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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, March 25th, 2004

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the storm, It rained all afternoon, but the bite was on. Stade out of the main lake and went in the coves. Fished for about 4 Hrs and my partner and I caught 12 bass all around 1 Lb. Caught 1 on a spinner bait and the rest on crank baits. it started to poor so we called it a day.
      City: Morgan Hill

      Tips: Fish are starting to move up. we caught most our fish in aboput 2 ft. of water. use dark colored c-baits in the coves.

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 62-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished yet another guide trip on this little jewel in the storm yesterday out of Markley Cove. The jig bite first thing in the morining was awesome and held up till the rains started. 1/2 oz Brown purple football head jig with small 101 pork chunks. We caugh all three species up to four pounds being the biggest largmouth of the morning. A bunch of largemouth have move shallow, but are not yet on beds. We did see a number of BIG smallies on beds as well as a few BIG spots up cruising the shalows. We ventured up to the south portion of the main lake when it started to rain at around 11:00. We then commenced to put a clinic on the largemouth with a C-rig'd Zoom Lizard. Wow, cast after cast after cast, they would yank that green pumkin lizard dang near out of our hands. I think most of these were bucks that have began there shallow movement and were just feeding like crazy. Was purty cool,of the 35-50 fish we caught, best 5 went between 14-15 pounds today. Still no big fish, yet I know there in here! So I'm going back to the River for 5 days of guiding! [grins]
      City: Oakley

      Tips: Start looking for the fish to be shallow. Areas with big flats from 3-10' are holding hordes of largemouth. For smallies, look for that yellow pebble rock banks, especially long flat submerged points, there will be 3-6 smallies on every point. The spots just seem scattered everywhere.

    • By

      Water Temp: 64-67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Invasion of the largemouth!! That is the story of a rapidly clearing Berryessa. The water is clear enough now to see a few fish moving around, although we did not see any big bass up yet. A regular client and I caught nearly 60 bass yesterday - non-stop action. We fished near the Ranch House, and from Spanish Flat to Pope Creek. While many of those fish were small largemouth, our tournament keepers (above 13") went something like this: 32 largemouth, 10 smallmouth, and only 2 spots. Our best five were all largies from 2-1 to 2-10, close to 12 pounds. As I mentioned, lots of largemouth from 6 to 10 inches - great to see! The crankbait bite slowed for us - we caught only three. One great thing happened - I threw a rip bait in the back of a cove. Before I could twitch it - off it went - I set and a 2 1/2 lb largemouth came a foot out of the water. Ah, winter is over!! We settled on split-shotting and dragging 4 to 6 inch worms and lizards. Senkos worked too. I used Berkley, Yamamoto, and Camanche Jack worms in several colors. My client brought some Zoom cotton candy lizards and that was the hot bait for about a half hour. Eventually he wanted to use some of my Berkely pulse worms - they were red hot. Don't forget camo color - it works! I threw swimbaits for awhile and even some topwater in the morning. No takers. We found that we had to wait a second or two to get a good hookset. If we set too quickly, we missed a lot of them. That is certainly true of Berryessa when night fishing! It was a much more beautiful day than we anticipated. Great fishing and great weather don't often go together! We both enjoyed the solitude - only saw 6 or 7 boats of any kind all day. I love it!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We found fish on points, but the majority have started to move to the back of coves or to secondary points. We caught fish from 5 to 20 feet of water. Many points at Berryessa have flats before they drop to deep water. Those are the best staging areas for big bass. I think there will be a good movement of bigger fish during the next full moon. A return to winter (it is pouring rain as I write this) could change this however.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 62-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: What a great day, windy and rainy after 3 weeks of nice weather. Went out of Lundborg at 10:30amback at 4:30pm and caught 40 and missed maybe 20 bass all but one on blades. Three different blades in the stained water I used a Wht/Wht 1/2 oz Persuader w/white blades or a 1/2 cht/Wht Assassinater and in the clearer water I used the Souther shad assassinater. About 3/4 of the fish were on ambush points , poiint cuts or most any placed the current broke through or was rerouted. I caught a fish about ever 8 minutes and burned maybe 3 gallons of gas. Some fish came from rocks and all of these were post spawn and skinny. Then the rest were near tules, sparse tules some were post and some were pre spawn.
      City: Concord

      Tips: I started with the southern shad blade and was missing and losing fish when I switch to the wht/wht I was getting a much better hook up ratio.

    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Paradise Point at the top of the tide. Fished Dissapointment Slough 'til noon. Seemed like the approaching front helped turn the appetites on. Caught 6 bass with the best 5 weighing 15 lbs. One of my better days on the Delta.
      All fish were caught on or very near a break into 10 ft of water.
      All were caught on a Reaction Innovations Boom Tube in Waterbug color.
      City: Manteca

      Tips: All bites were very subtle. A "tic" in the line, or the line moving off to the side. I didn't feel the pick up on any of them.

