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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, July 20th, 2003

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 71

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Hog slough.Caught 6 on ish traps and spinnerbaits.Went out around 1:00 let at 5:00pm. Damn it was hot.
      City: Sacramento

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started out at 6:00am throwing topwater with no luck. My 8 year old son Colin hooked the irst one on a shad crank. Ater that it was only senkos in the shade o trees on the bottom that produced or us. Tough day on the lake, lots o waterskiers and pleasure boaters with lack o common sense or people ishing.
      City: South Lake Tahoe

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

      Report: Lines were wet by 5:45am.Managed to hook a ew small spots in 5 to 7 eet o water.Cloud cover allowed us to stay shallow .By 9am we had boated 8 ish including a 5lb catish who seemed to need the salt and pepper grub more than the bass did.By 10am cloud cover had burned o and ish went deep.Started hooking ish in 20 to 30 eet o water.Even caught a couple in 45 eet o water.All in all a succesull day with 25 ish boated and even a couple in the 15 inch range.
      City: marysville

      Tips: Plastic baits slow retrieve

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

      Report: Trolled back to Portugese Creek, around Dinosaur, using BBR's, hair raisers, swim baits. Nothing. Fish still relatively shallow in top 20 t. Didn't even see any ish being caught. Water must still be a bit cool?
      City: Hollister

Saturday, July 19th, 2003

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 82

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: launched at monticello around 6:30 to try some topwater beore settling into some night ishn...no topwater settled or a couple o jerk bait ish and a couple on plastics with no signiicant size, but hey they smelled and had a scales so we were kinda happy..as darkness ell we tried a couple o new areas, that i was hoping would be good night spots...WRONG! at 10:30pm we ished our irst ol'aithul and got our irst bite...or the next 3 1/2 hrs we got 20-25 bites and only boated about 8 ish..some o the problems were due to the operators, some to aulty line and the rest was the spunky mr. bass with their jordan like aerials...power worms and 5" hula grubs seemed to work or us...great nite ishn even tho the moon didn't show, but the weather dictated shorts, t-shirts and sandals, even at 2:30am...didn't get to sleep til 5am and sunday was a zombie day, but the ishn was un....
      City: orinda

      Tips: o the ish we boated all were 1-2lbs and no deeper than 15'.i you eel ish are in the area, but your'e not gettn bit, try some shaking, which will work even without brass and glass.

    • By

      Water Temp: 80-83

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well, here I am again on a Friday evening Lake Berryessa - this time with two young guys - brothers who loved to compete! They were great guys except they were trout ishermen and this was their FIRST bass trip. I'll show them what real bass ishing is (I hope!). We launched out o Markley about 6:30 pm and headed or some points in the narrows. The trip had an interesting beginning!! One brother hooks the irst bass - the only small one o the trip. As I am getting ready to net it, the other bro hooks his irst drop-shot ish and he has a good one!! So while one guy keeps his bass in the water (it was hooked deep) I get ready to net this hog the other guy has on. His irst bass was sporting whiskers - a 6 lb channel catish. So much or my great instruction tips on how to catch bass!!! He was pretty excited however - terriic ight! Ater releasing the 10 inch bass that was patiently waiting, we headed or Big Island. The ishing beore dark was ok, but the water was almost hot and not too many were caught - but the quality was good using the 4" Berkley Pulse worm and Camanche Jack's morning dawn worm. There was no topwater bite, though we didn't try much. We stayed around the island ater dark and the ishing was slow, but again the ones we did catch were averaging 2 pounds. The reason I mentioned they were trout guys is because their hookset or bass took a while to develop - they lost a lot o ish because o just liting their arms instead o snapping their wrist and setting into their body. A little coaching rom the guide and we cured that!! I inally got ed up with the slow ishing and moved us to a dierent part o the lake - some ledges that I like in the narrows. Bingo - one o the brothers hooked and landed 4 bass in 4 successive casts including a 17 1/4 inch spotted bass. Boy, did we give him a hard time when he didn't get the ith!!! The other brother got the biggest o the night - a 2-9 largemouth. The biggest smallie was 2-3. I had the brothers Texas rigged with my avorite night worm - the 7 inch Berkley Power worm and I was trying other stu that wasn't working!! So I switched to the Power Worm and managed to catch three. Most o the ish were 17 to 25 eet. We wound up with 17 bass (many others lost) - one 10 incher, one about 13 inches, and all the other rom 14 to 17 1/4 inches. The ive biggest were a shade under 12 pounds! It was interesting that we didn't see any o the small ish that were hitting last Friday night. This last area really held quality bass - again because o a lat next to a major dropo. These guys really had a great time (so did I) and I know they will be back or more. I think I heard them say they had trout rods or sale, har!!!!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I was pleased overall with the trip considering all the hot weather. I think the ish more more active in the open water because o the dark moon early in the evening. The weather was perect, lake was lat, and again, new olks loving ishing with a black light or the irst time! When conditions are right - guiding at night is a blast!!

