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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Friday, January 2nd, 2015

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52-55F

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: COLD!! Saw 22F on the road in to Capell. Ramp and lake are in good shape (slightly stained, not really stained). Bounced around main lake stuff early for one really nice spot. Spent the rest of my time in the Narrows, w/ plenty of company! Bite was good - several solid spots and a couple good smallies - no dinks at all.

      Tips: All fish came on jigs in 10 - 30 feet (Hemphill Special-look it up). Main lake and secondary points. Some points had 'em stacked up, others had none - sometimes on the sides, sometimes on the tips. Cover water and keep the jig moving.

    • By

      Water Temp: 52-55F

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: COLD!! Saw 22F on the road in to Capell. Ramp and lake are in good shape (slightly stained, not really stained). Bounced around main lake stuff early for one really nice spot. Spent the rest of my time in the Narrows, w/ plenty of company! Bite was good - several solid spots and a couple good smallies - no dinks at all.

      Tips: All fish came on jigs in 10 - 30 feet (Hemphill Special-look it up). Main lake and secondary points. Some points had 'em stacked up, others had none - sometimes on the sides, sometimes on the tips. Cover water and keep the jig moving.

Thursday, January 1st, 2015

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: not sure the wa

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched a lime saddle, ramp was good. Very long walk to you parked rig. 29 degrees at 8am, warmed up to 41 degrees at 4pm. Frozen was the word of the day for the fisherman. Never got any good fish, caught 30 + fish. Bite was way off. Fished the west branch and north fork, saw quite a few boats. need warm weather to get the bite jumped started.
      City: Chico

      Tips: dress warm, including warm shoes.

    • By

      Water Temp: 49

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: BURR, sure was cold fishing today. One heck of a windy day on the lake. Tried my new pants, bomber hat, gloves, which made it ok fishing for me. Slow bite, fished mostly the lime saddle marina area and half way to north fork. Tossed worms and managed just 8 spots, largest right at 14 1/2 inch, all other the basic 13" size. Most fish looked good, getting fat from just hanging out watching us fishing fools try to catch them. All my fish were 25 to 30 foot down, other then one at about 15 foot mark. Hope the winds let up for better fishing this next week.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Anyone looking for a fish partner, let me know, lets do some fishing. Take your boat or mine, works for me. Mine a small 14ft Klamath, slow, crowed, but it catches fish. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net

Monday, December 29th, 2014

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 50 - 55 by the

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: not alot to report for my brother and I. Had the day off and had not been to Berryessa in a long time. Figured it would be clearer than Sonoma. Water clarity was fishable, stained more in the creeks than the main lake. Fished Pope and Puta, the north end and some of the east end and then a little in skiers. Jerk bait, jig, chatterbait, crankbaits, swimbait, splitshot and even a drop shot. Fished 5 feet to 25 feet mostly. Steve got one fish in the creek area, 20ft ofwater, on a speedtrap had a wierd short fight and when it came up it was a trout. Not a bass but better than not getting bit. There were about 10 boats out there no idea if any had any luck, didn't see any caught. Started late, around 9:30 and finished at 3:30. Water is definitely high enough to launch safely, capel is open. A little wood on the lake but not much. Cold outside, sun barely made it out behind the clouds maybe out an hour or so all day.

      Tips: Don't do what we did.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 48-53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: High Pressure, Blue skies, no wind
      Lake Level: Normal, incomming to out go afternoon.\Best Depths: Most productive depths this week for blackies has been in clearer water, lottsa grass at 8-12 feet. Still catching a lot of schoolie stripers in 2-5 feet up in the flats and around the tulles of the flooded islands.
      The post frontal cold weather made fer very tough fishing this past week. Water temps fell below 50 to 48-49 the past four days and much of the River is stained to very dirty. Morning bite has been nonexistant with the exception of picking off a few schoo
      Guide Information: WWW.CoochsFishing.COM

      Tips: Winter is definately here, gotta slow WAY down and fish methodically for bites.