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

      Report: I need help fella's! Going up to Clear Lake for a week starting next week. I would really appreciate any tips/suggestions/etc-maybe what your favorite lures are or which part of the lake would be a good place to try? I have only fished it once and allthough I did well anything will help! Thanks and Tight Lines!
      City: Chowchilla,CA

      Tips: ???

Wednesday, March 24th, 2004

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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Camp Far West Wed. Caught about 15-20 fish in about 4 hrs of fishing. I caught about 10 early on ripbaits in the river arm. I caught the rest sight fishing in the shallow coves. All sight fish were small males about 2 pounds or so. I saw a few beds but I caught a few males who were cruising shallow looking to make beds. Wherever i saw tree stumps there seemed to be a male nearby locked onto it. I caught them on small darthead worms after annoying them for a while. I released all fish so they could get back to making nests. No big fish but a lot of fun watching the bass eat your lure.
      City: YUBA

      Tips: A pair of polarized glasses is a must for sight fishing. Also releasing fish is very important this time of year. Good Luck.

    • By

      Water Temp: 61-67

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Getting better everyday. I fished thursday in the stubborn wind the blew all day. Boated 8 fish to about 5lbs..hooked and unbuttoned the same big fish not once but two times.She railed me both times in very deep in cover. made me sick, especially since I was expecting her to bite the second time.

      This lakes a little slow to get going and the best fishing here is yet to come. Water color is still on the brown side but fishable.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: jigs. big and bulky

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: A friend and I went to the launch at the end of the day about 3pm-6pm. We were fishing from the bank tossing swimbaits(SR7's from Outdoor Pro). My buddy hooks his first swimbait bass at 5.1 pounds. Very nice fat female, that was the only fish for 3 hours of fishing.

      Tips: Let the lure sink and begin a slow steady retrieve with a twitch or two thrown in.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 58-61'

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Wow, what a differance a couple weeks make. Water temp's are up, the fish are spawnin in every phase. They're every where! The jig bite has been pretty awsome, if there is a ripple on the water,(otherwise they just peck at it). Been gettin em on 4" Zoom lizards also, on a splitshot rig, dragging from 5'-20'. It won't do any good to give up spots as I said before, they're everywhere. Put 31 in the boat Monday, with three over two pounds, and missed a bunch more.
      City: Redding

      Tips: I love Mr. B's 3/4 oz jigs (secret color,Har!)with a Ymamoto 5" grub trailer, in Green pumpkin. Also anything green, in the lizard family.Go get em boys!!!!!!

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 60+

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for about 6 hours, put 25 in the boat, 5 biggest was just shy of 16 lbs. Pretty easy to catch fish, flipped a jig all day on every piece of wood i could find. Got broke off 5 times because of the wood but thats were they are. Funny thing happend, I was trying to kick a senko off the deck of the boat and i kicked 3 of my rods in the water, about 10 feet deep, spent some time in the cold water but retrieved all rods. That sucked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      City: santa rosa

      Tips: Fish are on wood but there are alot of small males.

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2004

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 62 to 69

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 6:15 until 2:15. Hit Wragg Canyon first and pulled 5 out in the first hour, all good keepers, 1.5 to 2.5 range. Fished skiers canyon for 7 more, 1.0 to 2.8. Headed up north to Putah Creek for the last hour of fishing and pulled 2 more, a dink and a solid 3.10 largie. Had a nice fish come unbuttoned at the boat, 4.5 to 5lbs+ just did'nt get a good stick in her, she jumped and flashed her fat white belly at me and spit my spinnerbait out. 14 fish total, 13.60 limit.
      City: Davis

      Tips: Spinnerbait, drop shot and swim bait.

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: 62.0-65.0

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing is solid with numbers of fish shallow both post spawn and new fish moving in. No big fish on this day but many in the 2-3lb range. Some fish on beds but sight fishing is tough with the water clarity and recent wind this week but I did see some.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: stay shallow.. look for fat new fish moving up on secondary points and breaks. All our fish were cought 2-12ft on jigs and also the Senko when the wind would permit.

  • Yuba County
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      Water Temp: 60ish

