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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Sunday, November 10th, 2002

  • Ventura County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Decide to post because no one has posted anything or this lake in many months. Decide to go to Piru ater we got turned away rom the Castaic Lower lake because o the Love Ride. So we went to Piru yesterday and threw the big swimbaits but no bites or ollowers. Started to spoon in 40-60t o water ater metering alot o ish down deep. My buddy "No Fish Loppy" caught 1 in 40 and I caught 1 in 66t on spoons. Then later in the aternoon I caught one more shaking salt and pepper worms in 35t o water. Both o my ish had to be needled to release the air in their air bladders. Keep both ish in the live well or the day to make sure that they would be ine or releasing. Both ish swam away to ight another day.
      City: Santa Paula

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62.7-64.1

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: this one will cover nearly a month as I did not post in preparation or a tournament put on by Shasta Cascade, the lake is at 87.9 and rising slowly due to the over 5 inches o rain over the 7-10 Nov period. Was out about 17 times since my last report, 10 o those with my uncle rom Indiana who was visiting rom the 19-26 Oct. i was throwing top water early or a number o decent ish with 6 over 2.5 and those were topped by my uncles 4.2 spot on the 23rd in the upper sac. The worm ishing is two simple rules, drop shot the MGM #69 in a 4inch and try the Rainbow worm company's #99, both produced well but the #69 was the winner hands down. Mysel and two riends have caught a ton o bass over the last 3 weeks on the MGM #69. The rip bite, spook bite and others were good or the last month but went away quickly, right now with overcast conditions you can throw something like that all day. Bryce Fuller( my team partner)and I went out Saturday morning with 76 other teams trying to get the good bite. Weather was heavy overcast with periodic showers o and on all day. We let bridge bay at 0645 and ran upstream to one o Bryce's spots as the wind came up out o the south, got on his water and or 10 minutes nothing is working till he hooks a keeper and I boat a one only slightly larger, The rain starts at 7am and it was periodic all right, It didn't quit till 130 pm and was accompanied by 20 mph winds. nasty, nasty, nasty. We went to another spot and got out o the wind and on some worm ish and jig ish and managed 5 more in 15 minutes, we started culling and went through 60 plus ish or 11.05 lbs, not very impressive but we did our best, Bryce caught the most with his expertise with the worms and I lucked out with the biggest which might have went 2.5. The weather settled down a bit and we ran or the weigh in to learn that someone had just over 17 lbs. Worn out and tired, we let or home ater seeing a buch o 8.5 to 10lb limits. Sunday, I got up to dripping rain but no wind and meet Bryce at the Black Bear Diner, breakast was great and we headed or Bridge Bay with the rain getting worse every mile or so. Pulled into Bridge bay or the livewell check and paperwork and decide to go over to Packers to avoid the busy ramp. As we went down the hill to Packers the skys opened up and it REALLY started raining, drops the size o a nickel but no wind. We motored over to Bridge Bay and were third out on the day 2 roster. We ran up the lower pit where a riend o mine, Harland Brown, took me to a week ago and i stuck a keeper onthe irst cast with a crankbait. Bryce gets another one and we move inside some humps and ind some more ish in 35-55 t. We go past them and ish some creek channels and I get a good one on that ends up going 2.86lbs on a crank bait. Bryce suggests we try dropshotting the deeper ish and promptly puts on a "how to" class with his dropshot rig and gets 14 to my 4 in an hour. We have a limit by 9am versus a limit at 1215pm the day beore and then the rain QUIT!!!! and the water was lat. We run to a good jig ishing spot and throw our arms o but only manage 4, Bryce got 3 and we didn't cull anything out o the livewell. We run back to the spot Harlan showed me and get over some deep ish and boat 6 in 43-55 t and manage to cull out 2 o our smaller ish. We bang around the same area with jigs and crank baits and it is getting warmer we stripped o the guide wear and run or the weigh in at 3pm. We weigh in 13lbs and watch a number o guys coming in with 8-10lb bags but no one early with the same big weights as saturday. I igure we were mid pack so we head or Packers bay and get out and go on home. A good day today ishing with one heck o a worm isherman and a great guy. The next local event will be the Cottonwood Bass Team Fall Classic on the 7th o Dec, the winner will take home $100 a pound or his best limit. $150 per team and this includes the big ish which also pays $100 per pound so come on up and have at it! We averaged 1.71 lbs per ish, the day one leaders had roughly a 2.61 lb average and the big ish as ar as i know went 5.11.
      City: Redding

