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Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: The weather and the fishing has been good in this last week, we fished mostly the south end and caught some nice fish on rock piles, ledges and docks. with the largest weighing 5 lbs.
    The fish are right where they should be this time of year.
    The swim bait bite has slowed down a bit but when you get one its a nice one. I have been fishing rip baits, jigs, worms and spoons.

    Have Fun !
    ......................... StevePerkinsFishing.com
    City: Clear Lake

    Tips: Tips, Try fishing the Jig and worm deep and fish reaction baits around cover. If you find a group of fish you should be able to catch them when they turn on.

Saturday, November 20th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 52-54

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Redwood Empire end of year tournament. Weather, rain off/on, temp 30-48. 12+ pounds won it, 12 anglers. Shallow rattlebaits produced after many, many casts. Few taken on slower/dragged baits and the d/s bite was pretty much not there at all. Launch was from Red Bud and weather prevented many from venturing much further north than the Narrows.
    City: San Rafael

    Tips: Annual club open is 12/18 at Lake Sonoma. Stop by a meeting (Next mtng 12/8 at Rohnert Park Community Center) and say hello & sign up! Else fax your signed entry form to attn: James Ford at 415-364-2880. Should be a good turnout this year at the 'shoot!

Friday, November 19th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 57-58

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: A friend and I decided to see if the night bite was going to turn on some this late fall after the tragic pounding the lake took in October. We really didn't get a fair shake since there was a pretty good wind blowing the whole time - rare for November. I fished the D&M Piranha swim jig w/Yamamoto grub trailer most of the time and caught a 4+ pounder and one about 2 1/2 lbs. My friend caught a 2 1/2 pounder also, using a brush hog. We missed 4 or 5 other bites and I did catch the token catfish - about 12 lbs. We only fished from about 7 pm to 11:30 pm. Water temp is not very cold for mid-Nov. Often it is 50-53 degrees by now. We fished some main spots in the south end and most of our bites were 12 to 25 feet.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Last night provided the night conditions I love the most - bright moon dimmed by clouds with an incoming warm weather front. It was the slowest bite I have ever seen under those conditions. Either something weird was going on with the bite - or - the bass population has really declined. Or - I wonder how many bass have been given a free ride up north to the new tournament center, Konocti Vista. Anyone remember the Skylark motel tourneys in the 80's and early 90's? Darn, just can't stop wondering about these bass "migrations"! Seriously, I think better trips are ahead once the water temp drops a few degrees more. We'll see.

Saturday, November 6th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 58-65

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I fished up north the first part of the week and down south the end of the week catching good quality fish in both areas, I averaged 12 or more fish a day and most were 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pounds with a couple larger ones.

    There are still lots of good weed beds up north but hardly any in the the areas I fished in the south end.

    I had to cover a fair amount of water to find the feeding fish but once located they were easy to catch.

    Caught fish on Swim Baits, Jigs, Spoons, Tubes, and Worms. I had to change up the baits to keep the schools biting.

    A couple weeks ago I did well on top water and rip baits but this week it didn't work for me.

    Not much has changed since the Triton Owners Tournament where we had a top 10 finish, but for me the bite is better in the south than it was a few weeks back.

    In the north end I fish the thick weeds and weed pockets with the Hippo Tackle swim bait rigged weedless, on the edges of the weed beds I fish the osprey, both on 15lb McCoy Floro100.
    In the south end the biggest fish ate the spoon and the best bait for numbers was the Jig. My favorite jig this time of year is the Persuader 1/2oz football in purple/brown.

    For such a big lake it is fishing very small, for me it is all about finding a few good spots and throughly fishing them a few times throughout the day.
    City: Clear Lake

    Tips: Cover water until you find feeding fish or see them on the graph, spend some time with them, if they dont bite check back throughout the day.

    This time of year knowing how to read your graph will really pay off, A few times this week I would see them and then drop down the bait and catch them.

    Have Fun! ................StevePerkinsFishing.com

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 63-65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I decided to go out and try minnows on tuesday. For those of you that cant catch them on artificals I stongly suggest you try live bait!
    The fall minnow bite is turning on.I caught 15 fish in 5 hours , 8 of them 4 to 4 and a half pounds, All of the guides that I know that post here tell the truth about their trips and if you are not catching fish then maybe you should hire one!
    City: lakeport

    Tips: Also caught fish on lv 500s, fishing it uphill very slowly.The fishing isnt that bad you just need to move around till you find feeding fish.

Sunday, October 17th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 67-70

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I read the last couple of posts and one stuck out. It was from Bass Girl. I noticed the link you added and it was about the Triton Owners tourney we fished earlier in Oct. I can attest to the very tough bite. My partner and I found a really good pattern and a really good spot. We ended up with 46+ for the 2 days. We pre-fished all week and found NOTHING for a back up pattern. It was all or nothing for us but it worked out. I was not shocked on how many zeros during the tourney there were because of how hard the pre-fish bite was. Anyway if you look hard enough and stumble on the fish it can happen in a hury. Trust me on this.

