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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, June 21st, 2004

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74-79

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sad day- last day of 11 days straight fishing. The good news is today was the best of all of them. Took another pal out to fish this beautiful lake- launched at about 6:30AM at Capell and headed to my favorite submerged tree spot. We both tossed plastics around the first tree with no bites. While we cruised over to the second tree I tied a jig onto my flippin' stick and added a yamamoto twin tail trailer. And after snapping off a nice fish last Monday I set the drag fairly light. I pitched the jig 2 times and on the third toss I felt a small tic- then the line took off heading towards shore. I set the hook (gingerly) and then tightened up the drag a bit because the fish was pullin' string. Then I let the rod do the work- and I pushed the thumb bar and used my thumb against the spool to control the tension. Then I yelled " please don't come off, please don't come off" until my friend netted it. What a cool way to start your day. She was a big headed 5lb.,12 ounce spawned out female. We very quickly weighed, measured (26") and photographed her and then watched her slowly fin away back to her underwater lair to eat some more REAL crawdads. We got 1 more jig fish- a 12 1/2" male. We cruised across to an island so I could show him how I troll crankbaits for bass. We saw a tree and decided to toss it- the fish wouldn't touch his brush hog or my jig. The wind blew us back into a cove and as I was turning the boat we saw a good bass bust some shad on top about 2 ft. from shore. We let the wind blow us deeper into this shallow area and when I tossed a white/ chartruese blade a 3lb.5oz. largemouth grabbed it just as I started reeling. Got it in the net- weighed, measured (19"), etc,etc. The coolest part of the day was all the 4 to 5 lb. bass we saw swimming around up in that cove. Not carp- bass. I've never seen that many bigger bass all gangin' up on shad in such a confined area. After the bite slowed down we were able to pull in and have a good look around. There was a hump with a bunch of weeds growing on it- there was a huge buried log about12 ft. long, there were two small isolated rockpiles and a nice shelf across the back of the cove where it dropped from 1 ft. down to 3ft.. My pal got a nice smallmouth on a watermelonseed lizard- about 14 1/2" long. He had another one a minute later but this one held onto the lizard just long enough to get to the side of the boat- then it let go. We looked at the lizard and the hookpoint was still buried in the lizard. I told him "You dipstick- how many times I gotta tell you- SET THE HOOOOOOOK! All in all it was a great last vacation day.
      City: napa

      Tips: Don't take it for granted if an area looks bad- I drove right by this great area we found today on Saturday afternoon and didn't even bother making a cast. I agree with Cooch Cuccia- pig and jigs rule and if those don't work try watermelon/ red flake lizards or baby brush hogs texas or carolina rigged.

Sunday, June 20th, 2004

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: What happened to the bite.Wife,Daughter & myself fished 0600-1100 Fathers Day.My choice of what to do.Two fish,together maybe 13".North/East end and Putah Creek. Topwater,jerkbait,draggin,senko,crankin.I've lost my touch.Wife commented how I let her down,that hurt for about a minute.It's not called catch'in.Fish'n.
      City: Fairfield

      Tips: Don't ask me.Drawing a blank.

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Father's Day + Sunday = many, many boats at Calero. However, this didn't seem to scare the fish too much. Fished the north shore from 4:30 to 8:30 PM and caught three, with the largest at 1 pound 10 oz. The other two were dinks, very small. Largest and one dink fell victim to a 6" white Yamamoto grub rigged Texposed with a splitshot right at the head of the lure, which is an excellent substitute for a spinnerbait in the currently weedy conditions. One bass took a 4" pumpkin senko. Two other anglers reported a 4 pounder on 5" cinnamon senko, and six between the 2 and 2 1/2 pound range on shallow-diving crankbaits burned through the mudlines created by all the boats. Legitimate reports, who knows? However, Calero has been pretty decent in the summer months in the past. Go check it out, jerky.
      City: Belmont, CA

      Tips: Shallow runners will keep you above the weeds. Dropshotting resulted in the weight getting stuck in all the moss on the bottom. Work the mudlines, perhaps???

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 68-70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out for a couple hours on Father's Day Morning. Ran to White's to prospect for some new big fish water. Tried frogs and buzz baits over weeds and wood for the first hour with no takers. Tide was high so hit a couple flats flipping and frogging. Picked up one small keeper and a couple non-keepers on a flipping tube, nothing on the frog. Was marking a lot of activity deeper, so I drug out the drop shot rod and tried working the 8'-18' range. Picked up one a little under 3#. Stuck with the drop shot for a while and lost a decent fish that I did not get a hook into and picked up a few more (small keepers and shorts). Tried switching up to a jig and working the same areas, got one hit, but did not eat the jig. It was a nice morning on the Delta, although the bite was not great.
      City: Brentwood

      Tips: The fish were not where I expected them to be at a high tide with good weather conditions. I had to adjust quite a bit to catch some in the areas I was fishing.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the back pond for a few hrs floating around and finaly found some fish willing to hit but I had to go a little deeper than I started out. I have not had a 20 or 30 bass day like some of these other guys but did manage a couple in the 3lb range, beats being stuck at work.Stil searnin the lake the darker colors seemed to do better.
      City: San Leandro

      Tips: What kind of baitfish are in the back ponds??? just askin for a little direction.....
      Fish low and slow........

