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Monday, April 30th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Made it back up for a morning session (7am -noon) and got some good fish. Mainly getting ready for a team tourney this weekend. Was good to not be a back seat nobody. But I will fish a backseat Touney again. I will have a different frame of mind going into it. Alot of fish on beds now and saw some BIG monsters. Anybody fishing the Future Pro Tour or Anglers Team this weekend? Good Luck
    City: Petaluma

    Tips: Fish Clear Lake.

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    Water Temp: 67

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Decided to fish the rattlesnake arm today with the wife.We droped the dingy in at clo park around noon and found out my old merc diddent want to fire!That diddent stop us,I dropped the troling motor and headed for the Keys,proceded to stroke about thirty or so rippin a pointer sp outside the bridge and honney stuck a nice brushhog fish.headed inside and broke out the flippin stick and was greeted by a solid 4 on the first pitch.we cruised around for a while and stuck a few clones hear and there,then we came up on a deep dock with lots of shade and all hell broke loose!I approched with my ds rod and flipped a piling,and got bit before it hit bottom,set the hook on her and she started taking drag right away,loosend up and fought for about five minutes she jumped right at the boat like 3 times and finnally busted me off!At the very least 8 pounds.so I cussed for a while,got my 6 inch robo back in the water and stuck a 4+,a five even,and two more four pounders off the same dock! the ol lady also had a 4+ on but she got wraped around the motor and spit it.Concentrated on deep shady spots for the rest of the day and had a blast catching a boat load of nice fish to 4 pounds on hogs and dropshoting big worms,diddent even need the big motor!What a bucket-mouth factory we have!!!
    City: lower lake

    Tips: focous on staging areas with good shade and you wont be disipointed

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    Water Temp: 64-66

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: So, how is the night fishing you ask? Well, ok but not great yet! I know because I guided a dad and his very talented 12 year old son. This young man is a future pro if I have even seen one! And could he cast!! They fish seriously in their 521 Ranger but don't do tournaments - yet. We started north of Konocti Resort with topwater - spooks and Chug Bugs. I was using the frog colored one that worked so well at Berryessa (see report) and a 5 1/4 ate it. I immediately gave it to the boy and I switched to another color. He had a couple of blowups on it and landed one or two. He blew a good one - jerked too soon. They did not seem to want the spook but several hit the chug bugs. Only 3 or 4 in the boat before dark. After dark the bite was excellent but only for bass up to 4 lbs. Did not hook a monster except near the end of the trip. Dad lost it in a piling. It was fun watching father and son compete - I'm not sure who won - one had 11 bass and the other 10 bass. The guide mustered 7 for a total of 28 and limit about 20 lbs. The bite really never slowed down, but most must have been males guarding nests - can't tell at night. Night fishing is still an honest sport - you can't see them!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: After dark we used Texas rigged Berkley Power worms and some dead ringers. Junebug was the best color by far - outproduced black. Most of our bites were very shallow, not much below 10 feet. Rocks and docks were areas we found bass - not many around tules.

Sunday, April 29th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 64-68

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Clearlake keeps kicking out fish. We picked up 16 bass. Considering there was an FLW Tournament on the lake Thur-Fri-Sat with 168 boats and there were a couple of local tournaments on Sunday I consider we did pretty good. There were times I could see and count a dozen boats fishing.

    We caught a few fish on drop shots, a few on senkos, a few flipping jig with a trailer. A few in the canals, a few on docks and a few on rock. One fish was 4 lbs and a ounce, two or three that were in the 3 lb range and the rest were all small. I wanted something much larger and I landed everything I hooked I just didn't get any big bites. The fish all appeared to be prespawn and the bite was very light either the bait would stop falling or I would go to pick it up and there would be pressure and I'd set the hook.
    City: Benicia

    Tips: Drop shot MMIII, white and black senkos, and flipping with jigs are all working. Very light bite, watch your line.

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Hi Mike from Petaluma, Im sorry you had a bad day fishing, if there is such a thing. At least your family was there. Try to remember that this is a family site when choosing your words.

