As the level of Clear Lake continues to fall — it was 1.6 feet on the Rumsey Gauge on Tuesday and Yolo County was drawing 160 cubic feet per second from the lake — many people are wondering just how low the lake level will fall and what effect it will have on the bass, crappie and catfish in the lake.
Yolo County can draw water from the lake until Oct. 31, plus the lake level must be at least 1.25 feet on the Rumsey Gauge. The 1.25 foot-mark will be reached long before the end of October. Yolo County generally draws little water from the lake after September.
There also will be evaporation, which will likely bring the lake level to near zero on the Rumsey or even lower. There have been 26 years since 1873 when the lake level has dropped to zero or less and there have been numerous times when the lake level dropped into the 1-foot-and-change range. Because Clear Lake is such a shallow Lake, a drop of 2-3 feet in the lake level can have a major impact.
Unlike most other lakes in California, Clear Lake is not fed by a major river, but instead by small streams. The result is that the lake won”t start to refill until January or even February. The good news is that Clear Lake can fill in a hurry. For example, back in January of 1995, the lake level rose at a rate of more than 1 1/2 feet per day. Of course, that year there was near-record rainfall.
Even if there is an unusual heavy amount of rainfall in December, there won”t be any significant runoff until the surrounding hills are saturated a month or two later. Of course, if we have another dry year the lake level could stay very low. The lake didn”t reach its full status this year and another drought year could have a major impact on the fish and other wildlife that use the lake.
The low lake level will most definitely have an impact on the bass fishing. Most of the aquatic weeds will have died off by mid-October and with practically no water around the docks, especially in the north end of the lake, the bass will have to find cover elsewhere. The good news is that the die-off of weeds means the bass can locate their food easier. Studies have shown that bass feed primarily by sight and when there is heavy weed growth, the small minnows can find cover and escape the larger bass.
Typically during the fall the best fishing is in the deeper water in the south end of the lake. Unlike the north end, where the water depths will range from 1-2 feet, there are many areas where the water depth is 6-10 feet at the ends of the docks in the south end of the lake. The rockpiles near Rattlesnake Island and near Monitor Point and in Jago Bay are traditional good areas for fall and early winter fishing.
This doesn”t mean that bass can”t be caught in the north end. There will still be weed mats offshore where the bass will stage. These are excellent areas for casting a plastic frog. In fact, some of the best frog fishing takes place in September and October.
The downside of the lower lake level is that the fishing could be a lot harder because of the fishing pressure. The month of October will see a number of major bass tournaments held on the lake. Most of them will have at least 100 boats and the FLW tournament will have 200 boats. This means that just about every rockpile or deep-water hole will be stacked with bass boats.
