As it now stands all the waters in Lake County are open to all boaters. The lakes opened up on Saturday and drew big crowds. It was estimated that close to 300 boats were on the lake on Saturday. The boats were closely monitored by the ramp monitors to make sure they had a current quagga mussel sticker. All the boats entering any waters in Lake County must have a current quagga mussel sticker. There are quagga mussel monitors at all the public ramps. Residents are required to get a yearly pass and nonresidents must have a monthly sticker. For those that don’t have a sticker they can be purchased at the local tackle shops and from the ramp monitors.
On Clear Lake the bass fishing has been exceptional with most of the anglers having little trouble catching 20 or even 30 bass per day. Mike Rothstein of Lakeport has been out several days this week and he has caught up to 35 bass each day. He said the top lure was a jig which he retrieved very slowly. One of the top areas has been the docks near Rocky Point in the north end of the lake. The docks at Nice-Lucerne are also producing good numbers of bass. Another excellent area has been Henderson Point and Shag Rock. In the south end of the lake, bass are being caught near Rattlesnake Island and off Redbud Park. There have been some huge bass caught recently. Two 12 pounders were caught on Saturday which was the first day the lake was open to boaters. There were also several in the 8-pound-class caught over the weekend
A lot of the bass have completed their spawning cycle and have moved out into the deeper water. This year because of the lake being closed, the spawning bass got a break from the fishermen. There have also been no tournaments and none are scheduled until this mid summer and even those may be cancelled. In other words, it’s a whole new world out there.
Catfish, crappie and bluegill are being caught off the banks and a few are also being caught by the bass fishermen. There were several catfish in the 15-pound class caught during the week. The best crappie action has been in the deeper water off the ends of the docks
Bluegill are being caught off the shoreline at Library Park and the Lakeside County Park. The Clear State Park is open for hikers but the parking lots are closed.
Trout fishermen are catching some huge trout at Upper Blue Lake. The lake is open for boating and fishing. Most of the trout have been caught by shore anglers because the lake had been closed to all boating but that has now changed and you can launch boats. Indian Valley Reservoir is still closed. Yolo County has the gate to the campground and boat ramp at the south end of locked and it won’t be open until clearance is obtained from the state.
Several fishermen fished at Highland Springs Reservoir using float tubes over he weekend. They caught plenty of bass although they were small, weighing only about a pound. Bluegill were also biting.
