2009 Fishing Reports

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July 24, 2009

Again this week, the fishing hasn't changed much. Thick weeds in the north end of the lake make for tough fishing. Your best bet is drop shotting submerged rockpiles in the south end of the lake. Some areas in the south have heavy algae concentrations to further hamper the fishing.

Tight Lines..............Richard.

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July 17, 2009

Nothing much has changed this week, water temperatures are up to 80 degrees.

Tight Lines..............Richard.

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July 10, 2009

Low water, full moon, lots of weeds and a drop in water temperature of 4 plus degrees from last week, just take your pick of all of the above, has slowed the bite way down. My last three reports are still the way to go. I have been trying other methods such as cranking deep with lv 500s and deep running crank baits with little results and shallow presentations with the same lures have been about the same. So drop shot and Senkos are your best bet for getting more bites, mid lake and north.  Good luck out there and "Tight-Lines"  Richard

Click HERE for recent photos.


June 26, 2009

The fishing is rated from fair to good depending on where you're fishing. While the north end of the lake has tons of weeds to contend with, the extreme south end of the Redbud arm has many thick mats of blue green algae to deal with. Your best bet is mid lake. Fish topwaters in the early morning and plastics in 15 to 25 feet as the day warms up. A large variety of baits have been successful, from deep cranking baits to topwater lures. With triple digit temperatures predicted for this weekend, the topwater bite could improve considerably. "Tight lines" Richard


June 19, 2009

Weeds, weeds and more weeds in the north end of the lake have scatterd the bass all over the place. If you keep looking, you may find some areas where the bass are holding, you just have to keep on the move. There has been some top water action, but not very much. Your best bet is still dropshot & Senkos in the north end. Reports coming from the south end are saying that the bite is improving, my client and I did OK fishing in deeper water (10' to 25') the other day with bass to 4 plus pounds on jigs and dropshot. That's about it. "Tight-Lines" Richard


June 12, 2009

I know it sounds like the same old report but the fishing hasn't really changed much in the last week. In the north end, we're still catching most of our fish in 4 to 6 feet of water with Flukes, Senkos and drop shot rigs. The early morning topwater action is still quite productive as well. Throwing Flukes and large Senkos in heavy weed beds has been very productive. Most fish are still weighing in at 2 to 3 pounds with a few up to 6 pounds. Tight lines...Richard.


June 5, 2009

In the north end of the lake, most of the bass have finished their spawning cycle and are residing in 4 to 6 feet of water. We're still experiencing a decent topwater bite in the early mornings. Drop shot rigs, Senkos and Flukes are producing decent catches. We're still catching a lot of 2 to 3 pound fish as well as a few in the 4 to 5+ pound range.


May 29, 2009

The fishing is still pretty much like it's been for the last several weeks except for more topwater action in the early mornings. We are also catching a few nice fish by throwing Flukes over submerged weed beds. A lot of fish have already spawned and moved back into deeper water but there are still plenty of bedding fish as well. Most bass are still weighing in at around 2 to 3 pounds with a few 4 to 5 pounders in the mix.


May 15, 2009

The bass fishing hasn't changed much since last week except for the strong winds making it difficult to fish some of my spots. A lot of smaller bass are moving in shallow waiting for the bigger females to move in. We're catching some of these bigger fish (3½ to 5+ pounds) in deeper water of about 8 to 10 feet and catching the smaller ones (2 to 3 pounds) in shallow. Senkos and drop shot are still the winning baits with a few fish being caught on live jumbo minnows. Tight lines....Richard


May 8, 2009

The fishing was very good earlier in the week when we had light rain and clouds with little wind. As the "bluebird skies" took over, the bite slowed down quite a bit. Live jumbo minnows accounted for a few fish early in the week but drop shot and Senkos got most of the action. We did get a few on plastic frogs as well. The bass were averaging 3+ pounds with 6.9 and 7.2 pounders being the biggest.
Tight Lines......Richard.


May 1, 2009

The cool and windy weather this week brought down the water temperature about four or five degrees, caused the fish to back off of their spawning beds and toughened up the bite some. The lure bite really slowed down with a few bass falling for Senkos and drop shot. Live jumbo minnows are still producing good catches. Most of our bass weighed in at over 3 pounds with a few 4's and 5's as well as a nice 7¼ pounder. Tight Lines...Richard


April 24, 2009

Several days of warm weather have put a lot of fish on their spawning beds. Some fish have already spawned. There are already a lot of bass fry back in the creeks and sloughs. Drop shot, Senkos and jigs have been our best producers. About half of our fish have been bed fish with the rest being caught in their staging areas near beds. The bass are averaging a healthy 3+ pounds with a lot of fish in the 5 pound class and a few up to about 6 pounds. Tight Lines...Richard


April 17, 2009

Warmer weather plus warmer water temperatures are causing the fish to move shallow in preparation for their spawning ritual. While live jumbo minnows are still the top producer; soft plastics, shaky heads, drop shot and jigs are accounting for quite a few fish. Most bass are running well over 3 pounds with quite a few 5+ pounders in the mix. Biggest bass this week was 8¾ pounds. Tight Lines..Richard


April 10, 2009

The fishing really hasn't changed much since last week's report. Most bass are falling for live jumbo minnows. The bigger fish are moving up shallow for pre spawn. The surface water temperatures are still running from around 54 to 56 degrees due to the unseasonably cool and rainy weather.

