Fishing Report

Limit:

Sunday, April 7th, 2002

  • Mariposa County, California
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      Water Temp: 58 to64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: ished cotton arm and temperance arm all day. got on the water at day light and started ishing blades in the back o cotton. irst ish came on second cast on a laydown, 3.3. went down the back with nothing until the next wood in the water and bam another solid black in the 3# class.kept ishing down the bank with nothing until...you guessed it another laydown and another ish.this one was a solid 2.5 spott. anyone seeing a pattern here?.well i did and yes i started going rom wood to wood catching ish. it seemed like i got bit on at least hal the stick ups or laydowns that were at least close to the bank. ended up catching 12 in cotton and about same amount in temperance arm. thrue blades the whole time. white and chart. with a small gold col. blade and a medium silver willow blade with a chart. grub trailer and a trailer hook. dont know i i needed the trailer hook as these ish were enguling the bait. most ish came in 2 to 6 eet o water with several bites as soon as the blade hit the water so hang on to your rod and be ready. total ish or the day 20 to 25. o the water at 1:00.
      City: oakdale, ca.

      Tips: ish blades around every piece o wood you come across. and ish parallel to the bank. i was burning it back or slowed down it didnt matter today.

  • Lake County, California
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      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Tried Fishing or BASS again to no avail. The wind was terrible and there are a ton o squaw ish in this lake, every time you thought you got qa good ish it turned out to be an ugly garbage ish. Looks like they have taken all o the so called bass away with them. Worse yet I think the logging road was hit by enemy ire, I put 1,000 miles on my boat and trailer in 16 miles. We did catch a couple blue gills on night crallers but overall the trip was a bust. I think I'll try clearlake or Sonoma ater I tighten all o the bolts on my trailer and reconnect the trolling motor.
      City: Potter Valley

      Tips: I you like squaw ish this is your lake.

  • Palo Pinto County, California
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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got out or a couple o hours today, got nothing. I lipped a black and red jig the entire time, got one bite, and didn't get a good hookset.On a really sad note I ound a gill net in some tules. As I was pulling and cutting it out I pulled up a bass. It was about 1.5#. I thought it was dead at irst but it moved so I careully cut it ree and let it go.I suspect that people who would use a gill net are not likely to visit this orum so I'll skip preaching about why they are so bad. GILL NETS SUCK!
      City: Santa Cruz

      Tips: Try something other than a red and black jig. I you use a gill net I hope Fish and Game get a hold o you.

  • Westchester County, California
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      Water Temp: 60to65

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: little west wind,ished robo zippers and rattle traps.landed 5 smallies in a two hour stay.i am not writing about the ish i released butt the ones that were not!Every time i bass ish the house shoe i see guys ising and catching nice 2lb to 4lb LM bass and throwing them in to back packs and on stringers.I dont know i they dont like bass or i they just dont know how much keeping bigger bass hurts the uture o the bass and bass ishing in that lake.they plant trout or ishing and eating they dont plant bass,and i we dont catch and release bass we wont be haveing the un o cathing bass in a year or so......thanks or reading.............mike
      City: hayward

      Tips: ish windy points with texas rig plasticsor smallies.

  • Shasta County, California
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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Finesse worms on willows and mud lines near lats.Caught 25 or there abouts today.It's as nice as as it gets right now.The only problem with nice weather is all the retards appear,they can't back up thier boat trailers,but when they do get in the the water they can scare up some mud lines!
      City: Redding

      Tips: Almost any 3 1/2 or 4" worm,Wilows and mud lines near lats.

