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Thursday, November 20th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 58-60!

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Good grief - no new reports? I saw some boats last night! Anyway, I just had to make another solo trip last night - fished about 6 1/2 hours for 14 bass. Just before dark my first bass was 8 lbs even followed by a 6.35. I tried not to get excited - good thing. While the early night bite was pretty good, a cold front moved in about 8 pm and slowed the big fish bite considerably - at least for me. All but the 4.92 lber were caught before 8 pm. Still a good limit about 26 lbs 6 oz. Once the cold north wind picked up the size went down - 4 of my fish were from 1 3/4 to 2 1/4 lbs. Yamamoto Kreature baits and brush hogs were my best baits. I fished as much rock as I could but did get a few dock fish. I braved Shag Rock in the wind which I thought might be worth the effort - not a bite! The 4.92 came on the first cast at Sea Breeze near midnight.
    City: Yuba city

    Tips: I didn't catch anything deeper than 25 feet but most were 18 to 25 feet. The bite was very consistant - just a faint tick, which was more than I felt last week. Shakin' and then deadstickin' produced a lot of the better fish.

Saturday, November 15th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 57-60

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I will do my best to make two reports into one!! I took me, myself, and I to Clear Lake Wed night to pre-fish for last nights guide trip. The last minute decision upon leaving the house was whether to grab the salmon net - just in case! GOOD decision - I needed it 5 times! I launched out of the Oaks about 4:30 pm and by 6:30 I had over 35 lbs. Like I do that every day!! I quit a little after midnight with 13 in the Ranger and a 5 fish limit of 42 1/2 lbs give or take a few ounces - my second best personal limit at Clear Lake. I just missed my 6th 20+ double (2 bass, over 20 lbs) by a few ounces. My first two bass were 10.12 and 9.56. By dark I had added a 7.25 and a 6.56 plus other 4's. I only lost one big fish and 4 of the 5 bigs jumped and they all stayed on the hook! My hook was a Gami EWG superline 4/0 and 30lb Berkley flame green Fireline. Near midnight, near Shag Rock, I landed another beauty from nearly 40 feet deep - 9.18. Got her back in the water immediately so as not to mess up her air bladder. All big ones were caught on brush hogs - others caught on hogs and Power worms. Weird being by yourself - no one to high-five with!! Last night I guided a father/son team - good fishermen! They must have brought 20 rods to get the job done, har!!! And tackle to boot - self-contained clients - love it!! Unfortunately, the great size bite was over but they did land 12 bass to 4 1/2 lbs and their limit was a shade over 19 lbs. The south wind (where did that come from?) made fishing difficult and seemed to change the bite. They really missed a lot of fish that just wouldn't hold on to the bait - it wasn't their fault. We fished from Konocti Bay to Soda Bay. I wanted to fish them at Kono Taye but the wind would not let us get near there. Lots of action and some pretty nice fish - but no monsters
    City: Yuba city

    Tips: I really have a lot to say about the conditions at the lake the past few night and will try to be brief. Some of my "rules" were kept and some were not. Usually by now, small bass have disappeared but Wed I caught a 12 1/8" bass and one barely 13 inches. Last night one of the fellows caught a similiar 12 incher. It is still early fall at Clear Lake! Those fish don't show in cold water. My carp and wildlife theory - yea, some of you are interested! Carp were rolling some on Wed evening - nothing last night! Saw and heard active birds and sassy herons Wed night - nothing Friday night! Saw a little surface bait Wed, nothing Fri. Wed night saw a little thin cloud cover which helped the clear water bite some. About midnight the high moon was dimmed the most and a 9 pounder found her way into the boat. Last night, no cloud cover, no big fish. One thing that didn't make sense was Wed night the boat was very wet with dew (which often hurts the bite - heavy air) but the big fish bite was good - though most bigs were caught before 7 pm. Last night, no damp air because of wind (seats were dry) which usually means a solid big fish bite - didn't happen. Just goes to show - rules are meant to be broken! Will the lake ever see 50 degree water this year? Hmmmmmmmm.

