Clear Lake Conditions

Wow! a month without a rain shower and finally a stretch of temps in the high 90‘s...starting to feel like the real summer. Lake level stands today at 6.0 Rumsey, down a foot from last month as water continues to be pulled. Last year on this date the lake was measured at 3.0 and the historical average for the date is 5.0. Dam releases have been running around 638 CFS (Cubic Feet per Second) as Yolo Country pulls some of its allotment for irrigation. 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).

Water clarity is starting to look a lot like last year at this time. In the center of the lake the water is very clear. Around the shoreline on the upper end of the lake it remains clear until you hit the outside weed line where in many areas it stains up from carp activity. As you move through the weedline to the shoreline, some areas are very clear and others not so clear. I have seen areas where you can see bottom at 10 feet. Surface temperature pretty much in the 70‘s at this point.

Weed growth is substantial in some areas and either a little slow in others or just hasn’t risen enough to be seen in areas of strong growth last year. It will remain to be seen if the high water this year has inhibited some areas of weed growth over the past several years. Algae blooms are being reported in the Redbud area as well as around the Oakes and just yesterday I noticed a pretty good one beginning just to the East of the State park.

Activity This Month

Weekend tournament activity increases this month from last month. According to the event calendar the 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th, 24th and 31st are dates of Team tournaments that should have fields of 25 to 35 boats. Of course, there are always other tournaments going on that don’t show up as it seems there are almost always two to four clubs here on any given weekend. We are also at that point of the year where all tournaments are limited to a 6 hour day.

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.

June Fishing Recap

June actually became a normal month of fishing per the calendar. What I mean by that is that last year we did a bunch of sight fishing in June and this year we did a bunch of sight fishing in the month of June.

Sight fishing is a deal where we concentrate on fishing areas where we know there are spawning fish. Some fish we catch are on beds we cannot see, some are actually on beds that we can see, and others are fish that are cruising.

Along with sight fishing we caught fish on piers with drop shotted worms. The pier bite was not red hot but if we fished 5 or 6 piers we would catch a fish or two off them.

The bulk of the fish were caught drop shotting a small worm. Most trips saw 17 to 22 fish per day, with a couple trips under that number and a couple trips over that number. Fish size remained good with an average daily 5 fish limit running between 18 and 22 pounds. Each day we either caught a 5 pound plus fish or had one on. All fish caught this month were in 3 to 8 feet of water. The big fish of the month was a 6.5 pounder. They were on walls, docks, in front of the tules, in the tules, and behind the tules in the junk. Pretty much the same as last month, once we figured out where they were set up each day we found the catching to be pretty productive.

Regarding our fish count, we still have a couple of trips to complete this month but so far we caught 11 four pounders, 5 five pounders, and 4 six pounders (last year for the month it was 4 four pounders and 1 five pounder). This year the month was much more productive for a little better quality fish. Even though the numbers the lake is producing this year is a little down, we are still able to put good numbers and size fish in the boat.

July Prediction

This will be the second month in a row that I will be looking for a top water bite to get started in earnest. With cooperation from the weather man and the majority of spawning activity done, we should see some positive signs. I did try the other day to get some action but was only able to coax two fish to come up after the walker, fun, but not what I have been waiting for. Sight fishing, one of my favorite, if not the favorite style of fishing should remain pretty good. Even in the areas where we saw fish spawning last year that are too deep to see with the current clarity, we have picked off fish by blind casting around the weeds.

The deep crank bite should get going at least to some extent with crawdads being a major part of the bass diet this summer. While I have not found a good consistent bite yet, I have caught a few fish each time that I have tried.

The wake bait bite should also start coming on. While you might not catch a bunch of fish on them, you just might get a good bite on one of the big baits fished around the weed beds that lie off shore.

Availability in July

July still has some prime dates available so pick up the phone of drop me an email, or just book a date on line. 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.

The reports about fishing Clear Lake this year have not been good. The average angler who came here for vacation or is just used to fishing here a couple of times a year is really struggling to catch fish...heck, even some of the local guys who compete are struggling to put 5 fish in the boat. While we certainly are not having 40 and 50 fish days as in the past, we are definitely catching fish and most days are putting 15 to 25 fish a day in the boat and most of them are 3 pounders, pretty good results I think. Come figure out how to handle it when things get tough.

4 Quick Lessons from Last Month

Many of the anglers I spoke with this past month on the water or at the ramp were really struggling to catch fish. When I say struggling, I mean when asked “how did you do today?” they would respond,”kindof tough today”. Really? “how many did you catch?” “well, I didn’t actually catch one” or “I got two today”. It is hard to tell that person that my two clients landed two dozen fish to 6 pounds today so I usually respond by asking how they spent their day fishing.

The most common response is “last year we were here at this time and we just smoked them on _____ and so far we can’t get bit doing that”. Lesson number one is the fish don’t read a calendar and just because they were doing one thing in June last year it doesn’t necessarily follow that it will happen again this June. It is o.k. to try to make it happen again but don’t die trying. That is a version of nostalgia fishing, fishing the past. Try it, if it works fine, but if in a short period of time it isn’t working, get off of it and start to try different methods.

Lesson number two is that it is o.k. to try to catch fish the way you want to catch them, what the heck, it is your day and your fun. But when it doesn’t work, switch it up. I spoke with a pretty good number of anglers who had spent a good portion of their day working frogs for one or two blow-ups. It should be working but for most of us it wasn’t. If your idea of fun is a day on the water pitching a frog at everything that floats that is okey dokey. If at the end of the day kermit didn’t produce, don’t complain about the results, the fish were telling you “no thanks”, and besides, you were having fun throwing at everything that floated. If your day is more fun when you actually get bit once in awhile and get to land a fish, put the frog down and pick up something else. If you catch a couple of fish on a senko or a worm, you can always put it down and go back to the frog.

Sometimes we are in a little too much hurry to see what we just set the hook on. Lately we have spent a lot of time fishing light outfits in some heavy weeds. Almost all the fish we lost were fish that were rushed to the surface. Lesson number three is that it is o.k. to put pressure on the fish once it is hooked but you really don’t have to crank them to the surface before you start to watch them fight at the end of your line. Even fishing in heavy weeds, when you don’t put a ton of pressure on a hooked fish it tends not to fight back as hard.

Those of you reading this who have fished with me in the past probably remember that I am not the biggest proponent of scent products. I always use it on a shaky head and usually on a jig. Other than that, I just have not had it proved to me to make a significant difference on getting more bites. Yes, the fish will hold a bait longer that has been enhanced with scent, but I pretty much remain unconvinced about its overall contribution to getting more bites. Lesson number four is that I am convinced after trials this past month that it makes a difference when fishing for a spawning fish. Too many times I applied scent to a bait that was not making an impact on a fish we could see and the first cast with the scented up bait the fish bit. We never got to a second cast on the fish, it worked every time, the first time!

Hope you enjoyed these little lessons.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!