By: The Fish Sniffer Staff March 11, 2005 Last Issue Here is a picture of a buddy of mine from work, Stacey Brown, who has a bass boat. He caught these two hog bass around Stockton on Dec.25, never weighed them, caught and released them. Razor, Mcavoy's Harbor Bay Point

LAKE SHASTA
The bass are moving up and down in the water column quite a bit as storms roll through the area. The best fishing is taking place in the 20 to 50 foot range," tipped George Mejorado of Phil's Propellers.

The bass are hitting on worms and grubs fished on darter heads. Mothers Finest baits have been producing the most consistent results in colors number 99, 38, 16, and 1.

Currently the bass action is spread throughout the bait. "Where you find the bass concentrated is also where you will find the trout," advised Mejorado. Shasta is continuing to rise and is currently 51.99 feet from capacity.

TRINITY LAKE
This winter has seen some of the best black bass fishing on Trinity in recent memory, according to John Gray, The "Maine Guide."

"A mild winter has kept the water temperature several degrees above normal, which has kept the fish much more active than usual," said Gray. "During winter the largemouths are deep, chasing kokanee. The fish we have been catching recently have been in 25'to 40'.

Around March 1, the kokanee move up in the water column and can be observed splashing around on the surface. This signals the start of shallow water bass fishing. The lake level is 56 feet below full pool, which brings into play acres of submerged dredger tailing piles in the north end of the lake.

"These same piles that are such excellent habitat are also great lower unit eaters, so if you're not familiar with the lake use extreme caution anywhere above Wyntoon Resort."

Trinity Lake is 56 ft. below the over flow and 67% of capacity. Water releases into the Trinity River at Lewiston are 300 cfs. and water temperatures are 46.8 degrees.

CLEAR LAKE
The largemouth bass bite at Clear Lake is starting to turn on and Bob Higgins at Limit Out Bait and Tackle reported the appearance of some monsters. "We have had three fish over twelve pounds weighed in the last week," said Higgins. "One was our local friend, Manny from Kelseyville, and two gentlemen named Bill and Mitch each had twelve pound fish as a part of a huge limit of bass."

Higgins reported that the pair used swimbaits, ripbaits and minnows to land a 48.10 pound five fish limit on one day of fishing last week.

"At one point, one of the anglers hooked a big fish, and his partner set his rod down to net what turned out to be an eleven and a half pound fish," Higgins related. "When they turned around, the rod that was sitting on the deck lunged off of the boat and into the water as another big fish had ripped the rod out of the boat."

Higgins said that there has been a spectacular minnow bite recently, as he has gone through as many as 129 dozen on one Saturday Morning and 2500 minnows from Thursday through Saturday.

LAKE SONOMA
Spend a day at Lake Sonoma as the Redwood Empire Bass Club did recently and you could tangle with some very nice bass. Scott Green of Outdoor Pro Shops related that the Redwood Empire Club produced a nice winning weight.

Steve Adams and his partner fished the club tournament at Sonoma and managed to fool a five fish limit for almost 17 pounds; the bag was anchored by an 8.22-pound lunker largemouth taken on a crawdad colored Speed Trap.

"The bite is good and varied right now," reported Green. "Fish can be taken anywhere from five to fifteen feet, and anglers are using a variety of methods to catch them." Green stated that flipping jigs or creature baits, dropshotting or spinnerbaits and crankbaits could all catch fish."

BERRYESSA
Black bass can be caught in big numbers at Lake Berryessa. Anglers are pounding the lake right now, as Berryessa is a hot spot for early spring team tournaments.

Many anglers are reporting solid action on largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass all over the lake. The next week should prove the prowess of Berryessa anglers, as Future Pro Tour Tournament Trails will bring an expected 150 or more teams to the lake.

Don Paganelli of Paganelli's Bass Fishing Experience hosted a pair of anglers on a midweek trip - and the trio was not disappointed.

"We caught more than 25 bass on crankbaits, ripbaits and spinnerbaits," Paganelli reported. "We were mainly dealing with smallmouth bass, but we managed to catch a four pound largemouth as well, and most of the fish were in ten feet of water or less."

Reports like these are becoming more common as the weather pulls these fish closer to spawning areas.

FOLSOM LAKE
Most of Folsom Lake's black bass are in a pre-spawn pattern concentrated between 20 and 30 feet deep, reported Dennis Phanner of Sacramento Pro Tackle. Anglers are landing some nice bass while working a variety of jigs and plastic worms, especially in crawdad patterns.

The bass are spread throughout the lake. Look for them on submerged rocks and secondary points adjacent to shallow water spawning habitat.

"I made a trip on Folsom this week that yielded 12 bass, including one 3.5 lb. largemouth," said Don Paganelli of Paganelli's Bass Fishing Experience.

"We dart headed in the North Fork and main body with Robo Worms in Aaron's Magic and Morning Dawn colors. The fish hit at 10 to 15 feet deep in the morning and 15 to 20 feet later in the day."

