By: The Fish Sniffer Staff July 11, 2008 Hello FishSniffer,   Well, we went camping for the weekend up at Lake Miden up off Nicholas, and when we got there we asked  them like always  what did you guys stock the lake with they said Catifsh, Bass. They had stocked it with alot of catfish but only like 15-25 bass and I was happy because I love bass fishin. I have been going to this lake my whole life and I have never seen a bass come out of there except for one little the my cousin caught. So, I put on a Tube and threw it under this dock and she just grabbed it. I felt a big tug and i just yanked it and what I thought it was a catfish but when she jumped out of the water i seen how big it was and I knew it was a bass my cousin grabbed the net and got here out of the water and I ran back to camp and showed my family they were all happy for me we weighed it was 7 pounds 8 ounces. It was the best time of my life. Sheldon Bisbee Kent Peterson

Shasta Lake
Tony Messer at Phil's Propellers described the bass fishing as "excellent".

"Hula grubs, Robo Worms and Mother's Finest Worms in the No. 38 color have all been catching a lot of fish. Early and late in the day, the topwater action has been very good. Walking baits such as the chartreuse colored Zara Spook have been working the best, but poppers are a great choice too," said Messer.

"Most of the bass are going about 1.5 pounds, but we've heard about some largemouths up to 8 pounds being caught on swimbaits. The best areas for bass fishing are up in the lake's arms. The fish are holding on shallow points," continued Messer.

Lake Shasta is currently 89 feet from maximum pool and dropping.

Oroville Lake
Black bass fishing on Lake Oroville remains very good, but the fish are scattered throughout the water column because of the rapidly dropping water level.

"Spotted bass are showing from the bank all of the way to 40 feet deep," revealed Brent Cline at Oroville Outdoors. "For the larger fish, your best bet is to toss out topwater allures such as Zara Spooks and Ricos and buzzbaits early and late in the day."

For big numbers of smaller fish, most in the 12 to 15 inch slot, you can fish jigs, dart head with plastics and drop shot plastics throughout the day. Use pond smelt and crayfish imitations fro the top success. The forks and main bodoy are all producing fish.

Folsom
The water level is falling fast at Folsom Lake and the bass bite has become extremely tough as a result. Hit and miss salmon action is still available out in front of the dam, while decent catfish action is taking place in both the South Fork and North Fork.

"I have not been out on Folsom, but I know the bass bite is tough," reported Don Paganelli of Paganelli's Bass Fishing Experience. "Whenever the lake drops it pushed the bass offshore and the reaction bite goes away. If I were going to fish the lake, I'd hit the main body. I'd still try reaction baits early, but I wouldn't expect a whole lot until the water stabilizes. After that I'd switch over to plastics and jigs and I'd work slowly."

Berryessa
Lake Berryessa isn't producing any monsters, but the black bass bite is pretty darned good, as evidenced by guide Larry Hemphill's latest jaunt to the reservoir.

Leo Briones of Whittier, California and his 9-year-old and 13-year-old sons caught and released around 16 fish while using 4 inch Berkley Power Worms, observed Hemphill. The fish were a colorful mixture of spotted, largemouth and smallmouth bass.

"The two largest fish were a 17 inch and 2-1/4 lb. spotted bass caught by the 9-year-old and a 16-/18 inch spot nailed by the 13-year-old," said Hemphills. "The dad also bagged 4 largemouths in the 1-3/4 lb. class."

In addition to using green pumpkin Power Worms, the trio also split shotted with Robo Worms in red crawler and oxblood patterns at 20 feet deep. "We caught all of the fish in the Narrows," he noted. "That area had a better water color with all of the boating activity."

Clear Lake
Bass anglers fishing over the July Fourth weekend reported catching lots of largemouths while using an array of methods on Clear Lake.

"Boaters are fishing a wide variety of artificial baits, including buzzbaits in white, spinnerbaits in white or chartreuse, jigs with trailers, Beavers, Senkos and Brush Hogs," said Bob Rider, owner of Lakeshore Bait & Tackle. "This is the kind of fishing that allows one to stick with their favorite technique or try that new technique you've been itchin' to try. "

Most reports have anglers catching 30 to 60 fish a day, depending on how many hours you're out on the water and how hard you want to fish.

"Live bait anglers have been frustrated at the lack of availability of the largerminnows," noted Rider. "Simply put, there are none to be had. Nearly all of our bait fish come from the big farms in Arkansas. They've been out of 'em now for a couple weeks, so there aren't any coming into the hatcheries in California. Many of our anglers who enjoy using live minnows have gone to using the medium or crappie-sized minnows and are having good success."

Amador
Bass fishing at Lake Amador is going strong in the evenings and at night, according to Larry Hemphill, fishing guide.

Hemphill and Rick Tietz of Yuba City caught and released 20 bass on their latest trip to the lake. "The top water and frog bite was quite good in the evening," said Hemphill. "We experienced our top success tossing out Lucky Craft Sammy lures in ghost shad patterns."

Their top five fish weighed 18 pounds, lead by a 4-1/2 pounds. "The fish averaged a solid 3 pounds," said Hemphill. One angler also caught an 8 lb. 13 oz. largemouth while they were fishing. After dark, they switched over to 10 inch Berkley Power Worms.

"The fish were chasing bait out into the middle of the lake," said Hemphill. "There were shad everywhere. The water was very warm, ranging from 80 to 83.4 degrees."

Camanche
The annual bass plant of Florida strain largemouth bass at Lake Camanche is expected to bolster the Mother Lode reservoir's bass population.

"We had more than a dozen boaters volunteer to disperse buckets of bass minnows to different areas of Lake Camanche," said Eldon Porray of the Lake Camanche Recreation Company. "We planted more than 3000 fish total."

The bass are raised by Willow Creek Fisheries near Fresno. Ron Wilson, an outdoor sports writer from Modesto, helped the concessionaire plant the bass.

"He got on the water before 6 a.m. to fish for a while before the plant occurred and caught and released 15 bass up to 5 pounds between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m.," noted Porray. "He was using Keeper 1050 worms on a darthead near the dam in rocky areas about 15 feet deep."

McClure
Bass action is steady with an early morning top water bite on Spooks and then moving to a jig bite. Better jig colors have been purples and browns. Look for bass in the Piney Creek and Barrett Cove areas, reported Chuck Rowell of A 1 Bait and Tackle.