    Good luck,

    Mike
    City: enumclaw

    Tips: Keep moving until you find the ones that are feeding

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Heard the bite was terrible, and it turned out that way for us too. USAC with 130 boats and 30 blank and a few with 1 fish? Wow. So we have a small club event on Sunday when the Indian Summer weather turned cooler, with AM rain and some wind, and thought the reaction bite ought to turn on. Nope! Probably because there is so much bait to eat. Caught a few 4 inchers on my Sammy 100 and blade, plus a big bluegill on deep crank. Weighed in no fish. those who caught fish seemed to be fishing deep (like 20 plus feet) and fished slow......
    City: Folsom

    Tips: Fish slow and deep, like a summer bite. Heard about a morning topwater bite, but did not get a keeper. Saw a great thrash of a bass chasing bait, but outside casting distance.

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I am not posting a report but I am posting a general reply. The last posting about the 6" fish-you are one of the few "non-guide" posters evidently. All the posts regarding "the bite getting better" are just to get people to hire a guide (the posting guide...)If you click on a few of the links at the top of the page, for instance Bob Myskey or Richard Pounds, you can view photos and determine for yourself just how successful (or not) the fishing is.
    Clear Lake is going through one of its infamous cycles. I have faith it will improve, just as it has in previous cycles. Those little 6"ers might be the next trophy. So have faith and keep fishin!
    City: San Francisco, CA

    Tips: The real fishermen only want honesty and can find it by reading articles such as this one http://www.record-bee.com/ci_16344490?source=most_viewed

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 67-70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I fished North on Tuesday We had 10-12 blowups on spooks and around 20 #for the best 5. Lasted till about10:30 If it gets cloudy it lasts longer. There is also a good lv500 bite right now.I know of a 9 pounder caught on one on Monday.
    City: Lakeport

    Tips: Stick with it.You cant throw topwater for 10 min then quit.Yo-Yo the rattle baits slow!!

Monday, October 11th, 2010

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished from the shore in Lakeport. Throwing Senkos and came up with a 5.10. Fished about an hour. Presentation was slow. Good luck everyone.
    City: K-ville

Friday, October 8th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: This lake is fishing tough right now. I guess you have to be a pro to catch one. I fished two days and caught nothing. Well, I did catch about 5 bass under 6" if you count those. I fished the south end and the water was pretty clear. Didn't help me a bit. I guess the great Clear Lake is too much for me. Maybe I should of hired a guide but I wasn't asking for much. I just wanted a couple of keeper fish here and there and I would have been happy. I am confused and do not understand the reports claiming success. I never saw a fish caught and didn't talk to anyone that caught a fish other than 6"ers. I saw many boats flying around all over and they all seemed to be running around catching nothing as well. I fished some great areas and varied my depths and technique. There must be a trick to getting some action but it has eluded me. Maybe I just really suck? Apparently so.
    City: Yuba

    Tips: The only tip I have is to avoid what I know won't work. Drop shot rigs, weightless senkos, jigs, topwater and deep running cranks won't work. Then again, maybe I don't know how to fish any of those properly. Yes, I am sure that is it.

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 70-72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: What a great sight to see all the schools of small bass - I've seen them up to nearly 6 inches. I guided a talented fisherman from the mid-west last night who was visiting Clear Lake for the first time. We fished from 6 pm to 2:15 am and actually caught some! Because of a strong south wind all night, we fished mostly the east shore of the Clearlake arm. The bite was hunt and peck but we did land 7 bass for about a 16 lb limit. All but one were quality with the biggest at 4 1/4 lbs. Our little one was 13 inches, a size of bass one doesn't often see. The worm bite was the best, especially the 10" black power worm. And, of course, I caught the token catfish - this one over 10 lbs. The other night I caught one about 17 lbs. We found most of our bass on rock flats with a ledge nearby. Most wern't on the ledge but on the flat. I did a stupid thing again, using 12 lb test, and broke off twice. That will end that stupidity! My client wanted to fish a jig before dark and had a lot of action but they were mostly tail biters - attracted to that #180 Yamamoto grub trailer. After dark he got his fish using a Berkley Power hog. Fishing was difficult with the gusty wind. I told him that if the wind didn't lay down at midnight, it would by 2 am (I hoped)! 2 am - wind stopped immediately. We did get a bite at 1:30 am in the Oaks arm which ended the night ok.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: As we were enjoying the quite night with only one other boat seen all night, I thought about how the lake will be hammered to oblivion by tournament folks in the next three weeks. No one can do anything about that - I just think it is a little too much. I guided a good fisherman last Saturday and the bite was terrible. There was a front that moved up from Arizona-Mexico and, as usual with a southern front, the bite seemed to shut off. No carp rolling all day - water seemed to be dead. Last night the water temp finally dropped to 69 degrees. Cooler water should get the bite going some.

