Fear of a quagga mussel infestation has prompted authorities to shut down Ruth Lake to all boaters except for those who have their boats registered in Humboldt and Trinity counties.
Ruth Lake is owned by the Humboldt Municipal Water Company and is a popular fishing spot for Northern California fishermen. The lake holds both largemouth and smallmouth bass as well as trout.
According to a spokeswoman at the Humboldt Municipal Water Company, the lake will remain closed to out-of-area water vessels until an inspection program is in place. The closure is effective immediately and is expected to last until sometime in 2009.
The closure of Ruth Lake by local authorities is just another reaction to the invasive quagga mussel problem. Boat inspections at Clear Lake have been going on for several months. In the Bay Area, many lakes in Santa Clara County already have boating restrictions.
The approaching Labor Day weekend means Clear Lake will be a busy place. In addition to recreational boats and fishermen on the lake, there also will be a TV crew filming a fishing show for Bass Edge (you need satellite TV to see it).
Overall the fishermen should find an improvement in the bass fishing. The good news is the topwater action using plastic frogs has considerably improved.
On Saturday, WON BASS held a team tournament during which only plastic frogs could be used. The tournament drew 28 teams and 25 weighed in five-fish limits. The winning weight was 25.28 pounds and five teams weighed in more than 19 pounds. Most of the action took place in the north end of the lake where fishermen cast the frogs to the offshore weed mats.
The trick to success is to keep on the move and to continually cast the frog. The bass are bunched up and if you catch one fish there are certain to be several more in the same area.
No bass tournaments are scheduled for Clear Lake during the Labor Day weekend, but that doesn”t mean there won”t be plenty of fishermen out on the lake. In fact, there are at least 100 or more bass boats on the lake on any given weekend. The trick to beating the crowd is to be on the lake at daylight and to get off the water by 2 p.m.
Clear Lake was selected by the producers of Bass Edge, a fishing show based out of Missouri, for a feature film on its outstanding bass fishing. The filming begins today and continues through Monday. The host of the show is Aaron Martin. He will be accompanied by bass pro Jamie Cyphers of Nevada. The show will be aired later this year on the World Fishing Network (WFN).
The East Branch of the Russian River is scheduled to be stocked with trout this week. Upper Blue Lake will be stocked next week. A few fishermen are catching trout at Upper Blue Lake by trolling deep in the center of the lake. The bank fishing has been very slow.
Bass fishing at Upper Blue Lake is rated fair, but you have to go deep with a drop-shot rig to locate the fish.
At Indian Valley Reservoir, the lake level is down more than 130 feet.
Fishing is restricted to bass and catfish as no trout or kokanee are being caught.
Dove season gets under way Monday morning at daylight and hunters can expect a fair season. There are a fair number of doves in the county and if the weather stays warm the opener should be good.
While dove hunting has never been rated very good in the county, there are pockets holding a fair number of the speedy birds. The best public hunting area is the Cache Creek Wildlife Area.
The dove hunting in the Sacramento Valley is forecast to range from fair to good. There are very few public areas that hold enough doves to hunt.
Deer hunters are still looking for cool weather to get the bucks more active. The hunting has been slow to date. That should all change within a week or two as the bucks start to go into rut.
