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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, April 12th, 2003

  • Santa Barbara County
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      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Get to Lake Cachuma Now!!!Fish are on the beds and ready to go...Fished with my two boys on Thursday and Friday and 5-7Lb ish are common. Bed ish in the morning hours with white or brown jigs and when the wind starts to blow keep pitching towards anything that looks like a bed because the ish seemed to become very active when the wind was blowing. We threw 3/8 oz. spinnerbaits around rocky banks in the evening and hammered the smallmouth. Get in the truck and get up there, this lake isgoing o...
      City: Upland

      Tips: Please practice catch and release

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 60-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Wow...what a antastic day or the Contra Costa Bass Club on the Delta. We launched out o Sugar Barge on Bethel Island and it was perect bassin weather. Cloudy with no rain until about noontime. Everyone pretty much caught bass all day long and our irst place winner caught an 8 lb., 7 lb., and 3 smaller ish or a 5 bag limit o close to 25 lbs...big ish or the day was caught by a backseater and went just under 8.5 lbs...most o the ish were caught on jigs, cranks, and senkos and it didn't seem to matter much what color you used as the bass were biting almost everything we threw in the water. Even when the rain started pouring down the ish were still biting and most o us didn't notice...great day on the Delta!
      City: Oakley

      Tips: Didn't seem to matter what you threw in there as long as there were ish around they were biting everything...the Contra Costa Bass Club meets the irst Tuesday o every month in Antioch at 7 PM at the Round Table Pizza on Sommersville road...We have a range o extremely skilled to novices in our club and both boaters and non-boaters are welcome. Check out our webpage at www.ccbassclub.com or more ino...

    • By

      Water Temp: 63.5

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Another Great Day! Reaction Innovations Dominator did it again! Big Fish today 11.2 Pounds on a junebug Dominator. Green Pumpkin/ Green also produced one over ive pounds. Most think its a "Senko " Type bait,While it can be ished in that manner it is more eective when twitched and ished hard.
      City: Tracy

      Tips: 5/0 hook 17 pound Vanish ished with ABU ION Reels on Kistler 7'0 Heavy Senko Caliornia Series and Medium Heavy Helium Series rods.

    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the slough (Whiskey) or a couple o hours on Thursday. Caught 3 ish 1 1/2lbs-3 1/2lbs. All on 6in. black/blue senkos at the beginning o the outgoing tide o a section o hotel rock. Saw several ishermen having good success throwing spinnerbaits rom the shore near the ive mile an hour bouys each o the last couple o days. Also saw alot o good sized Crappie being caught on chartruse crappie jigs and miniture spinnerbaits also in chartruse or at least a week straight now. At the moment it's pouring down rain here in Holt (Whiskey Sl.Marina) and there's only a ew brave souls out ishing. Neither o which have had any success so ar.
      City: Holt

      Tips: Stay home!!! Stay dry!!!

  • Yuba County
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      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I had a delightul time guiding a ather and near 9 year old son! We started about 6:45 am on the east side o the lake. We immediately got into some spotted bass with the young man nailing a 2 1/2 lb spot on a Berkley 4" Pulse Worm. Ater awhile we switched to the west side o the lake - moving up the river arm. We looked or shallow ish but didn't see any or a long time. The water temp had dropped 10 degrees a week ago and moved all the ish out to deep water. We inally saw one in about 4 eet o water and I got the young man to pitch his small sour grape brush hog to the ish - but I igured it would take o. Instead it turned and looked at the bait but I lost it in the glare o the sun. The boy didn't however and immediately jerked the 2 1/4 lb largemouth in the boat!!! Dad and I couldn't believe it! A bass pro in the making! We wound up with 11 bass in the boat and missed several. The early morning bite was the best during our 7 hour trip.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: With another cold ront this weekend, it will take awhile or the bass ishing to turn on. The water need to get near 60 or a big movement to shallow water. Bass will be ound in brush and rocky areas - warming their bodies in the aternoon. The east side usually warms up irst.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: 56-59

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Preished the Future Pro Tour tourney Friday. 6:55 Tiger hits a 4.0 7:10 he gets a 2.2Let that spot go 7:30 I get a squawish-ouch. 10:30 I hit a 7.6 beauty, my biggest to date!10:40 Tiger gets a 2.0. We move again. We inished with a smallie, a spot and another LMB. Best 5 went 17.8.Sat. the day o the tourney totally dierent day. Drew 102nd boat out o 105 that hurt. went back to look or the big girl again but we were probably the 5th boat in that cove.Managed several keepers nothing big. All spots and smallies. Worst weather I ever ished, bilge pump went o every 5 minutes ater 12:00.Our second tourney ever and we scored 9.22 to inish in the middle o the pack. We are learning a lot each time.Vince put on a reat event again, especially considering the conditions. The speakers at the seminar were VERY helpul to a couple rookies!!! Going to have to try the "shaking" thing when no one is around to see me.The Folsome Nissan dealership was a great host and Tiger and I look orward to the next event at Clearlake. Rob and Terry thanks again or all your tips!
      City: Paciica

      Tips: No luck on rip baits, blades, drop shot or split shot. We got to work on that.90% o our ish came on plastic.

