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After about 10 fish, I start losing interest in numbers and more on quality. I'd rather catch four 4lbers than 8 2lbers. That being said, 1000 fish a season would be 18 fish a week, or about 2-3 per day. Maybe when I was a kid and I could pond hop weekdays after school. Nowadays, gotta work!

Not quite sure what tweaker means? Like crime? I think years ago it was maybe an issue but Ive talked to the rangers and some locals and it's fine now. Just follow standard sense and make sure car is locked, valuables hidden etc. I don't think you'll have any trouble at all in the paid marinas/campgrounds, it was really free launch capell cove that I heard had issues. If you have never caught a smallmouth before you're in for a treat. I personally think they fight harder than spots. Beautiful fish too. Definitely tie on a drop shot with a finesse worm. Make sure you use good fluoro or fluoro leader. These fish are smart. Particularly the spots. At September, it might still be pretty hot. Downsize what you can. Look for fish in deeper water. I would say just reading on lake reports and listening to people, a finesse drop shot rig will reliability put fish in the boat any time. If they are in fall patterns then they should be actively feeding on baitfish and it will be amazing! They will eat craws year round, so if you're not sure, a finesse jig/craw and a dropshot is a good place to start. Here are some pics. I'm the asian, white guy is my fishing buddy. 3.86lb Smallmouth. Friend with a beautiful spot. Didn't weigh it. Maybe 2.5 or 3lb? Very nice smallie on the right.

So if you look at a map of the lake and look at the south east portion you’ll see the huge long river channel with coves and sub coves, points and secondary points . That entire section is the narrows. I would launch from markley cove marina if you wanted to fish there. Otherwise, up north has some arms near putah creek. If you want to catch smallmouth I’ve had luck at rocky shores on the main lake. If I were a kayaker I would do putah creek campground launch. I think most of the pleasure boaters are at the south part of the lake and in the narrows. But depends on how bad you wanna catch spots.

"The Narrows" section of Berryessa has a lot of spots. But you gotta go during the weekday, because on the weekends it's a cluster f of pleasure boaters. However, there are lot of coves you can hide in.

Pretty simple question. When fishing clear water and I hook a fish, I often notice other bass follow a struggling bass that I hooked. They go from not giving a crap about anything to very interested. Are they just curious or are they looking at the struggling bass as food? Or are they just laughing at their buddy?

Sorry, misunderstanding, however I specifically mentioned in the OP about California requirements including bi-color and angle, even if I didn't specifically say "navigation" lights. I updated the OP to specify navigation lights.

Because it's California law. http://www.dbw.ca.gov/pages/28702/files/abcfulldoc.pdf "Power Driven Vessels: A recreational motor-powered vessel underway is required to display a masthead light forward, red and green sidelights, and a sternlight, as indicated in Figure 1. A recreational powerboat under 39 feet 4 inches (12 meters) may instead display a 360o all-round sternlight and combination red and green sidelights (see Figure 2)."

Thanks, Turns out the spotlight you linked isn't bi-color, so the search is still on.

Thanks for all the helpful links. I researched the California requirements before hand. I was more so looking for which brand or model of lights you guys like. There's a ton of options out there, not all of them are coast guard approved. Catt, do you guys need stern lights as well? If so, what stern light do you use?

Sort of reviving this. I finally made it out to Berryessa and it's already my favorite body of water in California. It's the first time I fished a lake that clear and with such diverse cover. You have the north with shallower water and cover great for largemouth. You have rock for Small mouth. And you have the narrows for spotted bass. We pretty much followed the advice of everyone and found structure/ledges with baitfish. We fished long underwater points, submerged trees, and rock. We only caught 20 fish. I know that might sound like humble-bragging but given the reputation of that lake, I know people can pull in fish by the barrel, metaphorically speaking. In our defense, we launched late and only stuck to one arm of the lake.

I am entertaining the idea of night fishing and I was curious what navigation lights do you guys use? I believe in California you need a bicolor bow light and a white aft light, with specific angle and visibility requirements.

There are so many other factors to consider. Water temp? Type of body of water? Water clarity? That being said, Scott Martin just had a video with Chris Johnston about crawling paddle tail swimbaits on the bottom, almost like a jig. Seems intriguing especially if the bass are just finished spawning and not interested in chasing.

