The warmer weather should help the catfishermen entered in the Clearlake Oaks/Glenhaven Catfish Derby. The three-day competition starts at noon today and finishes noon Sunday. Many of the fishermen will stay out in their boats all night. Whereas in past years fishermen have had to contend with cold weather and wind, this year the forecast is for light wind and daytime temperatures in the low- to mid-70s.
Most of the fishermen will be concentrated in the Clearlake Oaks Arm around Rattlesnake Island. This is traditional catfish territory. Other excellent catfishing areas are Cache Creek, Horseshoe Bend and the Nice-Lucerne shoreline where there are hundreds of sunken tires. This is the time of the year when the larger catfish seek out the sunken tires to spawn in. The area around the State Park could also be a big producer. Even though there is not a lot of water in the Clearlake Oaks Keys, a few catfish are being caught.
The top bait will be either jumbo minnows, cut mackerel or nightcrawlers. For those lucky enough to have live crawdads, these could be a deal breaker. A large catfish can’t resist a live crawdad. It should take at least a 24-pound-plus catfish to walk off with the $4,000 first-place money. During last year’s derby a total of 241 catfish were weighed in for a total weight of more than 3,000 pounds. The winning catfish weighed 24.87 pounds.
The awards ceremony takes place at the Clearlake Oaks Firehouse starting at 1 p.m. Sunday. Fishermen can enter the derby as late as 11 p.m. tonight.
In addition to the catfishermen, there have been a lot of bass fishermen out on the lake competing in tournaments. The final day of the three-day Bass Federation tournament is today with the weigh-in starting at 2:30 p.m. at the Konocti Vista Casino Marina. On Saturday, the Future Pro tournament goes out of Library Park in Lakeport with the weigh-in starting at 3 p.m. That tournament should draw approximately 100 boats.
Overall the bass fishing on Clear Lake is a hit-and-miss affair. The successful fishermen are the ones who stay on the move until they locate fish. The water has cooled considerably and the spawning bass have backed off their spawning beds. The top lure this past week has been a wacky-rigged Senko. LV500 lipless crankbaits are also taking bass weighing up to 10 pounds.
Many of the bass being caught are the smaller males who are guarding the nests. There are also dozens of juvenile bass schooling along the shoreline. These are perfect fish for children as they will readily grab a nightcrawler.
Crappie action is slowly improving. The docks at Indian Beach Resort are producing some large crappie for those fishing at night. Shag Rock and Kono Tayee have been giving up a few crappie as well. Bluegill action is still rated very slow but should improve as the silverside minnows start to migrate toward the shoreline. The bluegill feed on them.
Trout action should be excellent at the East Branch of the Russian River this weekend. The stream was stocked earlier this week and will be stocked again next week. Power Bait and small crankbaits have been the top fish catchers. Fishermen are reminded that the daily limit and possession limit on the East Branch of the Russian River is five fish. The game wardens have cited several anglers for over-limits. Upper Blue Lake is also scheduled to be stocked with trout this week. Upper Blue Lake is producing good bass action.
Several local residents are reporting that raccoons and opossums have been coming up on their decks looking for food. The answer is to put all the cat and dog food away at night. You also should keep your small animals inside at night as a raccoon can kill a small pet. Raccoons and opossums mostly venture out at night.
