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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79-81

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Been away for a long time and thought I would take a moment to give a report. I have never been much of a summer time, deep, clear water lake guy, sticking to Clear lake and Delta. However, that will change. Oroville threw a nice surprise at me on Sat. fished from 7-3PM and had to have boated at least 60 fish. * were over the slot, but the majority were in the 12-14 inch range. Great top water in the AM and plastics in the afternoon. The bite was not too deep. 5-25 feet. They ate everything. Pulled well on 4 and 6 pound test.
      City: Roseville

      Tips: Don't get to creative. Toss your favorite rig. They were spitting up sculpins and smelt so browns and shad patterns worked well. The whole lake was holding fish, but some points and walls were loaded where others would just kick out a fish or two.

Saturday, July 19th, 2014

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at six out of Russo's and ran straight up to the breaks. Got blow ups on Sammy but no takers. Switched to LC 128SP and immediately got bit, 3 3/34lb. Caught a bunch that way for awhile then switched to dropshotting around the backs of tule islands to get out of the wind. More quality fish, including a 4lb 3oz and many many more dinks.
      Video here: http://youtu.be/nwIerkjX4OM
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Water's cooled off a bit for some reason but it hasn't seemed to adversely affect the bite. Couldn't get a reaction bite other than jerkbait. Caught another pike minnow on a crank bait but that doesn't count. All my fish came on jerkbait, DS and t-rigged 6" senko.

Friday, July 18th, 2014

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Plenty of action but many of the fish were on the small side. A few 2's and a few 3's - the biggest fish was 4 lb 11 oz. Fished in Potato Slough mainly in places where I could find protection from the hard blowing wind and small whitecaps. Most fish were up close and caught on Senkos (red shad - wacky) or on a red speed trap out at the edges of sparse tules and along rock walls. The big fish came on a popping frog in the slop near a laydown.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Can't somebody do something about this wind- HaHa.

  • Alameda County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for 3.5 hours in am. Calm for the 1st 2.5 hours on the lake and I could not get bit throwing topwater, jerkbait or pitching soft plastics. Saw a kid on shore with a bobber and another gentleman farther down catch a fish and then later seeing 2 boaters hauling in fish. Eventually caught 2 bass 3-5# on deep crank when the wind came up.
      City: dublin

      Tips: Move around and cover water. Mine at 15 feet. Interestingly, both came as the bait was being brought up off the bottom to the boat. Directional/speed change important or they were suspended?

Thursday, July 17th, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went fishing today with Jeff, launched at Bidwell about 6 am. Funny, Tuesday it was so hot it nearly made me stop fishing for the summer, today it actually got cold when running the boat!! Today, Jeff got the biggest spotted bass, a nice FAT 16" fish. We got a couple other nice ones, had to be close to 15" mark. Most fish were 12-14", with a few 8-11 inches. I Got a nice catfish about 4 pounds. Overall we did good, got somewhere between 30-40 fish as a guess. Lost count and can only guess now, forgot my score card and pen!! Stopped fish a tad past 10 am. Thanks Jeff, nice trip.
      City: Magalia

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

Tuesday, July 15th, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Damn is it ever hot these days. Fished today with Jeff, launched at Lime saddle and fished the North Fork area. We managed 45 fish total, with only one spot at 15" and a couple at 14". the rest of the fish about 8-13". We also got a few catfish, 3 in the 1-2 pound range, hooked and to the boat 2 in the 5 pound range, never got them on the boat. Guess I'd better get a landing net!!! Looks like the ramps at Lime saddle and the damn will only be in operation about another week or so. Water coming down 1 foot a day or so. Thanks for fishing with me Bill.
      City: Magalia

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

Thursday, July 10th, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out with Jeff and his grandsons? 10-12yrs old? forgot :>) and had a blast, total count on fish 54 and only 3-4 were caught after 10:30 am. Soon as the sun began to get towards late morning the bite was gone. Of the 54 fish, one was a 17" small mouth, one 17 1/2" spotted bass, 2-3 16" spots and 2-3 15" spots, maybe 4!! hard to remember exact. Also got 3-4 cat fish, largest about 4 pounds. While going to get the trailer, one of the boys got a nice silver salmon (coho), didn't measure it, but looked to be 20" to 24" fish, a real nice fat one. Of all the fish, the salmon was the only one to go home, all others released to catch another day. The boys want to fish next year when they visit, me too. Thanks Jeff, great fishing trip. FISH ON, me I call them all TUNA
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Anyone with a boat looking for a fish partner, let me know, I'm available most of the time. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net and lets go catch fish. No boat, then we can take my small 14 foot Klamath, small but it catches fish.

Wednesday, July 9th, 2014

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 83.4

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: It was really hot yesterday (Tuesday) & the water temp showed it! Got on the water at 9:00pm, fished Henderson & Shag, got 1 blade fish 7 1 crank fish 3 lbs apiece. Went to Dollar & Konocti & blanked for the next 2 hours. Tried Wheeler & managed a 4.9 jig fish. I wish I could say it got better after that, but we ended at 3AM with no more fish boated. Around 2AM in Konocti, tied into a 7-8 lb'er that broke off at the boat. Rats! Fishing a Texas Noris Bug that got hung on a rock, popped it out & bam, the big girl nailed it. Unfortunately, the rock also nicked my line (I use 20lb. Seaguar Abrazx) & when she saw the boat, she went sraight down & that was the end of that! At least got s good look at her, but we fished for another hour hoping the bite was turning around. Wish I cold say more, but "sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger & sometimes you're the Bug!" We were the Bug! lol

      Tips: The lake went dead calm around 10:30PM & so did the bite! I thought we could drum up some Senko fish, but nary a strike! We threw cranks, blades, jigs with all different kinds of trailers (even went old school & tried Uncle Josh's Pork) a plethora of Texas rigged plastics, swimbaits, even topwater by the moon, but for use it wasn't there Tues night! We fished Jago, Wheeler, Konocti, Dollar, Henderson, Shag, Buckingham point, & docks all over the place & deep, shallow, slow fast,it was slow all night! Wish I could tell you more. we will be back in 2-3 weeks & see what happens! Looked at mt notes from this time last year & it was pretty close to the same results. When we had an oinker of an evening though, the following night was much better! Had to cut the trip by one day so we didn't get the chance to find out this time! Good luck out there & stay safe!

