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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, April 25th, 2004

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 68.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hit the West Branch again from 3-7:30pm. Thanks to the zillion wake boarders and their 3 foot waves and blarring music the water was a little more stained today. There were still some pretty clear areas back in coves as well. The water temp was up a few degrees, and the fishing seemed a little tougher.

      Got bit on both green pumpkin twin tail yamamoto hula grups fished on a jig, and single tail pumpkin seed yamamoto hula grubs. Caught a few on a Staycee 90 jerk bait, and 6" senkos texas rigged. It was a light brown with a purple vein, same as Wednesday, though I doubt the color matters all that much. Kept switching it up hoping for better results which never came. Most fish were caught in the slightly stained water on points or just inside a point.
      City: Paradise

      Tips: Tips? Ha, ha, please give me some!! :) I'm catching a few but I ain't catching a limit weighin 10+ like all these tourney guys I read about keep doing. They must be sprinkling pixie dust on their magic worms or something! When I find the secret sauce I'll be sure to let you all know.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 59-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: FISHED THE SQUAW AND PIT ARM AND CAUGHT IO FISH. USED JIGS AND TEXAS RIGGED WORMS. CAUGHT THE FISH FROM THE BANK OUT TO 20-25 FT .ITS A LITTLE HARD TO FIND A BANK WITH QUALITY FISH BUT WHEN YOU DO YOU CAN CATCH SOME NICE FISH. TWO TOURMENTS GOING ON THIS WEEKEND AND THE LAKE WAS HAMMERED PRETTY GOOD. THE WILLOW TREES IN THE COVES WERE REALLY WORKED OVER BY THE TOURMENT GUYS. SAT I BROKE 14LB TEST ON A FISH IN SOME WILLOW TREES, SO THERE ARE SOME BRUTS HANGING AROUND THEM. SEEN A COUPLE BIG ONES LAYING IN THE MIDDLE OF A BUNCH OF WILLOWS. TALKED TO COUPLE OF FISERMAN THAT RIPPED AND BLADED SOME REAL NICE FISH IN THE EARLY MORNING, I SEEN THE FISH SO THEY WERE TELLING THE TRUE STORY. ((NOW THE BAD NEWS)) MY PICKUP WAS BROKEN IN TO AT THE JONES VALLEY PARKING AREA. THEY WENT TRU THE CAMPER SHELL AND BROKE THE SLIDDING WINDOW OUT IN THE CAB AND TOOK A NUMBER OF THINGS. IF YOUR OUT THERE BEWARE THERES SOMEONE OUT THERE THAT NEEDS TO BE TAKEN OFF THE STREET FOR GOOD.
      City: ANDERSON

      Tips: MUD LINES WILL HELP YOU CATCH SOME FISH, WORM COLORS DONT REALLY MATTER IF YOUR ON FISH THEY WILL HIT ABOUT ANY COLOR.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 59-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Great day for fishing...Was fishing the Cottonwood bass team top 20 team tournament with Chris Laskowski..Every time I am with this guy I do good..he got me my first 4 plus tournament fish...first limit..first Shasta Limit and now my first 5 plus tourny fish and my first win..Great guy..great fisherman...fished worms all day in different depths...oxblood 4" worms dartheaded were the ticket today but We saw nice fish suspended...We got 20+ second(Bill mcglaughlin/Roy Hunt)3rd place dropped off... Thanks again Chris
      City: Redding

      Tips: Worms...This lake is full of 4-6 lb fish...you just have to know where to look..

Saturday, April 24th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished between Turner Cut and Windmill Cove this past week off the shore. The two biggest fish 6 and 8 pounds with couple of other fish in the 2 to 4 pound range. Caught on chartuse spinner bait and Senko. Missed a few bites also. All caught in one to three feet of water. The bite is definitely getting hot! Too bad my fishing buddy can't come out and play cause mama won't let him out with his boat!
      City: Manteca

      Tips: Fish really slow and cover and alot of area until you get that first bite then work that area thoroughly. Mid-morning and late afternoons have been the ticket for me. I got the fever!