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished rom 6:30 am to 1:30 pm. Started at Horse Shoe Bend with top water and spinner baits. Nothing so switched to split shot 4" green craw style worms and boated our in the next hal hour then the wind howled in at about 15 to 20 mph. Moved to the canyon and continued worming and catching ish. Averaged a ish every 10 to 15 minutes with most coming out o 10' to 15' depths. Never hooked into a good kicker ish and ended up weighing ive or 6 lbs. and 8 ozs. First place had 18+ lbs. with the big ish o 13 lbs. 1 oz. Said he caught it o a bed in Piney Creek using a jig and pig. Second place had about 15 lbs. with a 9 lb. big ish. Said they caught all their ish on Senkos and the 9 lber came rom Horse Shoe Bend near the loating bathroom.
      City: Delhi

      Tips: We caught ours split shotting 4" worms. Better ish coming rom areas with wood.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 60-54 degrees

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: BassBusters held their April Tournament at Oroville April 12, 2003. Rick and I were second o in the light and went up north to our irst spot. We probable put down the trolling motor about 6:15AM and had about 10 keepers by 7:30AM, culling 1 ish. Most all o those ish came on SuperSpooks, and ZaraSpooks, 1 ish came on Spinnerbait. We started the big motor and went right back over the same stretch without a bite. The ish shut down really quick. We then proceeded to dierent areas picking up a ish in just about each area we stopped. These ish came on a varity o techniques; Rattletrap, Dropshot, and Cranking. These areas ranged rom up the North Fork, to just in the South Fork, and then back in the Middle Fork. At the end o the day (3:30PM) the bite appeared to be picking up again. We had three quick ish Dropshotting and culled another ish, and then had to head to weigh in. We had a total o 20 - 25 ish, quite a ew dinks. Except or the "NON-STOP RAIN" it was an alright day.We had the slot exemption or the day, so all eight boats came in with a limit o 7 ish. I it weren't or the waived slot we would have probably only have had 1 - 2 keepers out o all eight boats. The boats that said they were able to pull ish all day long were doing it dragging jigs in deeper water.The lake i uller than I've seen it in years. Really surprized me. Thanks,R. Duzac
      City: San Jose

      Tips: The Top Water was A blast, the rain was not!

    • By

      Water Temp: 54-58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The Santa Clara Bassbusters ished their monthy tournament on Sat April 12. The Friday practice day was slow under the bright bluebird sky and clear water. Some ish could be seen on beds in the river arms but they ran o as the boat approached and stayed away. By Saturday the weather had changed to rain, non-stop, all day. This changed the ishing to ish-on non-stop all day. We had a slot exemption so every boat brought in a team limit o seven ish. Most limits were caught by 8 AM. The top baits were Zara Spooks, Speedtraps, Lucky Crat DB 90s, white Rat-L-Traps, and jigs. All ish came in shallow water and most o the teams ished in south ork and middle ork. Some good ish did come on the big slide up north on the main lake.
      City: Belmont

      Tips: With the clear water and the blue sky, we had our best luck with green-brown worms or jigs, and perch pattern speed traps. The Ghost Minnow color Lucky Crat did OK too.

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the lake 3 days this week with mixed results. Tues p.m. was extremely slow as was Wed. Thurs was a lot better,with approx. a dozen smallies to 4lbs. Couldn't hardly grt a reaction bite but worms and gitzits ished real slow rom 5-20' did the trick. Talked with other ishermen who were primarily jerkin without much success. Wiyh this temp. the jerkbait bite should be on, but with the water as clear as it is, it just isn't happening. This weekends' rain should change everything, hopeully or the better.
      City: Weaverville

      Tips: I anyone has questions, e-mail me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. That should avoid some o the rudeness. I beleive the last time those guys wet a line was when they drooled on their blow.

Friday, April 11th, 2003

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: lanched out o paradise at about 10:30 this morning with a riend it was very windy and cloudy ished shima tract,orteen mile slough,mildred island disappointment and all we caught were a couple o 13 inch ish on cranks. its about 7pm and we start to head back to the dock when i decided to try bishop cut and try senkos cause last month i nailed a 14 1/2 pounder there so were pitching senkos or 1/2 hour and we catch a couple o dinks i'm about to give up when the wind just stops and the water is like glass it's low tide the weeds were exposed and there were pockets o water in between the weedbeds you know what this means TOPWATER TIME. i brought out my avorite bait the splash-it irst cast one pop 3 1/2 pounder,second cast 6 1/2 pounder then my riend asks i i have another splash-it so i give him one and 5 minutes in he, nails a 4 pounder in the 1/2 hr me and my buddy ished we caught over 15 keepers.irst 8 hours 2 ish next 45 minutes 15 ish you just got to be there at the right time and not give up our best 5 ish was probably 20lbs.
      City: sacramento

      Tips: ish hard and don't give up till its dark!!!GOOD LUCK ON THE H2O!