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Can you say crappie . if you cant get the bass to go find them . 2.0 are big crappie and lots of fun
    City: Medford

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Bite is still tough. Got out right at daybreak on Sunday and was greeted with howling winds and 3-4' rollers in the main lake. I caught a fat 4lber shortly after daybreak on a LC BDS crankbait. That was it for several hours until I caught 2 more small ones on a flick shake worm. I did see a few crappie caught at Kono Tayee. Overall it was a slow day jam packed with wind.
    City: Petauma, CA

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 54-58

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Water is pretty clear still which is one of the reason I think the bite can be tough for some and that includes me and my brother:( We had no problem getting bites for 4 days but they were all dinks, got 5 keepers in 4 days but caught at least 25 fish each day, we had about 4.11 lbs on Sat and 2-3 lbs on Sun, I did not get one fish on anything but drop shotting, I cranked, ripped, jigged, swim bait (all sizes) Now back to the statement "for some people" there was a future pro tourney going on, first place had 23 lbs on Sat and 16 lbs on Sun, they tried everything and than down sized there crank baits to 2 inchers and that was the ticket, a reaction bite which I tried but I did not down size my crank bait:( Goes to show you there is "Almost" always a pattern to get them to go.
    City: San Joser

Friday, November 7th, 2008

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Save the Delta!!! EM of California will hold a free work shop on remediation of waterways,ponds ect. Organic Biotechnology (EM) has cleaned water world wide(Seto Island Sea) and offering this new technology FREE . We can no longer sit back and see this Sacred River die.Like Prospect Island we can make a "CHANGE". Come Up to Napa Sunday Nov 9,2008 10:00am call for more info.510 708- 6975

    Tips: The use of EM starts the food chain and supplies Effective Microorganims(EM)to plankton and other micoorganisms bringing in baitfish that our prayed on by peditory game fish we all know and love. Make you own hot spots and clean the river at the same time.
    City: Napa

    Tips: Save the Delta!!! EM of California will hold a free work shop on remediation of waterways,ponds ect. Organic Biotechnology (EM) has cleaned water world wide(Seto Island Sea) and offering this new technology FREE . We can no longer sit back and see this Sacred River die.Like Prospect Island we can make a "CHANGE". Come Up to Napa Sunday Nov 9,2008 10:00am call for more info.510 708- 6975

    Tips: The use of EM starts the food chain and supplies Effective Microorganims(EM)to plankton and other micoorganisms bringing in baitfish that our prayed on by peditory game fish we all know and love. Make you own hot spots and clean the river at the same time.

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

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    Water Temp: 62

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at Red bud at about 6:30AM drizzling and wind abaout 8mph out of the North and hit all my favorite spots for zip. My first ever zero at CL. Saw fish jumping early down in the lower end and threw buzzbaits, poppers, spooks, rattle traps, blades and even ripped. Had 1in. silversides stck to my trebles on every cast. Fished Jago and other rock walls and points east & west side fo Konocti Resort for nothing using drop shot and jig and r-trap and blade. Fished the docks around windmill for zip. Went down into rattlesnake and spent time on spots I know on both sides fishing mostly 10-28ft for nothing. Had a 3lber chase my rip bait as I was pulling it out of the water right at the boat. Got a few tic tic bites on the DS but nothing stuck. Went into Henderson/Horshoe and ripped and cranked and threw blades for nothing. Last stop at Baylis and couldn't do anything there. Maybe the storm the day before shut everything down but SHEESH it was tough. Wind never stopped but also never got over about 15. Off the water at 4pm. You haven't seen many posts lately and now you know why.
    City: Santa Rosa