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: my second trip this year here and actually gone to troll for trout, but after reading the reports and the sucess i havent had for the big plants still leaves me scratching my head and wondering what the heck we are doing wrong. when up there two sundays ago but didnt get around to bass fish that day. i think there was a tournament that day anyway since the lake was flooded with speeding boats all day, but this time was much less crowded on the water. however, early morning weather blanketed ongoing fog and trolling trout tactics once again didnt work, and the wind picked up as i headed for the east side to get some bass fishing in and wait out the wind. stepped up on the bank behind a row of trees with water from 1 to 12 feet, first cast with Senko was picked up by a small spottie hugging one of the trees. i thought this looked promising, especially after wasting all morning cruising for trout(trolling really is borning but yet we still do it). about 25 minutes time and working the rest of the trees, caught and released 6 more bass, all spots except for one largemouth. the biggest was actually a 2.5 spotted bass that eluding me on two strikes,the following 3rd one got me hung up on a 4 foot submerged tree branch that i ended up reeling in to the bank, but the little girl just kept hitting(i did change color of Senko i was throwing) and on the 4th pick up i finally hooked and landed her. good fighting bass too. i could see the missed strike damage she had taken on from the previous misses, but glad she was aggressive. that half an hour made the trip to Collins worth my while i guess, and i think i will forget the trout fishing next trip up here and just bass fish. i guess i am still avenging the 10lb+ rainbow i lost two years ago due to a fouled up drag way back in the inlet pass the bridge. i was actually bass fishing tossing the same color senkos i use pretty much everywhere i go while my brother was trout fishing with the funny power bait(but heck, the stuff does work!) and when the trout busted the surface i was in shock to see how big it was while my bro turned his head and shouted "what the heck was that?" my drag on my spool was screwed up somehow and would not adjust,just stuck, and as the huge trout darted straight for me, made a guick right and headed to some huge rocks, i regretfully pulled my pole hard left to get her to change direction, but as my line tightened and pole bent.....snap! bye bye with 8lb test. i threw my pole down in anger and the rest of the day was shot. but that fish is the only reason why i still continue to trout fish here. otherwise, i would stick to bass fishing. i dont know how many times i have had crappy trout trips here, and ended up driving up to Lake Francis up the hill just to get my satisfaction of feeling a fish on the end of the line. i wish that little lake had some kind of bass replenishing program and make it catch and release, i would even pay to fish there just cruising around with a trolling motor. me and my buddies have caught numerous largemouths fishing from the banks of the small coves and also out in the water near the islands and the far side. one of my buddies actually pulled out one short of 6lbs, and considering the lake was drained and restocked like 3 years ago, a bass over 5 was astonishing. Id like to see a nice drop of florida strains like collins has been getting and make it a catch and release bass lake, but unfortunatly that will never happen, because the lake is too small to attract any real bass fisherman, and cant have big boats or gas motors anyway. but it is a fun place to stop by. i even see alot of tournament guys who drive up there after a buttkicking at the larger lakes in the vicintiy. Dont forget to check out my buddy, Fish Chris' bass sight at www.trophybassonly.com if the dont already know about it. great site and good people to interact with. peace. craig.
      City: yuba city

      Tips: the heck with the collins trophy trout, this lake could become a great trophy bass lake, if is wasnt so overwhelmed with spotted bass that still out number the fast growing florida and northern strained largemouth my many times over.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got out on the water at 4:30pm with buddy, Aaron, and we caught two 2+ spots on lizard and tube. Saw fish blowing up on surface, not concentrated but throughout the cove so I picked up the superspook and got a 3+ spot next to a willow. Found some dead wagasakis on the surface and upon examination (squeezed the little dudette) and eggs came squirting out. Guess that is what they were eating. Moved to Rock Garden area and picked up another 6 fish on the spook including a 3 lb. smallmouth. The wind picked up late but didn't seem to affect the topwater. Aaron threw a blade but no dice. I know it would work if we had more time.
      City: Citrus Heights

      Tips: Fish are everywhere they should be.
      Go fishing because you can.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 63-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Late start with bearing trouble on the trailer. Caught nice fish on repala and senko. Fished in 1-6 foot of water. Saw lots of carp shallow with a few bass.
      City: Oroville

      Tips: Be patient, find where the fish are staging and moving up, that's the zone to be in!

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: First time on the lake in 6 months. Fished from shore, landed 4 bass to 2lbs. Lots of huge bass crusing the shallows, had a couple whiffs with trout swimbait on 3-4 pounders. Fish were on senkos and senko jigs. Only saw a few beds, and they are difficult to fish from shore.
      City: San Diego

      Tips: Get a boat, and fish very very slow

Monday, March 22nd, 2004

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

      Report: Fished Bass Cove for 2 hours and alder point for one hour. Saw one 10+ female but she was extremely spooky, dissapeared as soon as I started fishing for her. Came across a 4-5lb bass on a stringer. The guy said it was his first time bass fishing and he caught it on some type of minnow imitation crankbait. I pleaded to the guy that she was probably full of eggs and that keeping fish her size is what makes chabot so tough to catch bass. Anyways about 10 minutes later he threw it back and she swam off with a lot of energy(eventhough she was on the stringer for a while). I was relieved, I can't stand seeing bass kept, especially that size. I didn't catch anything except 2 really small bass.
      City: San Leandro

      Tips: Fishing is still slow. The females aren't active. You really have to work for bites.

    • By

      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Jay, I know how you feel. Went out Monday the 22nd, not real good. Very windy, missed a few bumps, but no fish. Only two other boats out there, and two headed out as we headed in about 1pm. No bass. No that I read the previous post, I feel a little better, knowing I fished right after a tournament. Yeah, that's it, they took all the good fish from me! Not really, I just sucked. Switched to trolling for trout just to catch some fish, nothing there either. Water is still very stained, flotsam heavy at the windward side of the lake.
      City: san jose

      Tips: Still probably works with all the usuals, just have to be patient I guess, allow for some slow action at times.

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Me and a friend caught 10 bass on Brush hogs. All were 8" to 13". I lost a big fish when we first arrived, came unbuttoned after a short fight
      City: Burlingame