    • By

      Water Temp: 53

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I have been reading some reports about Bed ishing, and the Vietnamese people. First o I would like to correct some statments made. I am a Vietnam Veteran, and have been involved with the veterans community or years in Redding. I am also a tournament isherman, and have been involved with the ishing community or years. What I would like to correct is the orientals that we see ishing on Shasta are not Vietnamese. We only have a ew Vietnamese amilys living in Redding. The people we see are Mung or Laotian. I havc on many occations checked the buckets and stringers o these people to see i in act they are taking ish home that are not legal, and I have never ound them doing anything illegal. All they are doing is catching ish to eed there amilys.I can tell you also that they are not nearly as wastull as we are. They eat just about every part o the ish they catch.Now or bed ishing I agree that some restrictions need to be taken to protect our uture population o ish. I just wonder how inorcing the law to protect them would be carried out.
      City: Redding

      Tips: There are plenty o ish on Shasta, and a ew ish taken home to eat will not hurt anything . What we need is a slot limit.

  • Nassau County, California
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      Water Temp: not sure

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Boat was broke down, so I went up and ished o the bank. I was ishing near the dam on the east shore o the lake or most o the time. I caught seven there, three were keepers. Biggest weighed close to three pounds. I went and ished in the trees on the North side o the lake and got one more. There were lots o isherman on the North side, and rom what I saw, not too many ish.
      City: Corcoran

      Tips: watermelon colored worms do the trick.

Saturday, April 6th, 2002

  • Plumas County, California
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      Water Temp: 51-55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Wedid not actualy ish at almanore today, went to a small lake called butte lake very near almanore. The ishin was good, we had a small club tournament there today. There were 13 boats, and several boats had 17-181/2 pounds or ive ish all smallmouth. My partner and I had just over 22 pounds or our ive,it was an incredible day.
      City: susanville

      Tips: This time o year smallmouth are moving up on the lats lokking or places to spawn. Try suspending jerk baits, and gitzits.

  • Amador County, California
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      Water Temp: 61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished with two clients on Friday morning, and another client at night. The three o us started about 7:30 am on a very cloudy and breezy morning. We started in Mountain Spring arm and I was trying a Weapon jig, while clients were using a Berkley Pulse Worm and the other a Senko. In about 10 minutes I hooked a nice 5 1/2 pounder in a bush. She might have already spawned. So we thought the jig bite would be good - it wasn't! The pulse worm produced three bass or one client up to 2 3/4 lbs. Ater some breakast, we tried to sight ish a bit, but only saw one big ish and she took o. In the aternoon, the sun came out or about an hour, and they were able to sight ish some 2 1/2 lb males. It was un, and we put them right back. Those males were chasing anything that moved!! Fun to watch!! We used chartreuse lizards and Senkos. We wound up with 9 bass, but only one nice size one. The night trip was a dierent story. The water wasn't able to warm up with the threat o rain (it didn't - thank goodness), and I think it hurt the night bite. The ront cleared out about 9 pm and the air temp dropped - a ormula or ailure. It turned out to be a damp, cool night, with heavy air. One nice thing - no east breeze! My client was ishing heavier equipment or the irst time and did well, catching three bass in our irst hour beore dark. Ater dark, as only can happen at Amador, the bite TOTALLY died. Even the spawning males wouldn't hit. Ater some good trips there recently, this was hard on me!! We ending at the dam and he caught another 2 pound bass and then his irst Warmouth bass - and it was a beauty. He was excited to catch something new. I believe he had 8 or 9 total bite during the trip, and I had one. I always have to chuckle when I hear olks say that guides sometimes catch all the ish. Not only is that not true, sometimes they catch none!!! I'm sure he was a pretty happy ella driving home on a tough night saying, "Well, I showed Hemphill how to do it!". And I couldn't be happier - I'm so glad he got the action - he was doing something better than I was. I had him ishing the junebug Dead Ringer 8" worm, and again, it worked well at Amador. I stuck with the jig most o the night - no cigar this time! Last trip, I caught all my quality ish on a jig - go igure!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I think timing is very important in the spring - i you can ish during a string a warm days - ish will move on the beds. The cool weather will move them o sometimes. Try brown or black baits i the water is clear, but use white or chartreuse baits or sight ishing i the water is dingy - and some o it is, especially in Cat Cove. Topwater did now work or us - probably was too cool.

