Fishing Report
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004
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Shasta Lake
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Water Temp: 79.2
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: went in at Jones Valley at 2030 hrs but couldn't get in due to all the ski boats hovering around the ramp, air temp 89, lake nearly 38ft down, slight push out of the southwest at 3 mph, finally got goiing at 855pm and ran over into the lower pit throwing a blade for one at 1.5. Went back into Fort Creek on a submerged rock pile at 930PM and dropped a 3/4oz jig wearing some living rubber and a B&S twintail #23 and pulled it over some rocks in 12 ft and got hit hard, up came a 4.04 largemouth, first one this year. Fished around this pile for another 10 minutes catching 6 dinks on the same bait and left for another submerged hump near Squaw creek point and got four more dinks and a decent 2.5 spot on the same 3/4oz rig. Went back into fort creek and the rock pile gave up a 3.86 spot. The wind stoped at 1015 and the bugs came out in force so I took off figuring some open water might provide some relief but it didn't. Got out at 11pm, best 5 went 12.04 so a nice night out even with the damn bugs. Mr. Fuller, I will see you on Lake Blvd tomorrow night please don't forget my order!
City: Redding
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Monday, June 21st, 2004
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Amador Lake
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Water Temp: 78 - 80
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Fished from 5:30 pm through 1:30 am. Fishing before dark was okay on various reaction baits (but not topwater). After dark as expected, bite slowed way down. This lake is very difficult to fish because of all the moss and weeds. The moss is so bad it even fouls up the ball bearings in spinnerbaits and you're lucky to get in a cast and have the blade spin for more than 10 feet of retrieve. Slow rolling on the bottom which is usually a good technique is impractical now because of all the moss/weeds. You can see well enough during the day to fish okay but at night you're casting blind and get into the muck a lot. Couldn't fish a jig and couldn't even fish a worm through the weeds after dark. The only thing which worked after dark was the spinnerbait and then you're pulling grass and moss off the bait basically every cast. Caught about 8 fish all together with the biggest coming just at dark, a 3 pounder.
City: FolsomTips: During the day, throw baits that stay above the weeds and moss. All my fish came from around weed beds. If you know the lake well, maybe you can find some areas that are free of weeds. If so, I'd start there. The best bite was from 8 pm - 9:30 pm.
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Apache Lake
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Water Temp: 80
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: .It appears that most of the Bluegill are dead. My kids usually catch and release dozens a day. They caught none and saw none, other than a few dead ones. We also saw hundrededs of dead or dying shad. We caught no fish at all but spoke to a couple that had several bass that were all caught at a depth of 5 to 15 feet and all on purple 4 inch power worms. Game and Fish blames the fish kill on a rare algae that was made worse by the recent White Mountain fires sending ash down the Salt River. In 40 years this is the first time I have not seen a Bluegill at Apache Lake. I hope they return.
Tips: Fish off the bottom in 5 to 15 feet of water. Although the fishing is less than stellar the crawfish are abundant and easily caught day or night. Raw bacon or hot dogs work great tied to a string. My kids had a blast catching them.
