September signals the start of bass tournaments at Clear Lake and from all indications the lake is healthy and the fish population continues to increase. In fact, there are more fish per acre in Clear Lake than any other lake in California. Like most lower-elevation lakes in the state, the primary game fish in Clear Lake is the largemouth bass. However, there are also large populations of crappie, bluegill, catfish and several other species of native fish.
Largemouth bass are the dominant game fish. They are not only popular among recreational fisherman, but professional bass tournaments are a huge business. The recreational fishing industry in Lake County is built around the largemouth bass.
Bass are not native to California or the West Coast. They were first introduced into the state in 1874 and in Clear Lake just before the turn of the century. The first bass brought into the state were the northern largemouth and they soon adapted to the lower-elevation waters. Clear Lake, with its warm and shallows waters along with rich nutrients, offered ideal habitat for bass and they flourished. However, it wasn’t the bass that originally drew anglers to Clear Lake, but the crappie. In those days just about all the fishermen kept their fish to eat. Crappie were preferred over the bass because of their delicate flavor. The catch-and-release method for bass didn’t become popular until well in the 1970s.
Creel surveys done by the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) on Clear Lake in 1968 showed that 37 percent of the fishermen went after crappie and less than 1 percent fished for bass. However, a survey done in 1988 found that 67 percent of all the anglers fished for bass and only 6 percent were after crappie. Today it is estimated that approximately 80 percent of the fishermen who visit Clear Lake fish exclusively for bass.
The DFW recognized way back in 1969 that Clear Lake had the potential to become a trophy bass lake. To improve the fishery, DFW planted 136 adult Florida-species largemouth bass in the lake. The DFW followed that initial stocking with 242 Florida bass in 1970 and an 58 additional Florida bass in 1971.
Florida bass grow larger and live longer than northern largemouth bass. They are also considered harder to catch. The typical northern largemouth bass can live up to 12 years and a Florida-strain bass can live up to 17 years. The current lake record bass of 17.52 pounds was caught by the late Jerry Basgal in 1990 and was 12 years old. It was a Florida-northern largemouth mix.
It was known that Florida bass will breed with northern largemouth, and that the Florida genes will quickly dominate. However, it even surprised the biologists just how fast that occurred. In 1975, just four years after the last Florida bass were stocked in the lake, random samples of bass revealed the Florida genes in 17 percent of the bass. In 1976, that count went up to 27 percent. By 1978, it was 52 percent. What that means is in seven years 52 percent of all the bass in Clear Lake were either Florida-northern largemouth mix (called intergrades) or pure Florida bass. By the mid-1980s, all the largemouth bass in the lake were considered to be carrying the Florida gene.
To further help the bass fishery, the county stocked the lake with thousands of pure Florida bass fingerlings. From 1986-90, more than 100,000 Florida bass fingerlings were stocked in the lake.
The result of introducing Florida bass into Clear Lake has been dramatic. The size of the bass continues to increase. Results of the bass tournaments reveal this. In the past five years the average size per fish caught in a tournament has been more than 3 pounds. Few lakes in the country can match that. In fact, even in the well-publicized lakes of Florida none can boast a 3-pound average per fish. To win a bass tournament at Clear Lake usually takes at least a 5-pound average per fish. There are few major lakes in the country that can come close to that.
Clear Lake is also becoming famous around the country. The lake annually draws national bass tournaments. Numerous magazine articles profile the excellent bass fishing the lake has to offer and fishermen from around the world visit the lake to pit their skill against the trophy bass.
There is no question Clear Lake can rightfully be called the “Bass Capitol of West” and the future for the bass fishing looks even brighter. The lake is cleaner than it’s ever been, there is an abundant food supply for the bass, and the fish keep growing.
What more could a fisherman ask for?
