In This Issue:
Current Fishing on Clear Lake
Our Tournament Activity
Table of Conditions
Activity This Month
A Quick Look at Our Big Fish Population
Closing
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Volume 5, Issue 5
May, 2011
Bass Fishing

Current Fishing on Clear Lake

It snowed around the upper ridges surrounding the lake yesterday morning and about a third of the way down Mt. Konocti!...unbyGodbelievable!!! As I write this today we are in day two of what is forecast to be three and a half days of nasty, rainy, and windy weather that has traveled down from the Gulf of Alaska for a visit. First time in a month that the wood stove has been lit up...

Before this little change in conditions the bite had picked up quite a bit. Looking at the new full moon, the bite should continue to improve with more options to catch fish. Fishing pressure is very light and frankly, I don’t understand why. Sure, the numbers game is not what it used to be but we have been putting together 23 to 24 pound five fish limits on most of our trips! Where are you going to find better average size than that??

We have transitioned from live bait as the water temperature is holding above 62 degrees and frankly it is easier to catch fish on artificials now. An average trip has been running 14 to 18 fish with a high in the mid 20’s. Our average bass is running in the high 3 pound range, pushing 4 pounds.

Just in the past week I have seen the bite begin to show life in other arms of the lake which is taking some pressure off of the upper end. The most productive way to catch bass right now is sight fishing, without a doubt. The bulk of our fish are being caught in 4 to 6 feet of water in areas that we can see them and those areas can change not only daily but during the day. We are dealing with a lot of algae mix in the water that can cloud things up pretty good. Along with the algae look for the cotton woods to start shedding there little white seeds and some of the better back water areas of the past month will become virtually unfishable.

Other bites that are showing signs of life include pitching weightless senkos and I am hearing reports of topwater action though it can be inconsistent and a pretty slow deal.

Fish have been spawning and will continue to spawn at full speed for another month at least so that should tell you everything you need to know.

Bass Fishing

Our Tournament Activity

Nothing to report as we have not had an event since the last report. We have an ABA this coming weekend so I will have a report or two for the next newsletter.

It was a great end of the month in April! You notice that I might as well call it Ladies Month, they are the ones holding all of the nice ones! Fish to 9.5 pounds all taken the end of the month.

Bass Fishing

Table of Conditions

Lake Level Water Temperature Water Clarity

7.16 Rumsey

62 to 66
2 to 8 feet
Slowly falling
Steady
North to South


bass fishing clear lake, California

Activity This Month

Not much going on the remainder of this month. An ABA team on the 22nd that will field around two dozen of so boats, and a WON team is scheduled for the 28th and they have been only pulling about a dozen boats or so. Of course, there will be numerous other smaller events taking place that are predominantly smaller, club size events that will not show up on the schedule.

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.

bass fishing clear lake, California

A Quick Look at Our Big Fish Population

As many of you know, I truly believe that Clear Lake’s bass population is down, big time. I am not going to continue to repeat the reasons, it is just a fact that we have lost a lot of fish since 2007. While I have heard numerous arguments to contradict that fact, none hold water for me.

Let’s look at just the big fish numbers recorded since the first of the year, 2011. Reviewing all of the official posted tournament results other than the one I could not find (Holder Ford), here are some stats that tell a story.

Clear Lake has had 14 official permitted tournaments since the first of January to present (actual 15 counting the Holder that I could not find). Average fish size to win big fish over those 14 events.....6.79 pounds. No 10‘s, no 9‘s, no 8‘s...just a bunch of 6 and 7 pound fish as big fish winners. By weight class there have been 6 - seven pound big fish winners, 6 - six pound big fish winners, 1 - five pound big fish winner, and 1 - 4 pound big fish winner. Obviously there were days when more than one of these size fish were weighed in but that is not the point. Let me repeat...no 10‘s, no 9‘s, and no 8‘s.

Our guiding results this year during that same time frame mirror the tournament stats. No 10‘s, 1 - nine, and no 8‘s. Does that mean that there are no big fish left in the lake? Of course not. Someone will read this and say to themselves that they know someone who caught an 11 or that they caught a 50 pound limit here this year or that every time they fished they caught a 9, what is the big deal? Those don’t count because they are not officially recorded. Frankly, I hear stories all the time. One of my clients stayed at the Skylark last week and had a fellow guest tell him how he was killing the fish and in fact, had a pair of 9‘s in the live well that he wanted pictures taken to show. My client saw the fish, guessed they would not even go 6 apiece but let the fellow think what he wanted.

Will a big fish get weighed in officially over the next couple of months? Maybe. But let’s step back from the facts about what is not here and look at what is here.

In the month of April I personally documented 113 fish that were in the 4 and 5 pound class. What that means is 113 fish that were between 4 pounds even and just short of 6 pounds were landed in my boat. The majority of them were on a Boga Grip to determine whether they were 4‘s or 5‘s.

In comparison, last year for the entire year we weighed 39, 4 and 5 pound fish in the month of April and had 187 for the entire year. There is definitely a healthy group of future big fish coming through the system. That, to me is the best news in a couple of years.

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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