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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Tuesday, February 17th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out last Thurs. caught 6 ish, best 5 went or over 17 lbs. Fished club tourney on Sun. and could only manage 2 or 3.5 lbs. The ish seem to be staging in 4-6' range. Fished the meat wall in ront o Oasis and Old River also in Sugar Cut.
      City: Tracy

      Tips: Baby Brush hogs in black/red and junebug/red. I heard some guys are catching on same color jigs as well as white spinnerbaits. Fish the plastics very slow, don't even lit your rod, just drag it.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: high 40's-low50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: had some requests regarding current conditions with all the rain coming down and some tournaments coming up soon.The lake has come up nearly 10t in two days, 9 inches at my house in Redding and nearly 17 inches o rain on the lake. At present, there is over 140,000 CFS pouring into the lake. I would expect discolored water and warming lake temps with a heavy debris load once the south wind stops and the north wind picks up. The ishing has exploded during the past two weeks, lots o 4 lb+ ish coming in and heavy sacks. I would imagine that the ish will move up as the level keeps rising and the temps move up slightly. The lake is presently 20t down rom the top and rising rapidly. Not a lot o releases going on yet as the downstream areas are experienceing looding. Look or some major releases as soon as the rain slows down.
      City: Redding

Monday, February 16th, 2004

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      Water Temp: 50deg.

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Third time to the lake. Tried a bunch o spots, but I was looking or deep rock piles. I ended up catching 4 all together rom 0730 to 1230. 1 on bold bluegill, 2 on pumpkin d/t grubs, and 1 on an oxblood robo sculpin... Sprinkled and Rained most o the day, but not too hard. good luck.....
      City: Tulare

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      Water Temp: 50-51 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: First trip o the year and we got SOAKED! Fished rom 1-5 got only 3 bites landed 2 but they were good ones. one went 3+ other went 1 1/2-2 both caught dropshotting 4" roboworms in sotshell craw.
      City: Martinez

      Tips: Look or clearer water and ish standing cover in 5-10 t. o water. Fish are just starting to stage to spawn ater this storm breaks there should be a rush into shallow water. Also, the catish bite is HOT! My guide service is up and running e-mail me or rates and ino on other lakes I will be guiding on but will ocus mainly on San Pablo

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      Water Temp: 50-51

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: First trip to pablo o the new season. Fished rom 1-5 today and we got SOAKED! Did manage two nice ish through the rain and wind. One went 3+ the other 1 1/2-2 lbs. Both came dropshoting 4 1/2" roboworms in sotshell craw and black grape. Fish were holding around standing cover in 5-10 t. o water. My guide service is up and running e-mail me or rates and ino on other waters. P.s. Catish bite is HOT!
      City: Martinez

      Tips: Fish standing cover in 5-10 t. o water. Look or the clearer water and stick with the drop shot. also the lake is up 5+ eet rom last year and its still rising there is a lot o GOOD submerged cover that used to be out o the water.

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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: To all those who have tried to help me ind the RIGHT ponds to ish---many thanks, you are all true sportsmen.Chris....I really hope I dont see you there.....actually, you'd better hope you dont see me there.Thanks again guys. Will report on this weekends trip asap
      City: San Leandro

Sunday, February 15th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 48-52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished our club tournament on Sunday out o Riversend. Aced it with a 12 pound bag with only 4 ish. Through a red and black 1/2 ounce gig all day in 2 to 6 eet. Stayed on points. Water warmed up some rom last week in south delta.
      City: Tracy

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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out o the port @ Stockton and ished rip rap on the main channel. Partner hooked up on a solid 3# ish crankin walls. Then he hit one on a jig, then I hooked up on a jig. The next ish was a 7# striper I hooked up by Tiki on a crank bait. Oh and saw 2 sea lions and about 20 loating catish heads.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Crank bait bite pickin up, and jigs still workin. All ish came on rock walls. I the sea lions are close to you, motor on up the way.

