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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, January 22nd, 2004

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 47 to 48.4

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: In at Bailey Cove at 9am, bright sunny day. Ran up the main lake towards the Pit ishing main lake points and cuts. Caught 10 total the largest going 1.9lbs. I only managed 3 while you know who,(the blonde in the back) caught 7. All the ish came on jigs in 40 to 50'. Presentation was SLOOOOW. The bite was very, very sot. Out at 2:00PM.
      City: Cottonwood

      Tips: Most o the bites came straight over the boat. I guess you would call it dropshotting 1/2 & 3/8 oz. jigs.

Wednesday, January 21st, 2004

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      Water Temp: Cold

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: On Wednesday I made a last minute decision to go over to Del Valle. On the water by 9:00 and o by 12:30. The water level has been drawn down, so the East end is very shallow, 2'-4'. I did manage to pick up a pair o 3 lb ish split shot a ry and missed 2 more. They were in about 10' and on wood. I also tried a spinnerbait, black&blue jig and a senko with no luck. It was a beautiul day and it cured that itch or a bite. A group o us have let one o the Bass clubs in the area and now 10 o us are meeting in the area to ish monthly "pick up" tournaments. We have a tournament schedule that I can send you, points are being earned and tracked, but there are no dues at this point and our meetings are social. I you are interested in ishing with us, give me a call at 925-639-7724 David Mayne
      City: Walnut Creek

      Tips: Fish only the high percentage areas, points, wood, humps, channel... Find a ishy looking spot and hold on it, work it slow. Then go to the next spot and eliminate the dead water in between.

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We got to the lake at about noon and ater dodging all the Trout isherman we made it to our irst point and I started throwing a hula grub, 2 casts into it I hooked into something real nice and I knew it was to good to be true. Up came a 3.8 lb. Trout! Move to the next point and started throwing a Rodstrainer jig and picked up a couple dinks. Started puttin along the bank while the guy who came with me soaked powerbait behind the boat...(thats the last time I ever let powerbait into my boat!) I was throwing a Lucky crat pointer in the Trout color and hooked into another toad or so I thought...up came another damn Trout. This one went 4.7 pounds and was 25" long, unbelivably skinny ish but put up a good ight. My buddy got 3 Trout just draggin power bait behind us and his biggest was a male that went 4.2. Well, I picked up a 4 more bass dropshottin in 45+ t o water and the bite turned o as the sun went down which surprized me. Not much o a bass report but they're out there i you wanna try hard enough and in the meantime hook into Trout while bass ishin!
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: Slow Slow Slow Slow. These ish aren't very active at all and with the lake coming up as ast as it is, seems like they moved down to deeper water.

  • Bayfield County
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      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Arrived at the Marina about 9:15 a.m. with 36 degrees air temp. Lake surace was lat with only a slight breeze now and then all day. My irst cast with a new G.Loomis "drop shot" rod that I bought at Mad River Outitters in Arcata, netted a 2 lb. LMB on a 4" Green Weene. I thought this was going to be a great day at Ruth. The lake to mysel, turned out that I didn't get another bite until 3 p.m. when a trout attacked that same worm. First trip o the year started with some excitement and turned out to be a nice day on the lake.
      City: Fortuna

Tuesday, January 20th, 2004

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: cold

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Finally got out ater a ew months away rom the Delta. Launched rom Lazy M and ished Italian most o the morning. Caught 6 keepers to 3 lbs drop shotting and shaking 6 inch worms in junebug and green pumpkin. Went out to Victoria and cranked deep weed lines along with the above technique and caught 8 more keepers to 5+ pounds. o by 1 pm. All in all a very good day. Most o the ish came in depths o 6-15' o water on deep weedlines adjacent to rocks.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: Work your baits slow slow slow!! Even slow down cranking. Rat-L-traps and red speed traps did the trick.

  • Ventura County
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      Water Temp: 57 degrees

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: First time back to this great lake in our years - what a shock! The lake is down 35-40 eet rom when my son, John, and I last ished it. We were looking UP at places where we had caught ish beore on then-key pieces o structure.Graphed many areas around the now-exposed Arrowhead Island, in Deep Cat, and in Station Canyon which were devoid o ish or baitish. Found a ew spots in all those locations with loose concentrations o suspended ish and baitish. Tried mainly trout-inished swimbaits (7, 8, 9 and 10" versions o Castaic Trout, Optimum and Mission Fish laced with Pro-Cure bait sauce) but also 10" Power Worms, jigs with craw trailers, 6" Senko, T-rigged big tube baits, shad-colored crankbaits, and larger drop-shot presentations but couldn't entice a bite, even with extremely slow retrieves and dead-sticking, rom the shoreline out to 120 eet deep. The suspended ish either weren't interested in eating or rejected everything we threw at them (including dead-sticked Castaic Trout and Huddleston Deluxbows on the surace, wacky-rigged plastic worms and a Silver Buddy). There were bands o suspended ish at 15-20 eet, 45-50 eet, and 95-110 eet over a bottom at 120 eet. We ished all three bands but concentrated on the 15-20 oot band on the assumption it would be the most active eeders. NOT!Weather was beautiul with a slight overcast and absolutely NO wind. Lake was like glass most o the day. Toured the lat between Deep Cat and Station Canyon and saw no evidence o spawning activity - no beds ound. Flushed and spooked a school o 15-20 mid-sized (4-5 lb.) bass which were apparently trying to take advantage o the warming shallows.
      City: Monterey, CA