  • Napa County, California
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      Water Temp: 57-61

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: We started in the skier's cove and found a couple on a rip bait, but not size. The fish moved out due to the colder weather. Talked to another boater and he indicate the water temp dropped 3 degrees in the past week. We then ran up to Pope Creek and found a couple of bed fish to 2.5 lbs. We ended the day with 6 keepers.
      City: Rohnert Park

      Tips: Look for smallie bed down to 20' in clear water. When the weather warms, the bite should be wide open. (it's raining today as I write this the 9th)The largemouth should start moving up when the water temp gets into the 60's.

  • Solano County, California
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      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished the New Bass tourney on Sat. with JK. We went right to our spring spot in whites and immediately got on blade ish, but couldn't get on any quality ish. We shot across the cut about 100 yards where the better quality ish usually come rom and got on a good lipless crank bite. It was lights out or about 15 minutes and then things really died. Around 9:30 we only had 4 ish in the boat, but knowing that the delta can turn on and o at any time, we stayed in the area. I'm glad we did, because by 10:30 the plastic bite was really starting to open up. In the next 1 1/2 hours we hit 2 ives and a our to give us a pretty respectable limit. We managed to get around 25 ish or so and brought in a good limit o 23 1/2 pounds which was good enough or 2nd.
      City: roseville

      Tips: Same old story. Senko's, jigs and reaction baits. It was extremely windy, which made or tough ishing, but the reward is there i you put the time in. Most o the quality ish were in 2 eet o water or less. The spawn is on as a ew o our ish actually had some eggs coming out. I don't mean to contradict mysel and I know this may not be a very popular opinion, but it wouldn't break my heart i tournaments were not allowed and a catch and release was mandated on all bass waters in the state between the dates o 3-15 to 5-1 so the ish could properly do their thing. I will still ish the tourny's because I love the competition, but I saw many quality ish that weren't exactly swimming away ater they were released on Sat.

    • By

      Water Temp: 62-64

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished out o River End. Lauched at 5:45 and headed up the main river. Flipped all day with a 7" BigB's Bassin worm Black w/Chart Tail, My partner lipped a 6" worm. Hooked a ew here and there and ended the day with 20 bass 1-3 lbs. A better day on the delta. Can't wait till the blade bite gets real good.
      City: Fremont

      Tips: At low tide lip tight to tullys or run into disco. High tide lip with brushhog or crank a speedtrap over the weeds. They are hungry and don't give up.

    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: ished rom big break to central delta. had no problem inding hungry bass willing to hit just about anything thrown at them. (mainly that torpedo looking plastic)ha ha. have been catching alot o better ish on black jig with a blue pork trailer. and thanks to a good riend o mine i have also been able to establish a pretty good rog bite here lately, i have been throwing the rog in sparse tuleys in about 3 eet o water and the ish have been crushing it!
      City: Oakley

      Tips: as everyone knows senko's are very consistent, black/blue and brown and blue jigs have been good and don't hesitate to throw that rog! also the breaks on the islands where there is good current have been good using a crystal craw speed trap in 1/8 oz. GOOD LUCK! get out there and get'em while it's hot!

    • By

      Water Temp: 54

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished rom Old River, Disco Bay, then back to Sandmound.Managed 6 bass, largest around 3#. 2 came unbuttoned.Not much o a Senko bite or us. Did our damage on S&P Yamamoto grubs/1/8 darthead. Diicult to lip and pitch rom a 17 t. Tracker when the entire Delta Fleet oWeekenders and O-Shore racers are swamping my "ride". I will go home and blame it on the cold ront.
      City: Martinez

      Tips: Get out there as oten as possible!

