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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, April 19th, 2004

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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: i hooker a few small bass from the shore with a spinner bait, but thats all of the bass action i had.i guess i will have to wait untill the weather gets better.
      City: douchbag

      Tips: watch out for them wild hogs because if you dont they will take a nice chunk out of your ASS

Sunday, April 18th, 2004

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

      Report: I hit Berryessa on Sunday and found some decent actions. My buddy and I pulled in 8 all together. The only thing that really seemed to work was tube jigs. No luck on rattle traps, spinner baits or senkos. Working the jigs slow and close to the bottom worked the best. The fish were from 5 to 15 feet deep. The bites were fairly subtle - maybe because of the cold front. Anytime I felt something out of the ordinary, I set the hook. Sometimes I got lucky and hooked into a fish. I pulled in a couple trophy sticks too, though. Good luck!

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 62-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the Folsom Bass Team event out of B&W today. They had 21 boats/teams. Took 21 pounds to win 18 for second (5 fish limits). My partner and I managed about 15 keepers with our best 5 going 18 pounds. Fish came on Senkos and blades...caught fish all day despite a lot of tidal movement. Can't get into more detail now as I've got the WON Pro-Am next weekend.
      City: Fair Oaks

      Tips: Cover water using your favorite search bait until you find a concentration of fish. Then, fish that area thoroughly until you stop getting bit.

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had the pleasure of fishing the annual Troy Brawley charity tournament with my son, Tom Tietz, yesterday and had a great time. We stayed on the west end of the lake, down by the spillway all day and ended up with 20.25 lbs. for 7 fish to finish in 4th place. It took just over 21-lbs. to win. We caught largemouth and spots from 8 - 25ft. with a variety of plastics and techniques.
      We never lost a fish although we missed a lot of hits and couldn't have asked for a better day.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Small plastics in shad colors. Drop shot, splitshot or shakin' in 4 to 30 ft.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: lake was stocked with trout this week. caught 9 trout trolling today. one lunker in the bunch, the rest were fresh plants.

      Tips: keep a little realease a lot - or all! :)

  • Westchester County
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      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Ok here it is, no B.S. I have fished both horse and rainbow. There are a lot of smallies in H. and mostly largies in R. Out of about 6 trips I have not been skunked and actualy got some about 3lbs. H is a lot more stained than R but the fish are less spookie. All fish cautht on plastics and could not get a jig fish to save my life. ( I guess there is no "dads" in the lake.
      City: San Leandro

      Tips: Catch and release

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 58-61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I am alittle late with this report sry. launched at packers at 7 am sunday, cloudy and a slight sprinkle. headed to waters gulch like always and the fishin was good. threw my shad worm and had great time first 30min had 3 fish around 2 pounds. took out the senko rig and threw to some rock piles and willow trees. caught 4 fish rock piles 3 were good 21/2 pounders and one nice 3/12pounder. the fish i caught off the willows was 2pounds. all in all senko bite was good. i put 20 in the boat best 5 goin for around 14 pounds, my dad caught 10 and one trout on a crank bait-fluke. would have stayed and caught more but the storms hit got real bad out there.
      City: Redding

      Tips: caught fish in 10-25 feet on worms and watermelon/black flake senkos alson caught some off wilow trees. good sized fish out there go-getem!!

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: arrived at the bridge at 6:20 am & boats awaiting start of torney. only found out one of the two groups in the tourney. a group out of modesto. the line started at just passed the overpass. boats everywhere aprox. 80 boatsfrom the modesto guys. the first hour was good , then it shut off. we threw brushhogs & fished points & trees, all in the 3.5 range. should've stayed home, when the fog passes, it was bone chilling cold, got colder when the wind picked up & the rain started to fall. then on the way home, tire off the trailer sheared off & the production started, being sunday & in sebastapol. it was an experience.
      thanks to sunny, we got everything home!
      City: SF City

      Tips: check for tourneys & check with weather.com CATCH, TAKE PICTURES & RELEASE

Saturday, April 17th, 2004

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      Water Temp: 54-58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went on our annual camping trip. Fished Friday evening Sat and Sun morning. Wind from the south, pretty heavy at times, rain all morning Sat and t-storms sunday. Got into a lot of fish, up close to the bank in shallow water. Went to the trees Sat morning but got rained out and no bites anyway. Did well in the Coves to the west and north. Probably 50 fish in the boat, 5 over 2 lbs, and 3 beautiful black crappie. Such a beautiful fish, irridescent like an abalone shell. Great fishing trip. Going back with the wife and grandkids soon.
      City: Redding

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: na

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: The catchin' has been off and on for me. One day they are slammin' my bait and the next day they are not. Biggest fish of the year was seven or eight pounds. Most were 1 or 2 pounds.
      City: san jose

      Tips: 10 or less feet of water with slow moving baits seem to work pretty well for me right now. Good luck and practice catch and release.

