The bass pros return to Clear Lake this weekend for one of the most popular team tournaments held on the lake. It”s the fourth annual Bob”s Marine Tournament, which is open to all owners of Champion, Stratos or Javelin bass boats.
Fishermen who still want to enter the tournament can sign up as late as 6 p.m. tonight at Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina in Lakeport. The Saturday and Sunday tournament is expected to draw about 120 teams. A spokesman for Bob”s Marine said 80 teams had entered as of late last week. The entry fee, including all options, is $200 per team.
Tournament proceeds go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The two-day tournament will hold weigh-ins Saturday and Sunday starting at noon at Konocti Vista. A big part of the tournament is the outstanding raffle held at the Saturday night dinner. Just about everyone wins something.
Last year”s tournament drew 97 teams and it took only 45 pounds to win it. Most fishermen are predicting that it will take between 40 and 45 pounds to finish first.
Tournament fishermen should find decent action although the size of bass might be between only 2-4 pounds, with an occasional 6-pounder. The good news is that the weeds are starting to disappear in the north end of the lake, which gives the fishermen more water to fish. The bad news is the lake level continues to drop and the water depth at the ends of many docks in the Lakeport area is less than 2 feet.
As of Thursday, Clear Lake was 1.9 feet on the Rumsey Gauge and Yolo County continues to draw water from the lake. The water is extremely clear along the Nice and Lucerne shoreline.
The action has switched from the south end of the lake to the north end. That”s where fishermen have been successful casting topwater lures tight to the weed mats. One new lure that has been successful is the wake bait. It”s nothing more than a shallow-running crankbait that runs near the surface and creates a wake. The size of the lure varies from about 5-8 inches in length and it”s been deadly on large bass. There are several manufacturers of wake lures and all the local tackle shops carry them.
The bass are widely scattered and the successful fishermen have been covering a lot of water and doing a lot of casting. It”s called “power fishing.”
Crappie and catfish action continues to be slow with a few exceptions. A few catfish are being caught in Cache Creek and Horseshoe Bend. Most of the fishermen have given up on the crappie.
I recently made a deer hunting trip to Indian Valley Reservoir and found the lake only about half full. The water line is nearly a mile from the north ramp. About the only fishing action has been for bass and catfish.
At Upper Blue Lake, the hot weather has pushed the trout deep and the few successful fishermen are trolling in the middle of the lake at depths of 30-40 feet. Bass action has been fair for fishermen using the drop-shotting technique in 20-30 feet of water.
The Zone A deer hunters have only two more weeks to go in their season and the results have been mixed so far. Some of the private clubs have been very successful and others say the take is down at least 50 percent. That could change if we get some cool and rainy weather. During most years there is at least one storm before the Zone A season closes.
The bucks should also start coming into rut within the next week. Most of the hunters are waiting for the B-zone season, which opens Sept. 15.