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Berryessa Lake
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Water Temp: 74-79
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Sad day- last day of 11 days straight fishing. The good news is today was the best of all of them. Took another pal out to fish this beautiful lake- launched at about 6:30AM at Capell and headed to my favorite submerged tree spot. We both tossed plastics around the first tree with no bites. While we cruised over to the second tree I tied a jig onto my flippin' stick and added a yamamoto twin tail trailer. And after snapping off a nice fish last Monday I set the drag fairly light. I pitched the jig 2 times and on the third toss I felt a small tic- then the line took off heading towards shore. I set the hook (gingerly) and then tightened up the drag a bit because the fish was pullin' string. Then I let the rod do the work- and I pushed the thumb bar and used my thumb against the spool to control the tension. Then I yelled " please don't come off, please don't come off" until my friend netted it. What a cool way to start your day. She was a big headed 5lb.,12 ounce spawned out female. We very quickly weighed, measured (26") and photographed her and then watched her slowly fin away back to her underwater lair to eat some more REAL crawdads. We got 1 more jig fish- a 12 1/2" male. We cruised across to an island so I could show him how I troll crankbaits for bass. We saw a tree and decided to toss it- the fish wouldn't touch his brush hog or my jig. The wind blew us back into a cove and as I was turning the boat we saw a good bass bust some shad on top about 2 ft. from shore. We let the wind blow us deeper into this shallow area and when I tossed a white/ chartruese blade a 3lb.5oz. largemouth grabbed it just as I started reeling. Got it in the net- weighed, measured (19"), etc,etc. The coolest part of the day was all the 4 to 5 lb. bass we saw swimming around up in that cove. Not carp- bass. I've never seen that many bigger bass all gangin' up on shad in such a confined area. After the bite slowed down we were able to pull in and have a good look around. There was a hump with a bunch of weeds growing on it- there was a huge buried log about12 ft. long, there were two small isolated rockpiles and a nice shelf across the back of the cove where it dropped from 1 ft. down to 3ft.. My pal got a nice smallmouth on a watermelonseed lizard- about 14 1/2" long. He had another one a minute later but this one held onto the lizard just long enough to get to the side of the boat- then it let go. We looked at the lizard and the hookpoint was still buried in the lizard. I told him "You dipstick- how many times I gotta tell you- SET THE HOOOOOOOK! All in all it was a great last vacation day.
City: napaTips: Don't take it for granted if an area looks bad- I drove right by this great area we found today on Saturday afternoon and didn't even bother making a cast. I agree with Cooch Cuccia- pig and jigs rule and if those don't work try watermelon/ red flake lizards or baby brush hogs texas or carolina rigged.
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Castaic Lake
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Water Temp: 73-75
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: This report is for Lower Castaic!!! Very slow bite now that the water is warming up. Fish are surficing but topwaters for some reason are not working, use 6-7 inch roboworms either Texas or split shot rigged in about 20 -40 feet of water and bass are bitting the worms HARD. If you choose too drop shot, use the 6 inch aarons magic or oxblood red flake and just let it sit still. Good luck!!
City: CastaicTips: Use soft plastics and fish them slow!! I fish this lake just about every other day, I fish in a bright orange bighorn float tube and come say hi if you see me on the water!! Good luck
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Pine Flat Lake
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Water Temp: n/a
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Took my 13 tr old son out to Pine Flat monday afternoon and found the cold water line up river with bass and trout on top hitting shad. wide open bite on jerk baits for both. Spent the night on the boat in 40 ft just past that water line. Found a great trout night bite with a floating light and crickets, I'm talking 3 to 5lb big bows. we also had a catfish pole out and couldn't keep it in the water over 15 min with out a big cat. We then found a flat in the same area in the am loaded with nice bass hitting my favorite keeper 1010 tx style. I catch more nice spots on a keeper 1010 than anything on Pine Flat, it must be the sparkle tail. All in all a great outing my Son and I will cherish for years to come
City: VisaliaTips: Night bite 40ft water with floating light and crikets. I bought my light at big 5 which clamps to my battery, very nice, lanterns turn your night fishing into bug city. I let all my fish go so you can catch them again...
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Sunday, June 20th, 2004
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Berryessa Lake
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Water Temp: 76
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: What happened to the bite.Wife,Daughter & myself fished 0600-1100 Fathers Day.My choice of what to do.Two fish,together maybe 13".North/East end and Putah Creek. Topwater,jerkbait,draggin,senko,crankin.I've lost my touch.Wife commented how I let her down,that hurt for about a minute.It's not called catch'in.Fish'n.
City: FairfieldTips: Don't ask me.Drawing a blank.
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Calero Reservoir
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Water Temp: ?
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Father's Day + Sunday = many, many boats at Calero. However, this didn't seem to scare the fish too much. Fished the north shore from 4:30 to 8:30 PM and caught three, with the largest at 1 pound 10 oz. The other two were dinks, very small. Largest and one dink fell victim to a 6" white Yamamoto grub rigged Texposed with a splitshot right at the head of the lure, which is an excellent substitute for a spinnerbait in the currently weedy conditions. One bass took a 4" pumpkin senko. Two other anglers reported a 4 pounder on 5" cinnamon senko, and six between the 2 and 2 1/2 pound range on shallow-diving crankbaits burned through the mudlines created by all the boats. Legitimate reports, who knows? However, Calero has been pretty decent in the summer months in the past. Go check it out, jerky.