      Tips: Only presentation we didn't try which may have worked is drop-shotting a 4" worm (that was good enough or the lake record 14 lb'er at Diamond Valley, so even the larger bass will go or the small worm). We also didn't try trolling which may have worked eventually on the suspended ish.Suggestion: stick with ound ish until they start eeding.

    • By

      Water Temp: cold

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Decided to blow the dust o my rods and hit the back lakes. Managed to get 9 ish in a 2 hour period. Used a drop shot in 25-30 eet o water. I you have a loat tube buy a ishin buddy depth inder. Used it or the irst time and ound drop os and humps and plenty o ish. Good luck
      City: Livermore

      Tips: I you are ishing slow, well ish slower. Locate the bait and you'll ind the ish

Sunday, January 18th, 2004

  • Mason County
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      Water Temp: COLD

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went toobin with some riends, drag the bottom with dark worms (PBJ, Junebug) or you will get nothing. Fish are as cold as I was. Very White bellies on em, ish REAL slow.
      City: Santa CruZ

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: mid 40's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Folsom Bass Team event today with around 18 boats. Partner and I managed 21 keepers with our best 5 going 15.99 pounds, good enough or the win. Second place ran about 12 1/2 pounds. Big ish was around 4 1/2 with second big ish about 3.80. My partner and I didn't have a kicker ish, just a bunch o clone 3 pounders...one o which was a beautiul spotted bass.We caught our ish in 5 dierent locations around China Gulch and on the dropos outside North Shore. We caught a lot o keepers but our best ish came on 3 baits:1) 2 dierent spoons; one in black/chartreuse, the other an Aji colored DUH spoon,2) dropshot using blue ghost worms,3) jigs in brown with purple Yamamoto grub trailer, and a black DUH jig with a Yamamoto 180 trailer.Most jig and spoon ish came between 32-45 eet. Spoon ish came 45-62 eet.PS...also spooned a big catish!
      City: Fair Oaks

      Tips: Almost ALL our ish were bloated and required izzing. I you can't pop a ish, then please learn how! Try keeping a ew small deep caught ish in your livewell during your preishing and practice needling on these ish. I you kill a small one while learning, that's okay...take it home and eat it. There are plenty o small ish in these lakes, but we need to protect those bigger tournament ish. By practicing this way, you will be able to saely izz bigger ish that stay in your livewell all tournament day. Please protect our resource!!One more thing, when ishing super deep, its inevitable that you will lose a ew ish even ater popping them. So, please only ish very deep i you absolutely have to.

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 49-52

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Focused on the northern end. Were only out or three hours. Threw jerk baits at Rocky point with no success. Went to Rodman and slow rolled white spinner baits - bumping on the bottom almost like a jig. Hooked into something that I couldn't move o the bottom. It spit out my spinner a moment later. Almost had a heart attack. Got several mush hits on white Senko's. Water got up to 52 up in the slough. Had several short hits on the slow rolling spinner. Only action was on white baits. Talked with a guy who had nothing on live minnows. Real slow day.
      City: Middletown

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ished the Cottonwood bass club tournament today..got 5 ish or 7.58..2 drop shotting a 4" margarita mutilator robo worm..1 drop shotting a 4" arrons magic robo worm..and 2 on a 5" cinnamon W/purple and black lake hula grub on a 3/4 oz ootball head..got all ish beore 1:30,,ater that bite shut down..I you dont see ish on the graph move on...ish cuts rom 40-50 eet deep, best cuts have shade in them..took 12.49 to win..That was Bill McGlauhlin..thanks to my boater Chris Laskowski..
      City: redding

      Tips: drop shot and jig..heard o some spooning to be had but i didnt do it...just an over all tough day with the high skies.....

