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Saturday, February 21st, 2015

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    Water Temp: 57-60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Just read the other guys post about Saturdays fishing. I have not been to clear lake in a very long time, and had to get my sticker as well at the tackle shop. Launched at Lucerne and fished around the north, lots of boats from nice to rodman, saw 1 fish caught and it was small. Talked to 3 to 4 guys all were having a hard time.
    We had 7 fish caught on 4 different baits, ripping, swim baits, A rig, and flipping plastics.

    We were at the mouth of rodman at around that time, and there were 10+ boats stacked in there, bait and grebe's were thick, at least 5 boats throwing A rigs, and not catching much. Lots of boats up rodman as well. I guess we just hit the wrong day. I will say all the fish we did catch were 4+ lbs, and that was nice.
    City: Chico

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    Water Temp: 56 - 60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Late start not a good idea from what I heard. Had to get me 2015 sticker and give CL a try. Heard 4# avg fishing the north - rodman, the park and the north west flats. Started at the park at 10:00 tried swim baits, rattle trap and jerk bait for about 45 minutes. Many boats more than 1/2 throwing the arig but no fish noted. Then headed to the north west - same deal many boats 3/4 throwing the a rig. Tried that, swim bait, trap, jerk bait for over an hour - most of the spots I know had boats so I was further out but still in 4-8 feet no fish no boats in the area with a fish either. Hit a couple areas on the way over to Rodman mostly just the a-rig and a little swimbaits. Same result but less boats! Fianlly, a point east of Redman I did see a fish landed, looked like a 3# dad and his son. Hopped over to Rodman - not hard to find just follow the parade. Feb 21 and there were 15+ boats in there around 11:30. Stayed on the perimeter - don't like to crowd and figured fish would be moving in and out anyway. Fished there 2 1/2 hours swim bait and a-rig no fish and none hooked by the others. One nice guy, Dean said he caught 2 but it was much earlier and "you should have been here yesterday". Not exaggerating a new boat entered the area every 10 minutes or so and some of those guys just big motored it up right past all the guys patiently waiting outside with no regard for the others. On the other hand it was a beautiful day. Picked up one dink at rattlesnake on a staysee 90 before heading out to keep the skunk smell off the Triton. Spoke to 6 or 7 people who said it was tough - one said nothing after 9:00 but one guy reported several fish a-rig, swim bait and jig said he had a great day - good for him gives me hope

    Tips: I don't fish clearlake much so I'm not the right tip guy so I'll relay the tip from nice guy at Limit out. Any reaction bait up north. All the standard places from the State park up to Rodman. There are definitely fish up there you could tell from the number of boats and yesterdays stories out there. One guy claimed 25 fish yesterday on nothing but a drop shot - which I never pulled out of the box Sat.

Sunday, February 15th, 2015

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Clear Lake Blows Up is more like it!

    Let’s get the formalities out of the way first. Lake level is 4.43 Rumsey and holding, so we still need more rain. Finding surface temps in the 60 degree range is not as hard as one would think for the second week of February.

    For me, well, I predicted it, but I still can’t believe the way this lake fished this week.
    Fast forward to the end of March and that is pretty much where the bite is right now.
    Jerk baits, LV 500’s and swim baits were all contributing as was a Texas rig fished right on the bank. Yes, there are numbers of fish already roaming the shallows.

    Friday I had the morning to myself before leaving for Bass Pro in Manteca. Launching at 7 am I was able to fish until 1pm and had no problem finding willing fish. I managed 14 fish, and friends all reported 20+ fish Friday as well, fishing until 4pm. It never fails; have to leave just as it’s getting good!

    That said, at least the lake was busy again as ABA had their event scheduled for Sunday. So with plenty of pre-fishing going on, and with most local anglers predicting it could take 40 lbs. to win, we knew this could be good!

    That wasn’t far off! Sufficed to say 33+lbs was good for just third and it took a 10+ for big fish! Now, I could be mistaken, but I’m not sure I saw any double digit fish weighed in at any event last year, so that was certainly good to see as well. Watch for the complete ABA Results and look for yourselves, it’s pretty impressive.

    What’s to come? Well, with the warm temperatures forecast for this week, I’d say more of the same for sure. Oh, and yeah, the night bite is beginning to turn on as well, just be careful out there as there is some scattered debris floating throughout the lake.

Sunday, February 8th, 2015

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Currently we have rain, and we should continue to see more through Monday, then the forecast is for clear, warming weather through the 17th, and yes the lake has come up nearly a foot since Thursday.
    We may just see 4 feet Rumsey by the time this system moves out. Currently the lake is at 3.75 Rumsey.

