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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, February 20th, 2003

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Morning wind and more morning wind. It is 9pm and I still eel the rocking. Went out to pre-ish. Put in at Big Break. Found a pattern 2 weeks ago and thought we would give it a wirl. Well we put 15 ish in the boat on 15 dierent spots. Had one snap 12 lb big game and had one run away like a train beore coming o. All ish came on the EXACT structure on the exact same bait. We were in the zone today. Hope we can repeat in two weeks.
      City: gilroy

      Tips: Follow the tide and i your back aint sore you aint doin' it right.

  • Alameda County
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      Water Temp: 53-54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I haven't been to Del Valle or almost 2 years. Last time I was there the boat docks were on dry land. Hit the water about noon and ished until 5 with a buddy o mine. We motored up to the narrows rom the boat launch maybe 3oo yards. There is a nice shallow shel where it goes rom 35 eet to 12 or 13. We ished the edge o this drop o with drop shot worms o all types. They liked them all we got about 7 or 8 bass all were under a pound. Threw some orange powerbait out the other side o the boat and got 4 trout to 3lb. All in all or about 5hrs o ishing it was great. Saw lots o bait balls on the inder.
      City: Walnut Creek

      Tips: Drop shot. As slow as you can. Release any largemouth you catch.

  • Merced County
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      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My son and i ished the dam side o Goose-neck,8am till 5pm w/anchovies and sardine illets. We had 8 good hits between us but could not hook-up(#*&^^+@$). A large group o asians had 14 poles out,all w/rozen shad. We watched all day as they brought in a total o 12 stripers rom 6 to 20 pounds. We also saw 2 big ish caught o the point. What a day!!! as I elt like I orgot how to ish(LOL). Think we saw Just-Fishin as he was leaving the dock? The weather was beautiul,and we got lots o ino.on lure ishing at dark, should be good by next month.
      City: Madea

      Tips: Sardine illets worked better than chunks.Use large,sharphooks and set the hook HARD.

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 51-58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: For all the times I've struggled on this lake I deserve a good day. A good day it was, but unusual. On the lake at 2:00. I went back to Cherry, and early on caught a sub-2lber on a Skeet's Creature--one o those new Cyberlex baits that Terminator is marketing. I love those things. Water was murky, but a warm 56-58, and I thought they would be active back there. They weren't, really, so I decided to head to the back o Dry Creek to see what was going on. Beore I let Cherry, though, I was tossing a spinnerbait and got snagged on someone's broken line. I untangled it rom my bait and noticed it was moving. I "reeled" it in with my hands, and whatever was on the other end ought like hell. I inally got it to the side o the boat, and it broke o!! I think it was a large steelhead. I saw that it was large, but didn't get a good enough look to positively identiy it. Probably saved his little ishy lie. Dry creek was good to me. Water was clearer, but still stained, and cooler at 50-51 degrees. Same spinnerbait on the shady side, shallow and in some trees, and the line got heavy. I set the hook and reeled in a beautiul 4lbr. Sweet. Right within sight o another boater right across the channel who had been at it longer than me. Always satisying. Next cast, WHAM!! like a ton o bricks. Fought like hell, too. I reeled in a beautiul, 4lb.......squawish? Yep. Have never beore seen one in this lake. I ished or another 1/2 hour, sun going down, and tried one last spot that's been good to me in the past. A shallow toss o the spinnerbait in some brush, and.....one last 4lbr or the road. Nice ish. Nice aternoon. Weird, but nice.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: People are stingy with real ino on this site, and I understand that. Here's a bone, though. No doubt ish can be ound deep or shallow right now on this lake. However, I've been having more success shallow. Real shallow. 1-5 eet. White spinnerbaits and Skeet's creatures (dark ones) in lie downs right up close to the bank have consistently produced nice ish or me or the last month. Thanks, Skeet, or your wonderul creature. Now, you all throw me a bone once in a while, eh?

Wednesday, February 19th, 2003

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

      Report: wendy out there today, i ended up ighting more with the wind than i did with ish. ished Disco all morning, and managed to get a pounder on a sinko, then about 9:00, i nailed a 3 on a sinko. ishing slowed way down and only got a ew small hits. ound a nice patch o weeds, and decided to throw a chartreuse spinner, second cast i boated a sweet 5 pounder. decided to call it a day, around 1:00.
      City: Brentwood

      Tips: ish slow, and i you ind some good water without much current, give the blades a whirl.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: two words LOMAS HOTTTTTTT.three more words ish or trout.....
      City: antioch

      Tips: ish near the loogon when they plant and ish on the east side a week ater they plant...

  • Tuolumne County
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      Water Temp: 51-54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Man it sure was cold out there when that rain came through.But the ish were biteing so I tued it out.Bite was the best beore the storm.14 keepers today to 4 1/2 pounds.Fish are still on the same stu ,so I guess I will keep stickin' em..I love this lake.Best winter here in a long time.
      City: Sonora

      Tips: Stay in the cover.You will lose a ew,but thats where there at!!!!

