Fishing Report

Limit:

Sunday, July 6th, 2008

  • Monterey County, California
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      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Family water-skiing trip to Lake San Antonio in Central California. This year the fish wanted a little bit of alcohol in their diet :)

      We arrived Sunday, July 6 around 4:00 pm. It was HOT!!! After un-packing I walked down to the shore to make a few casts with my son Pierce. Our bait of choice for the past few years has been the 3 inch Blue Shad colored Big Hammer swimbait. Since it has produced so well for us in the past we pretty much planned to use that. But, with the recent popularity of the color "Sexy Shad" (that looks identical to the Big Hammer color #63 "Bay Smelt" - which came out about 5 years before "Sexy Shad") I decided to give Bay Smelt a shot. The lake level is very low - probably the lowest I've ever seen it. I started fishing from the shore to the left of the Lynch launch ramp. Within 10 minutes I had my first smallie (about 14 inches). Great fun! About 15 minutes later I hook up again (on Bay Smelt) with a nicer fish that turned out to be in the 17-18 inch range. Fished for a few more minutes before Pierce wanted to go back to the cabin.

      That evening we took the boat out (ski boat - no trolling motor - not quite the perfect fishing vessel) to set up our day camp in Bee Rock Cove. After setting it up we quickly went over to the South side of the cove and got a couple more smallies. My sister got one on Blue Shad and I got one on Bay Smelt.

      July 7th: The next morning we took the boat out early and only got one small bass on the 3 inch swimbait!!!! I couldn't believe it. After the success yesterday I figured it would be wide. We launched out of the Harris Creek launch ramp and fished the entire Harris Creek cove. Mark and Zack stuck to the Blue Shad and Bay Smelt swimbaits while I played with a bunch of different baits. Fished the Lucky Craft pointer the most for nothing except for one follower that wouldn't commit. I did notice that there were lots (I mean lots) of shad this year - very small ones. Later at our day camp I was only able to manage one more small bass.

      July 8th: New game plan. This morning we launched out of Lynch and went North. I started off throwing a blue/chrome Rat-L-Trap which has worked well for me in the past. My nephew Zack was using a 3 inch Margarita colored swimbait. I figured a completely different color (bright green) might set the swimbait apart from all the shad just enough. Within 15 minutes Zack hooks up with a nice fish that is taking line (striper?). Sure enough he lands a decent striper. Fished the area for a few more minutes for nothing, then ventured into a nearby cove where I get a nice largemouth on the Silverside colored Buzz Hammer. Later mid-day fishing at our day camp in between water-skiing runs the fishing was much better - more like previous years. I ended up with 6 nice smallies and missed several more - all on the 3 inch Margarita colored swimbait.

      July 9th: New game plan again. Launched out of Harris Creek with the plan to fish the Margarita swimbait. Fished a few spots in Harris Creek for nothing. Ran over to Bee Rock Cove where Zack hooks up with a nice smallie on the 3 inch Margarita followed by another decent one a few minutes later. Then came my highlight of the trip. We were fishing a steep rocky bank on the South side of Bee Rock Cove. I was alternating between the 3 inch Margarita colored swimbait and Margarita colored Buzz Hammer. I cast the Buzz Hammer near a fallen log and it moves about 6 inches when a nice bass jumps completely over the bait and misses it entirely. I continue to reel and when the bait is about 4 feet from the boat it gets SLAMMED!! One of the most vicious top-water strikes I think I've ever gotten. It was awesome! My guess is the fish was upset that she missed the bait on the first try and then chased it down.

      Not the best trip we've ever had but still good. Some nice highlights and the challenge of figuring out what they wanted was fun.
      City: Goleta, California

Saturday, July 5th, 2008

  • Solano County, California
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      Water Temp: 70 deg

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: took family out to join all them boaters . crazy , if you cant beat them join them , got a chance to break out rods did some fishing in potatoe slough noticed good condition at a pumping station decided to try it pulled out 15 fish I sat on it for two hrs deadsticking while the ol lady did some sun bathing all were2 to 3lb class with a 4 lb kicker fishing senko 5 inch real slow . what i thought was going to be a crazy day on the water turned out to be a good day of fishing going to put up picks . broke off a nice fish, when setting the hook make sure you dont accidently thumb the spool ..like i did
      City: elmira