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: took the dogs out for a sunday evening rip. walked all the way down to the trailer park and started throwing a rediculously giant BUZZbait because I couldn't find my normal persuader buzz and WHAM!! the scale said it was 5.42lbs. the weird thing is that it looked like a largemouth in every way except for the mouth which was not large at all. Does anyone (Mike Souza in particular) ever catch any spots in the back lakes? I know that across stanley blvd. there are those 3 ponds full to the brim with lm's, sm's, and spot's but in all of my years fishing the back lakes I have only caught one smallmouth never seen a spotted bass. Thanks
      City: pleasanton

      Tips: too easy...if you have to look here you might as well bring a bobber....to any newbies, senkos, spidergrubs, and buzzbaits in the evening. catch and release for the love of God...

    • By

      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Caught two fish on a bluegill pattern crankbait. The first was a 14" dink, but the second one was 2.8 lbs, according to my scale.
      Both were hooked on a jerk retrieve where I'd let the 'bait sit while I reeled in the slack slowly. Both hit when the lure was motionless.
      City: Petaluma

Saturday, June 19th, 2004

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started when the lake opened. It was overcast and a light breeze. The conditions had spinner bait written all over. NOT. Moved around to various weed lines and main lake points using different rigs and not a bite. Finally at 12:00 with the sun finally out and the wind really coming up and the ski traffic at its peak I finally got my first fish. In the next three hours I caught 17 bass up to 2.5lbs. Used dart head, drop shot, and carolina rigged plastics in 8-17 ft. I moved around to various points but most fish were taken on off shore structure (hump)with a 6ft - 26ft drop. Fish were stacked up on the drop. Wind and waves pushing across the structure turned the bite on. Could not believe that boats were coming by so close it was nearly swamping my aluminum boat and the fish were still biting. Fun time.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: Don't give up. Soft plasitics in 5-20 ft of water worked best for me on shallow to deep water drop off. Drag it off the ledge and keep the line tight because the bite was very subtle. That is tough in wind and waves but manditory if you want to put fish in the boat at this lake.

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

      Report: headin up to berryessa tomorrow ill be there for three days.i will make sure i will report on it.
      City: san bruno

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69 - 74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished all over the Delta today with sporadic, but consistent action... lots and lots of dinks but we managed a few quality fish on the outside edge of weedlines with Senko's and lipless cranks. Had a few bites flipping sweet beavers right up along the tule edges, but had trouble hooking them... most spit it out as I pulled them to the surface. Couldn't get any fish on blades or buzzers today and had two or three little blurbs under our frogs, but no real takers. Best fish of the day were one three pounder and two two pounders. Fished both clear and muddy water and caught fish in both.
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Lot of dinks out there - upsize your offerings if you want to the quality fish though I had a 5 incher hit my 5/8 oz lipless crank!

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I agree with Archuletta. When I see pictures of big bass on this site from chabot I'm pretty much in Awww. I've fished it soooooooo many times without anything to show off. The guys who are gettin' em' there must have some type of secret because the largemouths just won't hit the usual lure types. This has to be the only lake in which you can make 500 casts with a senko without a hit. I'm convinced that the population of bass at this lake is less than a thousand. I wish someone would realize this and do something about it. I'm not talking about planting 100-300 trees each year because that won't do shit. All that will result is dead timber which will end up as debree. If you want a bass population you have to put a little money out. It's as easy as that. Build VIABLE structure. Plant fish. Develop more strict regulations. NO more 5 fish limits. Can't we afford a 5 dollar disoposal camera and a 20 dollar rapala digital scale. CATCH and RELEASE ONLY. This is the 21st century. Bass should no longer be an option at the dinner table due to the fact that so many people depend on fishing for this incredible species as there favorite hobby. DON'T FISH FOR BASS IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A MEAL. I'm tired of all the bull shit. There need's to be more conservation here in the Bay Area so that we don't have to travel a hundred miles just to catch a bass. Open up your eyes and stop being greedy you idiots who are keeping the bass.
      City: ?

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The water isn't really stained, just covered with green stuff. Fished off rocky reefs and main points around the mid-lake area in 8 to 15ft. drop shotting a Basstrix 4" perch (fat minnow) and 3" shad (bait fry)and caught a lot of bass. Our best five went about 33lbs. and best 10 probably close to 50lbs. We missed a lot of hits and caught quite a few small fish and one 12lb. catfish. Fun day!
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Rig your drop shot hook about 3ft. from the sinker and work offshore rock flats and boulders.

