Fishing Report

Limit:

Sunday, October 24th, 2004

  • Sacramento County, California
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      Water Temp: 61-63

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out late on sunday, found balls of bait in the main body. also found some bass going in the coves in creek channels. fish points and banks in 20-35 ft.
      City: rocklin

  • San Francisco County, California
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      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished in South Lake Saturday afternoon for 2 hours and Sunday morning for 2 more hours. Split shot soft plastics on tule walls and points. Water getting lower and lower...caught several 1-2lb bass both days. Catch and release only.
      City: Daly City, CA

      Tips: Slowly fish Texas rig, split shot or drop shot finesse baits.

Saturday, October 23rd, 2004

  • Napa County, California
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      Water Temp: 67

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Wow, what a difference the biggest mid-October storm in 30 years makes!! Since my last trip, the lake really hasn't changed much, but the fish have! They are in their wandering mode now, wandering mostly offshore - probably wondering what happened to fall!! Yesterday was a nice day, especially in the afternoon. I guided two guys for the second time at Berryessa and suggested we start mid-morning and fish 'til dark. That worked out well. The bite was slow in the morning and slowly got better and was fair at dark. We worked very hard for 13 bass - all three species - with one of the fellows landing the biggest of the day just before we left, a nice 2 1/2 smallie, after losing an even bigger one. He was the hot stick, catching 7 of our 13 bass and losing several! We wound up with an 8 3/4 lb limit - not too great. I was hoping for a topwater bite for us as it clouded up towards evening, but it remained only a hope. Nothing! Had a trout hit a topwater!! We fished from Markley Cove to above Rancho Montebello. After my clients left, I decided to try a little night fishing since a front was moving in. I fished for about 3 hours with 4 bites - no fish. This is common for October at night - the bass are not on the bottom and are mostly offshore - suspended in the bait. Last night was no exception! The fishing might have improved if I had stayed, but my warm bed was calling. All in all, a pretty good "tough" day.
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: While my clients were split-shotting Camanche Jack's early dawn, purple ghost, and purple/brown worms, I tried reaction baits, including topwater through the day. They might have worked early in the morning, but not the rest of the day. Didn't have a jig bite either. No spoon or drop-shot fish. Unlike Folsom a few week ago, the Berryessa bait was suspended far off the bottom as the turnover starts. All of our fish were caught split-shotting, and if we caught one, we usually caught two or three. There had to be a deep water break nearby, and sometimes those are hard to find. Many areas produced nothing. Senkos might have worked, but we didn't throw any. The worm bite was just good enough. The 4 1/2 inch worm worked better than the 6 inch ones. There were really no bites, just "ohmygosh - I've got one"! I suggest moving around until you find some willing bass. The weather isn't going back to fall next week, so the fishing may remain puzzling until the weather settles down some.

  • Santa Clara County, California
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      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Fished for 3hrs got 5 with nothing big. Had to find the fish in groups in about 10-15 ft with shallow close by. Cut Tails and BBH split and C-rig'd. Slow Slow Slow. Not the funnest way to fish but still got some.

      Tips: Mark fish and drag slow. Didn't try it but Drop Shot with a long tag end might be the ticket.

  • Amador County, California
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      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Club tournament today 10 boats. Rain no wind. First 5 minutes 14.25 inch BB on super spook 5 feet off the bank. 2 nd keeper past narrows on rocky point drop shot 25 feet. Several small ones also all spots. Went to marinas and limited out on seinkos fishing corners and grass beds. Had 8 keepers for 2nd place and 8.20 lbs.
      City: orangevale

      Tips: Lots of BB shallow. Top water early. tubes and seinkos in shade and grass pockets. Morning dawn was a good worm to drop shot.

