Yes, sorry, I was referring to Baum Lake.

Where do you drive to to enter the lake? Is there a road all around, or just to the power plants? It’s hard to see on Google Earth… I have a kayak.
Thanks.

I was at Putah creek a week ago and the road is blocked from the 505 end about two mile west of Winters with a massive slide into the creek and WAS blocked (not sure at this point) from the other Berryessa end. Best check carefully. I fished the creek by slogging up the other side of the stream past the side. They have the road blocked and manned with employees of the contractor about a mile east of the slide. Hell of a mess. Caltrans’ first plan messed up the repair and the contractor has to start again. Creek was flowing pretty clear compared to two weeks previous. Windy and cold! Three trout for the trouble.

Yes, I agree. If you look at the focus along the fish in the second photo and the wood at the back they are discordant. Nice technical job of doing the insert and layering, though. Bet this has fooled a lot of people. Like this fish caught off of the Channel Islands in SoCal…. It’s a black bass, caught in the 70’s. Weighs in at 441 lb. Holey Moley!

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone has braved Sonoma and what the conditions are for fishing? I remember one of the members saying that the water was still too murky for good fishing... Is that still the case? If not how is it?

Anxious to drive up and try it!

I recall it was 2008. The town was called Alma. I wasn’t kidding about the haunted part. My friend who overlooks Lexington has lost two dogs there. Both swimmers. And on bombers moons several employees at the Cats restaurant claim to have seen them. Of course, that was after they closed the place up. Loch Lomond is a better fishing bet.

Yes, Lexington is a good water recreation reservoir. But I can only speak to what it was like years ago too. No data recently although it seems that it would be good except that it has been so low for years and it was drained to fix the dam wall - I assume killing what fish there was in there. I've used it to swim in too. Curiously being so close to the really busy highway 17, I've never seen a ranger, and very few fisherfolk.
BTW, there is a town at the bottom. It was forced abandoned and flooded to create the reservoir. It's been said that it is a haunted site. Maybe scared the fish out too.

Salmon and trout also fit into this category. Trout in many rivers and streams are spawning now. I believe that we willl be fishing and releasing for most varieties in the not too distant future. We are being fished out. E.g., salmon in California are now off limits for the rest of the year. Hurts everyone, but not as much as none at all for ever.

Nymph and adjustable bobber. Standard WF line with a 7’ leader. Hard going with rocks and wind.

Casting out in complicated rocks and brush with my 9’ #5 with 6 line. Some wind. Three of these.

Hi, I'm interested - do you have a canopy that goes all the way around, or at minimum, the front portion? That would be wet riding if it was raining... It's interesting to compare differences in the areas, I've been invited up to the Columbia river several times, and there, if you don't have protection all the way around, you'd better have off-shore foul weather gear. Also you maybe see 1/20 boats made of fiberglass - the rest are AL, or at the bottom. We go over the Columbia bar at the entrance to the river - it is huge and the conditions really gnarly if you miss the slack tides. Scary, scary stuff even for experienced mariners and fishermen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svkwGGpJIx8

[You can fish the Calaveras River and the Stanislaus River and the Stanislaus river is off of Highway 120 going towards Sonora Jamestown there's a place called two mile bar and that is just before you get to the South ramp exit on the left side of the highway. You have to make a u-turn at that exit and come back about 2 miles and it's on the right side headed back towards town very good fishing].

Paul, I was unable to locate the place you are referring to. Google can't find the location unless I put in Jamestown and Sonora and then there are no names that you mention in the posting.

Can you list coordinates, or a road next to which the location is closest?

Thanks!!

Make sure you crimp those hooks. The rangers do come by!

The other brown-water stream runs alongside Alpine road that exits off of I 280 in northern Santa Clara county. It has not run for a few years. It drains a lot of the Santa Cruz mtn section behind it. There is a tennis and recreation club upstream about 2 miles or so that is right along side of the creek. At a log jam in the creek just near the 280 intersection, I counted 8 basketballs, 4 NFL-style footballs, dozens of tennis balls, athletic shoes (without owners), and other associated garbage jammed up there. Too lazy to get their junk out I suppose - and it all ends up - wait for it - in the Bay. There is an active (but molasses-slow) movement to repopulate this creek along with some others on the same drainage slope, with Steelhead and other species. The challenges are bureaucratic, and that the streams do not run all year, etc, etc. These recent storms have scoured out the stream in many places down to smooth bedrock. One could have generated power for a neighborhood for several days during the recent storms - it was powerful!

Putah creek is a creek that was filled with junk and other uncaring people's garbage that local fishing enthusiasts saved by physical work, political pressure and finally waking up the local authorities that there were actual people interested in recovering the waterway for fishing. I am not one of those people, but I admire their work from a distance. The fishing part of the creek runs 3-4 mile only, out of the Berryessa reservoir east towards a town called Winters. You can get there from I 505. The creek has a healthy population of trout (and bass I am told) that is for fly-fishing. It is all C&R (Catch and Release), barbless hooks, and fly fishing only, or primarily, I'm not sure on that point... It's consider technically difficult because of the configuration of the stream, vegetation, and access difficulty. It is running about 80-100 cfm now and runs higher in summer (not sure why). Those who speak Spanish raise their eyebrows when the word is used as it has another meaning in Spanish. Try Hooker.