Fishing Report

Limit:

Monday, August 2nd, 2004

  • Shasta County, California
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      Water Temp: 80.5

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: our cooling trend arrived and glad to have it, in at Packers at 1915, lake nearing 71 ft down, breeze out of the WNW at 6, parking lot virtually vacant, ran over to the sac and hit a good stiff wind of about 12 running upstream, fished some rock walls with my first coming at 2020, a nice fat 1.8 and it turned out to be the smallest of 8 for the evening, no bruisers but some solid fish the biggest being a 2.52 and the best five went 11.61. They wanted a skirted jig tonight and all were a bit deeper than normal, the first was 28ft deep the rest came out of 18 to 20 ft on a melon pepper B and S twintail, no topwater takers at all, not even a roll or bump. Very little traffic except for one ski boat and the sheriff. moon came up around 2245 and a few shooting stars appeared, the meteor shower should be at its best on the 12th and 13th this year. Easy trip on plane going back with the moon up. The island just northeast of no name has just come up and 2 of the three poles are knocked down so you might want to watch that for the next few days, when you run for the sac stay tight to no name or give it at least a 1/4 mile berth so you don't hit that hump. The steeper rock was the ticket, in some cases I was standing in 70ft and flipping to the bank, most came on the fall with that satisfying "tick" on my 3/4 oz stuff.
      City: Redding

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      Water Temp: n/a

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Re: Jones Valley ramp problems. I contacted the Forest Service law enforcement agents regarding the problems, and they contacted the Shasta County Sheriff's dept. These incidents need to be reported.........don't shine them on and figure someone else will deal with them. The Sheriff's dept patrols the area and if they know there are problems they will increase the coverage.
      City: Redding

  • California
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      Water Temp: 79+

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Got out to the lake around 7. Worked with spinner and picked up a small one.(fattest smallest fish ive seen) Later on fishing lizard and broke one off in tules. Felt like good size. Missed another splitshotting worm. Around 12 started flippin tules with brush hog. Picked up a hog. Around 8 pounds maybe more. (No Scale) Good fish. Buddy picked up 2 fish also. One around 3, one pretty small.
      City: santa rosa

      Tips: Work it real slow, and patient and they will hit when u least expect it.

Sunday, August 1st, 2004

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

      Report: Went out today sunday around sherman island good outgoing tide picked up some stripers too 8.0lbs on rattle traps started to fish for largemouth and it did seem slow too me I got 3 all on plastics one went almost 4.0lbs fun day good to be back out fishing fish on
      City: Pittsburg

      Tips: shad are there so I tried to fish shad type baits it worked

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

      Report: Been reading all of the great report on Clear Lake and had to find out for my self that it was back to the late 80 and early 90's for numbers being caught and it was true. Thanks to Tackle it in Lakeport, Limit Out bait and tackle in the Oaks and Mel Cottons in SJ(yes I do my homework before I drive 3 hrs.) Bottom line drop shot 4-6 inch purple MM II (Roboworm) Mike Folkstad special AKA Lake Mead special. Instead of using 6 lb test like you would use at Oroville or Shasta I used 12 lb test and they liked it better because I tried 6 lb test for fun with same worm and they hit it but not as fast, I think the heavier line makes the worm stand straight out better.
      City: SAN JOSE

      Tips: Fish deep docks with low overhangs with rock near by and hang on. You don't even have to work the worm they hit on the way down. My daughter and I caught 40 + fish to 3 lbs.

    • By

      Water Temp: 76-81

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Algae bloom is pretty much over. Fished from 7:30 pm on Saturday till 3:30 am, best 5 went 29.6 lbs with the bigger fish on cranks. Everything on off shore rock piles that top out around 10 feet surrounded by 30 feet of water. The bigger fish are packing up according to size now and two 8's came back to back off the same rock pile. Slept from 3:30 till 11:00 am and fished from 11:00 am till 5:00 pm and top 5 went around 18 lbs. Had a 4.76 break the chain on my cul em rite while shaking around. The 18lbs is a guess. Lots of fish every where, mainly drop shot whacky riged arrons magic with red flake. For every 10 1-2 lber you would get a nice 3lb fish on the drop shot. Like last night the bigger fish came on a crank bait. Enjoy while it last , it's already starting to slow down from last weekend.
      City: Sacramento

      Tips: Crank bait , lucky craft deep diver, 20 Feet , in ghost pattern, even at night the white out produces the darker for the last several trips. Cover some water, and if you pick up a good fish slow down and pick it apart, there bunched up by size right now. It's hit and miss, one rock pile will have nothing and the next a school of 6 lbers, gotta move around. Glad the bloom is over.

