Conditions: Morning breeze (stiff) to 12 mph, afternoon calm. Air temperature 61 – 80 degrees. Water temperature 58 to 60 degrees.

Launch: Oak Shores Day use area (west side of Berryessa).

With this week’s temperatures threatening to break seasonal records, and the latest “wind event” rumored to die out that evening, I assumed it safe to look for largemouth beds and see if any bass had moved into the shallows to spawn.

The wind finally died around noon – which is why I consider all weather men to be knaves and scoundrels. All morning I endured a steady 12 mph breeze – which threatened to impale me via errant false cast. As the wind was quite violent on the windward points, I opted to beach my kayak on several of the islands in the area so I could fish without being blown out of range before the cast could land.

Lots of boats in the area, several were trolling for Kokanee, so there must have been some action in the deeper water off of Big Island.

I fished the small hummocks emerging out of the water between Oak Shores and Goat Island, crossed the deeper water to fish two of the larger bays of Big Island, then returned to Goat (after the wind died) to fish back through the hummocks and navigation hazards to the launch area.

No largemouth beds visible, no holding fish (guarding beds), four fish seen cruising the shallows on one side of a bay (shown on map in blue) on Big Island. No strikes and nothing left on …

Of the boat and bank fishermen seen, no fish were caught. Lots of boats roaring into the water nearby – and leaving just as quickly.

As expected for this time of year, there is no weed cover on the bottom. Lots of rocky areas but no additional cover to hold baitfish from predation – nor was any bait visible singly or in schools.

I covered a lot of water yesterday to ensure I eyeballed both shallow and deep areas for signs of fish. I covered the sandy and rocky bottoms, the shallow pitches as well as the deep drop-offs, and saw nothing of consequence.

“Bob Simms” of the Outdoor show appears to have echoed a similar experience for this Saturday’s broadcast (April 3rd). The commercial mentioned he blanked as well until late afternoon, then caught fish in 20 foot of water off the deeper drop offs … I’m sure he waked me several times yesterday –as the V8 crowd was quite restless.

I would guess the spawn has not started in earnest on the West Side of the lake. A combination of cold water temperatures (58-60), the lack of visible fish, and the absence of bed scars on the bottom – supports that conclusion … but in the end it is only a guess.