Fishermen at Clear Lake are looking forward to the return of some decent weather. After more than a week of freezing cold, the weather patterns are returning to normal, that is, with the exception of no rain in sight.
Fishermen competing in the American Bass team tournament held on Sunday saw some of the coldest conditions in years. At blast-off the air temperature at
Lakeport was a bone-chilling 20 degrees and the water temperature was only39 degrees.
When you take into consideration that the bass boats roared across the lake at speeds of more than 50 mph, that meant a wind chill factor of a minus 3 degrees. Most of the fishermen said their line was constantly freezing in the reels.
Despite the cold water temperatures, the fishing was considered pretty good.
Of the 28 boats in the tournament, 12 weighed in limits and the winning team of R.C. Stephens and John Blair of Clearlake Oaks weighed in a five fish limit of 23.26 pounds. Second place went to the team of George Bates of Kelseyville and Steve Kelly of Lakeport with 20.64 pounds. A total of 78 bass were weighed in and the average weight per fish was a respectable 3.37 pounds.
Rumor has it that the winning team spooned their fish in the deeper water.
Years ago, spooning for bass was one of the more productive winter techniques. However, as new lures and techniques came into being, spooning died out.
For those that don”t know, spooning is where a fishermen takes a bright silver spoon such as a Hopkins and lowers it to the bottom. The spoon is then jerked of the bottom and allowed to flutter back down. The fluttering action resembles a dying shad.
Other fishermen in the tournament said they caught their fish by casting jerkbaits and lipless crankbaits. The north end of the lake was the most productive area. One team even caught a limit of bass within an hour by fishing near the docks at Library Park in Lakeport.
Kudos go to tournament directors Ed and June Clarke. They moved the blast-off at daylight from the Skylark Motel in Lakeport to Library Park so as not to disturb the guests at the motel and nearby residents. Actions like this go a long way toward improving relations between the bass fishermen and lakeside residents.
Despite the cold water, there haven”t been any reports of a shad die-off.
Normally when the water temps dip down to 42 degrees, or lower, shad start to die but this hasn”t yet happened. According to Bob Higgins of Limit Out
Bait and Tackle in Clearlake Oaks, the shad are balled up in the Oaks arm of the lake but there have been very few dead shad being seen.
There are no bass tournaments scheduled on the lake until next month.
Crappie action remains an “iffy” proposition. A few fishermen are catching20 to 40 fish per day but most are happy with 10. Even the traditional hot spots like Kono Tayee and Shag Rock are giving up very few fish.
As fo the other local lakes, Upper Blue Lake has been kicking out a few trout for the few fishermen that have been braving the cold. The lake won”t be stocked again until next month.
No one has been fishing at Indian Valley Reservoir. It”s just been too cold for anyone to make the trip.
Jared Stone of Lakeport and Marc Brown of Ukiah won the 100 Percent Bass team tournament at Lake Berryessa on Saturday. They weighed in 16.27 pounds of fish.
Duck hunters go into their final week of the season and to date the hunting has been only so-so. The season closes on Jan. 28.
There will be a Hunter Safety Course in Lakeport starting at 6 p.m. on Jan.22 at the Lakeport Fire House located on Main Street. The five-day course is required for anyone wanting to obtain a California hunting license for the first time. Registration will take place on the first evening of the course.