  • Lake County, California
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      Water Temp: 57 to 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Spent the entire weekend up at the lake. Usually this time o year is awsome. We had some problems. With the cold ront that moved in the night we arrived, came cooler water. the wind mucked up the water. we could not see any bed ish.I caught ish on a 8" swimbait. Blackblue jig and a senko.9 ish 2 @ 5lbs, the rest around threeish. Bite or us was over by 11am. We hit it hard and struggled the entire trip.Fished only the north rom Lucern to Corrinthians.Best pattern was to ish the tulie pockets in the am. I think I was on top o beds but we could not see any due to the wind and water color.Good Luck all.The ishing should really pick up soon. just not this weekend or us!.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Senko! Senko!Swim bait in the lats outside spawn areas.Jig the wood!

  • Tuolumne County, California
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      Water Temp: 58-62

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got in the water at daybreak.Fished main lake coves..Caught ish rom 2 t to 20 t deep.All on worms & splitshoting a senko.Did catch a ew on the senko with no weight,was to windy..We caught rom dink's to 2 1/2 lbs.Got 13 over 12 in. let at 1 pm.Got two blowups on a top water & threw spinner & crank some,no takers...
      City: Riv

  • Butte County, California
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      Water Temp: 59

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Sometimes, guiding can be un and very satisying!! I took a ather-son team to Oroville on Wed. and Thurs. Since dad has retired and lives in southern Cali, they don't get to ish much together and told me they have been skunked the past 6 or 7 times them have ished together. I tried to come to the rescue and I think I saved them! We caught 25 the irst day with 4 over the slot, and 39 the second day with 9 over! We tried hard or the 40th bass, but we ran out o time. The weather was very weird - og on the lake Wed at 10 am! We launched at 10 am both days, planning to ish the later, hopeully warmer aternoon - good choice! Wed. we started in some o my avorite places in the north ork with very poor results. On to the middle ork and things looked up about 3 pm. We used rodstrainer jigs in brown/orange and purple/blue/black and they produced our bigger bass. We also used a 4 inch Berkley Pulse Worm. The irst topwater bass o the year were landed on Chug Bugs. They would not hit a morning dawn Magic Worm - amazing!!! Thursday, we had some success on jigs in the south ork, but this was to be a Senko day. They both wanted to learn how to ish them - and learn they did!! A ew avorite areas beyond the Enterprise bridge really produced - one in particular. A guides dream - we were hooking spots up to 2 1/4 pounds on every second or third cast - or about an hour. They were so excited - and I was happy or them! This was rom about 4 to 5 pm - on a sun-exposed bank. We lost one o two quality topwater ish - darn! We used the 5 inch Senko in colors 221 and 194 mostly. Others worked too. I did manage one largemouth in McCabe on a Senko - about 2 pounds. Fun, Fun!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: We did not ine many bass in the backs o creeks, they had moved out to the closest points. We didn't ish any deeper than 20 eet. Fishing picked up in shadows later in the day, but was best on sun-exposed areas shortly beore the sun let the area.

  • Bayfield County, California
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      Water Temp: 55-58

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Windy and Chilly, partly cloudy. Fished upper end in the 5mph area. Fish were spooky due to the clear water. Saw very ew ish and caught only six 12" to 15" ish. Five o them with worms on rock piles or stumps in 10' to 15' o water. One on a crankbait in the shallow lats in the aternoon (long cast!) Also one nice trout (dinner!) on a white spinnerbait, go igure! Most others I talked to were having a slow day as well.
      City: Eureka

      Tips: Look or the water to warm a bit and the ish to move into a spawning pattern! Should be anytime now. Lots o ry around brush and shallow structure should help the crankbait bite when it warms up.

  • California
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      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Coming down or a camping trip at Margarita April 18th - 22nd. Does anyone have any reports rom this lake? Please post or e-mail. Any tip would help.Thanks, Fredrico.
      City: Pleasanton

Friday, April 5th, 2002

  • Plumas County, California
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      Water Temp: 55

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: All you old boys need to go to Shasta ,Almanor is not to good you can only get about 16 to 18 pounds with 5 ish now days.

      Tips: Right now anything will work