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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, January 26th, 2015

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: A bit chilly and hazy out on the lake this morning! It is slowly burning off and we should be hitting the low 70's today.

      The sun has been nice, but we are ready for some rain again! The forecast is still holding steady that we will have a system come though on the 3rd and quite possibly bringing a decent amount of rain...keeping those fingers crossed wink emoticon

      I hope everyone enjoys their Monday and great beginning to the week!

      Lake Level Report (01/26/2015 at 7 AM)
      Lake Elevation: 956.22' (110.78' below full pool)
      Lake Elevation 2014: 936.24' (133.76' below full pool)
      Storage: 1,981,429 af
      Outflow: 1,984 cfs
      Inflow: 5,184 cfs
      Precipitation (24 hr @ dam): 0.00"
      Precipitation (Season @ dam): 34.32"
      Precipitation (2013 Season @ dam): 2.83"

Sunday, January 25th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 49.9-51.7

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: High Fog, cold n breezy
      Lake Level: Early rising tide, out go all day\Best Depths: 6-12 feet
      This past week Delta bass have loosened up and the bite is getting much better, four fish over 10 pounds have been reported including the two in last Saturdays AC Team event, which also had several 8 pounders weighed. This Saturday another big sack and fi
      Big Bass: 6-12 feet01/17/2015
      6 fish over 10 pounds since last Saturday the 27th.
      Guide Information: WWW.CoochsFishing.COM\Name & Number: Andy "Cooch" Cuccia 925-732-3293

      Tips: Contrary to the early week report above, Sunday we got hit with a chilly cold snap that drove water temps in most of the areas we've been fishing, down 2-3 degrees to 47-49.7. Sunday 25, we experienced a much tougher bite than we had all week due to the temp drops. Be prepared to grind it out and fish slower and more methodical.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: ? forgot to che

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Bite was a tad better today while fishing in the west fork area or lime saddle area. Got on the water early today, and fished from 7am to 10:30am and managed to catch 13 spotted bass, with two that went 14 1/2". No good size ones today. Warmest day I have had in months today, nice not freezing when fishing. News said the lake is down 135 feet right now. Long way to go for full pool, don't think we'll get even close. Work baits slow and be ready for that super light bite.
      City: Magalia

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58-60

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing is starting to pickup as the sediment settles lake-wide. Water is still murky with visibility only 1-1.5 feet (clearer at ends of the main arms). We fished Saturday and Sunday, concentrating in the main lake body on primary and secondary points. Using brown and orange 3/4 oz jigs, the wife and I were able to boat 1-1.5lb spots in about 20' water. Tried soft plastic (lizards, worms, grubs) in various colors with zero results. Tried crank baits and spinner baits up against the bank out to about 15 feet and again, nothing. Flipped out minnows off the back while slowly working the banks and hit only a couple small spots. Even tried trolling for an hour with various flashers and down riggers out in main channel and once again, came up empty.
      So, as the water clears up, the bite will get better. Jigs and Crawdad imitations seemed to work best for us this weekend.
      City: Cottonwood

      Tips: Take a kid fishing, they will remember it forever!

Saturday, January 24th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48-50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The bite has continued to be tough for the past couple of weeks with occasional bursts when the water warms and/or we get stable weather for a day or so. it can go from slow and finesse to wide open and reaction, rips and blades, very quickly. lots of smaller fish when windows open up and some bigguns, as Cooch noted, thrown in the mix.
      City: stockton

      Tips: I have had better luck fishing the time of day vs tides the past few weeks. the tide will position them but they are chewing mid-late afternoon no matter the tide. best depth - 8-11ft

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 47-52

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I keep hearing ( i cant catch fish even on minnows)So i went out yesterday to try.Fished minnows first time since last spring.Tried deep down by rattle snake for nothing . Fished a couple more area deep for nothing . Put a bobber on and fished in 8 ft of water and caught 6 fish in less than a hour and had at least 6 more take downs that we missed.Fish were all fat .

      Tips: Move around till you find them.

Wednesday, January 21st, 2015

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Good morning Shasta Lake!

      Another sunny day here on the lake. Currently at 55 degrees and almost dead calm with a small ripple on the surface.

      I am planning on getting some aerials in the near future...can't wait to show all of you!

      Until then, enjoy your Wednesday, the weekend is right around the corner wink emoticon

      Lake Level Report (01/21/2015 at 6 AM)
      Lake Elevation: 954.89' (112.11' below full pool)
      Lake Elevation 2013: 936.25' (133.75' below full pool)
      Storage: 1,958,765 af
      Outflow: 3,002 cfs
      Inflow: 6,286 cfs
      Precipitation (24 hr @ dam): 0.00"
      Precipitation (Season @ dam): 34.32"
      Precipitation (2013 Season @ dam): 2.83"

Monday, January 19th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 49.5 Degrees

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Big Break on Sunday. Took the Fog on, weather warm outside. Minimal wind. Water was real muddy. Put in at low tide, incoming. Most fish hanging on the bottom, we tried to coax 'em off the bottom with jigs and spoons but to no avail. Threw into tules with no return. My buddy caught one striper on a blue flapping hog, about 15 inches.
      City: Orinda

      Tips: Stay home and watch the Super Bowl. The water isn't going to clear for at least a week or two.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out today with Clark for a half day of fish. Burr, still cold, but now foggy! can't seem to pick a good day. We managed to catch 7 fish, 6 spotted bass and Clark got a silver salmon (coho) not a big one but decent at about 16-18" or so. Slow bite, ever so slow. At least the water temp came up a degree from last trip. Come on spring, tired of winter bite.
      City: Magalia

Friday, January 16th, 2015

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Report: Fishing up at the lake has been great! The bass are still feeding pretty shallow on main & secondary point's and flat's. The best bite has been on 1/2 oz. & 3/4 oz. jig's or 6" worms on 3/16 or 1/4 oz. darthead's from the shoreline out to 28'. Darker colors such as brown, brown & purple, black or black & blue and using some type of scent such as Bassfeast have been the key to getting more bite's on jig's. The best worm colors have been Mojave oxblood, Warmouth and Blue crawler.

