Berryessa is one of the warmest lakes in the north state and it can be one of the first lakes to break loose when temperatures begin to rise. Another thing that sets Berryessa apart from other lakes as a bass fishery is its seemingly perfect blend of largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass. For some reason, all three species seem to coexist peacefully at Berryessa where spotted bass have completely taken over in most other lakes where they have been introduced. The spotted bass are generally found on the south end of the lake from the dam up to the mouth of the Narrows and the smallmouth and largemouth are scattered throughout the entire lake.

We arrived at the Markley Cove launch ramp at around 6:45 am and we were the first ones there. No big surprise considering the weather. As we idled Jordan's Ranger 518 out of the 5 mph area, the rain really started coming down and neither one of us was up to a long boat ride in that stuff. We decided to fish inside Markley Cove until the rain let up.

Since this was our first trip to Berryessa in nearly two months, we didn't have any idea where the fish would be, how deep they were or what they were hitting. We agreed that our best bet would be to cover as much water as possible and try a variety of baits and depths during the first hour of the trip. Jordan started off throwing a Lucky Craft rip bait and I followed that up with a white spinnerbait.

To our surprise, Jordan hit a nice spot just over two pounds on the first point. Hoping we might be on to a good pattern, we spent the next 30 minutes cranking and ripping points, but came up empty. I decided to start fishing a little deeper and rigged up a 6 inch lizard behind a Carolina rig. The lizard produced fish on the next two points, but they were on the small side, running 12 to 13 inches. Not the fish we were looking for.

By 7:45, the rain eased up a bit and we figured this might be our only shot to make a run out to the main body. As we headed through the Narrows, Jordan said he wanted to make a quick stop on one of his favorite walls. "This wall has produced some really nice winter smallmouth in the past, so we need to give it a try," he explained. While Jody dragged his favorite brown jig, I worked a six inch morning dawn Magic Worm on a 1/8 ounce darter head.

It didn't take long to score. I threw the Magic Worm into 15 feet of water and it never even made it to the bottom. Another small spotted bass, this one only about 8 or 9 inches long. I hit another small spot a few casts later and we decided to clear out and look for bigger fish.

Our next stop was on the north end of the lake. Jordan started out with a crankbait and I backed it up with a Lucky Craft rip bait. As we approached a small rocky outcropping next to a shallow flat, Jordan hit our first smallmouth of the day, a quality fish weighing 2.1 pounds. Not five minutes later, he hit another big smallmouth almost the exact same size. Just when I was about to give up on the rip bait, a big smallmouth came up and smashed the lure. This was another good fish, weighing 2.2 pounds.

Over the next few hours Jordan cranked several more smallmouth in the 2 pound class while targeting shallow rocky banks in 5 to 12 feet of water. We also found a pocket of largemouth bass in one area and I hit three good fish weighing 2.2, 2.5 and 3 pounds.

By 1:00 pm, we had landed a total of 17 fish up to 3 pounds. Unfortunately, Jordan had to be home early and we needed to be off the water by 2:00. We decided the only way to improve on the day would be to catch a really big fish and you couldn't ask for better conditions to throw a big trout bait.

I rigged up my favorite 9 inch A.C. plug and Jordan tied on a Castaic soft trout bait. We headed to one our favorite big fish spots on the main body and began bombing casts over 15 feet of water. About 10 minutes into the effort, Jordan suddenly felt a sharp pull on the end of his rod and he quickly reared back. With a look of total shock on his face, he muttered out, "Oh my God! I've got one!"

Jody slowly worked the fish towards the boat as I scrambled to find the net. "It doesn't feel that big, but it's still pulling pretty hard," he explained. As the fish came into view some 10 feet from the boat, we couldn't believe our eyes. It was a big spotted bass and there was another fish the same size trying to steal the trout from the fish he had hooked.

We finally landed the fish, a gorgeous spotted bass weighing 5.1 pounds. In a perfect ending to a near perfect day, the rain eased up just long enough to snap a few pictures and make our final run back to Markley Cove. While this didn't turn out to be the trip of a lifetime, it surely was a day we'll both remember for a long time. Not bad for a wet and miserable day in the dead of winter.