Despite bitterly cold weather the bass fishing on Clear Lake remains good. Troy Bellah of Clear Lake Outdoors in Lakeport and Jeremy Taylor can certainly attest to that. They fished the lake on Tuesday when the weather was terrible and still managed to catch some trophy-sized bass, including a 10.6-pounder that Taylor boated.
Bellah said the water temperaturs varied from 58-60 degrees and they fished the north end of the lake. The big fish was caught on an Alabama Rig and the others were caught on LV500 lipless crankbaits and Jigs. According the Bellah, the best action occurred just outside the docks in 10 feet of water.
Several other fishermen reported similar action and many were surprised how good the fishing has been despite the terrible weather. With the exception of several club tournaments there are no tournaments scheduled on the lake until January.
Five years ago the Alabama Rig was the hottest lure on the lake and throughout California. The lure is basically a wire spreader where up to five lures, such as small swimbaits, are attached to a wire harness. California law allows for a maximum of three lures to be used on an individual line although each lure can have a maximum of three hooks.
What fishermen have been doing is rigging the three lures with hooks and using the other two as dummy lures without hooks. These are called “teasers.” The lure is deadly during the winter months when the water is cold and clear. Actually there are a number of setups that can be used. Instead of swimbaits, you can use small crankbaits or spinnerbaits.
The entire rig is cast and retrieved slowly. To a bass, the five lures probably represent a school of minnows. Years ago just about every tournament fisherman would use the Alabama Rig exclusively. After a couple of years the popularity of the lure dropped sharply. Why? No one knows. Perhaps it’s because the lure is heavy and casting one all day leaves the fisherman exhausted and this is especially true for the recreational angler. It will be interesting to see if the Alabama Rig makes a comeback this winter.
The other hot bait during the winter for large bass is jumbo live minnows. The primary food source for adult bass during the winter months consists of minnows, juvenile bass, hitch and young crappie or crawdads. Most of the bass feed on the minnows and because of the thousands of juvenile bass, hitch, crappie and even threadfin shad this year, there is an abundance of food.
Several years ago fishermen discovered jumbo minnows would readily catch very large bass during the winter months. Actually the minnow fishing improves as the water gets colder. In fact, most of the local fishing guides use jumbo minnows almost exclusively during the winter months.
The minnow can be rigged several ways. One way is to run a size 2 hook through the lips of the minnow and then attach a small splitshot about 10 inches up the line from the hook. The minnow is allowed to swim above the rocks or beneath the docks. The other technique is to use a slip bobber and drift with the live minnow suspended about 4-6 feet beneath the bobber. A bobber stopper is attached to the line, which allows the fisherman to make an easy cast. The stopper controls the depth of the minnow. Commercial bobber stoppers are available at the local tackle shops. Jumbo minnows cost about $1 each.
Trout action is now limited to Upper Blue Lake. The East Branch of the Russian River is now closed to all fishing. Upper Blue Lake was stocked last week and the fishing has been fair for those trolling. The shore fishing has been slow.
