The bass tournaments return to Clear Lake this weekend when Best Bass Tournaments (BBT) holds a two-day team event on Saturday and Sunday. The blast-off and weigh-in will take place at Library Park in Lakeport starting with the blast-off at first light in the morning. The weigh-in will start at 3 p.m. The tournament is expected to draw approximately 90 boats.
If last weekend’s New Bass was any indication catching a limit of fish shouldn’t be any trouble. In that tournament all but a few didn’t catch a five-fish limit. The bass are widely scattered around the lake and their range various in depth from a few feet to more than 25 feet. A lot of bass are holding over the rocks at mid lake. Plastic worms are the top lure. Crankbaits in Soda Bay, Henderson Point and Shag Rock are giving up decent numbers of bass. In the south end of the lake. The good news is that fish are still active and many are still on are holding in the weed beds. The fishermen report seeing young bass fry in the shallows.
Only about one bass in 15 lives to become an adult. Typically a bass can live 12-15 years but they rarely live longer than 20 years. The current lake record of 17.52 pounds, which was caught in 1990, was aged by biologists at 15 years.
The bass are widely scattered. Bass are being caught along the shoreline in water as shallow as 2 feet to as deep as 20 feet. The trick to success is to keep moving until you locate active fish. There are still few large bass being caught, but most are between 1-3 pounds. In fact, a 5-pounder is considered a trophy. I don’t believe there have been more than a few bass weighing more than 10 pounds caught all year.
The good news that catfish action remains nonstop and some of the catfish have been huge-weighing, more than 20 pounds. The larger catfish are being caught at depths of 20 plus feet and ae being found all around the lake. Bluegill and crappie action has been good for shore anglers. Redworms or nightcrawlers have been the top bait. One of the better areas has been the Clearlake Oaks arm.
Upper Blue Lake is worth a try for trout, even though it hasn’t been stocked in several weeks, The bass fishing has been good. Indian Valley Reservoir is worth a try for bass. The road going into the lake is rough but if you go slow you can handle it.
For the hikers a walk to through the Clear Lake State Park is the perfect way to spend the day. The park is beautiful and super clean and safe. The park is large and you can’t cover it all in day.
