Fish super slow and use plastics ? that”s the advice coming from the successful bass fishermen at Clear Lake.
The Sonoma County Belly Boaters held a tournament last weekend and the winner was Dave Stornitzke of Santa Rosa with four bass (the tournament had a four-fish limit) weighing a combined 15.41 pounds. He said he caught his fish in the deeper water using a jig worked slowly over the submerged rocks. The 39 fishermen in the float tube tournament caught a total of 47 bass and most of the fishermen reported catching their bass on either jigs or plastic worms worked slowly along the bottom.
The Clear Lake Bassmasters also held a team tournament last weekend and the winning weight was 16 pounds. Most of the bass were going for jigs and plastic worms. Guide Ross England says he has been catching eight to 10 bass per day in the deeper water in the south end of the lake. A shaky head jig with a Zoom Trick worm has been the hot lure.
There are two team tournaments scheduled for this weekend. On Saturday, WON BASS will hold a tournament out of the Skylark Shores Motel in Lakeport. On Sunday, American Bass will hold a tournament out of the Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina. The weigh-ins for both start at 3 p.m.
The bass fishing has settled into the typical winter pattern and the successful fishermen are constantly on the move until they locate a school of bass. The good news is the rising lake level is flooding the tules and the bass can move into these areas and find crawdads. All the bass caught in the float tube tournament looked very healthy. Since there are little or no threadfin shad in the lake and few other bait fish, a number of fishermen have asked me why the bass look so healthy and what are they feeding on. During the winter months the primary food for the bass are crawdads and prickly sculpin. Of course, bass are also opportunists and any small fish will serve as a meal.
Sculpin are in abundance in Clear Lake and are a native fish. However, they are rarely seen. They are small and bury themselves in the mud and the bass often root them out. As the water warms up the crawdads also become more active. Normally during the cold winter months the crawdads bury themselves in the mud. Both the sculpin and the crawdads are a rich food source for the bass and other predator fish in the lake.
Upper Blue Lake continues to kick out limits of trout for the few anglers after them. Both trollers and bank fishermen have been scoring on trout to 16 inches. Joey Brodnik of Lakeport was recently fishing for trout at Upper Blue Lake and discovered that cormorants not only catch fish, but they are also adept at stealing trout from fishermen. Brodnik said he caught several trout and placed them on his stringer when he noticed a cormorant swim up and grab one of the trout off the stringer. He said the fish-eating bird would arrive whenever he caught a fish and then grab it off the stringer. The bird showed no fear of humans. It”s been known for years that cormorants are aware when a Department of Fish and Game (DFG) truck arrives with a load of trout. They assemble near the truck and as soon as it dumps the trout they have a feast.
The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity is suing the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) because of its program of stocking lakes and streams in the state with hatchery-raised trout. The lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday in the Sacramento County Superior Court, asks the court to order the state to perform a new study of its fish-stocking program and propose new ways for the DFG to protect Chinook salmon, mountain yellow-legged frogs and long-toe salamanders. The lawsuit says trout bred by the DFG for recreational fishermen hunt native fish and amphibians. It is unknown what impact the lawsuit will have on lakes in Lake County. Upper Blue Lake, Lake Pillsbury and Indian Valley Reservoir all are stocked with DFG hatchery-raised trout.
The DFG is hosting a watercraft inspection training session at the Kelseyville Lumber conference room, located at 3555 Main St. in Kelseyville, to teach people how to inspect boats for the quagga mussel. The class begins Feb. 23 and the hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The class is free and open to the public. Registration is required. Call Carol Ruttan at 263-2256.
