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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, June 14th, 2003

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out this evening at about 6:30 ater my tourney on the delta with my club today. I only brought one rod with my buzzbait on it. I went over to the spot where I caught the 8 and had a hit rom a 1lber ater about ive casts. I ished my way over to the swim lagoon with one hit but no hook up. I went over to the swim lagoon and started throwing the buzzer and got one hit. Still no hook up even with the trailer hook. Then about 8 casts later I get one that may have been the one I missed a ew minutes beore. I didn't have my scale so I estimated it to be about 1.5lbs. I then went over to Cat Tail Cove and started throwing the buzzer. Got one right next to the tules on about my 2nd cast. I brought it up onto the shore and it lopped o and ell in the scum. I ran ater it and grabbed it beore it could get away. It went about 2-2.25lbs. I got one more hit about 5min. later a ew eet away. Prabably about a 2. Let at about 8:30. A pretty good 2 hours o ishing. Would have had a limit i I would have hooked up on those three I missed. And like you said, Alex, the trailer hook really helped.
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Buzzbaits in Chart./White with trailer hooks.

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 73-74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I put in at Blue Oaks Wed. 6-11-03 & ished rom 5 am to 10 am...Caught 10 bass up to 3 1/2 lbs...I stayed in the area between Blue Oaks Ramp & Fleming Meadows..Nothing on Jerk bait or spinner baits...Had one blowup on a spook & lost a 2 plus on a Rattle Trap...caught one on a 6in lizard,one on a tube bait,one on a Cali. worm & the rest were caught on 5 in Senko's... Five o the seven keepers were caught on the Senko's..Two biggest ish came app 15 t o water & the rest ron 2 t to 10 t...The ish rom the deeper water were at,shallow ish were skinney....
      City: RIV

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished our local club tourney this weekend and really enjoyed a great day. Both ishing and weather were antastic, sure beat the heck out o working. Started at the dam with spooks and speedtraps and got a couple o dinks, one was an inch shorter than the spook he hit. My backseater put a limit in the boat beore I had a keeper, he was ishing speedtraps and dropshot 4" worms. The wind was pretty high there so we went up the small arm to get out o the north wind and boy, was that a good move. Ater messing around the little island or a ew ish we headed up to the second "no-wake zone" to get away rom the skiers and jet-skis we ound a stretch o bank with a row o trees 30 eet away and about 20-35 eet deep. We started dropshoting between the bank and trees and it was "on". Every pass through we caught no less than 3 ish or 5 hours straight. We had "doubles" 3 dierent times and I had my biggest ish on my last cast o the day. I let my "non-boater" run the ront or a ew hours so I could soak in the great day ishing in the sun and catching ish without any o the stress that normally comes with ishing in a tournament. I can't remember when I've had such a relaxing day while ishing a tourney. Most ish were small, 12" to 3 pounds but a lot o un anyway. I took 4th and my partner took 2nd with 10.75. The winner had a 3 ish 11.5 pound bag with big ish o 6.3 lbs. A good ish on any lake. Got it "Spooking" or bass busting on shad in the middle o lake.
      City: Ukiah

      Tips: Topwater beore the sun comes up and then get out them little bitty 4" worms with your avorite dropshot rog and have a blast.( Green pumpkin was a great color)

