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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, February 24th, 2003

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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Well, I inally got mysel a pair o high-qaulity waders in the mail on Saturday, and so I just couldn't help mysel rom trying them out. I only had 2 hours to ish rom 2:30-4:30, but I just had to do it. haha. I put the loat tube in on the backside o the lake, decided the two hours was just enough to ish the dam all the way down once and back. I threw a crankbait halway down the dam, then pitched a jig-n-pig or the last hal. Nothin'. I think I missed one ish on the jig though. Anywho, then I t-rigged a Black w/ Red Flk GatorPup (made by ReAction Lures), and decided to pitch that the whole way back across the dam. I picked up 5 largemouths...all only in the 1-2lb range though (12-15"). Fishin' nice and SLOW was the ticket. Weather was cold and overcast and a slight wind out there. Wouldn't expect it to be the best day o ishin', but it was apparently better than twoody did yesterday in the sun. I'm going to aim to try and get out there on Wednesday or Thursday or an actual real ishin' trip, and will post a report.
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Pitching small inesse plastics along the rocks should get you some ish right now. Nothin' big, but they're there. Fish SLOW. Also, I was doin' a lot o crawling and shakin' to trigger strikes...careul though...you'll loose a lot o baits in the rocks doin' this. I had to re-tie 4 times on the way back down the dam with the t-rig.

    • By

      Water Temp: 56

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got a line wet at about 8pm at the damn, road is now open 24/7 as ar as reports go. Threw plastic lizard, jig/craw, and split shot hula grub. Had one taker on the hula grub, but elt like a small guy, no hook set. Had one onther grab on the pumpkin lizard, but again, no ish. Lots o real salamanders on the surrounding banks, some in the water too. I saw/heard about a dozen surace strikes while there, but all very ar out, 60 to 100 yards out rom shore. No posting yet about trout plants at Ranger HQ.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: I was ishing just prior to this Big Storm o 2/25/04, it was already stained, probably have to give it a week or two to settle down some.

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out Sunday night with a buddy. Fished rom the launch south caught a 3lber at about 6:30pm on a blue leck 10" power worm. Continued into the very back o the creek just to humor ourselves. We threw slammers, stocker trouts and jigs with no other ish. I thought with storm approaching and the warm air that the ish would be eager to eed.
      City: san jsoe

      Tips: It seems that the water is pretty murky. It was hard to tell at night but when i shined my lashlight in the very south o the lake the water was

Sunday, February 23rd, 2003

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      Water Temp: 54 Degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: On water at irst light. Float tubed, picthing jigs to tules whith no sucess. Decided to move o bank and drop shot. Hooked into 2 ish about a 1 1/2 lbs.. Swicthed back to a jig working it deeper around a sunken tree. Felt just weight and set the hook. The reward was a nice ish about 4 lbs. Worked the area till the weather started to change. Let lake about 1:30. All in all a good day or the 3rd time on the lake. Looking orward to the water warming.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Yamamoto Twin Tail Hula Grub, #221 on a 3/8 oz. Football Jig, worked very slowly aroundsunken trees or other submerged isolated cover. As water warms move to slower cover.

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 51

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: On Friday the 21st me, my dad, and my brother went ishing at Amador. We parked and i was planning on loat tubing. I started shore ishing when I saw some guy ishing in a little cove next to the dam. He caught about 3 trout in the 3-4lb range, when we haven't seen any. When the person let I went over there and saw at least 30+ trout ranging rom DFG size to 5 and maybe 6 pounds! I had a hook with a night crawler on and went over there and tryed my luck. On the third cast a nice 2>3lb trout grabed on and I reeled him in.Ater that a man that owned part o Amador came over and started showing me that I didnt have to use such a big piece o nightcrawler plus I needed smaller hook.When I tryed that I caught 5 more trout ranging rom 1 DFG and two 3lbers, 4lb, and a nice 5 lber. It was a great day.
      City: Santa Clara