Saturday, October 2nd, 2010

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    Water Temp: 55+

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Woke up at 5 am have been catching decent size catfish all morning biggest thus far is 15lbs off shad.
    City: clear lak

    Tips: they are biting really low right now

Friday, October 1st, 2010

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    Water Temp: 67-73

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Topwater has picked up for me and have been catching them on spooks,frogs and DDT buzzbaits.Jigs and the lv500 are also working Spinnerbaits around the silversides. Caught fish to 6 pounds on 9/30/2010
    City: Lakeport

    Tips: move around till you find fish willing to bite

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 73/74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Tons of Bait in the water we did manage a few to 3lbs and several large cats to 15lbs.Fished the rocky areas if you dragged mud ,you weren't catching them we worked depths of 10 to 25ft using wacky wt'd senkos drop shot and 1/2oz football jigs..but no frog or any topwater action
    good luck be safe
    City: Woodpile

Monday, September 27th, 2010

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    Water Temp: Water Temp. 70-

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: The bite has been much better this last week, over the weekend on a 1/2 day guide trip we had close to 20 fish and the best 5 went around 20 pounds. Fun fishing I had some good limits without having to run around much work to hard. With warm weather cool nights and not much wind the fishing has been great.

    With the bait fish everywhere it takes some time to find the fish that are willing to bite but when you find them they are easy to catch.

    We fished mostly swim baits and worms. Hippo Swimbaits, Frogs, Persuader Football Head Jigs, and Worms will all catch fish now.
    City: Clear Lake

    Tips: Tips: Try the rocky areas close to deeper water and docks, some docks were better than others. Fish the swim baits around cover and throw the frog in the heat of the day.
    Best colors for the Jig, brown/purple, swim bait colors, Hitch/Shad, and the best worm color was green pumpkin.

    Have fun ! .........StevePerkinsFishing.com

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

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    Water Temp: 68-74

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Hadn't been up since the first big algae bloom and reading all the crappy fishing reports.I called Clear lake Outdoors and talked with Jimmy and Jan they said the bit was picking up. My brothers and I had a chance to fish together,since we hadn't in quite sometime.
    We got some Jumbos for the oldest brother who doesn't bass fish and my other brother and myself used artificial.
    The Artificial bite was tough in the morning.It was pretty much all Jumbo Minnows My brother had a 15,12,7,lb Catfish and alot of Largemouth.
    In the Afternoon the Artificial bite picked up Big Time.Both of my brothers got their personal best Largemouth,my oldest brother using a Jumbo Minnow had 7.4 oz. My middle brother we call "Hog" caught his personal best. 11.2 oz on an artificial,all I could manage is a 5,lb..but we did catch two 5,lb on back to back casts on the same piece of structure.
    It was the Best day these 3 brothers ever had (fish wise) together on this lake!!
    Good Luck Be safe
    City: Woodpile

    Tips: The Odd thing about this day on the lake was how finicky the bass were on what artificial the were willing to take..while by brother was catching fish I tried every other bait I had except the one he was using trying to match his catch once it was obivious the he had THE BAIT I switched and starting catching also...so keep experimenting when if you have the opportunity.

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 72-76

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Water Temp 72-76
    Water Clarity 2-4 ft.

    I had some great days in this last week fun fishing in the south end, one day I had a 24lb limit and lost a couple nice ones, the rest of the week all I caught was a bunch of 3 1/2 pounders but still managed to hook a big one that came off.. Some days they are eating the bait well then some days they just bump it or dont commit to it as well.

    I caught fish on Swim Baits, Jigs and Frogs.
    City: Clear Lake

    Tips: Tips: Try the frog later in the day, fish the swim baits around ambush points and fish the jig in or around heavy cover.

    Have Fun.........StevePerkinsFishing.com

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 72-76

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I had the oppurtunity to guide a couple of great guys Tuesday evening. I thought I would pre-fish it during the day but ended up with motor problems to end the pre-fish. Good thing for Clear Lake you can fish almost any where and catch some nice bass. I pick the guys up at the dock at the north end of the lake at 6;30pm, put the trolling motor down, took out some spooks and senkos and focused on open holes in the matts. Didn't have to go very far befor the guys were nailing 3.5lb to 5 lb.ers. Nothing really big, but and evening full of bass that size for a couple a guys that just got off work was a great evening. All of the bass came on spooks, the senkos were to follow up on a missed strike.
    City: Paradise

Saturday, September 11th, 2010

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    Water Temp: 71-74

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Went up to clear lake last weekend. Fished Sat and Sun morning. Real tough bite out there, but did manage to get one savage 8lb lunker on my trusty dropshot. Bass are chasing baitfish and there is such a HUGE supply that it's hard to get them to commit to anything else.
    City: Glenhaven

    Tips: Rocky points with sparse tules and wood.