Lake Berryessa
11/25/18
Water temp- 58-59°
Air temp- 50-65°
Water clarity- 5-10 feet
Lake level- 422′ elevation
Weather conditions- Sunny post frontal
Wind- 0-3 mph
After a long, wet holiday week I decided to take a trip to Berryessa on Sunday with my friend Nicholas. I haven’t fished Berry since April but usually this time of year the A Rig bite and swimbait bite starts to get pretty good, We decided to throw big baits all day hoping to get a giant. Unfortunately for us the weather was not ideal for this situation and the water temp was still a bit warm but we stayed with the plan anyways.
We launched out of Markley Cove at 7:15am and headed to a main lake point. My first cast with a Heavy Limits A Rig I got bit but it was a short strike. My second cast Boom! The fish hammered my rig in about 15 feet of water and I was able to get this one in the boat. It was a sold 2.5 lb fish, it choked my Molix 3.8 RA Shad! Knowing the A Rig bite was going to decent, we both decided that’s really not what we came to do. So we put everything away and broke out the swimbaits.
Our next stop was a submerged island top on the main body, we sat on top of the island casting into deep water…. About 5 minutes into it I got my first bump, definitely not the strike I was hoping for but it gave me confidence . After a few more casts with no love we decided to chase the fog into the narrows and hit some long tapering points. We did this for hours hopping from point to point. Hours have gone by and now the sun is high and the water is glass. ( not the ideal conditions) but we stayed with it.
Around mid day I got another bump, this one much better then the first but still not a committed bite. I kept creeping my bait back to the boat and there she was right behind my bait. It was a 5-6 lber, Not a giant but I would have been happy with it. At this point I was 5 feet from the boat trying to force this fish to eat and she wasn’t having it. We did this ALL DAY LONG. Towards the end of the day we ran to the small bridge. I was marking bait in 30-40 feet of water but no bass with them. I threw the A Rig again against the bridge pylon and let it sink down to 30 feet or so. I got hammered again, I had the fish on for about 5 seconds and then she was gone Lol…. my rig looked like a crocodile did a death and twisted my rig all up. It just wasn’t our day to catch that giant but that’s fishing!
I think the lake will really turn on once we get a cooler weather system to drop the water temp just a bit. All in all it was a fun day with a good buddy and we will be back at it again soon.
RB Bass angler Nate Boomhower