      Tips: current and try some pumping stations they seem to stir up food for cray fish which starts the food chain

  • Lake County, California
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      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: went fishin the morning of the parade in clearlake..started at highlands park..nada i was throwin senkos,waveworms,mutilators,and more senkos,i decided to move behind these abandoned and broken down appts in the back of the bar formerlly known as the new reflections...it was a different story there :) 12 bass in less than 3 hours...biggest was 6 lbs :)..oh to the guy askin bout the weed beds.lol they are still here and thick in some places too ;)
      City: clearlake

      Tips: senkos,senkos,and more senkos.lol in watermellon and red shad colors...somethin that looks like a crawdad :) that will get ya bit here.

  • California
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      Water Temp: 75

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: night an day since the last trip the bite was slow. a lot of boats on the water for the holiday weekend. we got a couple off the dam face on creature baits. moved to the picnic side no luck . went to the 5 mph side. got three small ones. hard pressed all day. ill be back thurs.
      City: merced

      Tips: fish slow and persistant. watch the heat will hurt you/

  • California
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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the lake around 6pm frogged the mats and no luck. went with a drop shot with a Robo worm and dropped it next to cover. got 3 fish within 5 minutes next to the same tree. they were small 1+ pounders but its better than nothin.
      City: Rohnert Park

      Tips: dont bring drunk friends. ha

Friday, July 4th, 2008

  • Napa County, California
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      Water Temp: 76

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Took my wife fishing bet her $100.00 and a back massage that she could not catch a bass with a bluegill swim bait. She won 5 cast later. She caught another keeper on a wild eye swim bait. Caught my P.B. 7.14 LB on a dater head off a marked underwater island. Finished early due to engine water pump issue.
      City: W.Sac

      Tips: Berryessa is in beter shape water level wise than other area lakes. I hear Folsom will be reduced to 5mph by the end of the month.

  • Amador County, California
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      Water Temp: 81

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Holiday boat traffic impacted fishing in a major way. The best bite was early morning from 6-8AM. Caught 22 bass. 12 were top water and 7 on drop shot. Caught 2 pigs way over 5 lbs each, 23" long. One exploded on my Pop R and the other on a Sara Spook in the river area off steep walls. The drop shot were taken in 4-20ft off rocky points using a 4" cut tail worm.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: Top water early and late. Drop shot in the middle of the day. Take a nap during the hot part of the day. Good luck.

  • Lake County, California
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      Water Temp: 70-74

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Its kind of a late report but oh well.I went out with a friend Friday. We hit the water at 545. It was windier then hell...2 footers....we started over at long tulie throwin senkos and Frogs...i picked up 1 nice little 2 and a half on the ol Froggie...we concentratd north....we fished just out off of state park throwing whacky rig 5" senkos...we had a pretty decent day...between 28 to 30 fish. Rite before we left i picked up our biggest one of the day...4 pounder...considering the wind and the skiers...and the heat...it turned out to be a pretty good day.
      City: Ukiah

      Tips: The fish are out in about 10-12 foot of water...throw whacky rig senkos....specifically 5 "....i tryed 6 inch got a few bites but the 5 is more productive...throw into pockets in weed beds...and hold on...they're not bitng hard so pay attention.Bring lots of fluid...sunscreen...and patience...cuz the skiers get annoying...have fun...tite lines!

  • Yuba County, California
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      Water Temp: 77-80

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Decided to try Collins again due to the good bite we had there last week, not so lucky this time. Found fish, just not to many takers. Caught 0 fish in the morning on top water, it was an odd morning to say the least. Starting throwing soft plastic and crank baits and caught fish. The fish we caught ranged from 5-10 foot deep. Nothing over 2.5 lbs.
      City: Grass Valley

      Tips: Collins is busy with recreational boaters, this helps create some mud lines but not much else. Watch out for them, had 3 boats nearly colide right infront of us. We decided to call it a day at that point. Just BE SAFE and have fun.