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

      Report: fished west canal w/my son chatreuse and white spinner bait over the weeds. caught abought 10 fish four over three pounds
      City: everett

      Tips: fish the points at each side canal

Saturday, July 31st, 2004

  • Napa County, California
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      Water Temp: 81-84

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler summer - this night guide isn't! I had guide trips Thurs and Fri nights - both with a lot of wind and very cool temps, especially Fri. It is amazing how the bass follow the weather patterns - Thurs was a little warmer and my client and I caught 2 before dark and 12 after, including a 5 lb 2 oz largemouth that hit a 7" Power Worm shortly after dark. All of our fish were over 13" and we had a solid 13 1/2 lb limit. We did well because the wind laid down around 11 pm which made the fish pretty aggressive. Fri night was the opposite - two brother took their dad on a trip for his 70th birthday and we had a ball before dark. The wind that had blown all day laid down before dark and the smallies went on a tear!! All three caught several bass with dad getting the largest - which was proper - a 2 1/4 lb largemouth. That worried me about the night bite because the bass will anticipate a cold front coming and feed before dark. Sure enough, the wind started after dark - a cold wind - and we only caught 3 after dark - 11 before. So, 14 each trip but we had to work hard for the bites except for the hour before dark on Fri night. That was fun! I had a day trip Tues and it was the slowest summer bite I have seen in some time. We were dragging 6" worms and one of the guys started with a 3 lb spot - wow!! I then got the hardest hit I think I have ever got dragging - and she jumped out of the water withing 5 seconds. Just a 2-10 largemouth that thought it was a 4 lb smallie. Again, wow! We got another spotted bass and that was it - a three fish day. Amazing. No topwater, crank, spinnerbait, jig, dropshot, Senko bite whatsoever. Name your favorite - they wouldn't bite it! Quality was good however - got to find something good!!
      City: Yuba City

      Tips: I only saw a few small bass breaking water chasing bait. Topwater activity is non-existant, at least in my boat. The recent short heat spell may have had something to do with that. The worm bite is pretty good - split-shotting seems to be the best presentation - casting or dragging. At night the 7" black Berkley Power Worm continues to be the best bait - nailing a few bigger bass too. Thursdays client used Dead Ringer worms and got a few, but changed to the Power Worm. Our daytime fish were caught on a green craw worm. We fished the narrows, Steele Park area, Big Island, and Rancho Montecello. Most bass are holding at the 10 to 20 foot range.

  • Santa Barbara County, California
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      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Trny; caught 5 keepers, biggest 3.72. four fish caught on senkos one on crank bait
      City: lompoc

  • Santa Clara County, California
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      Water Temp: mid to high 60'

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Over the past week I have made four trips in which I was able to land 25 fish. Five of these fish easily broke the 5lb. marker with one closer to 8. A mixture of buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs and senkos have been the key so far. Activity seemed to be good for me after 5pm until sunset as I started off with senkos and jigs, moving to buzz and spinnerbaits evening progressed.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Vary your retrieve until you find out what the bass are looking for. By all means, the larger baits are getting the larger fish.

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

      Report: Fished out of Orwood resort, got there on Friday the 30th late in the evening and started fishing all the way through saturday morning. My go to lure was a white and gold clacker blade spinner. Caught a three pounder within the first few minutes of casting. All fish were no more than fifteen feet from the shore. Landed about twelve largies, all around the 2-3# range had one about 5#. All fish came on spinners and top-water chuggers. Perfect fishing, no wind and the water looked like glass! No takers on the tourney frogs, tried green, black and brown bottoms - not even a blow-up.
      City: san jose

      Tips: Spinners and traps, anything that can resemble a shad should produce. Didnt try any plastics, having too much fun with my spinner!

