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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, May 31st, 2004

    • By

      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: i was fishin off the west side of the lake on the path most of the day. you could see lots of bass spawning. i caught a 2 and a 4lb off a sinko. i casted out with a rooster tail and caught a 4 pound trout.
      City: oakley

      Tips: walk around first and try looking for spawning bass.

    • By

      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: i was fishin off the west side of the lake on the path most of the day. you could see lots of bass spawning. i caught a 2 and a 4lb off a sinko. i casted out with a rooster tail and caught a 4 pound trout.
      City: oakley

      Tips: walk around first and try looking for spawning bass.

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Hit the lake at 6 am no action for me or all others I spoke with. One more cast at 11 am before calling it a day flippin a texas rigged hula grub (cinnamon) WHAM pulled in a 7 lb'er in 3 feet of water just across the lake from the boat ramp on the out side edge of the tules.
      City: Pleasanton

      Tips: Plastics along the shoreline and spinner bait in coves just above the weeds.

    • By

      Water Temp: 71-73

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Through top water till 10:00 with no luck. Tried everything I know and still nothing. Caught first fish on rip bait around 11:00. Kept throwing that till noon and no fish. Tried a water melon Sinko with red and black flack as last ditch effort. Caught 4.2 Lbs'er and a 6.4 lbs'er in ten min. Called it a day after that.
      City: Fresno

      Tips: Water Melon Sinko's with Red & black flake in 10-15 Feet of water.

  • San Francisco County
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      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Saw a couple of bass in shallows guarding a bed. As I approached (stealthily as I could) they moved off a point into a bit deeper water. They did return, however a few minutes later. Pitched a small swimming minnow bait along a brushline close to the bed and got one of them (about 2 1/2 lbs.)
      City: Daly City, CA

      Tips: Patience, fish slowly, soft plastics cast into deeper water, worked slowly into shallower depths should work

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

      Report: Can anyone give me the latest info on Trinity? I'm sorry I have to do this on the report page but I have never fished Trinity before and my dream is about to come true this weekend. I just want to try hard not to turn it into a nightmare. Any info would be great!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!
      City: Paradise

    • By

      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00p.m. The lake was in alot worse shape than the last time i fished it (March). The weeds were dying, the bottom was silty, and the water level was a lot lower. It's hard to put a pattern on this lake because of the wide fluctuations in water level. Managed to land one dink on a T-rigged Baby Brush hog on the backside near the bouy line.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Dragging a Brush hog in the flats in Mar/Apr.is the only thing that's worked consistently for me. Caught a few on C-rigged magic worms, grubs, and in warmer weather Pop-R's work o.k.

Sunday, May 30th, 2004

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74-75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Sorry...incorrect email address in last post...its corrected above.
      City: Fair Oaks

    • By

      Water Temp: 74-75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: A friend and I went to Amador on the spur of the moment for some night fishing. We started at 7:30 in the evening, fished until 6 the next morning. Most of the night we enjoyed a pretty bright moon and fishing pressure was light....ran into a couple pot heads in a beached boat smoking dope....otherwise, very few boats.

      Threw top water on and off all night without any bites. Caught one small keeper on an 8" Yamamoto grub (black/blue tail) Texas rigged about 6' deep. Missed a couple more on the same bait. Graphed a lot of fish just above the weedline but couldn't get them to bite on dropshot, deep cranks or spinnerbaits. Tried fishing out to 60', no luck.

      About 1 AM, my partner switched to a black/purple 3/8oz DUH jig with a 6" Yamamoto twin tail grub trailer (color 231...plum with green flake). He pitched it up to the shore and worked it slowly out to 20'. His first fish was a strong 5 pounder...big head, long skinny body. He caught another 4 smaller keepers and a huge bluegill on that jig between 2-4 AM. All his jig fish came on main body points and walls between 10-15' deep. I continued to throw various plastics (grubs, craws, worms, dropshot baits) but they only ate his jig.