      Tips: small hook + small piece o night crawler

    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished rom 630am - 1200noon, trolled or striper with the big plug and inally got a 39 incher at about 730am (ish was let go by the way). The trout were rising like crazy which usually means good striper ishing but only got that one. Once the striper bite tapered o and the sun was rising, I tried lipping or bass. Hit the dam, sunlit banks and main points. Was only able to pick up 2 small dinks (11 -12inch) on black blue lake senkos. I threw everything rom c.b., s.b. & everything else but nothing. These bass were caught on the south side o channel Island. They were banging through the tules which prompted me to throw my bait at them. I was graphing a lot o ish and bait balls o the main lake point in about 30t o water. Tried verticle jigging..nothing. Thought they were maybe trout and used p.b. and worms..nothing. Finally I would drit into the school, dragging bottom with a piece o nightcrawler and wham! Catish! Yes.. that what I said.. CATFISH! It seems as i these cats were schooling up on the bait balls where ever they can ind them, just like up in clear lake. I was only able to catch 2 (14 - 15inch), because when I inally igured out the pattern I had to leave. Next time I'm going to bring some rozen shad and see i that helps. Talk to you guys soon.
      City: Antioch

      Tips: Striper

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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: On the lake at 7:00am, went to the creek channel, carp rolling all over the place. Tossed crankbaits, swimbaits, senko's, the whole tackle box, nothing. Picked up Dad rom the dock at 10:oo and ished north toward the dam. On his second cast with a bright orange crankbait, hooked a 4 pounder. Only ish all day.
      City: Salinas

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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Bass ishing rom 9am to 4pm, nada, not even a bump. Saw one other boat pull in a hal pounder, everyone else skunked too. Very sloooow.

      Tips: Maybe live bait, but no artiicials seemed to work Sunday!

    • By

      Water Temp: 48-50'

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ON THE WATER @ 0600. NO CRANK OR SPINNERBAIT BITES. ONE BITE ON SENKO(3LBS). THREW SWIMBAITS, NO TAKERS. DROP-SHOT 4" ROBO WORMS 10-20FT, 22 FISH TOTAL. MOSTLY 1.5-3LBS.A LOT OF BOAT TRAFFIC THIS WEEKEND.
      City: SAC

      Tips: AARON'S MAGIC 4" WORM AND WATERMELON/RED FLAKE SENKO. STILL WAITING FOR THE BIG FISH TO MOVE UP!!!

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished rom 7 am to 2:30 p.m.. Hit Coyote Creek irst split shotting green pumpkin baby brush hogs or one keeper spot and two dinks. Hit the dam area split shotting a green weenie 4" worm or one 14" largemouth and inished o in Bear Creek catching a 14" spot on a split shot watermelon w/red lake baby Brush hog. Son lost a 3+ using a shad pattern curly tail grub on a darter head. Fish came rom 7' to 30'.
      City: Delhi

      Tips: Fish are still scattered but most bites came rom main lake or secondary points. Our keepers came split shotting.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hit the water at 7 30 with my buddy mike dean. used his lund, I had a nice day sitting in the back. I caught 27 nice spots all day long. Mike caught 10, His big ish was a nice 3.2 lb spot on a at ree shad crank bait o a rocky point. I had 2 over 2 lbs. out combined best 5 bass 9.7 lbs. Lots o 1.5 lbs. Best bite was split shot . what a nice day ater blanking on the dead sea olsom lake.large lizards and the smaller zoom lizards worked. I bet brush hogs and senkos would have worked too. Used a bull shot sinker set up and it worked great.
      City: orangevale

      Tips: These bass were shallow. It's warming up so thing lizards shallow. crank obvious points.spinnerbaits i windy. Have un on oroville.

