Clear Lake Conditions

Water level today is documented at 4.5 feet Rumsey. This equates to a one and a quarter foot drop in lake level during the past month. The lake level is about a quarter of a foot higher than last year at this time. Water temperatures are consistently in the mid 70’s throughout the lake.

Water clarity during the past month has been unreal. The last two weeks we have been sight fishing and catching fish that we can see as deep as 10.5 feet, something I have not seen here in June. Depending on the location, bottom is clearly visible from three to ten feet. I still have not seen any significant algae blooms lately. Weed growth is thick in some areas of the lake, especially on the North end.

June Fishing Recap

Fishing during the month of June is never an easy deal. For the most part, the spawn is over and you are dealing with post spawn action. We also see the first big drop in the lake’s water level, usually at least a foot. The last couple of weeks we had a real bonus that did not produce any big fish but sure produced some numbers. Randy Yee had the best numbers trip of the month for an angler with 44 fish for a day on the water. The water was so clear that we were able to see for the first time just exactly how many fish spawn in the month of June…and it is a lot! That opened a window that allowed me to sight fish for the past two weeks and I found fish out to almost eleven feet. Believe me, these fish were untouched as they Bass Fishing were clean and many of them bit on the first drop.

The lack of bigger fish in our count is a direct reflection in the lack of a quality top water bite this past month. We had 3-four pounders, 4-five pounders, 1-six pounder, 1-seven pounder, and 1-eight pounder. Again the average fish ran about 2.25 to 2.5 pounds.

Most of the fish were caught on the North end of the lake in between docks and in the weed beds. Our most successful trips number wise were sight fishing with drop shot and Senkos.

July Fishing

Summer is officially here both on the calendar and in the air. I am hearing about a good top water bite though I have not really found the bite I am looking for yet. There are still a lot of bass guarding fry and they will provide a reaction bite. The big food factor right now continues to be crawdads. There simply is not a viable population of threadfin shad, bluegill, or any other bait fish right now. In many cases the only small baitfish available is the new bass fry.

As the month moves on, look for a surface bite during the first couple of hours of light. If the walker is not working, try the popper.

This year it is worthwhile to note that a number of good sacks on tournament day have come on drop shotting. I don’t know why but the last tournament I fished was won by drop shotting. It just goes to show that the reaction bite is not that great this year.

If there is a magic depth right now it appears to be about 12 feet but that can change as the weather continues to warm.

Jigs, worms, creature baits, and crank baits are good ways to start right now. At some point the surface action will kick into gear…I hope.

Some Basic Fuel Mathematics

I have a digital read out of what my motor is doing that is called “smartcraft”. One of the neat things I can review is fuel consumption. I thought I would share a little math with you as food for thought as fuel prices continue to rise with no apparent relief in sight.

I checked my readout at 3,000 and 4,000 rpm today. At 3,000 rpm my GPS read a speed of 29 mph and a fuel consumption of 5.7 gph (gallons per hour). At 4,000 rpm my GPS read a speed of 39 mph and a fuel consumption of 11.3 gph. Those are the facts, here is what they mean.

The upper end of Clear Lake is approximately 5 miles across…roughly. For this purpose, I will round up to 30 and 40 mph so we don’t need a calculator. At 3,000 rpm, I can get across the upper end in 10 minutes. At 4,000 rpm, I can get across the upper end of the lake in 7.5 minutes. So the difference in time is 2.5 minutes.

The gas consumption details come out to not quite a gallon of gas at 3,000 rpm, (.95 gallons) and at 4,000 rpm almost 1.5 gallons (1.4 to be precise). Sooooo the choice is yours, an extra 2.5 minutes on the cruise across the lake will save you almost a half a gallon of gas, or $2.25…and that is just the first run of the day! Multiply that out by 4 or 5 runs during the day and it is easy to see that you can save yourself a couple of gallons of gas and $10 during a day of fishing.

I didn’t run the numbers but I bet the gph at wide open throttle is around 19 gph. That same 5 mile run at 60 mph is going to only take you 5 minutes at a mile per minute and it will burn about 1.6 gallons. There is a lesson here, if you can’t stand to drive at 3,000 rpm you might as well drive at 5,000 rpm because the faster speed means you are burning more fuel but for a much shorter time.

