As one of the best lakes in California and the nation, Clear Lake is always a fun place to visit regardless of the time of year. The lake is fishing well this year and the bite has been excellent this summer. According to Ken Mah, tournament angler and winner of the Toyota Series event on the lake earlier this year, it looks to continue that way.
He recently returned from a fun fishing trip on the famed lake and said things look great for the fishery.
High Water and a Hot Bite
During his recent visit, Mah quickly learned that the water was hot and the bite was just as good. The lake also has high water levels, and Mah said that it’s in great shape overall.
“The lake is full for it being July and there’s a good algae bloom and warm water,” he said. “The water temperatures were 82 in the morning, and the warmest I saw was 89 degrees, which is really warm. They were biting topwater baits well.
Right now, the lake is 5 feet high on the Rumsey Gauge and that has affected grass growth, according to Mah,
“The grass is starting to grow in that deeper 8 to 10-feet range and wasn’t topped out in many places when I was there,” he said. “I think that’s because the water is about 2 feet higher than it usually is by now. As the summer progresses, you’ll see much more of that grass reaching the surface.”
Mah also shared that the entire lake is fishing well and has plenty of options, although he seeks out shallow grass.
“The lake is so diverse, and if you asked someone else what they are biting, they might be catching them on deep crankbaits and stuff like that,” said Mah. “I gravitate to the shallow, grassy areas on the north end because that’s how I like to fish.”
Time for Topwaters
Mah said the topwater bite has been excellent, with buzzbaits and plopping style baits like the Berkley Choppo and River2Sea Whopper Plopper. These baits do well around grass that hasn’t yet topped to the surface.
“That’s how I like to pick out my baits around grass that is not on the surface yet,” he said. “These prop-style baits don’t get hung up on grass when you are fishing over it. Once the grass starts to mat, I’ll throw a frog or start punching it with soft plastics.”
For his plopping-style baits, he prefers a Whopper Plopper 130 and a Berkley Choppo 120, either in bone or chrome, with a black back.
“For my ploppers, I like to fish them on a 7-foot, 6-inch G.Loomis IMX-PRO 906C CBR, which is a heavy cranking rod,” he said. “I Iike a Shimano Curado 200XG with 60-pound Sunline Siglon PE AMZ in the dark green color.”
When fishing a buzzbait, he prefers a single buzzer like the Buckeye Lures Buzzerk in white and charteuse with a gold blade. As a trailer, he adds a chartreuse Big Bite Baits Tour Toad. He fishes them with the same reel and line as the ploppers, but adjusts to a heavier rod, a 7-foot, 5-inch G.Loomis IMX-PRO JWR893.
“I learned years ago that they really like the gold blade here,” he said. “My nephew was fishing with me and caught quite a few on that combo. I go heavier with my rod because I like a stiffer rod with that single hook.”
Frogs, Punching, and ChatterBaits
As the grass thickens, Mah likes to throw a frog and punch, just like he often does on the Delta. However, he does make some changes in bait selection based on the bass and grass in Clear Lake.
“The bass on Clear Like seem to like plastics with more of a flapping action, so I fish a Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog more,” he said. “There are so many bluegill in the lake right now and the candy grass color is a good one to match them. I also use lighter punching weights than on the Delta; you hardly ever need more than 1 ounce on Clear Lake, and most of my fishing is done with a ¾ or 1-ounce weight.”
For frogs, he likes his go-to River2Sea Ish Monroe Phat Mat Daddy frog, but he also works in a popping frog. “The Spro Popping Bronze Eye frog can be very good there, too,” he said. “The frog bite wasn’t getting serious when I was there, but it happens as the summer goes on.”
Mah also reported a strong ChatterBait bite with a Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer and a Big Bite Baits Kamikaze Swim-On or Missile Baits Spunk Shad in various colors as the trailer.
“When I was there, they were biting the topwater so good, we didn’t want to fish a ChatterBait too much,” he said. “They are a standard bait, but you must experiment more with colors. On the Delta, it’s primarily craw colors, and on Clear Lake, you have to try things to match crawfish, bluegill, and shad. You go through the entire color spectrum there.”
Any time you can visit Clear Lake is a good time to go, but the summer bite can be great, with plenty of fun ways to catch fish. For Ken Mah, that includes a lot of grass fishing with topwaters and heavy gear.
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