Sunday, December 28th, 2014

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: Dropping- 53-56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: Clear skies and cold air
      Lake Level: The lake level came up two feet this last week. It is currently at 867 ft. above sea level and 209 ft. from full.\Best Depths: 35-55
      Dropp-shotting shad patterned worms, jigging spoons and 3/4oz football jigs.
      Big Bass: 35-5512/28/2014 - Largemouth - 12-pounds, 2-ounces
      Dan Perkins Jr. caught a giant
      Events: Stop by the store for more fish catching information or a delicious deli sandwich.
      Guide Information: Glory Hole Sports\Name & Number: (209)736-4333\Pricing Specials/Open Dates: Sign up for our weekly newsletter http://gloryholesports.com/newsletter/

      Tips: New Melones has a ton of 1 to 3-pound fish that are extremely fun to catch. Plus there are Giants and World Record fish, one cast could change your life.

    • By

      Water Temp: Dropping- 53-56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: Clear skies and cold air
      Lake Level: The lake level came up two feet this last week. It is currently at 867 ft. above sea level and 209 ft. from full.\Best Depths: 35-55
      Drop-shotting shad patterned worms, jigging spoons and 3/4oz football jigs.
      Big Bass: 35-5512/28/2014 - Largemouth
      Dan Perkins Jr. caught a giant

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The Lime Saddle Marina is now open for boat launch. Going out soon. No more hour drive to the other launch ramps. Now a 22 minute drive for me to fish.
      City: Magalia

Saturday, December 27th, 2014

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 53-55

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Bite was extremely tough, jigs produces some bites but it seems that a casting spoon is key at this time of the year
      City: sacramento

      Tips: Jig a casting spoon in 30+ feet of water

Friday, December 26th, 2014

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 47

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Cold day at Collins, 26 degrees when I got there, knocking ice out of my rod guides all morning. Ended up with 5 Spots for around 12 lbs. All in shallow water no more than 10 feet. Took all on plastic worms and dart heads. Graphed lots of fish around 40 feet on the bottom, but no takers (maybe catfish). Bass were all scattered, one here, one there.

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished today for a half day. Interesting, got going and the fog bank rolled in big time going to the north fork. No idea where shore was in the beginning. Finally found shore, putted along slow, worried about hitting another boat or wood. Anyway, got 12 spotted bass, best one at 15 inches, and a new record, caught my smallest fish at barely 4 1/2-5 inches, tiny small mouth bass, good bait size. Most fish 12-14 inches.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Look out for the wood, lots of smaller wood, but logs showing up now.

Sunday, December 21st, 2014

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 54-55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Only had a a few hours to fish and was really out just to muck around with new electronics. Marked a bunch of fish around the Russo's but out in the middle of the channel. No takers but water was pretty murky. Ran south and found some clean water. Caught a couple small keepers + 3 more bites inlcuding a good sized one that broke me off. Ran out of time and had to return home.
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Found fish in healthy hydrilla. They were on the outer edges and in holes. All my bites were on drop shot but I'm bringing the punch rod next time out. Did not get any reaction bait bites including 10' crank, Staysee 90, chatter bait, Spook.

Saturday, December 20th, 2014

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Overall a good day considering the conditions. Some areas had about 10in of visibility and 55 water temp which made the bites far and few between. Bigger squarebills in bright colors and of coarse, blk blue jig, accounted for our bites. looked for cleaner water and the fish were definitely chewing! Dropshotted for the remainder of the day with good results.
      City: stockton

      Tips: look for clean water and fish deep or cover lots of shallow water with a crank or jig. in the dirty water expect only a handful of bites but thy will be good quality ones.

