Plenty of fishermen are wondering if the poor bass fishing this year at Clear Lake will mimic what happened back in 1990. It appears to be following a similar pattern — first the loss of the threadfin shad and a decline in the bass population.
Unlike other lakes where the fish population fluctuates very little from year to year, at Clear Lake there have been wild fluctuations of fish populations, and that includes other species such as crappie and catfish.
The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) electroshocking study done a few weeks ago revealed few bass between 10-15 inches, but there were thousands of juvenile bass. A 15-inch bass is a 3-year-old and there could have been a year lost because of lack of food or for something else.
A column I wrote the same time last year also indicates a huge difference. At this time a year ago most of the fishermen were having little trouble catching 30-50 fish per day. In fact, it was common for the guides to boat 30 fish per day for their clients. This year the guides are reporting that it”s a good day when their clients can catch 10 fish. On many days, it”s not uncommon to put only four or five fish in the boat.
The success rate started to slow down in February of this year and it coincided with the die-off of the shad, which was the primary food fish for the bass.
By early June the shad were all but gone from the lake and the action for bass continued to decline.
The bass tournaments held on the lake the past few weeks also indicate a decline in the number of fish brought to the scales. For example, the WON BASS Tournament of Champions (TOC) held last month showed that out of the 96 teams entered in the two-day tournament only 48 brought in five-fish limits on both days.
There were similar results from this past weekend”s Angler”s Choice TOC. Here there were 62 teams entered in the two-day tournament and only 28 teams caught limits both days.
Local fishing guides are a good source of information when the subject is fishing success on Clear Lake. Most of them are out on the lake at least three or four days a week and just about every guide has told me they think the adult bass population is down in comparison to last year.
Back in 1990 the bass fishery basically crashed at Clear Lake. In fact, it got so bad that a number of tournament organizations were considering moving their tournaments to other lakes. At that time I was the director of the Record-Bee/Bruno”s Team Bass Tournament, which annually drew 225 boats. It was always held in February and during those years it wasn”t unusual for half the field to come up empty.
The fishery made a remarkable recovery by the mid-1990s and catches of more than 30 bass per day were once again common.
What a lot of people don”t realize is that every year there is a massive die-off of all fish, and that includes bass. It”s part of nature. Whereas a bass can live to be 15 years old, less than 3 percent live that long. Most adult bass only live for about six or seven years. Even the slightest illness can doom a fish. If they get too weak (even temporarily) to chase down their food, they will starve.
Parasites also kill a lot of fish. Unlike humans, a bass can”t go to the doctor if it gets sick. Most of the bass that die don”t float to the surface. Instead they sink to the bottom and are never seen.
The good news is that the electroshocking study indicated a very large population of what are called “young-of-the-year bass.” These are bass that were spawned last spring. The study also showed a good population of bass that weighed more than 5 pounds. The tournament fishermen are also catching a good number of these larger fish.
The wild swings in the bass population at Clear Lake simply confirms what many biologists have always said ? that Clear Lake has one of the most fertile and diverse ecosystems in the world.
