Northern California Lake Fishing Report
- Almanor Lake
- Berryessa Lake
- Cachuma Lake
- California Delta
- Camanche Lake
- Casitas Lake
- Clear Lake
- Diamond Valley Lake
- Don Pedro Lake
- Folsom Lake
- Iron Gate Reservoir
- McClure Lake
- New Melones Lake
- Oroville Lake
- Perris Lake
- San Luis Lake
- Shasta Lake
- Sonoma Lake
- Almaden Lake
- Almaden Reservoir
- Amador Lake
- Anderson Lake
- Barrett Lake
- Black Butte Lake
- Blue Lakes
- Bullards Bar Lake
- Calero Reservoir
- Camp Far West Lake
- Chabot Lake
- Chesbro Lake
- Collins Lake
- Contra Loma Lake
- Coyote Lake
- Del Valle Lake
- Dixon Lake
- Eastman Lake
- Guadalupe Lake
- Hennessy Lake
- Ilsanjo Lake
- Indian Valley Lake
- Kelsey Bass Ranch Lake
- Lafayette Lake
- Lake of the Pines
- Lexington Lake
- Loch Lomond Lake
- Los Banos Lake
- Los Vaqueros Lake
- Mather Lake
- Mendocino Lake
- Mendota Slough Lake
- Merced Lake
- Millerton Lake
- Modesto Reservoir
- Morena Lake
- Murray Lake
- New Hogan Lake
- Nicasio Lake
- Oso Lake
- Pacifica Coastline
- Pardee Lake
- Pillsbury Lake
- Pinto Lake
- Piru Lake
- Quarry Lakes
- Radio Lake
- Rollins Lake
- Ruth Lake
- Sacramento River
- Salt Springs Lake
- San Francisco Bay
- San Justo Lake
- San Pablo Lake
- Shadow Cliffs Lake
- Shastina Lake
- Skinner Lake
- Soulajule Lake
- Spring Lake
- Stevens Creek Lake
- Trinity Lake
- Tulloch Lake
- Turlock Lake
- Uvas Lake
- West Delta
- Whiskeytown Lake
- Woodward Lake
- Woollomes Lake
- Yosemite Lake

Friday, October 3rd, 2003
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California Delta
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Water Temp: ???
Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)
Report: Launched at Bethel Island (my very irst time) at 9am. Casted some senko's, spinners, cranks, jigs, etc...Caught a whole bunch o dinks but a riend caught a at 4lber. Got o the delta by 5:30pm.
City: HaywardTips: I saw lots o bait by the tulles. The bigger bass were in deeper water. The dinks seemed to be all over in the shallow water.
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Water Temp: 65
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: We launched out o big break. Mysel and a riend. Fished low tide about 8:00 am to about 10:00 around big break and landed a lots o small bass. We moved on, things were slow untill the tide started to come in. Once it started to low we went crazy not a ish was under 4 lbs, largest 8 we caught a total o 11 quality ish.
City: San JoseTips: or us it was incoming tide,senco's and blade's. The ish are on a shad bite. Lookor isolated weed beds.
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Thursday, October 2nd, 2003
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Spring Lake
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Water Temp: warm
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: got out there with my kayak at 7:15am hoping or a bunch o nice ones. Well, i ished very thouroughly the entire south end o the lake with a senko. Only got one bite which took my lure under logs 6 eet down and the ish came o. Thats all that happened. Iv caught ish there beore just like how i ished there today, but today sucked.
Tips: honestly, im stumped, i ished more thourougly than i ever had. I guess senkos just arent working. There are a lot o weeds down there, so, i guess in the morning topwater looks good. Catch and release only, good luck.
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Wednesday, October 1st, 2003
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Almaden Lake
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Water Temp: 69 overcast
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: early start trolled thomas buoyants 1 7lb trout on top.2 smaller trout later in the day 5 pan sized channel cats.1 other boat on lake
City: remontTips: troll spoons top early deeper as day progresses.change colors se what catcheschicken livers nightcrowlers or cats
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Calero Reservoir
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Water Temp: 69.5+-
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: There is a decent blade bite going on ishing the wind blown lats and pockets w/ sparse weeds & deep water close by..you can catch the same ish with plastics but it's much easier and your #s will go up with some kind o hard bait in the wind...ski traic doesn't hurt the ishing there but it was light today and made or an nice day.