    • By

      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: This is or the guy who want's to catch Carp. In the Summer when the water is real hot they eed on top. You will see them in big groups just gumming the surace. We catch them using ly rods and a small grass hopper ly. Just put it right in ront o their ace and when you see it disapear....SET!!! When it's colder like now you can use eed corn. Just go to a eed store and get a bag o eed corn. Boil it or about an hour and strain. It works well because it's sot but, it stays on the hook. Open your bail and they will pick it up and run. Hope this is some help..
      City: Reno

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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Had to come back ater being here the day beore and talking to Mark Inman. Me and my partner started towards the keep out bouys alot shallower then we have been ishing in 10 to 30 eet. We were the irst boat on the water there was no wind and not too cold at all. Tried some trees and rocks with no luck then went to a dropo that goes rom 15 to 30 eet. Got irst ish on a jig, missed one about 5 minutes beore that one. Partner hooked up with one ater that on a brushhog, and also missed a couple bites. About 10:30 nothing was biting or us so went to the dam an area which is usually are honey hole, but not today. Ended up going back to where we had caught our ish earlier to try or an hour or so my buddy wanted to go home, but good thing we didn't he ended up getting one that went 4.1 on the scale. The hook ell out o the ish right as I got the net under it nice ish. We stayed or a little longer and then the wind picked up so went home. Good day even though we only got 3 ish ended up with 14 or the weekend.
      City: Coalinga

      Tips: Well I graphed some bass in 10 eet o water and talked to others that have caught some in the same depth so I would say the ish are on there way prespawn is coming. So get ready and hold on. Good luck to all and just have un!

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      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: How is the water clarity? Getting clearer?
      City: Palo Alto

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      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished rom 4-5:30PM. Caught a 4 lber at the dam using Rat-L-Trap and retreving slowly. The ish looked like spotted bass, but not 100% sure. (Its jaw line didn't extend beyond its eyes.)
      City: Palo Alto

      Tips: Fish slowly and be patient. Expect ewer bites, but each bite will be a quality bite.

Saturday, February 14th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 50.1

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Lazy M 1pm launch thinkin the days sun would heat up the water and the bite. A guy named Je and his riend gave me the news as they pulled in rom all day ishin. They said "nothin" why I asked my ususal question o "how didya do?" And so I tried to muster a LM Bass with the same success. Hey, in 2 more weeks or so more people will be catchin em. And a month down the road everyone will be catchin em again.I read it every year bout the water temp spawn patterns...
      City: San Leandro

      Tips: Every year bout this time I start readin and re readin what there is to read about the ish we're all tryin to catch. Lots o stu out there.It's also a great time to develope interest in new spots. You KNOW they'll be there soon.

    • By

      Water Temp: 50 - 51

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We got skunked Saturday on Dutch Slough. Tried tullies on lats, tried tullies next to deep water, tried deep water, rock walls, old wood by current, old wood out o current, you name it we tried it. We were tossing jigs (black & blue, brown & green), shallow & deep cranks (red craw & "bluegill" colors), white spinners, t-rigged worms & lizards, drop-shotting, even some topwater. All on outgoing tide.

      Tips: Heard o a ew ish getting caught, but didn't hear any details.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 47

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I guided two gentlemen on Friday - one relatively new to bass ishing. They wanted me to show them about winter ishing with artiicials. We basically stuck with jigs, drop shotting, and rip baits. We did very well, catching about 22 bass rom 10 inches to 3 pounds. The ellow that was learning caught the 3 pounder - his biggest largemouth to date. I have to tell you readers what happened to him later! We were down by Indian Beach and the wind started doing crazy things about 1 pm as the ront moved in. I could hear it howl over by Windlower Point and it was coming to us - west to east - weird! I told them to make a ew quick casts, then we had to go. He threw his ripbait near a dock but it went a long way and the line sailed over the dock. You know what happened! He hooks a big bass on the other side o the dock on his rip bait as he is trying to ree his line - I tried everything to help him in the now ierce wind and trying to save my 520 Ranger at the same time! He's still yelling that he has the ish. We did inally get his line over the dock where he could land it and the bass had the gall to spit out the ripbait! Those bass just show no respect sometimes!! My other client didn't have as good a day but he did also hook a big ish that swam to him and he just couldn't get a good hookset. They decided they didn't want to ight the weather anymore. I think we ished around 6 1/2 to 7 hours. I loved the act that it seemed like every time I looked around, the bass newcomer had his drop-shot rod bent - he was hot - and the weather was not!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We were using ghost pattern rip baits near weeds and in open water. It was interesting that the ripbaits were producing smaller bass overall. We did our best with drop-shot baits in shad color - Yamamoto Kut Tail worms and the rig I showed at the ISE shows - drop-shotting a 4 inch 031 Senko. I we let the Senko lutter to the bottom, they would hit it - just like a dying shad. Jigs seemed to produce bigger ish too. We had several rom 2 1/4 to 3 pounds.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Well we were the second boat on the lake started near the dam in 20 to 30 eet. Partner got one about 15 minutes later, then they were on I got 5 ish in an hour. Then they were o couldn't igure out why. We went to some dropos and humps ranging rom 40 up to 20 eet my partner hooked up with three ish out there over a couple o hours. It was warm with not to much wind all day. Thought the ishing would pick up but we just couldn't entice them to bite any more so we called it a day around 2:30 pm. We inished with 11 bass total not bad but we did'nt have any good size ish in the boat. Met Mark Innman at the bait store that day I have been reading his reports or 10 years at it was an honor to meet him he gave me a jig and a couple tips. Thanks Mark!
      City: Coalinga

