Clear Lake and Reports

Tuesday, July 25th, 2006

• By Gary Ritter

  Water Temp: 75-78

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Fished clear lake from the 10th to the 17ty and fishing was Great if your looking for the numbers. Solid bass numbers on everything we threw,except for topwarer that was sporadic. Great spinnerbait bite in the a.m. where it was rocky or cocncrete walls in one spot alone made 35 cast and cast and caught 24 fish, had to start counting after I caught five in a row..incredible and they werent bad fish alot of 3- 4 pounders in the group. just alot of fun. didn't keep track of 5 fish totals, caught several fairly nice bass around anderson island, weekend island,a 6 a 7.4 a 9.3 and a 12.8 a weapon jig to the biggest with a twin tail grub, and caught on three different days. everything we threw they bit it was a great vacation with and easy 500 fish in a weeks time, all caught and released. biggest suprise to me was that my wife caught a 3 pound smallmouth. Yeah I aint kiddin 79 degree water are you kidding me. this was our second time here and I'm sure we got spoiled by the good fishing ...Have fun...stay hydrated cuz its HOTTT!!
  City: Topaz Lake

Saturday, July 22nd, 2006

• By Pat

  Water Temp: 85+

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Thanks to my friend Len (aka BassLab) we braved the 107 degree temperatures to fish Clear Lake. It was worth it! We put about 40 fish in the boat by 1:30 and then gave in to the big red ball. The run back to the ramp felt like a drive through a blast furnace! Our best pattern was ledges near rock using brown/orange 3/8 oz jigs. We also flipped a number of fish using junebug gatordogs/brushhogs. We had a few fish on other baits including a buzzbait, chatterbait and crank. No real big fish, biggest about 4.5 with several solids 3+. Out best 5 would be close to 16 pounds. Good luck to the Ralliers, catching fish should not be a problem!
  
  Pat
  City: Marysville

  Tips: 3/8 oz jigs brown orange with 180 grub on rock ledges. Flipping Tules with 4-5 ft of water on them. There is construction on Highway 20, could have 30 minute delays. This will last a while.

Friday, July 21st, 2006

• By David Rogers

  Water Temp: 85-95

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: Yes the water was 95 deg in Jago bay, it literally burned your skin when you got in off the bank! you had to go out about 30 yards and go down 10 feet to get to 85 deg water. We fished 3 days and had to swim about every other hour or pass out. Caught between 15-25 fish per day to 4.5lbs well my partner did not land the 4.5 but he winked at us as he spit a beautiful black and blue jig at us!! The funny thing was the hotter it got the hotter the bite! when we left Sunday at 6:30 the fish were eating the prop off my boat, I had 4 fish in 5 casts.
  City: San Jose

  Tips: The tournament winner had 26 lbs with a 7.6 biggest fish on a brown jig, he caught all his fish on jigs, his name is Jeff and he ownes the new tackle shop at Red Bud. You had to be carefull what color you tossed, it had to be blue or black or red or purple or brown or green, do you get the hint? it did not matter, worm, jig, drop shot, dart head, Texas rig, carolina rig. Bring your kids with a drop shot with a 4 or 6 inch MM II robo worm and they will have a ball. the cool thing about a drop shot rig is the fish never swallow the hook so the fish never get killed. God bless and catch and release for the future of bass fishing and our little ones that will want to bring their kids fishing in the future.

