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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Tuesday, May 25th, 2004

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: got up to the lake at about 7:20 and headed up to dry creek area. we fished in yorty creek, and found 2 bass on drop shot and senko, then went to warm springs and got 4 more on same lures. so on a rating of 1-10 id give today a 3 or 4. i dont know what happened, i guess it was just too cold.

      Tips: caught bass on points, and rip rap and near wood.

Monday, May 24th, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went out of wimpy,s in walnut grove. caught 10 on senkos and a bluegill on a senko? best 5 went 12lbs. big fish was 3.5.
      City: sacramento

      Tips: senkos in black and blue flake.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 72.4

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: in at Jones Valley at 815pm, air temp 74, water temp 72.5 at the ramp witha slight push out of the south. Got on some submerged humps in the lower Pit and started throwing a blade and rip bait with no takers. Tied on some new plastics(twin tail grubs) and got bit on third cast by a fat 3.08 spot. replaced the twin tail on the 3/8oz darter head and moved a bit and got another one about 2 minutes later that went 2.65 and I am liking this new stuff. Ended up with 9 more by 1015 pm when the wind came up out of the east and things got a bit chilly. My team partner and good friend Bryce Fuller has gotten caught up making his own brand of plastics and i went to his place earlier today and picked up some stuff to try out. I was particularly interested in the twin tails he is making and managed to beg for about 4 different colors and probably 6 a piece in each color. The most productive is his Black Root Beer ,#18 and his color #14(Dark melon oil) and #23 Melon Pepper.My best three fish on any color came on the #18 and went 7.34lbs. Missed about 20 others and had a few dinks but all in all a nice evening out. I didn't throw any of his worms, kinda hard to lay down my darter head rig when I am getting bit repeatedly. Good stuff Bryce! Got out at 1030 pm, temp down to 59 with a chilly wind from the east. There is about enough for 4 rigs in the gravel right now and the lake is 20.24 ft down.
      City: Redding

      Tips: Bryce can be contacted by email at brycensusan@juno.com, He lives in Cottonwood just south of Redding. Phone number is (530)347-1779 B and S worms is the name of his new business.

Sunday, May 23rd, 2004

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: warm, dunno fe

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: dead sea. fished all day, got 5 for two of us. best at 3, 2, and 1 with a few even dinkier. no topwater yet. down 20-45 ft.
      City: Tracy

      Tips: long casts, slow down. then slow down some more. blue/purp jigs. did i say slow down?

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: What a windy day yesterday at the lake - that delta wind - NOT breeze - started around 10 am and really became annoying! I was guiding three guys, so that made for a hard working day for me! The foggy morning was calm and one of the fellows wanted to catch a topwater bass real bad and I told him it was pretty tough lately. I started them all split-shotting 6' Camanche Jack worms and I threw a Chug Bug to see what would happen in a cove outside Markley. Fish on - a 15" spot! So I gave him the rod, told him to stand right next to me, showed him how to work it, and he proceeded to slay them on the Bug! I think he caught 7 on top. I lucked out in the choice of starting areas - the cove was full of bait and bass! My X-19 was in full color!!! The worm bite was on too and I just ran around the boat - bumping into people - netting bass after bass. Wow! I had a moment to make a few casts with a Sammy and hooked a monster smallie which cost me 15 bucks! Guess I'll retie more often! We fished the west shore, trying to stay out of the wind. For the first time, the middle of the day bite was slow for us - a fish here and there. We wound up with 23, and many, many missed fish because of the wind.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I would like to congratulate the idiot in the bass boat that was doing about 40 mph in the 5 mph section of big island. I'm sure he did a lot for our image! Another bassin' guy decided to scare all of us in the afternoon - roaring by within 75 feet of our boat. Couldn't believe it!! Anyway, we didn't target big fish, just tried to have some action. I had a chance to do a litle drop-shotting, but it didn't work yesterday. We got one or two on a Senko, but the worms worked the best, about 15 to 25 feet deep. Some of a purple color in the worm worked best, although the morning dawn was fine as always. The lake now has good color - not too clear!

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: launched out of rio vista, fished cache, prospect and steamboat. can anyone tell me if there's fish up in these parts!!! tried buzz, spinners rattle traps and senko's! no luck
      City: rio vista

    • By

      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Whiskey Slough. Tried white skirted spinnerbaits with no luck. frogs....nothing. Even the old Senko didn't work for me. Slow rolled a snap-back green lizard and nailed a 5 lb 4 oz hawg!!!! Threw it back in the same spot and reeled in a 3 lb 8 oz. After about 20 mins of nothing...I threw out a Madman craw...dragged it real ssssllllloooowwww....then BAM! I brought in another beast at 6 lb even!!!! This all occured within 2 hours. Called it a night after that. The trick seemed to be slow.....I mean dead slow. Just barelt drag along the outside weedlines.
      City: Parts Unknown