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 61

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: On the water around 6:15 out of Clear Lakes Oaks and immediately started cranking along the walls and 2nd cast 4 pounder, 4 cast anoter 4 pounder, 3 or 4 cast last another solid 3 plus then I lost the crank bait tryied others with some results but just not the same. Color does matter!
    used jerk baits as well with some results then switched up to jig and stayed with that patter all day with a total of at least 50 fish and I was off the water by 3. I feel it could have been a 100 fish day if I would have stayed until dark. Mainly worked south end and the narrows. A lot of success working that jig slow. Biggest fish of the day 5.03 with at least 20 4-5 pounds and the rest between 3 & 4 pounds with out 1 under 2.5 and only a hand full that went between 2.5 and 3. What a great fishery!
    City: Lincoln

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    Water Temp: 57-61

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: The water is starting to green up with this warm weather. Basin BassMasters was on the water for the third tournament launching out of RedBud. The weather was good so Dennie and I headed up north hitting the tule banks looking for some beds. Using drop shot, split shot and shakey jigs to most of our 16 + pounds. The winners five bass was 27 + pounds working the beds also. You will find that most of the bass are 2 pounds and you should not have any problem getting a limit. Crippe is eveywhere and so are the carp.
    City: Rocklin

    Tips: work the beds and or stay back so you will not spook them in the clear waters

Friday, April 27th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 67-72

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: the fishing was very good again in 1.5 days two in the boat we got 90 bass best around 7lbs one 5 lbs a few 4lbrs and lots of 2&3lbrs what an awesome lake when things are right.fished with big wayne for the first time looking foward to many more trips.
    City: sac

    Tips: BLACK SENKOS,BLACK SENKOS,BLACK SENKOS&DID I MENTION BLACK SENKOS.

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    Water Temp: 60+

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Just got back from the FWL tour. Fist tournement since High School. I was back seat and boy was I backseat on the last day. First day got 12lbs. Second day my Pros lower unit blow up in the first 5 minutes. So we trolling motered bac k to Konocti and I got 15lbs.
    we made a decent day of a bad one. But he did bed fish a litle leaving me hanging..... The last day I got a lousy 10lbs and was lucky to get that cause we we flippin in Cache creek all day and the proI had that day would flip in evey hole first the yell net (even if the fish was 2 lbs)then he would float off the spot while he weighed and put his fish away and rerigged his line, totally F*cking me. so I spent most of the AM dealing with this. I was ready to jump in and swim back to Konocti. Any hope of qualifying for top 10 was history. FRUSTRATING. I am gong back Monday to fish FOR FUN!!!! I miss being in control of my fishing destiny in my Ranger. Even if it is an 1983 373V. Its fast and does what I want. My family was with me all 3 days so that made it worth it. My 4 and 7 year old got on stage with me the last day. Cool.
    City: Petaluma

    Tips: Stay away from back seats in big tounements. Or just pray you dont get a Pro who doesnt give a F*ck about you in the back.

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 55-63

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I fished the recent FLW Stren series at Clear Lake as a co-angler. I had a great time, caught quite a few fish and met a few fellow nutcases from this site. Overall I finished very poorly (128/189) as I missed several key bites that would have helped me greatly. I thought the tournament was very organized and very well run. My day 1 pro was a very nice fisherman from AZ. We fished the Red Bud arm targeting rocks and docks and suspended fish (BIG, BIG fish too). Overall I ended up catching about 10 fish on the shakey head worm weighing in 5 that went just over 11 lbs. My big fish bite for the day was a 4-6lb fish that spit the shakey head on its 2nd jump. Shoot. My day 2 pro was a very patient, shakey head fisherman from WI. We spent the day mainly fishing the shaky head worm in the south lake. I didn't land many fish this day. I did however catch a nice, fat 4-14 on a Basstrix minnow skipped under a dock. Unfortunately this
    turned out to be my biggest fish landed for the entire tournament. Ten minutes before we were due to check-in I hooked a GIANT in the tules
    south of Fraser point (possibly approaching a PB size) on the Basstrix minnow, but this fish also spit the hook after a brief fight. I got a decent look at the fish, enough to make me just about break down and cry. Shoot. My best 5 on this day tipped the scales at just over 13 lbs. My day 3 pro was a fisherman from SoCal and he was AWESOME. I had an excellent, excellent time fishing with this pro, learned a lot, lost a few more big fish (uggh) and got a nice and very much appreciated, up close and personal lesson in flipping heavy cover for monster fish. Was funny as heck too as I really cannot say I've flipped much before and whenever my pro would set the hook on a fish in the heavy cover it was like a bomb went off in the front of the boat; tules, sticks and weeds flying everywhere and here comes a fish rocketing into the boat. In all honesty the first few times this occured it scared the bejesus out of me. Funny indeed. I was able to catch 3 nice fish behind the pro drop shotting a MMII fat worm while he was flipping. Earlier in the day I caught a small 2.5
    on the Basstrix (one good thing about this tournament is I now have a ton of confidence in this bait) lost about a 3.5-4 on the Basstrix
    minnow and then lost a decent fish (I would guess over 5 but I never saw it) on the shakey head worm (Shoot). I also lost a nice 3.5+ on a
    spinnerbait early in the afternoon. We spent the morning fishing the south lake and flipping in Cache Creek. The afternoon was spent sight fishing and throwing frogs in the north end of the lake. My pro caught several fish on the frog, but again nothing over 4.5 lbs. Bummer.
    I took my 5th and final fish on the drop shot and ended the day with a small 12lb limit. I ended the tournament with just over 37lbs and felt I could have ended closer to 47 or 50 if I could have landed a few key bites. Overall it was an excellent experience for my 2nd tournament ever and it got me quite pumped to fish the FLW NG at Clear Lake this coming October. For now back to fun fishing at one of the world's best bass fisheries.
    City: Petaluma, CA

