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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Saturday, July 5th, 2014

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: Did not bring t

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: OK, I have never landed a frog fish, yes I said it, 20 plus year of bass fishing and only 3 hook ups and none landed but I have only thrown a frog for 8 hrs total in my life, My largest bass to date is a 11.2 on a crank bait, 10 lber on a drop shot and many 9's and 8's on jigs and swim baits but nothing, not even a 1 lber on a frog so one object this year has been to get a frog fish, I don't care how big. I did my homework, watched ton's of Bobby's, Allen's, Ish's video's on Youtube you name it I watched it so I went to Jimmy's tackle shop at Red bud and bought 2 more frogs, Allen's favorite River2Sea spittin Wa in black Yellow and a another guy who posted a great video was using Spro Poppin frog in white. Jimmy said the Frog bite has been yearly and late, not much in mid day so I am off the bank (did not bring the boat on this family trip to visit family) I get to the bank at 5:35 and toss the River2sea about 30 yards out and start poppin her back in, I get the frog in to about 10 yards from the bank and it happened !! A 10.75 25.75 inch long spawned out female hammers my frog, I did not have a chance to count to 2 or 3 like I should because she had it in her mouth and was trying to pull the rod out of my hands so I just put the wood to her and did not worry about my 65 lb braid breaking, the next thing I knew I was looking a my 2nd biggest bass I ever caught lying in front of me !! I would have been happy with any size fish landed on a frog but a 10.75 !! If I would have caught that fish before she spawned she would have been my largest, after all I would have only need a few more oz to beat 11.2 :)Special thanks to all the guys who submit reports and video's and especially those who don't just show what they are using and how to use it but show you where and I mean actually locations on bodies of water like Larry did a few reports back but I understand why most do not because they are tournament fishermen and don't want to give those location away and I would not either, its their income ! :).

      Tips: Pray WWJD POP POP Pause, POP POP POP Pause for 1 fish in 3.5 hrs, not much of a tip :) My fish was not around weeds, she was in about 4-5 feet of water between 2 docks in open water with very little weeds around. I did fish my frogs around and on top of weeds and mats but no luck not even a blow up. Best tip I could give for right now is fish from 30 min before dark to 30 min after sun up, from all the guys I talked to the bite has been dying after 6:30 AM and they have had to work really had to get those day time bites.

Friday, July 4th, 2014

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 77-82

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Mike Sperbeck and I did a late afternoon/night trip Wednesday, but it was mostly about the daylight part. After dark the wind got pretty ugly and we left at midnight. I started off great - for a FEW seconds! I brought a very bass up to the surface. She shook her head and went one way - and my jig - the other! Big fish! Can't complain with two 9's that made it INTO the boat in the last month! The bite after that was fair - Mike with a near 4 lber and me with two, approx. 4 1/4 and 4 3/4 lbs. We landed a few smaller ones, but that was about it. After 11 pm the wind was simply getting worse and we left. My Z521 rode the surf pretty well going back to Red Bud - big swells!!

      Tips: The jig continues to work for me - even into the summer! Water color was pretty good as we got above Red Bud. Lots of weeds showing now. All our bass were on rock structure. Even made the rough trip over to Henderson - first time this year. Wind was awful but we did land a few. I have hit Frazier Point for three successive times, and I think it is finally fished out? Those fish all live up north now - LOL!!

Tuesday, July 1st, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Damn, the water looked like crap today. Guess all the pre-holiday wake board boaters had fun, the water looks ugly. Bad day fishing for me. Got 19 fish total. 10 spots, largest 14", 3 largemouth, largest 13", 3 small mouth, largest 12", 2 catfish, both about 1 1/2 pounds. Super slow bite, tried shallow, tried deep, nothing seemed to make a difference. All old honey holes gave up very few fish. Darn hot, hard to fish past 10 am and then the heat begins when you take the boat off the lake!!!! Hope it cools one of these days.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Anyone with a boat looking for a fish partner, let me know and lets go catch some fish. No boat, then lets take my 14 foot Klamath. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net Small but it works.