      Tips: Carolina and craw baits. Be patient cuz the slower I seemed to fish is when I caught my stringer. Im talking drag 2 feet. Stop...count to 15-20...and slowly drag again. They always hit after the 3rd or 4th pause. Tight Lines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 72-77

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Didn't get on the water until 12:30 and fished till dark. Headed up the lake fishing the coves in the upper end. Did not catch a fish until after 5:00 pm. Fished splitshot worms, drop-shot rig (I'm just learning this so no surprise no fish doing this) pig-n-jig, cranks and rip baits. Fished shallow and deep. Finally picked up some fish in the evening splitshoting ringworms. Wound up with 5-6 fish landed up to about a pound and a half. Lost two nice fish, one about 2 1/2 and one we didn't get to see but was fighting like a big fish (broke my buddies line).
      City: Concord

      Tips: Boat traffic plus post-spawn(?) conditions had the fish off. Slowest day I've had there so I'd say be patient and fish plastics.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: well i made the trip up to orville with 2 other friends and we did well from the bank. we first tried the dam with only dinks. then moved to loafer creek and i ended up spotting a fish in about 3 ft of water on a bed still, tossed a watermeloncandy senko and next i was lippin a plump 6lb largie. i always catch largies in loafer for some reason, prolly all the manzanitas they planted there.we ended up with about 35 fish and 9 over slot. we walked the right side of the creek. and im sure we pissed a few houseboaters off with us fishing so close to there homes,lol...most fish were chillen by the boats.and another thing i love about oroville besides the great fishing..it only cost 2 bucks for bankers!..thats awesome if you ask me. im used to paying 8 at camp far west or 4 at folsom.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: it all works pretty much...we threw the basic senkos,robos,camache jacks..no particular color really did better then the other.


      tight lines!!!!

Saturday, May 22nd, 2004

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught 18 LM bass up to 2lbs. Best bite was prior to the overcast lifting and the wind coming up. Caught fish on 2 rigs - drop shot 4" worm and a carolina rigged brush hog. Fish were active shallow in weeds/grass where either boat waves or wind was direcly pushing into the cover and the water was stained. The fish were not huge but it was fun. This was my personal best at Anderson. It is tough fishing with the ski traffic. Tried spinner bait, senkos and rip bait with no luck but a bank fisherman reported luck on spinner bait around large rocks.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: Use the boat traffic waves to your advantage. They can turn the fish on. Use darker colored plastics in off color water. Bite was aggressive while the overcast blocked the sun.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Anglers choice tourney and finally got back on some good fish. Thought the day was going to be a bad one when I broke off a 5+ first thing. It was nice enough to come up about 15 seconds later after snapping me to show itself and throw my worm. We didn't have a keeper until 10:30 or so when I started hitting flip fish fish in the dissapointment area. When had about 9 pounds or so by noon when my buddy tosses up a zipper and hits a 12.42 mule on a tule point. Biggest bass I have ever seen in person. Crazy part was the hook felt out as soon as we got the bass in the net. Managed to cull a few more fish before the end of the day and won the tourney with 22.93 for 5 and of course won the big fish award.

      Tips: At the time of this tourney we were on a dynamite flip bite. Last weekend it was more of a drop shot bite, though we did get some good flip fish in the Franks area. Topwater is still slow, though I believe it will definitely pick up with the warm/hot weather. Bluegill colored plastics are working extremely well.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Rock slough and Sandmound...bumped into Aaron Martens pre-fishing for upcoming Delta-B.A.S.S. down in Rock...did pretty well on my old standby, bone super spook...caught lots of 1s, 2s, & 3s...but not the normal delta kicker...also saw a white truck stuck in river off of Holland with its windshield wipers still going...ski boat was there checking it out...appeared to have just been driven off...(anyone else see this?)...bizarre day and night...
      City: Bethel Island

      Tips: Don't give up on topwater early...frog bite still waiting for a good week of *HOT* weather to really explode...lots of good mats in Rock and Sandmound though...

    • By

      Water Temp: 69-72

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished club tournie out of Ladds (Modesto Castmasters). Started in Bikini Cut flippin' tules - a few rats and dinks, not the quality we were looking for. Worked our way out 14 mile to Pixley and found better size. No topwater bite, decent blade bite mid-day, best numbers on Hoggs on front of weeds. Partner, Sean Graf, took a 6.4 on a Senko from a pocket. Our weight was 14.5 for five and we took 2nd. All boats/teams weighed fish - winning bag included a seven+ and totaled just over 15.
      City: Sonora