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

      Report: Slow morning, fished for about 4 hours. Started off dragging a c-rig on the bottom, which produced a couple dinks. Then tried cranking for awhile, no takers. Went to the jig, caught two more and called it a day. Caught four biggest being 2 pounds. The bite was really soft fish seemed sluggish.
      City: Salinas

      Tips: drag a c-rig on the bottom to locate fish, lizards work well in this lake. Fish are deep 20 to 30 feet of water.

  • California
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      Water Temp: 63-65

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: SLOW
      City: hollister

      Tips: BUZZ THE LAKE

  • San Bernardino County, California
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      Water Temp: 63

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: The water is extremely dirty from the recent rain runoff. The largemouth fishing was very slow. A couple of nice fish on jigs. The striper fishing is great with fish averaging 2 to 5 lbs. I threw topwater, senkos, spinnerbaits. All produced good quality Stripers. I stumbled onto the Stripers while fishing for Largemouth.

      Tips: The Stripers are everywhere. From the shore to the middle of the lake. Throw a Senko right on the shore and you'll get fish. I'm sure all of the traditional Striper baits should work as well. I saw people hooking up throwing white Striper jigs .... Good fishing....

Friday, October 22nd, 2004

  • Mason County, California
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      Water Temp: probably... 69

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Havent been catching anything..you guy's give me a tip... don't know...they aren't hitting anything..Carolina rig ? I think brush hog's
      City: morgan hill

      Tips: Anybody know... I know that across from the launch ramp....did well..How is the only dock in the lake doing....big tree work's,,,

  • Solano County, California
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      Water Temp: 64

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: fished the old river from 11:00 am to 5:00pm
      striper bite was on! caught 10 6 keeper size to
      12lbs. also caught a limit of largemouth crankin' for she stripes. all fish caught on
      rattles and timber tigers. (see photo)
      City: Tracy

      Tips: fish were active....luck more than skill

  • California
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: when I hear some good tip's ... let me know.. Hey is there anybody out there that doesn't drop shot..Another thing..Coyote's ranger's are the most considerate people, that I have ever met...If you disagree with me...write....
      City: morgan hill

      Tips: Listen to the ranger's. ask them.. carefull.. lot's of wildlife.. boar's and their babie's..Buck's .. Been along time since Iv'e seen four different one's... It's a great place..don't shoot any thing... and for god's sake no camp fire... thanks and take care

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

      Report: W O W !!!! Drove up to Eastman Friday evening-I HAVE NEVER seen it this low! There was only one boat out there (probably was Juan!) I just cant allow myself to launch my new Stratos up there! Friggin Islands and brush and etc sticking up EVERYWHERE! Why do they allow these lakes to get soooo low? Dont gimme this crap about rain neither-I have seen all the water coming thru Chowchilla! Seems to me they would keep as much as they could till they see what the winters gonna be like! Anyone that goes up there be careful-its an awesome lake but its pretty dangerous right now this low. Tight Lines Guys!!!
      City: Chowchilla

      Tips: Juan I'll make a point of it to look for ya around Thanksgiving up there-I'll be in a White/Blue?silver Stratos w/a Yamaha 200!

  • Mariposa County, California
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      Water Temp: unknown

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Friday evening for a couple hours and all day Saturday. First time to the lake, and had a wonderful couple of days fishing with my young son and nephew. Caught 8+ fish in a couple hours on Friday evening splithshotting and on drop shot. Biggest went 2lbs on a drop shot.

      Day Two: Got on the lake early and the bite on the main lake was tough for the first three hours, as we managed to catch 6 fish. Four on drop shot and two on spooks. Left the main lake and began to catch fish consistently in the 1.4-3.0 range. All fish came on drop shot and jigs. Caught over 40 fish for the day with the best five going 8 - 9 lbs. All but two were spots...largemouth for the other two (13-14) inch fish.
      City: brentwood

      Tips: First time on lake so I'm not certain where we were most of the time. I do know that purple & black, or brown & purple were the colors of choice. Used Robo Black Grape, Mutillator, and Oxblood for drop shot & split shot fish. Jig fish all came on brown/purple. Caught fish from 2 feet (spook) to 45 feet. The most consistent bite came when we did nothing with the bait and baitfish were present. I also noticed that all our fish came inside points where there were defined depth breaks. Fun lake, enjoyed my first trip. Stay safe. TG

