The excellent bass, crappie and bluegill fishing at Clear Lake continues to draw fishermen from throughout the western United States. On any given day the boats ramps around the lake are filled with boat trailers. The other good news is all the public boat ramps around the lake are now open.
Most of the fishermen report catching from 10-30 bass per day, some weighing up to 10 pounds. John Pearl of Lakeport said his biggest five fish weighed a combined 48 pounds. Another fisherman reported catching five bass that had a total weight of nearly 50 pounds. There was even a 12-pounder caught earlier this week.
The reason for the incredible fishing are the thousands of threadfin shad in the lake. All a bass has to do is open its mouth to eat a full meal. The shad are stacked 5 feet deep in some areas and the bass are holding beneath them. Some of the better areas have been Henderson Point, the area off Rodman Slough, Rocky Point, the mouth of Adobe Creek, the Nice-Lucerne shoreline, the State Park and the water around Redbud in Clearlake.
A wide variety of lures and bait are being used. The live bait consists of jumbo minnows, nightcrawlers and crawdads, if you can get them. Various crankbaits have been very successful as have plastic worms and Senkos. The bass are moving around quite a bit as they prepare to spawn. The trick to success is to keep moving until you locate active fish.
A number of fishermen are asking if they can use live threadfin shad for bait. The answer is yes with some exceptions. You can’t catch the shad with a throw net and you can’t snag them on a hook. The only way you can catch the shad is to use a dip net.
There is a bass tournament scheduled for Saturday. The Black Bass Anglers of Northern California are holding a team tournament Saturday out of Konocti Vista Casino in Lakeport. The weigh-in starts at 3 p.m.
Crappie and bluegill fishing has been very good around the lake. Just about every location is producing crappie and some are weighing up to a pound. Bluegill are also being caught in abundance. Fishermen are reminded the daily and possession limit is 25 crappie and bluegill in combination. The game wardens have issued several citations for fisherman holding overlimits. One fisherman paid a $30,000 fine and lost all of his fishing tackle because he had more than 600 crappie in his possession.
Indian Valley Reservoir is now open for fishing and boating. The lake opened last week. Bob Bridges of Lakeport visited the lake Wednesday and reported it is full and the ramp appears to be in good shape. He also said the gravel road leading into the lake off Highway 20 is in good condition. The lake has an excellent population of bass and there are also crappie and kokanee.
Upper Blue Lake is kicking out a few trout and is offering decent bass fishing. The water is still stained but for the anglers who stick with it, trout can be caught.
Turkey season opened March 25 and the hunters have had mixed resulted to date. The hunters who had access to private lands did well on the opener. The Mendocino National Forest holds an abundance of wild turkeys, but hunters have to be careful because many of the backroads are muddy and it’s easy to get stuck. One hunter reported seeing turkeys near Lake Pillsbury but he didn’t score. The Highland Springs area has a good population of wild turkeys as well. To hunt the area you need to get a free permit from the county. The permits can be obtained at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