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 61-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished club tournie (Modesto Castmasters) out of Blue Oaks. Shared weight format w/ five fish per boat limit. Ten boats w/ two each, all caught fish and weighed in at least one, but bite was tough. Colder weather and wind had pulled fish off of shore. Virtually every fish caught taken eight to twenty feet on soft plastics. One (I believe)fish fish limit took took first w/ ten plus weight. Our boat had six in the boat and took 6th with three in the weigh-bag....all on worms, brown and green, split-shot and texas, all but one on rocky points and slooooowwwww. R
      City: Sonora

      Tips: The most clear water I have ever seen at Pedro. Had to downsize line and bait. USed fluoro leader for split-shot. Our best results came on 082R in both sizes.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 59-60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Had the itch to go fishing all day. Worked on the house all day and didn't start fishing till a little after 6pm. Went out with two friends and went straight to the rock piles first thing. Two friends were draggin' 4in. Arrons magic, and myself rippin'....only brought 2 spinning rods..oh well. In the short time we fished we all managed one fish over 2#, the biggest being 2#8oz. My two friends managed to catch three apiece and my self caught two rippin'. Not bad for only fishing for little over an hour. All Bass were spots......
      City: Citrus Heights

      Tips: Be very careful out on the lake. The lake is still dropping, Be aware of unmarked rock piles.

    • By

      Water Temp: 57-59

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started fishing at 11:00am on Saturday, weather was stiff breezes, mostly overcast with showers, about 55 degrees. Don't know what the fish were doing prior to this nasty cold front, but they seemed to be in early prespawn. Got the pattern around 3:00 and caught 8 LMB, 1-3 lbs, plus 4 SMB around 2 lbs, before sundown. LMB were sluggish, just begining to come up into coves. Warmer water, just 1 or 2 degrees in the canyons, made the difference. Both LMB and SMB were in 2-10 feet, mostly off of moderate slopes along sides of coves. Slow presentation of senkos and tubes did the trick. Jerking the senkos like sluggos got the smallies in the evening. On Sunday, fished 10:00am - 2:00pm, catching only 2 LMB, one dink, one 4 lbs. Was raining steadily and windy, so tossed it in early.
      City: Cupertino

      Tips: Sun comes out tomorrow for a long stretch, so my tactics this weekend will be history. Wait until May 1, then fish this lake for Largemouth in prespawn.

  • Ventura County
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Came down from Nevada to fish Piru. Never really warmed up, marked tons of fish, no takers. Ripped, wormed (carolina and texas),dropped jigs and dropshotted. Dam all the way along east side. Had a better chance of catching a waterskier.
      City: CC, NV

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 59F

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Strange weather today. Fog,rain,hail,lots of wind. Lots of boats out today. Started catching bass right off the bat. Seemed they were everywhere until the front passed. Caught smallies and largemouth up to 5 lbs using the same senkos from 2 weeks ago.My partner and I ended up with 25 bass. Not too bad with the all wind. Went looking for crappie, but couldn't find any. The wind was pretty bad at times. If anyone has crappie news, please email me.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Weightless senko fishing with strong wind isn't easy. If something feels strange, set the hook. A lot of the fish would grab and swim at the boat, then spit it. Stay alert.

Friday, April 16th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well, this report is kinda late...but someone might be able to get some useful info out of it.

      Delta - Friday, April 16.
      Overcast for the first hour then partly cloudy the rest of the day with 15mph winds.

      My buddy Todd and I thought about going down to the Franks Tract in search of Largemouth but were concerned by the weather report that forecasted winds 10-20mph in the Sacramento area (and the wind is always stronger in Franks Tract) so we decided to launch out of Paradise Point and fish White's Slough instead. We launched at 6:45am and
      worked our way up to the Slough. At 7am Todd started flipping Senkos (watermelon w/red flake) in the tule islands and I worked the edges with
      topwater (black buzzbait, chugbug). At 7:15am, Todd hooked a solid 2-lber. At 7:20am, Todd stuck a very nice 4-lber off the same island in the space between the weeds and the tules. We talked about it and decided that perhaps there would be a good Senko bite and I switched over. At 7:40am, Todd caught a 3-lber and then the bite completely
      turned off as soon as the sun came out from behind the clouds. The rest of the morning, we threw everything we had at them including Senkos (watermelon w/red, black w/blue), Blades (white, chartreuse w/white), Sweet Beaver (junebug), Jigs (black w/blue, black with Sweetbeaver junebug trailer), Zipper Worm (Oxblood), Brushhog (watermelon), Dominator 5" Tubes and Todd even tried a homemade modified frog (white) with no takers. I did miss one hookup on Senko when the fish got hung up in the weeds and got off. We tried Senkos Texas rig and Weightless (weedless and wacky). Around 11am we moved over to Little Potato Slough and I caught a 1.5-lber on Brushhog (texas rigged). It was out away from the weeds and tules in about 12 ft of water. Thinking the fish were a little deeper, we also threw some cranks (red, Chartreuse speedtraps) and blades with no takers.