Friday, June 13th, 2003

    • By

      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Aaron got it right today...buzzbaits were the ticket. And all day long none the less. Good job, Aaron. Anyways, here's my story. When we met up this morning, I asked Aaron i he cared where we ished, and he said no...so I thought, all right, good, then we can go ish my water. Even i it was one heck o a walk back there in the morning. LoL. I've been catching a lot o good ish o o WOOD on the backside o the lake this last week (had 17+lbs just rom shore or 4 ish easlier this week) and igured that I'd have everything wrapped up nicely or me to be dubbed King o the Loma today. But Aaron just wouldn't have anything to do with it. My girlriend caught the irst ish o the day on a drop-shot rig, but it wouldn't quite go 12"...just short at 11.75". Well, For some reason the bass just weren't eating the buzzbaits really good today, as you may notice rom several o Aaron's missed/lost buzzbait ish. I had one solid 4lber roll on my buzzbait early in the morning next to some wood, but didn't eat it. It wasn't too long ater that when I got my buzzbait stuck on an overhanging limb on a pretty steep bank. However, that buzzbait has been ar too good to me lately, so I just couldn't bare to part with it and decided to try and pull some risky business. Sure enough...it ended up with me sliding on down the bank into the water and taking an unintentional swim. I was pretty sicked up to just above my waist. Dumb Friday the 13th. Anyways...My original plan was to ish rom the dam to the dock on the backside with a buzzbait, then work backwards on that shoreline with a senko. Well, ater my buzzbait ailed me, I started working my way back with the senko. By now, Aaron had stuck his one buzzbait ish back in that cove that I just totally ignored in the morning because I haven't been able to get jack to eat around any tules lately in coves...only wood. Then I started working back with my senko, and Aaron came running up with his 2nd ish. Well, I didn't make it along the bank too ar with my senko beore I was standing there ishing and I noticed another big, dark shadow sitting in the water...I igured it was a good sized ish and quickly pitched my senko at it...she got pissed and watched it all and lexed her mouth at it a ew times as it layed on the bottom, but wouldn't eat it. Then she swam o and I saw how big she was...I realized that I was dealing with a good 8lb ish...then I just kept thinking...I hope she was on a bed, I hope she was on a bed...and sure enough, about 30 seconds later, she comes strolling back and sits right back where she was. WooHoo!! Another HAWG o a bedish! Well, I igured that I was going to risk it and sit on this ish or the rest o the day i I needed to...well, I got her to look at several baits and she got pretty pissed a ew times, but never actually ate anything. I spent clear up until about 12:20-12:30 going or her, but she just wouldn't go. In that time though, I ound another smaller 1 pound bed ish really close by and caught that one. ANywho, when we had about an hour let, I igured I'd better do something about Aaron being in the lead, so it was time to go try and sort through some little rats drop-shotting to try and manage a limit. However, we got over there, and the wind was working against us pretty bad making the drop-shot ishing diicult, I lost two decent ish beore I inally landed another 1 pounder right at (or maybe a minute ater) weigh-in time. Whether that ish counted or not though, it doesn't matter, it wouldn't have put me ahead o Aaron. Way to go bro...ya earned them jigs. d:o) Now or the ater-tourney report...ater both Tom and Aaron let to go back to the boat ramp to ish, I went back to my 10lb bed ish. LOL. However, I went back only to ind about 10-15 ducks all sitting on the bank digging around in the mud making everything a mess so you couldn't see anywhere and totally scaring o the big ish. I shooed the ducks away, and the bass came back ater about 10-15 minutes, but she was really skiddish and the muddy water was making it really diicult. So, I'm going to try heading back there tomorrow morning to see i I can get her. Anywho, ater a long day, my girlriend and I decided to just throw buzzbaits just or the heck o it on the way back to see i we could get lucky and stick any ish. Well, wouldn't ya know it...we ished the EXACT SAME water that I had covered in the morning with the buzzbait, but or some reason now I caught 3 ish in the middle o the day with it. All About 1.5-2lbs a piece. But...it was that trailer hook that did it or me. The irst one came unbuttoned as I was swinging him onto the shore, then the next two ish were both ONLY hooked by the trailer hook.
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Just like Aaron said...buzzbaits...WITH trailer hooks...white/chartreuse seems to be doin' the job. Fish 'em all day long...

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Well today I was crowned King o the Loma. Me, Tom, Alex and his girlriend hit the lake at about 6:40 a.m. I started out throwing the buzzer that I got the 8lber on Tuesday. Got a 2lb. 2oz. ater a while in the cove over by te dam. Beore the next cast ater I released it, I thought to mysel, "Wouldn't it be cool i I caught one in the same spot on the next cast?" On the next cast I get about a 1.5lber to hit my buzzer but no hook up. Bummer. I stay over there or a while throwing the buzzer and a senko with no hits. Then I go over to the dock where Alex and Tom are ishing and ish there a while. On the way I see a couple o ish that look like they might be on beds. Don't get any bites at the dock though. So I move back to the cove where I saw the ish earlier. I started using a chart. senko and go ater this one ish. I can see my senko in the water and it starts to disappear. I look down, see a bass chomping on my senko and set the hook. Just a little 1lb.7oz. male. I'm still in the lead though. Haha. So me and Tom go over to Cat Tail Cove and I start throwing the buzzer again. I get about a 2lber ater about 5 min. and when I bring it up to shore it pops o(I need a trailer hook to hook these ish better). So then I hook into a 4-5lber on the buzzer and it wraps me up in the tules and tosses the lure. That sucks. About 5 min. later a catch a 15ozer on the buzzer. That gives me 4lb.8oz. Alex catches a 1lber and then we go over to the dam to drop shot. I didn't have any drop shot stu so I just threw a crankbait. Ater throwing it a while I hook into a small 7" bass. Then I get dubbed King o the Loma and get a ew jigs rom Alex and Tom. Thanks guys. Ater that I go over to the cove between the island and the boat ramp and Tom comes walking up and catches a couple o little guys on a senko. Tom leaves and I go over to the spot where I caught the 8lber and then I think to mysel, "That'd be cool i I caught a bass on my irt cast in this spot like I did when I caught the 8." On my irts cast in that spot I get about a 2lber but it, like the other 2 I lost, throws the hook right beore I get it on to shore. My sister came and picked me up about 5 min. later. A good day o ishing even though I lost as many ish as I caught.
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Buzzabaits(with trailer hooks)

