Lake Berryessa Report 11-24-12

[JAWallace]

Two of us, neither of whom had fished Berryessa, launched at Markley Cove about noon, and fished to 5 pm without much action. No fish to the net, one small bass almost to the boat, and one very nice 18"+ trout lost near the boat. We fished the Cove--didn't go out on the main lake. WT 63 deg*, OAT 67 deg, winds calm, sunny skies.

Missing was the shad busting the surface. We saw four or five boils, that was it. Didn't graph anything, so we really had no targets, thus random casting and during discouraging moments, outright trolling on the electric. Both fish were hooked trolling

Question for the experienced Berryessa fishermen is this--do the conditions have to be perfect with the shad boils to get trout on the fly, other than random hookups? Seems 95% of the fishermen were trolling blades and crawlers 20' - 30' deep. Our other thought was the WT was too high and they were just deep today. Thanks!

John

*not sure why the water was this warm. 63 is way beyond the mean of the extremes which is usually quite accurate.

[Langenbeck]

Use to fish Berryessa a ton in the 70's out of Markley Cove. I think you are a month late. Use to start at Merle Collins the first week of October and then to Berryessa the second and third week of October and then to Oroville the last week of October. Hardly ever fished to boiling shad after the 10th of November. Shasta usually started the last week of September.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I think it has been going on for a month now so maybe it is over?

[kokaneejr]

Localcenters,

I fished Berryessa a bunch last winter and had good success the whole time. Maybe you had issues with water temp but I also haven't gone to Markley Cove so can't help in that location. I usually launch out of Lupine Shores(aka Steele Park). I have found that a Type 3 with a crystal version of a wiggle tail works the best. Last year averaged 4 fish per trip and 15" in size. They also planted trout last year so I am sure that helped. I heard that the lake hadn't turned over yet but was there last week and caught 2 trout to 20" had a bass attack a smaller bass while I was bringing him in, and lost something that broke my #8 lb test.

I am heading out there on Monday so I will let you know what happens. Pm if you have any more questions.
Craig.

[JAWallace]

I don't think the lake has turned over. I was graphing large islands of bottom looking material about 30 feet down, floating, so it's probably starting to come up. Looking at a topo, I don't think Markley Cove is the best place unless they are on top bustng shad. Very deep and steep in the canyons. PM sent, thanks. I think Berryessa, though a bit of a drive, is worth learning from the experts.