As Tom mentioned, the Yamamoto double tail hula grub on a 3/8 ounce jig head is an unreal combo. the beauty is that you can go lighter to 1/4 or heavier up to 1/2 depending on the depth, wind, and how the bass want it. In the rocky hard bottom reservoirs here in NorCal it absolutely slays. When you're thinking about what line or rod to use, keep in mind both need to work in synergy. Braid which doesn't have any stretch might not be the best to use with a fast or extra fast rod. Similarly, mono with a moderate action rod might be too spongy. I'm not saying there's a definite right or wrong answer. Play around some to find what works for you. A moderate fast rod with 14-16 lb fluoro works great for me for football jigs. A fast rod with straight fluoro or braid + leader is great for texas rigs or shallower heavier cover applications. I rarely use extra fast rods for anything, but different strokes for different folks.

American Legacy consistently has amazing prices. Don't know how they do it lol.

The only time where I leave slack is weightless senkos or other stick baits. This is because it's important to let them fall on slack line for proper lure action. Because senkos are usually fished shallow, it makes watching line easier, particularly when they softly pick it up and pull to one side. The vast majority of the time, I keep contact or minimal slack. ESPECIALLY bottom contact baits. With the increased depth it's almost impossible to visually see strikes. You really need to be using feel to detect bites. Even if you're dead sticking the bait, you want to feel it. Don't worry about setting the hook too early. If you're missing strikes you're either using the wrong gear/line, or they're very hesitant and you need to switch tactics. Try a fast or moderate fast rod with fluoro line.

I have a 1987 375v. It's not a 21 foot star destroyer but I'll be damned if it doesn't get the job done. I recently restored it so I might be able to give some useful insight. Like a previous poster said, verify the motor and hull are good. Unfortunately I don't know much about that motor model, but you should run a compression test on it and at the very least have the guy run it on the lake for you. Get a mechanic to come by and check it out if you can. You definitely want an on the water test. A motor behaves differently on muffs on the driveway as opposed to on the lake. Things to watch out for. Does it take forever to cold start? Once warm does it start robustly on first key turn? Have the guys idle it and run it WOT too. A good mechanic will be able to tell the general condition of the motor just by listening to it. My boat in particular was sitting on a field for 5 years. While cleaning it up and replacing the fuel lines I noticed that all the wiring besides the speedometer worked. Think about that, a 30 year hull sitting sitting out for 5 years had all it's original wiring intact. Unless the previous owners replaced every wire with the proper original ranger color codes (doubtful), it's original. These boats were very well built. Check for the obvious holes and cracks (this is where a water test is very important! You want to make sure there are no leaks!). If it has a transom saver, take it off, and trim up the motor. Put your weight on the lower unit and push on it, bouncing it and the boat up and down. You wanna be checking if the transom has any flex. Again, a mechanic would realllyyyy help. If the transom has any amount of flex, walk away. Not worth it. The good thing about that boat is that Ranger changed to fiberglass transoms after 1987, so you should be okay. Still check it. Walk on the boat too, make sure there aren't any soft spots indicating rot. Once you verify motor and hull are strong, you're probably good to buy it. You can worry about the electronics and little things on your own. Keep in mind, a boat intrinsically is the hull and the motor. Everything else can be easily fixed or replaced. Don't worry about the speedometer. Those things always stop working, plus your gps speed is more accurate. I don't think it's worth any time or money to fix it. You can use a multimeter to check if the trim gauge is getting any voltage. If it is, then the gauge is busted but shouldn't be hard at all to replace. If it's not, then it's the sending unit, though I don't believe those are too bad to fix either. Don't forget to verify the bilge pump (very important) and livewells too. Wiring a boat and the gauges is a pain, but it's not conceptually difficult, if you get what I'm saying. Those needles in the gauges move depending on how much electricity is getting sent to them. Do verify the RPM gauge is working, that one is really important. With the bench seats, there are a couple options. You can call ranger and they should have the covers. With a boat that old I'm not sure they make the actual seats anymore. You can either strip the old covers and staple the new ones yourself, or get an upholstery workshop to do it. OR, you can by replacement seats off bassboatseats, I have seen those installed on these older Ranger 300 series. The installation should be very straightforward. This is probably the route I'm going to go when my seats kick the bucket. It's IMPERATIVE that you look at @fishnkamp link, it was essential in helping me verify any potential issues and goes much more in-depth. Read it, then read it again. Print it out and bring it with you if you have to.

