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Thursday, September 6th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 80 thurs 68 Fri

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Something is going on I don't understand. The big fishies they no bite for me. The wife and I caught 12 keepers but nothing over 4 pounds. Maybe 13lbss best 5. It was slow and the bite was lite. Friday was worse. Champion Boats everywhere? Henderson point had a boat every 100 feet apart. Horseshue same athing. What'sa goin on?
    City: orangevale

    Tips: Top water early. darthead 1/8 worms and tubes. No much of a bite. Rattletraps in afternoon when the 6 mph winds were creating 3 foot waves work.Sure love the weatherman. You can see the bass under the docks but they won't eat anything?Back to the Delta for me. Can't wait for the strippers to come in this fall.

Tuesday, September 4th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 74 to 76

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Had the opportunity to fish Clearlake for a couple of days during the week after the Labor day weekend.Fished primarily around Henderson point and in the several areas near Shag rock.Tuesday evening landed 10 bass ranging from 1.5 lbs to 2.5 lbs with two weighing in at 4lbs 8 oz. & 4lbs 11 oz.Almost all were caught slow cranking a Berkley Frenzy diving crankbait in Threadfin shad color parallel to the bank about 20 ft out.It was non stop action for a couple of hours.I also lost several near the boat along with a few that felt like possible 5lb+ fish that never made it into view.The larger fish came later in the evening on a pumpkin senko fished weightless on a 5.0 superline widegap hook close to the bank.The following morning was a repeat performance using the same technique.I had 10 fish in the boat by 9.00 a.m and I didn't launch until after 7:15 a.m.I would have to say that the Bite is still on @ Clearlake at least it was on Wednesday & Thursday!
    City: Manteca

    Tips: Cast out parallel to the bank as far as you can and then give it a couple of quick cranks to get it down and then back off and crank very slowly.They will Hammer it!!Use a sweep set to set the hooks.Go easy on the big ones!!

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    Water Temp: 75-80

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Some members of the Redwood Empire Bass Club fished over the weekend with mixed results. Like the previous report the bite was tough but they still managed to catch bass up to 5 lbs. on crankbaits,jigs,spooks and shakey head worms. Most of the fish were caught from 6 to 20 feet.
    City: Santa Rosa

    Tips: The Redwood Empire Bass Club is welcoming new members, both boaters and non boaters to fish with us. Our next tournament is at Clear Lake on September 22nd. Please join us at our next meeting on September 12th at 7p.m. at the Rohnert Park Community Center on the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder Lane. Our guest speaker will be Wayne Hinrichs who will be sharing with us his success's on the WON and FLW Pro Tour this year. For more info log onto rebc.net or call me at 707-758-5762

Monday, September 3rd, 2007

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: My God.....Do i have a story to tell you. Ok so my friend and I decided to catfish Clear Lake this morning. We got to M&M campground around 7am and baited up 4 poles with chovies. Within 30 minutes my friend lands a nice 7.50lb channel. After that we got nothing till 11am when i caught a small 3 pounder. Here's is where it get unbeliveable...at approx. 12pm my rod just goes from straight up to doubled over!!!! My rod was just BENT!!!! I quickly set the hook and was in for a battle. The fish quickly started spooling my 15lb test. It keeps taking runs while my friend keeps coaching me. After 5-6 solid minutes. We still dont even get the fish close enough to view it. As soon as it got near shore it kept taking monster runs. Finally we got it close enough to see it, my friend see's it first and shouts something that i couldnt believe. "ITS A STURGEON!!!!!!!" My reaction is "you must be mistaken" I horse it in where i can see it and sure enough, it had spikes. "ITS A STURGEON!!" Then i went crazy trying to haul this thing in and thats where i made a mistake. As it was nearing shore my line snapped "F#@%#^%%@#%@#@#&#*@!!!!!!!" Me and my friend just sat on the shore thinking of how we just F#$ked up. It had to be a good 30-40lber. People, there are sturgeon in Clear Lake. I know i will get alot of "ya right, pals" but it happened. Me and my friend plan on fishing the same spot after work tomorrow. Will report back!