      Tips: The MGM blue ghost #69 accounted or the most ollowed by the MGM Shasta crawler in rootbeer on a 1/2 oz ootball head, The Rainbow worm company's #99 got a lot ollowed by the MGM 127, 145 and my all time avorite the MGM #109 radar.

Saturday, November 9th, 2002

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

      Report: any one know the color rattle trap that works best this time o year?
      City: rio v

Friday, November 8th, 2002

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I started out using a white spinner bait. Ater about 15 minutes I switched to a blue lake senko...had about 3 hits on it...Bass seamed to be 10-15 eet deep. Better luck next time.
      City: Sunnyvale

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

      Report: Question or Delta BassersWhere is the HELL is "Disco"??
      City: Napa

Thursday, November 7th, 2002

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I took a long-time client to Oroville Wednesday. He wanted to catch numbers rather than big ish this trip, and numbers he got! He caught 22 spots and 1 smallie while I tried or bigger bass and did get a ew nice ones and wound up with 16 - or a total o 39 in the boat or both o us. While we did catch a lot o slot ish because he was using small plastics, we did get 6 over the slot. We even missed the early bite as he couldn't arrive until 8 AM. Launching wasn't too diicult at the dam road site, but I elt good with 4 wheel drive! Boat and truck were a muddy mess when we let! It was a beautiul day - some wind in the aternoon - and un to watch the irst storm o the season move in during the day. We started in the main body and Canyon Creek and ound the bite slow, but I think the time was the main actor, not the location. I elt because o the cold mornings, the aternoon bite would be better and ater 11 AM it got better and better! We had bites most o the aternoon, especially ater we moved to the middle ork. We ound most o our bass rom 10 to 20 eet. We couldn't get the deeper bass to go and really didn't need to try. We caught several drop-shotting, but most were caught split-shotting 4 1/2 and 6 inch Magic worms. Junebug II (#29) was the best color today - surprisingly morning dawn didn't work at all - dark color were the key. The shad color worm did work well ished either way. When the breeze came up - rather than go to a spinnerbait - I decided to rip a Lucky Crat Staci. Good choice! My second cast produced a 17 inch, 2.2 pound spot. Three casts later - a 16 inch spot and one more in the slot. I was using the ghost color. Dobyns would be proud o me since I don't rip much. The jig bite didn't happen until about 3 PM or me, and my irst spot was 17 1/2 inches and 2.5 pounds. I did get a ew more on jigs, but the worm bite was just too good. I was using my typical brown/orange Rodstrainer jig with a #180 Yamamoto grub trailer. The big jig ish was in about 6 eet o water - interesting! As we came in at dark, quite pleased with the day, my client suddenly realized his green waterproo pack had blown out o the boat. Not good - had a camera and expensive sunglasses among other things. I it is still loating in the upper middle ork and you ind it, let me know! Thank you. I don't know how the other boats did, but did hear two say that they had a tough day. There were about 15 rigs in the parking lot.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I was casting the rip bait across points - about 20 eet oshore. The big ish came near a boulder about 15 eet oshore. We cast our split-shot rigs towards the shore and moved the boat orward or let the breeze move us and let our rigs slowly work their way behind the boat - sort o a combination o casting and dragging. The bigger ish seemed to be in the 20 oot range except the big jig ish, and who knows how deep the rip ish were. A ew o the bites were aggressive, but most were very subtle. You had to be on your toes. We really missed a lot more ish than we should have - had a lot o short strikes - even on 4 1/2 inch worms. I think that is unusual or November. The drop-shot ish seemed to take the bait better. We had to watch or the mud on many good points - those points would not produce ish. The lake is at the level where a lot o silt is showing. You need to look or the points and walls that have the most mud-ree rock - at least that was the case or us.

