As the results of the annual Holder Ford-Mercury bass tournament showed last weekend, the bass fishing at Clear Lake is moving into high gear. Winners Chad Hole and James Beatty of Angwin caught 53.01 pounds during the two-day tournament. They won $3,888.
The second-place team from Eureka caught 52.77 pounds and won $2,268.
The tournament drew 162 teams and most weighed in limits both days of the tournaments. A total of 1,238 fish weighing a combined 4,084 pounds were caught. That”s more than 2 tons of fish. The average weight per fish was a healthy 3.29 pounds. The tournament produced 10 bass weighing more than 8 pounds each and the big fish of the tournament weighed 11.38 pounds. Another 11-pounder and a 10-pounder also were weighed in. The tournament paid down 32 places and it took 35.72 pounds to get a check.
Hole and Beatty said they caught most of their fish on jigs and spinnerbaits. Other fishermen in the tournament said that jigs were the No. 1 lure. Senkos also have been very effective. Some of the larger fish were caught on swimbaits.
The bass are holding at the edges of the tules and some of the better areas have been from the Lakeport Lagoons to Long Tule Point, the shoreline of Nice-Lucerne, and the tules near the Clearlake Oaks Keys. Rodman Slough is also producing a lot of bass.
Most of the fishermen reported that a lot of their bass were the smaller males staging prior to moving into the spawning areas. I can attest to that. I fished the tournament and on Sunday my partner and I caught more than 25 bass in one small area and none weighed more than 3 pounds. They were holding on the small tule clumps and we used Senkos.
What was surprising was that most of the fishermen brought in limits despite high winds and rough water on Saturday. In fact, it even hailed on some of the fishermen. One boat came to the weigh-in site at the Skylark Shores Motel in Lakeport completely covered with hail stones.
Several spectators at the weigh-in wondered where all those fish would be released. The Clear Lake Bassmasters supplied their release barge and the fish were released at various locations in the north end of the lake. The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) requires that all fish caught in a tournament be released alive. Of the 1,238 fish caught in the tournament only one died.
Angler”s Choice will hold a team tournament on Saturday. The tournament operates out of the Konocti Vista Casino and Resort and the weigh-in starts at 3 p.m.
Crappie are still pretty much a no-show around the lake although a few catfish are being caught. The big mystery is what has happened to the crappie. Two years ago the lake was literally awash with crappie but they have been in a steady decline since.
Bass and trout are being caught at Upper Blue Lake. The bass fishing has been rated good along the Highway 20 shoreline and off the Pine Acres Resort. Trout action has been rated fair for trollers working the middle of the lake.
Lake Pillsbury will receive the first trout stocking of the year next week. In addition to the trout, the bass fishing at the lake can be spectacular.
There has been very little fishing activity at Indian Valley Reservoir. The lake level is still down about 60 feet from the full mark but boats can be launched at the dam.
Ocean salmon season off Fort Bragg continues to be very slow. To date only one 10-pound salmon has reported being caught. The season closes April 1 this year and fishermen don”t expect the fishing to improve between now and then.