      Lake Levels as of this morning
      Shasta: 113.40' from full pool
      Trinity: 134.36' from full pool
      Oroville: 181.66' from full pool

Wednesday, January 14th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 48

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Slow Day - I fished many of my favorite spots in the east delta for a couple fish. I threw the whole tackle box at them for nada until about 3:00 p.m. when I finally woke up a couple using a white homemade soft plastic swimbait. The largest was 3-1 and the smaller was 2-5. I used all of the typical winter type lures and tried to slow the presentation way down but most of the day was just spent exercising my casting/flipping/pitching arm. It was a bit cool and overcast but nice to get out there at any rate.
      City: Stockton

Tuesday, January 13th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 49 +

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out for 3 1/2 hours and got cold, damn wind blowing like hell. Hard to hold the boat steady at most fishing locations. I hate days like this, and seems the fish did too. I got 2 spots, both a tad shy of 15" and that was it for me. Went home with my ego dragging, still dragging a day later. It's supposed to get colder!, maybe go next Monday if it warms any. Saw very few fish on the fish finder, where did they go?
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Dress for cold and wind.

Sunday, January 11th, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 46-50

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: Clear Skies, Cold air temps
      Lake Level: High to low tides\Best Depths: 3-5 on rocky flats, 8-12 in the deeper grass beds.
      Much of the River this past week has been very stained, locating clearer backwaters is a challenge still with the dying hyacinth still floating all over the river. Fishing has been tough, with bites few and far between. Dropshotting very slow with a 7" Ro
      Big Bass: 3-5 on rocky flats, 8-12 in the deeper grass beds.
      Nothing over 4 pounds the past week.
      Guide Information: WWW.CoochsFishing.COM\Name & Number: Cooch's Fishing 925-732-3293

      Tips: Darker colors are producing best in the stained waters, find clearer areas and lighter colors will produce.

    • By

      Water Temp: low 50's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: trap baits,blades n jigs. chartreuse color baits
      City: lafayette

    • By

      Water Temp: low 50's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: trap baits,blades n jigs. chartreuse color baits
      City: lafayette

Friday, January 9th, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished today from 8am to noon. Went to the end of the west fork mostly to see what it looked like, not much water, mostly barren slopes. Slow bite, got 7 spots tossing worms working them slow. Largest right at 15", other basic fish at 13-14" or so. Most fish taken in 25-30 foot of water. Not going in this area again for a long time. Back to north fork for me.
      City: Magalia

Wednesday, January 7th, 2015

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 47-51

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Gee, No reports in the last 5 or 6 weeks. Must be no one fishing! OR, all the bass have been live welled to the north end. OR, they are in a funk! I have said this before - it takes a real man to make this report - and it's not the first time! The great thing about the trip was talking to Dan Issac at Clearlake Bait & Tackle as he reminded me that we were at the same Jr High school in San Jose - he as student and me as teacher. I had forgotten that! I was thinking surely the bite wasn't as bad as he and everyone was saying. Well - it was. Actually, the bite was fair - we got 6 of them in 5 hrs. My friend Mike landed the only one we saw - about 9 inches - just before dark. Our 5 bites were good ones but they would not hold on - lost them on the hookset. Mike did bring one half way in but she came off, he thought about 3 or 4 lbs. We hung it up about 9 pm in favor of hot coffee at McDonald's!!

      Tips: Jigs, Yamamoto Flappin' hogs, and Brush Hogs provided our only bites. We have fished the Henderson area for three times in the last several weeks and have only had 2 bites. Must have been there the wrong days - yea - that's it!! Guess the bass liked all their new low water homes and decided to stay there!!

Monday, January 5th, 2015

Sunday, January 4th, 2015

  • Mendocino County
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      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Lake has come up to near 70% from around 35%. Looking like a lake again instead of a puddle. Lots of woody debris in the water especially the east side so watch out. Both ramps should be open now, I launched from the south ramp and they said the north ramp would be open in a week. I trolled around 20-25 feet with spinners and spoons and did some casting and didn't get a bite, from mid afternoon til dark near the dam and the east shore and where the river comes in. Still a nice day on the lake. A pro bass fisherman caught 3 in the east side shallows fishing slowly with rubber worms and jigs. Hopefully it will get better this spring for stripers and the like. Fish on!
      City: Willits

      Tips: Fish slow and shallow or wait til spring

Saturday, January 3rd, 2015

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 45-50

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Muddy water everywhere. Cleaner water in flooded islands and dead end sloughs. Found a spot with healthy grass and 5 degree warmer water. Marked fish but couldn't get them to bite. Two stripers elsewhere inside island and on break. Those were the only two bites we got all day and they were both an inch short! I caught mine on a jerkbait. My cousin caught his using a fly rod and some sort of tiny little buck tail jig. Saw another guy on a break pull out an LMB using a fly rod as well.
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: I can't fish slow enough to catch fish in the winter. I'm guessing if you can slow down you'll have better luck than me.