My clients are catching lots of nice fish with minnows. Most bass are running well over 3 pounds with lots of 4 and 5 pounders plus quite a few 6, 7 and even 8 pounders. Big fish for the week was an 8 pound 6 ounce beauty. Tight Lines...Richard


April 3, 2009

The lure bite is still tough due to the persistent winds we've been experiencing most days this week. The few lure caught bass fell for jigs and Senkos. The winds are hampering our ability to fish some of the better spots and the fish are moving back from the shallows into deeper water. Water temperatures have been dropping slightly due to the cold fronts passing through. Today's surface temps ranged from 53 to 54 degrees.

Live jumbo minnows are still producing some excellent catches. On Tuesday, my client caught 28 bass including five fish over 5 pounds and four fish over 4 pounds. The rest of them were 3+ pounders.
Tight Lines...Richard


March 27, 2009

"Bluebird skies" with little or no wind has made the fishing a bit tougher, especially for the lure fishermen. The morning bite has been "OK" with drop shot and shakey head jigs. Swimbaits have not been producing very well.

We had another 100+ fish week but mostly with minnows. The majority of the fish were in the 3 to 4½ pound class with several 5's plus a 7 and 7.1 pounder. Water temperature is running from 55 to 57 degrees. Most fish were caught shallow in 2 to 6 feet.
Tight Lines....Richard  


March 20, 2009

We had a very good week with clients catching over 100 bass. Some fish were caught with drop shot, jigs and swimbaits but the majority were caught with live jumbo minnows. Our big fish for the week weighed in at 8½ pounds and was caught with a live minnow. Most fish were caught in shallow water ranging from 2 to 6 feet. Water temperatures have been running from 50 degrees in the morning to 55 degrees in the early afternoon. Water clarity has been good at 4 to 6 feet. The last couple of days we had to move around a bit more to catch our fish but we still ended up with good scores. Tight Lines...Richard

 


March 13, 2009

The cool water temperatures are preventing the fish from going on the feed. Temps in the mornings are around 49 degrees and rising to 53 - 55 degrees in the afternoon. Clients have been averaging about 8 bass per trip using a combination of drop shot, jigs and live jumbo minnows. Today we had 8 fish with the big fish being 6 pounds 15 ounces. The heaviest 5 weighed 25 pounds. As soon as the water temperature rises a bit more, the pre spawn action should really get going.
Tight lines....Richard


February 27, 2009

Warmer weather and longer days have made the bass want to move into the shallows but the water temperature has to improve before large numbers of bass will move in. The artificial bite is still slow. Fisherman are catching bass on a large variety of lures from plastics to crank baits, it's just a matter of keeping on the move and trying a little of everything. The north end of the lake has started to produce but mid lake and south are still your best bets. Good luck out there and keep a "Tight-Line"! Water temperature at noon today was 50 degrees. Richard
Click HERE for a photo of today's big fish of over 10 pounds!


February 13, 2009

Cold water, wind and rain has not helped the bite however if you brave the weather there is still a bite but not a very good one using artificials. Minnows are your best bet for catching between 10 to 20 bass on a half day trip. Mid lake and south have been the best in water from 10 to 20', although I fished in the Lakeport area the other day with one client and he did good using minnows in water as shallow as 3' to 8' catching bass to 3¾ pounds. Water temperature by noon was 45 degrees.
Tight-Lines, Richard


February 6, 2009

We were rained out today, but that's OK since we really need the rain. The bite has picked up in the last week with lures from lipless crank baits to jigs, drop shot and some swimbaits action. The trick is to still keep moving to find a good school of bass. As an example, I had two clients out Wednesday and for the first hour and a half we had no bites after several stops but then we found a good school of 3+ pounders. They caught 18 chunky bass in just 2 1/2 hours in water to 10 feet. Water temperature by noon was 48 degrees. "Tight-Lines" Richard


January 23, 2009

Not much has changed in the past couple of weeks. I was at the Sacramento ISE Sports Show this past weekend for three days and the talk was not good in most lakes in the northern part of the state and Clear Lake is in the same boat. We're gettig reports that the bite is very very slow; jig's and soft plastics have been the top producers for lures. Minnows are doing much better but you have to keep on the move, hoping  to find a nice school of bass. Mid lake and south in water from 10' to 30' have been the most productive areas for bass to 6 pounds and of course there is always that chance for a 10+ pounder!
  
Just a note, the fishing is traditionally slow for this time of year, but it's even slower this winter. I think that's because of the cold water temperatures and shallow water. Hope to see you on the water with "Tight-Lines"! Richard


January 11, 2009

Cold water and a slow bite is what is happening on Clear Lake at this time. It's always been slow at this time of year but this winter is tougher than years past, even minnows have not been doing that good. Lures such as the LV500 are still working as long as you work them very slow with just a little yo-yo-ing action and shaking it on the bottom. Soft plastics and rip-baits are also working but you have to keep moving and hope you find some bass that want to play. Water temp in the AM has been running around 43 degrees.  
 
Have fun, dress warm and stay safe!  "Tight-Lines"  Richard
Click HERE for recent photos.

 

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