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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, February 26th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58-61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I'm back - took a break from Clear Lake for 2 months. My buddy Mike and I returned late afternoon yesterday, starting out about 5:30. We caught several dinks right away and I got a small keeper. No bite at dusk - surprising. After dark I got a big bite on a double wide Beaver - but missed her. We stayed until midnight even though the bite was very slow. It was worth the time however as Mike got the big bite on a shallow rockpile, using a Brush Hog. She went 8.02 lbs! Fun to a bass like that again! Earlier, I finally landed one a hair over 5 lbs. I switched to a black/chartreuse jig just before midnight and was rewarded with our 4th big fish bite. She went 5 lbs 6 oz. So, counting my earlier monster 1 pounder, we wound up with 4 bass for close to 20 lbs. The hits were few but strong. Most bites were around 10 feet, on rock.

      Tips: Most of our bites were on off-shore rock - not just rockpiles. We really had to cover a lot of water to find our bites. We just stayed south of the narrows.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 51

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished today for a few hours from 7am to 10am. Same slow bite as it has been for me the last three weeks. Be careful, lots of wood these days. All I managed was 5 fish, basic 13-14" spots, with one little largemouth at 14". All my fish on tubes in about 25 of water. Sure wish the water would warm up a tad. Bite has been shitty for me since the water came up so much a few weeks ago. Still rising.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Lately tubes working best for me.

Wednesday, February 25th, 2015

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

      Report: Shasta: 78.23 from full pool
      The bass bite at Shasta is still going strong from the shoreline out to 30' deep. Baits of choice have been tube's, Jig's, 6" worms on 3/16 & 1/4 oz. dartheads, Crankbaits and small swimbaits.

Tuesday, February 24th, 2015

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Report: Northern California reservoir levels as of 5:00 pm today
      Shasta: 78.23 from full pool
      Trinity: 100.08 from full pool
      Oroville: 145.69 from full pool

      The bass bite at Shasta is still going strong from the shoreline out to 30' deep. Baits of choice have been tube's, Jig's, 6" worms on 3/16 & 1/4 oz. dartheads, Crankbaits and small swimbaits.

Saturday, February 21st, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54 to 61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: This past weekend (Friday and Saturday were excellent Sunday was very windy). Friday I took Jim and his son James out for the day. I went to the back of Monticello ski school the water was like glass but there was no sign of fish activity but it gave me a good chance to teach them how to cast and retrieve different baits which paid off big time later in the day. From there we headed towards the Ranch house and fished using a Carolina rig set up with a Zoom red and black brush hog and a texas rig using brass and glass with a Senco watermelon red worm. The first bass was caught by James a nice 2 1/2 pounder. Jim had a bite on the brush hog started to bring it in and thought it was gone and stopped reeling wrong move as he continued to reel in to check his bait the bass jumped out of the water and spit the bait out. Jim learned that once you commit to reeling in you don't stop or give any slack to the line or its good bye fishy. Unfortunately James hooked a 8 to 10 pound bass (BIG!!!!) played the fish for about twenty minutes got it to the boat and his Dad instead of netting the fish wanted to take a picture of his son with the fish still on the line and you guessed it as James lifted the fish out of the water it was so long see ya and the bass was gone!!! Next lesson learned is to net the bass first and take the pictures in the boat. James got another bite and proceeded to bring in a nice 5+ pound bass this time Jim netted the bass first and then took pictures (see photos). The next day I went out with my buddy Albert and we had a great day on the water. Sunday I took Greeley and his son Elijah out well I wanted to take them out but as we headed out to the main lake it looked like the ocean in a wind storm the swells were at least four feet high and there were huge white caps did not look very inviting so I turned the boat around and headed towards Cappell Cove hoping for calmer water. I found one little section that was pretty calm and there were at least ten float tubers fishing in there so I headed a little further into the back of the cove but no luck the wind was terrible. I had promised Elijah that he would have a picture with a fish next to my sign today and I never break a promise but we had to head in the weather was just bad and all the tubers said they had no luck yet. I decided to call it a day and headed in. When we got to my house I told Elijah (who is eight years old) I was sorry we weren't able to fish because of the bad weather but I didn't want to disappoint him about the picture so I gave him a bass from the cooler from the day before and he got his picture with a fish by the sign (see photo).
      'til next time............................................................................................................................good fishing!!!!!
      www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share or if you would like to book a guided trip please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
      City: San Francisco

      Tips: spinner blades white and chartruse was the winner

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 57-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Just read the other guys post about Saturdays fishing. I have not been to clear lake in a very long time, and had to get my sticker as well at the tackle shop. Launched at Lucerne and fished around the north, lots of boats from nice to rodman, saw 1 fish caught and it was small. Talked to 3 to 4 guys all were having a hard time.
      We had 7 fish caught on 4 different baits, ripping, swim baits, A rig, and flipping plastics.

