In This Issue:
Clear Lake Conditions
Activity This Month
March Fishing Recap
April Predictions
BASS Elite Ride Alongs(recap)
Spring Booking Dates
Quagga Reminder
Volume 4, Issue 4
April, 2010

New Email Address

In my continuing effort to improve communication with you all please notice that this newsletter came from a new email address.  The new address is ross_england@sbcglobal.net.  Adding this new email address has allowed me to access all business email from either my laptop or telephone to hopefully improve response time to your inquiries and requests.  I will no longer be using the clgsfishn@mchsi.com or rndengland@sbcglobal.net for the business of communicating for Clear Lake Guide Service.  Shortly after converting to the new address my laptop went down for a week and I was happy to still be able to run the business by using the phone, what a world we live in!

Bass Fishing

Clear Lake Conditions

Currently we are going through a bit of a storm again and the lake continues to rise with more rain forecast for next week!  Lake level stands today at 6.8 Rumsey, just three quarters of a foot from full.  Last year on this date the lake was measured at 4.14 and the historical average for the date is 6.08.  Dam releases have been pretty steady over the past week is fairly steady at 7.1 CFS (Cubic Feet per Second).  As a reminder, you can check out current lake level and dam releases shown on an hourly graph with the links available on our web site (clearlakeguideservice.com). 

An interesting set of statistics is the measurement of local rain fall.  Historically, the south side of the lake receives less rain fall than the north side of the lake.  Annual average for Kelseyville on the south shore is 24.95” and for Upper Lake on the north shore is 42.92”.  To date, Kelseyville has received 24.31” or nearly normal rain fall and Upper Lake has seen 31.26” which is almost a foot below it’s annual average.  The rain fall that hits the Upper Lake area enters the lake through Rodman Slough eventually.  This is one of the reasons why I never worry too much about a forecast of rain showers as they will usually stack up on the ridge behind Upper Lake, Nice, and Lucerne while the rest of the upper end is relatively dry.

Due to all of the questions I receive about Rumsey, we have added to our web site an article recently published in the Record Bee, written by our local fountainhead of all knowledge, Terry Knight, that explains the historical beginnings of the Rumsey gauge.

Water clarity is pretty good and improving.  Clarity in the mid lake area allows you to see bottom down to around 6 feet.  The upper end of the lake is between 2 and 5 feet of visibility overall.

Due to the cold mornings, water temperature has been going up and down.  Yesterday I saw 56 degrees but that can change based on the time of day and location.

While Clear Lake does not have the debris volume as most or our reservoirs, boaters should still be aware because I can assure you that I have seen stuff floating past the house here on Kelsey Creek that I would not want to hit with the boat.

Bass Fishing

Activity This Month

Weekend tournament activity is high in April.  The 4th (Easter sunday) and the 24th are the only two weekend dates free from tournament activity and I am sure, there will be club level activity on those dates as well.  The largest event will be the WON Bass Pro Am held on the 10th and 11th.  Look for 60 to 80 boats for this event.  The rest of the dates are filled with organized team tournaments, ABA, Won, and Anglers Choice that will have fields of 30 to 40 boats.

As always, if you are planning a trip to Clear Lake and don’t know if your dates are going to be shared with a competitive event, drop me a line and I will let you know what I see listed on the calendar maintained by DFG.  Just another service we offer.

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March Fishing Recap

Split between clients, practicing, and one tournament we fished (the annual Holder Ford team tournament) we got to fish a lot this March.  By far with the exception of live bait, the shakey head was the most productive bait for us.  All of the fish we weighed in during the tournament on our way to a tenth place finish came on the worm presentation.  We have been concentrating on the upper end of the lake as the two southern arms just have not produced for us or anyone I have spoken with.

Most of the fish we caught were in 3 to 7 feet of water with 12 feet of water pretty close by. 
I still feel that the better fish are coming from the upper end of the lake. 

Regarding our fish count, we still have a couple of trips to complete this month but so far we caught 27 four pounders, 8 five pounders, 1 six pounder, and 2 seven pounders.  The majority of the 5 and above fish came on live bait.  We caught fish on shakey head worms, drop shot, and a few on swim baits.  The fishing is still a bit on the tough side due to fluctuating weather conditions.

bass fishing clear lake, California

April Predictions

March didn’t develop like we thought it would due to inconsistent weather and winter hanging on.  In a normal year we see some of the first spawning activity by the middle of March and as of  today, I have not seen it yet, but it has to be close.  I have seen some fish cruising in the shallows in areas where I know spawning will be taking place.  So, for the most part, review last month’s tactics overview for application this month and watch the sky for a week of warm weather, everything will break loose.

One thing is for certain, if you like fishing the Clearlake Oakes keyes, fish it now as no one else is.  During the BASS event I did not see a single competitor in the entire Rattlesnake area including the keyes on Friday, the second day of competition.

Another thing that I will add to your weapons of choice this month is the rip bait.  While I have not personally done well with it this year, there were a number of competitors who used one early to pick up a few key fish.

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How Cool is This?