    Tips: Any tips would be appreciated

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Went out yesterday after work for a few hours.First stop was no name reef. I was quickly greeted with some jackoff in a pontoone boat that thought I was on his ,"spot".He pulls up right next to me and gets ready to throw his ancor.I go,"why dont you just tie up to my boat" he goes "maby I will" I told him its a big lake there is pleanty of good water! He finally backed off and I stuck a keeper In front of em and bailed.Some guys have no respect.Anyway,I went over to Rocky point and threw my brush-hog up to the rocks and popped it out with good results.I had five or six nice keepers before dark.But after dark Is is when the fun began.I started throwin the swimbaits and stuck a fat five on my third cast.I stayed in the same stretch of water for the next Hour and a half and ended up stickin around twenty fish over two pounds,a few of em went 4lbs or so! Not bad for three hours of fishin!
    City: lower lake

    Tips: Go fishing at night.Thats the only time the fish really bite lately,also,make sure all your gear is secure if you leave your boat in the water over night.I got ripped a couple of months ago.They took my Loomis GLX with a Viento and my Lammi crankin stick with Curado.Thats like $700!

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    Water Temp: 63-65

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I had a wonderful trip last night - a client who brought along another client as a guest. Both could fish and made a great evening for the happy guide (except for all the rocks one of them caught)!! I can't remember in 30+ years a more beautiful night at Clear Lake in late Oct. We only needed jackets and the lake was a pane of glass - not a breath of wind. The night was dry too - very little dew on the seats. That always means better night fishing - at least in my boat. We started out of the Oaks at 5 pm and never boated a fish before dark - lake was dead! We planned to fish the new moon night and it did pay off! The "guest" went right to work after dark and boated the first - 3 3/4 lbs. The guest back seater landed 9 of their 14 in the boat but the middle guy settled for big fish at 6 lbs 2 oz. I caught 2 making our fish total at 16 and our 5 best a little over 24 lbs! We also had 2 bass between 5 1/4 and 5 1/2 lbs. It was a brush hog night - that is the bait they wanted. We fished from Windflower Point to Ferndale Marina. The best bite was from 8 pm to 11:30 pm. We missed about 7 or 8 - these guys landed most of their bites - good job! (except for the snagups, har)!!! Actually, catching the bottom a lot meant they were fishing correctly - fishing slowly and keeping their bait in touch with the bottom!
    City: Yuba city

    Tips: It is simply amazing that the water temp has basically remained steady for the last two weeks, mainly because of lack of the normal colder nights. This weekend should see a change and fresh rain should give the bass a shot in the arm! We caught fish from 2 feet down to 35 feet, so, what can I say - vary your approach. On steep banks they seemed to be shallow and on gentle dropping structure they seemed to be deep. Most of our quality bass were deeper however - 15-20 feet or more. Water has to get colder before large bass make a move to the shallows - at least generally speaking. At dusk we saw the bait sitting on the bottom at 30 feet. After dark we saw some on the surface but not as many as in previous trips. I tried some topwater and swimbaits at dusk to see if my clients should be doing that - not a sniff. No birds, no carp, no bait, no nothing before dark!! After dark we did see another bass boat with 15 black lights on the side - actually only three! No problem seeing the bank - he could have been the lighting for a Hollywood movie!

Monday, October 27th, 2008

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: dingy on water early.tossed pilchard imitations with mild results. carp running in sloughs. used my secret formula dough which fooled the specimen above my fireplace. landed several hearty goldbacks for the dinnertable.
    City: newark

    Tips: cook carp.

Saturday, October 25th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 63

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Found fish in the cleaner water, Stay away from the algey ontop of the water. Fish were hanging out in the weeds and under/around boat docks. Senkos seemed to get them into the boat today..
    Most of them dinks one would of went 5# but came unbuttoned at the boat.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Stay in the boat when unsnagging lures. Unless you want to go for a swim.