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 78-82

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out Sat. Took a riends who does not ish, 13 year old out. He loves to ish, I have taken him out 3 other times trying to teach him how to catch bass. This time he got it!.He used Senkos and got 6 keepers up to 2 pounds and 10 dinks, he loved it. Fun to teach the next generation.I got 15 total up to 4 pounds. 7 on Senkos the rest on the Frog. Saw a 10+ come up and take a live Frog right next to the boat, the next mat I was going to cast too!!We ished Potato, White and Disapotment. O the water at 11:00am... to many skiers and crusiers
      City: elkg grove

      Tips: Take a kid ishing! it is un or them and you!!Frogs Frogs Frogs!!!

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Well it was hot and muggy or the Bass Classics annual night tournament out o 23 guys only 10 caught ish. In irst place with two ish or 9.82 lbs and he had the big ish a 6.72 was Dieter Spicker. He said he caught the big ish at 1:00 A.M. on a June bug waterdog on a long rocky point.He cught his second ish deep near the dam on a grub with ten minutes let to go. In second place with 7.70 lbs was J.R. Taylor he caught his ish at about 4:00 A.M. under the shade o the moon on a shear rock bank in 8-15 eet o water on a cut tail worm. In third place with 7.15 lbs was John Scott he said he had all o his ish on a Senko in a cove ished wacky style. In ourth place with two ish or 6.55 lbs was Tom Certo he had one on the dam on a texas rigged green wienee worm about 1 A.M. In ith was David Malley he had three ish or 5.65 lbs he caught two on black and red baby brush hogs on the bridge pilings and one back in the cove on a 8" worm.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: The ish were eating alot o shad so crawdad and lizard baits should work better

  • San Francisco County
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      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: 6am down south with wigglers. no luck. put some smell good and bass hit like a mac truck on the 10. had 4 shakers and 3 keeper sized. walked along shore to the east and tried the rattlin ringo plugs. 2 bass to 5lb. tried or some trout using chartreuse sticky corn and had no luck. o the water by noon.
      City: Daly City

      Tips: use the crawdad smell good. makes the bass wake up in these lakes.

    • By

      Water Temp: Not Tested

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went there around 12:05 PM my godson's birthday and my brother in law decided to celebrate it there, well I didn't ish much but I still manage to reel in 9 ish (trout)using charteusse and orange powerbait my brother in law manage to have 6 though he is in charge in BBQ'ing I yell at him whenever he gets a bite we miss couple too its so unny when i yell he runs ast as he could with his apron on (LOL).
      City: San Francisco

      Tips: Short Leader 1 1/2-2 eet but not more than 2 eet during summer ish (Trout) tend to stay deeper and CAST as ar as you could dont use more than 3/4 oz o sliding sinker 4-8lbs test line by the way Shawn I guess you are mistaken when you said it is bad time to ish now in SP it depends on spot and skills you have. I'll be in SP Probably this SAT I'll be ishing in main Rec i you have doubt about me. come and see me there i can lend you a hint ;)