  • California
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      Water Temp: 72-75

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: What a difference a day makes, or maybe its the lakes. Another typical day at Stevens with 7 fish in 3 hours. Nothing over 2 today, all on plastics. Key is working bait slowly but with a lot of twitches. All caught in 15-25' with bass relating to bottom structure changes.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: need some.

  • Coos County, Oregon
    • By

      Water Temp: high 70's?

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: July did start with a bang!! I fished Cottage Grove on the 4th and the 5th. The 4th was fantastic and the 5th was even better. On the fourth I tossed a shallow crank around for about 10 minutes with no bites. I grabbed my jig/beaver combo and tossed it out to see if I could draw a bite or two. I felt the jig bump something- hesitated and felt that old thump/thump and...set the hook. Twenty seconds later I land a 17", 2 lb,12oz. largemouth. But the cool part was he was followed in by 5 or 6 bass as big or bigger. And the coolest part is I still had almost an hour to fish. Weighed and taped him, ran down the bank about 40' and tossed him back in. Threw the jig in and got bit almost as soon as it touched down- this bass was a little heftier and had 4 others follow it in. I went to lift it out of the water and the jig shook out. Darnit! I just laughed and said there's plenty more where she came from. Tossed back in and 2 casts later got bit and set the hook on an 18", 3 lb.,4 oz. largey. Weighed, taped and took a photo and then tossed her back. Next cast I set the hook and this one is really digging in- had to tighten up the drag twice. Didn't jump at all just pulled. Dragged her in and she went 3 lbs., 12 oz. and 19". Very strong fighter and if she had a load of eggs would have been 4 1/2 lbs. or better. This one had 1 follower that was at least as big as her come all the way to the bank. I let her go and tossed back in. I looked at my watch and it was only 20 minutes since the 1st bite! Feeding frenzy ain't the word. I stayed right up 'till 7AM and then had to haul butt to work. What a way to start my day! On the 5th I was gonna try to be there at the crack of dawn. Yeah right- shut off the alarm and went back to sleep for 45 more minutes. Finally got there and started fishing at about 6:15AM. My friend Harold was already there trout fishing. I tossed the jig out and it was on- again. First fish was 17", 2 lb., 7 oz. Next one was 18", 3 lb., 7 oz.. Next was a 19", 3 lb., 15 oz. that did the old dig, dig, dig routine. She was barely hooked and I was sure glad Harold had his long handled net with him. He was nice enough to help me land 2 of the fish. He took a photo of me with the fish and the lake in the background. I cast out the jig- I guess 'cause I only had 10 more minutes to fish- layed the rod across my arms and turned away from the spot to take a photo of Harold and before I could shoot the rod jumped. I gave Harold the camera, turned around, tightened up the slack and set the hook. And for a variety of pretty dumb reasons snapped off probably the best fish of the day. And of course I didn't have another jig on me so I got to stew for 5 minutes and then leave for work. What a cool couple of mornings though. Again thanks to Harold for helping me out. Oh yeah- as I'm grabbing my gear to go we look out and see a lone 4 pounder swim right up in front of us and give us a look. I couldn't see my jig in its mouth so we don't know what that was about.
      City: yoncalla, oregon

      Tips: A couple things. One- always have your gear in order so if you do run into a pack of fish you're ready to be succesful. I use Power Pro or Tuff Line braided line on a lot of my rods. This time I had about a third of a spool of 10 lb. Big Game mono for backing. This was tied with a uni knot to about a 1/2 spool of 30 lb. braid and then a 20 lb. Seaguar flourocarbon leader about 5' long. The casts were very long and the knot between the backing and the braid actually was out 5-8' from the rod tip. I would try to immediately pull a little line in so a wrap or 2 of braid was around the spool. The other contributing factor to snapping off a good fish was the fact that after fighting the 3-15 I never backed off the drag. That alone would have probably been enough. Needless to say on the way home from work I grabbed a new spool of Power Pro and fixed that problem.
      And I'm about due for a new net. I may try one of the new extendable handle ones. Shore makes it nice- beats the heck out of dead lifting them out of the water. I'm gonna tie up a few new jigs too and make sure I always have a spare or 2 on me.
      I had kind of weird feeling that I'd had a day like this before so I looked it up and sure enough- July 5th of 2006 I got a couple nice ones on swimbaits over at the dock. And missed a 3rd bite too. When the fish are really eatin' it seems to reverse the pattern. The fish just got bigger and bigger as time went on. Normally they get smaller and smaller. In my experience you usually will catch the bigger fish and then they taper off after you've been on spot for a while. Not always but usually. Have fun out there and be ready 'cause you never know when a pack of big ones will come knockin' on your door!! Candygram! See you out there.