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

      Report: loat tubbed olsom today cause Galaxy Marine wants 6 to 8 weeks to look at my outboard? Boy the new ownership sure change directions in a hurry.Maybee I can loat tube turnaments the rest o the year. Anyway the ishing was real good in the evening. Caught 7 nice bass drop shot around trees.Shade held bigger ish. Fish seemed very agressive. used arrons magics 6 inch worms.Fish depo has em. My buddy was gettin his on a tube using 1/8 darthead. We caught 12 bass in 2 1/2 hours. Biggest 3 lbs. Maybe I do this instead o the big stratos.
      City: orangevale

      Tips: sot plastics brown and purple worms. I use 20lb power pro main line marryed to 8lb.loro carbon leader with one owner hook and a 3/16 oz sinker.Hang on they catch themselves with this rig.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ishing was tough today, caught most o my ish with a shad pattern crank bait, tried worming but nothing o any size, most worms got bit in hal. back o coves with submerged trees held ish had 2 over the slot one being a 16 incher and lots o small ones. morning dawn worms worked the best. really windy in the middle ork today
      City: the hills

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

      Report: Hit Shasta or a houseboat trip w/ the wie. Tried bass ishing or the 1st time, and had a blast. We stayed in the Big Backbone arm. Managed 16 total, mostly small, one 3.7-lb largemouth that was an incredible thrill to ight. I'm ready to do it again tomorrow, but the wie is muttering something about civilization....so it may be a while beore I can make it back. I'm jealous o you olks whose wives love to ish, too. Maybe I can brainwash her over time...Many thanks to all regular posters whose advice was very helpul in getting me started.A rookie question: lost a lot o worms and jigs to snags.(submerged logs/branches?) Seemed to happen regardless o how I had them rigged. Any tips or suggestions?
      City: Newark

      Tips: Just about all o them caught on a 4" brown worm, or 1/8 oz brown jig, crawled slow across the bottom, rom the bank up to 15 t. The largest came on a 4" blue senko when I ran out o browns and jigs. Better lucky than good, I guess.

Thursday, June 12th, 2003

  • Fresno County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59 +

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: IN THE WATER BY 6:00 AM. WHILE WAITING 4 MY FRIEND TO PARK I FISHEDTHE LUNCH ARE. TOP WATER 2 FISH ABOUT 15". MY FRIEND 2 FISH ABOUT 13-14".STAYED THERE UNTIL OTHER BASS BOATS CAME AND WE LEFT, ALL TOGETTHERABOUT 15 FISH ALL KEEPERS. WE JIG FISH HUMP ACROSS BETWEEN BOTHOF US 5 FISH ALL KEEPERS ORANGE/BRN JIG. WE NEVER WHENT TO OTHERPLACE STARTED TO GET HOT AND WE WENT HOME TO COME BACK TOMORROW
      City: FRESNO

      Tips: TOP AND JIGS.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 77.2-77.8

