Lake County will see a mass exodus of bass boats this evening as the FLW tournament field is cut to 10 boats for Saturday”s final round.
To say fishermen put some pressure on the bass this past week is an understatement. There wasn”t a spot on the entire lake that didn”t have a boat stationed on it sometime during the tournament. What is surprising is that the fishing remained very good. Most of the anglers had little trouble catching 10 to 15 fish per day.
Even though many of the bass pros think you need a $50,000 boat to catch a fish, that isn”t the case. On Wednesday, the opening day of the tournament, I observed a fisherman standing on the dock at the Fifth Street Ramp in Lakeport catch three quality bass within a span of 20 minutes using a nightcrawler for bait. What was amusing is that a few yards away a fisherman aboard his modern bass boat was casting everything but the tackle box and didn”t catch a single fish. It just goes to show that bass don”t know what kind of platform you”re fishing from and don”t care.
One of the hottest lures during the tournament has been a lipless crankbait and one of the most productive lipless crankbaits has been the Lucky Craft LV-100 in the bright shad color. It”s a lipless lure that resembles a Rat-L-Trap. The only downside is the cost, which is about $20. Another lure that works equally well but is a whole lot cheaper is the Rattl”n Vibe made by YO-ZURI. That lure costs only $8 and can be purchased at local tackle shops, Wal-Mart or Kmart.
Size and not numbers is what plagued fishermen in the FLW tournament. Of the 196 pros in the tournament, 184 weighed in limits on Wednesday. However, most of the fishermen brought from 12 to 16 pounds to the scales, which is not enough to win or even place high in a tournament the caliber of the FLW. The weigh-in today starts at 3 p.m. at the Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa. On Saturday, the final day of the tournament, the weigh-in shifts to the Wal-Mart parking lot in Clearlake and starts at 4 p.m.
The Clear Lake BassMasters annual Bass Derby gets under way Saturday morning and fishermen can enter just prior to blast-off at Library Park in Lakeport. The entry fee is $100 per team and there is a $20 big-fish option. Proceeds from the tournament go toward club projects such as improving fish habitat and the club”s annual “Take a Kid Fishing Day.”
The good news is the crappie are starting to show up around the deep-water docks. One of the better areas is Indian Beach Resort in Glenhaven. Reports coming out of the resort indicate most of the fishermen are catching from 15-25 crappie a day. Crappie also are being caught at Shag Rock and Kono Tayee.
Catfish action is good for the few fishermen after them. Cutbait or nightcrawlers have been the top bait and some of the better areas have been in Horseshoe Bend, Glenhaven Beach and Cache Creek.
No local waters were stocked with trout this week. Upper Blue Lake won”t be stocked again until November. Trout action has been slow at the lake and bass fishing is rated as fair.
Here”s a final note for Lake County residents. This is the time of the year when wildlife are often seen crossing the roads and highways. Unfortunately many are hit and killed by cars. Last weekend I witnessed a sickening sight on the Rodman Slough Cutoff. A female otter was leading her young across the road and while most of the cars stopped, one speeding car ran over the female otter”s rear legs, breaking them. She pulled herself off the road and hid in the bushes. A little common sense when driving will prevent needless accidents and preserve our precious wildlife.