    Tips: didnt get nothing the second time i went :(

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Clear Lake from 10-2 on Sunday and took 10 fish. The bite is still very tough. Half my fish came on the shakey head worm the other half came on the Senko, including my big fish of the day a 4-3. Best 5 went just over 14lbs. Fun day on the lake a lot of pleasure boaters but (surprisingly) very few fishermen.
    City: Petaluma, CA

    Tips: Be careful out there, water levels are dangerously low in some areas.

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: My God.....Do i have a story to tell you. Ok so my friend and I decided to catfish Clear Lake this morning. We got to M&M campground around 7am and baited up 4 poles with chovies. Within 30 minutes my friend lands a nice 7.50lb channel. After that we got nothing till 11am when i caught a small 3 pounder. Here's is where it get unbeliveable...at approx. 12pm my rod just goes from straight up to doubled over!!!! My rod was just BENT!!!! I quickly set the hook and was in for a battle. The fish quickly started spooling my 15lb test. It keeps taking runs while my friend keeps coaching me. After 5-6 solid minutes. We still dont even get the fish close enough to view it. As soon as it got near shore it kept taking monster runs. Finally we got it close enough to see it, my friend see's it first and shouts something that i couldnt believe. "ITS A STURGEON!!!!!!!" My reaction is "you must be mistaken" I horse it in where i can see it and sure enough, it had spikes. "ITS A STURGEON!!" Then i went crazy trying to haul this thing in and thats where i made a mistake. As it was nearing shore my line snapped "F#@%#^%%@#%@#@#&#*@!!!!!!!" Me and my friend just sat on the shore thinking of how we just F#$ked up. It had to be a good 30-40lber. People, there are sturgeon in Clear Lake. I know i will get alot of "ya right, pals" but it happened. Me and my friend plan on fishing the same spot after work tomorrow. Will report back!
    City: Orland

Saturday, September 1st, 2007

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    Water Temp: 75-80

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Water still very clear for Sept, I could see from 1 foot to 5 foot depending on the area. Fished Sat from 10:30am to 7:00 pm by my self and got 10 fish to 3.5 lbs, I got 4 fish from 3 to 3.5 in about 10 minutes ripping a ghost 78 lucky craft, I had a 3 & 4 lber fighting over it at one point, it was very neat to see it happen, to bad the 3 lber won:) A friend of Bob's at Lake Shore bait and tackle said he got 15 ripping, I said in Sept he said yes, I love to rip so I ripped for about 1.5 hrs and got 4 fish ripping at 3:30 in the afternoon, that is just not normal in Sept! I also got a few drop shotting and a few on watermellon hula grup on shakie head. Fished Sat night with my buddy Devin, we got 14-16 fish to 2.5 on watermellon sweet beavers on shakie head and watermellon zoom trick worm drop shot.
    City: San Jose

    Tips: this year I have found Watermellon in any type of plastic works good with the clearer water, last year margareta mutilator worked better for me in the more stained water. If you fish at night fish off shore rock in the moon light, the shaded areas at night did not produce as well as the moonlit areas. Also, watermellon worked better at night than black or brown, those fish can really see at night.

Sunday, August 26th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 77

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Well.....My pattern didnt hold up. I had been throwing a swim bait in 2 different colors and real getting at em for a few weeks including bunch a 4's and 5's, 2-7's a 9.5. Today fished the WRL with my 8 year old daughter. She got big fish of 2.5 and broke off a 5 at the boat with net in my hand. She was drop shottin a worm. I got one swimbait fish and one droppin.3 fish ..... 3 fish. All my spots still had fish but the water had cleared up so much you could see everything. And they could see me. Had 8lb fish follow me but not take it. FRUSTRATING. 20 - 25lbs the last 2 weeks and Today we couldnt get a limit. At least I had a great time hanging out fishing with my daughter Michaela. Thanks.
    City: Petaluma

    Tips: ask the guys who won.....