City: Belmont, CATips: Shallow runners will keep you above the weeds. Dropshotting resulted in the weight getting stuck in all the moss on the bottom. Work the mudlines, perhaps???
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California Delta
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Water Temp: 68-70
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Went out for a couple hours on Father's Day Morning. Ran to White's to prospect for some new big fish water. Tried frogs and buzz baits over weeds and wood for the first hour with no takers. Tide was high so hit a couple flats flipping and frogging. Picked up one small keeper and a couple non-keepers on a flipping tube, nothing on the frog. Was marking a lot of activity deeper, so I drug out the drop shot rod and tried working the 8'-18' range. Picked up one a little under 3#. Stuck with the drop shot for a while and lost a decent fish that I did not get a hook into and picked up a few more (small keepers and shorts). Tried switching up to a jig and working the same areas, got one hit, but did not eat the jig. It was a nice morning on the Delta, although the bite was not great.
City: BrentwoodTips: The fish were not where I expected them to be at a high tide with good weather conditions. I had to adjust quite a bit to catch some in the areas I was fishing.
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Emigrant Lake
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Water Temp: 61-63
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Well, here I go again.... The only reason that I'm submiting a report is that in the hope that someone will read it and submit a report of their own so that I might learn something new..... My grandson and a friend of his & I put in this morning at themair ramp just before daylight and went immeadiatly to the willows at the end of the (right) arm.... Fishing wasn't nearly as hot as it was the last time we went, but we did manage a few keepers... We went form there to the quarry hole where I did manage to hook the biggest fish of the day, about 1.5 smallmouth..... We left there and went up to the willows on the (left) arm, but didn't rally do all that much there.... Finally figured out that everything that was worth catching was being taken off rocky shorelines, so fished those for the remainder of the time on the lake...... Was in "EL Tapitio" for lunch & a couple of cervesas by 1 P.M. Total fish to the boat, 24, all in all not a bad day......... Wind was not a factor today.......
City: Williams, ORTips: Senkos, spinnerbaits, and a LV 95 Lucky craft accounted for all the fish that we caught.....
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Shadow Cliffs Lake
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Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Fished the back pond for a few hrs floating around and finaly found some fish willing to hit but I had to go a little deeper than I started out. I have not had a 20 or 30 bass day like some of these other guys but did manage a couple in the 3lb range, beats being stuck at work.Stil searnin the lake the darker colors seemed to do better.
City: San LeandroTips: What kind of baitfish are in the back ponds??? just askin for a little direction.....
Fish low and slow........ -
Water Temp: ?
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: took the dogs out for a sunday evening rip. walked all the way down to the trailer park and started throwing a rediculously giant BUZZbait because I couldn't find my normal persuader buzz and WHAM!! the scale said it was 5.42lbs. the weird thing is that it looked like a largemouth in every way except for the mouth which was not large at all. Does anyone (Mike Souza in particular) ever catch any spots in the back lakes? I know that across stanley blvd. there are those 3 ponds full to the brim with lm's, sm's, and spot's but in all of my years fishing the back lakes I have only caught one smallmouth never seen a spotted bass. Thanks
City: pleasantonTips: too easy...if you have to look here you might as well bring a bobber....to any newbies, senkos, spidergrubs, and buzzbaits in the evening. catch and release for the love of God...
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Soulajule Lake
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Water Temp: warm
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: Caught two fish on a bluegill pattern crankbait. The first was a 14" dink, but the second one was 2.8 lbs, according to my scale.
Both were hooked on a jerk retrieve where I'd let the 'bait sit while I reeled in the slack slowly. Both hit when the lure was motionless.