    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Was on the water at sunrise. Float tubed, leaving the lanuch ramp and working the tules. Pitched jigs up tight and worked back out. Picked up 2 1.5 ish in the irst hour. Moved out rom shore and tried drop shoting, with no sucess. Decided to ish a Yamamoto Hula Grub in the #221 color on a 1/4 oz. ootball jig head. Drited, an castint the jig and working it very slow. Drited over a submerged tree. Brought the jig up over a limb and began to let it all. It never hit bottom. Did not eel a tick, only knew the jig had not hit bottom. Lited up and elt weight, then my line moved o to the side. Set the hook and ought a nice 4+ up to the tube. The weather ront moved in and there were no more bites.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Finding submerged isolated structure can be the key to inding good ish. Truly believe ishing the Yamamoto Hula Grub on a ootball head is a great way to catch some good ish.

Saturday, February 22nd, 2003

  • Napa County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The Fairield Suisun Bass Reapers are holding their 22nd annual open bass ishing tournament on April 12, 2003, At Spanish Flat Resort and Marina on Lake Berryessa. We invite all interested teams (two people) to join us. The entry ee is $100 per team and includes launch at Spanish Flat the day o the tournament. As always, the tournament proceeds will be used to complete projects such as placing structure like x-mas trees in Lake Berryessa or stocking Florida strain bass. Over the past 10 years we have purchased and planted over 20,000 o these ish. For urther details and an entry orm on the web, Go to www.geocities.com/bassreapers/open2003.htm. go to "clubs" on this site and ind the Fairield Suisun Bass Reapers, get an entry orm at Longs in Fairield, or call Curtis Beckwith (707) 448-9113 or Dean Meyers (510) 724-3660, (between 6:00 and 9:00 p.m. only please).
      City: Fairield

      Tips: Please promote your business and assist our und-raising eort by donating to the tournament rale. The majority o the unds raised or our structure and ish plants are raised through the rale. (Most o the entry ees are paid out to the ield) As each item is raled, the donor is announced. A list o rale donors is distributed to all participants. Last year we raeled o about 15 quality rods including 2 custom rod's built by Todd (o Angler'd World; thanks Todd). Participants really pay attention when a rod is being raled and we'd like more this year. I you have questions about or can assist with the rale, please call:Irving Shirley, President(707) 429-3239;

  • Santa Clara County
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      Water Temp: 54-55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took my 3 yr. old son out or his irst venture on the boat and ishing. We had a blast. I got skunked but he caught many ish and they were all "huge ones". Fish stories at 3yrs. old. Funny stu. I took him to all o my easy spots to try to get him a ish and didn't get a hit. I expected it to be slow, but that slow. It's got to open up soon. Good luck.
      City: San Jose

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      Water Temp: ??

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out to Bailey Cove last night, I threw a Rat-L-Trap and basically cranked it back as ast as possible, 3rd cast on it I caught a nice atty, maybe 5-6lbs. Also saw a LOT o ish hitting topwater all over the lake, it was unusual. I threw spooks to them with no luck, ishing should be picking up soon tho. One nice one was all I could get today.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Reaction Baits o o dro os :)

  • Solano County
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The weather was suppose to be nice, sunny, high 60's. In reality there was a thick og, cool temperatures in the morning with clearing skies and low 60's temps with a slight wind chill. We ished Stockton Bass tournament. We stayed close to Ladd's during the og using crank baits but didn't get a bite. Later we tried a new spot and my partner caught a bass barely legal on a jig and pig. Then we went to another one o our secret places that we call the honey hole because we always catch a nice ish there. Just when we are thinking o leaving the honey hole my partner pulls in a nice 7.3lber on a crank bait! I manage to catch a couple o quality ish about 3lbs each on crank baits and that was it. We missed the money but had a good time as usual. Our our ish weighed in at 13.5lbs.
      City: Pleasanton

      Tips: Jig and Pig in brown, crankbaits around rocks

    • By

      Water Temp: 52-54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well, we were in the water about 7 AM. The og was so dense that we just trolled around rom the launch(Hollands). Got a small striper right away on a rattle trap. The og cleared and we headed to some o our spots. NOTHING or 7 hours!!!! Saw lots o bass boats on the water. Headed to Taylor Slough and put on my secret bait. Third cast a nice 3lb bass. My buddy asks or one and I give him one 5 minutes later BAM a 7lb largemouth. I have never caught one that big in the Delta. Got a ew more beore sun down. Best 5 went 15lb.
      City: Walnut Creek

      Tips: Most o my bites in the Delta seem to come in the aternoon?