Friday, August 24th, 2007

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    Water Temp: high 70's

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: If vaughn's email was a rebuttal to the previous guided trip trip, its understandable to me as a friend and I hired him many years ago and I never seen a guide worked so hard at catching fish for himself.There were also a few other things that made us decide we would never use him again.
    Anyways on to clear lake fishing. Fished for a couple of days and found it tough. Usually after a day, something start to makes sense, but couldn't figure anything out. Among the few numbers I boated a few of them looked to be post spawn. Big heads and little bodies. I know August seems way too late for that, but that would explain the tough bite. Talked to some others who caught bigger fish than I, but they also said there weren't many bites. Fished mostly the rattlesnake arm and enjoyed good weather. Ventured up to Lakeport and couldn't believed how far the weeds and mats extend out from shore. Limit Out tackle store said there was a good frog bite in the afternoon, but where do you start?
    City: orinda

    Tips: Wished I had some, but I don't. I'm hoping the fish will start feeding again, but right now they are not their usually aggressive selves.

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

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    Water Temp: 76

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Everybody I talk to says the bite has slowed. And it has, but some bigger fish have been on for me. New PB, 25lb limit with a 7lb kicker that just spawned out. skinny. HUGE head and mouth. If she was healthy she would have been over 10. Got a couple 4's that should have been 3's, but they were full!! Lately makes up for all the days everybody else gets em and I get a bunch of minnows.

    Tips: Not til after the weekend tourneys.

Sunday, August 19th, 2007

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished on Sunday after a slow guided trip on Sat. We found them yesterday on rock walls with 15 fish to the boat in 2hrs (even with sideways hooksets") and not being a graduate of "hook-set university". Rocks were the key 10-15ft in the AM in shaded areas- plastics on stand-up jig heads were key.
    City: Roseville

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    Water Temp: 74

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fought the elements again Sat (wind) trying to teach clients new spots and help them catch bass. At least the wind let up a little after 12 noon. We fished the Clear Lake arm mostly and found a few areas to tuck away a bit. The problem with wind is that it really concentrates the boats - slowing the bite some. We got a few 2 pounders in the boat on Yamamoto Kreature baits, though we should have had many more. I suggested that one of my clients attend a hook-setting school at Westernbass University - whereever that is!!!!! He missed fish after fish - including a near 5 pounder in the afternoon in which his hookset hit me in the belly. I tried to get out of the way but diving in the water was the only option and I passed on that! I again gently (I think!) advised against a sideways hookset! Overhead - into the body hooksets are best - and guides will remain nice guys!!!! He did land a nice 3 1/2 pounder shortly before and his partner also lost a nice bass near the boat - 3 1/2 to 4 lbs. About 10 am, on a green pumpkin 8" worm, I stuck a typical summer fish I thought. She was a little better than that - a little over 5 lbs. In fact, green pumpkin became the best color for most of the plastics we threw. Several bass were caught from 17 to 25 feet deep. Though our numbers wern't very good and we had a possibility of maybe a 20 lb limit, we settled for a 16-17 lb limit and hopefully some help on fishing skills and reading structure for the clients.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: It is had to evaluate a trip like this as clients sometimes are very excited and maybe on edge when fishing with a guide. Sometimes their skills arn-t up to normal and I try never to be hard on anyone - though the jokes will fly!!!! I really felt the amazing drop in water temp and recent movements of the bass have taken a toll on the bite. As demonstrated in the last report, someone always gets into them at Clear Lake and that's what helps make it a great lake. One should be willing to adjust more these days and never give up! The bass are still there - and the shad are getting to the eatin' size!!