Monday, July 17th, 2006

• By Big Rick KFOG

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Heard the bite was on so I had to get up to the lake and give it a go. I called my buddy Rob, a middle school teacher in Pleasanton, with summers off... and told him the bite was supposed to be "anything almost anywhere" hmm that seemed too good to be true..........Friday I went to the Outdoor Pro Shop in Oakland to buy some deep water cranks, lipless cranks, and some other gear. It is summer of course and there was at least 1 tournament on the water Sunday. The lake was busy..........After we launched at Redbud about 8:30 am we headed up past the Narrows to Shag Rock. There were 3 boats on the area so we went up past it a little and fished the beach just above. Lots of snags on the crank baits and no fish for us there..........We moved a few times and tried a few places between Shag Rock and Soda Bay. There weren't many open spots, every point and rocky section had boats. Didn't see many boats catching fish, it looked like a mix of crankbaits and heavy plastics being used. The boats came and went pretty quick..........We weren't having a wide open bite but were doing ok. When we stopped at Ferndale Resort for fuel (nice price and easy to use) my buddy and I asked each other "why aren't we dropshotting?" The answer? I guess we were determined to get fish on Senkos or cranks or anything else..........So after getting gas we rigged a pretied dropshot rig on one rod, I put an EWG worm hook and a green pumplin Senko on another and at about 11 am we headed to a rocky shoreline above Shag. Right off my buddy catches a fish on a Margarita Mutilator Roboworm. He had a smaller straight worm (4 1/2 I think) on a 2 hook. I got a couple on the Senko but was getting bit and outfished by 2 to 1..........So I grabbed a 1/0 dropshot hook, tied it on with a palomar knot, took the long tag end back into the eye of the hook and added a dropshot weight about 6 inches below the hook. With a larger hook I used a fatter Margarita Mutilator (fat straight tail 6 inch) and started to even the score..........We worked the same areas we tried earlier in the day and caught fish where we had been shut out a few hours earlier. It wasn't wide open crazy, but steady. We got back to Shag Rock and caught fish about 50 feet off the shore from the beach just above it. Lots of snags in there and we bumped a rock. There is a lot of cover there out way farther than you might think. As the lake draws down you'll see it..........About 12 noon we picked up and headed back with a quick stop at the "Shoal" marker at the Narrows. I got one more there but that was all. It was getting hot and we had to head back, so that was it..........Probably 15 fish in 3 1/2 hours biggest was close to 4 best 5 maybe 12 to 14. Seeing the results of the tournament guys that day, 14#'s is ok for the day..........Smallest was about 4 inches. Really. The Roboworm was longer. I think we have a picture, I'll post when I get it.
  City: Oakland/Clearlake

  Tips: I should have:.........1) Fished the Clearlake arm to start. Saw lots of boats headed that way as I was headed north in the am..........2) Drop shotted earlier..........One day I will post a Clear Lake report where I catch fish on something other than a Margarita Mutilator on a drop shot rig!

Sunday, July 16th, 2006

• By miklanderson

  Water Temp: warm

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: I started off the day wondering why the heck I even bother going fishing...I got to the storage yard to find out that the guy next to me had unplugged my boat from the electrical hookup to plug his in. I wasnt sure if I had enough juice in the batteries to make the trip worthwhile but decided to chance it. Then about 10 miles down the road my GF noticed that the trailer tire on the drivers side had a huge bubble in it so we had to stop and change out the tire.
  
  We finally got to Clear Lake and stopped in at Lakeshore Bait and tackle for a few minutes to chat with Bob...He confirmed what I was hoping to hear. The fishing is HOT...
  
  We headed out onto the lake and went straight to one of our favorite spots. A nice shoreline covered with tules and plenty of docks. After a couple of casts, I stuck a nice 2 pounder on a Yammi Kreature. A couple of casts later Wes sticks a 3 pounder on a watermelon seed brush hog. I stick another 3.5, then my brother Wes sticks another 2 pounder. Rashelle finally hooks up and puts a nice 3 pounder in the boat. I cast to a shadow made by a dock piling, reel up the slack and feel....TICK, TICK. I set the hook on the big fish of the day...5.7 pounds. Next cast to the same spot and I hooked another fish that was as big if not bigger. It came off right at the boat but at least I got to see it.
  
  The action slowed down a little so we headed to a rockpile across the lake. We started picking up a few smaller fish dropshotting and then I set the hook on something HUGE. Figures I'd hook a monster on the only pole in the boat I've got 8 pound test. I fought it for about 10 minutes and couldnt get it to budge. I slowly fought it up to the boat and right when we were about to see what the heck this monster was, the dropshot hook popped out of it's mouth...Oh well, you win some and lose some...I'm betting this was a huge catfish. IF it was a bass it would have been a new record...
  