    • By

      Water Temp: 58-63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished with Hooksetter, we started looking shallow early with not much results, one our lber. George caught. We were throwing top water and reaction baits and tubes. We moved outside o the lats, near deep water and starting catching 3 to 4 lbers on blades and Iovino worms and tubes. Mid morning went back on lats to see many bucks, mostly small ish. Moved back out to deeper water and George boats a 6.5 lber on a tube. 10 to 15 ish were caught, none on lats.
      City: Tracy

      Tips: Fish are moving up and the bite will continue to get better.

    • By

      Water Temp: HIGH 50 TO LOW

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: CRAPPIE HAS START TO GROUP UP IN NUMBER.IF ANYONE LOOKING TO CATCH A FEW SLAB, YOU SHOULD TRY NICASIO.
      City: NOVATO

      Tips: FISH ARE VERY CLOSE TO THE BANK,USE SMALL JIG'S AND 2 FOOT LEADER WITH A SMALL BOBBER

Thursday, April 10th, 2003

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 63.5

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Had a great aternoon trip with Charles Rim o Korea. We started at about 1pm and caught 15-20 ish to 6 pounds while throwing Reaction Innovations Dominators and Iovino Worms in the South Delta. Hope to see y'all on the Water. Dan
      City: Tracy

      Tips: Channels adjacent to spwning lats as the cold ronts move through

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 56 TO 58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: FISHED MON THRU THUR - TOTAL OF ABOUT 35 HRS.MY PARTNER AND I CAUGHT 147 SPOTS. BEST NUMBERS CAME FROM THE MIDDLE BRANCH, SOUTH FORK AND ACROSS FROM THE SPILLWAY LAUNCH RAMP. WE FISHED MOSTLY THE CUTS AND ALSO HAD A COUPLE OUTSTANDING SHORT STRECHES OF WALLS. WE GAVE EACH BRANCH A FULL DAY EXCEPT FOR THE NORTH ARM. WE FOUGHT THE WIND A LOT AND LEFT FRIDAY AM BEFOR THE STORM HIT. OUR HOT BAIT WAS 4" PLASTIC WORMS SHAKING TEXAS. ARRONS MAGIC AND GREEN COLORED WORMS JUST LIKE DON REIGHLEY SAID. MORNING DAWN, NOT A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WORM I MIGHT ADD, WAS NO MATCH EVEN WITH A CHAR TAIL. THE STELLA WORKED OK EARLY BUT I BELIEVE THE POINTER 100 IS A BETTER CHOICE. WE TRIED DART HEADS WITH WORMS, GRUBS AND HULA GRUBS WITHOUT THE SUCCESS THAT WE HAD WITH SHAKING 4" STREIGHT TAIL WORMS. USE THE LIGHTEST WEIGHT WHILE STAYING IN CONTACT WITH THE BOTTOM AND YOUR ROD. NOT MUCH OF A BITE, MOSTLY A LIGHT RUBBERBAND FEEL. NOT THE EASIEST FISHING. WE LEFT THE LAKE AND FISHED THE NEXT TWO DAYS AT SUCCESS AND CASTAIC JUST AHEAD OF THE STORM. THE FISHING SEEMS TO BE PRETTY GOOD EVERYWHERE. I'M HOME NOW AND IT'S SNOWING HERE. THANKS A LOT FOR LETTING A COUPLE OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FISHERMEN ENJOY THE BIG WATERS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
      City: CEDARPINES PARK,CA

      Tips: 4" WORMS, SENKOS IN WATERMELON BUT YOU MUST LET THEM SLOWLY FLOAT TO THE BOTTOM AND THEN WAIT FOR THE BITE. THE BITE WAS ON A SLACK LINE AFTER ABOUT TWO MINUTES. THE SENKO FISH WERE A LITTLE LARGER (OUNCES). FORGET MOST REACT BAITS FOR A FEW WEEKS.