City: San JoseTips: ish the wind ..char/wht/gold spinerbaits..S20 spade tail
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Mendota Slough Lake
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Water Temp: N/A
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: It was slow going today. Caught a ew decent largemouth in the morning, using worms and jigs. Then it shut down and I couldn't get a striper or even a cat to take home.Deinitely didn't catch near as many as 50+ like the previous poster. That guy must have been using top secret military issue bate or something.
City: FresnoTips: Lure suggestion is to email previous guy and see what the heck he was using. I tried just about everything in my tackle box but had little luck.
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Tuesday, September 30th, 2003
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San Pablo Lake
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Water Temp: n/a
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: I KNOW THERE HAS TO MORE REPORTS OUT THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well i got there aroun 430 and stayed till 745..it was air...i mean c'mon and a bass angler on shore at san pablo to me,,, getting a ew bites and having one come o is a pretty good day LOLZ . i saw ish chris up there too, what a treat...c-ya next time
City: san ranciscoTips: well i go by the weather o course.. and the resivor was open till 8 today as well..i ished structure mainly and the deeper the water was my gamble. i only tried two things today a jig and night crawlers....my tip to anyone would be tight lines and keep it natural in all ways u can.
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Monday, September 29th, 2003
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Del Valle Lake
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Water Temp: n/a
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: i just want to say irst is .....I KNOW THERE ARE MORE REPORTS OUT THERE BUT NO ONE WANTS TO SHARE..LOL...ok well or my report, here it is...i was out on sunday and it was pretty air. as usual my irst ish was hard to ind but i ound it and a ew more. the size was air 14 inches was the average. all the ish ought hard and looked healthy..BUT all my ish that were caught were not at the normal spots i ished. it was more like all the ish let the summer resorts and went home.,,lol...there i go again trying to be unny, but it's true.
City: san ranciscoTips: i suggest to everyone........i know we all have our avorite lures and rods, but don't be like me. i bought a jig a while back but never used it because it didn't look good enough or me to TRY it instead o using my conidence lures. well this sunday i ran out o conidence and i went into one o my trays to look or SOME CONFIDENCE and there it was..i went home with two bass, lost two, and two monster bluegiles. i ocus alot on the weather and season as well..i beleive it is a major impact in success...tight lines everyone..............
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Folsom Lake
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Water Temp: 73
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Got on the lake at 6:00am to ind ish tight to the trees in the South Arm towards the bridge. Fish hit on black and silver Pop-R's and white spinner baits. O the lake by 10:00am, too windy. Only had 3 in the boat.......better than work.
City: South Lake Tahoe
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Mather Lake
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Water Temp: 71
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: THROW SENKOS AROUND EDGE OF WEED BED. ME AND MY FRIND CAUGH A TOTAL OF 20 BASSAROUND 1 1/2 TO 3LB AND ONE 10POUND
City: Elk GroveTips: FLIP JIG IN A DARK COLOR OR 5AND7 INCHSENKO IN PEAR OR DARK CORSHOT
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Shasta Lake
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Water Temp: 71.2
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: this is a report or conditions or those o you who are heading up or the Newbass Team Spectacular on 4-5 Oct. The lake is 52.5 t down and alling slowly, a cooling trend is coming with day time temps in the mid-80's, the lake is still airly warm with this mornings temp at 71.2 at 0630 rising to the mid and upper 70's as the day progresses. To say that things ar slow would be an understatement. I participated in a mid week bragging rights turkey shoot last wednesday and managed to win as I was the only one to get 2 ish(2 ish limit). I ished against some good sticks and all o us managed only a ew dinks and a ew barely legal ish. It is gonna be tough as the conditions and catch hasn't changed. Bailey Cove is out o the water, the loat is in but is sitting in the mud, rom the reeway it looks ok but don't take the trip down the hill, Jones Valley- stay in the 2 lanes nearest the loat to avoid the end o the 4 lane ramp. You might want to put in at Packers or the tournament as Bridge Bay is pulling out all their houseboats and the island parking is limited, Packers is down to 2 lanes with the mud hump blocking the lanes away rom the loat, Hirz Bay north is out, Hirz bay south is in as is Centimudi and Antlers, Sugarloa is still looded. The shad are all over the place and not bunched up yet, the water will have to cool another 8-10 degrees beore that happens, just about every ish in the lake is suspended, this am they were in 9-15 t over 30 t o water and not on any bite that I oered. One rip ish and one on a jig with a ew trout busting the surace or about an hour. Good luck to all, it ain't gonna be un but the weather will be great.