  We went to grab some lunch and then hit one more spot and decided to call it a day because the heat was getting unbearable...Totals for the day were 14 fish for me, 5 for Rashelle, and 4 for Wes. If we would have stayed until the evening bite we probably could have doubled the numbers. It didnt seem to matter where we went or what we through, we caught fish. The average fish was 2.5 to 3.5 pounds. Man, I wish this lake was a little closer to home.
  City: Fremont

  Tips: It didnt seem to matter what we threw...I started the day throwing Kreatures and caught fish on them. I also dropshotted MMIII Roboworms and caught fish on them as well. We also picked up a few on watermelon seed brushhogs as well. Fish shallow early and deeper as it gets hotter...

• By miklanderson

  Water Temp: warm

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: I started off the day wondering why the heck I even bother going fishing...I got to the storage yard to find out that the guy next to me had unplugged my boat from the electrical hookup to plug his in. I wasnt sure if I had enough juice in the batteries to make the trip worthwhile but decided to chance it. Then about 10 miles down the road my GF noticed that the trailer tire on the drivers side had a huge bubble in it so we had to stop and change out the tire.
  
  We finally got to Clear Lake and stopped in at Lakeshore Bait and tackle for a few minutes to chat with Bob...He confirmed what I was hoping to hear. The fishing is HOT...
  
  We headed out onto the lake and went straight to one of our favorite spots. A nice shoreline covered with tules and plenty of docks. After a couple of casts, I stuck a nice 2 pounder on a Yammi Kreature. A couple of casts later Wes sticks a 3 pounder on a watermelon seed brush hog. I stick another 3.5, then my brother Wes sticks another 2 pounder. Rashelle finally hooks up and puts a nice 3 pounder in the boat. I cast to a shadow made by a dock piling, reel up the slack and feel....TICK, TICK. I set the hook on the big fish of the day...5.7 pounds. Next cast to the same spot and I hooked another fish that was as big if not bigger. It came off right at the boat but at least I got to see it.
  
  The action slowed down a little so we headed to a rockpile across the lake. We started picking up a few smaller fish dropshotting and then I set the hook on something HUGE. Figures I'd hook a monster on the only pole in the boat I've got 8 pound test. I fought it for about 10 minutes and couldnt get it to budge. I slowly fought it up to the boat and right when we were about to see what the heck this monster was, the dropshot hook popped out of it's mouth...Oh well, you win some and lose some...I'm betting this was a huge catfish. IF it was a bass it would have been a new record...
  
  We went to grab some lunch and then hit one more spot and decided to call it a day because the heat was getting unbearable...Totals for the day were 14 fish for me, 5 for Rashelle, and 4 for Wes. If we would have stayed until the evening bite we probably could have doubled the numbers. It didnt seem to matter where we went or what we through, we caught fish. The average fish was 2.5 to 3.5 pounds. Man, I wish this lake was a little closer to home.
  City: Fremont

  Tips: It didnt seem to matter what we threw...I started the day throwing Kreatures and caught fish on them. I also dropshotted MMIII Roboworms and caught fish on them as well. We also picked up a few on watermelon seed brushhogs as well. Fish shallow early and deeper as it gets hotter...

Thursday, July 13th, 2006

• By Larry Hemphill

  Water Temp: 74

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: I took my historical client (since 1984) to Clear Lake Wed for what I thought would be a banner trip. He has struggled in the past with his hookset. We fished near the entrance of the south keys and they were on! Several in the boat until the wind became serious, so we headed up to the Anderson Island area and fished some ledges and rockpiles. He was like a new man - landed most of what he hooked up to 3 1/4 lbs. I could tell that something was not right though as he had pretty serious stomach pains. We decided he better go in so we bounced our way back to the Oaks ramp. This is his second bout with this problem so he will be seeing a specialist. It would had been another terrific day I think, but we only had time to catch about 15. I spent a little time in the keys looking around and threw a frog some - but no action. Me thinks - need the hot weather for that bite. Fun day while it lasted!!!
  City: Yuba City

  Tips: The jig bite continues to amaze! And these are not subtle bites. The black/grape 7" Power worm and 8" Dead Ringer still are producing well. I caught 3 spinnerbait fish too (white/shartreuse). Just tick them over rocky areas - the bass are everywhere! There may still be bass in the tules (mid and south lake) because of the high water, but I am targeting off-shore areas - looking for better quality fish. Drop-shotting deep docks will get better and better as the water continues to warm up and the lake level drops little by little. Wherever you choose to fish, make sure there is deep water nearby. That goes for the north end too - a 3 or 4 foot drop will offer good sanctuary for larger bass.

