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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Monday, April 29th, 2002

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 61degrees

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went with another meathead on Monday and stunk it up. Can you say Prespawn? At least that's what we think.We caught a couple in Cherry on a spook and a jig. Thought I hit the jackpot when I stuck a ish on a Mr.B jig with a yammy twintail in Cherry also. You guessed it, a reakin 15lb catish. Good way to check your tackle. Everything held up great except it was the wrong ish on the end o the line. Caught a ew on senkos and a ew on lukes. Only saw a couple o males up guarding ry. Had a good thunk on my jig ishing verticle on a tree o o a lat. O course I had my head up my !@$$ on that one and missed him or her. The lake just was not right. It's was not the Sonoma I know. The most important part o the trip was, and a lot o people orget this, was that I had FUN. Thanks Meathead.
      City: Petaluma

      Tips: Wait or a warmup and then start throwing topwater and senkos. Also start getting ready or night ishing and watch out or the TROLL.

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: 56-58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Congradulations to the guys who did well in the ABA So.Oregon tourney. 21.5 lbs or a our ish limit, Outstanding. Local boys Rob and Dave made a great showing with 20.5 lbs or 2nd. Chris and Robert had lunker with a 7.5 large and inished third with 3 4lb. smallies or 19.5 lbs. Does this tell us anything about the quality o the Trinity Fishery. All these quality ish on a ull moon and the day ater a cold ront. Wow!
      City: Weaverville

Sunday, April 28th, 2002

  • Solano County
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched early out o B&W and got one crank ish early(bait was being chased everywhere)Tried buzzbaits ,spinner baits and cranks with no urther success.Switched to senko and nailed a 3# and a monster 10+ right up in the tules on a lat area.Took a photo and released her right away.Scale is on it's rom Cabela's.Thanks to Jonah at Hi's Tackle Box or turning me on to the custom colored Senko.What a thrill.I'll post the photo and hope someone can give me a better guess on the weight.I've got a 10# at Berryessa,Clearlake and now the Delta!! I am stoked.
      City: Napa

    • By

      Water Temp: 59 deg

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out o b&w resort . ished gary yamamoto ishing was tight today in the north delta . 4 bass in 4 hrs got one blow up on buzz bait . nothing else , all were in the 3 lb class ished tules tight . threw some blades got one on blades and rest on worms plastic that is . had a late start today . wasnt really in the mood wanted to just get out and get ready or the summer tourneys. sounds like the south delta is your best bet . c u on the water .......
      City: Vacaville

      Tips: get geared up or a hot summer.

    • By

      Water Temp: 45-50

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: LOT'S o CARP, HUGE, GIANTS, right at mouths end o Stanislaus River and Delta, just happened to catch one on top water chartruse spinner bait (by luke accident) about 15-17 lbs, while ishing or bass. Would love to catch more but don't really know what they bite on. Just want to catch and release. Any suggestions?? tried bread, cheese, corn, powerbait, and clams....anything else? This things are enourmous and put up a hell o a ight and are un to try to reel in. Anyone out there no the secret to what they like??? Let me know. I'm going again next weekend by Kayak! thanks. :)
      City: Manteca

    • By

      Water Temp: 61-62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: started at daybreak at ranks,lipped jig,nothin. pitched zipper and it was on.went back over jig water and stuck a 6.2,5.0,4.9 and 3.3 in 1 hr.proceeded to miss 4 more then boated 2-2.5s. headed to lil mandeville and started w/luke,got a wild hair and picked up buzzbait and boated a 6.7 and 4.1 back to back, missed 3 more and split. these ish were on a summer pattern,spawned long ago and heald and eeding heavy. bites were very aggresive. 26.9 or 5 will take a check.
      City: sacto

    • By

      Water Temp: 60-65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went to camp ar west today and cought 10 spots in the rock creek arm. All in 4 to 14 eet o water. Cought them all on white spinnerbaits with silver blades.
      City: Rocklin

      Tips: let the spinnerbait sink into the bottom and keep it in their strike zone.

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Great Day. 2nd time at Folsom and it was a beauty. Started out at 6:15 hoping to get a topwater bite. Tons o ish jumping but no takers. First ish was a spot or my partner and guide Mike (Tiger) Madsen at 7:15 on a wacky senko. Then I got a nice 1.9# spot on a senko. Then another spot. Then Tiger hit a 2.9# largemouth. Then another spot or me. We ished till 5:00 in several dierent areas and ended up with 25 ish in the boat (and released). 4 LMB, 3 SMB, 18 Spots. My brother Steve was with Greg Miles in the other boat. Steve got 7 including 2 LMB one went 5.2# (Steve makes the club) and Greg did manage to catch one himsel. Most all ish on Senko's - mostly watermelon (black and/or red lake)very subtle bite. We ished alot o brush, alot on the shallow side when we could. Steve was ishing Grubs on points and drop os.
      City: Paciica

      Tips: Gary Yamamoto knows his stu.