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: thought I would try the other end o the day, got in at Bailey Cove at 0345, lake at 7t, no wind,62 degrees, started throwing right o the loat but nothing was interested or 15 minutes, cranked up and ran to Birdhouse point in the lower McCloud and continued tossing a jig and Mr. Fullers secret surace bait and nothing until 0514 when I got the irst dink on, 25 minutes later I am up to 26 blowups and 11 in the boat, all dinks, tie on a MGM buzz bait, chartruese/white with a black buzzer and 1/2 oz and connect on a dozen more throwing across rocky points, threw one over a log and pulled it up and over and WHAM! set hard and snapped my rod in hal and end up hand lining a 3.5 spot in. Re tie on another stick and continue upstream on the east side sticking a bunch on the buzzbait, go back to a 3/8 oz darter head and hula grubs and get about 15 more and 2 over 2 with the best a 2.8 or a total o 41 between 0400 and 0730. Nice morning, slightly overcast and no wind. Get back to the ramp and tie up, get the truck and put the trailer in, get in the boat and start to back up and now the engine is stuck in reverse, shut down and try to shit it but it ain't going so on the troll motor and ease the boat onto the trailer climb over the ront to pull it on. Pull the lid and the little knob sticking up o the shit arm is busted o, that happened 3 years ago so i don't eel to bad especialy since its a $12 repair, get home and call merc and they have one so its in the mail and I am on the beach till about tuesday or thereabouts. only 64 degrees coming out and a nice cool morning.
      City: Redding

      Tips: my irst buzz bait ish this summer but then again I haven't been throwing it much. Thank you Mr. Coyle or your buzz bait lesson and the new goodies, you were right.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70's

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Jay and I ahve been out the last ew evenings..with pok sucess.Jay has been getting nice 2 lbrs, and i have been dealing with extreme dinks. Grubs...MGM black Hologram....and senkos have been catchig our ish..these ish arent on the bank..we haev beegetting them throwing out in the middle..letting that senko hit the bottom then liing it..and letting it settle and repeating..the grub works best around long points near deeper water.
      City: redding

      Tips: go slow.we still havent got on a great op wate rbite, but thatmay happen tonight!!!!

Wednesday, June 11th, 2003

    • By

      Water Temp: 71-74 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out this morning with my son and his riend. First boat on the lake at 6:45 with a light wind out o the south. Worked the river arm. Only saw 1 ski boat or the irst 5 hours. Caught 14 with shad imitation plastics and pink worms. Third trip there in the last month and this was the toughest. O the lake at 1:30 with the ski boats and drag boats starting to take over the lake.Last weekend was a jet ski competition and this weekend is a hot boat event. So stay away on the week ends.
      City: Citrus Heights

      Tips: Shad plastics worked against the shore with a steep drop nearby. Early they wanted ast later they wanted slow, they will chase.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 0000000

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Bryce;email me the instructions to where and how to catch salmon on my new lake. Thanks, Gary
      City: Redding/S.F.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: In at Packers at 11:00am to do a little salmon ishing. Caught 5 small ones or the barbe. Started bass ishing around 3:30PM. Fished till 10:30PM or 30+ spots and smallmouths. As we were coming back to the ramp we stopped at Packers Point and the wie dropped a black Hoo-Daddy on a 3/8 ootball head in about 20 eet o water and POW, the ight was on. A ew minutes later and a couple o trips around the boat I netted a 4.7lb spot(her personal best, SO FAR) Congrats, to the Blonde in the back o the boat. Can't wait to get back out, the night bite is great right now. I also heard that Ginger got Gene again 36 to 17.
      City: Cottonwood

      Tips: Caught ish rom the bank to 25 eet on jigs and worms.

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: congratulations on that big spot Susan, you put a whippin on Bryce! Now make the post old man and don't be tellin no stories!!!!
      City: Redding

Tuesday, June 10th, 2003

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 68

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Ladd's this morning and headed or some small sloughs that have been working or me lately. Fished top water all morning with a Pop-R. It wasn't red hot but consistent. I managed to catch 10 with the biggest going 4.6. The real kicker today happened on the way out o the slough I was in. I drove up on a large school o stripers busting shad on the surace. It had to be close to 100 yds. long, and a solid eeding renzy. I started tossing a white buck tail jig into the middle o all action and they nailed it. In the next 1 hr. and 25 min. I landed 16 stripers to 12 lbs. and 2 black bass to 6.4 lbs.. Talk about exciting. The 6.4 black bass had been caught beore and put on a home made stringer o 30-40 lb. mono through its mouth and gill plate and trailing about 6 t. o line. It had made a sore spot on the corner o its mouth but other than that it seemed in good shape. I cut it o and sent it on its way.
      City: Stockton