Sunday, June 29th, 2014

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: FISHING WITH SID

      The weather at Lake Berryessa is HOT HOT HOT and so was the fishing. Top water turned on this past week. Surface water temperature was 80 degrees. I fished in the back of a cove where there were no other boats and the water was like glass. I only used top water lures and did extremely well. The day before I took Mark out and asked Albert if he wouldn't mind joining us. Mark caught two nice bass in the Narrows in a short span of time. I would have liked to continue fishing in that area but the boat traffic was heavy with tubbers and skiers so I decided to look for a calmer area. I found a nice cove where the water was fairly shallow and calm and I felt it could be a good spot. Between Albert and myself we taught Mark how to cast and Albert showed him how to cast a chugger and when it hit the water it got whacked hard and they brought in another good size bass (see photo). On another trip Lucy caught the fish but didn't want to hold it (see photo) you're never too young to go fishing. Now is a good time to book a guided fishing trip the weather is great and so is the fishing. 'til next week.............................................good fishing!!!!
      www.fishingconnection.net If you have any questions or stories you would like to share or are interested in booking a trip please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com or call me at 650-583-3333.
      City: San Francisco

      Tips: knowing where to fish is very important

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 77

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Dropped in at Rivers End at 6:30AM, the tide was at the top, tried docks and walls with shallow water under the boat say 6-8 feet and no takers so I tried rip rap with shallow water under the boat say 6-8 feet and got a few on Senkos, jumped across the channel fishing rip rap only with 14-20 feet under the boat and that was the ticket, I was catching fish in 6 inches to 5 feet of water at high tide using every color and size Senko I had, color and size and rigging did not matter, T-Rig, Wacky or Back sliding it all worked. After I got about 10-12 fish to 2.5 lbs I decided to go looking around and burn some gas, I am not familiar with that end of the Delta so I did some scouting, went all the way up to Hwy 4 fished around Hwy 4 but no luck but did not put any deep water under the boat, came back and checked out Tracy Oasis Marina and they have a good tackle shop with the basics but spendy, I needed to pick up some more Senkos :) and grab a burger, back on the water and got 6-8 more, 2 on T-rig 8 inch black worm and 6 on Senko's again.

      Tips: I tried red rattle trap for about 15-20 minutes with no luck, I usually catch at least a few on it but not this time, my Son and I tried frogging for 30 minutes at about 6:30 PM but no luck, Flipped a jig for about 30 minutes and no luck. I think if I would have tossed a frog or jig in the AM I would have picked up a few because they were pretty aggressive in the AM but that Senko was working so I did not put it down, Even though I got fish on all color Senko's I would say the darker ones were working better. The evening tide was very low and that could have been why I could not get a frog fish, the water I caught fish on in the AM was 3 feet out of the water at 6:30 PM.

    • By

      Water Temp: 77

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Russo's just before 7AM. Fished the wall with topwater baits but no takers. Ran out to the breaks at the north end and immediately started catching them. Fished that pattern for a few hours picking up the occasional keeper but went through dozens of short fish and shakers in the process. Caught em mostly on shad pattern jerk bait and bluegill color drop shotted Roboworm. You can see the types of areas we targeted here: vhttp://youtu.be/YC_Xf0DCKEM
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Couldn't get them to bite anything but the jerkbait and dropshot. Threw swimbait, cranks, rattles, senkos, chatter, walking baits, frogs but no takers.

Thursday, June 26th, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Today was windy day, blew a good one and really never let up. Fished with nightcrawlers again and ended up with 35 fish, last fish at the dock. Fish were harder to get today in the wind, bite off, or maybe me?? Two fish just a fraction short of 15", 2 14 1/2" with the rest 10-14". I did get another catfish, smaller, about 2-3 pounds. These cats hit hard when they decide to eat.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Anyone with a boat looking for a fish partner, let me know, lets go get some spots. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net Then again, no boat, lets take my small boat out.

Monday, June 23rd, 2014

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I just got back from a family reunion at Clear Lake and I did a lot of fishing over 8 days. We went up there on the 14th with the hopes of a hot frog bite, but we quickly learned that the frog bite was basically non-existent as we had 3 hits on frogs all week. We started fishing main lake points and weed flats on the southern shore between Lakeport and Kelseyville and found some nice fish on Blue/Black Senkos fished weightless. We caught 10 fish over the first 2 days and only 1 of them was under 3 lbs with the biggest going 5 1/4 lbs. Later in the week we found males and a few females still locked onto beds and spent a lot of time sight fishing. We caught a good number of fish using white senkos with the biggest one being 5 1/2 lbs.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: Fishing was slow, but the quality was great. I did see a lot of people fishing outside weedlines and doing well for numbers, but we were catching bigger fish than all of the people we talked to. Focus on those main lake points and flats with senkos and pitch weighted crawdad baits at outside weed lines as this is what we heard was working there. The fish are still up in the shallows and apparently are still spawning so don't forget to check around docks for bedding fish as that can be a lot of fun! Good luck and tight lines!

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Did a live bait trip today, launched at lime Saddle and fished till 10 am in the north fork. Amazing what a small nightcrawler can do. Every single cast had a hit with most a hook up. Guys, there are so many fish around it's crazy. Landed over 50 fish, with 2 15" spots, 2 14" spots, the rest 14" to 8", average about 13" Also got 2 5 pound catfish. Toss a few light carolina rigs with live baits and you'll be amazed at how many fish are in the water.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Live bait catches 10 times as many fish. Try it once and be amazed.