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

  • Mason County, California
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      Water Temp: 72-75

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Had a pretty good day out on the water thanks to PapaJohn's advice! Started at 8am and worked the shoreline south of the boat launch. First set of bushes hooked up with a chunky 4.3 and a lot of smaller ones workin a green/blk flake senko. Further south found John "c" point on the finder, and located bass in the 15-20' range. Used pumpkin green roboworm on dropshot, and caught a bunch more in the 1-2 range. In South end found bottom structure changes facing the bridge, and got a bunch more on dropshot. Overall fun day! Thanks again for the Advice PapaJohn!
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Tried top water from 8am-9am, buzzbaits, spooks, even a frog with no luck. Attempted to cross the lake with oars to find shade pockets but gave up after two near misses with jet skiers.

  • Lake County, California
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      Water Temp: 78 degrees

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I got on the water at 7:00 thursday morning and went back to the shallow docks north of Lakeport,everything changed since last week when I was there. The water was clouded worst, it appears the algie was thicker and I noticed fewer fish on my graph. I caught two 2#s on Yamamoto cuttails smoke,purple,black rigged weightless and weedless. Threw a frog for a while ,but no takers.Decided to find clearer water docks with deep water near by. Headed to the hwy 20 side of the narrows,a nice steady breeze blew from the north, clearing the smoke a bit. Threw a 3 1/2 inch tube bait in brown craw, rigged 1/4 oz. insert weighted hook. Picked up a nice 2 1/2 #er, largemouth, on the north side of the first dock. I noticed more fish on my gragh. So I circled around, trolling into the breeze,skip casted under the dock, Letting the bait settle to the bottom,took up the slack and crawled the tube a foot or so. When this fish loaded my rod I knew I had a 6 or 7 #er, then I realized it had wrapped the piling . When I got its head turned, it came straight up and broke water. I boated a nice 2+ # smallmouth.For the next few hours I worked an area about 100 yds. long, dotted with docks. Picked up at least one fish at each dock, some under and some in front. I caught 15 fish for the day,counting the two earlier and 4 of them were smallies.
      City: Ft. Bragg

      Tips: I like to work the whole dock, I start with long casts before I get to it. Then cast to the pilings and skip cast under it, as I approch the dock,almost always letting the bait fall all the way to the bottom. I'll swim the tube along the side of the dock. If I catch a couple of fish in a spot I'll anchor up so i can consontrate on feeling what my bait is doing ,not worring about boat position

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Started out of Knocti Vista early. Worked my way south towards the State Park. Got on a topwater bite with a small Punker. a few 3-4lbers quickly on a tule point.The next fish I estimate over 10lbs took me straight into the weeds and I lost her and my punker.I was sick the rest of the day.I guess I Can't complain I was getting bit.
      City: Orland

      Tips: Use braid at clear lake!

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

  • Solano County, California
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      Water Temp: 69-72

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Another big day of winds and stained water. Will summer conditions ever reach the Delta? I'm almost down to NO topwater on any of the rods. Fished rocks everywhere, south and east Delta. Crank, crank, crank fish about 20 for 2 anglers to 3 lbs. No weight, no size, but the fish are eating. Great fun days, but horrible for tourny weights. Need a bit of luck for kickers right now. I hope we get a week of straight heat and maybe some weeds???????????
      City: San Francisco

      Tips: Crawfish patterns in crank baits, fish the rocks or struggle with topwater.

