Lake Sonoma, CA

[TTCal]

Lake Sonoma is 451 feet above sea level. It has 3,600 surface acres and 53 miles of shoreline. There is a 5-lane main launch ramp with a $3 fee. There are boat-in ( - - blocked - - ) throughout the lake run by the Army Corp of Engineers. Fee for overnight ( - - blocked - - ) is $14.



Lake Sonoma is rather unique among California reservoirs in that the lake has a lot of standing timber. This timber is what always baffles me about this lake. For whatever reason, I've never been able to pick up bass in and around these trees, but at the same time, I can't avoid fishing them!







My guess is because most of these trees are without their branches so there are no canopy's from which the bass can gain shade and ambush points. Just the same, these trees are dotted all over the shoreline and inside 90% of the coves. Most stand in 30 feet or more of water as the shoreline of the lake is very steep.

Success in the spring has always come from submerged structure like this:





The water temperature on a recent trip (09.18.04) varied from 69-71 degrees. Pretty cold for this time of year. But Lake Sonoma is relatively close to the coast and right in the middle of one of the wine country regions of the State. It is also a very VERY deep reservoir, so I doubt tempertatures get much warmer than this. Water clarity was down to 10 feet in spots but is less than this during the spring.

Anyway, that's Lake Sonoma.