The longest-running bass tournament held on Clear Lake, the 36th annual Clear Lake Team Bass Tournament, kicks off Saturday and runs through Sunday. The weather is forecast to be in 70 degree mark. Making excellent fishing conditions, dating back to 1987, the Clear Lake Team Tournament is not only the oldest tournament on the lake but one of the most popular. In fact, a handful of teams have competed in every single one. To them it is a tradition and not just an event. Fishermen entered in this year’s event come from all over California, Arizonia and Oregon.
Each team will be allowed to weigh in a maximum of five fish per day and most of the experts predict it will take at least 50 pounds to walk off with the first-place money. The two-day tournament is sponsored by the Lake County Chamber of Commerce and its members.
The tournament is expected to draw approximately 80 boats. The 2022 Chamber tournament had a winning two-day weight of 58 pounds of bass. The winning team is guaranteed at least $3,000 if the tournament draws 100 or more boats. Currently there are 50 teams signed up. The tournament will operate out of Library Park in Lakeport with the weigh-in starting at 3p.m.
Without question this is one of the more popular bass tournaments held on Clear Lake. At one time it was also one of the largest bass tournaments in the nation, drawing 225 boats during its heyday in the 1990s when the payback was $25,000 to the winning team. Teams came from as far as Chicago, Denver and Salt Lake City. The tournament has always paid back 100 percent of the entry fees as local businesses pay the costs to run the tournament.
The tournament started back in 1987 and was originally sponsored by the Record-Bee and Bruno’s Foods. It was always held on the first weekend in February, the goal being to attract fishermen to Clear Lake during the winter months. I was the first tournament director and held that position for six years. The tournament originally allowed just about any type of boat and only required that the boat have a functioning live well, which could actually be nothing more than an ice chest with an aerator. Some of the early tournaments had some strange looking boats. One year a pair of fishermen fished in a canoe with fly rods and this was when the temperatures dipped down to freezing. At blast-off they paddled away. They actually weighed in a couple of bass. Another team showed up in a patio boat, which was equipped with a gas stove and barbecue. As the 225 boats were assembling for the blast-off they cooked eggs and bacon and served it to the nearby boaters.
In the early days of the tournament the weather was normally terrible. One year the fog was so thick that dozens of fishermen got lost and ended up scattered around the lake. Just about every tournament had a fisherman or two fall into the frigid lake, most of the time from a dock before the blast-off. One fisherman slipped off the icy dock near the Skylark Motel just prior to the blast-off and despite the cold weather he jumped back into his boat and fished the entire day in sopping-wet clothes.
Another year a team from Modesto blew their engine at blast-off on the first day of the tournament. The team used its trolling motor for both days and fished from the Skylark Motel to Willow Point and ended up finishing third and winning nearly $5,000.
