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Northern California Lake Fishing Report

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Thursday, March 27th, 2014

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Caught my personal best ever fish in Oroville today. A giant 20 inch, 4.25 pound spotted bass hog. Got it on a curly tail roboworm in 20 feet of water. Got 8 other spots, 2 16", 2 14 1/2" with the rest 13-14" Great day on the water for me. Let the hog go in Lime Saddle to grow bigger.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Anyone with a boat looking for a fishing partner???? let me know and we'll go catch some spotted bass. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net

Tuesday, March 25th, 2014

  • Lake County
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      Water Temp: 60-64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Clear Lake is living up to its name - its gone clear again!! Mike Sperbeck and I decided to do a Monday evening trip - NOT KNOWING - the Holder tournament had been held Sat and Sun. Mike and I couldn't figure out why during the few hours before dark we could only catch 4 bass - the biggest at barely ONE pound!! What is going on?? As the sun set on a gorgeous evening, I finally stick a good one at 5 1/2 lbs, my first good Senko bass of the year. The fishing continued to be fair thru the first 2 hrs after dark and then simply died! Mike and I managed three around 4 1/2 lbs and I did get big fish at 6.87 lbs, on a jig. We both lost a really big bass. We could have had a really good limit had we landed one of those, but we were pleased with best 5 around 25 1/2 lbs. We had around 13-14 bass total - NOT counting the dinks!!! Our quality bass were all 10 to 20 feet - a little deeper than previous trips. We were using Senkos, beavers, Havoc baits, and jigs.

      Tips: It was interesting to see after our trip, wiping off the Ranger, absolutely NO moisture on the boat. That is how dry the atmosphere is. That never happens on a cloudless night during the cold months. We covered most of the west side of the Clearlake arm which I am sure had been previously covered well by the tournament anglers! At least they saved us a few!!

Sunday, March 23rd, 2014

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Hit the lake around 1 pm to find a full parking lot at Capell. Went north and started fishing north of the big island. Beds are starting to show with a few locked on here and there. The next week should get fun if you like to sight fish. Ended the day with about 20 fish on swimbaits and jigs. Fish were caught in the first fifteen feet.

      Tips: Brown jigs and keitech swimbaits were the ticket. The shallow fish were tough to catch with the bright sun but in the evening the went shallow and bit.

    • By

      Water Temp: 56 / 63

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Spring is definitely here! I went out Saturday with my buddy Albert the water was calm, slightly stained, and it looks like the lake is turning. It shouldn't be too long before the bass start preparing to lay their eggs. The surface water temperature was between 56 degrees in the morning to 63 degrees in the afternoon. My first stop was in the back of one of my favorite coves where the water was shallow and warmer. We fished in three feet of water with access to twelve feet using plastic baits and Carolina rigs with brass and glass and Procure crawdad scent a very successful combination for the day. After fishing this area for a while we decided to go to the east side to the first flats and had very good results fishing in 4 to 5 1/2 feet of water. The bass I landed weighed in between 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds. We ended the day by the vineyards near the tree stumps by the barbwire fence and we could hear fish jumping all around us. Landed a nice limit for the day. Knowing the lake and where to go does make a difference. Next weekend I plan on using the same set-up. 'til next week...............................................................good fishing!!!!!
      www.fishingconnection.com If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com
      or call me at 650-583-3333.
      City: San Francisco

      Tips: SMARTPHONE HAS APPS THAT I RECOMMEND ONE IS A GPS THAT HAS WAYPOINTS WHEN YOU FIND A LOCATION THAT YOU WANT TO REMEMBER RECORD IT THIS APP IS FREE.

    • By

      Water Temp: 56 thru 63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Spring is definitely here! I went out Saturday with my buddy Albert the water was calm, slightly stained, and it looks like the lake is turning. It shouldn't be too long before the bass start preparing to lay their eggs. The surface water temperature was between 56 degrees in the morning to 63 degrees in the afternoon. My first stop was in the back of one of my favorite coves where the water was shallow and warmer. We fished in three feet of water with access to twelve feet using plastic baits and Carolina rigs with brass and glass and Procure crawdad scent a very successful combination for the day. After fishing this area for a while we decided to go to the east side to the first flats and had very good results fishing in 4 to 5 1/2 feet of water. The bass I landed weighed in between 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds. We ended the day by the vineyards near the tree stumps by the barbwire fence and we could hear fish jumping all around us. Landed a nice limit for the day. Knowing the lake and where to go does make a difference. Next weekend I plan on using the same set-up. 'til next week...............................................................good fishing!!!!!
      www.fishingconnection.com If you have any questions or stories you would like to share please email me at bestguide@hotmail.com
      or call me at 650-583-3333.
      City: San Francisco

    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished from safe light until 5 pm. Absolutely crushed 'em all day with Pony Boy. Well over 20 keepers with best 5 going close to 22 lbs. more info to come after the BBT event on March 15th.

      Tips: Take a kid fishing!

