Bass fishing is feast or famine right now at Clear Lake. Some fishermen are having little trouble catching 20-30 fish a day while others are struggling just to put two or three fish in the boat. The bass being caught are also smaller than in past weeks.
American Bass (ABA) held a team tournament last weekend and the winning team of Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville and Mike Menne of Redding had a limit weighing 30.74 pounds. Breazeale also caught the big fish of the tournament, a 9.26-pounder. The tournament drew only 33 teams and the overall average weight per fish was 3.34 pounds, which is considerably lower than in most tournaments. The good news is that 27 of the 33 teams weighed in limits.
Clear Lake will be a busy place next week as WONBASS holds its three-day Clear Lake Open Pro/Am tournament, which is scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The tournament is expected to field approximately 100 boats and the winning pro will receive a $45,000 prize package, which includes a new and fully-rigged bass boat along with cash. The winning amateur will win approximately $2,000 in cash.
The pros paid an entry of $1,000 and the amateurs paid $400. The tournament goes out of Konocti Vista Casino, Resort and Marina in Lakeport and the weigh-in starts at approximately 2 p.m. each day.
Some of the top professional bass fishermen in California and neighboring states are competing. A number of local fishermen are also entered, including Mark Crutcher, Gary Collins and Paul Bailey.
The tournament features a shared weight concept as the pro and amateur fish as a team and only five bass can be weighed in each day. The pros draw a different amateur each day.
Most of the experts say it will take at least 70 pounds to walk away with the first-place money.
A wide variety of lures have been successful and they range from Senkos rigged wacky style, drop-shotting purple plastic worms, and even small crankbaits. One method of fishing the weed beds that is becoming popular on Clear Lake is a technique called “punching.” This is where the fisherman uses a large worm weight of up to one ounce and pegs it tight to a 4/0 or larger hook. A large Brush Hog or other large plastic lure such as a Beaver is rigged weedless “Texas” style. The lure is flipped into the heaviest cover the fisherman can find and allowed to sink to the bottom. The fisherman gives the tip of the rod a few shakes and then pulls the lure and casts to another nearby mat. Most of the time a bass will grab the lure on its initial fall.
It is a deadly technique to catch larger bass. Most of the fishermen use a flipping stick or other stiff rod and rig it with at least 50-pound test braided line, the reason being it takes a stiff rod and heavy line to pull the bass out of the weeds. It is known that the larger bass seek the heaviest cover during the heat of the day.
Catfish action remains very good for the few fishermen after them. Nightcrawlers or cut mackerel continue to be the hot baits. Catfish are being caught at just about every location around the lake. Horseshoe Bend, Henderson Point and the Clearlake Oaks Keys are the better areas. Bluegill action has been excellent as some of the bluegill are as large as your hand. Red worms and nightcrawlers have been the top baits and fish are being caught at several locations around the lake.
Trout action remains fair in the East Branch of the Russian River and good at Upper Blue Lake. The problems this season is the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DWF) has been stocking the river with small trout. It’s a program the DFW started this year to save money. At Upper Blue Lake, boaters trolling at depths of 15-20 feet have enjoyed the most success. Shore fishing has been fair. Both bodies of water are scheduled to be stocked with trout next week.
Ocean salmon fishing off Fort Bragg has been very slow but the bottom fishing has been excellent and a good number of large lingcod are being brought in.
One reason given for the poor salmon fishing is the warm water temperature.