So you are fishing along the shoreline of your favorite little fishing spot and the next boat you come up to is a baby blue Nitro with Rick Clunn standing in the front working a jerk bait down the bank?Rick Clunn

...or this, Gary Klein looks over at you as he is fighting his fifth fish of the 3rd day and says,
”it just doesn’t get any better than this does it?”
Gary Klein

My thanks to Randy (Roberto Duran) Yee for his great pic of Clunn on day 2 and Kathleen Hayes for her great pic of Klein on day 3.

bass fishing clear lake, California

BASS Elite Ride Alongs (recap)

This was a really cool deal.  We booked all available seats and turned folks away.  By Friday afternoon we figured out who the leaders were and where most of them were fishing.  Saturday and Sunday we watched them fish and continue to either sit on top of the leader board or climb the standings.

The winner (Byron Velvick) sat in one area for 4 days and was pretty much left alone for the last two days.  He did not catch a lot of fish, just the right ones.  I believe that all of his fish came on a new Jerry Rago swim bait in hitch color.

Two other anglers, Bill Lowen and Guy Eaker locked up top 5 spots with most of their fish being caught within sight of each other on one little stretch of bank in Rodman.  Chatterbaits, rattle baits, jigs, and worms were employed by these two to catch an unbelievable number of fish from their little honey hole.  It has been years since I saw Rodman hold up to two days of tournament pressure much less 4 days for four different boats.  Three of the top 12 took almost all of their fish from this one area.

Finally, Randy Howell made a good run but just ran out of fish by concentrating on a couple of small areas near the state park.  He was seen throwing a jerk bait, 10 inch worm texas rigged, and a plastic twin tail jig.

Notable was Skeet Reese landing a big sack, his best of the tournament, to jump a handful of spots in the final standings.  Different strategy than the others, he ran a number of spots around the upper end of the lake to put a 25 pound plus bag on the scales.  His primary weapon was a swim bait but was also seen pitching a jig, blade, and jerk bait.

bass fishing clear lake, California

Swim Baits Only

The BASS Elite series tournament was won on a brand new version of a tried and true swimbait body built by Jerry Rago.  Jerry is a master at perfecting bodies in soft plastic and hard that look life like and swim like the real deal.  My first nice swimbait fish, a 9 pound prespawn female, came on his 3D Generic Trout swimbait in a dark brown color.  It was not a bait that I got a lot of bites on but when I did it was a bite from a fish you wanted.

His new bait is called the BV3D, stands for Byron Velvick and 3 dimensional.  It comes in two versions, weighted and unweighted.  The biggest overall difference between it and the original generic trout is that the body is rounder, the tail section is softer to provide kick at lower retrieve speeds, and the front bottom fins are a tad stiffer and project out from the sides of the bait to provide deflection on vegetation.

These baits are going to be hard to get ahold of, (unfortunately as usual from Jerry) so if you want one, go to Monster Fishing Tackle, Swimbait City, or Tackle Warehouse to at least get a back order in their system.  Not sure what the retail is as we got ours directly from Jerry on the water as we were watching Byron show how well it worked....but considering I have a couple of his baits that were in the $100 range, it will be priced for the average Joe’s wallet.

bass fishing clear lake, California

Spring Booking Dates

Looking ahead this month,  April is looking pretty good.  The only 3 weekend dates that remain available are the 17th, 18th, and 25th.  Any one interested in fishing in April should firm up plans soon.  The easiest way to see if a date is available is via the booking calendar on the web site.  Thanks to all of you who have already set up your trips, I appreciate it.

bass fishing clear lake, California

Quagga Reminder

The newly revised inspection program is now in place.  The changes only impact boaters who have a boat registered outside of Lake County.  Out of county boaters now must have their boat inspected monthly.  Each month upon a successful inspection, the boat owner will be issued a set of colored ribbons, one goes on the boat and the other on the trailer.  The paperwork is the same and the same places are handling the process.  The fee is $10.  What this means is those of you bringing a boat here on a regular basis from outside the area are now required to follow through with the inspection process on your first trip of each new month, and pay the $10 fee, each inspection.  Each month the color of the ribbons will change.

A lot has been said about the inspection process but here it is in a nutshell.  Show up for inspection with the bilge plug out, the bilge dry, the live wells dry, the ice chest dry and the inspection is a breeze.  It is not meant to be difficult because you are signing a declaration that says you have not had your boat in an infected body of water.  One angler told me that he keeps a towel in each inspection area so the inspector can tell by the dry towel that the area is good to go.
 
If you want to make sure you are not “carrying” in your boat, keep a gallon of bleach around and dump a cup full into your bilge and live wells.  Also put a light solution of bleach in a standard garden sprayer and spray the parts of your boat trailer that get wet when launching your boat.

bass fishing clear lake, California

Gift Certificates

Just a reminder that we do offer gift certificates that can be for a complete trip or can be used against the price of a complete trip.  If you are interested, just drop us a line or give me a call.

bass fishing clear lake, California

Closing

Thank you for your continued interest and support of Clear Lake Guide Service!  Our business continues to grow with the help of you and your spreading the word and my wife Deb and I both thank you.  Good fishing and keep a tight line.

bass fishing clear lake, California

Miss an Issue of the Clear Lake Report?

We have archived all of our past Clear Lake Report Issues on our Clear Lake Fishing Guide Service website! Go to our Clear Lake Fishing Report Index!

Bass Fishing 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!

bass fishing clear lake, California
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Kelseyville, CA 95451
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