As the results of the past few bass tournaments held on Clear Lake show, the lake’s bass fishery is definitely undergoing a transition. A week ago the winning team in the two-day Bob’s Marine tournament weighed in only 37 pounds. This past weekend’s winners of the two-day River2Sea tournament had only 36.6 pounds.
Both tournaments featured some of the best fishermen in Northern California as well as ideal weather and fishing conditions, yet few bass weighing more than 3 pounds were brought to the scales. The River2Sea tournament had a field of 115 boats while Bob’s Marine had only 37 boats.
The big question is what has happened to the big bass Clear Lake has become famous for? A check of tournament records going back at least 10 years show that the recent tournaments had the lowest winning weight of any tournament held on the lake since 2007, and that includes tournaments held in the winter when weather condition are terrible. The results of the upcoming Costa FLW Series tournament on Sept. 28-30 will be a good indication of the state of the fishery. Some of the best professional anglers in the nation are headed to Clear Lake for the three-day event. If anyone can locate trophy fish it’s these guys.
All the bass in Clear Lake are now considered to be of the Florida strain. The Florida-strain bass have a lifespan of up to 20 years but most live only half that. Like all wildlife, disease and other factors limit their lifespan. The current lake record for bass of 17.52 pounds was caught in 1990 and biologists from the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DWF) took scale samples and aged the bass at 12 years. A 12-year old bass is equal to a human 80 years old.
Biologists also say Clear Lake has a history of going through cycles where there will be several years of huge bass being caught and others where catching a 7-pounder is rare. Recent electro-shocking surveys by DFW biologists also show a lack of larger bass.
Local fishing guide Bob Myskey said his clients caught a number of bass weighing 7 pounds or more last fall and also during the spring, however once the fish die-offs started this summer the number of big fish being caught dropped significantly. He is convinced that a large number of the big bass died along with thousands of smaller bass and other fish.
The good news is the overall bass fishery is in good shape and there are literally thousands of bass between 1-3 pounds in the lake. Bass grow at a rate that matches their food supply. According to scientists, the ideal forage fish for bass is the bluegill because they reproduce throughout the warm months and are readily available to the bass. Clear Lake has an abundance of difference species of baitfish, so the bass shouldn’t have any trouble finding a meal. An adult bass requires about 10 pounds of forage to gain 1 pound of body weight. They require 5 pounds of forage fish a year just to maintain their current weight.
There are a number of major bass tournaments scheduled for the next few months. Tournament fishermen target big bass and if the current trend of no big bass continues they will have to cover a lot of water to locate and catch those big fish that remain. Actually, the size of fish in a lake really doesn’t matter if everyone in the tournament is facing the same problem. The winners of a tournament collect the same amount of prize money if their total weight is a fraction of normal. For example, the winning team in the River2Sea tournament collected $5,000 for a weight of only 36.6 pounds. They would have collected the same amount even if their weight had been 60 pounds. Even if there is a year or two with a reduction in the size of the bass, the fishing at Clear Lake will continue draw thousands of fishermen.