Sunday, July 9th, 2006

• By Mike Halem

  Water Temp: warm

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Extemely choppy during the day which makes any type of fishing a challenge. It got smoother in the late afternoon to evening. I caught 7 bass between 4 and 7:00 PM. 6 were on a senco (no weight) and one on a large crank. All the fish averaged about 1 to 3lbs.
  
  The water was still quite green with lots of algae. Took the bass with the senco around the
  tall weeds at the shoreline.
  The crank took my largest fish with the strike at a rocky point.
  Interesting note: The week before I caught a 7lb
  catfish on a crankbait off some rocks. That really blew my mind. Is this common at Clear Lake to catch Catfish on a crank.
  I have never seen that before.
  City: Santa Rosa

  Tips: The heat is a killer. Get out early or late.
  Too hot during the day. 100 degrees (+-)

Saturday, July 8th, 2006

• By JB

  Water Temp: 75-76

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: WENT OUT AROUND 6AM WITH A LOCAL GUIDE OUT OF KNOCOTI RESORT, WE HEADED SOUTH TOWARDS LOWER LAKE. WE FISHED A ROCKY AREA AROUND SOME DOCKS. WE HAD 30 FISH IN THE BOAT, LARGEST 5LBS BY 7:30 AM AND LOST 10 BEFORE WE GOT THEM TO THE BOAT. WE WERE CRANKING AND DROP SHOTING BRUSHOGS. WE DIDN'T LEAVE THE SPOT TIL AROUND 9AM WITH A TOTAL OF 50 FISH IN THE BOAT. WE HEADED BACK TOWARD KNOCOTI AND HIT A ROCK PILE OFF OF A POINT. I HAD 10 FISH IN THE FIRST TEN CASTS. IN A HOUR WE GOT ANOTHER 30 FISH, BIGGEST BEING 4.5 LBS AND LOST 7 OR 8 MORE BEFORE WE GOT THEM TO THE BOAT. WE CONTINUED NORTH TOWARDS THE RESORT AND STOPPED AT A SMALL ISLAND, WE PICKET UP ANOTHER 20 OR SO FISH BY NOON. BEST DAY FISHING I EVER HAD. I CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK NEXT MONTH
  City: GILROY

  Tips: FIND ROCKS CLOSE TO DEEP WATER. DEEP CRANKBAITS AND DROP SHOTTING BRUSHOGS CLOSE TO THE BOTTOM WAS THE TRICK. EMAIL ME IF YOU WANT THE GUIDES INFO.

• By Larry Hemphill

  Water Temp: 72-76

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: Another "double-duty" day (or days) for me yesterday at Clear Lake - a day trip - rest and dinner - and a night trip! 25 hours total including travel - I'm resting today! Really, they are pretty easy for me when the clients are eager to learn and the fishing is good!! I hate to say this but the larger bass were more active during the day than at night - same thing at Amador last week! It kills me to say that!!! I would like to report that we caught 50 or 60 bass, but that doesn't always happen when one is guiding. The local client hadn't fished in a year and his buddy from Tennessee hadn't bass fished much. We still boated 30 bass. What was more impressive - I thought - was our 5 fish limit of nearly 25 lbs! I was showing them how to fish a rockpile near Rattlesnake Island - especially the deep-ledge side, and a 6 lb 3 oz bass had the nerve to take my brown/orange Rodstrainer jig, about 9 am. Imagine - when I am trying to teach, har!!! We never left the Oaks arm - fishing was that good. Unfortunately, the fellow from the east struggled with setting the hook but got better as the trip went on. He probably missed 20 fish. I think together they landed 21 of the 30. The jig bite was good for me so one of them wanted to fish a jig for the first time. We were in a rocky area near Windflower Point, but I rigged him up with the "Hemphill Special" anyway. Bingo - a 5 lb 10 oz bass said: "I'll take it"! Pretty good start to jig fishing? He caught several more too. The worm bite was good too, especially anything in black/grape. Green pumpkin was yesterday's news - not a hit on that color. No crank fish either. I think the water color favors darker colors now. Most of our bass were 7 to 18 feet deep and on off-shore structure. Summer is here!! I wondered if the day bite was that good - what was the night bite going to be like. I met another great client - eager to learn - at 7 pm and off we went. Sure enough, it was slow around the narrows though we got a few quality bass and thankfully he boated a 4 1/4 pounder before dark near Anderson Island. After dark, it was mostly school size bass - 2 to 3 1/2 lbs, though I got a bull of a bass at 5 lbs 7 oz. I never thought I would get her in! This client started slow too, but wound up doing well - lots of hookups and landed most of them. We wound up with 23 bass and a limit pushing 20 lbs. Interesting to note that the fish were more active (in dingy water) when the moon was up. After it set the bite died for us. About midnight we found one small point with an adjoining cove and the fish were stacked there. Because of the wind, we would drift through - hook 2 or 3 - move the boat upwind and start over. The best bite seemed to be about midnight. Brush hogs and Kreature baits seemed to out-produce worms, again, maybe because the crawdad population must be up this year.
  City: Yuba City