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    Water Temp: 72

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Folsom Bass fished. 22 boats of eager fisherman.Blast off safe lite great expectations.Vern my draw for the day and I headed off to some deep docks out of the wind. We had a nice limit by 7:30. Jumper around looking for rock piles but they all had a boat on the good ones. Picked up a 5+ lber on Rattlesnake . The bite for me was throw it out and don't move it.We came in with 15 1/2 lbs. Count to 10 and lift slow. They would be there like spotted bass. The winning weight was 31 lbs by a team that drop shotted there limit???? They should ban drop shotting on clear lake. It's a power lake? Sat Bonner got a 10+ on a spinner bait for a real nice check. It was the Elk Grove tournament. Winners had 20 lbs. Sat was very windy again. 20+ mph. Yet they were skiing behind race boats at 70+mph right in front of the red budd ramp? How crazy can you be.
    City: orangevale

    Tips: Throw everything at them. wake baits, frogs, spooks, fish whatever you enjoy and hang on. I like tubes and jigs. They both worked for me. Red craw worms drop shot worked for the winners.Frogs were working saturday but not sunday? Call bob at limit out tackle for current info. Water temp is going down already? Lake level is about bottomed out.The algie bloom isn't quite as bad but the wind and cold weather help there. Felt funny wearing heavy jacket on clear lake in Aug?

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: My buddy and i are heading down to clear lake tthis thursday and we are wondering how the bite has been? There hasn't been as many reports on here as usual. How about the night bite? I heard it as pretty good a couple of weeks ago. We are thinking the night bite should be pretty good withe the full moon coming up this weekend. Are there any big fish being caught anymore? I have fished down there for a few years now, and any information would be great. What end of the lake should we fish, North or South and if its not to much to ask what type of structure should we look for? Rocks, docks, pads, etc?
    City: medford

    Tips: Thanks for any help we appreciate it.

Thursday, August 16th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 74

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Took a rare day off from work Thursday and hit Clear Lake at first light. Was very windy at Red Bud. Kept my fingers crossed hoping the wind wouldn't get much worse. Oh well, by 10am the main body wasn't safe to travel on, even on a 21 footer. Been to the lake on many windy days, but not this bad. Maybe should have packed up and relaunched up north? Did manage to catch about 15 fish by 10am. Nothing bigger than 3lbs. Senkos in green pumpkin variety worked well. Had 2 nice strikes on swim baits; saw each of the 2 fish come to the top a spit the bait back out. Seems they were hitting it short; just grabbing the tail.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: If Red Bud is super windy consider launching in the north end.

Monday, August 13th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 73-79

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Being a guide on Lake Oroville, I've met a lot of great clients and made a lot of friends. I was really excited to have two of them ask me to guide them on Clear Lake on Monday. We went out at Red Bud and went to the tules by Indian Is. to throw some spooks. With no luck there I tooked them to the Pirates Cove area to throw senkos off the deep docks. It did not take long before they were into the bass. The morning bite slowed at noon and the winds also picked up so we went Anderson Is. and the Glendhaven area to throw crank baits and lipless crank baits on the flats up to the drop offs. They picked up 6 more nice bass before it was time to head home. They ended up with 27 bass with a 6+ a 5+ and many 4lb bass the best five went around 23 lbs.
    City: Paradise

    Tips: We used senkos in many colores, water melon, pumpkin,blake with red flake were the most productive. We targeted the deeper docks.

Saturday, August 11th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 76-80

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: As some have mentioned, the bite has slowed a bit and I feel that the bass are moving, possibly because of slowly dropping water level. Wed night a husband/wife team did ok - she caught 3 before dark and he and I caught a few too. i got another on a #128 ripbait. After dark the bite was good after the first hour and for the next 2 or 3 hours and then slowed. I landed a 5 1/2 on a jig near Frasier Point and he lost his big bass a little while later in Honeymoon Cove. I had him throwing a Yamamoto Kreature bait which he threw very shallow and got nailed! She jumped and that was it - maybe 4 1-2 to 6 lbs. Darn! They missed a lot of bass that just wern't taking the baits very well. We did end up with some nice bass however for over 21 lbs for the 5 biggest. Friday was the same story, but for a different reason. I had two nice guys wanting to learn the lake better. They learned a lot about the south end (out of Red Bud) and I HOPE something about equipment. One of the fellows brought two or three trout rods - one was a step above a "Snoopy" rod!! Needless to say we had mid-air releases one after the other! With my G. Loomis rods - I didn't do much better! I lost two good ones and they did too. The bite was good however on black/blue jigs and Kreature baits, along with junebug worms. #301 Senkos caught their share. We didn't land any quality bass but caught quite a few. They promised me they will be looking at some bass rod catalogs soon!!!!!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: The water is finally getting some color - even in the south end. This is about 2 months late. The all day and all night bite seems to be changing to the more typcial summer bite - early, late, and 1 to 4 hours after dark. I think we are all having an interesting year trying to figure everything out. I think I noticed that most of the tournament boats that came south on Friday in the morning did not return in the afternoon. Maybe the bite up north was better.

