A pair of local bass fishermen proved last weekend that you don”t need to have years of experience to win a major bass tournament.
Jason Templeton and Jackson Juarez of Kelseyville took top honors in the two-day Future Pro bass tournament at Clear Lake. Templeton and Juarez recorded a two-day weight of 46.06 pounds to win $2,900 in prize money. They were in second place with 23.83 pounds at the end of the first day of the tournament, but they came back with 22.23 pounds Sunday to nail down the win.
Templeton and Juarez said they caught most of their fish on Saturday by drop-shotting a plastic worm. They switched to swimbaits on Sunday. The tournament drew 108 boats.
As the results of the tournament show, Clear Lake is in prime shape for late summer bass fishing. The top 20 teams all had more than 35 pounds for the two-day event and it took 35.18 pounds to bring home a check. Jigs and Senkos continue to be the top lures. A few fishermen did very well casting plastic frogs to the weed mats.
Local fisherman Dave Majestic of Kelseyville reports he has been doing well casting topwater lures the last hour before dark in the vicinity of the State Park.
Many of the fishermen in the tournament said they caught their fish in water less than 10 feet deep and that the north end of the lake was producing most of the fish.
I took my underwater camera out Tuesday and found bass everywhere. The tules from the State Park to the Lakeside County Park are loaded with bass. I also found bass holding in the offshore weed mats where a jig or Senko rigged “wacky” style and pitched into the holes in the mats has been producing strikes. Just about all the fishermen say they are constantly on the move in order to be successful.
I fished from the State Park to the Lakeside County Park on Thursday and caught more than a dozen quality bass using an Maverick Oxblood Blue plastic worm rigged drop-shot style. This worm is deadly at Clear Lake and can be purchased at Tackle It in Lakeport.
The other good news is that it appears the spring spawn was excellent as baby bass can now be seen by the hundreds. The boat ramps at Library Park in Lakeport and at Lakeside County Park have large schools of young bass near the ramps feeding on the bugs and algae.
Catfish action continues to be excellent throughout the lake. Catfish are also being caught by bank fishermen at Library Park in Lakeport, the docks at the Lucerne ramp, Lakeside County Park and at Redbud Park. I watched an angler haul in four catfish within a space of 30 minutes on Monday while fishing from the shore at Lakeside County Park. Most of the successful fishermen have been using either dead shad, cut mackerel or nightcrawlers, but by far the best bait is a live crawdad. Live crawdads can be purchased at Clearlake Outdoors, located on Soda Bay Road in Lakeport.
Trollers at Upper Blue Lake are catching a few trout, but it”s hardly worth the effort. The Department of Fish and Game continues to ignore this lake in regard to stocking it with trout. The only good news is the bass fishing has been excellent in both Upper and Lower Blue Lakes. Bass fishing is also rated good at Indian Valley Reservoir. The fish being caught are averaging about 2 pounds each and crankbaits as well as jigs have been the top lures. The water is exceptionally clear, which is making the bass go deep during the day.
The Zone A deer season opened last weekend and the hunting results were poor. I heard of two bucks being taken in the Mendocino National Forest out of Upper Lake and one buck being taken out of the Cache Creek area. Nine bucks were taken at the University of California”s Hopland Field Station. Most of the hunters reported seeing very few deer and practically no bucks. It”s the old story of a shrinking deer herd. The number of hunters also was way down.