    Prior, to this system things were really beginning to happen around the lake, and I would suspect once this is system is gone, and the forecast stable weather moves back in, things will really begin to improve once again.

    Big fish, and I mean “big fish” was the word this past week. I know of six fish over 10 lbs last week, with a 12 and a 13 topping that list. Haven’t heard much? Nope, but that does not mean it isn’t going on. Trust me, while I cannot get into too many specifics, the bite was really beginning to take off around the lake.

    Unfortunately, with my busy schedule I depend heavily upon friends and contacts for their reports, and these reports here would be impossible to do without them, so thank you again fellas for trusting I WILL NOT violate your trust.

    That said, I can tell you that Mid-Lake North began to finally kick out numbers on a consistent basis this past week, as did the Rattlesnake arm. Glide Baits, Swim baits, , Jerk baits, LV500s, minnows, and A-rigs topped the list of reported producers. I managed to get out for a mid-morning excursion on Tuesday managing 13 myself, but apparently, had I listened to that little voice and gone a bit farther north, I may have really gotten on them.

    So, with the forecast of 70 degree weather by the end of the week through the 17th, and with the rising water, I think things will really begin to get interesting as a result. Soon, real soon. Yes, these fish were already “beginning to look” as they say prior to this system, and I think we’ll see more of the same.

    Personally, I’d get that glide bait and swim bait rod out and get after them. I think this spring is shaping up to be “one of those”, especially with the water temps being what they are.

    Not sure how, or what to do? Well, then you may want to consider contacting one of the guides around the lake that specialize in big baits. Trust me, it will accelerate the learning curve dramatically, and you may just have that day of a lifetime, not to mention, it will save you money down the road in that you will see firsthand the proper equipment, thus saving you from purchasing any wrong equipment, be it rods, reels, or baits.

    Interested? Here’s a couple of guys I’d have no problem contacting!

    Alphabetically:

    Matt Allen: 707-514-9704
    Paul Bailey 818-584-5257
    John Pearl 707-536-3984

Monday, February 2nd, 2015

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Super Bowl Sunday!

    Yep, super Sunday was as predicted. The bite has improved to the point where some nice fish are finally beginning to show themselves.

    The reaction bite has been the best producer, but glide-baits and minnows are now accounting for their own livewell fillers. Numerous big fish reports have come in with
    5-7 lbers becoming more frequent and two fish breaking the DD mark over the weekend.

    Mild air temps and warming, clearing water (again) has turned the bite on for most and those not finding a solid bite need to move around until they do find the bite, it is definitely there. This week with the forecast weather change I suspect the swimbait bite will kick in and begin to become a factor as well.

    Secrets? Nope, all of usual areas are producing fish to some degree with perhaps the muddier creek mouths being the only exception. The North end, Mid-lake, Rattlesnake and Lubo are all fishing fair to good, as is Shag, and it’s assorted reef areas.

    Megabass Vison 110’s, 6 to 8 inch glide-baits, LV 500s, Little Creeper Trashfish, and Osprey 6/7inch top hooks would be my choice of weapons to go at the above areas.
    Now’s the time for the big bites…so go get em’!

Friday, January 30th, 2015

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Clear Lake this week 1/29/2015

    First of all, please accept my apologies for the late post. Normally I try and post by Wednesday so anyone who might be interested in coming up to the lake can have some current info with which to plan. Unfortunately, I’ve been a bit over my head these past couple of weeks.

    The good side is it’s been busy at ReelEx on top of trying to find time to break in the new Ranger 520c. Thank you again Ryan and CandC Marine, this is by far the best Ranger I’ve owned to date, and yes, it actually exceeds expectations. Finally getting back out in my own boat is a relief for sure.

    Today, after receiving several reports of a much improved bite over early last week, I was finally able to shake free to see for myself, and I was certainly not disappointed. While I did not find the 26-30lb bags reported, Jerk baits, LV500’s, and ¾ ounce jigs put 11 keepers, and 2 shorts in the boat, in-between making some break-in runs. Maybe 19-20lbs for the best five?

    I found water temps running from 50-53 and the fish are beginning to act like late February fish, and while most were 3 lbers, two good ones did make a mistake and ate the Vision 110 in light hitch today.

    Focusing on flats/breaks adjacent to deeper water proved to be the key today. Moving the bait with a prolonged pause and a hop to the jig proved to be the trigger for most of the bites, especially this afternoon.

