Would appreciate suggestions for small lakes/reservoirs in the San Jose/Los Gatos Ca region. I am planning a trip in early April to the Merced with my son (his first trout trip and only second time fly fishing) and thought a day of practice with Gills would be good practice (and fun). He has mentioned Lexington and Coyote. Will these be good or are ther others. He has a small car topper so we won’t be confined to shore fishing. Thanks Dave
The gentleman that works at Boater’s World on Stevens Creek is a crappie fisherman. He reccomended Uvas Reservoir for panfish when I was in there last week.
Try this site:
[url=http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/parks/:aae46]http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/parks/[/url:aae46] and click on “Activities”, then “Water Recreation”, then “Fishing”.
That will tell you which county parks out here can be fished and what’s in them (like Uvas, Coyote, Stevens Creek, Lexington, Anderson, etc).
Read carefully if you plan to keep/eat anything. Some of our waters are polluted with mercury left over in part from the gold mining of long ago (mercury was mined in our area to use by gold miners elsewhere).
My favorite for blue gills (and clean water) is in the Santa Cruz mountains:
[url=http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/wt/llra/llra.html:aae46]http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/wt/llra/llra.html[/url:aae46]
There’s another Loch Lomond north of San Francisco…that’s not the one you want. Use the link above. They only rent rowboats though so getting out on the water can be a workout.
You can get info on fishing license requirements for visitors on our state fish game page:
[url=http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fishing/:aae46]http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fishing/[/url:aae46]
You can also find more info on fishing around the area by using the “Fishing Guide” on the DFG’s site (it’s a fancy Java applet with some useful info).
You might be able to find some more info on the waters you’re interested in by looking here for a map:
[url=http://www.fishsniffer.com/maps/:aae46]http://www.fishsniffer.com/maps/[/url:aae46]
Local fishing reports can be found at:
[url=http://www.coyotebait.com/pages/3/index.htm:aae46]http://www.coyotebait.com/pages/3/index.htm[/url:aae46]
and
[url=http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/outdoors/:aae46]http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/outdoors/[/url:aae46]
The most recent fishing report from the Mercury News site should be readily available. Older ones require (or used) free regestration.
If you search the archives here for bay area fishing info, you can find other info I’ve posted in the past year or so for other folks headed this way.
The ParkHere.org page should tell you which parks rent boats or if you need to provide your own.
If you need more info, just post. There are several members here on FAOL that live in/around the area you mentioned.
[This message has been edited by Thwack (edited 19 April 2006).]
try these folks…
[url=http://www.sanjoseflyshop.com/:02743]http://www.sanjoseflyshop.com/[/url:02743]
harry mason
[url=http://www.troutflies.com:02743]http://www.troutflies.com[/url:02743]
San Jose Fly Shop is a very good shop! Their online forums and fishing reports tend to be a bit dated though.
If you’re in the area, they’d be the first shop I’d stop at. There’s another that might be closer (in down town Los Gatos…Upstream is the name of that shop I think). They’re a combination outdoor clothing/fly shop. I prefer SJ Fly Shop personally.
I’ve gotten some local fishing info from them but most locals tend to go out of the immediate area to fish it seems. It’s hard to find folks that admit to fishing the local waters. Maybe they like to get away from it all while fishing and being able to play with crappie ten minutes away from work isn’t “away” enough? 
Or, maybe they all like to fish from big boats? Most of the local waters are drinking water reserviors so they tend to restrict you to electric motors (or canoes, kayaks, float tubes, etc). Calero, Anderson, Lexington, and a few of the others allow motorized boats with some restrictions (if that matters to you, ParkHere.org should have the details on which local waters allow what kind of vessles).
I’m trying to find a day to get out on Loch Lomond again and see if my 3wt can find some bluegill. I hit a spot there a couple years ago that produced about 30 blue gill in a couple hours (fishing worms instead of flies). I took my son there a couple weeks later and we reeled in 50 blue gill in 3 hours.
The biggest I’ve landed there was eleven inches on the same day I also brought in a nine incher. That was in June so I don’t know (yet) if they’re hanging out in the same spot this early in the year…and I haven’t scouted for other good spots there since I spent all my time playing in the first good spot I found (after trying a variety of fish-less spots on the other side of the lake, I was estatic to find that spot).
I forgot to add…I got into a mess of crappies late one afternoon on Stevens Creek Reservior. It’s close to work, so I scooted out a tiny bit early one day and tossed my yak in the water. I had a year-long parking pass for my truck and year-long launch pass for my yak, so I didn’t have to worry about tickets or finding the self-pay machine (which isn’t close to the boat ramp there…d’oh).
That was in the Fall though but the spot likely has crappie year round. The water level was low (since there’s not much rain locally after Spring is over and this was the Fall).
I was exploring the water trying to figure out where to fish when I passed an area that had the tips of some old trees sticking straight up.
My guess is that those trees were right there when that canyon was dammed up to create that reservior. In the rainy season, the water level hides those trees.
When the water level is down, only the top of the former crown of the trees are exposed. That should provide tons of structure year round for fish like crappie and blue gill.
You need to be on the water though to get to that area. I didn’t see a way for folks fishing from shore to get close enough. It would be quite a ways to kick if you’re in a float tube…launch from the picnic area instead of the boat ramp and you’ll be much closer!
The end of that reservior furtherest away from the boat ramp (away from the dam) is where the water comes in and it can get VERY shallow even during the rainy season.
If you head away from the dam, the reservior takes a sharp left (roughly 90 degrees) and maybe a quarter mile later takes a sharp right. After that right turn, if the water is high, there’s a bunch of trees in the water but I haven’t fished that portion so I can’t say if it’s any good.
I have seen folks playing panfish from shore near where that left turn starts.
Do you have a way to get out on the water with your son? Or do you need shore/wade fishing info? I’ve seen waders and tubers at Calero and it’s supposed to have plenty of crappie, etc. All I’ve caught there though are bass.
Thanks to all. Certaintly enough info to plan a day. Dave
If you take a look at Stevens Creek Reservior using Google Earth, you can see lots of detail that’s normally hidden.
I just noticed tonight that their current satellite photos were taken when the water level was VERY low (lower than it’s ever been when I was on the water).
It shows a small, thin island across from the boat launch that I didn’t know was lurking there…
It also shows how shalow the end furthest from the boat launch is (it’s all silted, no water, in the pic but normally is under water).
That highlights where the shallow sections are and if you know where to look, you can see the fuzzy hints of some buried tree tops just off shore (I’ve had good luck near there stalking crappie with spin fishing gear in the past).
You can also get some low water pics for several of the other local reservoirs that are common places to fish.
If you need help finding it, let me know and I’ll send the coordinates.