Submit
Report

Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Friday, April 23rd, 2004

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: don't know

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: well well well.....no reports..tis tis..not even a report from our mr. 18.2lbs...
      well since there has been NO REPORTS, i just fished the same old way as i usually do, creatively..lol...
      ok okay here it is..
      out of me and two others we got four. yup four. and i can't really say it was all on the same pattern.
      one guy got his on a tiny tube w/ lead head. my other friend got one split shotting...me i got two useing a texas rig and drop shoting.
      i am proud to say i got not only the two biggest, (3lb and 4 almost 5lbs.), but a TERRIFIC tan. o yea---today i caught and put back =)...
      City: san francisco

      Tips: share your report and tips so we can all be good fishing people.

  • Mariposa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: started early at barrett cove excellent top water bite ,fish upto 3.8lbs a couple large mouth mixed in with the spots.Changed up to drop shot in afternoon with senkos,great day
      City: los banos

      Tips: top water poppers work well,blue senkos with white stripe,3" pumkin worms all good.

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: is nobody fishing trinity anymore, where are the reports?

Thursday, April 22nd, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65-70

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: My brother Bill and I went out for a 4 day fishing trip 4/21 thru 4/25
      Very windy on the first 2 days.Fished between Paradise and Kings harbor, first fish 5 lbs tight in the tules. Caught fish on spinner baits,Senko's , anything with red. GOOD TIME
      Fish of the trip, I should let my brother tell the story, but it is much too painful for him, more fun for me. As Murphy would have it ,my brother throws a worm out on a fairy wand(spinning outfit) with 6 lb test (most the day flippin 20lb)and hooks up to a 10+ , the Fish of his life, fights it all the way to the boat before busting the line. SAD, try to blame the guy with the net :)
      Fish looked prehistoric (awesome) Oh well! would have released her anyway
      Cant wait till Froggin season
      City: CYPRESS

      Tips: Be safe, very tight canals when tide is low, but still had a few idiots run passed us.
      Stick to heavy line, just ask my brother

    • By

      Water Temp: 63-65

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Just got back from fishing the delta on the 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th.

      23rd - only managed 2 hours on the water due to tow vehicle breakdown...fished jigs, Senkos and spinnerbaits in the back of Sandmound. Only caught 1 small keeper on the spinnerbait. Wind was howling!

      24th - fished Middle River, Mildred and ran down to Victoria to work some water that I wasn't planning to use during the tournament. Caught a 7+ on a green/white frog in Middle River (didn't mean to stick her the day before a tournament but she hung herself with a violent strike on short line). Shook off several other frog fish in the same area in hopes they would go during the tournament. Stuck at least 15 fish in Victoria on blades...most 1-2 pounds with one over 3. Sure was fun and my nonboater enjoyed being able to stick some fish as most of the morning we shook off everything. Best five fish today would only go 16# and that's with the 7 kicker.

      25th - Day 1 of the WON tournament. I got seduced by the good frog fish yesterday and worked a frog most of the morning....NADA! Not even a boil! My partner caught one small spinnerbait keeper while I was froggin. I put the frog down at 11:00 and began flipping Senkos in Mildred and Little Connection Slough. Got one 3# fish and a bunch of dinks. Decided to run down to Victoria to see if the spinnerbait fish were still active. Ski boats had muddied up the slough big time. We finished the limit in 30 minutes but all small fish. Ran back to Mildred to try to find better fish. We finally got a couple good fish to bite but lost them...my partner's line broke on a big fish (spinnerbait) and mine came unbuttoned at the boat from my spinnerbait. Soooo close, but no cigar! Only weighed in a limit just under 9 pounds...what a dissappointment!

      25th...Day 2 of the tournament. My first inclination was to spend all day throwing the frog to try and climb back into a money position. Figured I needed 25# to get a check. Problem...my nonboater had a great weight from Day 1 anchored by his first ever double digit fish..11+. And, he was in the top 10...he was stoked! In good conscience, I couldn't hang him out to dry taking an all-or-nothing approach to the day so I went back to Mildred, Little Connection and Middle River to see if I could get onto some good solid fish like I got last weekend. I started out catching with 3 spinnerbait fish in Mildred in the first hour...2 dinks and a 2 pounder. Ran to Little Connection and flipped a bunch of dinks plus a 3 and 4 on a 6" Senko (color 297). Picked up the frog again and re-visited the bank where I caught the 7 and shook off the others. Immediatley caught 2 small fish and got several boils from fish that just wouldn't commit. They wouldn't even eat my partner's followup Senko after each boil. Ended up going back to Mildred to finish out the limit with a couple more small fish (1-1.5#) flipping Senkos and tubes (both green pumpkin) deep into the tules. Weighed in just under 12 pounds. Another disappointing day for me but I'm hoping my Am got a decent check for his 32+ pound total.
      City: Fair Oaks

      Tips: Most of the things I tried just did not work out today so I only have one tip...you better love bass "fishing", because sometimes the "catching" ain't so much fun! HaHa!