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out yesterday first thing in mourning cought one about 5 then went to some new spots i never fished before found a small wall that looked money so i pulled out the senko and went to work after a min i see one about 8 so i put the senko infront of his face and hooked up wow what a day at the end i had about 30 for seven
      City: Martinez

      Tips: look in shallows when the heat is on iv been out about four times in the last two weeks and have 5 fish all around 10+ its wide open.

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out yesterday first thing in mourning cought one about 5 then went to some new spots i never fished before found a small wall that looked money so i pulled out the senko and went to work after a min i see one about 8 so i put the senko infront of his face and hooked up wow what a day at the end i had about 30 for seven
      City: Martinez

      Tips: look in shallows when the heat is on iv been out about four times in the last two weeks and have 5 fish all around 10+ its wide open.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: ?????

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished a club tourney along with all the future pro boats and had a blast. Launched out of County Park and with my big motor ailing from a hole in one piston I had to fish the area all day. After watching everyone blast out at 60 mph+ I wandered over to Corenthian Bay and threw reaction baits till the sun was up a little with no takers (ripbait, popper, and crank). Caught a 1 1/2 on a wacky style senko and the fortune hit me like a ton of bricks. While talking to a wonderful lady about her flowers, I saw a flash in front of me and after staring through the stained water a minute, I saw what I thought was a 4 lb female on a bed. Threw a jig at her for a while but no dice, so I grabbed a little white Gitzit tube and pitched in. Well, the "female" started to back out of the bed and then a huge shadow appeared out from under my boat and scared the %&*# out of me. What I thought was a carp swam over to the bed and turned left. That's when I saw that beautiful lateral line running down the side of that fish and then it struck me that my tube was gone! I set up and saw the flash and it was on! I was by myself, since my partner was a no show, so I proceeded to entertain the homeowners trying to net that fish by myself but had a blast anyway. She was 8.55 on the scales and along with her male (the only locked on bed fish I saw that day) and two other dropshot rats, I had 16.50 and first place (second was 9.80) and I did it all within sight of the launch ramp. What a day!
      City: Ukiah

      Tips: No reaction bite but caught a lot of 11-12 inchers on a red dropshot worm on the tule point. Saw a lot of fish move up as the afternoon moved on but they were doing a lot of rubbing before finding their bed spot. Water is murky so some bedding is going on deeper than you can see. With the forcast calling for very warm temps, it should be red hot very soon. Call Ross and Ed at Tackle It in Lakeport for the best and most up to date fishing info, they have been responsible for some of my best days on this lake. Tight lines and don't give up!

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the Future Pro Tour today. We had 146 boats out there. Who would've thought we would outdo the 143 at Berryessa. Vince deserves a pat on the back as well as his staff and the anglers fishing the tournament. We've got great sponsers out there supporting the tour, so it makes it great to fish. Andy Cuccia and the tour donated $500 to the Boys and Girls club of America! What a great thing to be a part of. Well now to the fishing. Shaun and I started out fishing docks and tules early on with jigs and brush hogs. We put 12-13 inchers in the boat one after another for the first couple hours, we knew we needed some bigger fish. Ran to rattlesnake island fished some more tules and trees with senkos and jigs and spinnerbaits on the outside edge. Than ran to fish some more tules. Fishing the back of tules and anywhere in the trash there was a hole I could put a senko in, produced fish. Then as the afternoon progressed anywhere with some shade from the beating sun held fish. Broke a jig hook on a nice one from under a dock. 12.52 lbs was good enough for a 3rd for us. 14 won the small boat division. It took 24 to win the big boat division.
      City: rescue

      Tips: Senkos in the trash n' tules, jigs under docks, brush hogs. Many anglers were drop shotting the outside of the tule lines. Didnt hear of any bed fish being taken, most big fish were on senkos.

    • By

      Water Temp: ?Warm?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Slow day at coyote. I got 3 small bass, nothing to brag about. Carp are still muddying up the place. Saw a bunch of fry in the shallows, so I guess some of the bass have spawned? Lots of fishing preshure on the weekends, wish I could fish during the week.
      City: Santa Clara

      Tips: Senko's in dark colors and grubs with green flake.

