The recent hot weather has changed the feeding habits of Clear Lake’s bass. The good news is that fishermen report catching more bass on surface lures such as plastic frogs or other topwater lures such as the Horney Toad and buzzbaits. The trick is to keep on the move and cover a lot of water.
The bass are constantly moving as they search for baitfish. Bass are being caught in both the north and south ends of the lake. The other good news is that weed mats are starting to form in some areas and the bass should be holding beneath these mats during the hottest part of the day. The best fishing times have been at daylight and from 4 p.m. until dark when the topwater lures have been providing the best action. The openings in the tules are also holding bass. Here is where a plastic worm rigged on a drop-shot can be deadly.
Some of the better areas have been the tules between the state park and Lakeside County Park, Long Tule Point and the Nice and Lucerne docks. The rocky shore along Highway 20 near Pepperwood Cove is also producing good numbers of bass. In the south end of the lake, the best areas have been Jago Bay, Monitor Point and the rockpiles near Rattlesnake Island.
The plastic frog bite has been fair early in the morning and late in the evenings. Just cast the frog back into the tules and hang on. My favorite color is a light chartreuse and I rig it on a size 3/0 wide gap hook. The trick to success when using the frog is to allow the bass to take the lure underwater before setting the hook
As more mats form, the bass will begin to hold beneath them. A plastic frog is cast to the mats and retrieved with short hops, including pauses. Normally the bass grabs the lure during these pauses. A trick that tournament fishermen often use is to have a spare rod rigged with a Senko. If the bass misses the frog, the Senko is cast to the blowup. Often the bass will grab the Senko.
A group of local fishing guides took a group of fishermen from the Black Bear Diner restaurant chain on their annual two-day event. The group consisted of eight guides and 17 clients. Bob Myskey said everyone caught a lot of bass, the largest weighing 7 pounds.
Crappie fishing
Crappie fishing continues to be very good although the fish are on the move. A good example are the docks at Library Park in Lakeport. One day just about everyone is catching crappie and the next day nothing is being caught. Some of the deepwater areas such as Shag Rock and Kono Taye have been holding crappie.
Other lakes
Other local lakes have been providing excellent fishing such as Indian Valley Reservoir and Lake Pillsbury. Bob Bridges and Gary Hill fished Indian Valley Reservoir earlier this week and caught more than 50 bass. Bridges said the lake is full and in excellent shape He said the campground at the dam is super clean. The road going into the lake was recently graded and is in decent condition.
Lake Pillsbury is providing excellent bass fishing and decent trout action. The best bass action has been early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Trout are being caught by trollers going deep. Upper Blue Lake is still kicking out trout for both trollers and bank fishermen. The lake hasn’t been stocked in nearly a month. The East Branch of the Russian River is providing decent trout action although the fish have been small.