  • Shasta County, California
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      Water Temp: 65.5 to 65.9

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: In at 9:00 am at Jones Valley with the blonde in the back. Ran out to the mouth of the Pit and picked up a small one right off. Tried a new color and it seemed to work fair. Started throwing a 6" eel and caught a few more. Most fish came out of 25 to 30 feet and a real slow presentation. Managed 11 total with the largest going 1.8lb. and it came on a MGM 109 Hoo Dun It on a 1/2 oz. football head. We picked up a few on a spittin' image on top but they were all small, but a lot of fun. Jerry, I guess I must just fish better with blondes, LOL. Saw quite a few BASS guys running around and not much catching. The bite was pretty slow for us.
      City: Cottonwood

    • By

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: The ramp at packers is now usable. They just planted 6000 lbs of trout there a couple of days ago.

  • California
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      Water Temp: ?

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Anyone gettting out there lately?
      Hows the storm effecting the fish?
      Any big mommas?
      City: Santa Rosa

      Tips: Please post

Thursday, October 21st, 2004

  • Santa Clara County, California
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: use a jig.... dark...with a trailor
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Jig with a trailor''

    • By

      Water Temp: Not sure

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Some stupid folk on this thread I can see. Anyways, for the better people the bite is getting a little better. Caught a 3 & 5 pounder from shore today in about 10 feet of water. I would still say that the majority of catchable fish are a wee-bit deeper close to any quick drop.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Both fish hit pretty agressively on plastics on the bottom. I don't truly believe that the slow presentation is a must just yet. Feel free to try reaction baits.

  • Solano County, California
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      Water Temp: 62

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Touugh bite for me, mabe the sudden drop in water temp made catching fish. but then agian hoo knows.I onely caught two fish from noon till 4:30 well good luck out their.
      City: Turlock

      Tips: got me

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

      Report: If it looks like chocolate milk after the rains try obnoxiously bright colored baits
      City: P-TOWN

      Tips: Dudeman, that is about the hugest question one could ask. I'm not a pro(yet...) but I have fished here for many years so I hope this helps a little. I don't know your friends tackle situation is but given the right conditions there are probably countless baits that will work. I think the key is to find your confidence bait (senko, 5") and start with that. Different people will have different confidence baits for the same water because something worked them repeatedly at some point and they believe in it. Any pro or old-timer will tell you that you that confidence in yourself, your ability, and your bait(whatever it is) is the most important thing no matter what you're throwing. When I started bass fishing I spent REDICULOUS amounts of money and bought everything, in every color that was even remotely bass related, big mistake. Not only was my wallet a lot lighter but the average bank fisherman or floatuber couldn't possibly carry all of that crap nor could you devote enough time to each different presentation as you would need to to properly learn a new bait. Tournament pros have everything under the sun on their boats in their neat little cases stowed away but I guarantee you that most of that tackle never even gets wet. If i'm just going down to the backlakes I try to think of it like I've got 2 hours left to go till the weigh in and that focuses me on my confidence baits and determines what I reach for as I'm walking out the door. bear in mind that your confidence baits apply to all bodies of water but if your going fishing somewhere huge and diverse like the delta you might want to bring a lot more diverse tackle because more water + plus more fish = more possibilities. And to answer your question about the fish splashing, the shad will boil back there but that is because the bass are rounding them up and gorging on them, the sunfish hit anything that hits the water like bugs, 20-40 lb. carp will roll on the weeds in the summer so much that you can see their backs sticking out of the water muskrats, turtles, dead bodies floating up,...who knows what the hell is out there, seriously. One more thing, for me (except for top water) I'm all about the soft plastics back there, but that's me, you figure out what works the best for you out there and let the rest of us know, good luck