  • Butte County
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      Water Temp: 58-61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: We started ishing about 10:00am. The bite was airly consistant or the irst three hours or so. Worms and Senkos were the only thing working or us. No reaction bite at all. Even without any wind the ish were still only 5 to 10 eet deep. I am still trying to igure out where all o the big ish are. I read all o these reports and talk to people that claim to have cought 12 and 13 pound limits. Then I ish in the Chico Invitational and out o 71 teams the best weight is 10.7 or so. I geuss those 16 to 17in ish must weigh 3 pounds. Well I weighed two at 17 inches and they only weigh between 2 and 2.5 pounds. We cought some largemouth but they sure didn't have much size to them. We ended up with about 40 ish, best ive went about 9.5 pounds.
      City: Chico

      Tips: Fish slow, the water hasn't warmed up yet. The ish are shallow but they aren't really agressive. Dont be araid to do a little "dead sticking" Good Luck.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 58-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ish pulled out to deeper water, due to inclimate,weather did manage a small limit on spinnerbaits and spooks early in morning,alot o boat traic I hope others did better than me. I SHOULD OF STAYED AROUND MANZANITA ROWS ON SOUTH SHORE OF BRIDGE BAY. GOOD FISHING TO ALL TOM
      City: redding

      Tips: TERMINATOR SPINNERBAITS WITH WHITE BLADES AND HEDDON SUPER SPOOK IN "REDFISH WITH A NO.020 MARKS TAIL IN "SMALLMOUTH"

  • Sonoma County
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: un day on the lake. got to lake at 8am to cold to be early 41 air temp. started in cherry spotted bed ish roght rom the get go and practiced my bed ishing untell 2pm, 23 total and switched to a crank. got 12 on the crawdad crank. had to leave by 330. all told sweet day on the lake, ish rom 11/2 to 6lbs males still on the beds bigger ish came on the crank.
      City: Rohnert Park

      Tips: crawdad color crankbaits down to 10t stop&go, mini tubes and jigs or bed ish

  • Trinity County
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      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished ABA Oregon South Tourneyment at Trinity 4/28/02. We ished the ballpark area and the lats swimming Mother's Finest Hooktail Grubs or suspended prespawn ish. Caught tons o Smallies and a ew largemouth. Ended up with two smallies and two largemouth or 14.75 lbs or ourth place. First had 4 largemouth or 21.8 lbs.
      City: Eugene OR

      Tips: Mother's Finest Hooktails (available at Phil's Props in numerous colors) on 1/4 oz darter heads swam at various depths. Blackberry Wine and Smoke Hologram were working. Also caught a ew splitshotting MF Fidgets.

Saturday, April 27th, 2002

  • Amador County
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      Water Temp: 65-68

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Well there it goes i never write in reports i just like to read them but this time i just could not resist my sel i had to tell other people besides my wie and kids what a great day i had and like they say i rather be lucky then good and saturday i was lucky, the day started rough up at 4:00am try to wake my boys but no luck so i'am o to the lake crossing the state line the electronic traic control sign said chains required beore kirkwood i kept going beore kirkwood there was a lashing sign chains required but no cal trans i kept going again it was snowing hard the trip normally takes me 2 hours saturday 3 hours 45 min, i'am in the water at 8:00 am this time i desided i was going to ish the south side o lake i started in ront o launch ramp my second cast into some brush i pitched a 5" senko #297 a 3 1/2 4 lb bass hit it on way down that was a good start and thats what i did just thru my senko shallow and into brush cought 14 bass on senko the biggest was my irst ish the rest were between 1-3 lbs took a break to have lunch at 1:30pm, last saturday i ished amador also and it was slow bass ishing that day so i headed back into Jackson Creek to look or croppie i cought 12 nice croppie and like 20 blue gill ( released all ) so i'am o to Jackson Creek to look or croppie again all the way back into the creek i start with my ultra lite set up with a green croppie jig, croppie were tough cought 4 in 2 hrs and 6 blue gill but this is when my luck kicked in o to my let rom where i was ishing i started hearing bass busting surace so i head over there to check it out and bass had shad anbushed in between some vertical rocks and shad were jumping every where i had a rod setup with a 3/8 oz Terminator dbl willow chart. spinner bait thru it in the middle o all the action i let sink or about 4 sec beore i started my retrieve started crancking and a bass hit it like a reight train it scared the @#!%$ out o me i was not expecting that took me about 10 min to bring bass in it was a nice bass pulled my digital scale it weight 11 lbs 6 oz i did noticed 2 big sores on the side o ish like gashes anyway i put bass in my live well to take back to marina to weight it in their scale but bass was going crazy in live well and the live well on my tracker is small it was banging all over the place i elt bad considering it already had couple o big sores i didnt want bass to get ingured any more i had a heck o a time pulling it rom live well it banged my hand couple o times but i got it and looked at it one more time and releaded it beautiull ish, well that was the irst one my next one same way just thru spinner bait back into boil and again another bass hit not as hard but still a good one this one 9 lbs 8 oz i cought 2 more 8 lbs 4 oz and a 7 lbs i kept throwing but it looked like bass were inished eating and everything just stopped no more shad jumping no more boils it was 5:30pm and i had to start thinking about going home i didnt catch a sigle ish today on my 6" carolina rigged lizard so i igured i had about 1 1/2 hrs to try headed to the main lake points and started throwing my lizard cought 3 bass 1 1/2-3 lbs 6:30pm start packing all my gear o water at 7:00pm, and the way home well thats another novel but it was well worth it.
      City: Gardnerville, Nevada