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    Water Temp: 64

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: A magnificent day on the lake, but the fish didn't cooperate for me and Bass gal. Fished several areas today.Tossed worms,hogs,tubes,jerks,spinners. Nothin,saw fish sunnin,hiddin and sleepin, but nun takin !
    City: Ft.Bragg

    Tips: "The best time to go fishin, is every chance you get" Bill Dance

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 63

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: first and biggest fish went 9.1 lbs.
    its a tough bite though!
    came off of the iwamoto jig later in the day.
    early on in the day caught a couple.
    City: santa rosa

    Tips: email me.

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    Water Temp: 62-68

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Don Paganelli and I took our Thursday out-of-state clients from Berryessa to Clear Lake on Friday and Saturday. It was a combination fishing trip and watching bass boat races! The lake sounded and looked like giant mosquitos with rooster-tails for two days!! The bite was tough on Fri but much better on Sat. Don had the two experienced anglers with him on Fri and they caught a few decent bass with tons of dinks - which have finally shown up! they were drop-shotting mostly. I was teaching my guys how to bass fish, using worms and brush hogs. I was trying a Blade Runner jig (brown/orange) to see if that was working. We were fishing a subtle rock ledge that I fish during busy tournaments. I had them working the main part while I threw the jig into a nasty rock - not expecting to ever see it again. A 7 pounder swam away with it (about 11 am!) - she should have taken their worm!! We lost a few other good bass and landed some dinks. Sat I had the experienced guys and found good areas in the Oaks arm where they had a lot of success with 2 to 2 1/2 pounders - about 10 of them. I had one start with a 7" Berkley Power worm - new color, watermelon with purple and red flake. Soon they were both using it. The bite was early both days - by 10 or 11 am it was mostly over. Don's clients started getting the hang of bass fishing and landed several nice ones - including a smallmouth about 2 3/4 lbs!! How many of you have fished Clear Lake for decades and never have seen a smallmouth? It took me 25 years to catch one! Don was pretty excited - he had never seen a smallie from Clear Lake!
    City: Yuba city

    Tips: It is really hard to give any worthwhile tips on the day fishing at Clear Lake now since tournament pressure rules. Just start early! I guess the crank bite is good since I saw so many doing it. With boats everywhere I hooked and lost a nice bass at Shag Rock about 2 pm, using the jig - 40 feet!! I think the slender profile Berkely Power worm is a winner now - especially if it has a little sparkle!

Friday, October 17th, 2008

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    Water Temp: mid 60's

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: It seemed like a tough bite but did manage at least 5 fish. Caught a 3, 4+, 6+, and a 7.3 on a Berserk new purple hornet lake jig with a smallie beaver trailer. The other fish came split shotting a shad colored robo worm. Missed a couple of 3-4lbers on a deep diving shad crank. The next day I got a 4+ on a white frog and 3 others on the jig again.

    Tips: Fish the jig slow, then let it sit the bites are light. I also put my fishn time at www.fishwrangler.net in the blog. If you need Berserk jigs you can get them at www.baitbarn.net online, next day shipping. C&C marine has them, Escalon Bait, or Snelling 76.

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 67

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I was up at Rodman last weekend and ran into the county workers hooking the carp from the shore line. I asked what was going on with the die off. They said it had something to do with the vegatation dieing off and the lack of oxygen and the fish not getting any. Other than that the fishing was really bad. I caught 7 all day on a jerk bait. The biggest went a wopping 6 inches. What a bad day.
    City: Santa Rosa

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    Water Temp: high 64 low 52

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Hello all, Well we just back from 3 days of clear lake and it was BRUTAL!! we threw everything and got a total of 4 fish in the boat!....little ones at that. I really don't know what is up with Clear lake this year. On top of that the smell of the rotting carp was at times tough to take. Maybe that has something to do with it, has anyone heard what has caused the die off? the only good news was we laughed alot and made fun of each other for sucking so bad at fishing. Even the tournament guys had very little action.
    City: martinez, ca.

