Clear Lake will be loaded with boaters starting today and continuing through Sunday. American Bass will lead the parade with its Tournament of Champions (TOC) that gets under way this morning. The tournament winds up on Saturday and operated out of the Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina. The tournament is expected to draw at least 180 boats and the weigh-in both days starts at 2:30 p.m.
In addition, there will be a float tube tournament with at least 50 fishermen on Saturday and Sunday out of the State Park. To top it all off the waterfowl season opens Saturday and there will be duck hunters out on the lake for the weekend. Of course, there are also several bass clubs tournaments scheduled as well.
Bass fishermen should grab the spotlight this weekend but most of the tournament fishermen continue to struggle as witnessed by last weekend”s Anglers Choice TOC, only about half of the 139-team field weighed in fish. The winning weight for the two-day event was 46 pounds. Most of the fishermen struggled to catch a five-fish limit and the best action was offshore about a mile. The hot spot was the shoal off Rodman Slough, where at least 30 boats were gathered in a tight circle. That”s where the winners fished.
The top lure was a small swimbait made locally by Little Creep Baits and was a Hologram Shad. The lure is retrieved with short jerks. Clear Lake Outdoors in Lakeport carries the lure. Other fishermen were successful casting lipless crankbaits retrieved yo-yo style. A few bass were caught on plastic frogs cast to the weed mats.
Most of the tournament fishermen said one of the problems were the massive amounts of baitfish in the water. Silverside minnows, juvenile crappie and threadfin shad are so thick that the bass are reluctant to take a lure.
The American Bass TOC is the final major bass tournament scheduled on the lake this year and the lake will finally get a rest. There are a couple of smaller team events but they are expected to field fewer than 30 boats. Most of the tournament circuits don”t start their new season until January.
For those who just want to catch a bass or two, then jumbo minnows are the way to go. The guides have just about switched exclusively to minnows and their clients are averaging eight to 12 fish per day.
The good news is that the catfish action is still wide open and most of the fishermen are having little trouble catching five to 10 catfish per day. Cut mackerel or jumbo minnows have been the top bait.
Upper Blue Lake is scheduled to be stocked with trout this week and if the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) actually stocks the lake, then the fishing should be good for the weekend. The bass fishing has been rated very good at the lake.
Duck hunters open their season Saturday and from all reports the hunting should be excellent in the Sacramento Valley. Most of the public hunting areas have enough water and will be open. There are also be a good number of duck hunters on Clear Lake. Clear Lake always draws hunters from Fort Bragg and Ukiah along with local residents. The forecast is for unsettled weather, which should help the hunters.
The rules for hunting on the lake are that you must stay at least two miles offshore when hunting within the city limits of Lakeport and Clearlake. The rest of lake is pretty much open to hunting, however, you can”t shoot a firearm within 150 yards of any building and there is no hunting within the confines of the Clear Lake State Park and Anderson Marsh.
The daily limit this year is seven ducks of which two can be hen mallards. This year two pintails and one canvasback are also allowed as part of the daily bag limit. Regardless of the species, the daily limit of all ducks combined can”t exceed seven. Hunters are reminded that in addition to their hunting license they must also have both the federal and state duck stamps.
The Zone B deer season ends Sunday and to date the hunting has been slow. Reports coming out of the Hull Mountain-Lake Pillsbury area show that hunters are seeing very few deer. It”s even worse at Snow Mountain. For some reason there has been a very limited migration from the high country and the bucks still haven”t gone into rut.
The question most of the hunters are asking this year is where are the deer? The answer is no one knows. One answer could be that because of the lack of control burning and practically no logging there is very little deer habitat being created. Because of budget cuts the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) is doing very little deer research and that includes fall population counts and habitat work.