    • By

      Water Temp: 56 TO 58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: FISHED MON THRU THUR - TOTAL OF ABOUT 35 HRS.MY PARTNER AND I CAUGHT 147 SPOTS. BEST NUMBERS CAME FROM THE MIDDLE BRANCH, SOUTH FORK AND ACROSS FROM THE SPILLWAY LAUNCH RAMP. WE FISHED MOSTLY THE CUTS AND ALSO HAD A COUPLE OUTSTANDING SHORT STRECHES OF WALLS. WE GAVE EACH BRANCH A FULL DAY EXCEPT FOR THE NORTH ARM. WE FOUGHT THE WIND A LOT AND LEFT FRIDAY AM BEFOR THE STORM HIT. OUR HOT BAIT WAS 4" PLASTIC WORMS SHAKING TEXAS. ARRONS MAGIC AND GREEN COLORED WORMS JUST LIKE DON REIGHLEY SAID. MORNING DAWN, NOT A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WORM I MIGHT ADD, WAS NO MATCH EVEN WITH A CHAR TAIL. THE STELLA WORKED OK EARLY BUT I BELIEVE THE POINTER 100 IS A BETTER CHOICE. WE TRIED DART HEADS WITH WORMS, GRUBS AND HULA GRUBS WITHOUT THE SUCCESS THAT WE HAD WITH SHAKING 4" STREIGHT TAIL WORMS. USE THE LIGHTEST WEIGHT WHILE STAYING IN CONTACT WITH THE BOTTOM AND YOUR ROD. NOT MUCH OF A BITE, MOSTLY A LIGHT RUBBERBAND FEEL. NOT THE EASIEST FISHING. WE LEFT THE LAKE AND FISHED THE NEXT TWO DAYS AT SUCCESS AND CASTAIC JUST AHEAD OF THE STORM. THE FISHING SEEMS TO BE PRETTY GOOD EVERYWHERE. I'M HOME NOW AND IT'S SNOWING HERE. THANKS A LOT FOR LETTING A COUPLE OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FISHERMEN ENJOY THE BIG WATERS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
      City: CEDARPINES PARK,CA

      Tips: 4" WORMS, SENKOS IN WATERMELON BUT YOU MUST LET THEM SLOWLY FLOAT TO THE BOTTOM AND THEN WAIT FOR THE BITE. THE BITE WAS ON A SLACK LINE AFTER ABOUT TWO MINUTES. THE SENKO FISH WERE A LITTLE LARGER (OUNCES). FORGET MOST REACT BAITS FOR A FEW WEEKS.

    • By

      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I guided "mysel" or a ew hours in the West Branch. I got to wait on mysel - what a treat!! It was amazing to launch at Lime Saddle and see no marina. Wow! I bumped my way through the debris and tried to ind areas that I could ish without gunk in my line. I ished 4 and 6 inch Berkely and Camanche Jack worms, ripped, and threw a ew jigs. I wound up with a limit over 11 pounds because I ound a bed with largemouth on it and caught the 3 1/2 pound emale on a purple Weapon jig - she ate it immediately!! While the emale was recovering rom her quick catch and release, I had to work or the male which went about 2 1/4 and inally took a brown Rodstrainer jig. They were both happy when I let!! I ound bass in deep brush and rock, landing 3 spots rom 2 to 2 1/4 lbs. I caught 17 total, mostly on lats near deep water and creek channels. The mid-morning bite was best - as the day warmed up, the bite slowed. Strange!! I I had been there at dawn, I might have done better but the extra hour or two o sleep was great!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The water is still cool enough that one has to be on their toes to detect a deep water bite. Many bites were pressure. I ished some trash pockets but had no bites - maybe because the sun was not warm - lots o high cloud cover. I did catch my smallest ish on a Staycee ripbait - that doeasn't happen too much!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 58-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Landed 5 keepers 1-2 lbs in the back ponds using Rattle traps over the weed beds when the wind was blowing in the aternoon.Caught a couple dropshoting deep.
      City: Livermore

      Tips: Throw reaction baits shaollow when the wind blows.

  • Riverside County
    • By

      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Not sure what to say. Got there in morning let in the evening. Oh yeah. WE CLEANED THE LAKE OUT!!!!AT LEAST 25 PANFISH. GILS,CRAPPIE, SAME AREA.12 STRIPER - BIGGEST 12Pounds8 BASS 7 pounds1 WHITE LOOKING BASS HOOKED ITS SIDE.1 CATFISH SMALL IT GRABED A JIG, WIERD.Between me and my buddy

      Tips: Night Crawlers. Worms. Lippin Lizzards. Jigs. Variety o Lures including rooster tails.Deep Divers.BEST LURE BAYOU BOOGIE. CAUGHT AT LEAST 10 OFF IT.

Wednesday, April 9th, 2003

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

      Report: Looked ishy but wasn't sure i there were any bass until my 4th cast. Nailed a 5 1/2 on watermelon senko. Caught 5 more ish to 4 pounds on the senkos and switched over to a crankbait an hour beore sun went down. Caught 3 more 2-4 pounds. Merced is ull o Bass!
      City: San Francisco