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: 81

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Trinity Center 0500. Fishing with two clients rom Medord. Started at the lats by the airport, clients throwing a Clown Stayee and a Perch Jitterbug, I caught the only ish on our irst stop, a 2.5 lm on a all White Spinnerbait. Next stop the n.w. point going into Eastork Matt caught a small Bluegill, and I caught a 5.2 lm on a 3/4 oz. jig, it was a very nice ish and ater taking pictures with Matt and Curtis we released it. moved into the tailings about 0700 throwing black hooktails and jigs, moved to the east bank and ished our way out o there, no takers. it was now 0900 and Curtis had still not caught a ish, moved to the center part o the lake where Matt had several small ish and I managed a 2.0 lm and a 1.5 sm. on a hooktail. 1200 Curtis gets a nice 2.0 sm and makes us both happy. Now Matt and I are throwing cranks, I get a another 2.0 sm and Matt loses a 3-4 lm who comes out o the water and comes unbottoned. Then he loses a 5+ sm at the boat as he tried to lit him into the net, that was a mistake he won't orget soon.A very good day with two nice young men
      City: Redding

Friday, July 18th, 2003

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Spent vacation day ishing the river and had a great day. Started at 7:00 AM out o Orwood and caught a 4+ on a PopR right o the bat...Ended up catching or legals in the irst 30-minutes...ish were o the bank in deeper weeds. Picked up the jig and threw it or 1-hour and it was a 5.2lb largie...She was in deep shade under an overhangning tree. Headed to the middle Delta and began hammering the ish with my drop shot. Caught over 30 ish o 1-wall up to 3lbs. Most were smaller. Went to lunch and hit the water again with nothing but a rog. Found a big area at the outgoing tide with sparse mats and lots o weeds. Hit a 4+ on the third cast and proceeded in the next hour to catch 6 rog ish with all in the 3-4lb class. The bite died as quickly as it started and I decided to call it a day...All in all a great day on the river with over 40+ ish and a good variety o quality.Day 2 - Sunday - Went out in the AM with a spinnerbait and rog only. Fished rom 6:15 - 11:30 caught 4 ish total. First on a spinnerbait and three on the rog. All ish were 2lb to 3lb. Boat traic was horrible and the rog bites were ar and ew between...Only got 4 blow ups and landed 3. HOT!!!HOT!!!HOT!!! Spent all but 30-minutes throwing the rog on Sunday.
      City: Discovery Bay

      Tips: Topwater to begin each day at minimum. Try rogs in amiliar places where you catch ish on other type baits...For plastics ish points and deep water o o rock walls. You will catch ish consistently. For big ish rogs, PopR, Spooks seem to work best this time o year. I looked back on my journal over the last two years on the Delta and noticed a lot some patterns that are paying dividends on the water. KEEP A JOURNAL it will improve your ishing. Stay sae. TG

    • By

      Water Temp: Unknown

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Hog, Beaver, and Sycamore sloughs again this week. The 3 o us got on the water by 6:00A. Caught 12 keepers by 9:30A (biggest -- 1.5 lbs)-- most o them inside the weed line. Didn't catch a keeper during the outgoing tide. This week, spinners caught most o the ish. Tried a Wiggle Wog, got a couple o blow-ups but couldn't hook them. Had several schools o small stripers chase baitish around the boat -- caught about 6 o them -- great ighters but no keepers.
      City: Dixon

      Tips: High tide, spinners inside the weed line. Outgoing tide, Rat L Traps outside the weed line.

    • By

      Water Temp: 81-82

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ished New Hogan Friday the 18th with my partner Wogg or stripers and some bass. On the water at 6 am and ished until about 7 pm. Boils weren't too good in the morning but we picked up a ew ish and missed about as many in the mornind. Best ish o the morning was a 2-2.5 lb. largemouth caught on a pop-r. The area we ished died about 10 and we went up river. Got into some nice boils there. The ish were only 15-17 inches though. Still a ton o un. That are slowed so we moved back towards the main lake. On the way got into them real good o the campgrounds. Pretty much stayed in that area the rest o the day. All the ish were on the small side but we landed over 40 so I am not complaining. boils were big and lasted the longest I've ever seen them last. Made one run o about 300 yards and was able make multiple casts into the boil beore it went down. Making long runs in my slow aluminum can be a waste on normal days.
      City: Concord

      Tips: We were using plastics such as lukes and pop-r, spook and a tiny torpedo.

