This was my second trip to Naci ever and I didn’t do to well last time. So, before we left I studied a topo map of the lake. The spot I decided to try first on Saturday was a shallow flat adjacent to a main lake point with a small channel running through it, which led to deep water.

Day 1
It took about 20 minutes of solid rowing in the fog to find the point I was looking for and I wasn’t sure if I was in the right place or not when I got there. I started fishing a 6” purple/blue flake worm on a darter head and I hit pay dirt early. I landed my first keeper about 10 minutes after arriving got bite again on the next cast but missed it and had #2 in the well on the cast after that. At this point I didn’t care if I was in the right place or not, turned out I was :-) . There was a long dry spell so I switched to a black/red flake 4” Berkley gulp worm and started getting bites again. My 3rd fish was my best at 2-5 and missed big fish by 1 oz x( . I finally filled a limit by about 11:00 and then managed to cull 1 right after that. The first 6 fish I landed were all keepers. I decided to leave these fish alone until tomorrow. As I worked my way back towards the marina I caught a bunch more fish and missed a lot of bites they all seemed to be typical 12”-13” Naci spots. Total weight at the weigh in was 6-13 good enough for the lead.

Day 2
I went straight back to the same flat and started fishing the same setup as Saturday. I didn’t get a bite for about 45 minutes so I switched to a blade and managed 1 barely 13”er. I went back to the dart head and moved out a little deeper and started getting bit again but missing them. Around 8:30 I started to get nervous with only 1 squeaker but told my self to give it time the bites were there. I decided I would stay here 'til 11:00. I had to make some adjustments and gave the fish a little more time to eat the bait before the hook set and started to hook up again. My second fish was a better fish at 2-1, which tied for day 2 big fish :D . I got 1 more 2 pounder from this bank and another 14”er. At 11:00 I left with only 4 fish in the livewell. I hit a couple of places where I had been bitten on Saturday for nothing. At noon I pulled into a cove and made my way to the back where I had missed a couple of bites on Saturday. First cast with the dart head and I filled my limit. Next cast culled the 13”er. I caught 2 more from that cove but neither of them helped. I made my way back to the weigh in with a total weight of 7-15 for the day.

Ended up with 14-12 total. I wouldn’t say the bite was great. I had to really pick the place apart and go real slow to get the bites. Sometimes there would be a flurry of 2 or 3 bites close together then I would have an hour or more ‘til the next one. I caught all but 1 fish on the dart head and all the better fish came off of gravel banks. My bites on Saturday came on the flat in 6-8 feet of water and Sunday on the edge of the channel in 10-15 feet.

It was a fun time for sure. Nice meeting all the NKFT guys that came by to BBQ with us. Congratulations to Gordon and Swampy for their finishes. Congrats also to Castro, for that day 1 big fish and I think his was the closest guess for the total weight too. Thanks John for another great BnT tournament. See y’all at Berryessa!


Mitch

Good report, sounds like you had a great time.

FIT

LOST: Ex$pen$ive fish
LOCATION: Lake Nacimiento, right below the lodges
DATE: Saturday, 2/28
DESCRIPTION: Spotted bass, 2+lbs, culling clip hole in lower jaw

First, congrats to Mitch for finding those bigger fish.

Now the sob story...I actually had the winning fish in the net, in my kayak, in my hand, and was snapping the culling clip closed on its mouth when it wriggled off the hook, hit the side of the kayak, and splashed back into the lake. x(DOH!

Day 1:
Went towards the dam, didn't find fish on traditional stuff (points, rocks, etc.) so I started fishing the stuff that most people usually go right past (flat, sandy-beach type stuff). Picked up 3 on pumpkin/chart spider jig before the fog burned off. Then I had a long dry spell as I worked my way over towards the lodges. I worked the banks along there with a carolina-rig 4" pumpkin/chart lizard, but could only pick up one keeper. Then I lost the afore-mentioned fish on a 1/8oz darthead with 4" morning dawn/chart tail worm.;( One fish was short so I only weighed 4 for 5lb, 10oz.

Day 2:
Worked my way towards the dam on the far side from the marina, did not even have a bite until 9:00. Hit a great spot and had my limit by 9:15, all on the spider jig. Crossed back over to the marina side and culled a couple of squeakers. Found a steep bank with some christmas trees and small broken rock, looked very fishy to me so I picked up my money bait (darthead) and cast out. Shook it a couple times and fish on! Turned out to be #2.1, tied for 2nd day big fish with Mitch. Day 2 weight was 7lb, 1oz, for a total of 12lb, 11oz, good for 2nd place.

The weather was beautiful (after the fog burned off), almost shorts & t-shirt weather. I had a great time!

Wow! Great reports you guys!! Again, it was a pleasure fishin with all the Bass-n-Tube guys that where out at Naci this weekend. I look forward to the "Open", The way you guys where describing it, man, sounds awsome!

Bryan Vogt

Great report Mitch! Looks like you're off to a good start already. Sorry to hear about Gordon's woes; I think that has happened at least once to most all of us. I'm looking forward to Berryessa and the DR opener. See you there!

Buzzfish

Sorry for the late post but work is crazy right now!
I got there friday and was on the water at 7.30. I started getting some better than normal naci spots;) on the points across from the marina.When I made my way down to the xmass tree cove(The cove right b4 the other launch ramp) and found a bunch of fish stacked up on a creek chanel in about 7-12' deep.thats where I fished both days and the only thing I could get bit on was 4"worms(didn't seem to matter what color) on a 1/8oz darter head.I had to drag it super slow with a few intermitant shakes.This worked both days and I must have caught at least 50 fish over the weekend.I also noticed that the quality seems to be getting better at this lake.Who knows in another 5-10 years there might be some good spots in there:+
i had a great time and a big hats off to Mitch and Gordon.
Swampy

I agree with Swampy re: the quality of the spots in Naci. Since they've only taken hold in the last few years, I don't think we've yet seen what this lake is capable of...watch out Shasta, Oroville, and Pine Flat! Good job Swampius :-)

Good job guys!

Just as a note, I'm not sure what species were taken but I heard the Santa Clara boat club had a tourney out there (maybe a couple weeks ago) and the winner told me he had 15.9 lbs for 5 fish at Naci and second was 12+. Sounds like there are some good fish to be had there!

Todd

Yeah, the Bass Classics fished the weekend before us. I talked to a couple of guys from the club and there were a lot of largemouth "weighed-in". Big fish for their tourney was 4.55lbs (LM); however, they use a card system (they convert length to weight using DFG average weights) so the actual weight of their strings is usually optimistic (especially if you're catching long, skinny spots)...still, one guy had a limit of 15-16" spots and only ended up in about 8th place.