By: The Fish Sniffer Staff October 19, 2007 Last Issue Fished Mildred Island, drop-shotting using a purple Roboworm, about 5 feet deep and hooked this beauty. Weighed in at 7 pounds. Flipped the worm into the weeds and immediately noticed that my line started moving toward the boat!  I set the hook and it went deep into the weeds and stopped. Thought for sure I lost it, but after some slow hauling it took off!  A few more deep runs and finally landed it.  My girlfriend couldn’t believe it (I took her bass fishing for the first time). Snapped a few pictures and let it go.  She’s now hooked as I am and planning our next trip this weekend. Kent Peterson

Shasta
Linda Morgan at Phil’s Propellers described the bass fishing at Lake Shasta as “pretty darn good”. “White spinnerbaits, crankbaits and plastic worms fished on drop shot rigs have been working well, while the topwater bite has backed off some. We are starting to see some bigger bass up to 4.5 pounds being caught. For the best bass fishing anglers are going up into the lake’s arms with the Pitt being the best,” said Morgan.

As of press time Lake Shasta was 118.84 from maximum pool.  

Trinity
Black bass fishing is going strong at Trinity Lake. For example, Tim Brady caught and released 8 largemouths, ranging from 2-1/2 to 5 pounds, during a trip to the lake’s north end on Saturday, October 13. He fished 5 inch Yamamoto Senkos in watermelon with black flakes at 25 to 30 feet deep. “I stayed in the same general area throughout the trip,” he noted.

“An angler won the recent Red Bluff Bass Club Tournament by catching a limit of five smallmouths weighing a total of 28.30 pounds,” added Brady.  

Oroville
The rapidly dropping lake level at Lake Oroville has resulted in a tough black bass bite.

“Anglers are really working for their bass,” said Terry Shade at Oroville Outdoors. “The fishing is definitely not wide-open. Nor are the fish very big; most are in the slot limit of 12 to 15 inches long. It’s hard to catch any bass over 2 pounds now.”

Boaters hitting the lake first thing in the morning are hooking spotted bass on top water baits such as Zara Spooks, Zara Puppies, Ricos and Rebel Pop-Rs. However, most of the fish are being caugh on worms, jigs and crankbaits. The top worm colors are ghost minnow, chatreuse and crawdad patterns.

“Anglers are also starting to catch fish on spoons,” said Shaded. “The fish aren’t real deep – about 40 feet at the deepest. The fish are scattered throughout the water column in the main body and forks.”      

Clear Lake
The night time is the right time to fish for largemouth bass on Clear Lake, according to Larry Hemphill, fishing guide.

Hemphill and two anglers, Grant Luther of Woodland and Ed Brown of Citrus Heights, experienced top-notch largemouth bass action on a recent night fishing adventure to Clear Lake. “We landed 20 fish, but we probably hooked between 40 and 45 bass,” said Hemphill.

The anglers fished from 4 p.m. to midnight in the south end of the lake near Redbud.

“Right about dark we really got into a school of quality fish,” said Hemphill. “We landed 5 fish in the 4 to 4-1/2 pound range right in a row and also lost one between 6 and 7 pounds. The fish hit best on 10 inch Berkley Power Worms.”

However, after dark the big fish action slowed down and the anglers began hooking fish averaging 2 to 2-1/2 pounds each. “We worked really hard for our twentieth fish,” noted Hemphill.

Their 5 fish limit weighed between 18 and 19 pounds, estimated Hemphill. During the course of their trip, the surface water temperature dropped from 66 to 62 degrees.  

Sonoma
Lake Sonoma is in the process of turning over and the water temperature is cooling. The result is a great trout and bass bite for anglers fishing Sonoma, reported Scott Green of Outdoor Pro Shop.

“A Zara Spook is a deadly bait in the morning now at Sonoma,” said Green. “Anglers are coming off the water with pretty big bags of largemouths averaging 2 to 3 pounds and running up to 6 pounds. Most of the action is taking place off the main lake p  

Berryessa
The key to finding a good bass bite at Lake Berryessa this time of year is finding the bait. When you locate a school of threadfin shad, you can often experience great fishing like Larry Hemphill, fishing guide, and his clients did on Hemphill’s latest venture to the reservoir.