      Overall, the bite was slow and I was quite surprised at the lack of top water bite with such warm water and the moon light providing good back lighting.
      City: Fair Oaks

      Tips: Fish slow. Use big profile baits. All our fish had deep water close by. Mosquitos were out...take repellent.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 68-69

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Here's something for you Bass Rancher. Fished South End of lake from Konocti to Jago for about three hours Sun and Mon mornings over Memorial Day as the wind started to die down. Cranking tule points over the weeds was effective with Shad type baits in the early hours, switching to a senko bite in the pockets later in the AM. Five or six each day between 2 and 3#. Nothing huge, but they are there.
      City: Manteca

      Tips: It is ALWAYS worth the trip to this lake.

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

      Report: Pulled the boat out of clear lake after a flippin bite in the keys and headed to oroville as the wind 2was pretty bad. Launched at 4:30 and headed to the north fork. started dropshottin and throwin cranks for a quick 20 fish(none over the slot. Moved to another area in N. fork and saw about 30 spots cruising in a cove. These spots were big for oroville. Threw jerks, cranks and topwater for 20 minutes and no takers. Then the sun dissapeared over the canyon and it was on. First hit a splash it. stayed with it but the hits were sometimes short. switched to a spinnerbait and burned it. For the next hr and 1/2
      the spots crushed that spinnerbait like i've never seen. Moved down the bank hitting points, coves, and straight banks. every point had a couple 2lbers. The later it got the further the spots moved back into the coves. Every decent hiding spot had a quality spot. Must have landed 40 in 90 minutes with 10-12 over the slot. A couple were close to 3 lbs. Best quality day on oroville for me. Dream Day
      City: Brentwood

      Tips: Stay late if you can. Fish are shallow late. Spinnerbait in clear skirt and double silver blades. Any fast moving bait mimicking baitfish would probably kill em. Bigger fish positioned on points and biggest bolders inside coves.

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

      Report: well finally the wind let up enough to go out on san luis.launched at dinasour point and wanted to fish al the way in the back but they have dropped the lake so much i aint there no more.went back to portiguez cove and started throwing a jerk bait with no luck.then went to yellow rat-l-trap
      for the same result.so then went to the old standby cut anchovie in about 60 feet of water in the same area.cought 6 fish two largest went 26"
      the rest about 16"-18".lot's of bank fisherman so
      they must be also catching fish on bait.
      City: salinas

      Tips: if you do bait fish anchor in one spot and dont move let the fish come to you becouse it always works but you may go an hour or more between bites.

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launch was empty upon arrival @5:48am, we even got to use the dock. Wind was kicking at 20 knots & water was rolling! Fished points & wood directly across ramp. Very slow & no big fish,Post spawn & fish are back in to hibernate mode. All the campgrounds full, no bass boats out today, guess they know when to stay away. Worked up & down te lake, should've stayed home type of day. Caught & released about 10 fish pushing 3 #'s. Soon as sun warmed up Skiers came out in droves, roiling waster & making the shoreline muddy. I think it's time to hang it up for the year & start applying for your out of state tags & concentrate on Salmon. See Ya Next Year!
      City: san francisco

      Tips: STAY HOME.

Saturday, May 29th, 2004

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: What happened to the top water bite like two weeks ago.Found fish all over the depths.Dead sticking Sencos with a circle hook,only thing working for me.Cast out let settle twitch.8 fish for 4.5 hrs fishing,all shallow,all close to 2lbs.Daughter caught 5 reading a book and dragging a 4" green weenie.Bigger fish at 10'+,she caught the big fish a 2.2.Good thing there was no bet going on.Lot of boat traffic by 1000.Left by 1100.Met nice basser on lake threw him some baits(clear senko with red & black flake),hope his luck improved.He had just put his first fish in the boat when we met.Weather and wind change the day before must of pushed them down?
      City: Fairfield

      Tips: Fish slow.

