Fishing Report

Limit:

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

  • Coos County, Oregon
    • By

      Water Temp: felt good

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: FINALLY got to Cottage Grove Lake for the first time this year. The water level is about what I expected- half way up the Lakeside boat ramp but the water was a bit stained. Also saw a lot of big floating chunks of wood out on the main body. Heard a couple boats flying around and it was a bit foggy so be careful out there. Fished a couple spots from the shore up the creek with no fish caught. One of my favorite spots up there doesn't even have water over it yet. May have to drag a few sticks of wood over to add a few hiding spots for the spawners that are sure to show up soon. I'll try again in a few days and post another report.
      City: yoncalla

      Tips: All I tossed was a jig and beaver and a shallow crankbait. Did see a couple fish jump while I was fishing. One looked to be a 12-13" trout and the last one looked to be a bass eating the 12-13" trout! Way,way bigger splash for that fish! May have a report for Tenmile Lake in the early part of May- we're gonna do a 2 day special as soon as I can get 2 days off in a row. P.S.-Work sucks!!

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

  • Solano County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: 65-70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched from sugar barge, worked around franks tract. Started flipping jig n pig, had one taker. Switched to wacky rig in grn /red flake and hooked into a pig! Up tight the the tulies during high tide. Was between 6-9 pounds but she broke my 12lb flouro at the knot! Would have been my PB . After tide changed the bite really died. Couple dinks here and there but nothing substantial
      City: livermore

      Tips: Wear sunscreen

    • By

      Water Temp: 72 +/-

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched the Nitro from Whisky Slough @4:00m(low tide)
      Headed to my spot. First fish went 2 plus pounds on a speedtrap, nothing for the next hour. Wind was kicking pretty good. About 7pm the bite seemed to get better. Caught a bunch of smaller fish again on speed traps. Switched up to double willow blades and nothing, headed to the launch ramp and the bite was on. My wife boated 5 on our way in( 2+ lbs) and I hooked arguably the strongest 7 pounder I have ever had the pleasure of catching. Absolutely inhaled the speed trap..
      As we waited for all the Ski Boats to load up it was almost dark the top water action looked promising. Threw and XPS poper, several blowups 1 hook up...
      City: Ripon

      Tips: Speed traps..slowly becoming my fav! All our fish came from Speed traps..3 trips in a row.
      Back at it friday eve and sunday afternoon
      late.
      The incoming tide seems to work for us..

    • By

      Water Temp: 65-73

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Launched New Hope and made our way to our usual Mokulemne tule strips, fully expecting a good reaction bite. Zip except a barely keeper my buddy hit on a craw/chartreuse belly rattletrap. So changed to plastics and brother hit a 1.5lber on junebug senko. I missed 3 hits on a watermelon/red bass patrol jig...I think I was waiting too long to set the hook. Nothing for the remainder of our time on that strip and on two other favs. Moved to White Slough and worked the shaded edges of laydown tules...picked up a 3.5lber on black/red flk senko...this time as soon as I got the familir "tick tick", I hit it hard for that first 3lber. Bro and another buddy picked up a couple more dinks. Then moved to our frog island just north of Sycamore...worked the tules/laydown tule edges and picked up another 3lb-12 and barely 2lber. Called it a day at 4pm. For the guy in the older Ranger fishing with his wife/gf, I tried to wave and say thank you for skirting around us as we were drifting and working the tules but you didn't see me. I was in the deepv Tracker with my bro and buddy. I was gonna do the same thing but you beat me to it and I didn't want you to think we were bullin' our way through. THANX!
      City: folsom

      Tips: Have none. Coudn't figure it out today. But with the heat and the water so stained, I stuck with black/red flk or black/blue flk on a flick shake 1/16 oz jig hook. I'd throw to edge of shady laydown tule mats and then just start shaking....hits were just a couple light tic-tics and I'd set immediately. Both 3lber hooksets were just inside the upper lip. Guesstimate on the water depth was probably 4-8feet.

  • Sacramento County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: 58-60

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Lol!! I'm glad I didn't read the previous post!! I would have felt extremely incompetent!! Fished from 7AM to 4pm. Threw everything at them with the end result 2 fish. One on a pearl grub near trees and one on a Stacy Perch colored Rip-Bait. All in all it was still fun. I heard the Future Pro Tour was won by the same team that caught the 15Lb Bass in a Tourney the week before!!
      City: W.Sac

      Tips: The opposite of me. Should have drop-shotted but I hate that type of fishing!!

  • California
    • By

      Water Temp: 70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: My buddy and I started the day with white lizards on the beds ,did very well,myfishing bud was realy on target with the fish in the back of my boat. I switched to black 4"plastic and thatalso worked.Boated 12 fish lost 5 , bigest went 3lbs.
      City: redwood city

      Tips: Whit lizards T-riged

  • Tuolumne County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: low 60's

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished 4/17, 4/18, and 4/19 the soft plastic bite was fantastic. mostly threw wacky sinkos with a slow twitch retrieve. I noticed the east side was more productive than the west.dart heads,texas rigs also worked. In the end boated about 120 fish to 3 lbs. Great fun
      City: berkeley

      Tips: Get off your couch, Help your wife, than go fish!