Andrew Reed, a friend and Hemphill caught and released 27 bass to 2-1/4 pounds, as well as missing numerous fish. “We hooked probably 60 fish,” said Hemphill. “We caught four species of bass – largemouth, spotted, smallmouth and smallmouth/spotted hybrids – and two crappie to 1-1/2 pounds.”

Their hot spot was in 39 to 45 feet deep in the Narrows. Hemphill hooked most of his fish while using using Duh! ¾ ounce spoons, while his clients found success drop shotting with Basstrix Flashstrix Minnows. They also hooked a few fish while using Robo Worms on Texas rigs.

“The bass ranged from 12 to 17 inches long, with the exception of the day’s first fish, an 18 inch spotted bass,” said Hemphill.

The water temperature was still 70 degrees, surprisingly warm for this time of year.

Dino Righetti at Spanish Flat Resort confirmed the top-notch bass fishing. “Bass anglers using plastics and crankbaits off rocky points are doing well in about 15 to 20 feet of water,” said Righetti.  

Folsom
John Wadden at Will Fish Tackle in Auburn reported that only one of his customers has been fishing Folsom Lake on a regular basis. “There has been one fella in here that has been catching bass off a hump out in front of Dyke 8,” said Wadden.

Anglers that want to catch bass are advised to work crankbaits and top water plugs early and late in the day. During the midday hours jigs and drop shot rigs will provide the best action.

Folsom Lake is currently holding 314,608 acre feet of water and is continuing to drop.  

Camanche
“Bass action continues to be very good,” according to Porray. “One camper at North Shore caught his limit of bass to 4 pounds in the Causeway area He was using watermelon Brush Hogs in about 15-20 feet of water. He also bagged a 6 pound catfish on the same bait.”

Sam Cardwell from Acampo and his son, Ken, caught 4 bass up to 3 ½ pounds while trolling for trout. Sam also took a 6 ½ pound trout on the jointed Rebel lure in that same area a few weeks earlier.

Lake Camanche’s current elevation is 204.1 feet above sea level, a rise of .1 feet this week. The surface water temperature at the marina is 69 degrees.  

New Melones
Over 150 teams fished in the recent 100 Percent Bass Tournament of Champions. “New Melones Lake was her fickle fall self and fishing was rough,” said Melanie Lewis at Glory Hole Sports. “Many of the western region’s top anglers couldn’t put a limit in the livewell.”

While most anglers dragged brown jigs and drop-shotted shad-patterned worms and found 1-pound fish, two local teams really shined by throwing Huddleston Swimbaits.

“On the 1st day, Alex Niapas and Tom Schachten grabbed the lead with over 17 pounds of fish,” said Lewis. “On day two, Alex and Tom had a tough time and couldn’t find any big fish.”

Aaron Cole and Greg Allec figured out the bite, bringing a whopping 25+ pounds of fish to the scale. Combined with their 10-pound (3rd place) bag from the day before, they totalled 37 pounds of fish and knocked Schachten and ANiapas into 2nd place.   

Don Pedro
Anglers will have to tough out the current pre-turnover doldrums at Lake Don Pedro. All species are making anglers work pretty hard for the fish that are being caught.

Phil Hill of Jigs Bait and Tackle mentioned that anglers looking for Pedro bass will have a tough job ahead of them. “It’s a dead sea right now,” quipped Hill “We just aren’t seeing any size as well as very low numbers for the effort. Turnover hasn’t happened and it’s just real tough. If anglers are set on going, they should plan on putting in a lot of time – with the best action coming from a brown jig with Strike King 3x watermelon trailer.”  

Millerton
There are a lot of small spotted bass up to twelve inches being taken at Millerton right now, said Gilbert. Catching fish is not a problem, but catching keeper fish can be tough.

Most of the bass action is between the bank and forty feet deep for anglers drop shotting at Millerton. Tossing a Zara Spook or buzzbait in the morning can also get some exciting action. There is also a ripbait bite some anglers have found later in the day, but it is not very strong yet. The drop shot fish are being caught around forty feet deep on straight tail worms.