Submit
Report

Northern California Lake Fishing Report

Limit:

Friday, July 26th, 2002

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: 77

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: A pretty good night. Ended up ishing straight through because the bite was so steady. Frogs in the grass pads did well and Senko's on the bank caught smaller ish. But the jig and pork rog saw steady, hard hitting action in about 6-9' o water, catching mostly 3 lbs. or better. Largest ish o the night was 4.5 lbs. Beautiul night and great ishing!
      City: Rohnert Park

      Tips: Fish seem to stay near the deeper water but are not going there. Most ish were caught near or on the bank and none deeper than 24 eet. Frogs and buzz baits in the morning, plastic and jigs later on. Work the shade under trees and grass pads and be quiet; they spook easy.

Thursday, July 25th, 2002

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 71-74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: My dad and I launched out o Ladd's at 6:30 AM or a relaxing day o bassin' on the Delta. With the extremely high tide, we immediately headed or a small backwater area in 14 Mile Slough, only to ind the water very stained, and the ishing pretty slow. My dad did manage a small keeper on a buzzbait, but ater an hour o ruitless casting, we moved on in search o clearer water. Moving into Disappointment, we ound the clearer water, along with the right combination o cover and depth. I immediately switched to a Senko, while my dad started with a spinnerbait. As the tide began it's slow outgoing movement, we had about 15 or so bites between us, the majority coming on the Senko. The best ish went about 3.5 lbs., but the majority were pretty small, 1-2 lbs. Between 11:30 AM and 3:30 PM, we ished mostly cheese mats in Disappointment and Whites, but aside rom two killer blow-ups and several "rolls" under the mats, we came up empty. One inal lurry o bites came on the Senko in Honker Cut, but nothing o any size. Final tally was about 18 bass total, I believe 10 o which were keepers. All in all, a pretty tough day or quality, but certainly enough bites to keep us busy.
      City: Elk Grove

      Tips: Lots o 1-1.5 lb. bass on rip-rap banks w/ sparse tule and a distinct weedline, with an occasional quality bite. Dark colored Senkos deadsticked around cover produced most o the bites. Quality bass seem to be under the cheese mats; two blow-ups we did have were deinitely big-uns!

    • By

      Water Temp: 69-74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Two person guide trip out o Lundborg, The water has cooled o a ew degress over the last week and along with the ull moon has changed the bite around. With the big high tide I've been targeting weeds lats around Franks and the south Delta, looking or quality ish. This worked pretty good earlier in the weeks with a number o 2-4lbers but today it was a little slower we got a 3.5 & a 2? then some dinks on the irst spot. Then we hopped around rom weed lat to weed lat with only a ish here and there. Then when the tide ran out we ished edges and ound only a ew there. Tough day we had a 4+ at the boat and about 8-10 other keepers.
      City: concord

      Tips: The bite was better on Tuesday even though most o the cows were down!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 69-74

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Two person guide trip out o Lundborg, The water has cooled o a ew degress over the last week and along with the ull moon has changed the bite around. With the big high tide I've been targeting weeds lats around Franks and the south Delta, looking or quality ish. This worked pretty good earlier in the weeks with a number o 2-4lbers but today it was a little slower we got a 3.5 & a 2? then some dinks on the irst spot. Then we hopped around rom weed lat to weed lat with only a ish here and there. Then when the tide ran out we ished edges and ound only a ew there. Tough day we had a 4+ at the boat and about 8-10 other keepers.
      City: concord

      Tips: The bite was better on Tuesday even though most o the cows were down!!!

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 81

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Was out rom Friday the 19th - 21st. I was only ishing early mornings and late evenings. We were on a houseboat in the South Fork and Using Pinpoint 7520 were locating ish lots o ish all weekend but not getting a great bite. I was ishing primarily the wooded area in the South Fork and in the River past the bridge. Most o my ish came on the Drop Shot with a small hand poured 4" red worm with Pink backing (B2 Rhythm & Blues). I did take my better ish on a Zoom Brush Hog in the Trees (Black Sapphire). Overall the ishing was slow with 3 - 6 ish per morning or evening. One o the guys spent lots o his time on main body points with even less success. Most ish graphed were suspended in about 15' o water, and did not see ish drop to the bottom until Monday as we were leaving.Good Luck, I you have a speciic question send me an email. I will TRY to answer.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Drop shot is always great on rocky structure. It won't necessarily get you the big ish but even a 12" spot can be alot o un on lite gear. We were either using 4 - 6 lb. Mono on our setups.