      Tips: Look or the ish to be on the move they seemed to be scattered all over the place, we caught all our ish dropshotting in 20 to 40 eet. Good Luck and don't give up!

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 51-52

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: only had a ew hrs to ish, on the water at 12pm started at morman throwing cranks n rips no takers, went north to the rock gardens did the same, nada , started working an isolated rock pile with a darterhead had a tap but didnt take it , then came up to a long tappering point with a sharp drop, eased out to 30t threw out an osprey swim bait(trout)to shallow water let it sink a couple a eet then started to crank real slowjust past the break line then wham rod loaded up the ish didnt ight that hard she came to the surace and i realized she was a toad, had no net got her to the boat had to lip her,some guys rom a tourny weighed the ish,11#10ounces, took pics and video then released her to the same spot,i know olsom is tough at times but now is the time to orget numbers and go big,im out.
      City: sacramento

      Tips: the biggest ish will spawn irst, they are in a pre-pre spawn mode, try the big trout swm baits you will be suprised, just keep at it. slow slow slow

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 49-51

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Thanks Jerry or the current conditions!I knew it would be coming up ast with the rain but 10 eet! Ok as or the ishing I ished the 100% pro am..Drew John Brossard, very nice, and not to mention good angler. Fished worms and jigs all day or 5 ish 7.53...all worm ish caught on either arrons magic or blue crawler..my lone jig ish, on a 3/4 oz homemade jig w/ a zoom super pork chunk trailer. I ish both days o the Cottonwood bass club tournaments this weekend, so ill give a better report sunday night.
      City: redding

      Tips: ish slow..worms and jigs..i you ind a reaction bite your very good...har har

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 51

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Yorty last sunday. Arrived around seven. Started up the north bank in my loat tube and picked up one keeper. I ished a perect winter area. Fish were stacked on the edge o the break in 20 to 25 eet. I picked up three on a drop shot rig. One went 4lbs. On the way back I picked up one dink and cranked up a 4.5 on a at ree shad. The limit went about 11 to 12 pounds.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Fished mostly drop shot, jigs, and crankbaits. SLOW...

Friday, February 13th, 2004

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

      Report: Got on the water about 7:30am. Could not ask or a better day, no wind and not too cold. Tried rip and spinner baits irst straight agross the lake on the main lake rom granite bay launch, not much luck. Greg caught one 1.5 spot in the irst hour on a white spinner bait. The rest o the day we never got touched. We tried everything. We ished hard until about 4:00pm. Greg inally came clean about how he hooked the early ish. He back lashed his reel and the spinner bait sat on the bottem or about two minutes while he was ixing his tangle. When he started to reel in the slack, the ish was already on. He waited until 2:00pm to tell me that. I know Folsom will turn on soon, but even when the ishing is on there, I don't do well. No conidence in this lake. Too bad, closest lake to home.
      City: sacramento

      Tips: I ished some real good jigs patterns very slow. I ished darter heads real slow. I ished rip and spinners all speeds. I ished shallow and deep and everything in between. Never a single bump. Greg cought one ish because the spinner hit the bass on top o the head when he back lashed his reel.