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 60+

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Surveyed lake on Friday. Fished a club tournament Saturday. Followed suggestions and fished #82R Keeper Worms whole tournament day. Fished as planned - to fish five coves near Green Bay. Started at Green Bay but did not catch fish. Caught a keeper at back of Hatch bay. Lost one and caught another non-keeper in upper bay. Caught another keeper south of Laughlin Island. All in all a very tough day.
      City: Chatsworth

    • By

      Water Temp: 60zzzzzzz=

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Club tournment. Some of us prefished, Windy from 11:00 AM on. Good prefishing. Tough on Saturday - tournament day. Winner caught fish dropshotting in Big Creek. Top fishermen mostly worms.
      City: Chatsworth

    • By

      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well, all I had to do was post and the Rowing Club would ruin my fishing again. I had caught 4 fish in the deep water off the big point by the firestation, and what do you know, some swipe in a powerboat comes through ten feet away from me. I told him to keep his distance and he just waved at me. I am glad I am not a violent man. Bite shut off there at that point after 4 small fish, I only caught 3 more all day, best was 2+. Pretty sad for this fine lake, I can't help but blame these flagrant morons for abusing their priveleges on the lake. I don't understand why they couldn't row on the OTHER side of the channel right there, there is plenty of room. I emailed my good friend at the C.A.R.B. and he said they have no jurisdiction over the lake, but we need to send letters to the parks district and Santa Clara County board of Supervisors if we want to complain. We don't need to be rude but we need to assert our presence. I have already emailed Fish and Game about the problem without response. Our license fees pay for the lake to be stocked while the rowing club does nothing to upkeep the reservoir and everything to disrupt the quality of the experiece for everyone else. I am willing to sport for a website so we can collect electronic signatures we need 3000 to ratify a sanction against them)to petition the courts over this at a state level if we need to. The last thing I want is some retard in a powerboat throwing wakes on me and yelling obscenities at his "crew" when I am trying to relax and test handpours. I am sick and damned tired of these people running up and down the lake at full speed without any regulation. I am going to contact the parks district tomorrow and see what they have to say for themselves about this. Lexington is unenforced and I have seen a lot of wrong stuff going on out there from guns being fired to junkies slammin dope on the shore and people blatantly poaching undersize fish or over the limit amounts of crappies and trout. The last thing I want is to be on the only decent local lake and have my experience ruined by some uppity Los Gatos Yuppies pretending to participate in an Ivy League sport. As anglers we are imparted certain rights on the water and these are ignored by these selfish bastards who refuse to recognize right of way to other boaters who have MORE right as fishermen to be on the lake than they do. As Big Harry said previously, they ARE the ones who petitioned to have gas boats off the lake and succeeded; yet they don't hesitate to hypocritically run gas themselves. A load of CRAP if you ask me. Sorry for venting, but I thought this was under control. Aparently NOT. Maybe we should arrange a meeting between all of us who fish here regularly and coordinate our efforts in a goal oriented manner. Enough is Enough.
      City: Santa Cruz

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

      Report: I HAVE THE FISH STORY OF ALL FISH STORIES. I WAS UP THE PITT ON MY HOUSE BOAT FISHING IN 26FT OF WATER. I HAD A TROUT POLE OUT WITH A 300 MITCHEL REEL WITH 17LB LINE. THE POLE WENT DOWN, AND I THOUGHT I HAD A CATFISH . IAM FROM THE BAY AREA AND IVE CAUGHT A LOT OF STURGEON, AND I KNEW THIS HAD TO BE A STURGEON. IJUMPED IN MY BASS BOAT WITH MY BUDDY AND WE FOLLOWED THE FISH. IT TOOK ME OVER 500 YARDS FROM 26FT TO 160 FT TO 44FT AFTER 45 MIN OF FIGHTING THIS FISH, IT FINALLY JUMPED. LET ME TELL YOU THIS FISH WAS 7-8FT AND OVER 300LBS. BIGGEST FISH I HAVE EVER SEEN OTHER THAN PICTURES. IT FINALLY BROKE MY LINE, IT WRAPPED ITS TAIL AROUND MY LINE WHEN IT JUMPED. I KNEW THAT THERE WERE STURGEON IN SHASTA BUT I HAD NO IDEA THERE WERE ANY THIS BIG.
      City: EL SOBRANTE CA