    Tips: Get out and fish. MMII worms, Basstrix 6" Paddletail swimbaits, shakey head worm in watermelon and MMII colors.

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    Water Temp: 61

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Wow was it windy...started out of Red Bud but way to windy so I found some sheltered areas and managed 20-25 bass with most between 3 and 4 pounds with a 5.14 kicker. It was the first day of the Stren tournament and with that came several Stren teams that would pull right up on my boat less than 20 feet at times (unreal) 19 miles of lake and they have to sniff my behind. I took down a couple of hull #'s and I hope to report them and with any luck they will be DQ'd.
    Water very rough all day and while coming back must have speard at least 8 waves. Fishing was still very good to say the least. All my fish came off of jigs 3/8 oz brown head with 5" DT 221 hula grub.
    City: Lincoln

    Tips: Bring extra clothes when it's windy like that becasue you will get wet.

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Hammer,
    I dont remember the post, but if so I apoligize to you. I dont expect everyone to give up everything. I know what its like to spend countless hours on my home lakes. Just looking for some good starting technices to get started.

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Hammer,
    I dont remember the post, but if so I apoligize to you. I dont expect everyone to give up everything. I know what its like to spend countless hours on my home lakes. Just looking for some good starting technices to get started.

Monday, April 23rd, 2007

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: N2FSHIN
    Do you remember what I said in that post. Well, that's what you did and you did well. You can't rely on other people to catch fish, especially if you are spending a few days on a lake. Just go figure it out like you did. You shouldn't complain that people weren't readily willing to give up their information that they spend hours on the water to get!
    City: Lower Lake

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    Water Temp: 58-59

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I had the privledge of guiding a husband/wife on their 34th anniversary today - yes today - on a Monday! I can't remember the last time I guided Clear Lake on a Monday - and a post-front day to boot! They are local and wanted to learn more ways to approach the bass fishery - new techniques, areas, etc! I think we accomplished a lot and even caught a bunch of bass - 22 to be exact! They caught most of them. We had a good morning bite, a DEAD midday, and a decent 2 to 3:30 pm bite including hubby's bass - biggest of the day at about 5 lbs. She even caught one over 4. We had a nice limit of 21+ lbs. We stayed in the Rattlesnake arm.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I hate to disappoint my future client - two posts down - but as is my policy before big tournaments - I usually don't say much so as to be fair to everyone. I'll make it up to him in May! We did notice the bass seemed to be bunched up in certain areas and were deeper than normal - which should not be a surprise considering the lastest weather. That is likely to change very quickly! Good luck to all the anglers and I hope you don't pass out when you see your boat gas bill!!!