    • By

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: A couple friends and I grabbed our kick boats and headed out to the Middle River on the Delta. We got out on the water at first light, which is quite early now, 5am. High tide was right around 6:30 so we stayed around the rock barrier for a couple hours and waited for the tide to turn. Because of the fact that the overnight temp was quite cool the topwater bite was not too great in the morning. At 7am I finally picked up a 3/8 ounce black and red jig. While casting my jig to the rocks and dragging it out to about 8 feet, I caught around 10 fish to 3 pounds. As the water started to drop, the crank bait bite turned on. I was throwing a Lucky Craft BDS4 (baby bass), and my friends were throwing red speedtraps. Between the three of us we caught about 15 more fish to 4 pounds. At around noon the tide finally dropped enough to see a well defined weed line. Pitching a jig to the outside of the weed lines we caught another 15 fish, including a nice 7.5 pounder.
      City: San Bruno

      Tips: <a href="http://www.russnyders.com/">Rus Snyders Guide Service</a>

    • By

      Water Temp: 75-78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Nice bag blue daddy and guyle! You guys sure know how to get em'! Why dont you drop a few hints to all of us amateurs out here. As for a good fishing report, I know where NOT to catch em' if thats helpful. I've had God knows how many blowups on frogs from what seem to be good fish but still unable to get it goin this season. Catching the bulk of our fish on rocks with a little wind and current on them. Crankbaits seem to be working the best for me right now. I'm catching at least one 4-6 lber every outing but thats the highlight of each trip. Anybody please feel free to offer some tips for an anxious south delta angler. Thanks and tight lines!!
      City: manteca

  • California
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      Water Temp: N/A

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: The report of the multi-agency task force on the mussel infestation at San Justo Reservoir is now on the agenda for the 7/22 meeting of the San Benito County board of supervisors.
      City: Monterey

      Tips: Let's hope they consider stocking catfish in San Justo, since catfish are known to eat the mussels and would be a natural, non-chemical approach to controlling the mussel infestation (and could grow some huge catfish in the process!!!).

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

  • Napa County, California
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      Water Temp: 76-77

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I helped a father and his 9 and 13 year old sons experience their first bass trip. We started with basics like casting, rigging, and so on. It kept me very busy but the results were wonderful - a family excited about bass fishing and already talking about a night trip! As you could have guessed, the youngest caught the biggest! After landing a few that I hooked, his first solo bass was a bluegill - on a Power worm. His next was the biggest of the day - a 17" spot - about 2 1/4 lbs. I thought he was going to have a panic attack since the bass was pulling the rod under the boat! Was I ever happy to net that one!! The older boy struggled with his mechanics, but when he landed a 16 1/8" spot on his own - the grin said everything! Dad was very excited with his 4 or 5 bass - amazingly all largemouth in the 1 3/4 lb range. I was really too busy to keep track of how many we landed - 15 or so in a little over 6 hrs. Many were lost until they mastered the hookset - but they ended the day strong - AND hooked on bass fishing!!
      City: Yuba city

      Tips: The weather was gorgeous and light breezes made the fishing pretty good. I told them that the bite would get better as the day went on and it did (11 to 1pm was the best). I saw "tons" of fish on my Lowrance. Some were carp suspended after their spawn. We really isolated steeper points with scattered rock as the structure of choice with slightly off-color water the best. Our bass seemed to be at the 20 foot level more or less. Green pumpkin Power worms and red crawler/oxblood Robo worms were the best colors. We did a little drop-shotting but split-shotting couldn't be beat. We fishing the narrows almost out to the main body. Also caught one or two on off-shore structure, so the off-shore migration may be underway now.

  • Lake County, California
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      Water Temp: 74-77

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Last day on the pond but the Spook bite was off the hook in the morning. We caught about 25 spook fish and had several other blow-ups. We went back to the Nice area and found the water had muddied up a bit and the Senko bite had died off. We grabbed our jig rods and started fishing deeper rock piles at about 10 AM. From this point on it was wide open on fish from 2-3 pounds with a few in the 4-5 pound range. At noon my father hooked a 8.72 and an hour later I hooked a 7.92 both off the same rock. This was by far the best "quality" we had for our entire trip. Best five today went about 32 lbs!!! This place is awesome.

      Tips: We were here for three days and the bite was pretty consistent on the "Wacky" Senko until today when our water muddied up from the wind. The frog bite was hit and miss as well as the jig and spook bite. The conditions were pretty stable but the bite would change day-day.