    Tips: Keep Laughing when all else fails

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 65-68

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I will just touch on the carp thing for a second, I would say one out of every 1K died so there will not be a carp shortage and it happens every year, there will be plenty for the compound bow next year I promise:)OK BASS, if you want to catch some biggins, you need to fish from 6 PM to 8 AM just look at Mary's pictures on the photo section(I will post mine tonight) we got plenty of 2-5 lb fish fishing late, the day time bite was tuff to say the least, a few drop shot fish here and there and a LV 500 fish here and there but the easy bite is late and early. I got 13 fish to 5 lbs on swim baits and LV 500 & Sammy's, I got a 3.5 and a 5lber on a Sammy on 4 cast at 7:30 PM, the bad thing for you guys fishing tourney's coming up is that those tourney's are from 7:00 AM to 3:00 and the really good bite is almost over by than. The latest I fished was 8 PM and that was my best day, if I would have done the night thing I think I could have done even better but my boy was thinking about roasted marshmellows and I was thinking about roasted hot dogs with onions at the camp site:)I have got to share a story from this week end, there are 2 guys fishing in a newer nice bass boat, I told them toss a Zara right up to the bank and you will get one and here comes a Dad and son in a 8 foot crawdad with only a trolling motor, son is about 12 years old, they already have zara's tied on, the 2 guys in the bass boat are not tossing to the bank so I said hey toss it all the way to the bank and they still did not do it but the boy was sure listening because he started tossing it to the bank and catching them and the bass boat guys were not, if that does not show you that the boat does not catch the fish nothing does:)
    City: San Jose

    Tips: 3-5 inch swim baits for more bites, 6-9 for bigger fish but less bites (no brainer)baby bass or silver shad, LV 500 in same color or sammy in same color and size as swim baits. One more tip that will make me look stupid but I just started doing the swim bait thing last year, everyone said you better use no less than 30 lb test, but I was to lazy to put that lb test on, so away I go with 14 lb test:(, I lost 2 of my favorite swim baits, one on a 4+ lber and one on a fish that I could not turn, she ripped line for about 5-10 yards and she was headed for poles and I put the brakes on her and she snapped my 14 lb test like it was 4 lb test(could have been a big cat, I hope), I will never toss a swim bait again with less than 30 lb test!!!

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: DD, how about we tell it like it really is??? I didn't ask your release boat to take out my fish. They asked me if I was with my club or with the belly boaters. I replied by stating I was with my club. That is when another guy said I'd have to pay for half the boat to have my fish released, which I replied no. After I released my fish a couple of guys made weak threats stating they were going to call Fish and Game on our club and asked what club I was in. I replied that "I wasn't in his (four letter functional) club and he should mind his own bussiness". I then "walked" away. You guys should have minded your own business as we did. We didn't butt into your event, we showed your float tubers curtiousy by not crowding them on the water or rocking them with a wake. Maybe nobody called Fish and Game because you guys were the only people in violation... 1. No lights on some of your vessels before safe-light. 2. The required mussel-check stickers on most of your vessels. and 3. Illegally transporting fish around the lake in aerated ice chests(livewells must be emptied when you leave a launching facility). But, we don't really care as we were there just to have a great time fishing as I'm sure most of your guys were, too. It's a shame that a few guys with chips on there shoulders gotta try and ruin the days of others.

    As for the "report" part. Fishing was a bit tough. Most of our fish were caught cranking and on plastics. 7 lber was big fish, with half the boats bringing a fish close to 5 lbs. to the scales.
    City: Rocklin

    Tips: Have fun fishing and don't let people like DD bring you down(he probably blanked anyhow)---<'}}}><

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    Water Temp: **

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: fishing north side of clear lake and caught fish off the crankbait. I think the lv's were working well. I caught size more than quantity. I had a 3lb average a long with a nice 5.91 lber.

    Kickboat baby.(SCBBBC tournament put on 40 people)

    sucks is that we paid for a $$400 release boat and another tournament was giving there fish to our release boat. guy ran away quickly.
    City: santa rosa

    Tips: email me.