Head south. That”s the word for bass fishermen on Clear Lake. Whereas there has been some decent fishing in the north end of the lake, the best action has been in the south end where fishermen are having little trouble catching 30 or even 50 fish per day.
There has been an early-morning bite along the edges of the tules using buzzbaits and plastic frogs, but the action slows by 9 a.m. During the day, the best action has been near the rockpiles where the fishing has been very good.
Crankbaits like the Speed Trap have been taking fish weighing from 3-9 pounds. The Speed Trap normally runs at a depth of about 5 feet. Some of the fishermen have been using deep- diving crankbaits on the rockpiles. The trick is use a lure that bumps the bottom.
Jigs also have been very effective when worked slowly over the submerged rocks. For day-to-day action, a jig is probably one of the most effective lures in the tackle box. At Clear Lake, the favorite color is either a brown or black, and a trailer-like pork rind or a twin tail grub is used. The best-size jig is the 1/4- to 3/8-ounce. The lure is cast to the rocks and retrieved very slowly so that it just crawls over the bottom. When a bass hits a jig, most of the time you will feel a thump.
With a few exceptions, the bass fishing in the north end has been very slow. North of Lakeport a good number of bass died and most of the fishermen are staying out of the area. There have been a few fish caught off Rocky Point.
The Nice-Lucerne shoreline is littered with dead shad and the fishing has come to a halt. The reason for that is there is just too much bait in the water. In addition to the thousands of dead shad, there also are hundreds of shad that are near death swimming slowly along the surface. All a bass has to do is open its mouth to get a meal.
Overall the action using plastic frogs has been very slow this summer. One reason is the lack of weed mats. Most of the mats are formed by a floating aquatic weed called sago these are the long stringy weeds that form huge mats. The mats draw small bait fish during the hottest times of the day and the bass will follow the bait fish.
This is when a plastic frog cast to the mat will normally draw what is called a “blowup” — that”s when a bass senses a movement on the mat and strikes at the lure. To date there have been very few mats and no bass hiding beneath them.
The best crappie action continues to be in the Redbud Arm of the lake. The docks at Luebow Point are producing a fair number of crappie and a few crappie are being caught at Redbud Park. What is surprising is the size of some of the dead crappie we found near Rocky Point north of Lakeport during the recent fish die-off. Some weighed approximately 3 pounds and many weighed in the 2-pound class.
There also were reports of a dead bass found that measured 28 inches in length. In comparison, Jerry Basgal”s lake record of 17.52 pounds had a length of 27 inches.
Either way you look at it, that was a huge bass that died.
Catfish action has been mostly confined to the south end but a few catfish are being caught near Lakeside County Park and the state park.
Upper Blue Lake was scheduled to be stocked with trout this week. The hot weather has forced the trout deep and trollers are having the most success.
Kokanee action has slowed at Indian Valley Reservoir. The surface water temps have been ranging from 75 to near 80 degrees and the kokes have gone deep. The best action has been for bass. Both largemouth and smallmouth bass are being caught all along the shoreline. The fishing pressure has been very light.