    • By

      Water Temp: Mid 70's

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Beautiful day on the Delta yesterday... clear skies, calm winds (until 3pm), calm water... there was even a layer of tule fog on clinging to the surface of the water in the AM. The tides were big today, and when we arrived at the launch facility, the water was almost brimming the levee walls - there was maybe 3 or 4 feet to spare... the water was VERY high.

      Our biggest fish today went maybe 10 or 11 .....


      inches :P


      Definitely a tough day on the water for us. Didn't help that I forgot my map at home and couldn't really hit the spots I had intended for fear of getting lost. We hit some tried and true spots and got nothing but dinks.

      Drop shotted Senkos, frogs, poppers, spinnerbaits, rattle traps, Senkos, Yamamoto Kreature Bait, Reaction Innovations Trixie Shad... were among the baits we threw yesterday.

      It's a full moon weekend, so maybe that had an affect.

      Trying again next week.
      City: San Mateo

      Tips: don't forget your map!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 73-78

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: jim ryan and i started on the white slough at 6am, with buzz and spook baits around tule islands and rocky points. had five blow ups and three fish, all 2 lbs. later at 8am a speed trap was working and for most of the day. found more bass later with senkos on steep rocky banks. we used the out going tieds to find moving water on the downside of tule islands. more bass with a red black jigs on eddies with moving water. later we used a frog in the weed mats, no fish.
      City: rocklin

      Tips: find moving waters, work hard, have fun, catch fish. crank, worm and jigs all day. charge trolling motor batteries up for a good long day on the water.

  • Sacramento County, California
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      Water Temp: warm

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Went out from 7-10 am with my brother. Caught about 18 between the both of us, up to 1.5#. Started out throwing topwater baits with blue/chrome poppers. Caught a majority of fish about 8 and had lots of blow-ups. Topwater bite died about 8am. Then started throwing shad colored grubs and jerkbaits. Landed some nice ones on the jerkbaits. Then around 8:30 the reaction bite died and we started dragging jigs on the bottom for a couple more fish. Another guy in a float tube landed some nice fish about 4 up to 1.5# crawling a jig while we there. He said all the fish came in about 15' of water.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Follow the bait. Once the bait moves so do the fish.

  • Lake County, California
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      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Clear Lake is incredible!!! Stayed in Nice and went out solo Sat and had a guy who hasn't bass fished on Sun morning. Didn't have to go far to start with a 5 but that was the biggest for both mornings. The rest were 1-3 with some dinks thrown in which totaled somewhere around 15 to 20 each morning (lost count after 10). Lost a big one Sun morning, couldn't get him turned at all and he was in a gnarly dock area. Threw top water and got one blow up and that was it (looked perfect for topwater but couldn't get it going). Big Cut Tails got the big fish, Senkos worked of course, and had great success on a lucky craft pointer covering water. Handed the drop shot rod to my buddy who didn't know what to do and every 1 pound bass within 10 miles decided to hit it. It seemed unfair at times since I had to keep unhooking them. I got the bigger fish though.
      City: San Carlos

      Tips: Since I didn't know the lake at all except for the map that I had and the reports from NCBF I tried a little of everything and it all worked (exept buzzin, why I do not know). The best pattern would have been sticking to low hanging wood docks with tules and other aquatic cover near by. The fish seemed to move back and forth between these two ambush spots. Just a killer lake!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 80

      Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

      Report: Stayed a week at Clearlake, with my wife and kids. I took a guest, of the lodge, out with me on my Ranger, Sunday the 25th. He is from Zimbabwe, Africa and working on his ph.D., at Berkeley. He had fished from a rented boat the day before and from the dock that evening without any success. When I asked him how he did, he said that he didn't think that this lake (Clearlake) had any fish. WRONG...

      With my wife's encouragement, I asked him if he'd like to join me at 6 A.M., the following morning. I told him to just bring himself and that I'd supply the tackel. We went out to Anderson Island and within four hours, he had caught 20 bass. His largest was a nice 3 pounds. He, his wife and daughter left later that morning, feeling a whole lot happier.

      I just e-mailed a photo of him with his fish and great smile.

      I was blessed the following morning while I fished with my wife. I landed an eleven pounder on a Fat Free Shad. I went onto catch an 8 1/2 pounder on Wednesday and a nice 4 pounder on Thursday.