  • Amador County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: 60-72

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Some of you many be shocked at my 2-4 foot visibility entry, but there was lots of floating pollen in the water and made the lake almost look like Clear Lake. Not much sight fishing yesterday. Also, we found 60 degree water way up the river and about a half mile south - water was 68. Big difference. My guide trip ended rather sadly as my client (a good fisherman!) lost a 5 or 6 lb largemouth just before we quit. She wallowed on top and spit the hook. That makes the long ride home a little tougher. He caught most of our 12 or 13 bass, including his biggest smallie yet - a little over 2 lbs. Most of our bass were just 1 to 2 lbs. The major spawn hasn't started yet, so good days are ahead. He wanted to learn the lake better, so we spend a lot of time learning new areas for him to fish in the summer and fall. Lots of time spent with heads in the Lowrance HDS-8.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Jigs were working as were the new Berkley Havoc baits - especially the green pumpkin "Craw Fatty." That's what he lost the big one on. His hook might have been too small. Tried some rippin' and cranks - no takers. Lots of trout/salmon boats and a few bass boats. Not too many bass on off-shore structure. They are definatly moving shallow. What a beautiful lake in the spring!!!

Saturday, April 21st, 2012

  • Napa County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: 66-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I guided a great client on Friday - wanting to learn more about spring fishing on this beautiful lake. The trip is really about what we saw rather than what we caught, although we caught several nice bass. We never made it to the main body because fishing was so good in the narrows. We landed 16 to 18 bass with a good limit around 15 lbs - mostly largemouth to 3 1/2 lbs. The fun part was watching the monster largemouth cruising around in about 2 to 4 feet of water. They were very spooky and would not touch anything. All the bed fish we saw were 2 to 4 pounders. Watching big fish and sight-fishing the smaller ones made for a fun day. A brown Blade Runner jig with a chartreuse Yamamoto grub trailer was my bait and he brought his own stuff and was using something similiar. Most of our action was early in a very warm afternoon. Early morning bite was kinda slow.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: Water is quite clear in the lower part of the lake with lots of cover now under water. I heard the lake was a zoo today so that will probably hurt the visibility. Drop-shotting bright colored baits like Basstrix minnows, Senkos, or fishing jigs will all work for sight fishing. Please release everything immediately or right after a photo. This will help the tournament problem during the spawn!

  • Santa Barbara County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: 66-70

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Algae bloom starting to show with the warm weather.
      The bass are in 10' or less.
      The bite is great.
      Nothing very large today, but good #'s on both smallies and LMB.
      City: Ventura

      Tips: Fished split-shot robo
      4.5" curly hologram shad all day.
      Pulled 17 fish out in the 1.5 to 3.5 lb range.

  • Solano County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: Upper 60's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Whisky and Mildred Island an hour into outgoing tide in am. Slow start with senkos, differnt cranks, and then I switched to a Bomber Crank in Apple Red Crawdad and it was ON! Not many biggies, mostly dinks and a bunch in the 1.5-2.5 lb range and a couple solid 3's. Wasn't getting much off the tules, but when I started working the rip-rap it was on! Fish were in about 5-7 ft of water and they were hitting about 5-10 ft off the shoreline.

      First cast with the bomber - fish on! Second cast over the same area - fish on! I worked the same area for 3 passes and pulled 8 fish in 20 minutes. Maybe 20 casts in all... Moved on as it started to slow - threw the same bomber and seemed to connect only off the rip-rap or on rip-rap and tule edges. Tide dropped to much to crank so I switched to a Sweet Beaver in California 4:20 and pitched to tule pockets. I was getting better fish with this - about 4 more over the next 2 hours then called it quits.
      City: Sunnyvale

    • By

      Water Temp: 65

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Started in Whites got one 4lber and a 2lber on the tule islands, moved to Mildred got a some small ones, seen some giants patroling a small area so we pulled off the area anf fished it back and fourth but couldnt get em to go, left there hit an oxbow off thw main channel and got some top water fish best going 5lbs.
      City: Modesto

      Tips: Bite seemed to be tough today, we spent too much time on that group of big fish we seen. Was throwing sencos and jigs, low tide throwing frogs and buzzbait, biggest fish came off the frog, smallest fish off the buzzbait.

  • Butte County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: 60

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Lake Oroville today, lots of fun. Fishing is starting to turn on. Fished the South fork and main body of the lake. Caught 20-30 fish with the usual Senkos and Roboworms(biggest a three plus lb largemouth). We caught fish anywhere from the bank to twenty feet deep. Lastly would like to thank Bass tackle depot in Oroville for setting us up with the tackle for the day.
      City: Oroville, CA

      Tips: Fish the submerged trees. Practice caught and release.

