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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, May 13th, 2002

  • Shasta County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58.5-62.2

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: cold ront moved through last night with a small pressure drop, in the water at 0520 at Bailey Cove with my neighbor, Walt. Ran over to Shallow point in the McCloud tossing jigs on the short points north o the point but getting hit short at irst in 21-28t, no rip bite and I went deeper or a ew dinks and one keeper in 35t, Walt had the ist in the boat but it was short. Moved over to Ycotti and went all the way into the back, no ish and only 2 cruisers seen, moved back out to the ront on main lake points or a total o 6 with one small largemouth and the bite shut down at 0915, didn't thow any worms but wished i had. It appears the spawn in the lower McCloud and main body is over or nearly so, might go urther up into one o the arms wednesday. I expect high pressure to build back in and bring the rip bite back and move the ish a bit shallower.
      City: Redding

Sunday, May 12th, 2002

  • Plumas County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I was wondering i there are any tournments coming to the lake orm June 1-25. would appreciate some ino thanks!!
      City: Penngrove

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 66--70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: First ish came on a rog, 6lber. Great way to start the morning! Went to senko at high tide most ish came in ront o rock. At low tide went to standing wood no luck, last weeks ish had moved o. When the tide came back up, went back and ished rocks again. Five ish limit ended up (2) 6 lers. (2) 4.5 lbers. and a 3lber to inish out. A solid 24 lb. stringer.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Try dierent areas until you ind your pattern, then move around and repete that pattern at similar type areas. Fish slow!

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: 8 boat club tourney out o Fleming Meadows. Started in the Hatch/Willow area throwing top water, cranks, & spinner baits or 1st hr. w/no takers. Switched to watermelon baby Brush Hogs or our 1st bites by 8 am. Strikes were subtle pressure bites only & the wie & I were continually late on the hook set. Switched to split shot grn.craw pattern 4" worms & boated our 1st keeper at 8:30 am. Boated 2 more keepers by 10:30 am then we moved to Graveyard Creek area where we continued split shoting. Had 3 break os in a row including a 3.5 + just out o net range beore my wie boated her mothers day 4 lber. on a 4" Renegade curly tail worm. Boated our last keeper at noon then weighed in our 5 ish limit. Finished 2nd w/8 lbs. 14 ozs. w/the wie's ish as big ish. 1st had just under 11 lbs., can't tell you where or how because he is ishing a tourney here next weekend.
      City: Delhi

      Tips: Our avorite style o ishing worked or us, split shoting plastics. Our ish came out o 20' o water, adjacent to steeper sloping rock banks, & no arther in than the middle o the cove.

Saturday, May 11th, 2002

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Temp: 84 Degrees

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: We went out at 5PM. Temperature was 108. Lots o small ish except or a 7 . Caught on a senko. Lost one that broke me o with 20 pound line. Ater dark all little ish. Fished until 11:30 PM. When we pulled out it was 99 Degrees. Talked to several guys. They had no good ish. Misserable weather.

      Tips: Don't go

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Well, started late, about 7pm. Fished off the shore in the Pleasure Cove area. I found a small secluded spot with a little cover. I caught a MONSTER on the second cast!!! This one weighed in at 9.4!!! I used a red lizard rigged Carolina style. Stayed out for about 2 more hours using everything from cranks and spinners, to jigs and pigs. I got no action after the first giant. I had a great time though, nothing beats fighting a huge largemouth! Lets make sure and take care of our great outdoors!!!
      City: Dixon

      Tips: Plastics seem to be the trick. My best advice is to fish VERY slow.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: John and I ished the northern New Bass tourney out o Brannon on Sat. and launched to very nice conditions, which didn't last too long. By the time we reached the Whites area we were already experiencing high winds. Is the damn wind going to blow every day this year? I hit a 2 pound top water ish in the irst 10 minutes but didn't get any other bites or the next hour or so. Finally the plastic bite kicked in and we managed to get a limit by noon. We headed east in search o some areas with some depth to it as the tide was dropping in a hurry and John hits a 6.24 right away on a senko. Other than the early top water ish, we didn't get another reaction bite the rest o the day. Ended up in 6th place with 18+.
      City: roseville

      Tips: Rough day with the wind blowing and the tide dropping to a negative. Fish were a mixture o pre and post. They were really eating the bait when we did get hit. All ish were in 4 eet or less.