      Tips: Have un ishing practice catch and release

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: With that cold ront thats been moving through the ish are deep in the tulies, I got 3 with a rip bait one was no biger than the ripbait i was using maybe 5inches, he was an ambitious little thing, another went 1.5lbs Fished or ever with no bites no hits that didnt get a hook, so I started throwing any color senko I had, Cinnamon/Purple&black lake was knocking them dead diping it deep in the tulies I pulled two good or around 2lbs and a lot more or 1.5 to 1 lb. Saw a good size large mouth jump ater some minnow looked to be about 8 or more lbs. Good luck every one Ill head back out irst day a warm ront moves through.
      City: Pittsburg

  • Sacramento County
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      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went out to the salmon alls bridge again and landed a 16 inch largemouth o the same renzy rattler in the dark. I have only been spending maybe an hour at a time out there so i got to get out there more and i'm suer there will be more activity. I also have a question that i hope someone can help me out with. My baitcast reel is starting to squeak and i'm guessing i need to clean it but i dont' know how. Can someone e-mail and tell me what i need to do. Thanks.
      City: Folsom

      Tips: The hardbaits seem to be doing good up at the salmon alls bridge rom the shore.

    • By

      Water Temp: 60ish

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Went up to tube, too damm windy. Fished the bank on the point by the campground. Lost two riggs to the trees no hits called it a day. (still better than sitting around the house)
      City: Los Banos

  • Mariposa County
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      Water Temp: 62-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My mom and I ished a tourney and started out at Cottonwood. She was catching on a spinnerbait and I was catching on a Jr. spook. Later in the morning and the rest o the day we caught on anything, but our better ish were on brushhogs in the grass at least the largemouth were (2.4lbs). We ended up with a little more weight than my dad (pineapple) and his partner, but not good enough to place.
      City: Delhi

      Tips: topwater and spinnerbaits in the morning and worms, brushogs. Largemouth were in the grass in back ends o coves shallow 1t-5t. Slow down your spinnerbait don't burn it.

    • By

      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 6:30 am to 1:30 pm. Spent the day in the river arm ishing lats & coves. I started w/top water & spinner bait while partner ished a split shot 4" green craw type worm. Boated 8 ish by 7 am, most in the slot & all spots. Top water & spinner bait bite shut down by 9 am so we ished various split shot plastics, i.e. baby brush hogs (watermelon w/red lake), same color 4" lizards, green craw style worms, & pumpkin w/green & black lake Senkos. We caught 40+ ish or the day but a typical McClure culling the clones day. Best ive went about 8 lbs. & boated only one black all day. Tourney big ish was 10.5 lbs.. Fish were a little deeper because o the colder weather but were being caught almost anywhere on the lake. Most consistent bigger ish bite appears to have been the Horse Shoe Bend area using weightless or split shot Senkos.
      City: Delhi

      Tips: Morning top water & spinner bait then ish the plastics on your avorite stlye o rig. Let your spinner bait go a little deeper w/a slow to moderate retrieve rate. I used white & chartruese w/double willow lea in 3/8th oz.

    • By

      Water Temp: ???

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I went to San Pablo with my dad. Rented a motorboat and strarted ishing around 9:30 AM. I had 2 poles, my dad had 1,I put a night crawler on a size 12 treble hook or some trout on one pole. On the other pole I had my pros top secret jig, so they say, going or largemouths. I went to the cove right across rom the boat rental place. I was there or about 10 minutes and then wham a 2 pound rainbow trout. ater that I got nothing or the rest o the 3 hours. I saw other people catch 1 or 2 trout
      City: San Bruno

      Tips: Go very early I saw a man leaving at about 9:00 am with 10 rainbow trout that were all aleast 2 pounds.

  • Shasta County
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      Water Temp: 59.4

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I apologize or any o you who were awakened this morning early in the upper McCloud by some screaming and yelling, it was Keith celebrating his beakast bet win with a stinking 12 1/4 inch ish that managed to impale himsel on Keith's jig hook as it swam by looking to commit suicide, jeeesh u woulda thought the guy had hit the lottery, he is such a pain in the butt and I pitty the poor dental patients that he has scheduled next week because they are going to have to sit through his rendition o catching the SMALLEST legal bass Shasta had to oer. Oh well, in the water at Hirz Bay at 0540, no wind lake lat, 42 degrees and a bit oggy, lake at 8t and we ran up near ellery creek where the aorementioned tragedy occured ollowed by 17 more beore 0730 when the bite came to a screeching halt. mostly on jigs and a ew on Keiths clear worms, quite a ew trout trollers arrived shortly thereater to ish near the McCloud bridge or the big brown trout that has showed up in the past ew days ollowed by a bunch o squawish, we went in about 930am where I had to oreit money or Keith's gratiication.
      City: Redding

      Tips: don't take keith ishing!