      We were at the mouth of rodman at around that time, and there were 10+ boats stacked in there, bait and grebe's were thick, at least 5 boats throwing A rigs, and not catching much. Lots of boats up rodman as well. I guess we just hit the wrong day. I will say all the fish we did catch were 4+ lbs, and that was nice.
      City: Chico

    • By

      Water Temp: 56 - 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Late start not a good idea from what I heard. Had to get me 2015 sticker and give CL a try. Heard 4# avg fishing the north - rodman, the park and the north west flats. Started at the park at 10:00 tried swim baits, rattle trap and jerk bait for about 45 minutes. Many boats more than 1/2 throwing the arig but no fish noted. Then headed to the north west - same deal many boats 3/4 throwing the a rig. Tried that, swim bait, trap, jerk bait for over an hour - most of the spots I know had boats so I was further out but still in 4-8 feet no fish no boats in the area with a fish either. Hit a couple areas on the way over to Rodman mostly just the a-rig and a little swimbaits. Same result but less boats! Fianlly, a point east of Redman I did see a fish landed, looked like a 3# dad and his son. Hopped over to Rodman - not hard to find just follow the parade. Feb 21 and there were 15+ boats in there around 11:30. Stayed on the perimeter - don't like to crowd and figured fish would be moving in and out anyway. Fished there 2 1/2 hours swim bait and a-rig no fish and none hooked by the others. One nice guy, Dean said he caught 2 but it was much earlier and "you should have been here yesterday". Not exaggerating a new boat entered the area every 10 minutes or so and some of those guys just big motored it up right past all the guys patiently waiting outside with no regard for the others. On the other hand it was a beautiful day. Picked up one dink at rattlesnake on a staysee 90 before heading out to keep the skunk smell off the Triton. Spoke to 6 or 7 people who said it was tough - one said nothing after 9:00 but one guy reported several fish a-rig, swim bait and jig said he had a great day - good for him gives me hope

      Tips: I don't fish clearlake much so I'm not the right tip guy so I'll relay the tip from nice guy at Limit out. Any reaction bait up north. All the standard places from the State park up to Rodman. There are definitely fish up there you could tell from the number of boats and yesterdays stories out there. One guy claimed 25 fish yesterday on nothing but a drop shot - which I never pulled out of the box Sat.

    • By

      Water Temp: 58.3

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Wife and I hit the water around 11 AM and fished until 4 PM. Caught 10 bass, all good sized,(1.5 to 2.5 lbs.), no dinks!
      Great weather and great day fishing!

      Tips: Fish the drop-offs.

Friday, February 20th, 2015

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Dinks at 30-50 ft on plastics

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 56-57

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched 10:30am B&W.... water was stained to muddy brown...started at top of the Moke... nada.
      Moved to favorite tules...nada...everything looked like it had been sprayed to kill the hyacinth, which was pretty much non existent except the few remaining floaters that were already dead brown. All the usual tules seemed to be either killed off or hardly even there. Moved to alternate areas on Tater Slough.... managed a couple of keepers on blk/red flk senko and a black spinner bait, but no pattern at all. Saw only a few other boats trying but never saw anyone hook up and I really think it was just a junk fish day. Ended the day at 330pm with 3 on the hook.
      City: folsom

      Tips: not even!!! someone tell us what's happening in these waters. all the reports of the bite is on, 20-25lb limits, where the h&(( is that? south delta? sure ain't up the moke or even the sj.

Thursday, February 19th, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 57-61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I did another "teach the lake" trip today - and joined all the other bass boats. I thought it was Saturday! My client is an excellent stick and knows what he is doing! Another fog-bound morning with a slow bite. We did have several "soft bites" but couldn't hook them. The fog lifted on schedule - around noon - and the surface temp warmed a bit. After showing him lots of off-shore structure and other areas, we worked the east side where he caught his 2nd largemouth - a nice 3 3/4 pounder. He caught a third largemouth and I finally landed a 2 1/2 lb largemouth. The four largemouth went around 10 lbs. Robo worms did the trick. I lost a bigger bass in the morning throwing a Norman DD22.

      Tips: The only tip I could give is "what not to use." Never got a jig bite - which surprised me. Most of our hits were around the 8 to 12 foot range. I saw several bait balls - some at 70 feet!