    • By

      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: No hard eelings here. We all have our own techniques and lure preerences. I like to hear what others are doing to catch the ish. I swear by senkos. Any ino on what you use back in the ponds would be cool. Magic worms? Trick worms? colors? I think watermelon color works back there.
      City: Pleasanton

      Tips: senkos

Wednesday, July 24th, 2002

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I thought I would post this short report for those of you that might have been jazzed by my previous two reports! Last night it was back to reality! A really nice father-son team (I think a birthday trip!) fished Berryessa for the first time, and while we had a great time, the fishing was very slow at night. How did those bass know that yesterday was the coolest day in July? This trip was just like a similiar trip I had last year at Berryessa in August during a cold front. The fishing was great before dark (the warmest time of day), and then dead after dark. Yesterday, as I made the first cast with a Berkley Pulse Worm around 7 PM, showing them how to work it, a bass picked it up. I assumed it was a small bass but I got the net anyway as I handed the rod to the birthday boy. Lo and behold, it was a 3 pound largemouth - not a typical Berryessa start!! We did quite well before dark - too well with over 20 bites and 10 in the boat. I thought about that other trip a got a little worried because I knew it was going to be a cool night which usually slows down the fishing. And the water temp dropped 4 degrees in three days. Sure enough, we all worked very hard for only 4 bass after dark. We had a fair amount of bites, but mostly tail biters. The son did hook a nice bass between 2 and 3 pounds in the narrows at the end of the trip, but lost it at the boat. That would have been a nice ending. So, 14 bass total, with the biggest being a 3 lb largemouth and a 2 1/4 spotted bass.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We saw a lot of fish on the meter both shallow and deep, but most of them would not bite! The bass that we did catch were much deeper than last week. I have always found the very hot nights at Berryessa to be much better than the cool ones. Believe it or not, the black/chartreuse Power worm got the most bites even though the fish were not aggressive. The big fish lost at the end was on a junebug Dead Ringer worm. Most of the fish before dark were caught on 6" morning dawn Magic worms and 4" Berkley Pulse worms.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 70-71

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out o Paradise Point at 6:00 a.m. I was expecting a good bite since I was catching the beginning o the outgoing tide, and there's a ull moon today.I ished White and Disappointment Sloughs, and Bishop Cut. I couldn't buy a ish in Whites, so back to Bishop Cut. I didn't have a bite or the irst 2 1/2 hours. Finally, in Bishop, I lipped a 4-4 1/2 #er, using a Senko. She broke me o ater giving me a look at her. My ault....a ray in the line.15 minutes later, I'm back in the same spot. Another tap...another 4 plus. This one I manage to put in the boat. I picked up a couple more smaller ish in Bishop, then made the short run to Disappointment. Caught 7-8 more lipping. Everything was caught on a Motoroil Senko, tight to the weeds and tules.Water temp has dropped 4-5 degrees since the weekend.
      City: Manteca

      Tips: The ish I'm catching don't warrent a "tip".

Tuesday, July 23rd, 2002

    • By

      Water Temp: n.a.

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: On the lake at 5:30 a.m., light chop which stopped the top water bite. Caught 3 on a 3" senko, all small.Because o the wind, started trolling early. Got a 13" and 14" largemouth-lost one about 2lbs.-another 5 under 12". Caught a 14"-16"-20" catish.Got 1 croppi1lb.3oz.Also got rid o another 12 squaw ish.I hope everyone is also doing the same. The lake is loaded with them.
      City: Corning

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Customers reporting catching good numbers o ish urther up the lake towards Mocassin and the headwaters. Sot plastics seem to be working best. Try split-shotting or drag-shotting baits rom the bank to 20 eet o water in the early morning and late evening. Most hits are coming between 10 and 15 eet o water.
      City: Merced

      Tips: For more ino. stop by STEVE'S BAIT SHACK @ 137 W. Main st. in Merced or give us a call @ (209)722-0800.

  • Mariposa County
    • By

      Water Temp: warm!

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing is good! Customers are reporting catching large numbers o bass in the early morning and late evening all over the lake. Cotton and Temperance continue to be the most popular areas. For more action head up towards Bagby and the headwaters. Night ishing or trout is good. I haven't heard rom the trollers.
      City: Merced

      Tips: In the early morning and evening crankbaits o the bank are working. The spinnerbait and buzzbait bites have been picking up. For best results, try split-shotting or drag-shotting 4 and 6 inch worms o the bank to 20 eet o water, most hits are coming 10-15 eet on dark worms. 4 inch Oroville special working well right now. For more ino. stop by STEVE'S BAIT SHACK at 137 W. Main st. in Merced or call us at (209)722-0800.

