Cold and blustery weather kept most fishermen indoors this week although a few hardy souls ventured out and found decent fishing. The skies had cleared by Thursday but then the wind kicked up and there were whitecaps throughout most of the north end of the lake. The water temperature has been running about 46 degrees, which is still pretty cold.
The good news is that the lake level is slowly rising and there should be new areas opened up for fishing. The bad news is that the lake water is stained and even muddy in many areas in the north end of the lake. A check of the docks at Nice and Lucerne revealed a mud slick along the entire shoreline.
The best areas continue to be in the clearer water in the south end, where fishermen using shaky head jigs with a plastic worm are finding decent action around the submerged rockpiles. Jigs also have been effective. The shaky head jig is one of the popular lures used at Clear Lake. The jig is designed to allow a plastic worm”s tail to stand up in the water. The jig is allowed to sink to the bottom and the tip of the rod is twitched to make the jig dance. Used correctly it will drive a bass crazy. It”s especially effective over submerged rocks.
For those who don”t want to use artificial lures, live jumbo minnows are just about guaranteed to catch fish. Some of the more successful areas have been Konocti Bay, Jago Bay and Monitor Point.
There will be a pair of bass tournaments held on the lake this weekend. On Saturday, WON BASS has a team tournament scheduled out of the Skylark Shores Motel in Lakeport. On Sunday, American Bass (ABA) will hold a tournament out of Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina. Weigh-ins for both tournaments begin at 3 p.m.
In addition to the tournaments this weekend there will be a number of fishermen prefishing for other upcoming tournaments. West Coast Bass Pro/Am will hold a tournament Feb. 28-March 1 and the FLW-Stren Series takes place March 5, followed by the Holder Ford-Mercury team tournament on March 14.
Just about everyone has heard the term “prefishing” but many don”t know why or how the professional fishermen prefish prior to a tournament. The reason is simple ? they are looking for either a concentration of bass, big fish or a pattern that tells them what type of lure to use.
A good example is the upcoming FLW tournament. Since many of the fishermen will be new to Clear Lake, they first have to learn the lake and that means locating the deep-water docks, rockpiles and other structures.
The angler doesn”t want to hook a lot of fish while prefishing. In fact, fishermen will often bend down their hooks so the bass can grab it and then let go without being hooked.
By the morning of the tournament most of the fishermen will have five or six locations pinpointed where they plan on fishing. At blast-off, they will roar to one their selected locations. If another fisherman is already there, the pro can either fish near him or go to another spot.
If the fisherman doesn”t catch any bass in the first location, he will move to his backup areas. Most bass pros also have selected certain areas for morning fishing and other areas for afternoon fishing. To tournament anglers, time is of the essence. They don”t want to spend too much of their valuable time looking for bass. If they can locate schools of bass during their prefish time, they can concentrate on these areas.
Despite the muddy water flowing into the lake from the creeks there has been very little catfish action. Normally the wet weather brings out the catfishermen in droves but not this year. I drove around the lake on Thursday and didn”t see a single catfisherman.
Crappie continue to be a no-show. There has been an occasional crappie caught but it”s hardly worth the effort.