    As for live bait, the minnow guys are out and reports have that bite as extremely good mid lake south, with some anglers going through as many as 4 dozen a day with good results. I know CLBT has gone through nearly 1500 minnows since last Wednesday, so I’d call ahead for minnows should you choose to head up this weekend.

    No rain in the coming forecast is certainly not good, but we might as well take advantage of it while we can. Plus the fish are in really good shape to boot!

Saturday, January 24th, 2015

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    Water Temp: 47-52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I keep hearing ( i cant catch fish even on minnows)So i went out yesterday to try.Fished minnows first time since last spring.Tried deep down by rattle snake for nothing . Fished a couple more area deep for nothing . Put a bobber on and fished in 8 ft of water and caught 6 fish in less than a hour and had at least 6 more take downs that we missed.Fish were all fat .

    Tips: Move around till you find them.

Wednesday, January 7th, 2015

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    Water Temp: 47-51

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Gee, No reports in the last 5 or 6 weeks. Must be no one fishing! OR, all the bass have been live welled to the north end. OR, they are in a funk! I have said this before - it takes a real man to make this report - and it's not the first time! The great thing about the trip was talking to Dan Issac at Clearlake Bait & Tackle as he reminded me that we were at the same Jr High school in San Jose - he as student and me as teacher. I had forgotten that! I was thinking surely the bite wasn't as bad as he and everyone was saying. Well - it was. Actually, the bite was fair - we got 6 of them in 5 hrs. My friend Mike landed the only one we saw - about 9 inches - just before dark. Our 5 bites were good ones but they would not hold on - lost them on the hookset. Mike did bring one half way in but she came off, he thought about 3 or 4 lbs. We hung it up about 9 pm in favor of hot coffee at McDonald's!!

    Tips: Jigs, Yamamoto Flappin' hogs, and Brush Hogs provided our only bites. We have fished the Henderson area for three times in the last several weeks and have only had 2 bites. Must have been there the wrong days - yea - that's it!! Guess the bass liked all their new low water homes and decided to stay there!!

Wednesday, November 26th, 2014

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    Water Temp: 56-57

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Never thought this would be my exclusive forum for my reports! Guess no one is fishing Clear Lake anymore - yea, right!! Anyway, Mike Sperbeck and I made a brief trip yesterday afternoon - from 4 to 9:30 pm. We fished from the Oaks ramp to Henderson Pt. Speaking of Henderson - we fished the area for about an hour and a half - without a single bite! That might be a first for us. I had another terrible trip - losing the 5 I hooked. Mike landed 3 and missed 2. Biggest was 7 lbs 5 oz. We used a total variety of plastics - mostly dark colors. The few biters we had were all very shallow.

    Tips: Again, in spite of a beautiful late fall evening, there was no sound of a single carp roll or even a bird. Very quiet!! That usually means a quiet bite! Oaks ramp is still good for launching, and if these coming weekend storms do work out, the lake may start rising a bit.

Wednesday, November 12th, 2014

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    Water Temp: 60-62

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Well, someone has to do a recent report - so, here it is. A friend and I launched out of the Oaks ramp Tues about 4:30 pm. Ramp is still fine, but when taking out my Z521, I noticed the back trailer wheel went off the ramp. So, we're getting close. Hopefully, the predicted rain in the next week will come to past!! We fished until 9:15 pm with most of our action about 8 pm. I started off with a dink, which are rare when they move off-shore in the fall. The story is that the fishing was pretty good but the catching - not so good. I lost two over 5 lbs and one probably so, and he also lost a bigger one. I landed a 4 lb 7 oz and he got a 4 1/4, and we each landed a 3 3/4 pounder. We fished from the Oaks up to Henderson. Most of our bites were 10 to 25 feet. It always amazes me how I can loose the bass that smacked the bait, but land the ones that are just "there!" The two big one that I lost nailed the jig, all the others just held on until we became "suspicious"!

    Tips: Because of the lack of cold nights to drop the water temp, I think it is going to be another week or two before we see some bigger bass. Fresh rainwater will help too. As (hopefully) the water becomes colder, short, compact baits should become more attractive to the larger bass. The D&M Piranha swim jig and like baits will attract cold water bass too. Beaver type baits are excellent in the winter!

