Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

Want to know what is happening at Clear Lake. In the reports lot of talk 'bout algee and grass. Planning stages for a trip up there end of Sept begin of Oct. Is it worth my wild to make the 650 mile trip (one way)?
Want more info then the P and M thats going on in the reports.
Thanx

Im in the same boat as you. I get only one vacation a year and spent last year on Clear Lake and am returning this year on the 3rd week of Sept for 10 days. Im coming from Camarillo so I know the drive. I have been doing as much homework as possible to see if it will be better, worse or the same as last year but still cant figure out if its going to be worth it.

While there are always areas where you can fish on CL. the algae blooms also create some areas where it is tough, miserable, or you cant fish. I would say it is still worth the trip, but you may want to call ahead to get the current algae conditions. Last year in August much of the South end of the lake was not fishable because the algae.

The south area of the alke has the algae issue and the north has the grass. I would launch at the north end and take a lap around the lake to see the conditions before fishing. That will help you find the areas that are to your liking.

The conditions there can change fast. I was fishing a tournamernt last August and spent 2.5 days fishing the south end of the lake with a lot of algae in the water, but great fishing and it was very fishable. Withing 15 minutes we saw the breeze lay down and all the algae float to the surface. The entire south end of the lake was matted over 1/2" think and unfishable within less than 30 minutes. 1/2 once jigs would just sit on the mat. We could break through with 3/4 once jigs, but it algae would clog your guides before you would real it in. What a mess. Of course Cache creek and the noth end were fine.

Take a lap as mentioned. It also depends at what time you are going to be fishing. I was just there for a week and while fishing was slow it still took 21, 19, 17+ and 17, and me with 16 to break top 5. The big fish was a 7 for tournament. The north was fine. the south was very fishable early before algae got bad. I say go and work around conditions. It will make you a much better fisherman trying to put a pattern together.

I just came back from a week there for the olympics. It was my first time there and I loved it. Yes the alge is thick but I didn't find it to be a big deal. The bite was everything from top to bottom. I am sure it's not like the usual 50+ fish days but I enjoyed it thouroughly. I didn't regret the drive from so cal at all. I will say I don't know how people ski and swim in the pea soup I would go back in a heartbeat even with these conditions, weather was awesome.
Good luck.