Lake Chabot Fishing Report 9/13/11

General Conditions

Catfishing is good with a few fish reported being caught during the night on the first dock and on the west shore trail. Two weeks ago, Mt. Lassen planted 500lbs of catfish by the marina.  This week we are scheduled to receive our first trout plant for the fall season.  Water level is about 6 feet from spillway and it’s been staying constant.  When you bring in your big fish we’ll get your picture and give a “Lake Chabot Whopper Club” hat.  Water temperature consistently remains in the low 70’s. If you have any questions please call or visit the marina.

Trout

This week the weather is warming up a little so fishing for trout will be a little slow.  For all the trollers out there make sure you put on a lure that dives deeper than 15 to 25 feet deep.  Drift fishing is also another good way to pull out trout, especially back by the dam to half moon bay.  If you going to bait fish for trout make sure to go down by the dam using Powerbait and Powereggs is your best chance to catch a trout. Look forward to better trout fishing when the water temperature cools down a little.  This week was our first week of trout being stocked in the lake and we should be getting close to weekly stocks until spring of next year.

Bass

Bass fishing is picking up with several bass getting caught daily, with this warm weather bass are hitting mostly in the mornings and evenings.  Most of the anglers are throwing Senko’s and drop shots to get the fish to come out from their close to shoreline structure. Several reports of bass were getting caught over by raccoon point and bass cove by using top water lures in the morning and plastic lures off the bottom in the afternoon.  Livewells can be provided upon request thanks to Walton’s pond.  Please practice catch and release for bass, as they are not stocked into the lake and their population depends on you.

Catfish

The weather is warming up and so is the catfish bite. We’ve received over 5,500lbs of catfish in last so far this season but most of the fish being caught right now are holdovers from past stocks. Two weeks ago Mt. Lassen put in 500 lbs. of catfish into Lake Chabot and will do another plant later on this upcoming week. Current hot spot for catfish is back in Halfmoon Bay, Bass cove and around the Island. The first dock at night will be great spot to fish for catfish, so make sure to come out early and claim your spot.  Using mackerel and chicken liver have been a great bait to help anglers catch their limits and the less weight you can get away with the better.

Joey Coelho of San Leandro caught a 10lb catfish from Halfmoon Bay using mackerel.

Lake Camanche Fishing Report 8/10/11

General Conditions

Lake Camanche’s current elevation is 232 feet above sea level. The inflow from Lake Pardee is currently at 341 c.f.s. The spill is at 0 c.f.s. The outflow from Lake Camanche is currently 1306 c.f.s. The lake is 93% full & the water temperature is 75 degrees.

Trout

This week we had 13 year old Audrey Vierra of Gilroy catch her limit of trout. She was with her family out by the dam trolling with a broken-back rebel. Her total stringer weighed in at 11.97lbs with her 2 largest weighing 3.52lbs and 3.44lbs.

Bass

No reports of bass being caught this week.

Catfish

Catfish like stinky bait. Cut-bait, chicken livers, cheese and night crawlers are some of the most common baits used. It’s always a good idea to have a few choices available and switch them up if you aren’t getting any bites. Still not catching catfish? Try another location.

Los Vaqueros Reservoir Fishing Report 8/10/11

General Conditions

Stripers continue to provide the main action at the reservoir. Water conditions for fishing are still good. The water temperature is between 70 and 72 degrees at the 5 foot depth. The water temperature around 40 feet is 68 degrees. Our hours are 6:00 am to 8:00 pm. Boats are due in by 6:30 pm. These will be our hours through August. Our water level is currently at 49%.

The entire shoreline remained open this past week and should remain open this coming week. The Rockwall parking lot and fishing beyond Oak Point is scheduled to be closed beginning August 15th. Please call for specific up to date information as the situation here can change day to day. Boat Rentals will continue open through September. The Marina building will be open through mid October.

Trout

Trout are receiving very light pressure as most anglers are going after striped bass. We only had a few reports of some trout being caught. Nightcrawlers are probably your best bet. Try fishing them on the edge of drop offs. Trout are found in surprisingly shallow water except on very hot days or during the middle of the day.

