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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Tuesday, March 10th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Foggy in the morning, kept things pretty cool until midday. Caught a couple quality fish at the top of the outgoing tide then smaller ones and short strikes for the rest of the day. Pitched black/blue jig tipped with pork. Video here:
      http://youtu.be/phC51jLHDEA
      City: San Mateo

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: A couple of big belly female largemouth 3.5# and 3#. Windy and cloudy a lot of the time. Been a while since I've boated 2 over 3# out of this lake. Been tough for me. A guy in a kayak brought in a 10# trout and saw another shore fisherman fighting a trout, but others struggled.
      City: dublin

      Tips: Plastics in the wood for lm.

Monday, March 9th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55/61

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Bounced around from B&W to Franks tract using a punch 'n rig senko rip baits& square bils all producing a different times of the day ,Incoming being the best 5 for 15lbs

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 56-59

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I have to agree with the previous report by x man? I guided three young guys who were a lot of fun and good fishermen. We spent our time in the middle fork, and I was fascinated by the "new look" rock formations. Don't often see the structure at 145 feet!! The bite started very slow as we began at 9:30. Moving up the middle fork, about noon, things really picked up. We just fished 6" Robo worms, mostly Texas rigged. Most were 13-14 inches with 2 or 3 of them at 2 lbs. We too had about 9 - 9 1/2 lb for the 5 best. Two of the fellas landed several of the spots and the other landed 2 and lost 200 - or so!! I think he was telling too many jokes - he had all of us in stiches!

      Tips: We used Aarons Magic, morning dawn w/chartreuse tail, and MMIII most of the time. Also caught a few on a smallie beaver. The steeper rock walls produced the best. It was weird to me that the sandy and clay type banks did not produced any bites. Might be too early for that type of bottom.

Saturday, March 7th, 2015

  • Mendocino County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: After nearly having the lake to myself the last 4 weekends it wasn't the case today. Was hard to find an open spot to fish with all the bass boats. The pressure laid off later in the day though. Smallmouth bite was good. I landed 15 and fished from noon til dark. All were between 1 and 3 lbs.
      City: Willits

      Tips: Bring sunblock and sunglasses

Friday, March 6th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 56-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Mike Sperbeck and I hit the lake about 4 pm Wed, and the lake hit back with tough fishing. One dink for me and a 1 1/2 pounder for Mike. I didn't expect much of a bite since the previous days of north winds and cooler temps. It got very chilly after dark. I have found around the first of March, there is a fair bite about an hour after dark, It last for an hour or two and then really slows. We got into that bite about an hour after dark. Mike started off with a big yell for the net - something new lately!! I got her in the net on the first swipe and struggled to lift her in the boat - good sign!! He's goin' - "Ten - or Eleven!! I'm going to myself - No way! Well, he was close - 9.83 lbs - roughly 2 oz off! What a beautiful fish (see forum for photos!). I gather my senses and tried harder since I hadn't caught a good fish at Clear Lake in awhile. Ten minutes late I get the same great hit he did. Mine was about 15 feet deep whereas his was about 6-7 feet. He got her in on the first swipe too. She was thicker than I thougt and went 7.16 lbs. A few minutes later, Mike got a hit that he claims was the hardest he ever had. He was thinking monster but I told him that 3 to 5 pounder can give the most violent hits. Who knows? We had a few more bites but could NOT hook them. We finally left about 9;15 pm as he had to get up early Thurs morning. Very slow trip except 2 big bass for 17 lbs!! I'll take that!

      Tips: Most baits we tried didn't work. We fished both sides of the south end before dark with equal non-success. Our 4 total bass came on west side areas. The 2 big bass were caught on double-wide Beaver baits. I had a hit or two on a jig with the new Yamamoto Heart Tail grub - an amazing bait!

Wednesday, March 4th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Back on the lake after an almost four month absence & ran into a tough bite! Started Monday & fished through Weds. We generally fished at night but also put in Tues afternoon as well. We caught some small dinks each day, but the bites were tough to come by! We fished south on the west side of the lake. The highlights were an 8.2 fatty that crushed a blade, but was the only reaction bite we had. Ted had a 6.4 Texas fish & a 4.8 jig fish. All the rest were small. I think we hit the weather wrong & are gonna give it another go in a few weeks!

      Tips: We moves around a lot, the fish were fat & heavy, so they may be a little sluggish? Keep moving for strikes. Since it's Clear Lake, you always stand a chance of running onto a big one! I also threw a 7" swimbait a lot with no strikes!

Monday, March 2nd, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Wholly COW! March already? Yep, and with each day, and each set of changing conditions, so goes the bite here.

