Lake Sonoma 19 Mar 2007 Report

Nice pic with the small mouth, the roach clips and tinted shades= classic.lmao!

Don't worry Adam,  I'm not really trying to steal any of your style.  I'm just having a little fun with you. 

Besides ...  "Imitation is the sincerest of flattery." -Charles Caleb Colton

As for details...
The bass bite seems pretty good at Lake Sonoma right now.  For largemouth there are lot of submerged tree stands in the north end of the lake (launch from Yorty Creek Recreation Area).  Actually a couple years ago at this time, I and the rest of the Bodega Crew launched from here and camped at Skunk Camp which is a boat-in only campsite in prime spring pre-spawn bass territory.  If I didn't have so many family obligations I'd be there right now. 

I haven't fished it, but I hear that the Warm Springs Arm also has some decent largemouth right now.

As for the smallmouth, they can be found in the main part of the lake near the dam.  As mickfish said, they're in about 15-20 ft of water which is pretty close to shore in this part of the lake.  To launch near the dam, you want to use the Public Boat Ramp.  Oh, and don't get too close to the dam or you risk being considered a security threat.

Here's a fishing map from FishSniffer..


and here's the full fishsniffer article on the lake.
http://www.fishsniffer.com/maps/sonoma.html

The US Army Corps of Engineers runs the lake and their website has more information about the lake (directions, camping, fees, etc..)
http://www.spn.usace.army.mil/lakesonoma/index.htm

Actually, they have a better map so I'll post that too...


Brian

I was flattered the first time I saw it!! You can use it anytime....just be sure to mention me.

You come out of semi-retirement and get the BIGGEST smallie of the year?  through science huh?

I doubt that fish will stand, but I think at least tied last year's winner.  I'm pretty sure I lost a much larger one to a submerged tree so I know there are bigger one's out there.  Mickfish has fishes that lake a lot, so I wouldn't be surprised if he has a larger smallmouth waiting for AOTY submission.  However at 10 pts an inch it's worth 170 pts and anytime I can get a species ticked off with over 150 pts I'm happy.

For my next fish, I think I'm going to work on copying the the "up-shorts" photo style of H20Spider, but I'll need to set up a tripod or something.

Yea,Thats a good one to copy myself.......but I'll be wearing the ol'nut-huggin Boston Celtic short-shorts.
For the gals!..

Yea,Thats a good one to copy [H2O Spider] myself.......but I'll be wearing the ol'nut-huggin Boston Celtic short-shorts. For the gals!..

Hey, I liked Brian's "Celebrity Makeover" of FisHunter, but after this more recent post, I may wait to make judgment until I see the 2007 versions! 

In the interim, here are some pix of Lake Sonoma--a foggy start that didn't deter mickfish, bsteves, jonesz, and me. The day was exceptional!

Janice aka "Big J"

Cool report - that smallie is really cool looking - kinda lika a blue rockfish... 

Is that vegetation along the shore?   i haven't seen that this year yet....lets GO!!

Nice meetin ya Brian. I ended up catching 5 smallies and two LM bass. No big moes like the one you posted, but respectible smallies. I caught most of mine casting, plugs and plastics. I caught a couple trolling also. The winds started blowing pretty strong in the afternoon. Takes all the fun out of it. I was impressed with how clear and far those radios work  The water is perfect right now, about 3' visability. The last rains colored it up a bit. Makes the fish allot less spooky. The water temp came up 10 degrees during the day!! I was surprised it changed so much!! 54-64. The next few weeks the lake should be on fire!! Congrats to Mike for the hat trick. SM. LM,& steel. And of course to Janice for her first.  It was fun playing with the yak for the bass fishing. One thing I found invaluable for finess fishing was the rear mounted anchor. I could ease into a cove, then drop the anchor and fan cast from a stable position. Then pull up and move a little more. Another tip was when the wind is blowing in the right direction, I would leave the anchor hanging down a few feet and it would slow my drift. Also kept the yak going one direction, reducing the rotation. Good fun figuring out new challenges...

Nice Brian!!!  Finally, you went real fishing (not cyber)   I wish I was there, but I heard you not gonna yak fish w/ me anymore, so I have lots of convincing to do before the salmon opens...
Awesome pictures too, everyone!!!