City: Redding -
Water Temp: 64-78
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: what is the lake record or a smallmouth i caught a 6 1/2lb. and a bunch o 2 and 3 lb. near lakehead near I-5. i really recommend it or your 5th wheel they have hookups and i kept my basstracker right on the water in a slip what a lie and nobody ishing in the river but me.
City: CorningTips: stay or at least 3 days i caught mine on spinners blue ox
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Sunday, September 28th, 2003
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Amador Lake
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Water Temp: 74
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Started at around 7am in the launch ramp cove, partner caught irst ish on a Sammy we both proceeded to catch a ew on topwater and lukes. Ran back to Jacksons to look or some bigger ish but nobody was home. Shad were busting all over the lake and like Larry said it's tough to get these ish to hit anything else. So we decided to pick up the dropshot rigs and continued to catch ish with the largest going around 2 pounds between the two o us we probably caught around 20 ish mostly dropshotting the outside weedline. Pulled out at around 1pm.
City: Carson city, NVTips: Bass are all getting ull on shad. We threw jigs, crankbaits and towards the end o the day tried senkos with no luck. Dropshot caught most o the ish with a ew caught on topwater in the morning. Bring on the Fall weather!
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Chabot Lake
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Water Temp: 70 down to 29'
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: On water again rom 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or a another ishless but enjoyable, albeit cold, day with a ew other anglers on the lake. Son, John, and I again ished mostly swim baits, large plastic worms, Senkos, and jigs looking or the one big bite. We again ished at and above the thermocline, the top o which was at 29 eet. Wind was brisk throughout most o the morning rom the north. Many schools o shad were again observed near the surace over the channel but lures run through and under them produced nothing. Neither o us had any kind o strike on any o our presentations. Our anticipation is still high, knowing that any cast could produce a giant bass. The curious thing is that there don't appear to be any small (1-2 lb.) to medium-sized (5 - 10 lb.) bass in Chabot. Are those the ones that were electro-shocked and transerred to the Quarry Lakes?
City: Monterey, CATips: Again, not much help here...we anchored and ished down-wind mostly. I moved several times trying to ind some structure which might be holding ish.
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Clear Lake
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Water Temp: 75
Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)
Report: Friday evening was ull o surprises and the irst came quickly. I was wondering what I would do or my clients a ew hours ater 116+ boats let the water. I decided on cranking and the second spot we ished, one o the clients hooks a real good bass and I net an 8 pounder! I guess I was mentally shocked since I didn't expect anything like this 'til ater dark (he hooked her at sunset). Wow - the tournament guys orgot one!!! And I guess I am just getting used to a client landing a big bass. Hot streaks are nice! That was the good news. He was using a Norman DD-14 shad pattern by the way. The next surprise was not so good - in act - shocking. As a previous post mentioned - the night ishing was worse than horrible! I think the bass wanted to please the tournament olks. There was NO bite and I mean NO bite! The other client and I each landed one each - his a 2 1/2 on a worm and mine a 3 pounder on a crankbait. That brings the total ish or the trip to 3!! The clients did lose a ew. An eight pounder never looked so good! Thank goodness she came early in the trip so I didn't try to sink the boat. I believe that is the slowest summer-all night trip I have had or years. The next day a client and I joined "orces" on the lake or a beautiul day and lots o whizzing bassboats. My client started with a nice 2 3/4 pounder on a crankbait. We drop-shotted most o the day and did get into a good bite o 2 1/4 pounders or about an hour. It was tough but we managed 10 bass or a 12 1/2 pound best ive. Blue and purple were our best colors. I did not intrude on the tournament guys and had a nice time visiting with some o them.
