The big question on everyone’s lips is where are the fishermen?
While the bass fishing on Clear Lake has slowed to a crawl and the lake isn’t attracting many fishermen from outside the county, you would think that the locals would be out on the lake, but that hasn’t been the case. On any given day there are less than six boat trailers parked at the Fifth Street ramp in Lakeport.
There are several reasons for the lack of fishermen, the high price of gasoline and a low lake level being among them. Just about every fisherman is complaining about the lack of bass although the bass being caught have been in good shape. This is credited to the abundance of bait fish in the lake. A good example is the Fifth Street ramp, which is crowded with minnow-eating birds such as the white pelican. Birds can be seen diving underwater and coming up with minnows. All a bass has to do is open its mouth and it can swallow a minnow.
This isn’t the first time the bass population has crashed. It happens every few years. This year it is the drought that has caused the fishery to crash. The bare shoreline doesn’t allow bass to move back into the tules to hide.
A few fishermen have been working the deeper water and catching bass above the submerged rocks. The trick to success is to make a super slow retrieve and allow your plastic worm or jig to remain still for several seconds.
The lake in its current condition is making fishermen relearn the lake. What is surprising is that few fishermen are using jumbo minnows. Typically during the cold winter months jumbo minnows are the No. 1 winter bait. This is especially true for the fishing guides, who are scrambling to find fish for their clients. Actually some of the local guides have switched to fishing for catfish, which are biting. Some huge catfish are being caught, several in the 20-pound-plus class. The best areas for the catfish are in the Clearlake Oaks arm and near Shag Rock. Fish slowly and work your bait around the rocks.
Crappie
The disappearance of the crappie is another mystery. Normally crappie are a winter fish and fishermen enjoy some excellent days, but this year the crappie have been absent. Hopefully they will show up when we get some water into the lake. The lake has been holding steady and actually came up a couple of inches during the last storm.
Tournaments
The Fifth Street ramp in Lakeport is in good shape and boats have no problem launching. The city of Lakeport dumped several truckloads of rocks at the end of the ramp, which eliminated the drop-off point although care should still be used when launching. It will be interesting to see how the major bass tournaments launch 100-plus boats during their January tournaments. Parking could be a problem.
Bird life
This is also an excellent time to take a drive around the lake looking at the bird life. The lake is teeming with aquatic bird life such as white pelicans and egrets. Take a youngster because they will enjoy a day in the outdoors with you.
Trout action
Upper Blue Lake is still offering some decent trout action. The lake hasn’t been stocked in several weeks but there are still a lot of trout in the lake.
Hunting
Duck hunting has been slow in the Sacramento Valley. The waterfowl refuges are still dry and the ducks have moved on. There are thousands of snow geese in the rice fields and it’s a fantastic sight to see the huge flights move from field to field.
