Lake Berryessa 12.9.18
Water Temp: 53*-56*
Lake Level: Full
As we have been dealing with the unseasonably warm weather our reservoirs are finally getting back to normal. If you have been out to any of the Northern California reservoirs recently you may have encountered some tough fishing and finicky bass. At least that has been the case for me the last month. The last little bit of cool weather and rain have dropped the water temps enough to get these bass on track.
Two weekends ago on Lake Berryessa, December 2nd, fishing was tough. water temps started at 56.5* and warmed to nearly 60* throughout the coarse of the day. Most of the fish were deep and lethargic. Most fish were in 30-70ft of water congregated around bait balls. This weekend was quite the opposite. The bait that was deep had disappeared and so did the fish. Myself and fellow RB Bass angler Chris Perez made the decision to head straight to the bank to see if the bait had moved shallow. Thankfully that is exactly what had happened and we began throwing reaction baits shallow. Our baits of choice were a Heavy Limits A-Rig, Ima PinJack 200 (shad), and some swimbaits. We were rewarded immediately with a couple of solid ones on the Heavy Limits Rig. I had some solid bites on the Ima Pin Jack 200 but couldn’t connect. As the day progressed we continued perusing the shallows and having consistent success.
As the day warmed up and the sun broke through the clouds the reaction bite dwindled allowing Chris and I to lay the hammer down with a Canopy Grenades Football Jig and a spider jig paired up with the new Dobyns Football Jig Heads. As the day made its way to an end we fished to one last point and found a pile of solid Largemouth and Smallmouth ranging from 2-5.5lbs. We ended the day with approximately 16.5-17lbs for our best 5 fish. All in all it was a great day with good weather especially for December. The link to the products we used are below and as always feel free to contact me if you have any further questions or comments.
Products used:
Dobyns Champion XP 794 SB – https://www.outdoorproshop.com/Dobyns-Rods-Champion-XP-Swimbait-p/dobyns-champxpswimbait.htm
Heavy Limits A-Rig – https://canopygrenades.com/collections/heavy-limits/products/a-rigs
Canopy Grenades Jigs – https://canopygrenades.com/collections/football-jigs
Dobyns Football Jig Heads – http://dobynsrods.com/baits/football-heads/
Ima Pin Jack 200 – https://www.outdoorproshop.com/Ima-Pinjack-200-Crankbait-p/ima-pj200.htm
Thank you,
Ryan Hall
@ryanhallfishing
@theidleout
ryanhallfishing@gmail.com