Sunday, June 22nd, 2014

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69-71

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The wife and I launched out of Oak Bottom at approx 8am. Water was clear and about 12 feet of visibility. Dropped downriggers to 20 and 25 ft just outside the no-wake zone and hit our first Kokanee within 5 minutes. Using a Shasta-Tackle single UV flasher with a little Cleo 18" trailing behind, we hooked 18 kokes but only boated 9 that day. Three times we had double hookups which made for exciting and competitive fun. Surprised we didn't hook any rainbows but with having nice shinny fish pull the lines off the downrigger snaps all day long, who cares? Biggest was only 14" but the bright orange meat was sure tasty!!
      City: Cottonwood

      Tips: Most fish hit between 60-40 feet of water and while bottom was transitioning upward (around submerged knolls. Also use a shad gell on your shinny targets for attractive smell.

      Take a kid fishing! They will never forget the experience!

Saturday, June 21st, 2014

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 73

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hot berryessa Saturday night just to check out the night bite. Well given the lack of a moon and any other light source it proved quite challenging to move around from spot to spot but we made due. Fishing was definitely not what I had hoped but we did manage about 15 between the 2 of us. Jigs and drop shot worked for my buddy and jigs and top water for me. The main lake points seemed to hold more fish than any of the bays and I never made it far up the river so not sure how that bite was.

      Tips: Make sure you have a spotlight and plenty of batteries. If you can wait till there is more moon for light the lake is low and there are island tops everywhere and not all are marked

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 72-73

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Sugar Barge at 7AM. Ran all over the place but only caught a couple keepers out of the marinas near the mouth of the Moke. Went back down to the break at Franks Tract and starting getting shaker sized stripers. Went through about a dozen of these when I upsized to an S-Waver and whacked a 10lber. Video here: http://youtu.be/bX3PZhUF0jM
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Not sure what to do when the weather changes. Temps were down from the previous day and it was pretty windy too. Even drop shot was only marginally successful. Water clarity was an issue too. Only Franks had decent stained water. Muddy everywhere else.

Friday, June 20th, 2014

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 76

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: We flat killed them from 5:30am until 1pm. Top Water bite with spooks & buzzbaits and crank baits in the morning and football jigs in the later part. Caught over 50 quality fish with biggest around 5lbs. the rest of the fish were all decent quality from 2-4lbs. Awesome and fun day at the lake.

      Tips: Fish were all over.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: In at Jones Valley at 7:30 am. out at 2:00 pm. Lake level 110' down. The wife and I managed 22 spots to 2.25 lbs. All came on plastics from 20 to 38 feet. Bigger fish seemed to be deeper. Best colors for us was #162 Natural Blue, and #170 Confetti. The Blonde in the back caught the biggest spot on a Carolina Rig. I was throwing darter heads.
      City: Cottonwood

Thursday, June 19th, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: ??

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the north fork this morning, tossing worms. Lost count of fish at 27, yet fished another 2 hours. Guessing 35-40 fish total. I'll count better next trip. Managed a couple nice ones, one 15" and 3 14 1/2" with the rest ranging from 10-14", most about 13". Most fish in 15-25 feet of water, didn't try fishing deeper. Bite darn near died after 10:30 am, so do your fishing early. My best guess, Lime Saddle will close in about 30 days due to dropping water. It's down to where it begins the turn so another 20 feet or so and it's out of concrete ramp.
      City: Magalia

Saturday, June 14th, 2014

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Well I haven't posted a report in a couple of years, figured I'd give it a shot. Fished amador today from 5:30-3:00with a couple of buddies, caught around 30 fish to 3.5 lbs. Tried some top water early for one 2 pounder. Decided to slow down, so started throwing a nail weighted senko and started ripping into them. A lot if the fish were really yellow with red mouths so i figured they have been feeding heavily on craw dads. Decided to switch it up so put on a 12 inch ribbon tail and started roping em, caught a few 3+ punders. Ended the day with some jig fish and some crank fish. Hadn't bee out there in a bit, Great Lake.