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

      Report: TO BIG VALLEY HOT SHOTS (FRESNO CLUB) ARE YOU GUYS AFRAID TO SUMMIT REPORTS ABOUT YOUR LAKES. AFRAID OTHER FISHERMAN MY COME AND BEAT YOU AND TAKE YOUR MONEY.
      City: MERCED

      Tips: SUMMIT REPORTS ABOUT THE DEAD SEA AND PINE FLAT.

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: didn't have a lot of time to fish so headed out from the marina in a rowboat to shore. the water is real clear, you can see atleast 10 ft down in most areas, but there is heavy mudline. on the shore across from the marina i picked up a 1 1/2 lber rigiht away swimming a brown jig through the mudline. fished some more mudline but didn't get anything. next, i went on to the mainlake, and turned right around, it was a lot windier than i thought and without a trolling motor i wasn't going to try it. came back by the marina and fished a rocky point. Second cast to it fishing about 20 ft. down, caught a 3 1/2 lber dropshotting a senko. that was it besides one other hit on a jig, little fish just bit the trailer off.
      City: windsor

      Tips: find cover in atleast 10+ ft. of water. slow presentations, jigs, dropshotting, carolina rigging etc.

Friday, May 28th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 73-75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Just got threw fishing the delta for 12 days straight. First 10 days were prefishing for the BASS Open, then two days of competition.

      During prefish, I found three good concentrations of fish. First was in the Coney Island area. Second was in Victoria Slough and third was in Potato Slough. Caught lots of 1-2 pound fish in all three areas on blades, black buzzbaits and flipping 9L Senkos (#208 and #297). Managed 1 or 2 kicker fish each day in the 4-6 pound range so I thought I was in pretty good shape going into the tournament. I also caught a few very good fish at the north end of Mildred on buzzbaits although that bite was slow.

      On Day 1, I caught a small limit by 7:30 on blades and Senkos fishing around Coney and Victoria. I continued to catch these small fish until 11:00 Am when I had culled up to around 10 pounds. I joked with my partner about culling an ounce at a time on the Delta...felt like fishing Oroville! Also, dumped one about 3 pounds on a Senko that I failed to get properly hooked.

      At 11:00, I decided to run to Mildred to try for one of the good kicker fish on buzzbaits. After 2 hours, I gave up on them and ran to Potato to throw spinnerbaits. During prefish, I caught a 6, 4 and 3 throwing spinnerbaits across tule island points so I tried that again. Caught 1 2 pounder that culled my up to 10# 10 oz...very disappointing compared to my prefish success. But, when I weighed in, I discovered a lot of people struggled and I was in 40th place and in a good position to make the cut and get a check.

      On Day 2, I ran the same pattern. I started out with spinnerbaits looking for a quick limit while my AM flipped a small Culprit curly tail Texas rigger worm into weed and tule pockets as the boat went by. He caught the first fish...6# 14oz! For a minute, I considered slowing down and flipping too but my spinnerbait had been very successful for 2 weeks so I decided to keep throwing it. A couple minutes later, my Am sticks his second fish around 2 pounds. Again, I choose to stay with my confidence bait. I was rewarded for my decision with the next 5 keepers so I had 8 pounds towards my goal of making the cut...figured I needed 11 to make it. At this point I started flipping a Yamamoto 9L Senko in color #208. I got bit and set the hook on a 5 pounder...it came straight up out of the tules right next to the boat and spit my hook right back at me! Darn!!! I figured I must had been soft on the hookset. A couple minutes later, I set HARD on another good fish and get a repeat performance as a solid 4 pounder spits a bare hook right back at me. I was using a new hook that I immediately assumed was the problem so I cut it of and went back to my old EWG's. Missed the next two fish although, thankfully, I didn't get to see these fish. But, I now realize I've got a serious problem that could cost me dearly!