Saturday, January 17th, 2004

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 44 - 46

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the Redwood Empire club (team) tournament Saturday 1/17. Blast-o was a little ater 7:00AM, we had our irst keeper in the boat by 7:30. Stayed in the south end, had our limit by 10:30, then culled to a 11.3 lb sack until the bite shut down (or us) around 11:30. Only managed one more ish until time to go in at 3:30, it wasn't big enough to cull. Big sack or the tournament was 19.14 lbs, big ish was 8.26 lbs caught on a crankbait.
      City: Novato

      Tips: Caught most o our ish dropshotting Roboworms (Aaron's Magic) in 10 - 12 eet o water around docks. Others were catching them on jigs and sot plastics (brush-hogs, power worms, etc)

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: First boat on the lake, no wind but still a little cold. Headed to the dam area ished around 20 to 25 eet. Got one small ish ater about 10 minutes o ishing. Partner got one small ish about one hour later. Compared to last week it was a whole dierent story. Hooked up with one good ish that whent 3.5 pounds on the scale. Fish was in about 33 eet on a rock pile. Continued ishing all day only got two other small ish and ended the day with only ive ish. Everyone we talked to were just catching small ish so it was one o those days, when the ish aren't that active.
      City: coalinga

      Tips: Fish are still deep and some are on the move to shallower water. Caught all ish dropshotting rom 25 to 35 eet. Try rom 15 to 20 in the morning and evening, some ish are eating baitish. Good Luck.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: my brother anb i caught and release over30 spot mostly spinner rip and dropshoting.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: start with ripbaits in a shad color spin gold and drop 5inch magic worm

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

      Report: Fished Chico Bass tourney. Lots o ish to be had, mostly drop-shotting and mostly under 2 lbs. We caught ours in South Fork on Aaron's magic 4" worms.
      City: Clearlake

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 50-53

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: The Contra Costa Bass Club had their TOC Today. Although most o the members have little experence with this lake it was a nice change. The bite was tough or most o us with just 2 limits or 20 guys. The key was to ind the rock and wood in 20-45 t. Most bites came on jigs and a majority o the ish were biting green type baits, (ie. watermellon, greenpumpkin). For some reason our winner said that i he ished with brown in his jigs or spider grubs he didn't get bit.
      City: Concord

Friday, January 16th, 2004

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 44-45.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: It's been colder than a whitch's T up here so the lake is also real cold. Fished a club tourney on 1/10/04.We(team)could only cull up to 9.5lbs using mostly drop-shot and a couple o rip ish. The winner had 18lbs+ with a 6.5lb+ kicker. He is a hell o a jig isherman so I guess that's how he got his big ish. North end is muddy and cold and South end is a little clearer and cold.We talked to minnow ishermen around State Park who weren't having a lot o success up to that point.There is tons o bait(and birds) in the upper Rattlesnake arm so getting a bass to bite is tough(duh). South end will produce bites drop-shotting. Good luck.
      City: Middletown

      Tips: It can be clear weather all the way to lake only to ind reezing og hanging over water so goggle up!That drop-shot bite could just as easily be a hog on 8lb test, yahoo!

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 51.2 - 52.9

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Have not posted a report in awhile, so here we go!! Needed to Clear my head ater getting it whooped at Clear Lake last week.Fished three hours in early am. I cranked a real nice limit o Smallies maybe 11-12 lbs in about 30 minutes, all shallow 4-8 eet o water. Tryed to duplicte this pattern elsewhere to no avail. It screwed my head up with them being up shallow and I stuck with shallow but should have backed o with a Jig or Lizard. I did not, bad idea. I got one bite on my ole reliable darthead and missed it. Good time anyway the smallmouth have really made a comeback on this great ishery. I LOVE FOLSOM LAKE!!! O the water by ten.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: They were crushing the crankbait in shallow water banging o the rocks!! One more week an All hell is gonna break loose on big spots and Smallies

    • By

      Water Temp: cold!

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: went to check out Lexington and its heck o muddy. put out some powerbait and tryed some bass lures on another pole with no success. still beats a day o work. I gave up around one in the aternoon.
      City: Santa Clara

      Tips: Wait or the water to clear.

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

      Report: Hey ellow bass isherman,When you see trout isherman keeping largemouth or smallmouth bass that they have caught while ishing or trout, do what I do. Ask them kindly i you can see their catch. As you lit the bass slowly out o the water, careully drop it back into the water ree rom the stringer by "accident." Apparently, a lot o bait dunkers dont realize that one; bass populations are hurting in a lot o our local lakes and two; as ar as I am concerned, largemouth and smallmouth bass dont please the tastebuds as well as reshly stocked trout do. One o these days, a ew local lakes such as Del Valle, Chabot, and/or San Pablo should enorce catch and release or all bass species. That, or impose a slot limit, allowing either numbers to go up or the average size to go up. Who knows...it could happen. Tight lines...Gone Fishin'
      City: Oakland