  • Ventura County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62+

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Talk about awesome weather....man was it hot...Caught a ew bass in the 2 to 4 pound rage using nightcrawlers...caught a 2 1/2 pound red ear perch....and believe it or not, two turtles...saw tons o huge ish swimming around but none were interested in eeding...
      City: hollywood

  • Tuolumne County
    • By

      Water Temp: 64-68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Escalon Premier Brands Tournament.Had 6 ish 13 lb 14oz..Second place was 13 lb 10 oz.Don't recall what 3rd & 4th were.It was a tought day or everone...We caught 2 ish on a raddle trap,one splitshotting a 4 in senco.other 4 ish came on 6 in worms & darter heads..all our ish came early but one & it was caught 10 min beor weight in. biggest ished weighted in was 6 1/2 lbs.
      City: Riv

    • By

      Water Temp: 71

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Clovis Bass ClubTeam Tournament 5-11-02Lots o Drop shots and Senkos being used.Some rip bait ish taken in the morning.Fish rom 2t to 20t. BIG ish was only 3.61 lbs15 teams, 11 limits, it's the post spawn blues-lots o 1" ry
      City: Clovis

      Tips: Watermelon Senko's, Curl tail worms,Go shallow to deep, don't orget your drop shot.

  • Sacramento County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65.0

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Lots o water traic and I did not hit the water untill noon. Nice relaxing day ater being blown all over the north end o Clear Lake Thursday. The ish have most deinately moved. There are quite a ew largemouth on beds now that the temp has hit 65. The ish that I saw were locked in on there beds and not moving. Are they catchable? Don't know, there is something about agitating a ish guarding a nest that does not eel right to me. Each to his own but I did not try to catch these ish.I caught about 15 ish rom 12-7:15, mostly on cranks, senko, and sot jerk baits over 20-45 oot o water. The ish , at least the spots are post spawn and suspended over structure, aggressive hits but had to wade through a lot o dinks to get a limit o 5 ish the largest 2.6lb. Aer a ew more weeks o recharging the ever-readys I would expect the larger spots to start showing up. Looking orward to the upcoming western bass tourn. this sat.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Change, most deinately a post spawn pattern or the smallmouth and spots, the largemouth are on the beds , hopeully they will get there business done with and get outa there. For every largemouth I catch in this lake I'll catch 7 spots and 2 smallmouth. Let the largemouth spawn or we will soon have another Oroville. Whack the Spots!

    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started ishing at 3PM. Fished rom shore along Highway 17 toward south. Nothing. Fished urther inside the creek. Hooked a good one but could not land. The ish jumped, dove down poweully, and wraped hersel around the summerged tree. Finally the line broke.I called it a day about 7PM. Hope more luck next time.
      City: Mountain View

  • Benton County
    • By

      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Casting jigs to visible cover on the bank.Caught 2 at largemouth within the irst 2 hours.Water very clear and it was easy to see any late spawners or cruisers up shallow. I saw a ish cruising in the 4 to 5 pound range. At 11:00am I caught a 6 1/2 pounder on a green Senko casting parallel to the bank. Most likely a bed ish because I didn't eel her pick it up, I just saw my line moving out to deep water.I couldn't get any more ish to bite once it hit noon.Really enjoy ishing the lake when I come to visit my amily.Great lake but I wish they still rented boats with trolling motors.

      Tips: Baits:1/4 oz Brown Jig w/Watermelon Yamamoto grub.5inch green Senko-weightless 4/0 Gamakatsu

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished rom 6:30am - 3:00pm. This was my irst time ishing Oroville. We ished the lower portions o each ork (north, middle, south)and in the main body. We ound a ew ish everywhere but couldn't ind concentrations o ish. Most ish were caught in 5-15' along the steeper banks. We inished the day with 15 ish (only one over 15"). All ish came on Texas-rigged 4" straight-tail worms in a variety o colors. We didn't get the numbers that some olks are reporting but it's un to ish new water.
      City: Galt

      Tips: Couldn't really put a solid pattern together. Tried dart heads, texas-rigged, carolina-rigged, and some dropshoting. The Texas rig worked best or us using light colored 4" worms (Pumkin/white, blue shad, morning dawn, clear w/ blue bloodline)

  • Sonoma County
    • By

      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: got up there at about 9am and ished the salt creek arm, and ound aew nests, got one 2 pounder on a baby brush hog,catch and release o course. got aew others to bites, but they just wouldnt stay on. these ish ar hard to ind.