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

      Report: Please help save our fishery. I have a couple of addresses for those who want to voice there opinion.You can write to the Governor and mail it to Office of the Governor
      State Capitol Building
      Sacramento,Ca.95814 or email Governor@governor.ca.gov
      Please do all you can to save Del Valle. Thanks again.
      City: Fremont

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

      Report: Gates don't open till 6am, so didn't really get to take advantage of an early topwater bite. Through a rip bait for about all of 5 minutes on my "hot spot" and not a follower in sight. Put on a crankbait and caught a dink on the third cast. Smallest fish I've ever caught on my favorite point which usually produces a 2+ lbs. fish for me everytime. Tried plastics there and at some of my usual rockpiles, coves, etc. without any bites which was strange. Dropped a 3+ spot at the boat while the Sherrif's boat was watching nearby. They stopped and gave me their "sympathy sign" with their arms wide open saying "that big?" I gave them a fake chuckle and a smile as if I didn't care about missing the "bigun", but inside I was burning up. After a few more casts and deep sighs, I felt much better and relaxed.
      City: Folsom

      Tips: Crankbaits is the bait "du jour" I guess for now in the AM. Not many pleasure boaters which was unusual for a Saturday, but then again I was off the water by Noon. Water is a little lower than normal for this time of the year which should make the fishing better than it was.

    • By

      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 6a to 11 a starting at the dam cranking and top water. Nothing so moved to mid-lake flipping Senkos and throwing frogs again with nothing. Switched to split shot green weenie style 4" worms and boated a dozen from 6 inches to four 13 inchers.
      City: Delhi

      Tips: Slowly work split shot craw colored worms.

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The bass classics of santa clara valley had thier tournament and it took 16 lbs to win. I was throwing crawdad crankbaits on wind blown banks with rock in the morning for the two best fish about 4lbs each then I cranked two more.Then I went to split shotting morning dawn worms with cht tails in muddy water in the wind blown banks again. I (Mike Espinola) won first place with 16 lbs. and had both the big fish and 2nd big fish. In second place with 12.75 lbs was Dieter Spicker and in third was J.R. Taylor with 12.35 lbs.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: Crank the windy wind blown banks with crawdad cranks and fish real slow with worms split shotting in the middle of the day. Every fish I caught had crawdads tenticles or claws sticking out of there throats.

Friday, June 18th, 2004

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70-71

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 8-11, caught 6 decent bass on a variety of plastics. Biggest one was just under 3 lbs. and was caught on a Texas rigged Roboworm. Once the sun came up I had the best luck with Carolina rigged baby brush hogs.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Fish the shoreline early and the main lake points later in the day.

    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Top waters first light - casting over humps,points, and creek beds. First cast produced three aerial attacks until he bit Spook - 12". Shad senkos caught 10 the rest of the day with one coming on 3X Zulu. Senko fish came off points. Last one caught at 1:30 pm. All came walking the shoreline. Biggest was 3#. Total = 11 fish for 25#'s.
      City: Rancho Cordova

    • By

      Water Temp: UH ???

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went to CFW this morning to get in a little fishing. Got three on light green & pepper worm. There is a really nice launching facility now. Nicely laid out too. Got on the water at 6am, the water level is dropping quite a bit. The spillway is high and dry. While fishing on the river arm I look up and see a full race clown boat, V8 big block come screaming past. They turned around and came back the same way. Moving so fast that there was very little wake. As I moved out of that arm I hear drag boat after drag boat blasting off. I find out later that this is time trials for a drag race this weekend at CFW. I left at 1PM talked to the man that takes the money and he says by the end of the summer there won't be much water at all. He said there is 40% more rice this year and they're scheduled to lose most of there water. When this happens they are going to extend the launch ramp another 200 ft into the water. SO CFW is going to dry up soon.
      City: Rio Linda

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74-79

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Red Bud at about 8:15AM and took a nice ride up to the Nice area. On my 2nd flip into some tules with a pig and jig I got a hard bite and set hard. Snap goes the flourocarbon leader! Please don't let that be the only good bite today was the thought that ran through my head. Decided to head up and try Rodman for the first time. It looks great but I didn't get a bite until I got back to the low bridge. At 1PM I got 2 little 12 inchers on a Nories Bug and a chartruese Norman crank. I fished some docks along the west shore with no luck. By now the wind was howling so I headed down to the south west part of the lake. I was seeing a lot of fish in the 9-12 foot range on the meter out in 16- 22 ft. of water. So I did the same thing I did the day before at Berryessa- I trolled that chartruese crank on 12 lb. Big Game and a Striker glass rod. I caught 9 more bass but only half were 12" or bigger- one was 15 1/2" and 2 pounds. The 3 best all came along shorline areas that had big rocks on them. You could actually get within 12-15 ft. of shore in a lot of places. The best part was the looks on the face of the bass boat guys as I'd go by in my aluminum boat- they must have thought I was the most clueless trout troller in the universe. Maybe I should talk my WON bass TOC partner into using the aluminum boat instead of his Ranger! All in all a decent trip but I really was looking for a few nice ones. Next trip!
      City: napa

      Tips: My tip... thank your wife profusely for not insisting you go with her and the baby girl to Minnesota. I've fished every day so far- Berryessa twice, Black Butte, Clear Lake, Lake Henessey, 2 local ponds twice and I still have 3 days to go- ain't vacation GREAT!!!