From all indications the weather will be perfect this weekend for the crappie tournament. The tournament goes out of Clearlake Oaks on Saturday with the weigh-in starting at 2 p.m. at the public boat ramp. The lake is off limits Friday to all the crappie tournament fishermen
The tournament should produce some large crappie. The minimum size is 12 inches and the limit per two-man team is 10 fish. According to fishery biologists, a 12-inch crappie weighs approximately 1.1 pounds. Most of the fishermen are predicting it will take at least a total weight of 15 pounds or more to win the event. The winning team receives $1,000 and the top five teams finish in the money, with second place receiving $800, third place $500, fourth place $400 and fifth place $300.
The fishermen can use live minnows, which should dramatically improve their chances of catching some large crappie. The rules also state all crappie weighed in must be alive or a penalty will be assessed. What will be interesting is how the fishermen keep the crappie alive in their livewell for the duration of the tournament. Crappie are known to be a fragile fish and fishing guides have told me that when their clients want to keep a few crappie to take home, most of them are dead by the end of the day. The good news is the water temperatures will be cool, which should help keep the crappie alive.
This is also the time of the year when crappie will be suspended in the deeper water and these are the areas where the fishermen will be concentrated. One of the hot spots will be Kono Tayee. Henderson Point and Shag Rock are other favorite crappie locations.
In addition to live minnows, another lure that will be popular is the red-white jig. This is a standard crappie lure and is used extensively. The jig is normally fished suspended beneath a bobber.
Bass fishing
In addition to the crappie fishermen, there will be bass fishermen out on the lake this weekend. This past week has seen the fishing improve dramatically. Mike Rothstein of Lakeport fished on Monday and caught 15 bass. He said he fished the north end of the lake and despite all the rain the color of the water was good. He caught most of his fish by rigging a plastic with on a split-shot and dragging it slowly along the bottom. Several other fishermen reported good action along the Nice-Lucerne shoreline while using a drop-shot rig.
Bluegill
The other good news on the fishing scene is the bluegill action continues to be excellent throughout the lake. What is amazing is the size of the bluegill. Many are weighing more than a pound and there were a couple caught that weighed 2 pounds. Nightcrawlers have been the top bait and the hot spots have been Shag Rock and Henderson Point where some of the fishermen report catching up to 50 bluegill a day.
Trout
A few trout are being caught at Upper Blue Lake but overall the action has been slow. The lake hasn’t been stocked in more than a month and is not on the current stocking list. Several people want to know the status of Indian Valley Reservoir. The ramp and campground at the south end of the lake are still closed and will remain so for at least several months. The lake itself is in good shape.
Duck/quail season
Duck hunters wrap up their season Sunday. In addition, the quail season also closes Sunday.