Wednesday, February 18th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: my dad and I will be making a trip down there in a week does anyone have a report from this week. Water Temp? Visability? current patterns
      City: Reno

Monday, February 16th, 2015

  • Calaveras County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started around noon took a kid fishing worked a cove had boat pressure all around but still manage to catch fish behind them. Fish are there with the warmer days crushing for food. Used crankbait, jerkbait and senko.

Sunday, February 15th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Clear Lake Blows Up is more like it!

      Let’s get the formalities out of the way first. Lake level is 4.43 Rumsey and holding, so we still need more rain. Finding surface temps in the 60 degree range is not as hard as one would think for the second week of February.

      For me, well, I predicted it, but I still can’t believe the way this lake fished this week.
      Fast forward to the end of March and that is pretty much where the bite is right now.
      Jerk baits, LV 500’s and swim baits were all contributing as was a Texas rig fished right on the bank. Yes, there are numbers of fish already roaming the shallows.

      Friday I had the morning to myself before leaving for Bass Pro in Manteca. Launching at 7 am I was able to fish until 1pm and had no problem finding willing fish. I managed 14 fish, and friends all reported 20+ fish Friday as well, fishing until 4pm. It never fails; have to leave just as it’s getting good!

      That said, at least the lake was busy again as ABA had their event scheduled for Sunday. So with plenty of pre-fishing going on, and with most local anglers predicting it could take 40 lbs. to win, we knew this could be good!

      That wasn’t far off! Sufficed to say 33+lbs was good for just third and it took a 10+ for big fish! Now, I could be mistaken, but I’m not sure I saw any double digit fish weighed in at any event last year, so that was certainly good to see as well. Watch for the complete ABA Results and look for yourselves, it’s pretty impressive.

      What’s to come? Well, with the warm temperatures forecast for this week, I’d say more of the same for sure. Oh, and yeah, the night bite is beginning to turn on as well, just be careful out there as there is some scattered debris floating throughout the lake.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 53-56

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished south fork all day, with some wind. Worked the mud lines with river 2 sea lipless crank baits and caught 15 fish within 2 hours between 2 of us. Best 5 going for 13 pounds
      City: sacramento

      Tips: 9-12 am is the time slot to get all your fish

Friday, February 13th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Lake Oroville has come up 22 feet in the last 8 days to 46% of capacity. Fish have to be mixed up, confused with that much of an increase. That one heck of a lot of water.
      City: Magalia

Thursday, February 12th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Today I fished with Sunny from 7am to 10:30 am. Wow, lake sure looks different with the rise of water from the last rains. Best guess is it's up 12 feet maybe more. Cool and windy, water dirty and not looking good as it used to. Today we managed 12 fish, with Sunny catching the bulk of them, with one right at 15" or so. Most fish the basic 13-14" size. Sunny, your one darn good fisherman, think you could teach me a lot about catching spots. Thanks for fishing with me.
      City: Magalia

Tuesday, February 10th, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55-58

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Ok this info is for the recreation fisherman so the tourny guys please skip this post
      Fished main body and found them moving up shallow in the Pm all the areas you like to fish ,deep water with shallows close by Baits? Slow morning , faster Pm

Monday, February 9th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55-57

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out both Sunday - rain was insane - but so was the bite. 20lb bag in under 3 hrs on windblown banks and Monday was even better with an afternoon bite that was stupid - 24-25lb in 3 hrs. They are getting predictable in the classic staging areas. reaction bites on the transitions. the storm activated the bite.
      City: stockton

      Tips: its that time fellas, put away the darters and dropshots, time to stick some donkeys.

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

      Report: As some of you may know, we did indeed pass that 100' mark this past weekend! Also, we should be passing the 50% full mark in the next day or so. I was able to get the rain totals for the storm so far (at the McCloud location):
      Friday: 6.83"
      Saturday: 1.06"
      Sunday: 1.62"
      Total: 9.51"

      I am sure the Lakehead totals were more than ours...and we will be getting more today!

      I have added two comparison pictures from our cove. The first is December 7, 2014. The second is today, February 9, 2015. Just a little over 2 months we have come up 74.97'. The inflows from these recent storms should keep up for the next couple of weeks, so we should be seeing a great jump in lake levels.

      I hope this brightens your Monday!!!

      Lake Level Report (02/09/2015 at 7 AM)
      Lake Elevation: 971.31' (95.69' below full pool)
      Lake Elevation 2014: 936.69' (130.31' below full pool)
      Storage: 2,250,370 af
      Outflow: 523 cfs
      Inflow: 34,271 cfs
      Precipitation (24 hr @ dam): .70"
      Precipitation (Season @ dam): 44.33"
      Precipitation (2013 Season @ dam): 7.14"