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Brother, I spend at least 8 hours every time out there. At this rate instead of dropping 50 dollars on a boat rental or dragging my kayak it seems easier to go to the southern lakes. But good tip on the wind, as a kayaker I tend to pick less windy days but I'll rent a boat and try and go for suggested weather.

Half Moon Bay has bass? Confused, it's definitely salt water. Forgot to say I'm targeting bass.

I recently encountered this problem. So I shouldn't be casting perpendicular toward the bank? Does this mean I cast diagonally, trying to work depth and length of the bank? Also, is it more effective casting towards the bank and letting the bait drop, or fishing from the bank dragging the bait up the slope so to speak? Or does it not matter? This is for jigs, texas rig, and shakey heads.

Jet skis and power boaters. Technically they have a right to the lake, but holy hell are they obnoxious. I had to leave my previous trip early becase there were 4 teenage jet skiers tearing it up and down the small reservoir. Was unbelievably annoying. The wind sucks, but as a kayaker you either learn to deal with it or you quit. It forces you to really pick your spots and patterns, can't really grind it out along banks with high winds, you'd spend more than half the time paddling.

I've always like fishing for as long as I can remeber, I was just too stupid or young to care about what kinds of fish. Freshwater I started with crappie fishing with my dad in North Carolina, 5th grade. We all knew squat about how to catch them, but a very nice gentleman at Falls Lake showed us exactly how to rig a bobber with a minnow. In hindsight, compared to all the bass crap in the market nowadays it's laughably simple, but to us it was the holy grail. Snagged 3 crappie that day. Every now and then we'd catch bass but it was always when we targeted crappie. At a camping trip, a family friend showed me how to texas rig a weightless worm and catch bass. I caught 2 by myself afterwards and for a kid, the sense of accomplishment was immense. The very next day I bought a 2 dollar spinnerbait and proceeded to tear up the dinks in my neighborhood pond. Then came the 2lber at my friend's pond. Then came the six pounder at a lake......the rest is history. Bass fishing is addicting not just because catching them is fun, but because the sense of progress is palpable. There's just so much to learn. Nothing quite like putting a new technique to test and watching it produce. There's a lifetime of knowledge and skill out there.

Thanks for all the responses all. So a summary: 1) Location. If you're lucky enough to live in a place with a ton of accessible water, then it doesn't really matter 2) General consesus is that techniques and baits is fine, specific location not so, for good reason. I've been blessed to have only lived in areas with plentiful water. And it wasn't too long ago that I was struggling with learning how to catch bass. Paying my knowledge forward is a form of thanks to the people that helped me before. That being said some knowledge is hard earned and it's everyone's right to guard it, especially given some people's poor experiences with other people abusing the knowledge. I think for me I agree with the majority, techniques/bait specific information is fine, but specific location is iffy.

Hi all, So I've been fishing in the Bay area for a couple years now and I finally have a little bit of a handle of how to catch fish here. Generally I go to the south San Jose reservoirs (Calero, Anderson), and I go to the Delta occasionally. I fish off a foot WS Ride 115. I'm confident enough where I know I can at least catch a couple. Except Chabot. I've been to Chabot 3 times now and every time I get skunked. There was a post in the Fising reports section about Calero and @WRB was kind enough to give his take on strategies. So I went to Chabot today and I had a savage paddle tail trout swimbait, an Uptons custom dragontail in aaron's magic, brown a football head jig skirted with a green Big Bites Baits Dean rojas fighting frog trailer, and a texas rigged Big Bites Baits fighting frog. I fished the Dam/Cove area extensively, starting shallow, but I also hit the ledges out to about 25 feet. I, for the life of me, can't figure this lake out. Do the bass only hit on swimbaits? Is their main food source trout? Any tips would be appreciated. I know there are monsters in here......I just can't crack the code.

Definitely, I suppose I never lived an area that had scarce fishing. To clarify my specific situation, I live in the bay area where there are plenty of reservoirs. Hell the Delta is only a little over an hour away and we're talking a world class fishery here.

I'm going to actually say software engineering. You know, computers and all that boring crap You make a fantastic salary and the field as a whole is only going to grow. Hours are very respectable depending on who you for and what you work on.

I recently got into an argument on another forum. A user had posted a catch report and another politely asked if he could share techniques slash baits used. The original poster blew off the question (in a very rude manner I might add....which is what I took issue with). This got me thinking. What do you guys think of hoarding "spots" and secrets? I realize overfishing has started creep into freshwater, and some youtubers are already complaining about it. Personally I could care less about it. To me, there are enough sizable bodies of water in my area with bass that you can catch them if you try. If you're hoarding techniques that just means you don't have enough confidence in yourself as a fisherman. There are so many areas and ways to catch bass it would take some astronomical freshwater overfishing for it to become a problem. What do you guys think? Fair or not fair? We live in a digital age that is taking over fishing, if it hasn't already taken over.