    • By

      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: me and my riend went out ishing at 6 in the morning and we ished tell 6 that night and only two ish were caught.i got a trout it was a good size trout.i also caught a bass.it was a little over 3 pounds.the bass was caught on a castic trout.the trout was on a crankbait.i dont think ishing there is a good idea right now unless you are ishing or catish.
      City: San Pablo

      Tips: nothing well help right now there to deep

Thursday, July 17th, 2003

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80.5 - 83

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: In at Centimundi at 5:00PM. Ran across to Big Backbone, not much boat traic. Fished the shade till dark and then worked our way back to the ramp or 11 total. The largest went 1.6. Two came on top water, Lucky 13, the rest on twin tail skirted grubs. It was another beautiul evening on the water. Out at 10:00PM.
      City: Cottonwood

Wednesday, July 16th, 2003

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I went to the north end Tues evening just to look around and see how the weed situation was - ugly! I had no trouble with my new Minn Kota, but did with the big Merc - had to get weeds out twice. I started about 6:30 pm and ished till about 9. I was ishing a green pumpkin worm on a ledge near Rocky Point about 7 pm and had a slight pressure bite - set the hook - then didn't eel anything. The bass had broke me o and I didn't even know it until she jumped trying to shake the worm. She was in the 8 lb class. Looked at my reel and I was using 10 lb test or some reason - dumb mistake. I tried rogs to no avail and beore I let I threw my black buzzbait near what used to be mats and did pick up a 3 3/4 and 4-2 bass - lots o un! Wed. I started about 6 am with a client who is ishing an upcoming tournament so I will only say that we ished the north end. We had a little cool ront move through Tues evening which might have slowed the topwater bite 'cause it didn't happen or us. We didn't even get one rog blowup, but most o the real mats we saw were all brown. We did catch 6 or 7 bass with the biggest at 6-1, a real nice bass caught on a worm. Our limit was only a little over 13 pounds, but we really didn't ish the whole time as we were running all over looking at dierent spots.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I think we might have ished the lake on a slightly o day - who knows. I was really surprised at the lack o any rog bite - I guess the spray people had just been by. I you are ishing Fri or Sat, make sure you have lots o water - it will be hot!!

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished with clients rom Illinois yesterday and generally had a slow day.Started with Spooks and cranks in the tailings, and a Citrus Shad crank produced right o. It remained the hot color all day. First time in a while that Gitzits weren't top dog. Tried the Wyntoon lats, East Fork,and Squirell Flat with little success so went back to the Tailings and scored a double, decent LM o the same bush. Wind came up about 1. Sometimes that gets the action going on the shallow tailings but not today. The Lake Lice were not a problem at all today, in act the lake has been very quiet on the North End during the week. Less than 10 rigs in the parking lot when we came in. I'm attributing the slow bite to the bright moon. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
      City: Weaverville

      Tips: Go early and late.

Tuesday, July 15th, 2003

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Hooked up around 7:00 PM and launced at 10:00 PM. Fished rom 10:00 PM to 5:30 AM. Had a good time catching a total o 21 ish biggest one 5lb 4oz. and one just shy o 5lb. Smallest was about 14 inches (1.5lb). Not a bad night lost a ew ish and had one explode on an Arbogost Hula Popper. Caught most o mine on Senko (watermelon blk lk and watermelon rd/blk lk) Flipped a jig or a while and pulled a ew out as well as a 10 in. plastic worm. I ripped two ish both around 3lbs. Threw a spinnerbait with no takers as well as a drop shot. Overall had a good night with around a 24-25lb limit. Was a beautiul night no wind and the water was like glass.
      City: Marysville

      Tips: Stuck to what I have most conidence in 'Senko' and had a good night. The trick or me was throw to every dock with light around it. Ever single dock with light produced at least a 3lb ish. And there are a ton o docks with light on this lake. I was pitching my senko, Jig and 10in blk/rd lk plastic worm right against the pillars. The two ish I ripped and the taker o the Hula Popper were on the outside o the tulls and weed line. Good luck

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hey Jerry where is your report rom this last weekend! I know you ished a tournament with Steve. How did you do? I ell on my ace, it was one o those weekends that nothing went right. My guess it was the ull moon and the 13th that made it so bad. Anyway give us a report, cause I sure don't have one.
      City: Redding

      Tips: stay home untill all