      I gave another guest, of the lodge, a Fat Free Shad, who like the earlier guest had no luck. I showed him where to go, on his map and gave him a few tips. This guy was all the way out here from Chicago on vacation with his family. He too had the time of his life, just hours before leaving to go home.

      Overall, our family caught over 200 bass ranging from several dinks, to lots of 2's and 3's. I had caught well over 100 during the week. My thumbs are both really sore from holding the fish while removing the hooks. We kept and ate four and gently let the others go, even my Hawgs. I'll be back in three weeks or so with my brother and some new gear...
      City: Fairfield, CA

      Tips: Cast towards the shore using crank bait (citrus colors best)and bring the lure down slowly and evenly. Give it a jerk or two in order to break up the patern. Berkley 4" Pumpkinseed Worms worked well too!

  • Alameda County, California
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      Water Temp: 78

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Got on the water late, around 9:20 fished the south side for a while with spinnerbaits and jigs with no bites. Hit the weeds on the south end with rattle traps and caught a few fish. The biggest going close to 2lbs. Nothing big. Ran down to the other end of the lake at 10mph and fished the damn. Three other boats were already fishing it so i knew i wouldn't get a hit. Started to come back up the west side and hooked up with a 3 pounder of a baby bass shad rap. Lost a small smallmouth on the same bait. Fished a long time to only catch a few fish. Ended up with 7 fish for the day. Two guys i talked with hammered the catfish. Nice ones, i saw them.
      City: Boraga

      Tips: Don't get there late. Fish weed edges with chrome rattle traps. Didn't get one fish flippin. Weird day. Good luck to all!!!!!!!!!

    • By

      Water Temp: 72

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Tough day. Had great expectations with the overcast sky. Started with top water. Picked up three aggressive bass on PopR and a Chug Bug. The top water shut down quickly. Switched to a carolina rig and picked up two more and that bite shut down quickly. Tried dart head worm and brass n glass and hula grub but nothing. By 10:00AM the game was over. I think the fish moved tight to cover and I didn't follow. I continued to work the outside weedline and the fish went somewhere else. Again, tons of suspended fish. Don't seem to know how to make them bite. Met a tournament angler who only had one fish all day but it went 5 lbs on a drop shot. Talked to others who got blanked. One old guy had ten cat fish however.
      City: Foster City

      Tips: If what you are throwing shuts down don't continue to throw it like me. You have to quickly recognize that just because you caught a few on a bait that the pattern may not hold up. This is my biggest weakness as a bass fisherman - not wanting to admit it is time to switch. Go with top water early and switch to something else like a jig if you have not gotten a fish in the past 20 min. When the sun comes out around 10:30 and the bite shuts down then go home- its over.

    • By

      Water Temp: 76-79

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Boy, was it a grueling day!----Late start....got 5 fish for three people. Tried drop shotting, senkos,frogs and cranking. Hit points coves and mudlines...Proven set up drop shotting..all small fish 9-11 inches all deep-12-25'. There are some serious weed mats, yet nothing ont the frogs-saw the mats swirl a couple of times and one hit. All reports from Norcalfising.com said it was game on...well we were all wrong-till next time Melones here we come.
      City: San Jose

      Tips: Fish hard and get there early-

  • Shasta County, California
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      Water Temp: 81.6

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: went in at packers at 2250, slight push out of the north and a few bassboat trailers in the lot, air temp a cool 74, lake at 69 ft down, dropped the troll motor right off the bat and started throwing at the island out in front of the Packers float and got 6 small fish right off, moved down the west bank out to the point near the gap for the next hour with a few hits but nothing in the boat. Started seeing a few other bassboats moving back into packers at midnight and got a good fish on outside Packers at midnight that went 2.68 and another not 5 minutes later that was slightly bigger. The ten boats that came in then went to the float for the first of a split weighin(Redding Bassers) and I fooled around back on the island for a bit for 4 more small fish and a 1.8 just after they left again at 0200. A super nice evening out and only saw one skier out by no name, water level stil heading south at a good clip, got out at 0215, air temp down to 68. all my fish came out of 12-17ft of water, a bit different than normal, got no bites right at the bank.
      City: Redding

      Tips: B and S twintails in melon pepper and black root beer on 1/2oz football heads and no skirts.