  Tips: I know I have mention in seminars and maybe on this forum that largemouth take the rap of not fighting like a smallie or a spotted bass - and there is some truth to that. However, I have also mentioned that a spawned-out female largemouth that has recovered and now feeding heavily will really impress you when on the end of your line. They are lean and mean!! Maybe because the water temp was perfect at Clear Lake yesterday, I really can't remember largemouth being more difficult to land. Regardless of the size, they would not give up! They are also slightly heavier for their size because of the abundant food supply. I hooked that 5-7 on my 844 G. Loomis med-heavy rod - a good heavy duty stik - and I though I would never get her in. Fun, fun, fun!! Remember when taking photos - do it quickly this time of year, especially if the bass is large. They can't be out of the water very long. Also, many are afraid to fish jigs at Clear Lake because of the nasty rock structures. One advantage of summer jig fishing is that you can fish them a little faster - ticking the tops of the rocks. You don't need to deadstick a jig in the summer. I only use 1/4 oz jigs in the summer because they are easier to swim over shallow rocks. If it is real windy, go to a 3/8 oz but keep it movin' a little. Try it - you'll like it!

• By dozer

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: Hey Lone Angler, you said the 3/8 rodstrainer jig did the trick. Were you using a trailer like a double tail, or were you just tossin the jig itself? And what were you looking for, rocks, docks, or weeds?
  City: Fremont

Monday, July 3rd, 2006

• By The Lone Angler

  Water Temp: 78-83

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: I took my 14 year old nephew and 8 year old daughter over for a day. We cranked 6 bass and 6 catfish in an hour and a half or so. I saw a seawall I'd caught a big one off of several years past and picked up a dart head worm and caught a 5.0 first cast. The next dock I caught 2 more on a blue ghost 6" worm. I sampled the jig bite and absolutley had a blast. Fished from wheeler south and caught fish everywhere we stopped except the boat works. The concrete boat house area was on fire as I had a 4.0, 4.5, and a 4.7 in the last 45 minutes along with about 5 others. From 7am till 3pm, we had 50 bass and the 6 catfish. The next day, my neighbor caught 30 himself doing similar things.
  City: Yuba City

  Tips: DD22 and a 3/8 oz rodstrainer jig in 5/15 feet of water did the trick.

• By joe

  Water Temp: 50

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: well i left to go to my friends house by redbud he has a little cottage that i spend the night at, we fished a little off his dock to just get the feel for the bite this particular day. the bite was very soft i was using kastmasters on a bobber but i got all red bobbers i paint that is the ticket. then we went out after getting the feeling for the bite. my friend has a nice bay liner that we converted into a bass boat with a conversion kit. i no a hump right across from red bud we started at i was using rattle baits slow off the bottom and got three on the back side of the hump my friend got on about 8.5 with a hula popper painted orage with white tail the we went to the docks and through the flying lure it works really good if you just reel it fast on the top we got about 11 more had 5 fish 24 pounds
  City: concord

  Tips: get orange hula poppers and troll them in the middle by the hump, also get white and black flying lures and reel them in on the top of the water fast as you can for a great bite