Largemouth Bass

There are not many anglers fishing for largemouth bass. The anglers that do target them have done well, mostly in Peninsula Cove and the back of Cowboy Cove. Senko’s are your best bet. Nightcrawlers are also a good choice. Try fishing any trees or structure you are able to locate. We did see some bass this week which were preparing to spawn and full of eggs. We appreciate you taking a picture of the bigger bass then releasing them to fight another day. The biggest largemouth of the week went 4.7lbs and was caught on a Senko.

Stripers

Fishing for stripers is best early or late in the day. We have checked in 50 fish over 8lbs in the last 6 days. We figure at least another 50 or 60 were caught and not reported. Anchovies continue to be your best choice for bait. Anglers fishing from shore are working a wide variety of shoreline and we are seeing fish being caught from the all open shoreline. Boaters anchoring off of points and casting into deeper water are also having good success on stripers. We had at least 3 or 4 boats catch limits every day last week. Stripers average 6 to 12lbs with fish up to 15lbs. There are still many shakers being caught, remember bass must be 18 inches to keep. Please release them quickly and carefully.  The largest striped bass reported this week was 14.87lbs caught is South Cove from the shore.

We have some pretty big stripers. Let’s see if any of you can find any bigger than the one Greg Myerson recently caught in Long Island Sound that weighed 81lbs. You have to check out the photos!

Salmon

We rarely see anglers targeting salmon this time of year. Trolling as deep as possible (30 to 60 feet) might be worth a try. There is no doubt the salmon are holding in the deeper/cooler water.

Catfish

Liver, anchovies and nightcrawlers will all take catfish. We appreciate catch and release of the catfish over 20lbs. Some of the 1 lb range catfish we planted two weeks ago continue to show up on anglers stringers. We will be putting another load of 500lbs in sometime in the next week or two. We had catfish checked at 13.6lbs. 18.3lbs and 24.6lbs over this week. We also had several large catfish reported from the shoreline but not checked in.

Los Vaqueros Reservoir Fishing Report 8/3/11

General Conditions

Stripers continue to provide the main action at the reservoir. Water conditions for fishing are still good. The water temperature is between 70 and 72 degrees at the 5 foot depth. The water temperature around 40 feet is 68 degrees.

Trout

Trout are receiving very light pressure as most anglers are going after striped bass. We only had a few reports of some trout being caught. Nightcrawlers are probably your best bet. Try fishing them on the edge of drop-offs. Trout are found in surprisingly shallow water except on very hot days or during the middle of the day.

Largemouth Bass

There are not many anglers fishing for largemouth bass. We see a few caught here and there but nothing very steady. Senko’s are your best bet. Nightcrawlers are also a good choice. Try fishing any trees or structure you are able to locate. Surprisingly we did see some big bass this week which were preparing to spawn and full of eggs. We appreciate you taking a picture of the bigger bass then releasing them to fight another day. The biggest largemouth of the week went 6.4lbs and was caught on a Panther Martin lure.

Stripers

Fishing for stripers is best early or late in the day. We have checked in 50 fish over 8lbs in the last 5 days. We figure at least another 50 or 60 were caught and not reported. Anchovies continue to be your best bet but a few anglers trolling rattletraps have had success. Anglers fishing from shore are working a wide variety of baits and we are seeing fish being caught from all the open shoreline. Boaters anchoring off of points and casting into deeper water are also having good success on stripers. We had at least 3 or 4 boats catch limits everyday last week. Stripers average 6 to 12lbs with fish up to 25lbs. There are still many shakers being caught. Top striper for the week went 25.5lbs and was caught on a rattletrap.

Salmon

We rarely see anglers targeting salmon this time of year although we did have a 2lb salmon caught on a Rapala. Trolling as deep as possible (30 to 60 feet) might be worth a try. There is no doubt the salmon are holding in the deeper/cooler water.

Catfish

Liver, anchovies and nightcrawlers will all take catfish. We appreciate catch and release of the catfish over 20 lbs. Some of the 1 lb range catfish we planted two weeks ago continue to show up on anglers stringers. We will be putting another load of 500lbs in sometime in the next week or two. We had catfish checked in at 11.5lbs, 12.5lbs and 10lbs over the last 3 days. We also had reports of several 20lb plus catfish caught and released.