: Modesto

      Tips: Find the cheeze, throw the frog. Mid to late afternoon is the best bite.

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

      Report: Got out on the lake around 3:00pm. Fished around Konocti bay, Jago bay, and surrounding area. Didn't take long to land the first fish, a nice 3 pound largemouth. To make a long report short by the time we got out of the water at dark we had caught 40+ fish between the two of us. In those 40 there were two 6 1/2lbs, two 5lbs, and probably five or so in the 3-4lb range. The rest were averaging from 1 to 3lbs. Not many shakers either. Went out the very next day and almost duplicated the day before. Throughing mostly green and red pumpkin colored baby brush hogs along with cranks and some other plastics. Brush hogs seemed to work the best.
      City: Pinole

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

      Report: Rented a "delux bass boat" from the marina (Thank God I took advantage of the Wed special), Took off with much anticipation of a great day on this wonderful lake. Water visability was 15' + Fish were everywhere cruisers, lookers what not but NO takers. I threw everything at them I could. I fished top water from buzzbaits to spooks to frogs to sammies, nothing but fish were still busting on the surface. I threw cranks, traps ... nothing. I even resorted to metering shad off shore and trying to spoon fish. NOTHING! As far as drop shot every color I had in my tackle box I threw at them. No bites no fish! Water is dropping and shad is everywhere! Good luck at this fine impoundment right now! The only thing that made my day worth while was that my daughter had fun driving the boat.
      City: Castaic

      Tips: Dont rent the boats unless you have to. They are loud aluminum and have trashy trolling motors.

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 76

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hit the north fork with a buddy on saturday. We had a little one boat tourney going on that both of us thought was a good idea."You know the rules, Money for first fish, most fish and biggest fish" he says as we are leaving for northfork. At first I thought he would get the first fish because of all the bites he was getting on his topwater but he was new to the topwater scene so he was missing all the early bites. By the time he got used to it I had already gotten a few on a spinnerbait." so the first fish pot is gone, I'll get the others" he said. He kept throwing that zara puppy as I switched to a jig. We both landed fish for the next few hours and by the time it was 10:00 a.m. we had a total of 31 fish with 18 of those being mine. Since I had a few fish lead on him I said to him " let's hit that creek coming in" knowing that he hated fishing that area because of a past fishing trip where he lost three of his fav. lures in about an hour. He said alright but only if I use your lures." Fine, put this on " I threw him a senko. We both worked the creek channel all the way to the creek itself. We got to the end and put our boat in about two feet of water wedged between two trees. As soon as I turned around I could see a school of fish leaving the area. All of them very nice fish. I threw my senko in and wham! I had hooked one of those fish. I landed him and he went just shy of 3 pounds. My buddy wasn't very happy at the sight of that fish. I was kind of giving him some crap when he pointed out another school of fish. This school was led by a HORSE. I'd say it was ten plus! Behind this hog was maybe 5 fish and none of them was smaller than 5 pounds. I told my buddy to throw ahead of them and let that senko sit. I was pretty sure those fish would not bite because of the size of them. Boy was I wrong. He set the hook and his pole went no where. This is a bigen' he said, he got that fish to the boat and I nearly fell overboard at the sight of this fish. I was going for the net when I heard a splash, I turned around and saw my buddy holding his pole in the air. What happened I asked and all he did was sit down."she got off" he moaned. The fish had pulled his knot right out. You could see the pigtail at the end of his line. He was done after that and I didn't have the heart to take his money after the day was over. It was only three dollars. :]
      City: Paradise

      Tips: The spinnerbaits I was throwing were a purple-ish double willow blade with a white skirt. The senkos were a smoke shad and the tiki sticks were watermelon red. The big one that got away was not the leader of the pack but it was a good 7-8 pounds. I had heard of these schools roaming Oroville lake but this was the first time I had seen them. I'm going to bring some live bait with me next time, just in case I see them again.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79.2

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: went in at Jones Valley at 2030 hrs but couldn't get in due to all the ski boats hovering around the ramp, air temp 89, lake nearly 38ft down, slight push out of the southwest at 3 mph, finally got goiing at 855pm and ran over into the lower pit throwing a blade for one at 1.5. Went back into Fort Creek on a submerged rock pile at 930PM and dropped a 3/4oz jig wearing some living rubber and a B&S twintail #23 and pulled it over some rocks in 12 ft and got hit hard, up came a 4.04 largemouth, first one this year. Fished around this pile for another 10 minutes catching 6 dinks on the same bait and left for another submerged hump near Squaw creek point and got four more dinks and a decent 2.5 spot on the same 3/4oz rig. Went back into fort creek and the rock pile gave up a 3.86 spot. The wind stoped at 1015 and the bugs came out in force so I took off figuring some open water might provide some relief but it didn't. Got out at 11pm, best 5 went 12.04 so a nice night out even with the damn bugs. Mr. Fuller, I will see you on Lake Blvd tomorrow night please don't forget my order!
      City: Redding

Monday, June 21st, 2004

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78 - 80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 5:30 pm through 1:30 am. Fishing before dark was okay on various reaction baits (but not topwater). After dark as expected, bite slowed way down. This lake is very difficult to fish because of all the moss and weeds. The moss is so bad it even fouls up the ball bearings in spinnerbaits and you're lucky to get in a cast and have the blade spin for more than 10 feet of retrieve. Slow rolling on the bottom which is usually a good technique is impractical now because of all the moss/weeds. You can see well enough during the day to fish okay but at night you're casting blind and get into the muck a lot. Couldn't fish a jig and couldn't even fish a worm through the weeds after dark. The only thing which worked after dark was the spinnerbait and then you're pulling grass and moss off the bait basically every cast. Caught about 8 fish all together with the biggest coming just at dark, a 3 pounder.
      City: Folsom

      Tips: During the day, throw baits that stay above the weeds and moss. All my fish came from around weed beds. If you know the lake well, maybe you can find some areas that are free of weeds. If so, I'd start there. The best bite was from 8 pm - 9:30 pm.