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 64.7

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Joe Montgomery, e-mail me with how you did yesterday. We met at Packers
      City: redding

Wednesday, November 6th, 2002

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: ished the the s mokelumne mid morning trolling broken backs and rat l traps or stripers with nothing. Many other ishermen targeting stripers--reports slow. Tried or blackies on the bank with a bit o everything. A ew ish tight; none on the weedline. Went up to the end o beaver, and saw big ish (?salmon) jumping all over but no bites. Went down to the end o Hog and again saw big ish jumping. Finally recognized salmon and my partner got a 6 # on a yellow spinner. Found largemouth between the shore and weedline and got another 11 bass to 2 lbs with dark Senkos, with rattle inside. Fish under the weedmats too but no bites. No striper action this day.
      City: vacaville

      Tips: Dark Senkos with rattles tight and inside weedline at the end o sloughs seemed to be ticket today.

    • By

      Water Temp: 59-60.5

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: RE: Fish and Game tage. Send the tag to the address listed on it, along with length, date, bait, and I usually include general condition o ish (weight i you got it). I've caught dozens o tagged stripers, and 1 tagged smallmouth with a oval green $20 tag in Berryessa. You can request to have the tag returned to you along with your check. They will also tell you when, where, and how large the ish was when tagged. I had a $20 tagged striper, caught at the Marin Islands in San Raael, make it down rom Knights Landing in 3 days!
      City: SF

    • By

      Water Temp: 59-60.5

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Caught a ew bass in Sandmound on Senko's (Christmas)and texas rigged junebug brushhogs irst o. Nothing big. Ran to north west end o Frank's and ollowed diving birds or a bunch o small stripers on white and light gray rattletraps, all 8"-16". Ran up to Korth's or a ew crankbait and brushhog ish. Ran back to Frank's or the income and saw quite a ew striper pluggers, including a ew ly ishing. Got back to Sandmound and Dutch or a ripping tide. Got a ew more up to about 2.5 lbs. Saw a big urbag seal ripping a 10lb. salmon. Dragged it all over up and down the slough. About 8 keepers, 15 dinks. Couldn't ind any quality. I really thought they would be on a tear beore the ront. Maybe a later bite, as I had to be o the water by 2.
      City: SF

      Tips: Most hits were tight to cover, tules and rocks yes, wood none. all hits were when tightening up line or as current swept bait. Only one when working it, the rest dragging.

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: This short report includes about our 2 1/2 to 3 hour trips in the past two weeks. Three were late aternoon and one was morning. The overall bite has still been slow but the quality has been pretty good. The best trip was last week - with my neighbor - landing 3 spots to 2 3/4 pounds and a 2 pound largemouth. He caught his irst spotted bass and was he excited!! He missed a huge bass on a topwater lure beore dark - jerked it too quickly! We missed or lost 4 other bass. The topwater bite has been slow as has the jig bite. Magic worms are working best along with Senkos in the brush. The #214 Senko has been the best color or me. I'm hoping the rain will add a bit o color to the water and bring the lake up a ew eet. That should start the late all bite, I hope!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The bass still are airly deep except early and late when a ew will hit topwater. Drop-shotting is a great technique this time o year on ledges in the middle o the lake.

  • Westchester County
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      Water Temp: cooling

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: trolled 7to12 horseshoe whitnessed 3 trout 8lbs neted 2went home with the isherman mine went back into the lake ish gave a good ight earn it's reedom.started slow or me but ended great.just beore the in coming storm
      City: ermont

      Tips: sep's spoon,castmaster blue stripe and others on top 10 eet

Tuesday, November 5th, 2002

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Frank's Tract and Fishermen's Cut where my buddy caught a tagged largemouth. Anyone know what to do with the tag? Tags reads $20 reward. Do they want the actual ish? DFG has no inormation about tags on their website.BTW, we landed our, largest 2 1/2 lbs including the tagged one with our other dinks all caught on spinnerbaits. Also, two stripers on ratLtraps. All in all, not a great day but sure beats work.
      City: El Sobrante

      Tips: Brown or red spinnerbaits or bucketmouths; ratLtraps or stripers.