Friday, August 10th, 2007

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the south end of the lake Thursday from 5:30 am till 12:00 pm. Caught 20 plus bass up to five pounds. The bite and size had slowed down from last week. Caught well over 40 fish with five fish around five pounds last week. The larger fish this week came on flukes around shallow weed beds. Sure is fun seeing those large fish shoot out of the weeds to take the fluke. Most of the other fish came shallow on a dropshot rig with MM III Robo worms. Last week I caught most of the fish at the deep end of docks. They didn't seem to be there this week. Clear Lake is a great bass fishery. It's rough when 20 fish a day feels like a let down.
    City: Rancho Cordova

    Tips: Keep moving till you find the fish. They seem to be moving around. Also, the water level is dropping so watch for shallow rocks.

Tuesday, August 7th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 72-78

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Finally....I broke out of my 2-3lb pattern. Nailed a 7.4 and a 9.5 on a swimbait. Fished South end. Saw and lost other "Big fish" Got a few small frog fiah and a jig and senko fish and a few more on the swimbait. Felt like spring with the swimbait action hot. Finished at noon with 25lbs. personal best. Would have been a bigger sac but 3 of the fish were under 3lbs. I take a near 10lber any day!!!! Thanks
    City: Petaluma

    Tips: I went back to my favorite swimbait in a new color and ...wow...it worked.

Monday, August 6th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 76-78

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I guess this was the most amazing August morning I have ever seen at Clear Lake in over 30 years - chilly and high fog all over the lake - BUT - no wind!! And, NO carp rolling - they are shivering somewhere! I took a father-son from Southern Cal for their first visit to the lake. I had the 13 year old using a junebug 8' worm and he put the first 4 in the boat. Dad waited for the right moment and nailed his first Clear Lake bass - 5 lbs 9 oz in deep water at Sea Breeze. I had him using a black/blue Yamamoto Kreature bait. We fished rock piles and rocky banks down south for 23 bass and a 21 1/4 lb limit. The young man landed 8 bass on his first formal bass trip! Dad landed another nice one at noon, 4 lbs 10 oz. When the sun did come out around 11 am, the bite really slowed for awhile. I imagine the weather has really got the bass confused this year!! I took a husband/wife from the Chicago area on Sat and found the bite to be off a bit, landing only 18 bass. Bass boats everywhere! We did land 2 over 5 lbs and lost 2 good ones. He spent much of the day rippin' his Rapala lure but it only produced 2 or 3 bass for him. The Yamamoto Kreature bait was again the top bass catcher but Senkos were working well also. Once he gave up on his rip bait and switched to the Kreature, he was hooked and made a quick run to Limit Out tackle after out trip to get some to show the bass in Chicago! The jig bite has slowed a bit but is still good.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I decided to try rippin' my Lucky Craft 128 hitch colored bait during todays cloudy morning and had the 2 best bites - they nailed it, a 2 1/4 and one nearly 4 lbs. Both trips featured a huge bass following a hooked bass right up to the net. I actually made a swipe at a 7 or 8 pounder with the net - just missed her. Late spawn? Amazing! I have noticed that some schools of bass that have been in place for some time seemed to have moved and concentrations of bass seem to be a little more difficult to locate - at least in the south end. Black, blue, and purple (junebug) in various combinations still seem to be the favored colors. My favorite brown/orange seems to be out of favor right now. That has got to change!! Best depth for us seems to be 13 to 18 feet. The water is trying to take on some color (and smell!), especially in the Rattlesnake arm.