Saturday the 26 myself, and two other anglers, Nick and Steve, got to the Lake Sonoma at around 7am.   We had post-frontal conditions, with partly cloudy skies and a light north wind.  The water temp was 52 degrees with 2-4 foot clarity.  Our first stop was a big flat with a few scattered rock piles, in the Warm Springs Arm.  The bite was on, and in the first 20 minutes of the day we landed 7 bass, a mix of large-mouth and small-mouth.  We fished 3/8 oz. jigs and Dry Creek Tubes fished in 1...

Despite the freezing temperatures, the bass fishing at Lake Sonoma was surprisingly really good.  I was supposed to head up to Clear Lake to do some filming on Friday, but Hwy 29 was closed because of nearly a foot of snow on the summit from the previous day.  Luckily my buddy Hank was able to get a “sick day” from work, so he met me at Lake Sonoma at around 10:30 am.  We were in between storms, the sky was clear, there was a light south wind, and you could still see last nights full moon...

It’s been a cold week for all the anglers fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series.  By looking at the weights these last few days, it’s obvious the weather has affected the fishing.  Thursday we launched out of Orowood at 9:30, just as the tide was starting to come in.  We made a short run to Holland Riverside Marina and caught a few small bass on spinnerbaits.  They were positioned on the deeper points right at the mouth of the marina.  We then went to another similar spot just up the main...

We launch out of Red Bud Park, at the south end of Clear Lake, at around 9 am.  The water is much clearer compared to last week, with the algae bloom being a little less intense.  We start off fishing jigs shallow on rocky banks in Jago Bay.  By 10 am we each get a couple bass, but nothing larger than 2.5 pounds. We then fish some deeper rock (10-20) around Wheeler, Gooseneck, and Frasier Points.  We caught a few more bass a drop shot and shaky head, but still smaller fish (1-2 lbs).  Decid...

Launched at Big Break Marina  Saturday morning before the sun came up at 6 am.  I was with two other anglers.  Both were experienced  bass  fisherman but neither have targeted striped bass out on the California Delta.  Just as the sun was coming up the tide turned and started rising.  We exited the marina and immediately started seeing smaller sized stripers busting smelt on the surface.  Throwing topwater lures by the boils, we each caught a few 3-7 pounders.  Poppers, Vixens, and Lunker P...

After having a little trouble with the people doing the mussel inspections, we finally got on the water at around 9am.  I focused at my graph as we pulled up our first stop, and quickly realized how many bass were suspending chasing bait.  During the first hour, we had non-stop action.  We found a huge school of bass.  On a 100 yard stretch of bank, from 20-50 feet of water my fishfinder was filled with balls of bait with bass slashing right through them.  All parts of the water column were ...

Launch the boat at 6:15 just before sunrise at Big Break Marina.  The tide was going down and we still had a good four hours until it bottomed out.  We started on a weedy flat just outside the marina.  I was throwing a Lunker Punker and David was using a popper.  About 15 minutes into the day, David misses a good sized striper on the popper.  Not more than a couple minutes later, I see a guy fly fishing about 100 ft. away from me miss an absolute monster.  It looked like someone dropped a V...

It’s 6:30 Thursday morning and Tong, Tim and I launch out of Russo’s Marina.  We make a 15-minute run south and fish the mouth of a dead end slough near Orwood.  The tide had just peaked and started to push out.  Using a Shell Cracker on a tulle point, a nice bass swirled on the swimbait, but missed it.  As the tide continued to push out, we moved into Rock Slough, but found no action.  Finally we caught a couple on weighted senkos on the outside of Mandeville Island.  Around 1pm ...

The first big storm of the year rolled through last week.  It was quite cold and nasty.  Once last weeks storm passed, it warmed up quite fast.  Having three consecutive days of warm weather, I figured flipping wood should be a solid afternoon pattern.

We put the boat in around 12:30, and worked our way up the main lake, jumping from one piece of wood to the next.  The water was still quite cold, 54 degrees, so we made sure to work our baits slow. Starting out with Brush Hogs and Ji...

Finally, some rain.  Charlie and I managed to get out and do some fishing just before our first big storm of the year.  Because of the last few small storms, the water is already starting to dirty up.  Our first stop was Packwood Cove.  The bass are just starting their transition from winter to their pre-spawn mode.  We caught a few two pounders fishing 10-15 feet just out from the spawning flat in the back of the cove.  Small rock piles and wood were both holding fish.  Towards th...