Lake Berryessa with MSP

[Adam Grace]

Yesterday Mike Putman (MSP) and I fished Lake Berryessa for bass. We brought both conventional and fly gear for our trip, unfortunately the windy conditions caused us to only use our conventional gear. We caught a fair amount of bass, mostly largemouth and spots. We found most of the fish off of the points in about 6-15' of water.

Here's one of my largest spots:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2388.jpg

Here's Mike with a spot, definitely not his largest, but I had to get a picture of him with a bass.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2389.jpg

I was lucky enough to also catch one smallmouth and one TROUT, the trout grabbed a medium-sized crankbait.

The bait that slayed a bunch of bass was one of my new favorites, the Rapala X-Rap:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/flyguyag/fishing/IMGP2396.jpg

The smaller white one worked so well that I had to pick up another X-Rap, this time I went larger with a more natural coloration.

Sorry for the lack of fly fishing info. If there is a nice clear day out on Berryessa I bet that a clouser would fish well. Based on Mike success fishing top water lures in the morning I would assume that poppers in the morning would also work well.

[Hairstacker]

Nice report and pictures Adam! May not be fly fishing but tossing plugs out of a boat and getting into fish with great company is still a great time. Good for you guys!

[SullyTM]

Who's kissing who Adam?? :lol:

Looks like the sun was shaded somewhat with clouds?

Did Mike let you drive? :lol:

Later...

[Adam Grace]

That bass was flirting with me for about 30 minutes! :D

There was a bunch of cloud cover and wind for most of the day.

Nope, I never drove the boat, but I never asked. I did however get a turn controlling the foot-controlled trolling motor.

[Jasonh]

Has the fly fishing got so bad around here that we are resorting to gear fishing! Nice pics Adam. Cool lookin spots!

[MSP]

Yes!

Wanna go Jason? :shock:

[Adam Grace]

Jason, fishing large bodies of water like reservoirs require more fly casting than my wrist can handle, spin fishing is much easier on my wrist. Conventional gear also allows for me to find fish so that I can know where and how to target those fish with my fly gear.

Another aspect of using conventional gear is the nostalgia that it provides. Before I started fly fishing I was a conventional gear monkey chasing after bass. Using this conventional gear brings back a lot of great memories.

[SuperFlyGuy]

gorgeous fish and awesome lures adam. The action on those lures are awesome. I just ordered me a pair of x-raps! :roll:

Adam, I know what you mean about a lot of those lower elevation reservoirs. Sometimes its best to locate fish with your spinning gear to cover more water. Also, the nostalgia still gets me. I still have the same Ugly Stick my mom got me when I was 8 or so. That thing has a special place in my heart. :P and I do take it out with my 6 weight fly rod on occasion.

Have you been out there recently? Im thinking of blessing my new yak in the waters of Berryessa, and sticking some bass while Im at it.

Micah

[Adam Grace]

Mike and I fished Berryessa a week after this report, we caught some fish but not as many as this posted trip. The bass seemed to be in their summer pattern, hanging out in the deeper areas.

The X-Rap has an awesome action, nothing that a fly could get anywhere close to matching. A clouser minnow may catch the fish that the X-Rap catches but not as many, the X-Rap brings suspended fish up closer to the surface. Many bass chase the X-Rap up to the boat, many being hooked within 5' of the boat, craziness.

If you go fish Berryessa fish deep, 15' or more.

[SullyTM]

Adam, I hear you on the spin casting memories... :D I broke out the gear recently and bought myself one of those X-Raps! Went down to the neighborhood bass pond and proceeded to loose the X-Rap in the trees :lol: But, I sure did like the distance I was getting on the casting end of things :roll: However, I promise not to break out the red/white plastic bobber and red wigglers!!

Later...

Thom

[David Lee]

The X-Rap has an awesome action, nothing that a fly could get anywhere close to matching.

Awwwwwwww ........ :roll:

Adam - go check out Bob Popovic's Poplips Siliclone . Tye one w/ herl and long , soft saddle and tell me about action !! Or take a peek at what a proper Dahlberg Diver does in the 'right' hands .

David :)

[Charlie Gonzales]

You are absolutely correct Dave! The PoP Lipps are great to fish and tye. I have been tempted to use a swivel with them though because of the amount of line twist after casting them. Any thoughts?

[David Lee]

Shorter , heavier leader Charlie -

6 feet of 20 lb. for a 2/0 is good ...... you'll never get rid of all the twisting , though .

Use a heavy hook , also .... the fly will track better .

David :D

[Adam Grace]

You guys are going to have to show me how this Popovics fly looks in the water, you have peaked my interest.

[David Lee]

It swims like a plug , Adam !!

Pretty cool . Check out POPFLEYES , Bob Popovics book - I learned more from that one about fly tying/design than anything else out there .

The original Dahlberg Diver (in small sizes) does some crazy stuff - It is perhaps my favorite fly to fish , not because it catches the hell out of everything (which it does , believe me ) , but because with proper manipulation it actually looks alive - Half the time , I expect to see a little cloud of poop coming from it as eyes look up ....preparing for the kill . Slinky , sexy , and spastic don't even come close to describing what that fly looks like .....

I have to tye up some more D.D's this week - PM me your mail addy and I'll send one for you to play with . I wouldn't hesitate to fish one next to the weedmats on Yellow Creek , 'cause I know it would bring up a Horse-sized Brownie .

Nice Bass you and Mike got into , BTW !!

David :D

[Charlie Gonzales]

They(poplips) can be tied broken back style also wtih a trailer.

Dave.... by the looks of your siliclones , your poplips are probably pretty cool. I bet if we play with matierials we could come up with an alternative to the large swim baits the bass guys throw.

Oh look out Pardee!