      About noon, we headed up to Sycamore Slough in
      hopes of finding some bedded fish but intead found chocolate water. Todd was able to hook another 2-lber on the Jig w/beaver trailer rig.
      At 1:30pm we decided that we would head back to Paradise Point and hit the road home in hopes of beating the Friday afternoon traffic. Our plan was to fish the banks where Disappointment Slough and Paradise Point meet with blades for a few minutes. We found one bank near the the marina and Todd made a long cast parallel to the bank with a white blade. I then followed up with a Chartreuse blade.

      Then there was time for one last parallel cast (slow roll) down the bank (perhaps four feet off the bank in four feet of water) and about halfway back to the boat I get SLAMMED. I knew immediately this was a decent fish and was worried
      just a bit as it got into some weeds, but I was able to persuade it through the weeds and into the boat. It ended up being a beautiful 5-lber.
      It was a great way to end the day.

      Best Five: Around 16lbs.
      City: Orangevale

      Tips: Tips: Plastics slow with a 1/4oz bullet weight. 6" Senko bite at times. Chartreuse w/White blade. We caught most of our fish in deeper water (8-12') or near islands in the middle of sloughs. Only one fish off the bank.

    • By

      Water Temp: low 60's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: 3 of us launched out of wimpy's and fished beaver, hog, and sycamore sloughs. Ended the day with 3 limits (most of them around 1.5 lbs) and 1 striper. Caught probably 30+ undersized bass.
      City: Dixon

      Tips: Wh or wh/char spinner baits. Fished inside, over, and outside edge of weed lines

    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out of tiki lagoon in whiskey slough for about six hours today. Caught 3 about 2.5 lbs. on Senkos in about three feet of water on the riprap banks. Senkos were watermelon, black red flake, and cinnamon purple flake. Also caught several around 1 pound on same senkos. Lost one about four pounds on a chug bug, also. Didn't see any bedders, though. Caught them all at the bottom of low tide and most of the incoming tide.
      City: concord

      Tips: Fish SLOW.

  • Riverside County
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      Water Temp: 62-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Had a great first trip to this beautiful lake thanks to Rick W.. He allowed me to hop in the boat with him, loaned me a nice dropshot rod and away we went. He caught at least twice as many as I did but I felt like I did okay. He also caught the biggest- 3 pounds or so! I really appreciate his kindness and I want to tell everyone who has ever been chicken to ask about hitching a ride- just do it! You'll never know until you ask.
      City: napa

      Tips: Respect the boat and any loaned gear- offer up front to help pay expenses such as launch fees, gas, bait or even food. Thanks again Rick- guys like you are what make our sport so great!

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 57-60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sometimes I think there is no better lake to teach bass fishing than Oroville! Yesterday I guided three gentlemen - 2 new to bass fishing, and we caught 38 in a 6 hour trip. The weather wasn't real great - clear and VERY windy in the afternoon. We only used worms and Senkos because of the number of people in the boat. The 2 new guys really picked up split-shotting quickly and caught a lot of bass. All spots and 2 redeye with only 3 over the slot, but only 4 dinks. One fellow lost one that might have gone 4 pounds - darn! Today (Sat) I guided 2 fellows who wanted to learn new techniques and the weather was totally different - no wind and flat. I put Staycee ripbaits on their rods and they ripped to their hearts content - off and on all day. I think they ripped 17. Between that, split-shotting, drop-shotting, and Senkos. we boated 41 with 6 over the slot and a limit at 10 pounds. We had some nice fish! In spite of the cloudy weather, we actually caught some of the quality worm fish from 20 to 30 feet deep. The small bass would hit the worm and the big fish would just slowly pull on it until the rod loaded up. A great 2 days with some great clients - lots of laughs!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We found the quality bass on any type of structure with a break to deep water. This is probably because the lake is dropping some. Drop-shotting was working well - we just didn't do much of it the past 2 days. If you could find submerged brush to work your bait into, you would hook a good fish. Throwing #240 Senkos for suspended fish worked very well on Fri but not so well Sat. Funny, I thought it would be the opposite. Water in the south fork is very clear - too clear for spinnerbaits I thought. I could see down as much as 15-20 feet in spots. Fish #41 today was a 14 inch smallmouth in the middle fork that one of the fellows caught. There still are some left!! Worm color really didn't seem to matter too much today - several standard colors worked. You just had to keep it on the bottom. Suggestion - don't pump your rod at all. Just slowly lift it. Remember, at Oroville, when you move your rod an inch, the bait is probably falling a foot. Pump it four inches and you have moved your bait out of the strike zone. Just my opinion!