      Tips: ind a god area, and walk along shore to look or bass. use sot plastics or the beddin bass, catch and release, and good luck

  • Trinity County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54-59

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got to the North end o the lake about 10 AM and ound the lot about ull o the Susanville club rigs. Went looking or smallie beds. ound a ew but it looks like the dropping water has moved the bigger males deeper. Hope this is the case, as the beds I ound were only about 3-4'deep. Went to the Ballpark and ound something that I hadn't seen beore. There was a 2-3 Knot current running North through that area. Apparently the large releases are creating a Southbound current in the mainlake and there is an eddy in the Ballpark area. As soon as I igured out what was happening It became real interesting. The ish were oriented dierent than I have ever seen and they were very catchable once you ound them. What startedout as a slow day ended up being a lot o un. Maybe 20 ish total, mostly quality smallies. A 5.5 Largemouth and a 4.5 smallie made the photo shoot back at the dock but there were several other ish over 3 pounds. As long as I don't see any more evidence o the releases causing problems with the spawn, perhaps I'd better quit b*tchin. Heard second hand that the club tourney had a 6+ or lunker and 12+ led the way. Wish I'd been entered.
      City: Weaverville

      Tips: Had a pretty good Gitzit bite going and next best was the Pro Gold on a 1/8 oz jig.

Friday, May 10th, 2002

  • Amador County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Not bad, 5 ok bass in the morning. Biggest was 5.5 lbs. At sundown, I nailed 4 more. Biggest was a at guy at 8.3 lbs. He was caught using a good ol senko(green w/lakes). Morning bass were got on spinners and magic worms(long greenie weenie). Nice day too.
      City: Ione

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Buddy was in rom Phoenix, got out about Noon rom Orowood, headed to my avorite spots on that side o the Delta. Tide was really moving, started lipping green dead ringer worm onto rocks and working it back. We hit one spot that we pulled in (5) 3.5 - 4 lbers in 30 minutes o ishing. Went up a avorite creek arm, lipped under an overhanging log and set the hook on what elt like a log! She rolled on the surace and gave us a good look, she was 8-9 pounds easy. Was trying to control the ront o the boat and ighting her sideways, she got o (that's my story anyways). Should have payed her more attention but it was un. Caught a lot o 1.5 - 2 lbers the rest o the day, showed the Phoenix boy some good ol Delta ishin!
      City: Brentwood

      Tips: Still haven't igured out the Delta

    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I went out at around 2pm. I got a late start. My intention was to go out or striper, so I was using a green and white striper jig. I ished at Liberty Island, just right o the shore. I ound an area where there seemed to be a submerged tree. On the 4th cast I got caught up on a branch, so I gave a quick tug, as soon as the jig began to sink again...BAM!!! A largemouth just about snagged the rod out o my hand!This bad boy gave me quite a ight, but I managed to bring him in. It was a pretty healthy bass, it weighed in just under 5 lbs. I stayed out until about 7 or so, and got no action. It was a great day o ishing though anyhow. I sadly noticed there is a signiicant amount o litter building up amongst the shores, and it's getting out o hand. I saw everything rom old tackle, to dishwashers...let's make sure we clean up our areas ater we ish, so there could be great ishing and great environments or our children and grandchildren to enjoy. Let's help take care o our great outdoors.
      City: Dixon

      Tips: Well, it seems that I've caught more largemouth in this area with white-colored jigs. White seems to be what usually works.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at 6:30 a.m. at Paradise Point into a howling wind and headed or my avorite windy day spots. This immediately eliminates about 80% o my quality area's rom the get go. We just started throwing white and chart. spinnerbaits at the bank towards tules, rock, wood, mud or what ever was there. We knew our spots were limited so we covered everything. We held out till 1 p.m. when the wind inally got the best o us. We managed to land 23 to 5.1 lbs., most were small males but the two biggest were emales that didn't appear to have spawned yet. We also caught 4 stripers to about 4 lbs., they seemed to like the spinnerbait too.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: Lure selection was limited by the wind, and the ability to hold the boat.