That's a very good point. At the end of the day it's all random. And I do have a perfectly fine depth finder, so no excuses there. Next time I'll have to concentrate on edges or ledges or any transitional areas. I also thought of one more thing. I didn't fish the main lake channel. It was too windy for my kayak. I may very with missed a huge opportunity, I had to fish the coves. That being said even in the coves I could've still followed the above advice. They probably were very tight to cover....just deep cover haha Thanks everyone for the responses they really helped. I'm investing more in deeper and ledge strategies such as Carolina rigs, football jigs big worm Texas rigs or shaky heads etc. I also invested in a better anchor for lakes as opposed to rivers. Hopefully I'll get em next time.

Yooo fellow bay area angler. In California lakes with solid/rocky bottoms I find football head jigs with spider trailers (yamamoto hula grub) work amazing. Aint like east coast where you cast to shore cover, gotta be comfortable fishing deep. Carolina rig and dropshot should also work well. Deep diving crankbait if you can locate ledges and active fish.

Went to a reservoir that was above capacity. As in smaller trees underwater and larger trees had trunks partially submerged. So lots and lots of shoreline timber. It was mid to high 70 degree highs, and water temp starting at 64 degrees and I left at around 69-70 degree water temps. Totally blue skys. A cold front early in the week rolled through, but I figured by now the it should be good. And it sucked. Landed one 4lber (4.26lbs) but other than that it was dead. Not a single other bite. No signs of fish life. Literally dead. I fished every stump and branch throwing a jig/texas rig craw. So my question is, what's the strategy? I didn't really have a backup plan, and I don't want to randomly cast out deep. Do I need a nice depth finder to find them out from shore? Hmm, won't let me embed pic, here's pic of 4lber: http://imgur.com/wzKXh8n

Whoops, misread, my bad

Nowhere did I say the other reels aren't as good and that the PQ is the "best". I said that was the best ENDORSEMENT. I have yet to find other detailed and comprehensive long term reviews for other budget options (thank you for that by the way). Best review/endorsement =/= best reel. I simply gave my experience. And my experience is that the PQs are reliable long term, as opposed to other cheap/budget offerings that don't have the longevity. We are giving suggestions are we not? I have no doubt there are other very good options that will last long, but the PQ has my vote AND it has documented data to back its reliability up. Therefore, I believe it is the safest choice, especially since the first iteration is only 80 dollars now.

Read this thread. If this isn't the best endorsement then I don't know what is. I have six PQs, from 8 years old to 2 years old. All work flawlessly. BPS jus released the PQ 2.0, which is exactly the same as the original version except now the original is 80 dollars and the new one is 100. Buy the original.

Thanks for the advice! Ended up not going to the Delta area as it's a bit of a drive for me and I was still tired from the previous day's trip. I went to Calero Reservoir. It was a grind, but managed to land 6 fish. No pigs, biggest was a 3 lber. All of them on finesse jigs. It seems like most people had a tough day so I'm grateful I got what I got. Next week I'm definitely going to make the hour trek up North. Have several options, Discovery Bay (dock heaven and less wind for kayakers like me), Clifton Court Forebay, Bethany Reservoir, and Frank's Tract (the farthest so leaning toward no). Decisions decisions......

Oh wow so if there's space on the side of the road, you're good to go? I google earth/street and there seems to be areas where cars park, I'm going to assume it's free?

yoooo no worries man you helped me out a bunch. I google street the area and there are definitely places to launch a kayak. My starting place will depend on where the current goes I suppose. It's either this area or calero. Might hit up Chabot on Sunday. And you don't need to plug Coyote Tackle to me. Those guys are awesome. Most likely this weekend they will be getting my tax return money lol.

Where can you park?

Wow that was a QUALITY freaking response. Thank you so much and good heads up about the sand/silt (I coincidentally drive a 4x4 Tacoma lol). I would ideally want to park on the north west part of the orange circle you drew, but I will take anything. The marinas i've launched out of don't have any restrictions on quagga mussells, so it should be fine. I'm thinking about heading up to the Delta this weekend. Company is always welcome!

I actually heard Chabot is a pretty decent place for bass. Dropshots and football jigs apparently work well. I went there this past weekend but the water was muddy and didn't catch anything. The recent rains have really messed up the fishing, we should be in the prespawn now but if the water is muddy then it'll be tough. Calero reservoir is okay, it has pretty clear water now. Del Valle is a little far for me and I never have luck at Shadow Cliffs, it's a tough lake for bass. Is there really free parking on Holland Tract? I google earthed it and the road really just seems like a trail. Really wanting more confirmation because I've gotten screwed in California by parking where I shouldn't have parked before..... And related question, along that road, is it possible to launch a kayak off the bank? I hate paying to launch like at Russo's or Sugar Barge, especially if it's just a kayak.