    • By

      Water Temp: 58.5-62.2

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: for the week of 16-23 Apr, lake now at 18.5 ft, still a bit of debris around and will continue until the lake starts to drop. My uncle arrived on the 16th but we lost 2 days to the rain. we averaged 25-30 per day when we could get out and it didn't slow up until the 23rd when most reported a few small fish. We caught them on jigs, worms and crank baits all over the lake. caught a few spawned out fish but finding bed fish is not easy with the water clarity and most have not yet moved up with the cold snap we had. Not much size right now, a 3 lb fish is looking good. Things will heat up from here on out with unseasonably warm weather on tap for the next week.
      City: Redding

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

      Report: Got on the lake about 1030. Tried fishing for Crappies but no luck. At 1:00 switched over and started fishing for bass while waiting for a buddy to meet me. Caught alot of 1 - 3 pound bass fishing with a F/X shad roboworm and 1/8 ounce dart jighead. bass were all over the place.
      City: Vallejo

      Tips: Fish F/X Shad roboworm along the shoreline jigging it or swimming it. Good fishing and be safe.

Friday, April 23rd, 2004

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Caught a nice spawned out 4lber and another small bass. Fished for about 4 hours and ran into my 3rd rattlesnake this year. It was drinking right near the old ranger's launchpad just north of the small dam. That was the second one i have seen in that same spot, coiled right next to the ramp. Be careful where you step :)
      City: San Jose

      Tips: wear costa del mar sunglasses, so you can weed out those snakes!

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Way to go tooth! That is awesome that you would
      spend some time cleaning up. I wish there were
      more like you out there. I try to do it once or
      twice a year myself. As for the rangers at Calero
      most are really cool and nice. I have been hassled
      too but to be honest I guess I deserved it. I was
      late to the ramp at closing and after a good
      tongue lashing he let me go without a ticket. I
      was in the wrong and claim ignorance. Again
      thanks for taking the time to keep the lake
      clean.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 61-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Had a great day on a trip with a client. Guide was Ken Cassettari. Caught about 12 bass, 3-5 lbs at various spots throughout the day using Senkos, spinner baits and a frog. Ken really knows the Delta. Contact him at 925-932-1320 or via e-mail kennycass@hotmail.com. Website is Deltabigbass.com.

      Tips: Hire Ken!

    • By

      Water Temp: 58-61

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: On Friday, we launch out of Wimpy's Marina at 8:30am (high tide). We came to the Delta to flyfish for anything that would bite. There were four fishermen, two to a boat. After the first two hours, boat #1 had caught 1 bluegill while boat #2 had caught 8 bluegill & some small bass. They were using sinking line and small flies (size 12-14). Unfortunatley, I was in boat #1 and we were using floating line. So we switched to sinking line and increased the fly size to size 6 - 10. Both boats were using black woolly buggers or black gnats. By lunch time, Boat #1 had boated 13 fish while boat #2 had caught 15. After lunch, we headed up towards Snodgrass slough but on the way the water turned very dirty (less than 1 foot visibility). We decided to fish in the dirty water and believe it or not, the fish could still see the small flies ! At 5:30pm, we met up with boat #2 and counted fish. They had caught another 4 while boat #1 had boated another 12 fish. Combined, both boats had caught a total of 44 fish. Half were bluegill, about a third were bass. The largest bass was 11 inches. In total, we caught 9 different species of fish (Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, shad, golden shiners, bluegill, sunfish, crappie, a 5" steelhead, and a long, silver, skinny, funny-looking fish which I have named the Sacramento Pike. It is amazing how many different types of fish are in the delta.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Fish slow and find the slack water for bluegill and the smaller types of fish. Stay out of the current for the smalle fish Most of these fish were 2-4' deep. Black flies with some blue flash worked the best. Size 8-10 was better than size 12-16.

    • By

      Water Temp: 62-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Rivers End about half hour before sun up. Ran to North Canal and fished the rip-rap with blades and senko's with no success. Cut through and fished the rip-rap side of Victoria and caught 6 on a white blade. Switched over to the tule side and caught the senko bite. Caught 24 fish and off the water by 1. All small fish from 1-2.5 pounds. Possible Males gettin ready to make a bed.
      City: Livermore

      Tips: White Blades, and senkos