      Tips: Senkos and Hoggs in green. Blade = wht/wht, tight to tules. R

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: fished the BnT float tube/kickboat open at clear lake saturday and sunday. drove up to the launch and weigh in site saturday morning, arriving at m&m campground at 3:30 am. This was only my second trip up to clear lake, and i had never fished or seen the area where i launched. launched saturday at 5 am and started off throwing 3/8 oz brown jig. i started fishing docks in the keys. i kept passing patches of what i think was hyacinth and first cast to it, dragged it across the top and dropped it in a hole and it got popped right away, and i was able to bring in my first fish of the day, a 5 even, good start, and the beginning of my days pattern. Picked up my second fish hopping the jig in on the rocky backside of a cove in about 10 ft. of water, 2 lber. About an hour later picked up another 2 lber swimming the jig by a point of hyacinths in about 8 ft. of water. Moved deeper into the keys and picked up my 4th keeper, another 2 lber fishin the jig deep into some bushes. Flipped my 5th keeper, a 1 lber out of hyacinths, flipped right back in and nailed a 2 lber, culling the 1 lber. Caught 2 more 1 lbers right infront of weigh in site, and that was it for day 1. Ended up with 13 1/2 and 2nd place. Day 2 i ran to kenocti bay, launched at kenocti resort and had a limit by 6 30 off one rocky point right in the resort area. caught about 10 fish off that point, all on jigs except 2 dropshotting a brush hog. Came back to the keys at 9 30 and spent the rest of my time in search for a kicker. Culled one for an extra half pound. went into an area i hadn't fished yet with about an hour left in the tournament. There was a cut in a a shoreline of tules for a dock. but at the mouth of that there was a line of rocks that came out about 50 ft from shore. along the rocks there were about 5 trees in a row. first cast under the first tree, the jig got tapped as it was falling. i set the hook hard and new right away it was a good fish. fought the fish hard back to my float tube and saw it below me, easy 5-6 lbs, brought the fishes head up to land, right when its head came out of the water, the jig popped out, and the fish was gone just like that. that moment absolutely killed me mentally, i basically gave up. headed back for weigh in. weighed 11 lbs and took 3rd place with 24 lbs. 2nd place was 24.5 and 1st, was 25. Once i found out that fish would have won it for me i was hurting even more. oh well, theres always next time.
      City: windsor

      Tips: good bite first thing in the morning, as sun comes out fish moved into heavy cover and were hard to get to bite. i fished a jig the whole tournament, couldnt get anything on senkos,spinnerbaits, or cranks, had one hit a swimbait.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for about an hour this evening. Caught two about 1-2 lbs each on carolina rigged lizards. Steep banks, loose soil, poor access. Nobody else around.
      City: San Jose

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished San Pablo Sat. Five fish five hours. 4 bass and one trout, all in the 1 1/2 range on crank bait. Missed three, not a bad lake. All fish were near structor (Reeds, logs). The fish were not to big, but quite spunky, great fight. No 20+. This is the first time fishing this lake, I was expecting a lot less luck from reading the prior post. I couldn't use the big johnson, a little tough on the trolling motor getting to the far N coves (Wind). Maybe I'll look for a tow North next time. I think with a litte time on this lake, you could wip it on. The finder showed alot of fish. Are most Bass North of the launch, any luck at the dam ?.
      City: Alameda

      Tips: Crankbait worked well. Used spinner,Rat trap with no luck, not a big worm guy.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: i fished a tournament on the 22nd and the 23rd at shasta...it was ok, but not as good as it could be. winning weight was 18ish. difference between 8th and 1st was 3 lbs. big fish was 3.11

      Tips: no jig bite. Dropshot smoke-pepper/chart. tail Mothers finest up McCloud. some spawners up Pit arm (white or gray spinnerbait in wind and mud). rip bait (L.C. Bevy Shad in Ghost Minnow) and texas rigged white yamamoto single-tail grubs(4in.) some darter-head bite with Mothers Finest(Brown/Chart. tail and oxblood around willows. if you find a shad-ball, stick with it!

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62 - 67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the northern part of the lake today. Caught most of our fish after the sun came out (1:00pm or so) ... fish were in 4 - 20 feet of water holding close to brush and laydowns on or near points. 13 keepers for 3 people with the best going 3 lbs (on a senko). 4 were just barely keepers, the rest were healthy 1.5 - 2 lb fish - all largemouth. Splitshotting and Senko's were our keys. Didn't get any bites on spinnerbaits, top water or crankbaits. Got one nice 2 pounder on a brown jig.
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Cast in tight to submerged brush and laydowns

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: --

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My Dad and I Launched at 6:00 AM didn't catch a fish until 7:00 we were dragging a 3/4 oz jig in 15-20 feet of water only boated 4 fish all but one were keepers.
      City: Redding

      Tips: Patients is the key. Good luck!

    • By

      Water Temp: 66-68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got to Whiskeytown pond #2 heading west at 6 am, stayed till 10 am..got 6 keepers(2 spots 4 largemouths) 5 caught on splitshotted lizards in either pumpkin, watermellon red flake, or cotton candy. My lone rip fish came on a cahrtruse shad Staycee on the rock wall. fishing was tougher than Friday, took me awhile to get that first one and everyone there after. had 8 lbs even with no big fish all clones...
      City: redding

      Tips: poppers were good for small fish, but I got all my keepers dragging the small ZOOM lizards down grassy banks...