      The day before the tournament, I changed my line from pure fluorocarbon to mono because I had experienced a breakage problem with the fluoro. Now, I was regretting that decision. The mono was stretching too much on the hookset. I changed to a rod with 50# braid and didn't miss another flip fish the rest of the day...but I also didn't get another good bite on the Senko the rest of the day. But....I still had one more shot at a kicker fish.

      I made a long cast with my trusty spinnerbait and ran it through some loose tules. WHAM! I get absolutely hammered! This fish was huge and dove straight down into the tules. I hit the trolling motor to close the distance and kept strong pressure on the fish. It came up with a massive boil and I got it clear of the tules. It dove again, this time deep under a weed bed and, again, I keep strong pressure until it came up. At this point the fish headed for deep water in the nearby channel and, now that it was clear of the weeds and tules I got anxius to get it into the boat. She made a strong run and I pressured her to turn her....PLICK! Gone. My spinnerbait wire broke right at the tie on loop. That was kicker fish #3 that I missed.

      I made a bad decision at this point and decided to run up into Mildred to see if I could get one of those topwater kicker fish. Spent an hour throwing frogs and buzzbaits without a blowup. More importantly, I didn't realize it but that Angel Hair slime had clogged my aerator intake screen and my fish weren't getting water depsite the pump running. They were fine arriving at Mildred but 2 died while there. When we discovered the dead fish, all our fish were struggling so I decided to weigh in an hour early...my Am had that big fish and a good limit by now and I didn't want any more of his, or my, fish to die. I salted the fish, ran fresh water from Franks Tract onver the fish and they seemed to be recovering, but I chose to avoid any further risk.

      My limit weighed 10# even. My Am had a 14 # limit that moved him way up in the standings. I ended up 2 ounces out of the cut due to a 10 ounce dead fish penalty so I finished the tournament 1st out of the money!
      City: Fair Oaks

      Tips: You can catch 20-30 small keepers a day right now on shad colored spinnerbaits. Just run the baits past any obvious ambush points. The bigger fish are pretty sporadic, but if you are persistent flipping jigs or bigger plastics, you can run into some great fish. My buzzbait bite did not hold up in the tournament, but I would keep throwing it anyway...those fish are worth the long waits between bites.

  • San Francisco County
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      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished a couple of days ago on the evening bite. I was able to pull two LMB out (1 1/2 lbs. 1 dink)in about an hours time. The larger fish had what looked like a large sore on his gill plate, still it pulled hard.

      Tips: Fish slow......

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 71

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went up to Oroville for Memorial day Weekend. camped @ Loafer Creek Horse camp. Went out Thursday after dinner got on the water around 5:30pm. Got a fish while waiting for partner to return from parking truck. So we just started fishing right at the Loafer Creek ramp. Never fired up the big motor, just worked from Loafer Creek towards the bridge and caught around 20 fish. Stopped at 8:30pm.
      Got up at safe light on Friday, Ran up to the middle fork. Caught over 50 fish with maybe 7 or 8 over the slot. 2 smallies and the rest spots.
      City: Suisun City

      Tips: Draggin worms was the trick for us. every point has fish right now, color don't seem to matter much. Split shotting out fished drop shotting this week!

    • By

      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: This is a report for Friday May 28, 04. Here it is: The sky was
      over-casted and there was a little bit of rain at night. The condition was so convincing that I decided to fish for a few hours before school. Started cranking the dam with no bite. Then switched to
      a Carolina-rigged worm. After half an hour, got a good one, a 6-0 pound bass (23" length x 17" girth). This fish was my biggest Stevens' Creek bass so far. Then continued fishing the dam a little more with no more bite. Decided to move to the launch and caught a dink (about a pound). Called it a day around 10AM.
      City: Palo Alto

      Tips: Due to the high water level if you fish from the shore, it's quite
      difficult to find a good cover. Instead, look for the transition zone such as where the concrete bottom changes to the dirt bottom.
      (I used the Carolina rig to probe the bottom.) And keep you bait there as long as you could. A small plastic in dark color seems to work well.