    • By

      Water Temp: 53-56+

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Planned to ish the Stockton Bass Team Tourn. out o Ladds, but due to a ull ield o 60 boats and being placed on the waiting list, we didn't have the opportunity to compete. Foggy and bitter cold in the morning, we decided to ish local and conserve gas. Caught approx. 7 bass rom 1.5 to 2.5 lbs. on a variety o plastic baits in approx. 8 t. o water near typical spawning areas. Fog burned o late morning. Turned out to be another beautiul, sunny day on the Delta.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: I you ish Stockton Bass, I suggest pre-signing as many were turned away.

    • By

      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: launched out o paradise at 1:30 this aternoon with my two boys ages 15 and 12 irst time this year they got to get on the water.it was very windy and the water was real choppy so i knew we were in or a tough time, we ished the back o paradise back in shima tract and ourteen mile slough i did good the last ew weeks back there caught alot o nice size ish on crankbaits and traps water back there is pretty clear and in some places water is 58 degrees. so my boys were pretty amp up to catch some big ish irst 3 hours we caught nada my boys were getting discouraged the wind was starting to die down and i knew we'd catch some ish at 4:30 i caught a 2.5 bucketmouth on a rattletrap along the rip rap ished another hour beore i caught another ish on a trap 1.5 lb it was starting to get dark when i said let's head back got back to the dock and go home. got back to paradise at around 5:40 when my boys talked me into pitching senkos around bishop cut so we had 20 minutes or so beore it got dark at about 6:00 the big kahuna struck i pitched a black and red laked senko into the weedline and i elt the tick i reeled down and set the hook the water started churning and my kids were screaming it's huge dad it's huge ater what seemed like eternity my son netted the ish and i was a there hero it was 14.59 pounds it's the biggest ish i've ever seen it would'nt even it in my livewell. 3 ish total weight a little over 18 lbs not to shabby today.
      City: sacramento

      Tips: i look or rip rap acing the sun depth in the range 2t to 10t and i start cranking quickest way or me to ind ish warmer water helps too. good luck on the h2o

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The Fairield Suisun Bass Reapers are holding their 22nd annual open bass ishing tournament on April 12, 2003, At Spanish Flat Resort and Marina on Lake Berryessa. We invite all interested teams (two people) to join us. The entry ee is $100 per team and includes launch at Spanish Flat the day o the tournament. As always, the tournament proceeds will be used to complete projects such as placing structure like x-mas trees in Lake Berryessa or stocking Florida strain bass. Over the past 10 years we have purchased and planted over 20,000 o these ish. For urther details and an entry orm on the web, Go to www.geocities.com/bassreapers/open2003.htm. go to "clubs" on this site and ind the Fairield Suisun Bass Reapers, get an entry orm at Longs in Fairield, or call Curtis Beckwith (707) 448-9113 or Dean Meyers (510) 724-3660, (between 6:00 and 9:00 p.m. only please).
      City: Fairield

      Tips: Please promote your business and assist our und-raising eort by donating to the tournament rale. The majority o the unds raised or our structure and ish plants are raised through the rale. (Most o the entry ees are paid out to the ield) As each item is raled, the donor is announced. A list o rale donors is distributed to all participants. Last year we raeled o about 15 quality rods including 2 custom rod's built by Todd (o Angler'd World; thanks Todd). Participants really pay attention when a rod is being raled and we'd like more this year. I you have questions about or can assist with the rale, please call:Irving Shirley, President(707) 429-3239;