Tuesday, July 8th, 2014

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79.1

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Cont... moon set around 1am & took the bite with it. We waited to see if the bite came back like last nite but it didn't happen & we got off at 3:30am. Ended with 12 with best five going 5.2,4.14, 4.12, 4.10, 4.8 for a 23.4 limit. Blade fish were in 8-12ft, plastics 15-24ft. We fished rather slowly, some bites were strong, some very subtle. They seemed to like dark colors with red. We fished Rocky structure. No crank or senko, bites!???

      Tips: Move around, fish a little slow & don't be afraid to fish deep! Oh yeah, check your gas tank visually, mine read 1/4 & you guessed it, ran dry at 1:30am. Thank goodness for aux tanks! Hope the bite doesn't die out tonite, stay tuned!

    • By

      Water Temp: 79.1

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got on at 8pm, ran to Henderson & Shag, Ted got a 5.2 blade fish & I got a 4.14 jig fish. Moved to Dollar & picked up 1 top water & 3 blade fish at sunset. Went to Frazier & Konocti and picked up 6 more on blades & jigs.

    • By

      Water Temp: 78.1

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Checking

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 79-80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I went fishing at Lake Oroville today and did pretty good for a short trip, off the water at 10:30 am. Managed 27 fish, One nice 18" spotted bass, about 3 1/2 pounds. One 16" and one 15" with all others 8-14", average about 13". 2 were large mouth, about 13", and 2 small mouth about 13". Also got two nice catfish, one at 6 pounds, the other at 5 pounds. First fish was a nice 3/4 pound sunfish, big for sunfish. Fish were deeper today, 20-25 feet down, think it's because the water is 79-80 degrees at the surface. They go deep to find water that feels better to them. Next trip Thursday with Jeff, taking his grand kids out and teach them to fish.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Anyone with a boat looking for a fish partner, let me know and lets go catch some fish. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net No boat, then lets take my small 14 foot klamath and get some spots.

Monday, July 7th, 2014

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78.6

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Finally back on the water! Started at 7pm & actually caught a few during daylight! Started at Wheeler & nailed a 3.5 on a crankbait with the 3rd cast. Caught 6 on jigs until moonset at around midnight! That's when the jig bite hopped a train out of town & it took us an hour or so to figure out it left! Started getting bit on Texas rigged Kinami Noris bug (the one that's discontinued) of course! They also started hitting the spinnerbait as well so we stuck it out til it started getting light. We finished with 15, our best five going 5.2, 4.6, 4.4, 4.2, & 3.7 for a limit of 21.5. We were happy with that since we haven't been on the lake for two months! Fished south as always & we managed to pull 2 off of Frazier! Fished Konocti & dollar island as well.

      Tips: Keep moving around. We caught them by one's as they weren't stacked anywhere. They were in 8-15 ft as we were fished just outside the weedline. Weeds & algae were not as bad as we were expecting & that was a,bonus! We were a little concerned as we didn't see much baitfish, the Silversides aren't out yet. Hopefully they show up soon so the fish will get fat this fall. Larry will be happy that I caught some daylight fish! Stay tuned for tomorrow night!

Sunday, July 6th, 2014

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 75-76

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Only had a half day so we mainly stayed on the Moke. Launched/Started B&W 615am..plenty light already. worked the far rock wall at the start of the Moke and hit many many many just under 12"ers but dang it was fun. I was using ultra light casters with a floating craw rat-l-trap so they simply loaded up and set the hook on their own. After my big brudda and me had about 25 of these (maybe 6-7 just at keeper size), we decided to go to senkos...my bro threw baby bass and I threw black neon (black/red flk) 5". picked up 9 keepers all 1-2 lbers with best going 2-12. then around 12-1230pm threw traps again just to have some more crankin' fun and picked up a bunch more. probably total dinks and almost keepers was maybe 30-35. total keepers was 9, me 6, big brudda 3. imagine if we had more time and went lookin' for some punchin' patches. off the water 1230pm ... oh, forgot to mention, kept a 23" striper caught on the crank....I'm filleting him right now!!! all blacks released.
      City: folsom

      Tips: I don't think I'm qualified to give tips...i'll just say I really like crankin so I started out throwing a 1/2 oz floating rat-l-trap in a crazy vivid craw pattern. also used 1/4oz cali craw but majority crankin' hits came on "pinchin' peach" floatin' super natural trap in 1/2oz. I really like this cuz you can take your time when you throw to the rock walls and don't have to worry about your trap sinking immediately, you can take your time. ...and many hits came as soon as it hit the water....I'm serious...I had some blow ups you'da thought I had a frog, Sammy , or spook tied on....but just a simple floatin' trap.
      but deciding the bigger keepers were hangin' out low, we threw 5" senkos in black/red flk and baby bass and that was the ticket...all the hits I had to dig the hooks out from deep in the throat, they inhaled em. on the 2.75lber, I took my dikes and cut 2/3 the hook out to let im live.

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.