First Time at Clearlake!

[Lil T]

Spent the weekend with the hubby at Clear Lake! What a beautiful place. We towed the Triton up there. 9 blissful hours on the I/5. Well, the fishing was great anyway. On the first day (Sat) after driving up during the night and getting very little sleep, we headed straight out on the Lake. I am pleased to report that I caught my very first limit of keepers (released of course) and Accidently outfished my handsome, heroic husband (important to make him feel better about this). It wasn't his fault. The weather had been very cold and blustery and normal approaches didn't work. I am frequently exploring unconventional methods (bcause i dont know any better) and on Sat. it paid off. Sunday was warmer and Lance was back on his game, though I still caught 4 nice fish. On Monday we held our own mock tournament and I was just one pound behind at the end with a total of 11.14lbs to his 12.14 pounds. This fishing stuff is pretty fun after all. You all may be on to somethin'.

[Ron C]

...and nice of you to LET him win the mock tournament, too. Congrats Girl!

[Lil T]

Thanks Ron. Im going to do my own how to fish video. Turns out, according to other boaters we met, it was supposed to be a pretty tough weekend on ClearLake, but I had the best time. Lance seemed to always put us on fish, but there is more to it. My method is pretty simple and I dont mind sharing. It begins when I cast, then look down to find the birds nest in my reel. I clear the mess and when I take up the resulting slack in the line, I often find myself reeling in a fish. Does this work for anyone else?

[Kelly Ripa]

You guys must have been down south. In the Lakeport area we pounded out 60 fish days on dropshot and frogs. It was cold as hell and I only burned 12 gallons of gas in 4 yes 4 days of fishing! My batteries took the brunt on this trip! I caught some really nice fish on a spro frog and the rest were on isolated tulies infront of seawall type structure or on the walls themeselves. At 6:30 the guy we stayed with TORE UP some blade fish. In 15 minutes he had 7 fish from 4 to 6 pounds but you had to use his secret blade as I and his son couldn't get them to touch ours.The fish were VERY color specific and I went through 8 bags of Robo MM III's as I couldn't get them to eat anything else with any consistancy. I was there from Wed. thru Sunday and it was best early in the week and got worse as the weather got better ( Sunday ). The lake is very high! I was sure I had a Clear Lake toad when I missed a fish twice in the same spot with quick pecks which usually meant bed fish and the third cast back to the spot I was ON! Turned out to be a fifeteen pound carp that ATE the worm. We had that happen three times in fifteen minutes with my friends son getting sawed of on a piling. ODDNUT award went to me when I stuck a hard fighting garden rake down towards Robin Hill. Clear Lake is like a box O' chocolates You never know what your gonna get! Long drive but worth it every time Tracy. I'm glad you saw Clear Lake now save your gas money for the Nutcase event the last weekend of July as that is WIDE OPEN BASS'N at it's best!

Rip

[Lil T]

Hi Kelly,
We ate dinner in LakePort last night, but as this was our first trip, we were new to all of the possibilities. Lance kept us on fish even as the weather got better, but we heard the winning weight for a 2 day tournament from a local club had a winning weight of just 19lbs so felt pretty good about our catch and wasn't Monday a beautiful day? I was culling by 1130 for our little contest and Ive never had that experience before. I caught 3 2 1/2 pounders in a row and thats why I started culling. It was fun and Lance was trying to figure out who I was and what had become of his fishing challenged wife.

[Kelly Ripa]

Best place for dinner in Lakeport is Park Place hands down. Unfortunately for me we left the lake and drove home the day the weather turned nice ( Monday ) of course. If your still up there head down towards Rodmans slough and hang a left at the last house on the point and start fishing your way back towards Lakeport. It'll take you 8 hours or more to get there because of all those pesky largemouths. Glad the trip is going well.

[Ron C]

...GREAT Mexican restaurant ("TNT on the Lake") in Lakeport (great Margaritas!). And you absolutely can't beat the "Q & Brew", also in Lakeport. If you are in the town of Clearlake, there is an awesome Chinese restaurant ("Magic Wok") just down the road and across from the Best Western El Grande, and "Kathy's Steak House" next to Red Bud Park (a bit pricey, but very good). The best burger joint is a hole in the wall place called the "Burgertown" on Soda Bay Rd. overlooking Soda Bay (you can tie up to the dock and walk to it.

Maybe I can't fish for sh*t, but I DO know where the best eating spots are! (Just ask any of my travel partners).

[DL]

You got that right amigo! I mean, half right...err...a heck I give up. We sure ate good in Havasu last year though...

[Lance]

Hey Ron, Marty, Kelly,

Well let me tell you guys, the best part of this vacation was the fact that T was culling in our mini tourney (Monday) I'm very proud of her. Not to mention she caught her first limit of keepers and then some on Saturday. Kelly, it did get tougher as the week progressed and Monday was tough. What impressed me the most about my wife's achievements was the fact that she was picking her own colors, changing colors when things weren't working and lipping her own bass and removing her own hooks. All this from someone that has only Bass fished for about a year.

Ron, did she let me win the mini tourney ?.....I think only she can answer that. I was very content that I would win but then all of a sudden she pounded 3.. 2.5-3 ponders in a row and I started to panic....getting backlashes, not hitting my target and poking myself with hooks were the result of feeling the wife's applied pressure. I do wonder about one thing, towards the end of our tourney she felt a BIG thump, she said she wasn't paying attention because of some pretty birds flying by and as a result she missed setting the hook......hmmmm, some things make you wonder

L

P.S. Ron, your hired as our food adviser

P.S.S. Ron , Marty and Kelly..are you guys fishing the Won Bass tourney in a few weeks?

[Kelly Ripa]

I just blew my fishing money for awhile and I'm beating on some buddys right now to fish the Nutcase event. I have gotten several offers to split the costs but I want to do it my way I guess. Thank you all for your generous offers and I'll try to get back to you all as soon as possible ...I see there is some intrest in SoCal to make the event and that is positive

[Marty]

NO – I will be staying here on the Delta, doing club and four Future Pro tournaments between now and August and will help with the Pro-Teen tournament in July as a boater. I also have a tournament with my Grandson this June. It is only 31 May and I already been to 7 Tournaments (not including the my Club’s events). With so many I should win something – but I have learned something from each of them (so I guess I’m a winner – life is good).

[Ron C]

...For another one of these in COSTA RICA BABY!!!




125 Pound Tarpon - Barra del Colorado, Costa Rica

¡Pesca Buena!

Ron C