Clear Lake Fishing Report 12/31/19
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 5:20 pm
Winter is in full effect up here at Clear Lake. The days are shorter and the water is getting colder. The lake itself is in pretty decent shape though. The rain storms we have received so far have had little breaks in between so the lake level is slowly rising but the lake isn't blown out and muddy yet. The Rumsey gauge is at 3.81 and on an upward trend. All feeder creeks are running at about half capacity.
I was only able to get out on the lake a handful of times this past month with the kids out of school and the holiday stuff going on, the warden had me on lockdown.
The few times I was able to fish, I fished primarily the North end around Lakeport. The water temperature was at 44 degrees at 10am when I launched and only came up to 47 degrees by early afternoon. The water clarity was perfect with a slight stained look with about one foot visibility. I was unable to get down to the south end of the lake but I heard the water is pretty clear down there and the fish are holding in deep water with a slow bottom presentation working well. I did the best up north on the A-rig and I switched over to one with little chrome willow blades on the teaser wires. I was also using the Keitech swimbaits in the Sexy Shad color. The bass seemed to see that color a little better in the slightly stained water. I had to eliminate a lot of unproductive water before I started figuring them out. The fish were holding tight to the bottom and were in 8' and deeper out in front of the docks. I fished the A-rig super slow along the bottom parallel to the shoreline and it seemed like i was getting more bites by making the lure pulse occasionally on the retrieve by stopping and then starting the reel handle. Most of the time i was just covering a lot of water and catching very few fish but I did have one day where I located a small school of two pounders and caught several in a row. I did also catch a few on the LV500 with a painstakingly slow retrieve on the bottom in the same areas. I heard there is a bite going on a vertical jigging spoon down south and mid lake and I also heard of some recreational fisherman doing good on live jumbo minnows down there as well. There has been zero fishing pressure out on the lake. The past few times out, my truck and trailer where the only ones in the whole parking lot at the launch ramp. Winter fishing at Clear Lake can definitely be tough but it makes you a more well rounded fisherman to get out there and grind it out. Dress warm and fish slow.
Happy New Years to everyone out there. May we all slay them in 2020
See you on the water.
Troy
I was only able to get out on the lake a handful of times this past month with the kids out of school and the holiday stuff going on, the warden had me on lockdown.
The few times I was able to fish, I fished primarily the North end around Lakeport. The water temperature was at 44 degrees at 10am when I launched and only came up to 47 degrees by early afternoon. The water clarity was perfect with a slight stained look with about one foot visibility. I was unable to get down to the south end of the lake but I heard the water is pretty clear down there and the fish are holding in deep water with a slow bottom presentation working well. I did the best up north on the A-rig and I switched over to one with little chrome willow blades on the teaser wires. I was also using the Keitech swimbaits in the Sexy Shad color. The bass seemed to see that color a little better in the slightly stained water. I had to eliminate a lot of unproductive water before I started figuring them out. The fish were holding tight to the bottom and were in 8' and deeper out in front of the docks. I fished the A-rig super slow along the bottom parallel to the shoreline and it seemed like i was getting more bites by making the lure pulse occasionally on the retrieve by stopping and then starting the reel handle. Most of the time i was just covering a lot of water and catching very few fish but I did have one day where I located a small school of two pounders and caught several in a row. I did also catch a few on the LV500 with a painstakingly slow retrieve on the bottom in the same areas. I heard there is a bite going on a vertical jigging spoon down south and mid lake and I also heard of some recreational fisherman doing good on live jumbo minnows down there as well. There has been zero fishing pressure out on the lake. The past few times out, my truck and trailer where the only ones in the whole parking lot at the launch ramp. Winter fishing at Clear Lake can definitely be tough but it makes you a more well rounded fisherman to get out there and grind it out. Dress warm and fish slow. Happy New Years to everyone out there. May we all slay them in 2020
See you on the water.
Troy