Tuesday, February 18th, 2003

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: A riend invited me to ish with him last night and I don't turn down invitations to ish Amador. We started in Jackson Creek throwing swimbaits. Actually, I was throwing them and he was jigging them around the 25 to 30 oot depth. I'm not sure what he was doing, but it worked! Ater his SECOND cast, I was holding the net (which is nothing new or me!) and lited a 5 lb 11 oz bass in the boat. This was about 5 pm. I got a ew weak jig hits while he kept slowly jigging this weird colored (green, I think) 8" swimbait. About hal an hour later he nails a 3 lb 10 oz bass and probably missed another. Ater 3 days o heavy boating pressure it seemed that the bass and trout had moved deeper. Beore dark we moved out to a point in big bay and continued to throw or jig swimbaits. I was throwing my 8" Basstrix rainbow trout swimbait near what I knew was a breakline and it paid o. The ish only elt like a weed or a second - no strike. When the weed jumped, things got exciting. Finally he gets to net a nice 6 pounder that totally swallowed the lure. I had to really work to extract the swimbait but thankully I was successul. She swam o ine!! The early clouds had let and I knew we were in or a cold and tough night. We were hoping or clouds. Within and hour, he had a good hit on a jig in Mountain Spring arm and I netted his 5 lb 3 oz bass. Ater all, it was his boat so it is only proper that I was the net man! We were pretty proud however - at the end o a 3 day weekend we had 4 bass or over 20 pounds in about 3 hours. My hot coee never tasted so good!! The evening got colder as the east breeze really came up and the boat was very wet with moisture - not good ishing conditions in February. Unortunately my prediction turned out to be correct - he caught one more small bass about 1 1/2 lbs on a jig, and we both missed several, but there really was no eed at all. I even had two hits on a 7" white Senko that I ished in the bright moon. We inally gave up a little ater midnight - still pleased at catching some quality bass.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The bass are eeding well i you can be there at the right time. The bigger bass seem to be eeding on trout and other baitish. It is my belie that i you have a cold night, the bite will be good in late aternoon and right ater dark, and then slow down dramatically. A cloudy, warmer evening will prolong the night bite. There are always exceptions however. We caught swimbait ish rom 5 to 30 eet. Go igure!

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 53-56

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Today was beautiul, looked like spring already. Wish I could say the same or the ishing,har! We worked real hard to put a limit in the boat, or about 7lbs.; 1 dink and a trout (caught on a at ree shad in 8t.) rounded out the day. We moved several times, each time getting a bite or two at each location. Had to be real slow, barely eel the bite, i at all. I was impressed with how much clearer the water looked today, way better than yesterday. Lake is ull, at top o glory hole!!
      City: Vacaville

      Tips: Points with platiics, and ish slow. Can't wait or warm days ahead!!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Didnt go out today but spoke to a ew guys that were catching crapie to 2lbs. That must o been what I was graphing in the creek chanel. Going out on Wed. and on Friday.
      City: Gilroy

      Tips: Wood rocks and Red.

    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Hit the old Pablo again. Got there about noon and headed up the road towards the dam. Fished the shore with a nice guy I met. He caught 3 trout. I had a ew bites but, no one would take my trusty powerbait. It got about sunset so I tied on a white rooster tail. About 10 casts later and nice rainbow. That was it or the day. At least my San Pablo skunk is o or the year. Headed to Del Valle Thursday(see report). I just wish they let 2 strokes on the lake.
      City: Walnut Creek

      Tips: Catch and release. Throw the Senko.

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Opps I meant 2/18Fished with a ellow member today and had a great time the captain didn't catch anything, but he put Mike on some ish. Mike hooked his biggest black bass aroung 6 lbs. and long-line released his ish while I try to get my new multi-old net to untangle. Next time I will have the net put together irst. Fishing was pretty slow. We missed two other hits and Mike Landed one more. Fish were in the back o coves where the rain run-o met the lake. The temp was 52.5 in the main body and as high as 56 degrees in the creek arms. Fish were caught on green lizards 4" with black lake. We through everything at them. Two more weeks and 61 degree water and watch out. Mike thanks or the lunch we will get you another big one hooked and landed next timne.p.s. next time leave the barb on! j/k

Monday, February 17th, 2003

  • Napa County
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      Water Temp: 53-55

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: In water at 10. Went back to main body, ished same areas as last week, (sorry about the wrong date on last report). Fish were a little deeper this week, mainly around 20t. Not nearly as many bites either, boated 5 or maybe 6lbs. The storms seems to have them scattered about more, although points still seemed to do the trick. Water in main and south arms didn't get muddied up too bad, water temps seemed about the same too. Going back tommorrow, no work, yahooooo!
      City: Vacaville

      Tips: Had to ish alot slower this week to get bit, dropshot and splitshot did work i you kept it in their ace long enough.