City: Yuba CityTips: This is the time o year (about a month) when the bass eed heavily during the day with all the bait around. The night bite at Amador this week was lousy too. Friday night was probably tough or several reasons and it did aect the carp too. We probably heard about 5 roll the whole night. They should have been active on a warm night. I have been raising the bait a bit higher on a drop-shot rig lately and that seems to help. There are not too many bass right on the bottom this time o year. Another month and things will change!
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Contra Loma Lake
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Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Winds were high blowing east to west. I shouldn't apologize or previous idiots, but I apologize to the serious angler.I started with lipping worms; it was 11 am when I hit the water, tight to the reeds, tulles whatever you guys call them. Oxblood was the color gettin hammered. 3 ish going 5.8. Wind intensiied, went to shallow runners i.e. speed trap and rat'l trap(ripped). Beat up my craw pattern. Need to replace the trebles. Never had a chance to hit the rip-rap, roped o. Best 5 went 9lbs. Active but small. With less wind will toss more cranks towards dusk. Out o the water within 4 hrs. Take care and good luck. to right o boat launch hit' em with topwater! Samm,y got alot o boils with high wind.
City: ConcordTips: RED!
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Lexington Lake
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Water Temp: na
Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)
Report: Last week was not so bad as ar as Bass. The ish I caught were between 10-20 eet o water. Not really red hot, but un. Average size was about 2 pounds.
Tips: Swimbaits or jigs smack on the bottom seem to be the ticket last week.
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Mendota Slough Lake
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Water Temp: 69 to 72
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: We started in the morning use worm and jigs. We caught some small bass. We also threw rog no luck. Then we threw traps and caught 30 to 40 striper bass. the biggest was almost 9lbs.Then we started drop shot and start catch largemouth bass. We caught one that was almost 8lbs. The next cast caught one that was 7 1/2 lbs. We were use robo worms in bluegill color.We in up catch a total 55 ish.
City: resnoTips: The key is to ind the bait.
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Saturday, September 27th, 2003
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Almaden Lake
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Water Temp: unknown
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Fished out o Russo's marina. Fished along the tules and weed edges at high tide - missed a couple and got one 4.5 pounder on a brushhog with 3/8 oz jig. ished the rest o the day driting through Franks Tract - caught 10 or so ish along weed edges on a 1/2 oz white and chart blade, had a ollow right to the boat by a big ol' bass, maybe eight pounds. threw everything at him but couldn't convince him to bite. A nice day on the Delta.
City: San ranciscoTips: The water seemd unusually clear - slearer than my last trip 4 days earlier. don't know how that aected the bote or even i it did.
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Amador Lake
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Water Temp: 74
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: I ished part o two nights and part o the in between day and ound the bite to be very slow, especially at night. The irst night I caught only one, about 3 3/4 pounds on a 10" Power Worm. The next morning I only tried or big ish with big baits and struck out. No takers. I did catch one or two on topwater and should have given up on the big ish sooner and had some un. The bass were all over chasing shad. The day bite was tough until about 6 pm when a riend joined me and we caught 3 beore dark. He threw a 6" weightless Yamamoto grub to a rising bass and she took it right away - she was a little over 3 1/2 pounds. I got a 3 on a Devil's Horse and another under three. Ater dark we ished or awhile and I got a nice 2 1/2 on a black crankbait. The worm bite was nearly dead - we did miss a ew. I hope this is the calm beore the storm!!!
City: Yuba CityTips: When Amador bass are eeding on shad in September - they arn't interested in too much else. The night bite is oten slow or about a month. I had heard the ishing was good last week. I don't like to hear that because it usually means it will change or the worse when I get there!!
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