Sunday, July 2nd, 2006

• By Big Rick KFOG

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Thanks to everybody who posts Clear Lake reports.........I had friends up for the long July 4th weekend, so fishing time was short and everybody I took was pretty new to it all. Sunday I took 2 guys out leaving about 8:30 am. We tried drop shotting some deep rocks on the Clearlake end, but it was a little windy out on the open water and holding the boat in a spot then instructing wasn't working out.........I picked up after no bites and moved to the first cove in Konocti Bay. No wind issues, and calm water. We fished in front of the pumphouse in the cove below the steep vineyard out just a little 20 feet maybe.........We drop shotted again with 4 inch Margarita Mutilators and in 1 1/2 hours we all caught fish. I switched up to a Norman Shad deep diver crank bait and got the biggest, close to 4, the others were under 1 to 2 1/2. We got a few bluegill and even a catfish. It was shallow there, but even in the summer it was holding fish.........So a quick trip with some friends was fun, we headed back to pick up everybody else, and the fish and ski boat became family friendly and we went to have lunch at Konocti.........Monday I took my wife out, she also doesn't fish much, but maybe now will. I wanted to go to a favorite spot near Redbud but there was a guy on it with 2 dogs in the boat just pounding the fish with a drop shot rig. I fished a little away from him, but no luck. So I moved to the same spot as above and we caught a few fish each, she missed 2 and boated 2 I got about 4. We spent an hour there and headed back........Tuesday I went out alone to fish, but the wind was up pretty good. I wanted to jig the rocks before Konocti Bay and a few other places, but was blown off every point I wanted to try. Short day no fish.........Clearlake (the city) had a great 4th weekend. Some of the resorts were full and there was a good fireworks show and a carnival midway. My friends were impressed by the friendly laid back attitude by everyone and will be back.
  City: Clearlake/Oakland

  Tips: Make sure your wife catches a fish.

Friday, June 30th, 2006

• By Robert Lau

  Water Temp: 87

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Went back to Clear Lake and fished Monday the 27th and part of Tuesday. After my last trip, I was expecting to get into great numbers of bass. Boy, was I wrong on Monday morning. A hot spell had come in over the weekend and I barely boated eight fish on Monday, between 9:30 am and 12:30 pm. I went to some points around Clearlake Oaks and barely managed a couple of bass on some deep diving cranks. Tried a crawfish pattern that had worked last week, tried chartruese, a bass pattern, and even a white shad imitation with minimal success. I moved off the points and targeted some isolated tulies near deeper water and ended up getting a half dozen more fish in the two to three pound class, before quitting for lunch and switching over to crappie. Bassing wasn't quite the fast and furious action of the week before, but it was still all good. By noon, it had gotten to 98 degrees ( not as bad as the previous day's 104 degrees, thanks to some cloud cover.) So, up went the bimini and out came the crappie pole for some low key minnow dipping. It sure was fun!
  After an early supper, I got back on the lake at around 6:30 pm. I stubbornly decided to try the points again with a deep diver. Ended up getting a channel cat of about four to five pounds on the first few casts. After that, I landed a nice bigmouth that looked like a football. I was so astounded by the huskiness of this fish that I threw it in the live well, to be released and weighed later, with a borrowed scale. As mentioned in the preceding post, this fish ,too, looked no more than fifteen inches in length but turned out to be 4.8 lbs.! At this time, I decided to switch over to crappie and ended up getting five more channel cats that evening, on my crappie rig! Needless to say, it was pretty exciting.
  Tuesday morning, started the boat up at 7:30 am, but only because a buddy of mine insisted on getting an early start. This morning, I decided to try a different strategy than the one that had served me so well the week before, but failed so miserably, yesterday. However, I still couldn't resist throwing a few casts at the first point we passed. I got one bass on a crank, while my buddy nailed three on a tandem carolina/drop shot rig. Sometimes they hit the bottom rig, at other times, the top.
  Needless to say, I switched to a drop shot rig and decided it was time to move on to some off shore rock piles. Upon starting the motor, the starter threw its top nut. We took the cowling off the motor and saw the spring and starter washer precariously perched on the starter shaft, but couldn't locate the nut. We decided to just fish the Rattle Snake area, using the trolling motor. We ended up at a rock pile west of Rattle Snake and proceeded to pull seven fish out of it. I was drop shotting 4" purple and black, curly tail worms. My buddy was using his tandem rig with various types of worms. However, he kept hanging up on the rocks because of the carolina part of his tandem rig.
  My friend decided to look for the starter nut one more time and miraculously found it. He wound it down tight with some wrenches I had on the boat and we came back in for lunch. After lunch, I went back out to find some more rock piles close by. I had wanted to go out to deeper water like Shag Rock and Kono Tyee, since the weather had turned so hot. However, I decided against it, until I had my starter looked at by the shop.
  I'm glad to see by the helpful preceding post that the fish are still on ledges near fifteen or plus feet of water. That is exactly where I found the bass, early Tuesday afternoon, between 1:00 and 2:30 pm. I found a 6", two tone, dark and light blue, curly tail worm that my friend had left on the back of my bass boat. Just for the hell of it, I cast it out and dragged it down the end of a rock pile. Wham! I got a solid strike and started to fight what seemed to be big fish. After a few shakes of his head, the fish dislodged the hook and I lost the first fish. After some colorful exclamations, I cast out the same worm again, and again, I got a tremendous strike. The fish shook its head as I fought it to the boat and again, I lost it right at the boat. The water was so algae stained that I never got a look at the fish. This time, I changed over to a larger sized hook, because I was using a longer, 6" worm with a wider girth. After that, I proceeded to land bass after bass, without losing a single fish, including what looked to be at least a 15 lb. channel cat. I ended up landing about eight more chunky bass of up to three pounds, over the next hour and a half. This also included several more juvenile channel cats. Not bad,for a day that included engine trouble.
  It was incredible how many fish I caught on my friend's worm before it finally got too beat up to stay on. I tried a June Bug straight tail and several other colors, including curly tail worms, with little luck. Either it had gotten too hot and/or the fish had moved off the rock piles, by 2:30 pm or the fish only wanted my friend's 6", two tone, blue, curly tail worm that day. The bad part was, my friend had no idea where the worm came from or what it was called!
  
