Some waters earn a month. In the Yak-A-Bass results, Lake Berryessa owns April: six of the club's seven scored events here — 2018, 2019, 2022, 2025, and two in 2026 — were fished in that one window. When a club with a whole map of NorCal keeps returning to the same lake in the same month for eight years, that's not habit. That's pattern.
Where to launch
Steele Canyon Recreation Area, 1605 Steele Canyon Rd, Napa (38.5026, -122.1989) — the ramp the club used for both 2026 events. Multi-lane concrete ramp with big staging and parking areas, gate open 8am to 8pm. Napa County's published schedule lists day use at $14–$20 per vehicle and a $30 boat-launch fee; whether a hand-launched kayak pays the launch fee or just day use isn't published, so confirm at (707) 966-9410 before you go.
What actually wins here
The April 2025 event is the benchmark: Justin Dutcher won with 121.0 inches over six bass — the biggest winning bag ever recorded on Berryessa in club competition — and fifth place still needed 114.5. In April 2019, Bam Miller took it with 117.0. The 2022 event won at 103.75, and the April 2026 points event went 106.5 with a 24.75-inch event big fish.
Then there's 2018: the largest field in the entire club dataset — 135 kayaks — fished a best-4 format won by Jose Cervantes at 83.25 inches, anchored by a 26.0-inch largemouth. Eight seasons later, that's still the single biggest bass in any of these five guides.
Reading the pattern
April on Berryessa means pre-spawn and spawning fish pushing into the creek arms and secondary points, and the results show exactly what that's worth: 100+ inch bags become the price of entry in the modern format. The club's February 2026 membership drive — a 25-fish accumulation format won at 273.5 inches — proves the lake stacks numbers in late winter too. But if you get one Berryessa trip a year, the data says take it in April.