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: hey mr. g. wilson o tracy. man i your gonna keep ish to eat. keep the spots or the red eyes or smallies. please leave the blacks to grow up and become trophies. its getting hard enough to catch a limit o blacks now days anyway, it doesnt help i people are taking them home ort the dinner table. believe me im not mad that your taking ish homw to eat, heck bass are one o the best eating ish there are but we need to protect them as well. and as everyone knows there is NO SHORTAGE o spotted bass so eat those little bastards instead.
      City: modesto

  • Westchester County
    • By

      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: there are no ish in either o the two lakes. People have to stop taking them home, and start doing catch and release. i ished or three days here and caught 1 8" and that was a luke.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: ish elsewhere

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: 77 F

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club held a night tournament at Lake Sonoma on July 20 -21. Winning weight (4 ish) was 20.03 lbs, with big ish o night o 8.34 & 5.80 lbs. 2nd place was 7 ish or 14.79 lbs in this team tournie. Other nice ish o 5.49 & 4.02 lbs were weighed-in as well. 27 anglers participated. Bass went or blades, cranks, buzzbaits & sot plastics.
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: For more ino on club and/or to see photos & all the results, check out our website, http://scbbbc.homestead.com.

Monday, July 22nd, 2002

    • By

      Water Temp: 80+

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: First o, rom the amatuers to 'jay the pro rom the ppt tour' 20 pounds or your best ive isn't shit at Mather, so drop the attitude. For the rest o us amatuers, don't park on the street or you'll probably get a ticket. No parking is being enorced as o about two weeks ago. They've even put new signs out. Looks like the county parking lot is the only place to park now. Good luck out there. Senkos are producing quality ish, you just have to be patient and weed through the rats.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Careul where you park.

    • By

      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Maybe you didn't know that there are lures such as the Sumo rog along with tons o other artiicial rogs. Not real rogs bro. They will work on the weed beds. It gets boring catching them on senkos, so topwater hits are a change.

Sunday, July 21st, 2002

  • Mason County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I was on the water at noon and back in the parking lot at 3 PM. I caught seven ish, with the largest being 2.3 lbs. The ish were in 15-20 eet o water. All o my ish came o rock points. Using pumpkin 4" Zoom dead ringer Carolina rig. The wind was blowing hard rom the south. It's hard to tell how many bites I actually had.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: I you can stand the wind, the ish are active.

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 77

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Well, I guess no one fished Berryessa this week, so I will post another fun report. Last May I guided a father and 12 year old son in the rain, so we didn't go far. Saturday evening I had them again and the 14 year old brother too. This time we took a major ride in my Ranger 520 and judging from the look on the boys faces, the trip was already a success!! We started fishing the main body with Magic worms and landed 2 and the younger boy broke one off. We again had a delta breeze which limited some of our fishing areas. I did find some ledges to fish and dad was soon into a good fish with the same 7 inch black Power worm we used last week. It was 10:40 PM. After about 3 minutes I knew he was into a REALLY good fish as we could hear it jump about 20 feet from the boat. He was using a 743 G. Loomis spinning rod with 12# test. Everything was working fine - the client was relaxed and in control and I was a nervous wreck!!! The fish simply would not come to the boat. About 4 or so minutes later he led the fish to the net - I started to breathe again - and we got our first look at this pig. He says 6 1/2 and I giggle!! One scale sez 8-8 and the other sez 8-10, so we go with 8-9. I believe that is the longest fight a fish has every given one of my clients in 2 decades. I have always said that largemouth have a bad rap about their fight compared to smallies and spots, but you take a female largemouth after she recovers from the spawn when she is lean and mean and you will see what a largemouth can do - especially in 77 degree water! Soon the older boy who really hasn't fished for bass much lost another good fish. After we caught a few more spots and smallies from 13 to 15 inches, the older brother tried to horse in a good bass, well over three pounds but he lost it too. I know he was frustrated, but soon hooked a nice 2 pound smallie and landed it. He felt much better! I think we wound up with 12 fish, many lost, including a few good ones. But this father-sons team had an evening that memories are made of. They really loved night fishing with the black light and that makes me happy.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: The fish were about 10 feet deeper on average than last week, partly because of a brighter moon. We tried black/chartreuse worms, but the bass would only bite the tail. Solid black seemed to be the answer. Zipper worms worked well too. We didn't try jigs or, obviously, cranks because of so many in the boat. I didn't think the fish were nearly as aggressive as last week - lots of short strikes too.

  • Santa Clara County
    • By

      Water Temp: 74-75

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out or a ew hours in the aternoon. Got 4 bass. Two on small plastics and 2 on crankbaits. All were caught in about a 50 yard long area. Very weedy.
      City: San Jose

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started ishing at irst light on Saturday morning. The bank I ished last week, and had gotten three limits did not produce a ish ater ishing or an hour. Move on! I moved maybe 300 yards to a bend with lite current on it. Threw a senko ahead o me bang 4.57 lber. Missed two more because I did not stay in touch with my bait driting back to me. Heading back down current to start over I threw a speed trap and was rewarded with a 3.25 lber. Made a run, but could not ind the kind o water I wanted, everything was right but the water was to dirty. Findly I ished the back side o an island with good water clarity, bang nice 2+ lber. The day was some slow or me, but I did end up with 5 ish or 14.50+lbs.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Senkos are still #1 or me. Next was my speed trap. I got good action on a spinnerbait but they were smaller ish. My rog got me 2 lb. ish.