Thursday, December 18th, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished today for the morning, one shitty day for me. Water darn near muddy in many places, stained everywhere. Spillway launch closed, guess it's because Bidwel has water up to the concrete ramp now. I couldn't get much going, shallow, medium or deep. Got 2 spots, both about 13", taken in about 10-15 foot mark. Nice day, just no fish for me. More wood today, be careful, some fair size logs now. Hope next week is better.
      City: Magalia

Saturday, December 13th, 2014

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54-56

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Weather: Overcast, cold, 5-7 mph winds
      Lake Level: High due to rains, back to normal on Saturday\Best Depths: Jig fish are all coming from 4-6 on the rocks and 8-12 feet out off the bank in the grass. The active reaction fish are all in 3-6 foot up on the flats with sparse grass adjacent to tules.
      Fishing after the storms was very productive for us, due to the rains much of the Delta has become stained to dirty moving fish shallow. The fish were active and aggressively feeding, if ya roll up and don't git bit, move on till ya find em! Paddle tailed
      Big Bass: Jig fish are all coming from 4-6 on the rocks and 8-12 feet out off the bank in the grass. The active reaction fish are all in 3-6 foot up on the flats with sparse grass adjacent to tules.12/13/2014 - Largemouth
      Nothing over 6.5 lbs the past two weeks
      Top of incomming
      Guide Information: WWW.CoochsFishing.COM\Name & Number: Cooch's Fishing 925-732-3293\Pricing Specials/Open Dates: See Website

      Tips: As is the case in winter, you've got to slow down, very slow retrieves on the swimbaits and 4-6 sec pauses on the jerkbaits produced strikes, where faster constant retrieves did not. Long pitches with a slowere hop-n-pop of the jig produced strikes, very few fish bit on the initial fall of the jig.

    • By

      Water Temp: 54-56 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Had super low expectations since we were fishing right after storm but ended up having a great time. No big ones but caught 12, 17 total for two of us. Fished breaks at the north end of Franks but water was pretty stained, 6"-1' visibility. Ran down to Little Mandeville where the water was much cleaner, 3-4' visibility. Started catching them on breaks, grass channels, *1 dock*, edges of hyacinth mats. Caught em on jerkbait and dropshot. Buddy caught a couple on spoon as well. Only one small keeper out total fish but still had fun.
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Almost all the jerkbait bites came on a long pause (10-20s secs) and were passive.

Tuesday, December 9th, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Tossed worms today from 8am to 11am, short trip, but well worth it. Dirty water had me thinking, no fish today, but I ended up catching 14 fish, 1 nice 17 1/2" small mouth, spots one at 16 1/2", 3 15", with the rest about 13-14" Best 5 fish right about 10.5 pounds. Just about all fish taken at 25-30 foot mark, none shallow, nor any over 35 foot mark. Water came up over 10 feet in the last couple weeks making the walk up the ramp a tad better for this old man. Ramp is much better now that water is getting to the packed gravel. Floating wood beginning to appear since the rains started 2 weeks ago.
      City: Magalia

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Lake is UP 5 feet according to the news tonight. Need a break in rain to get on the lake. Maybe in a couple days.
      City: Magalia

Sunday, November 30th, 2014

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Friday I met my clients at Pleasure Cove about 10:30 am for a post-Thanksgiving trip. Not my everyday set of clients - a father and his 7 and 11 year old sons!! Could the boys bass fish? YES - they would put some of my adult clients to shame! Simply delightful, polite, wonderful young boys. Gives me hope for the future! I was prepared for some tough fishing as one of my friends was there the day before and said the bass had gone very deep. He was right - most of the 30 to 60 foot bait balls were gone. Found some at 80-90 feet! About 2pm they all wanted to spoon! It is amazing to see a 7 year old pick up the spooning technique in a few minutes - he was great!! I had them fishing 1 3/4 oz Blade Runner spoons. Trouble is - with the big fish moving very deep, the dinks became active and they were spooning 5 to 8 in bass right and left! They did land a few nice smallies up to 2 1/2 lbs - biggest on a Berkely Flappin' Hog. We stayed on the west side of the lake most of the day.

      Tips: The lake had not turned over as of Friday and we saw no surface activity of any kind - bait, trout, or bass. After I left them off, I went out for the last half-hour of light - working topwater and crankbaits. Nothing! It is raining as I write this, and a better storm is due Tues. I really believe a good dose of fresh water will help get the bite going. Lots of bass boats out Friday and some of them might have found a better early morning bite. No one posts helpful info much anymore. Too bad!