So many facets to this. To start, I would spend as much as I need so that I don't feel disadvantaged. Meaning that I don't feel like I'm losing ANY fish or missing ANY bites because of my gear. This is about $100-$200 for rods and above $120-$200 for reels. For cover or bottom contact applications I'll shell out on the upper end, like my football jig rod or my t-rig/jig rod. You'll need both backbone and sensitivity. For MOST reaction I never felt a need to spend a lot of money. When they hit it, they hit it. the Lews TP1 is the best chatterbait rod I've ever used, and it's only $99. For reels, I've had many many $99 dollar reels, most of which I look upon favorably. The only issue is that they tend to not last as many seasons as the more expensive ones. This is the only reason why I shell out more, just for durability. I've found even bumping up only about $30-$50 dollars yields a better return on investment. I could never justify spending more than $200 for either. I can certainly understand why people do it, and there's some NICE stuff out there. But it's kind of like a $1000 guitar vs a $5000 guitar. At some point you're not losing any functionality or "sound quality". The margins become almost nothing.

It sounds pretty straightforward once people explain it haha. Structure, bait, breaks/points, all above the thermocline (generally). I should have clarified, I said "lakes I fish", what I meant was "lakes around my area that I would like to fish". Very excited, I have not fished a truly large reservoir yet with my boat so I can only dream about 50 bass days/spots. The California Delta has been very hard for me this season. Gotta try new things.

Thanks for all the helpful responses. There are two main things I gathered. 1) There are fish that suspend at a depth over deep/empty water. Generally above the thermocline. These fish are hard to catch. 2) I should look for structure, bait, and break lines above the thermocline. If I can find all three together that's a hot spot. Looks like I'll have to spend a lot of time idling around and graphing. I'll also try and keep it simple. Find good looking points. Start there, go down the lake and find structure/bait/breaks at certain depths.

The title is a little bit confusing no? Let me try and explain. When watching videos and reading articles about summer fishing offshore, people talk about fishing points, creek bed intersections, and drop offs, with the good fish generally on the main lake. That makes sense when your lake maxes out at 30-50 feet deep (this is just an approximation). The lakes I fish, for example Lake Berryessa, even the creek channels are over 100 feet deep! So in this case, does the information still hold true? I somehow doubt that bass are going 100 feet deep using those creek channels. And though I pride myself in being able to fish offshore, 100 feet is just ludicrous to me. So in this situation, it seems like fishing the main lake vs a creek channel doesn't matter, as it's all deep. Points and drop offs from banks are still in play, but any strategy to do with creek channels is out the window. Am I correct in my thinking? Do bass really go that deep? Here's an example, that's a snapshot of a main creek channel. And even the secondary coves are 90 feet deep.

That's a slick looking boat, looks pretty good already, good luck. Hit me up if you ever go to the Delta.

I think jumping in front of a person a short distance is disrespectful. I always make sure to see which way someone is going, and go the opposite way or behind him/her on the bank. So I can see where you're coming from. I avoided fishing Sat/Sun/Mon. Our reservoirs are crowded enough as it is. What I don't agree with, and maybe I misunderstood you, is jumping coves. I don't think claiming an entire cove for one person is fair or reasonable. I had a boat come into a cove I was fishing. As soon as I made the turn to the mouth, he went to the other bank. No harm no foul. Last Friday I had a kayaker paddle right between the bank and my boat. I had to reel in my line to let him pass. I asked him why didn't he go around me. He said it's because I moved my boat. I literally just re-positioned my boat with the TM. It's flabbergasting how insensitive some people can be. He shouldn't have been paddling so close to me to begin with.

If the bottom is just mud and leaves, I would stick to the bank and "ledges". Tbh 6-7 is really shallow, even for a pond.

Casting deck finished. Recessed tray finished. Removed oxidation and polished. Can't get the original color shine because of sun damage, but I got close. It's not perfect. But it works. Next: Extend rod lockers. Got a hole saw bit stuck in there when trying to do it. Need to get it out. Add some latches. Replace rub rail rope. Get a bow fish finder. Seastar steering seal leaks, need to fix that. Capped off drain and overflow in front livewell, but water still gets in there. It must be coming from the inflow pump. Need to cap it off. And on it goes. Love the boat.

Close, I'm in Northern California, but the principles hold the same! You're absolutely right, on the east coast and the midwest, their lakes have a lot of shoreline cover. It's not ideal, but you can probably grind out a limit. On the west coast, that's just not possible in the seasons you mentioned. Believe me, it took me a while to really get it down, and I'm still learning. West coast fishing is a different beast. Don't even get me started on overpopulation and lake pressure....