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 52-53.8

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Little late postin but here it is! Launched at Lazy late aternoon bout 3 o'clock and ound up to 55 degree water and the water much clearer than about 2 weeks ago. Didn't go to Disco this time but ished my regular water at Italian. I have a couple o holes beore Middle River that produce except in January and the irst week o Feb. I gotta dink, in 1 hour. Then, I got broke o by...I'll never know...then the 2 pounder. Always the same bait...6 inch pumpkin chartruse only I've been riggin it with a split shot about 10 inches rom the bait. Someone else stated that they thought the spring bite might be here....I think so. I wouldn't say it unless it was true. I think the water clarity had the most to do with it. The reason I lost the one ish was a rookie move...I had not checked the line or bad spots...I know he had to be....ahhh orget it. So...to recap...2 hours in the aternoon with incommin tide got a dink, a 2 pounder and I'll never know but it was bigger than 2 pounds..I think! Good luck all!
      City: San Leandro

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I too as the previous post ished the Hook tourny on Sunday and did worse. We had 3 keepers 1-4lb,2lb and a rat that barely made it on the board or a total o 6.7 or 28th place,got some hooks though...thanks Gene.I've been out 3 times this month,all o the bigger ish came on brown or black &purple Yamamoto twin tail trailer 3/8 oz smaller ish came on plastics... senkos,brush hogs, no blade ish yet.Did notice that they must have sprayed the weeds at north end o Franks Tract so that could eect the ishin'.Did notice that the bigger ish where 4-7t deep at the points o tules,smaller ones up shallow behind boat docks in the bass lane.Might igure'm out one o these days...like Carlos Delgado and Chris Beruman #1 point leaders Hook tour, good job guys!
      City: Tracy

      Tips: Spend more time on the water, thats what I'm gonna do!

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started out very windy, then it quickly laid down. Lost all electronics right o the bat, so decided to ish sloping points (easier or me to guage the depth). In a hal day, got ~10 bites, putting ive in the boat (couple o 'em bit the tails o). All were chunks, ~ 15" each (+/- 1/2"), with one ~ 17". All came on the Hemphill Special (brown/orange jig, w/ #180 single tail grub). All ish came in ~ 15' (I'm guessin' but am probably pretty close). All in all a good time on the water.
      City: Castro Valley, CA

      Tips: Book a trip with Lunker Larry. A great instructor. I not, toss jigs all day on points and blus. I the weather and water levels will settle a bit, the bite should get really good.

  • Merced County
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      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: This is a report or the ast 4 days, all rom the big lake San Luis. I ished r,sa,su,mo. and it seemed to get better each day.Fri I had 2very nice people romway down south LA area Ken and Jan Had 5 ish with a 15 lb ish topping the limit. All slow rollin shad.Sat had 2 nice people rom San Jose, Don and Sandy, we managed to limit by 9am with a couple o 12lb ish topping the limit. all slow rollin shadSunday the 2 nice people rom LA Ken and Jan (lucky they were camping over) decided to return or a second bout and again had a couple o 12 lb ish topping that days limit Again all slow rollin shad.Monday Took a riend Jim and his ather and BOOM! My best ish since salmon season a 30pounder, also had 5 nice ish to make a nice limit. Again all ish came slow rollin shad in ront o the trash racks.john 209 5298364justish-n.com strippers, trout, salmon basswww.justish-n.comtrips still open as they last!
      City: modesto

      Tips: slow rollin, sharp hooks, resh bait

    • By

      Water Temp: 52-54

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Thought we would try San Pablo since it just opened, have'nt been here or at least two years. Dave & I started out in a blinding blanket o dense og, ound our riends Tiger & Steve working the east shore. Dave was trhowing his "I it works don't change it" Senko, I was throwing a Spinner bait, Lucky Crat stick bait,Blk/Blue Jig & a senko,... nothing till 9:00 when Tiger scored a 4lb.'r on a jig, thought I had a chance. NOTHING! So inally dave says why don't you rig up your "go to, Joe Bovola!"a black lippy tail worm, I did & at 10:00 I got a hit, What! a 5.5lb Trout?! It's a ish and o the '03 Skunk! 11:00 a 4.8lb Large mouth, then a 3.9lb oh yeah our boats winning! But wait there's alot o splashing, running around ollowed by some serious Hooting & Hollering coming rom tiger & Steve's boat, "Get over here!" BANG Steve hooked up with a 11.4 lb PIG!! OK so now our boats losing... but that's OK it was cool to see that PIG. Dave & I stayed late, went back to the east shore ound a sunken tree I got a 1.5lb, a dave pulled in a 2.2.lb just under the time limit and save himsel rom getting skunked.
      City: Paciica

      Tips: A good day it was, a Black lippy tail worm tight to structure

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 3 days o the opening weekend and only got 2 bites. One was just about 5 and the other weighed 2. Caught them both on Watermelon Senko. Buddy o mine also caught 2. One weighed 6 and they were both caught on brushhogs. Caught them all in less than 10 t. o water.
      City: San Leandro

    • By

      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I got two bites today and caught one bass and it was about 2Ibs so ishing to me was really tough but one bite was on the senko purple and the other was on the green weenie eight inch worm looking orward to ish San Pablo and catch more bass and bigger ones Having un is most important to all try to use the split shot and go to the limits Bobby L
      City: San Pablo

      Tips: Keep Warm and try to work the plastic worm slow as possibly got to run later on