The bass tournament junkies return to Clear Lake this weekend for the megabucks Triton Boat Owners Team Tournament. The tournament operates out of Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa and fields approximately 100 boats. The weigh-in starts at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The tournament is restricted to owners of Triton bass boats. The highlight of the event will be a drawing for a new and fully-equipped Triton bass boat worth about $45,000. All Triton owners will have their names put in a hat and the drawing will be held at the barbecue Saturday night. In other words, even the last-place finisher in the tournament could walk away with a new bass boat. Of course, there will be cash prizes for the top tournament finishers.
Most of the fishermen predict it will take in the neighborhood of 50 pounds to win the two-day event. The problem isn”t catching fish, the problem is the size of the fish, which are averaging about 2 pounds.
The 100 boats will also make the lake fish small because much of the north end is too shallow. That, and the dropping water temperature, will definitely have an impact. The water surface temperature has been as low as 62 degrees in the mornings. The weeds continue to die, which makes the water murky.
The lake is going through its typical fall transition during which the fishing gets tough until the weather stabilizes. The good news is the lake level is now holding steady at 1.2 feet on the Rumsey Gauge and only 60 cfs is being released at the dam.
Most of the successful fishermen are working plastic worms or jigs over the rockpiles in the south end, with Rattlesnake Island being one of the better areas. Jago Bay is also producing fish.
Bass are being caught in the north end but the fishing has been limited to areas such as Rocky Point and the deep-water docks along the Nice-Lucerne shoreline. A few bass are also being caught between the State Park and the Lakeside County Park. Just about all the successful fishermen agree that you have to constantly keep on the move to catch the fish.
Along with the fishermen competing in the Triton tournament there will be dozens of bass pros out prefishing for the upcoming FLW Outdoors tournament scheduled Oct. 24. This is the last weekend before the lake is declared off-limits to the FLW fishermen. They can”t fish or even ask where the fish are biting until the official prefishing days start, which is Oct. 21. That tournament will field 200 boats and the winner will take home a cool $100,000.
In addition to this weekend”s bass tournament, a carp derby will be taking place out of M&M Campground in Clearlake Oaks. The tournament is a benefit event sponsored by NorcalCarpClub.Com. The derby is Saturday and Sunday and the fishermen can just show up. You can either fish one day or both and the entry fee is $10 for one day or $25 for both days. Proceeds go to the Santee Lions Garden for the blind and vision impaired.
Upper Blue Lake was supposed to be stocked with trout this week. The cooling water should improve the action.
especially for the bank fishermen. The bass fishing has been rated as fair.
B-zone deer hunters are looking for some bad weather to get the bucks moving out of the high country. I hunted Snow Mountain area Wednesday and didn”t see a single deer and very few tracks. In fact, I didn”t even see any quail. The hunters I spoke with had about the same luck.
