Clear Lake will be a busy place this weekend.
The annual two-day Paradise Bowmen”s carp shoot kicks off on Saturday morning and there will be a WON BASS team tournament on Saturday and an Angler”s Choice team tournament on Sunday. The bowfishing contest will draw more than 100 boats and will take place out of Lakeport. This is a team event and the team that bags the heaviest weight total is the winner. Typically it takes more than 1,000 pounds of carp to win the event.
Most of the bowmen use specially designed boats with a raised platform that positions the shooter high above the water so that he can spot the cruising carp. They use standard compound bows with special arrows that have a fishing line attached. The arrow head has a barb much like a giant fishing hook. A 50-pound test fishing line is attached to the arrow and then to a spool mounted on the bow.
The fishermen slowly cruise the shallows looking for spawning carp. When they spot a carp, they attempt to get within range of the fish, which is normally less than 10 yards. It”s not unusual for a shooter to actually hit two or even three carp with one shot. There is no limit on the carp and many of the bowmen will bring in dozens of fish.
At one time this was a huge event that drew more than 250 boats. The tournament has declined slightly in the past few years but remains popular among the bow fishermen.
Many people are interested in what happens to the carp that are taken during the derby. The derby produces about 20,000 pounds of carp most years. The carp are buried in a field just outside of Lakeport.
Fifteen years ago a group (not the Paradise Bowmen) put on a carp shoot and hired a local resident to bury the carp. Instead, he took them up into the national forest outside of Lucerne and dropped them off a hill. The rotting carp drew hungry bears from miles around.
Bass fishermen will also be busy this weekend competing in two different team tournaments. In addition, there will be a number of recreational fishermen on the lake. Overall the bass fishing is still only rated fair. Many of the bass are still on the spawning beds and the fishermen are working hard to catch them. Most of the successful fishermen are either split-shotting a plastic worm or slowly dragging a worm through the tules. A few fishermen are having success using ?Senkos.
The trick to success is to find areas where there are no shad. There is no topwater action yet but that could change at any time.
Crappie action has been very good in the Jago Bay area. Franz Bingel of Clearlake is a crappie expert and he reports very good action in the south end of the lake. Crappie also are being caught near the Lakeside County Park and off the docks at Library Park in Lakeport.
Bluegill action has been nothing short of phenomenal all around the lake. Some of the bluegill are huge ? larger than your hand. The best bait has been either meal worms or red worms, and all that is needed is a light spinning rod, bobber and a can of worms.
Most fishermen clean a bluegill by first scaling the fish and then cutting off the head and removing the innards. The fish is then rolled in flour or corn meal and deep fried. When done all you have to do is pull out the dorsal fin and the bottom fin, which removes most of the bones. It”s probably the best-tasting fish in the lake.
Trout action has been fair at Upper Blue Lake and the bass fishing continues to be excellent.
At Indian Valley Reservoir, trout action has been very good and the kokanee fishing continues to improve. Bass fishermen are catching up to 30 fish per day.
Salmon fishing off Fort Bragg is still only rated fair. Although Dan Stahlman of Lakeport found excellent fishing on Wednesday when he and two fishing partners all limited out. They fished from a private boat and fished south of the Whistle Buoy.