Wednesday, October 1st, 2014

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: See it here: http://youtu.be/vP3uzA8yqGc

    Tips: [youtube]http://youtu.be/vP3uzA8yqGc[/youtube]

Sunday, September 14th, 2014

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    Water Temp: Avg 78

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Weather: Sunny/ Hot
    Lake Level: Just below Rumsey 0\Best Depths: 0-14
    The fishing has been tough to say the least. Carolina rigs, jigs, and small swimbaits have been best for me. The water is just too warm for the fish to go into a fall pattern this week. We need a cold low pressure to come in and flip the switch on them. H
    Events: Lots of tournaments coming thru the next 6 weeks. Just about every fish off and a Rayovac FLW tourny as well. This lake will be packed but as always its Clearlake and theres plenty of fish to go around.
    Guide Information: Bigbaitbailey@gmail.com\Name & Number: Paul Bailey\Pricing Specials/Open Dates: Email for pricing and dates.

    Tips: Use the graph and try to find cooler water! Seems like they like to feed right before dark then right at sun up then they disappear for day.

Saturday, August 23rd, 2014

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    Water Temp: 78-83

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I have to say something positive about the fishing these days - Beautiful water color - everywhere!! Mike Sperbeck and I fished late Friday/afternoon until midnight. We could have left just after dark and our report would have been the same. The night bite is dead here and at Berryessa. I'm sure that will change soon. Mike had fun with the 3 to 5 inchers - hooking one on almost every cast. One could almost walk on the Silversides. What a shame they aren't shad!! During the last hour of dark we did put together a limit - 5 bass for 15 lbs. Since I couldn't land the dinks, I did land the biggest at only 4 lbs on a green pumpkin Havoc bait. We each lost a big bass. We fished mostly in the south end. Never saw a boat of any kind after dark - sort of a private lake thing!!!

    Tips: Our bigger bass were caught on spots with deep drops near shore. We didn't fish any off-shore stuff this trip. Some of you may know that there are only 3 lanes open (not ramps) at Red Bud. Others are shut down because of low water. Launching was fine at the open 3 - though one of the docks is very short.

Monday, August 11th, 2014

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    Water Temp: 79-86

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Wow - I'm glad I'm NOT one of CLum's kids after a bad fishing trip - LOL!!!! I, too, have experienced the slow bite at Clear Lake, though we got a few. I took 3 young men Sat from 5pm to 1 am - out of Red Bud - fished up to Henderson. The word must be out - very few bass boats. Ran into a few guys fishing a club tourney out of Marysville. Saw one of my friends land a 4 pounder at dusk! Always fun to see someone you helped get into bass fishing having success!! We also got into a minor bite at dusk with one guy landing two in the 3 to 3 1/2 lb range. We got a few small ones also. After dark, out comes the night gear for their first night fishing experience. Black lights are not as "cool" in a full moon. The "downer" of the trip happened about 11 pm as one of the guys lost a big bass as it got close to the boat. He probably didn't set the hook hard enough. Bummer!! Henderson Point was deserted, so we fished there in some shadows. Another guy did finally land a nice 4 lb+ bass about midnight - probably hooked in about 20 feet of water. A few more missed bites and one more nice one in the boat before heading back.

    Tips: Obviously - during most of the 24 hour day - the bass and bait are off the bank except for very short periods and an occasional stray shallow bass. The Silversides didn't even show up 'til about midnight. Not much wind action to add oxygen content. We used mostly Berkley Havoc baits and 10 in Power worms. The worms attracted the bigger bass including the big one that was lost. I fished a jig some and it failed!!! All bass hooked were on some type of ledge leading to deep water - even the little ones!

Thursday, August 7th, 2014

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    Water Temp: 80.6

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Ted & I fished Sunday thru Weds fishing south. Boy, it was tough We fished from around 7 pm to 4 am each night, averaged about 4 fish a night. We caught the majority of fish on jigs & Texas rigs. There was no reaction bite for us except 2 blade fish caught at the same spot on consecutive nights. (I think it was the same fish as it was the same size & had a hole in his mouth where I hooked him earlier!) They were on or near rocky structure in about 12-15 ft of water. We fished deeper but no action for us. We managed a 5.5, 4.9, 4.8, & 4.2 for the bigger fish. The rest were between 2 - 3.5 lbs. We got our strikes fishing very slowly. We threw cranks of all sizes, blades, swimnbaits, senkos, worms, creature/craw type baits, frogs, & jigs. The best plastic action we had was texas rigged double wide beavers & yuki bugs. The most exciting action: a young otter grabbed my frog & tried to run away with it. I yelled at it like it was one of my kids & it dropped it! We fished Jago, Konocti, dollar, Buckingham, shag, rattlesnake.