    • By

      Water Temp: low 60s

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: My dad and I took the boat up to Bethany Reservoir for a cuople of hours today. Don't know exact temp, sorry, thermometer broke last week. I caught 10 bass in about an hour and a half fishing the rockwall. Six were dropshotting a six inch pumpkinseed straight tail worm, and the other four were on a frog patterned chug bug at between 7:15 and 7:45 pm. I threw Senkos for a bit but it was way to windy. Also hooked one on a chartreuse and white terminator spinnerbait.
      City: concord

      Tips: all fish came caught next to or in weeds. Topwater bite didn't start until the wind finally stopped, for about a half hour, then stopped when the wind picked back up.

    • By

      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I had a problem with those row-mo's last year, I emailed the president of the club and she handled their discipline problem, seems like they have a new crop of morons already this year. Who the hell gave them the right to run gas on that lake anyway? I had some wimp buzz me in the powerboat when I was in my tube about 10 ft from shore throwin' plastics. The way I see it, noone else can run gas on that lake and they are a private interest and we need to do some further investigation to see if they are under a permit to legally run gas there.We were out tubin' and some moron came rowing right in between us and the shore a couple weeks ago. He almost got beat. They are negligent and dangerous. Ex-Skater contact me and we'll see if we can do something about this BS. I would make that punk pay for my lures right there.

      Other than that, you can catch tank trout with anything near the launch ramp. I got 3 on Crankbaits (shad rattletrap and wee-r) and even got one on a spinnerbait near the big point toward the back while bass fishing.
      City: Santa Cruz

      Tips: The bass bite has been slow to fair, but there are some hawgs to be had if you put the time in. Fish the 17 side SLOW with brown/blue or smoke plastics. This lake still messes with my head, during the summer and fall it's all about green baits,black/blue during winter. Good luck nailin' em on watermelon right now. Spinnerbaits have produced when nothing else would get a bite, green/white and chart have been working pretty good as well as blue/black. Best 2 fish this year so far were 8 even and 6 1/2 (hand scale.). Both fish 5 inch reaper in Brown/Blue near the 'island'. Fish reaction baits on the edge of the flats when the wind kicks up, those fish are hammerin' shad like crazy. Some bites on Dropshot, most fish on a carolina rig over rocks, fish texas if you're having problems with the ever abundant weeds that are such a problem with the water level this high. I use a 1/2-3/4 oz walking sinker and about 2

Wednesday, April 21st, 2004

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Dean, thanks for the tips from Sunday. Ignore JR, your tips on blades and senkos helped me catch fish today with the wind blowing. I didn't want to know where your fish banks were but wanted to know the pattern. Fish were also holding next to the banks, behind the weeds and they were coming out to hit the senkos in about 1' water. All of the jig action were deep inside the tules and underbrush.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the eastern delta and the Whiskey Slough area and as Dean reported, it was blowing. Caught fish tight in the tules on white spinnerbait, and lost a few on senkos and jigs. Nothing on tubes or cranks. No size - 2lbs largest. Water in Whiskey very muddy with very low visibility.
      City: SF

      Tips: Fish were holding tight into the tules. Had to flip and run spinnerbait through the tules. Worked spinnerbaits real slow retrieve.

    • By

      Water Temp: 62-63

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Out prefishing today in the wind...man it was blowing in the middle delta. Caught a few 2 and 3 pound fish on Senkos (best results on 9L in color 297) deep in the tules. Spinnerbait didn't produce for me today...the wind was howling and I really thought it would turn on those reaction fish. I don't know why they didn't??? Also caught a couple small fish on top water poppers in St Francis and spent some time looking at bed fish in several dead end marinas. Didn't try to catch the bed fish, just watched their behavior.
      City: Fair Oaks

      Tips: As I said in my last post, once you catch a decent fish slow down and work that bank thoroughly. My fish today (and last Sunday) came in concentrations. To "JR", sorry if you found my last post uninformative. I let people know there was a good spinnerbait and Senko bite. I also shared that I found fish in concentrations. If you have something to say to me, feel free to use my email...I include it in every post. Its too bad you choose to waste fishing report space on childish tirades.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I take it the launch ramp gate has been opened? Last time I was there it was locked up solid! The pay station was not up either.
      City: Scotts Valley

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 66

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Water was crystal clear, I could easily see 20+ feet to the bottom. Fish were a bit spooky when close. This was the first clear day after those April showers earlier this week and no boaters on the lake I guess. Lake is at the same level it has been since it dropped about 5 feet 3 weeks back.

      Fished the West Branch from 7am-11am. Had a luck with some yamamoto green pumpkin twin tail hula grubs, and 6" senkos rigged on a jig or texas style.
      City: Paradise

    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got out on the water at 4. Went straight across the lake to the middle island and far shore with heavy cover, planned on flipping black with red flake brush hog to heavy cover in hopes of prespawn bass waiting for a streak of good weather to finally spawn. However when i got to the middle island i was already seeing just hatched bass fry, so i guess most of my prespawners had already spawned. after about the first 30 mins i got my one and only bite of the day, a 5 1/2, spawned out bass that i flipped out of dead coontails. after that i didnt get another hit, i flipped tules, swam brush hogs through the weedbeds, fished breaklines, fished a senko, and nothing.
      City: Windsor

      Tips: its real hard to find a pattern on this lake, just fish as much fish holding cover as possible to put together a limit.

