Fishermen will be battling wind and rain in this weekend’s NewBass tournament on Clear Lake. The good news is that the lake is full and the water is clear which makes for ideal conditions for bass fishing. The tournament will draw approximately 100 boats and the weigh-in will be at Library Park in Lakeport starting at 3 p.m.
Overall, the fishing has started to improve although it is on the slow side. Most of the anglers are averaging 3-5 fish for a day’s effort. The big question is where are the larger bass? Any fish weighing more than 5 pounds is considered a trophy. The other factor is that the recreational fishermen are starting to show up at the launch ramps. Over the weekend the Fish Street ramp in Lakeport and the Lakeside County Park ramp were jammed with fishermen.
During the month of March there are a number of bass tournaments. The Lake Conty Chamber of Commerce tournament is schedule for March 15-16 and sign-ups are in progress. In fact, a good number of fishermen are already out prefishing for the tournament. That tournament should produce some heavy weights.
The other good news on the fishing scene are the number of crappie being caught. This is especially true in the Oaks Arm. The successful fishermen are using their electronics to locate the schools of crappie and are then working the area over and they are catching some nice bags of crappie. Fishermen are reminded that there is a 25 daily limit on crappie and the game wardens have been closely monitoring the shoreline looking for over limits.
Catfish action continues to be wide open and some of the catfish being caught have ben huge with many topping 15 pounds. The hot spot is the Clearlake Oaks arm and all types of bait have ben successful.
The only recent trout stocking was in Lake Mendocino and that was only few fish, There were a few trout caught at Lake Pilsbury. A few trout were also caught in the East Fork of the Russian River.
Except for wild pigs the hunting has come to a halt and the seasons are over/ Wild pig hunting is popular in the county for those that have access to a ranch. Wild pigs became established many years ago and there only a few hunters that hunt them
