As the water temperature dips down into the 50-degree range, the bass at Clear Lake tend to slow down their feeding and at times can become extremely lethargic. This is the time of the year when live bait will outperform artificial lures and plastic worms by better than a 3-to-1 ratio.
Jumbo minnows, crawfish or even large nightcrawlers can be deadly on wintertime bass. This was graphically illustrated to me on Saturday when I watched a fisherman at the Lakeside County Park catch bass after bass while fishing from the dock with jumbo minnows.
Even crappie will prefer live minnows over the standard crappie jig. For example, one day last week I fished the Kono Tayee docks for crappie. There were approximately 10 boats working the area and two were using live minnows. The minnow fishermen caught three fish to every one that was caught on jigs.
It was only a few years ago that fishermen discovered that jumbo minnows would readily catch very large bass during the winter months. The fishermen discovered that fishing a live minnow actually improves as the water gets colder. Now most of the local fishing guides almost exclusively use jumbo minnows during the winter months.
Bass locate their prey by several methods. The primary method is sight, however, they also have excellent smelling abilities and they have a lateral line that runs down their side which senses movement.
In an experiment conducted a few years ago, researchers released minnows into a tank that was holding several largemouth bass that had been “blindfolded” with eye patches. The bass were able to easily locate the minnows through the vibration alone and intercept them one by one. This could explain why a bass can feed so successfully at night or in extremely dirty water.
One reason live minnows are so effective is that a live minnow suspended beneath a bobber probably gives off some kind of distress signal or odor which the bass intercepts. Studies have shown that a bass can instantly pick out an injured or sick minnow out of an entire school of minnows. This could be nature”s way of not only providing an easy meal for the bass, but also keeping the minnow species healthy by culling out the sick and weak ones.
Most of the fishermen rig a minnow two ways. One is to run a size 2 hook through the lips of the minnow and then attach a small splitshot about 10 inches from the hook. The minnow is allowed swim over the submerged rocks or beneath the docks. This is called “fly lining.”
The other technique is to use a slip bobber and drift with the live minnow suspended about 4-6 feet beneath the bobber. A bobber stopper is attached to the line which allows the fisherman to make an easy cast. The stopper controls the depth of the minnow. Commercial bobber stoppers are available at the local tackle shops.
When you see the bobber go under or move off to one side, feed some line out to give the bass enough time to get the minnow completely in his mouth and then set the hook with a sweeping motion.
Often a bass will just play with the minnow and won”t even take the bobber beneath the surface of the water. Other times they will just slam the bait.
One fisherman told me he located a school of bass and as soon as he dropped a live minnow down, a bass would grab it. However, when he used an artificial minnow or plastic worm, he wouldn”t get a bite. The bass would swim up to the artificial lure, look at it or even nudge it and then just swim away. But it was just the opposite for a live minnow, which the bass would aggressively attack.
Some of the better areas to catch bass in the winter are along the tule shoreline between the State Park and the Lakeside County Park. The docks north of Lakeport also hold some monster bass during the cold months and Rocky Point also holds some monster bass. Another good area is the Nice-Lucerne shoreline.
In the south end of the lake, Wheeler Point has large bass. Monitor Point, Konocti Bay, the rockpiles near Rattlesnake Island and Shag Rock are also good bets for large bass.
The only downside of using live minnows is the cost. A dozen jumbo minnows goes for about $12 and extra large minnows cost about $8. When the fish are biting, it”s not unusual for a fisherman to use up to two or even three dozen minnows per day.
In my Friday column I neglected to mention that Clearlake Bait and Tackle also carries live minnows.