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 76-79

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I had a very nice trip yesterday with a very ine tournament angler and his riend that was trying to learn more about bass ishing. I guess he had only caught a ew on previous trips but landed 14 yesterday! And he caught the biggest ish o the day - an 11 pound catish on a #221 Senko - near Jenson Point. He really was a happy camper and I enjoyed giving him tips all day - he was like a sponge! The lake was beautiul - lat and the weather was perect! We saw lots o bass in the south end up to about 8 pounds - most o them roaming and very ew on beds. Whatever their state o mind was, they were very spooky since the water has again cleared up - little or no algae! The weeds are growing at a ast pace and are spreading more and more. We were doing a "learn the lake" trip, so we didn't really try to catch most o the big ish we saw, though each o them hooked one o the bigger ish but lost them both. Without trying too hard we landed almost 30 bass rom 10 inches to a little over 3 1/2 pounds. We used Senkos mostly. caught a ew on worms, a ew on Chug Bug topwater lures (in shadows), and I lost a huge bass on a black buzzbait on the irst cast - about 6 am. I was surprised that I didn't get a ish drop-shotting, though I didn't try that much. I tried to show them many subtle areas that don't get much pressure and there we a lot o bass in most o these areas. What a un day to observe ish in the wild - saw bass, tons o big bluegill (even caught 3), giant carp and catish, and schools o hitch. We all had a great time!! I had a night trip last week that was kind o slow - caught 7 or 8 up to 4 pounds. Still a bit early or a solid night bite.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: There still a lot o shallow ish in the south end but they seemed lethargic and not interested in much o anything. They are hanging around rock and tules. We ished lots o docks without a lot o success. The dock bite should pick up soon.

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Got out o school today at 12:35 and decided I'd go to the lake since it was still early. Had my dad drop me o at about 1:45. The wind was blowing like crazy and there were white caps all over. I igured I wasn't going to have a very great day but it turned out to be an awesome day. Started out at Channel Point throwing a spinnerbait with no success. Tried a senko but the wind just blew it away and it wouldn't sink. Went over by the bridge and caught a bluegill on a trout magnet. I saw a bass that looked to be about 2.5-3lbs and pitched a senko to it. I didn't see the ish take the bait but my line started going tight so I set the hook and missed it. It must have had it by the tail. So I ished a little longer around the bridge without any takers. I went onto the island and turned let when you irst get on it. I went to a little clearing and decided to try my buzzbait I had caught the dink on Sunday. On my irst cast ater about ive turns o the reel handle a bass hit it. She started peeling out drag and that's when i realized it was a bigun. It was a pretty good battle. I couldn't see her until she got close to shore. Then I saw how big she really was. I hauled her up and grabbed her by the lip. It was awesome! I put her on my dig. scale and it irst said 6-11. And a I was thinkin "No way, she's got to be bigger than that." Then the scale read 8lb.6oz! An 8lb.6oz. on a Chart./White Persuader buzzer! My new personal record! Yes! I ran up to the ranger's station and had the lady take a ew pictures. Then i ran down to the boat ramp and revived her. She seemed like she was all right when I let her go and she swam o. She came up to the surace and i walked out in the water and revied her more then she swam away. She popped up about 15t out. The next thing I did was kind o crazy. I jumped in the water and swam out to her and touched her and she took o. It was worth swimming out there to save her. I went back to the kiosk and told the lady about the catch. Check out the pics at the kiosk next time ya go out. My sisters came and picked me up a ew minutes later. What an awesome day!
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Buzzbaits.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 79.4-77.8

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: got in at bailey cove at 650 pm with the wie and ran up the McCloud to just above Shallow point and started on the east bank, lake at 6t, air temp 87 wind out o the south at 8, threw jigs and worms or 1/2 hour with one ish in the boat, moved to the shady side on the west bank and got on them good right o the bat, 31 blow ups on Mr. Fullers bait, got nine in and all small, 17 others on jigs and the wie got 3 on a dart headed MGM #109 4 inch, one was a little over 2, at 930pm we were bit on every cast but missed most as I couldn't reel ast enough to keep up with them, totaled out at near 35. moon up and made things much easier to try and throw at the bank, only chucked one in the trees tonight. waster went lat about 10 pm and things slowed down quickly, got out at 1045 at 70 degrees, very pleasant evening with the missus. Most ish caught near the mouth o Keluche Creek.
      City: Redding

Monday, June 9th, 2003

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: low 70's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: took a 12 year old boy and his mom or the young mans birthday and started the day o on top water.... they caught several ish in the 1-2 pound range... later in the day we started throwing wh/wh persuader spinnerbaits and got 3 largemouth in the ive pound + range o suspended wood... all ish came in the putah creek area.. jery did a great job landing these nice ish. what a great mom this guys has too ! thanks or a nice day Catherine!
      City: walnut creek

      Tips: top water early.... slow roll spinnerbaits on wood later in day..orget weekend ishing !