Tuesday, April 20th, 2004

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished all day a few bites but to spooked.i tryed a couple of little coves but nothing was biteing some guys catched like one then nouthing i try around a few logs nouthing.
      City: Ione

      Tips: Go to lake amador mayby in june or july.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the afternoons/evenings of 4-15, 4-20 and 4-21 in the North Fork and found fish on the main lake points and secondary points. Took a Dad and his two boys on 4-15 and had good luck on tubes. The youngest caught the most and biggest fish because he did nothing to the lure except let it drag (it also helped that I was casting his tube close to the bank and he listened to my presentation suggestions, but he still caught the fish.) As the sun went down we had a wide open topwater bite on the super-spook. On 4-20 took a Mom and her son for his birthday and we loaded the boat. Once again the fish were up and eating the tube and the evening topwater bite was on fire. Most the topwater fish were close to the bank and long accutate casts parallel or quartered to the bank got the majority of the bites. The fish might strike initially on a steady cadence however repeated casts to a likely spot, incorporating long pauses, literally dead-sticking the spook resulted in numerous additional bites. Fish are oriented to any changes in the bank especially where wheelbarrow or larger sized rocks are present. Most fish were in the first 15 feet however some topwater bites came next to the boat (I usually position my boat in 25-30 feet). Fished alone in the howling wind for two hours on 4-21 evening in Eddie Murphy Cove and managed to lose 6 of eight on the tube and three on a rip bait. Seeing boatloads of fish and bait on the meter but having trouble catching the suspended fish (drop me an e-mail or post here, a little help would be appreciated.)
      City: Citrus Heights

      Tips: Take the competitive edge off and take a novice or two fishing. Any bass means so much to them and reminds you of the joy of fishing. Go fishing because you can.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Skater, did you complain to the club? (not that it'd make a difference I suspect)or the game warden? Maybe enough complaints against the club will have the game warden watchin them more closely.
      City: Scotts Valley

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Report for 04/20/04-04/24/04. Elsa, Corey, and I fished the Upper Squaw Creek Arm this week from the Miss Josie. We caught a lot of trout throughout the week (several limits). Our trip was highlighted by a quadruple hook-up(two trout and two bass at the same time trolling Hum Dingers). We caught trout from the surface to twenty feet. We caught them on Rapalas, spoons, Kastmasters, Hum Dingers, and Cripplures. We caught several Bass from ten to fifteen feet. The bass were dinks only a few keepers. I used Slug-O

      Tips: We caught loads of trout trolling Sling Blades and Hum Dingers.

    • By

      Water Temp: 55-61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I Watched An Amazing Thing Fishing On The Pit.This Kid Drives Up On These Bushes In A Blue Ranger And Gets Out A Fly Rod With This Homemade Spook(what he said)He Proceeds To Go Right Down The Bank With This Weird Technic Setup He Is Pitching It Under Willows Where Even The Best Fluke Skipper Cant Reach,ALL OF A SUDDEN WHAM!A HUGE BASS EATS THE BAIT.... He Catches 3 More Fish That Way In The Next 20mins.
      City: Redding

      Tips: I DO NOT know where you learned that or if you made it up but you should be fishing at a level all your own. I Looked In Phil's But Could Not Find That Lure I Would Like To See Your Setup if You Don't Mind

Monday, April 19th, 2004

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Shore fished Southern end with Senko and a pig and jig. Only two small ones, pretty much the same for the other guys out there, one guy did report a 2 pounder though. Got tired of seeing all the trash from the baitfisherman laying around, found and empty bag, filled it with trash. Back in the parking lot, Ranger comes flying up in his truck to me, says dog must be on leash, and cannot be in the Southern end. I told him I would have had him on leash, but my hands were full of trash. I think thats the only thing that saved my from a ticket. He called for backup, after running my license for warrents! For a dog being off leash? Jeez, I guess the reputation of Calero Rangers being very unfriendly is true. I'll still do their job and pick up trash, but this time I think I'll leave it in a big pile at the ranger kiosk.
      City: SJ

      Tips: Bait fisherman, please stop leaving the bass corpses on shore. I don't know if you're cleaning the fish right there or what, but it's depressing. You should be C&R anyway, too much mercury in them. And pick up your goddamn worm cups!

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: fished out of big break in my uncles new boat. He wanted to learn some of the areas around the break. Picked up quite a few between the break and franks. very few dinks. caught 25-30 for the day. Would have had a 17 lb limit largest going about 41/2. Brush hogs and lizards did most of the damage. No top water.
      City: san anselmo

      Tips: fish moving water