I didn’t bother to add the other part of the equation that really cranks up the dollars which is the amount of oil you burn correspondingly. Most oil injection systems vary the amount of oil mixed into the gas from a ratio of 100 to 1 down to as high as 25 to one. The lower the rpm, the higher the ratio number meaning at idle the mix is around 100 to 1 and at wide open throttle the mix might be 25 to 1. You will burn a lot less oil at 3,000 rpm than at 4,000.

Just food for thought. Either drive slow like you are trying to conserve and enjoy the view or go fast and pay the price.

Another TV Show

As many of you know, last year we were involved in an episode of True Bass with a friend of ours, Chad Martin. It was a bunch of fun and the filming took place on a day when the fish were cooperating. We got a lot of positive feedback about that show and quite a few phone calls that resulted in bookings.

We just did some work with a show that airs on the Outdoor Channel called Randy Jones’ Strike Zone. The host, Randy Jones is a retired major league pitcher for the San Diego Padres and won the National League Cy Young award in 1976. He really enjoys hunting and fishing as well as being in the great outdoors. The guest angler on day one was former NFL coach Dennis Green, an avid angler with long time ties to the West Coast. The guest angler on day two was Dan Sexton, a friend of mine from the Modesto area.

Our part was to run a camera boat on day two, get them on some fish, and do some on camera interviews as part of the way they put their show together. It was a fun experience, the fish cooperated, and we got to be a part of a little bit of show business again. Look for the show to air this next January.

Bass Fishing TV Show

Randy Jones, host of Strike Zone on the Outdoor Channel and former ace major league pitcher for the San Diego Padres on the right, good friend Dan Sexton in the middle, and yours truly holding down the left. This picture was taken at the conclusion of filming Randy’s show.

Halfway Point of 2008

I will be the first to say that this remains the most difficult year I have fished here in a long time. The bite is inconsistent. I believe there are year classes of bass missing. The total bait volume of the lake is down. I am also concerned that this year’s spawn will become a casualty as well.

Even having said this all, I would rather fish Clear Lake than any other body of water. One day a jig bite is going full bore and the next day, what the heck happened? You name the bite this year and it has fallen apart about as quickly as it developed. This year has required an open mind more than ever. I would not have even thought about going and looking for bedding fish but a friend of mine shared with me it might be worth my while to spend some time looking and I did and it really made for some fun days.

Everything is in play this year. You have to try every trick in your book and if you have a good day, don’t expect it to happen again on your next trip. I don’t have an answer for it, it is just the way it is.

I share this with you all because I know many of you who subscribe to this newsletter fish here on a regular basis, as often as you can. You are trying to figure it out and want to know if I have it figured out, sorry, I get a piece of the puzzle here and there but it just goes to show how humbling a sport this can be.

I have to remind myself sometimes that while I expect to get 30 to 50 fish a day like last year and the year before, and now we get 15 to 25 fish on most days, it is still pretty good fishing compared to the other choices available to us.

The fishery on this lake has always had peaks and valleys. Up until last year it was easy to understand that we were living in the peak. It now appears that we are sliding down the peak and into the valley. So be it. It is not caused by man. It is natural and the difference between a natural body of water and a reservoir. The snapshot of Clear Lake is not one of the end, it is the beginning of another series of change.

The true test will come this fall when the big fish bite usually comes back on. That will be the window that will show us a peak into the future.

Right now, the picture is for the past two years the threadfin shad have been virtually gone. The shad has been the favorite food source for Clear Lake’s bass. I have not seen very many bluegill or even small bass either. That pretty much leaves crawdads and juvenile bass as the primary food source. Some of the fish we are catching are pretty thin which also indicates food may be hard to find.

For now, I will just go on record as saying the lake is on a watch. I'll keep an eye out and keep you posted.

New Items

None to review at this time.

July Dates

July is usually the busiest month of the summer and so far, bookings are running pretty close to last year. I currently have the following dates available in July. They are the 22nd, 24th, and 25th. Thanks to all of you who have booked dates for Spring 2009.

Closing

My wife Deb and I both thank you for your support this year. Our business continues to grow with the help of you and your spreading the word. Good fishing and keep a tight line.

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There is a lot of useful information available on the Clear Lake Website. Even insights into the best times to fish the lake and other fishing tips. Local lodging, weather, and even lake level reporting is available through the links we have set up.

Good fishing, and I look forward to seeing you soon!