Kissing a bass on the lips is usually reserved for those tournament anglers who haul in a trophy bass in front of the cameras. Even then the pros normally kiss the bass on the head, not the lips. That will all change Sunday when the Lake County Chamber of Commerce holds its “Kiss My Big Bass” contest.
The top three vote getters are required to kiss a live bass on the lips. The bass will be released alive after undergoing this grueling ordeal. It’s all part of a chamber fundraiser for a number of charities. The event gets underway at 3 p.m. at Library Park in Lakeport. There is a barbecue and other festivities. The actually bass kissing starts at 6 p.m.
On the bass fishing scene, the action couldn’t be any better at Clear Lake. Action has been nonstop with catches of 30-40 bass a day the standard. The trick to success is to keep moving until you locate active fish. Just about all types of lures are working, including spinner baits, jigs, shallow- and deep-running crankbaits and plastic worms.
One sure method of catching bass is to drop-shot a plastic worm. I fished Wednesday with Ed Smith of Biggs and we hit an area loaded with bass. In a space of three hours we caught and released more than 40 fish, the largest weighing nearly 8 pounds. We also caught several in the 4-pound class along with a lot of 2-pounders. All the fish were caught by drop-shotting a plastic worm in the dark brown pattern. The bass were holding in 10-15 feet of water. It will be a few weeks before jumbo minnows are available at local tackle shops. A few fishermen have been setting out crawdad traps and are having success using the crawdads for bait for both bass and catfish.
Best Bass Tournaments (BBT) is holding a team tournament Saturday out of Redbud Park in Clearlake. The tournament is expected to draw approximately 50 boats and the weigh-in starts at approximately noon.
Crappie action on Clear Lake has slowed considerably. Most of the crappie have finished spawning and moved out into the deeper water. There are crappie and large bluegills being caught at Henderson Point and at Shag Rock. A few crappie are being caught off the docks at Library Park in Lakeport and at the Lakeside County Park. Red-white crappie jigs are the top lures. Crappie are also being caught off the docks at Clearlake Oaks. Catfish action has been good for the few fishermen out after them. Live crawdads or cut bait have been taking most of the catfish.
On the trout scene, the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) has scheduled a trout stocking this week both for the East Branch of the Russian River and Upper Blue Lake. The fishing has been poor in the Russian River to date and only fair at Upper Blue Lake. The DFW has cut back its trout-stocking program throughout the state in an attempt to save money. For example, in past years Lake Pillsbury received regular trout stocking but this year the lake has been stocked only once. The good news is Upper Blue Lake is an excellent lake for bass fishing and many anglers are switching to bass instead of trout. Drop-shotting a plastic worm or fishing a jig slowly along the bottom are the top techniques for catching bass.
Gary Hill of Kelseyville fished Highland Springs reservoir earlier this week and had great success catching bass using both topwater lures and spinnerbaits. Hill said he caught more than 20 bass. He fished from a float tube.
Archery deer hunters in Lake County report seeing few bucks as the deer herd in the county and state continues to shrink. One problem has been the large number of predators such as coyotes that prey on the fawns. Coyotes can be heard howling just about every evening in the hills around Clear Lake.