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62-65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched out of Orwood at 7:15. Got one on top water just south of there then a couple more strikes. Picked up a couple more on a tule island point. Picked up dinner on another island point with a 46' drop off (see video). Few more here and there. All in all, pretty slow day with 7 fish including the striper. Still fun though. Here's the video: http://youtu.be/9G5kiXLQGq4
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: 2nd weekend on the Delta with the Luck-E-Strike RC Stick. Really produce numbers but haven't run into any bigger fish yet. Caught a couple on dropshot in Disco bay too using roboworms. Didn't see any bed fish and we were running around all over the place.

  • Yuba County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-62

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: I fished solo Friday afternoon and late Sunday afternoon. Fri I had some good takes on swimbaits and dumped a big spot at the boat. They are hard to net when alone. I caught 2 smaller spots this afternoon, but no takes on swimbaits - probably because of a north wind. Water temp dropped about 3 degrees because of the wind. I caught the 2 smaller bass on jigs.

      Tips: As usual, the water temp is a little better on the east side, but not much. West side has some good structure under the water now - should be good before long.

Friday, March 21st, 2014

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Finished a 3 day fishing vacation on the Delta.
      The wife and I stayed at the fishing cottage at
      Beacon Harbor. Nice. First two days were off the charts 10+ fish both days. 1.5 to 2 lbs biggest two maybe hit 3. Almost all on wacky rigged 5" senkos, green pumpkin and green pumpkin
      with purple flake. A few on Cooch's brown Wadda Jig with purple and blue flake Yamamoto single tailed grub. Temperature dropped the second night and that really slowed things down the third day only 2... yeah that must be it, the weather, couldn't be me ;)

      Tips: Wacky rigged senkos, against tules with moving deepish > 8ft water.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Temp: 52

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Dana loaned me his boat, so took it out and launched at Lime saddle about 7am and fished till noon. Bite is improving as the water warms. I ended up with 15 spots, 2 right at 15", 2 right at 14 1/2" with all the rest at 13-14". All fish in 5 feet to 25 feet of water on various curly tail roboworms. About 50% on Texas rig, about 1/4 of the fish on drop shot, 1/4 on shaky heads. Best color today was Salt & Pepper Chart, New Ayu worked well too. I'm not fishing as slow as the winter bite, and giving baits more action.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Anyone with a boat looking for a fish partner, let me know, lets go out and catch some spots together. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net

Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 57-61

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I had the privilege of taking another person on the UC Davis staff - and her son - to Berryessa, on a beautiful day! The fishing wasn't as beautiful as last week however, - lots of bass - but not the good quality of the last trip. No largemouth this trip, but several nice smallies in the 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 lb range. Nearly all of their bass were caught on off-shore structure and deeper - maybe because of all the north winds and cool nights. The green craw 6" Robo worm continued to work, but today the "New Ayu" color worked good in the afternoon! It produced most of the bigger fish. Best 5 only about 12 lbs.

      Tips: Bass were really scattered around today, again, mostly on off-shore flats. Points weren't as productive as last week. The shallow bites we had last week (in warmer weather) were non-existent this week except for one island top. Several fish landed in 12 feet of water. We fished the narrows, Skiers Cove, and the west side. Water has cleared some from last week.

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Couldn't buy a bite around discovery bay. Saw some cruisers, but 0 fish on beds. Picked a up a small male on drop shot between the weeds and rocks, sitting in 1-2 foot of water.

      We netted a dead striped that had choked to death on a 6.5 inch sun fish. My son being a true fisherman tried to count them as two more fish that we caught.
      City: Brentwood

      Tips: Jak's Custombaits Slick Worm in candy bug did the trick. They are cheaper than roboworms

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 58 - 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My buddy and I took our annual fishing trip to Clear Lake We fished three days, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (3/19/14 – 3/21/14) out of Lakeport. About noon Wednesday, we started fishing south of Lake Port but north of Long Tule Point. We stayed north of the point because I think every fishing boat on the lake was in the cove near the point. We caught a few nice fish to 4 ¼ lbs. The other boats were too far away to tell if they were catching anything. Later in the day, we move to the south side of Buckingham Pt. and located fish off shore in 5 – 12 ft. of water. Thursday we went north of Lake Port and found fish off shore again in 5 – 12 ft. of water near Rocky Point. The bite was on all morning. In the afternoon, we tried the entrance to Rodman slough. The water there was only about 2 ft. deep and very stained (almost muddy). Again boats at the entrance were stacked like cord wood. We did not catch anything and only saw a couple fish caught. Every boat there was throwing large swim baits. Friday, we headed south back to the fish we found Wednesday afternoon. The fish were there for several hours but then turned off or moved. Other places near by were tried with no success. We went back to our morning spot but the fish weren’t there. We found the fish again about 200 yards up the shore. In this area, we caught a 4, 5, and 6 pounder and many 3 and 2 pounders. For the three days, we caught 57 fish with our best 15 fish averaging 3 lbs 9 oz. Almost all the fish were caught off shore in 5 – 12 feet of water drop-shotting a purple 7 inch RoboWorm. Other techniques were tried with very limited success including various sizes of swim baits. Of all the fish we caught, only about 6 fish were female.
      City: Pinole

      Tips: The fish are staging in 5 – 12 feet of water and should be starting to bed any day now. The only problem I see is that the normal bedding areas are too shallow because the lake is about 5 feed down. The fish will need to bed off shore. This will make it harder to find them.