Friday, June 13th, 2014

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 71-73

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Launched B&W and started at top of the Moke. Pretty breezy and then wind picked up. First sets of tules and rockwall was slow, but managed a few barely keepers. Moved to next sets of tules and rock wall throwing 1/4 oz rat-l-traps in red craw and baby bass and managed a few more 1-lbers. Assumed maybe slow due to full moon prev night??? Wind subsided a bit so moved up to Sycamore and switched to watermelon/red flk senkos, throwing to tule or rockwall bases and working out to weedline. Managed a limit and a couple of 1-2lbers. Ran into a fan boat spraying the vegetation. Anyone know what they were spraying and why? Anyway, headed back toward the slough entrance since we didn't know what/where they had already sprayed. Caught a couple more barely keepers just outside of the slough so worked our way back to Moke. The keepers that hit my senko were aggressive, grabbing it and yanking hard on the fall. Never had that happen on a senko before.
      City: folsom

      Tips: When throwing the lipless 1/4 oz, threw to base of tules and across grass/weed tops...snapping hard our of the grass. Hits weren't necessarily just after the snap but maybe 7-8ft later. For senkos, nothing between the rockwall and weedline. Threw to top outer edge and snapped one time to make it look like it popped out of the weed top and settled on the outside edge. got bit hard on the fall and sometimes on the first pop off the bottom.

Thursday, June 12th, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out today with James and had a blast catching spots. Lost count, best guess 35-45 fish for us, stopped fishing at 11 am. Most small, with a couple in the 14 1/2" and one right about 15" range on a green 3" wacky senko. Most fish 10-14" or so, didn't actually measure them today, no ruler. Lots of fish less then 10", those tiny dinks that mess with you during the summer. Hooked a small fish, about 8" and on the way up a Big spot (3LB?)was chasing it, turned away when it saw the boat. Great day James, thanks.
      City: Magalia

Wednesday, June 11th, 2014

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78-86

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: This is a fun report to do, but VERY general - because of the important tournament starting today. I hope it will be a good tournament! Why I guide day trips during heat spells is beyond me - but - that's part of the job! Where is the famous Clear Lake wind when you need it!!!! Water was absolutely flat most of the time. Anyway, the bite was slow most of Mon and Tues - but there was some excitement! The great news came yesterday when my Monday client called (Tues) and told me he landed his personal best yesterday - 6 lbs 10 oz - about 4 pm. He caught her on the first rockpile I showed him on Monday. He also caught a 3 1/2 pounder with me - first fish at the first place we stopped! Yesterday I took another client - new to the lake - preparing him for his week at the lake. Bite was simply dead for us, but I thought the teaching was good - LOL! For some reason, I decided to throw a jig again - to see if I could prolong winter!! A nice bass thot so and we netted a 5+ pounder! Then my client lands the token catfish - 8 to 10 lbs, then finally his first CL bass - about 2 lbs. I continued to show him lots of good areas to fish in the coming days. At 1:30 pm - temp pushing 100 degrees - I showed him a popular tournament tourist stop, and we started to fish. I picked up my jig rod with the 10# test Berkely flexline that I had NOT retied after the 5 lber and made a few casts while explaining to him the area we were fishing - along with a few "big bass" stories. Wasn't paying much attention to my jig until something weird was going on. The "rock" was moving, but didn't bite. I set the hook - in case - and the rock really moved! Soon I got a glimpse of the rock - oh my!! I fought the rock for awhile - then handed the rod to the client. "Let's get her" I said. Fun netting your own fish - and it wasn't easy! Again - had to use both hands to get her in - all 9+ pounds of her! After quick photos - we got her back in the water and off she went! I still can't believe that happened. As I told both of my clients - "You just NEVER know" - at Clear Lake!!

      Tips: I won't bore you with anything more. Wonderful clients experiencing a "HOT" bite - and we're not talking fishing action!!

Monday, June 9th, 2014

  • Plumas County
    • By

      Water Temp: 69-74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Wife and I fished Almanor for 2 evenings. First evening the water was calm. Tons a bait in 12 feet of water. Was able to catch them on Craw and Minnow Cranks at first. Once sun down catching fish almost every cast, but most small fish with a 1 to 1. 5 lbers mixed in on jerk bait (don’t ask me why they switched preference). The last 20 minutes of the daylight there was a small Hex Hatch (large yellow May Flies). Fish started to rise. We were able to catch a few on yellow colored topwater baits. I caught a smallie going 3 lbs on the topwater. Shortly after all went dead.

      Next evening, had a pretty good wind. Used dropshot 1 hour before sun down. 4” minnow colored roboworms worked. Found a good school around bait 10’ deep. We caught 2.0, 2.0, 2.3, 2.8, and a 3 lber. What fun! Sun went down and switched to cranks. Caught a couple more 1 lbers. No hatch. Nothing on Topwater.

      Tips: Launched out of Almanor Campground Launch Ramp. Still no dock after 1 year. Sign says work on the ramp would start today (June 10th). I was down there in the morning at 10 am and no one around. Hopefully they start on it soon and get it in.

      Found bait most placed stopped, but not fish. Keep moving until you find the right location with bait and fish.