    Tips: Move around & you just have to keep throwin! There is a ton of Silversides & all of the fish we caught were fat except for one with a big head & skinny body (the 4.2) It was indeed slow for us, so you might look for better opinions than what I have to offer! Lol Will give it a try in about 3 more weeks!

Monday, August 4th, 2014

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    Water Temp: 85-88

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I guess I should do a report since no one has fished the lake since clum's last report! Actually, this one is 2 days late - took a day off from the computer!! I think I should give up night trips - the day bite has produced most of the quality bass for my boat this year! I took a newby to bass fishing Saturday, and we suffered in the heat together! Hopefully he understands Clear Lake a little better now and learned some techniques. He did have 2 bites, but missed them. I had 4 or 5 bites and did manage to put three in the boat - again, all on jigs! My first bite was about 10:30 am, about 25 feet deep, and went a hair over 5 lbs. After a 3 pounder, I had a heavy bass on but lost her. About 12:30, dying in the heat, a skinny 4 1/2 pounder ate the jig. Again, all bites about 25-30 feet deep. We fished from Jago Bay to Henderson Point.

    Tips: Most of the bites this summer have been very subtle, even on a jig. Funny - the big bass that I lost crunched the jig!! The quality bass really seemed to be scattered everywhere - but deep (I'm just talking south and mid-lake). Rocks and ledges seem to be preferred, though I did get my first frog blowup! I think my client saw that good bass can be caught in tough conditions with some hard work, and hopefully we will do another trip in the fall when the bite is more aggressive. Though the lake is dropping steadily, water is in great shape on top and bottom. Little or no algae on top and no green goo on the bottom. When we pulled out about 2 pm, the lake was a chartreuse color everywhere - kind of pretty!!

Wednesday, July 9th, 2014

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    Water Temp: 83.4

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: It was really hot yesterday (Tuesday) & the water temp showed it! Got on the water at 9:00pm, fished Henderson & Shag, got 1 blade fish 7 1 crank fish 3 lbs apiece. Went to Dollar & Konocti & blanked for the next 2 hours. Tried Wheeler & managed a 4.9 jig fish. I wish I could say it got better after that, but we ended at 3AM with no more fish boated. Around 2AM in Konocti, tied into a 7-8 lb'er that broke off at the boat. Rats! Fishing a Texas Noris Bug that got hung on a rock, popped it out & bam, the big girl nailed it. Unfortunately, the rock also nicked my line (I use 20lb. Seaguar Abrazx) & when she saw the boat, she went sraight down & that was the end of that! At least got s good look at her, but we fished for another hour hoping the bite was turning around. Wish I cold say more, but "sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger & sometimes you're the Bug!" We were the Bug! lol

    Tips: The lake went dead calm around 10:30PM & so did the bite! I thought we could drum up some Senko fish, but nary a strike! We threw cranks, blades, jigs with all different kinds of trailers (even went old school & tried Uncle Josh's Pork) a plethora of Texas rigged plastics, swimbaits, even topwater by the moon, but for use it wasn't there Tues night! We fished Jago, Wheeler, Konocti, Dollar, Henderson, Shag, Buckingham point, & docks all over the place & deep, shallow, slow fast,it was slow all night! Wish I could tell you more. we will be back in 2-3 weeks & see what happens! Looked at mt notes from this time last year & it was pretty close to the same results. When we had an oinker of an evening though, the following night was much better! Had to cut the trip by one day so we didn't get the chance to find out this time! Good luck out there & stay safe!

Tuesday, July 8th, 2014

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    Water Temp: 79.1

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Cont... moon set around 1am & took the bite with it. We waited to see if the bite came back like last nite but it didn't happen & we got off at 3:30am. Ended with 12 with best five going 5.2,4.14, 4.12, 4.10, 4.8 for a 23.4 limit. Blade fish were in 8-12ft, plastics 15-24ft. We fished rather slowly, some bites were strong, some very subtle. They seemed to like dark colors with red. We fished Rocky structure. No crank or senko, bites!???

    Tips: Move around, fish a little slow & don't be afraid to fish deep! Oh yeah, check your gas tank visually, mine read 1/4 & you guessed it, ran dry at 1:30am. Thank goodness for aux tanks! Hope the bite doesn't die out tonite, stay tuned!

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    Water Temp: 79.1

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Got on at 8pm, ran to Henderson & Shag, Ted got a 5.2 blade fish & I got a 4.14 jig fish. Moved to Dollar & picked up 1 top water & 3 blade fish at sunset. Went to Frazier & Konocti and picked up 6 more on blades & jigs.

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    Water Temp: 78.1

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Checking