Sunday, March 16th, 2014

  • Solano County
    • By

      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at 7:45 out of Orwood, fished a little just south of there before Disco but no takers. Headed over to Mildred, stopped and picked up a shaker striper by the railroad tracks. Nailed a a handful on new jerkbait just right around Bull Frog Marina. Got a 2lb. 3oz. on topwater off a point just south Mildred (see video). Fished the breaks around Mildred and Mandeville where I got the rest of the fish. 11 total, maybe 5 or 6 keepers, best 5 would have only been in the 7 lb range. Top water was Sammy in MS American Shad pattern. New jerkbait is Luck-E-Strike RC Stick (41/2" Purple Flash, upgrade the hooks and split rings). Two best here: http://youtu.be/68ndwGETLao
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: Most of the fish came on the the levee breaks. All of the fish were relating to grass lines.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Took my 6 year old son out sun morning/afternoon. Fished the Bear river arm and the flats north of the dam. Non stop action, most dinks but fun! The better fish where on the flats, spotties probably moving up to spawning area. All fish were caught in less than 10ft, tried deeper but nothing. 21 total with biggest maybe 2.5lbs. Son outfished me again-- Camp Far is great for getting kids hooked on fishing!
      City: Loomis

      Tips: One on lipless, a few on small swimbait, a couple on dropshot, and non-stop on split-shot hula grubs

  • Riverside County
    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sunny about 85 degrees and I was thinking the big girls would be up in abundance. They were there but not like I thought they would be. Picked up a few on beds but could not get the big ones to eat. Caught twelve total on jigs in fifteen to twenty five feet off the rocky points. Threw the Nutech 3/8oz in green/purple with a Yamomoto twin tail trailer and fished it slow, pause, slow pause!

      Tips: If you want to catch fish stay out in 20-30 feet and fish points slow with jig of drop shot.
      Bed fish are starting to move up and should be locked on in next few days.

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

    • By

      Water Temp: 58-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: First time at the lake in almost a year and it fished GREAT. I took a rookie fisherman, my 2 year old, and 6 year old and still got bit. Fished from 7:45-1:30 and caught about 20 in total. Tried the main body and Rock Creek first thing and blanked in two hours of fishing. We moved to the Bear River arm and started whacking them. Caught 5 rats on a drop shot and the rest on a tube. Biggest five were a conservative 17-18 lbs, with a 7 lb largemouth being the donkey. Fast action and easy to pattern once we got bit.

      Tips: All fish were on inside of points that were protected from the wind. Most fish were in 15-20 feet, only one shallow in about 6 feet. Two fish were spitting up Bluegill when I got them in the boat.

  • Butte County
    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched at Lime Saddle this morning, right as the sun began to lighten the sky a tad. Windy, windy, super hard to hold the boat in position. I ended up with 7 spots, nothing of any size, all 13-14" with one right at 14 1/2" All fish 10 to 30 foot of water. Fat Roboworms did the trick, darker colors.
      City: Magalia

      Tips: Anyone with a boat looking for a fish partner, let me know and lets go catch some spots. Email me at Jewelweaver@earthlink.net

Friday, March 14th, 2014

  • Napa County
    • By

      Water Temp: 57-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: After 2 days of howling wind at Clear Lake, it was nice to have a rather calm guide trip at Berryessa!! I took two folks out of Markely about 8 am. It was pretty cold and so were the bass! No real bite for us until about 9:30 am. I hooked a feisty 3 1/2 lb smallie on a Robo worm in about 5 feet of water. What a beautiful fish - almost looked as tall as a Pardee smallie! After that the bite got quite good for quality bass including a 4 lb and 4 lb 11 oz largemouth! We caught 11 bass total with a 17+ lb best five. I think they are fishing an upcoming tournament, so I won't discuss the techniques we used. They did work however - LOL!!

      Tips: This was really one of my typical "teach the lake" trips, so we really didn't concentrate on catching big numbers of bass. We looked at the Lorwance a lot as I explained to them the "Lay of the Land!" Covered a lot of water. Wow - we found an island top in 9 feet of water - WAY off shore! Truly, Berryessa is a structure fisherman's dream!!!

  • Lake County
    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: After reflecting on this outing, & judging from this time last year, If you can possibly make it to Clear Lake in the next month or so, I'd do it! Fish are active & strong. You might have a few set back days if you encounter wind +/or rain, but if you can wait it out, you'll be rewarded. Larry started the madness for me about 7 years ago when I treated myself to a trip with him for my birthday. I was hooked on Clear Lake ever since! So thank you Larry!

      Tips: If you're going for a guided trip, you can't go wrong with Larry Hemphill!