    • By

      Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I let Paradise Point @ 9 a.m .It was everything but Paradise.I'm rom Pismo Beach where the ishing is actually good ! ! But I hear all these good reports around here on stripers and bucket mouths ? I have yet to see a one!I do have a boat,trolling moter,every lure known to man,etc... Maybe someone can tell me a better place to launch or bass and stripers? please?
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Don't ish the delta it's stinky water and the ish you can't eat.

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59 F

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club ished Clear Lake on Saturday, November 2. Winning weight or 5 ish was 20.10 lbs. Big ish was 4.77 lbs. Decent bite - 6 o 12 anglers weighed-in limits. Fair number o crankbait & blade ish were caught.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: To check all the results & photos, go to our website, http://scbbbc.homestead.com, & click on "Schedule."

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: TRIED TOPWATER IN THE THE MORNING 9:00 TIL 10:00 NO LUCK, DRAGGED A BABY BRUSH HOG AROUND AND GOT 2, NOTHING GREAT A 1 AND 2 LB.SPOTS. HAD A COUPLE BLOW UPS ON A SKITTER POP IN THE AFTERNOON, TRIED STINKO'S NO TAKERS, OH WELL THE WEATHER WAS GREAT AND DID SEE A COUPLE OF BALD EAGLES
      City: B.V

      Tips: FOUND FISH ABOUT 20 FT DOWN AND A COUPLE CRUISING THE BANK IN ABOUT 5 FT

Monday, November 4th, 2002

    • By

      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Only the second time I've been their in ive years. Water is very low only ramp I was told was at the dam. It looks like the lake is about 30 eet down. I caught a lot o shakers and only three legal size. with the biggest being about 2 pounds. Banks are litered with dead timber are steap and sandy with only a ew rocky banks I thought the timbe would be a good place to pick up some good ish but all I ound was dinks. Caught ish on jerk baits, worms, top water, and even one on a spiner bait, white.
      City: South Lake Tahoe

      Tips: I couldn't establish a pattern

Sunday, November 3rd, 2002

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 57-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished around Franks Tract. Caught approx. 25 bass and 10 stripers up to 3 lbs. using reaction baits. Nothing big, but un.
      City: San Jose

    • By

      Water Temp: NA

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took o out o Antioch today,Went right across the River and began catching stripers up to 22 inches.The bite seemed strong today boating about 11 ish.Seems like where there is current our weeds there are stripers.My partner I most say got the honors or ish o the day I beleive we were on a school o salmon and had a really big one on that threw the trebles out o its mouth (*%#@)But my buddy got one in the boat it put up a great ight really great looking ish 14lbs.Nice day Fish on
      City: p-TOWN

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Guided two great ellas on Friday night. They were good ishermen. The hour beore dark eatured a beautiul sunset and the night was not as cold as a clear night can be and parts o the lake had no wind. Sounds perect!! Only one problem - no bite! I expect the night bite to improve when the lake temp inally drops, but I thought we would get into some with the cool nights we are having. Other than 1991, this continues to be the slowest night ishing year at Clear Lake in the past 20 years - at least or me. Clients and I did get 3 or 4 up to a pound and a hal along with a 2-13. Near the end o the trip, I did stick a large bass - maybe 6 pounds or so, but dumped it at the boat. It hit a large brush hog-like thing called a Hoo Daddy. At least we all had a great time and the clients learned a ew things about night ishing. The ish do win sometimes but the guide sure eels like a loser!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I think all the bait is causing a day bite and creating conditions or suspended ish at night. Interesting to me again - slow night bite along with no carp activity. Crankbaits have worked in the past at night, but not Friday night.