      Last week we started off with nice weather, and it gradually declined through the weekend, as did the bite in most cases. Looking at the weights from the LCCC Tourney this past weekend though and you’d be hard pressed to call it tough. Still, had that tournament experienced the weather we had early in the week, I’m not sure 70 lbs. would have been enough.

      This week the forecast is for improving, warmer temperatures, almost the opposite of last week. It has started out cool, but is expected to warm into the mid 70’s by this weekend, so I expect the bite will pick right back up.

      How about that, 48 lbs. for the top ten or so, and I’m looking for the bite to improve? Definitely, more for overall bite, not so much for the quality. The fish we were catching definitely pulled back. I’m not sure if it was the boat pressure or the cooler temperatures (probably a bit of both) but they did become tougher to find, and stay on.

      Today we had surface temps of 52-57 degrees, and while the bite was tough for the most part, and even though I had a fuel rail go out on the big motor, it was still nice to get out. We had to move around a lot as the bite for us was one here and one there. To be honest, tough for the most part.

      Moving forward, FPT is here this week for their TOC, then the following weekend BBT
      is here for their Spring visit. Spring has sprung fellas. Break out the big sticks and get after them, or should I say let the sword fights begin!...;)

      Lake level is 4.52 Rumsey, and all ramps are open.

Sunday, March 1st, 2015

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Had a great time with Jim and John fishing this lake for the first time for me. John was a great host / guide. Saturday it rained from launch to maybe 2:00. Managed more fish in the am than later . off the water at 4:00. Sunday was the opposite, sunny skies all day. several boats out there Sunday. Nothing till after 10 that day. Off the water at 1:00. Leader board update Jim 10 bass 2 trout, Dave 9 bass one trout and John 8 bass. Size range under 1# to 2#, probably 1.3# avg. Very fun pre-spring trip. Need more snow to fill that beautiful lake up!

      Tips: Ran into Vince Harris at the ramp, head of Future Pro Tour, Sat a.m. He said he is starting Trout tourneys to go with Bass tourneys. No idea what size won Saturday. Similar format with TOC winners getting a boat! He puts on great tournaments in my humble opinion. Excellent learning experience if you are new into tournaments.

Saturday, February 28th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 56-57

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Great bite pretty much all day due to some good tides. caught over 25 fish. our best 5 ended up somewhere between 25.5-26.5lb with a 10.0lb and a 6.5lb. reaction baits in about 5-7foot early and fished slower but shallow in the afternoon.
      City: stockton

      Tips: Check your transition and staging areas often, our second run on a major pre-spawn area yielded the biggun after only a 3lbr earlier. time of day (late afternoon) has been the factor even more than tide, but the sat tide didn't hurt.

    • By

      Water Temp: 56-60

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Russo's at 8. Fished around Franks and Little Franks. Caught 6 but only 5 would have kept, nothing over pound and a half. But all the fish were in 1-2' of water. I'm guessing the females were holding a little deeper.

      In this video it get bit just as I'm trying to get a bite of my sandwich!

      http://youtu.be/IgiSMnYUqeU
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: If you want the bucks throw at the bank. I gotta learn to position the boat a little farther out and fish the lure all the way back to the boat. I'm sure I was fishing right over the females.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 53-56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Had some rain and wind with the front that came in on Friday and early Saturday. Spots want to get on beds, but were put back off with the cold weather. Lots of males right up on the bank 12"-14" fish. Move around a lot, until you find them, when you do there will be quite a few fish.

      use reaction baits to find the fish, then slow down with plastics to catch them. Still having problems finding bigger fish. Our best 5 would of only been 9lbs.

      Water level is down 145 feet. Main ramp at bidwell is open.

      Good luck
      City: Chico

      Tips: Rip baits, shakey worms, jigs, tubes, Arigs

      all the standard colors are working. 2 more week and bite should be wide open.

Friday, February 27th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55-56

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched Paradise Point around 8am...headed to Mildred...wind was whippin' pretty good, lots of white caps/SF Bay. Managed a couple dinks on senko and rattle traps. Tried to find some less windy areas but they were mainly shallows (2-4ft on the fishfinder).... decided to move up to 14 mile slough...managed a few dinks on black & junebug senkos... then stuck 2 lbers in a row. That was it.... wind pickin' up, decided to pack it in at 230pm. Talked to another basser and he said they got 1 decent keeper. Tough day.
      City: folsom

      Tips: Not qualified to give tips but senkos were the default go-to bait just to feel a hookup. Hopefully Sunday will be better.

Thursday, February 26th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48/56

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from 7 to 5 yesterday slow bite we caught 7 or 8 fish nothing til the water got to 55 fish were 2lb to 4/12 lbs on drop shots and small swimbaits around tules

      Tips: We're not tourny guys anymore
      So just stick with the basic stuff til the bite opens up more

    • 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
    • By

      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
    • By

      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