Friday, April 20th, 2012

  • Napa County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: 59-68

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Left Markley at 6:30 AM. Immediately went to main lake, east side. Slow bite at first; 58 degree water. By the end of the day, water temp reached high sixties. The bite took off! 14 fish boater, 7 over 5 lbs. Soft plastic worms, wacky rigged was most effective. Fish caught in shallow water, 3-8 feet. Best 5 just under 30. Huge fish cruising everywhere. Berryessa is seriously my choice above Clear Lake these days. It is awesome!
      City: Esparto

      Tips: Use light line. 8 lb test flouro worked, but get the good stuff. Set your drag and hang on!

  • Seminole County, New Mexico
    • By

      Water Temp: 67*F

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Few to no fish left in the lake. Ran deep and shallows, all areas of the lake. Fish finder made 5 alerts all day. Lake is on catch and release only, due to levels of DDT found. This used to be an outstanding lake for fishing, hopefully it comes back around. Not bad at this time for boating and water sports. Max. depth was at 32 ft, so it is filling up.
      City: ARTESIA

  • Solano County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: 64 - 70 degrees

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Luanched the Custom Valco "BASSBUSTER1" out of Ladd's today at 2:30 p.m.and was off the water by 7:30 p.m. Takes me about an hour to run out to King Island and White Slough with my 15 hp 4-stroke Mecury so with just 3 hours of fishing I managed to catch 4 bass starting at the marina first and fishing my way around the island. My first bass about 2 lbs was cuaght punchin(black red flake strike king flippen tube) some laydown tule slop next to a dock. The second bass also around 2 lbs was cuaght on my strike king bitzy tube (chartruse/pepper flake) in shady areas of the docks. My third bass was cuaght carolina rigging a tube down to 12 feet along a rocky point in White Slough. My last bass, a 3 pounder, was cuaght during the incoming tide back in white slough casting my weightless tube(white/pepper flake with tail spiked in chartruse dye)to isolated tule clumps working it like a soft jerk bait and letting it sink once in a while. Over all with just 3 hours of fishing I'd say the bite was tough today.
      City: Stockton

      Tips: High blue skies fish heavy cover, shaded areas, or down deep. Challenge your self and learn to be versitle. I think for my next couple trips out I do this tubes-only challeng again, it was fun.

  • Lake County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: 60+

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Tons of fish cruising and on bed. Caught many in the 3lbs. range sight fishing, but couldn't get any big ones to go. Caught a few off of rocky tule pionts with a watermellon red flake senko whacky rigged. Also drop shotting a 4" brown and purple worm.
      City: Sunnyvale

      Tips: Stick to sight fishing NW To SW the farther south you go the greener to water becomes.

  • Alameda County, California
    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I saw a lot of green but only caught 3. Biggest only 2# largemouth with a belly full of eggs. Water was very clear. I could see down to 14 feet in some areas and must have seen around 40 or 50 bass in the spawning flats and coves. Some were just cruising but a lot of them showed interest in the lures I tried but most would not commit. The ones that did seemed to be mostly slapping at the baits. Missed a lot of fish. A large striper took my swimbait at 8am. I had a freshly tied knot on my flippin rod spooled with 20# fluorocarbon but the line snapped shortly after the hook set not far from the boat. I'll keep the drag set looser in the future...

      Tips: Fish shallow where you see Christmas trees or other brush. I caught a smallmouth on a Rapala type lure and the 2# largemouth on a brown plastic worm there. Hope it works out better for you.

  • Sacramento County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: 65-68

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Wow the bite is on fire this is one of the best big fish years I've seen in a while! Can't wait to see the results for the future pro and wish I was fishing it cause I got them figured out here's some tips for the guys who are fun fishing and just wanna catch fish Morning dawn robo worms on a dart head or drop shot but you really have to fish it slow I mean pretty much dead sticking the bait and letting the boat move your worm, fish are staging near spawning areas in 3 to 15 feet. If you wanna catch a little bit bigger fish senkos in the trees will be good for a couple nice bites right now but I definantly think the tournament will be won on swimbaits and the A-rig... good luck and tight lines everyone please feel free to email me if anyone has any questions. FISH ON!!
      City: Orangevale

  • Shasta County, California
    • By

      Water Temp: 56-63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Caught 28 bass from 10-2 up Squaw Creek, rock walls, back of coves by the running water and wood and sunken trees. Bass more agresssive and hanging onto the baits. Through blue/salt and pepper curl tail grubs on 1/8 oz dart head, and small blue worms, 25 keepers and 5 over 2 pounds. One had a lizard in it's mouth. They are getting ready to go...
      City: Redding

      Tips: Small light jig heads, slow falling, then feel the weight on the line and set the hook, then hang on. Lot's of fun!!