City: Petaluma
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Saturday, June 19th, 2004
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Anderson Lake
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Water Temp: 73
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Started when the lake opened. It was overcast and a light breeze. The conditions had spinner bait written all over. NOT. Moved around to various weed lines and main lake points using different rigs and not a bite. Finally at 12:00 with the sun finally out and the wind really coming up and the ski traffic at its peak I finally got my first fish. In the next three hours I caught 17 bass up to 2.5lbs. Used dart head, drop shot, and carolina rigged plastics in 8-17 ft. I moved around to various points but most fish were taken on off shore structure (hump)with a 6ft - 26ft drop. Fish were stacked up on the drop. Wind and waves pushing across the structure turned the bite on. Could not believe that boats were coming by so close it was nearly swamping my aluminum boat and the fish were still biting. Fun time.
City: Foster CityTips: Don't give up. Soft plasitics in 5-20 ft of water worked best for me on shallow to deep water drop off. Drag it off the ledge and keep the line tight because the bite was very subtle. That is tough in wind and waves but manditory if you want to put fish in the boat at this lake.
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Berryessa Lake
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Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)
Report: headin up to berryessa tomorrow ill be there for three days.i will make sure i will report on it.
City: san bruno
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California Delta
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Water Temp: 69 - 74
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Fished all over the Delta today with sporadic, but consistent action... lots and lots of dinks but we managed a few quality fish on the outside edge of weedlines with Senko's and lipless cranks. Had a few bites flipping sweet beavers right up along the tule edges, but had trouble hooking them... most spit it out as I pulled them to the surface. Couldn't get any fish on blades or buzzers today and had two or three little blurbs under our frogs, but no real takers. Best fish of the day were one three pounder and two two pounders. Fished both clear and muddy water and caught fish in both.
City: San MateoTips: Lot of dinks out there - upsize your offerings if you want to the quality fish though I had a 5 incher hit my 5/8 oz lipless crank!
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Chabot Lake
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Water Temp: ?
Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)
Report: I agree with Archuletta. When I see pictures of big bass on this site from chabot I'm pretty much in Awww. I've fished it soooooooo many times without anything to show off. The guys who are gettin' em' there must have some type of secret because the largemouths just won't hit the usual lure types. This has to be the only lake in which you can make 500 casts with a senko without a hit. I'm convinced that the population of bass at this lake is less than a thousand. I wish someone would realize this and do something about it. I'm not talking about planting 100-300 trees each year because that won't do shit. All that will result is dead timber which will end up as debree. If you want a bass population you have to put a little money out. It's as easy as that. Build VIABLE structure. Plant fish. Develop more strict regulations. NO more 5 fish limits. Can't we afford a 5 dollar disoposal camera and a 20 dollar rapala digital scale. CATCH and RELEASE ONLY. This is the 21st century. Bass should no longer be an option at the dinner table due to the fact that so many people depend on fishing for this incredible species as there favorite hobby. DON'T FISH FOR BASS IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A MEAL. I'm tired of all the bull shit. There need's to be more conservation here in the Bay Area so that we don't have to travel a hundred miles just to catch a bass. Open up your eyes and stop being greedy you idiots who are keeping the bass.
City: ?
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Clear Lake
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Water Temp: 74
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: The water isn't really stained, just covered with green stuff. Fished off rocky reefs and main points around the mid-lake area in 8 to 15ft. drop shotting a Basstrix 4" perch (fat minnow) and 3" shad (bait fry)and caught a lot of bass. Our best five went about 33lbs. and best 10 probably close to 50lbs. We missed a lot of hits and caught quite a few small fish and one 12lb. catfish. Fun day!
City: SacramentoTips: Rig your drop shot hook about 3ft. from the sinker and work offshore rock flats and boulders.
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Crane Prairie Lake
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Water Temp: 61
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Fished a UVBM tournament on the 19th and 20th of June and had 21lbs 14oz for 5 fish. Caught fish on blades in the morning but culled them out later on brushhawgs and senkos.We were culling 4lbs bass all day long.On the second day it was a little tuffer to catch big ones. We had 18lbs+ for 40lbs for two days and got second place. What a fish factory this place is.
City: WinstonTips: Reaction baits early until the sun comes up them switch to slower plastics.
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Del Valle Lake
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Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)
Report: Please help save our fishery. I have a couple of addresses for those who want to voice there opinion.You can write to the Governor and mail it to Office of the Governor
State Capitol Building
Sacramento,Ca.95814 or email Governor@governor.ca.gov
Please do all you can to save Del Valle. Thanks again.
City: Fremont
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