Hot weather greeted Clear Lake fishermen this week. Air temperatures have been more than 100 degrees and the water temperature has been as high as 88 degrees. Despite the hot weather a few fishermen are catching bass and an occasional crappie or bluegill. The fishing pressure has been nil.
Local fishing guide Bob Myskey reported that on Wednesday he had two clients catch 17 bass and most of them were caught on topwater lures. He said he fished the edges of the weed beds in the north end of the lake. The group fished plastic frogs, poppers and buzzbaits.
Fred Williams of Kelseyville has been hammering the bluegill and bass. According to Williams, the bass have been hitting white spinnerbaits and topwater lures. He has been fishing from Lakeside County Park to the State Park.
Williams said there is nothing more exciting than having a 5-pound bass blow up on a buzzbait and it is one of the easiest lures to fish. The best colors at Clear Lake are white, a mixture of white and chartreuse or even black. A curly-tailed worm or grub should be added as a trailer. The lure is cast tight to the tules or weed beds and the retrieve should start as soon as the lure hits the water. After the lure starts to ride on the surface slow down the retrieve so that it just stays on the surface. When retrieved properly, the lure should make a gurgling sound.
Normally when a bass strikes it will hook itself. Occasionally a fish will strike short and not get hooked. If that is happening continuously then a trailer hook can be added.
The advantage of using a buzzbait is that you can cover a tremendous amount of water in a short time and it will locate active fish. Unlike other topwater lures than are normally used only early and late in the day, a buzzbait can be used all day and it’s deadly on large bass.
William also said the bluegill are biting like crazy and they have been huge, including a few weighing up to a pound and a good number are in the 2-pound-plus range. He said that on one day earlier this week he caught more than 30 large bluegill. He said the bluegill have moved out into the deeper water and he has been catching them about 50 yards offshore alongside the weed beds. The trick is to use a mini-crawler and rig it drop-shot style. Williams said to fish super slow and when you catch a bluegill plan on staying in the area for at least 30 minutes or longer because they school up. Often you fish for several hundreds and not get a bite and then you hit a school and it’s non-stop action. The daily limit is 25 and there is no size limit.
Crappie are starting to show up at Kono Tayee. Most have been on the small side but a few are weighing up to 2 pounds. A few crappie are also being caught off the docks at the Indian Beach Resort in Glenhaven.
Trout action on the East Branch of the Russian River slowed to a crawl this week. The Department of Fish and Wildlife (DWF) has stocked the stream just about every week but the problem is that the DFW cut way back on the number of trout it is putting in the streams and also the size of the trout are much smaller. It’s all part of a plan to save money.
At Upper Blue Lake, the trout action has been fair but the bass action has been excellent. Several fishermen report catching up to 20 bass a day while drop-shotting a oxblood-blue plastic worm. The fish are holding in about 15 feet of water.
Lake Pillsbury is giving up a few trout and bass. The lake level continues to drop as water is being released. The lake hasn’t been stocked with trout in nearly two months.
The Highland Springs picnic area will be closed from 6 p.m. Friday until noon Sunday because of a scheduled special event. Access to the lake for fishing will be through Highland Springs Road on the west side of the lake.