  • By

    Water Temp: 57-60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Well, I would also like to thank all the big dogs on the help I got when I asked for some tips for the first timer to Clear Lake. I got NONE. What are you guys worried about??? I showed up with no info Wed 4-18 Pm and launched at 6:30am on 4-19 it was overcast and not much wind but cool. We started throwing white flukes around Reeves Point and loaded up on fish to 5lbs mostly pre spawn females with a few bucks in the mix. Then we went down to the State Park area also catching Fluke fish by the numbers. We also caught alot of fish with gold and white 3/8 spinner baits with gold willows and Lucky Craft 350 in american shad. No need to list all the days we fished because it was the same for us all week. Did not matter if it was overcast, rain or wind. The areas we fished are as follows. Anderson Island ( all the way around it) Weekend Island, Konocti Bay, Berger Bay and Leubow Point. All our fish came off tules and brush. We thru up tigh and the bite would vary from the first crank of the reel to right at the boat. During those days of fishing our best was 9.80 and a zillion fish in the 3 to 5lb class. Thanks for NOT giving info because we probably would not have done as well as we did.

    Tips: On a lake Like Clear Lake in the spring dont even bother asking for help. We probably fished during the worst time (weather) and did awsome!! I could only imagine what it would be like without the cold front that came thru.

Sunday, April 22nd, 2007

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    Water Temp: 57

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Was it windy out there today, man oh man it was BIGTIME. I was able to scratch out 22 fish in between the swells and rain showers. The majority of my fish were taken around Buckingham and Anderson Island when I could hold the boat in position long enough to actually fish. I also caught a number of fish in the south lake just south of Windmill point. All fish were taken on the shakey head worm and they were all pretty small, the largest was just over 4lbs, best 5 went 12.5.
    City: Petaluma, CA

Saturday, April 21st, 2007

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    Water Temp: 60

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I would like to thank everyone for the help I recived from my 4/16 post for help.I fished three days the fishing was great I caught them on-----and fished at------and the -----stucture held most of the big fish!for 5 fish to 35lbs,every day but Wed.

    Tips: Next time give to recive!

Friday, April 20th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I really enjoyed a nice Clear Lake trip on Friday - though it started a little rough. I rigged grandpa up with a brush hog and as I am getting grandson ready, I hear a big bass jump and our senior client has already lost the first of the day on the first cast! Maybe that was a good thing since the day turned out well. That bass seemed around 5 to 6 lbs or more. We fished areas around the lower Rattlesnake arm and I was very pleased as they caught and lost bass after bass. After 19 in the boat, I decided to show them the keys since it was quite rough on the main body. They caught 3 more using hogs and spinnerbaits. I decided to try the Basstrix blue/chartreuse minnow rigged on a Blade Runner swim/spin - throwing it in the middle of the channel. Soon, it just stopped - I set - and the fun began. She was about 7 lbs of fun - at 3 pm after probably 50 boats had gone through! Amazing!! She had not spawned yet. That gave us a limit of 22-23 lbs.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Green pumpkin worms and brush hogs were pleasing to the bass on Friday - at least for us. Watermelon/red-flake was good too. I tried cranking quite a bit but no takers. Swimbaits didn't work for us either until the big one - but the morning was quite chilly. Don't know if that mattered or not. We had to slow down our presentations - with frequent pauses, to get the bass to commit. Most of our quality bass came off-shore on some type of rocky structure or irregular bottom. Ledges produced very well but you have to hunt for them. Not a lot of bass on the bank. Next week's warm weather should get them on the bank again - at least the pre-spawn bass. The next big tourney (FLW) will probably hit the lake just at the right time just like the Elite Series. Don't forget to dodge the boats carefully next week!!

Thursday, April 19th, 2007

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    Water Temp: 55

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Since my boat is in the "boat hospital" for a lower unit transplant my ole buddy Fred P invited me for a day at beautiful Clearlake. Must say that we were expecting some rain but it never happened and it was overcast all day and the bite was on. Fished the south today and the first fish was on a brown/orange jig for 5.3 and it only got better as the day progressed. Didn't seem to matter what color plastic you threw, they were eating it and most were pre spawn females with a buck thrown in here and there. Best 5 for the day topped 29 lbs.
    City: Wheatland

    Tips: Since the temp has dropped it appears they have moved out a little more and most were caught in 10-15' using Sweet Beavers, Jigs, Brushhogs and Senkos. Slow down your presentation as a lot of the bites were undetectable until you felt your rod tip start to load up. Used dark and light colors so take your pick and throw it. Go and have a ball. Fred did get the biggest today which was 8.5 lbs but they were all fiesty!