AMADOR
"The lake's black bass are in a pre-spawn pattern and are hitting jigs and plastic worms. Last week we saw some largemouths in excess of 6 pounds landed," reported Lockhart.

Anglers interested in catching bass should concentrate on rock piles and drop-offs near spawning areas in 15 to 20 feet of water.

Lake Amador usually gives up its biggest bass to anglers fishing at night. Night fishing at the lake should get underway some time in late March.

SALT SPRINGS VALLEY RESERVOIR
The water temperature at Salt Springs Reservoir is on the rise and that has prompted the lake's largemouth to move into the shallows as they prepare to spawn.

"We held a bass tournament here on March 5, and a lot of guys weighed in limits of fish. The winner had a limit of bass that averaged 2 to 3 pounds each," reported Debi Nunes at Salt Springs Valley Resort.

Anglers at Salt Springs are fooling the bass with grubs and a variety of creature baits including plastic craws, lizards, and spider jigs. The most consistent color has been chartreuse, but more natural colors are expected to begin working well soon.

With the warm weather that is forecast for the next week, Nunes predicts that the bass bite will bust wide open.

Dan Richardson of Copperopolis won $790 in the last fishing pool with a 4.48 pound bass.

MILLERTON RESERVOIR
The bass bite is beginning to improve at Millerton and a recent ABA North Valley Team Event showed that better fish were starting to show up, according to Jeff Huth of Valley Rod and Gun.

The team of Steve Russell and Jeff D'Alessandro weighed in an impressive five fish limit of bass that tipped the scales at 14.15-pounds, good enough to take home a little over $1500. The second place finishers, Lyn Dillon and Darin DeRuiter bagged a 12.28 limit the included the big fish of the event, a 5.41-pound kicker that helped them take home more than $1500 as well.

Huth said that the size of fish was improving at Millerton and that jig fishing was the best way to fool the fish. "1/2 or 3/4-ounce football heads tipped with Yamamoto Hula Grubs are hot right now," said Huth. "Anglers are fishing them from the bank to 20 feet, but the trick is to keep them moving, swimming is a good presentation right now."

Huth also said that a few fish were being taken on ripbaits in shallow water; he suggested anglers try TD Minnows to fool the average pound to pound and a half bass. He also said that dropshot rigs were accounting for a lot of bites in the same class.

BASS LAKE
Bass anglers have yet to fish Bass Lake in numbers, since many people from the area are making the trip to Don Pedro in search of big swimbait fish. According to Jeff Huth of Valley Rod and Gun, trout anglers are bagging a few fish, but they are fighting to get them.

"Cold weather and good fishing elsewhere has kept the bass anglers off the water at Bass Lake," Huth said. "Trout anglers are working hard to get one to three fish, although they tend to be better quality."

SANTA CLARA VALLEY LAKES
The lakes in the San Jose area have recently begun to produce bass on a fairly consistent basis. "I haven't seen these lakes this full in years," Steve LaRussa of Coyote Bait and Tackle said. "Some of them are flooded and the brush in the water is creating good habitat for the bass."

LaRussa reported having some fun at Coyote by flipping flooded bushes near the campground and flipping trash pockets around the lake. "The warming dirty water has the fish shallow, and skilled flippers can exploit that right now," LaRussa exclaimed.

"Jigs, jigs and more jigs is the ticket to catching some quality bass right now." LaRussa said that fishing can be tough at Coyote, but angler's efforts are likely to be rewarded with fish in the four to seven pound range.

LaRussa spent a day at Calero breaking in his new Ranger Z20 bass boat. LaRussa, his partner, and another pair of anglers in a separate boat, caught more than 60 bass at Anderson on a midweek outing. "Spinnerbaits and Rat-L-Traps did the majority of the damage," LaRussa said. "The key was to focus on the shallow flats that had grass pockets on them." He said the fish averaged between one to two pounds.

Calero is offering ample bass fishing opportunities as well, for bank and boat anglers. "The south end of the lake is best," LaRussa said. "Try throwing Carolina Rigged lizards and white and chartreuse spinnerbaits around the Bailey Cove area to catch several one to three pound largemouth bass."

Chesbro is good for one to two pound bass, and LaRussa said that bank anglers and float tubers are reporting tangling with three to six bass a day by throwing spinnerbaits shallow or by fishing jigs next to deeper wood around creek channels.

Uvas is still producing both crappie and bass, with the crappie being the most productive fishery. LaRussa said that small and medium minnows fished under bobbers or chartreuse and white mini jigs would catch several crappie, and perhaps a big one. "We are seeing a fair number of crappie that eclipse a pound, and that is always a fun bite." LaRussa exclaimed.

The bass bite is decent for anglers split shotting any Roboworm with a chartreuse tail. He stated that small largemouth are all over the bank, and that they were fairly cooperative.