  By the way, on the days the fish were biting best, I remember seeing and hearing plenty of carp rolling and splashing. I must say that I subscribe to Hemphill's Theory of Relativity. The correlation between bass and carp activity, that is. Happy fishing!
  City: San Francisco

  Tips: Change your hooks to match the size of your bait.
  
  During hot weather, drag your bait across the tops of submerged rock piles, but don't forget to continue dragging them down the slopes to deeper water, as well.
  
  Find a two tone, light blue, dark blue, 6" curly tail worm and when you do, please post and tell us what it's called!

• By Larry Hemphill

  Water Temp: 82

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: I had a fun trip today with a good angler - good fishing - good conversation - and hopefully some good knowledge for him about the lake! After a night-day two trip marathon at Lake Amador the previous 24 hours, I needed a good client to keep me awake!! He did and the bass did! I was interested in the previous report - I am not surprised that the crawdad-colored crank bite was good. Again today, as in my previous report, the jig bite was great for us, especially in the afternoon, producing many bass to 5 lbs 3 oz. I was using my standard "Larry Hemphill Special" - brown/orange jig with #180 Yamamoto single tail grub, and my client had success with a #301 Yamamoto Kreature bait stuck on the back of his jig. I had him switch to that bulky bait (looked kinda funny)and he predeeded to catch two near 3 lb bass on, I think, back to back casts - or close to that. He had all kinds of action on that ugly combo!! We started early in the Rattlesnake Island area and my client had a good chartreuse spinnerbait bite going and I caught my first few bass on a Lucky Craft Lv 500. I think that is what it is called. The morning was spent in the Rattlesnake area and the narrows, targeting rocky areas with ledges. The bass are beginning to position themselves around these areas for the summer. We worked some rocky areas above the narrows in the afternoon - looking for some better quality bass, and they were, but the two biggest were only a little over 4 1/2 and the 5-3. We caught 28 with the 5 best pushing the 20 lb mark. We might have had one or two bass under 2 lbs - all the rest were over 2. You won't find post-spawn quality like that anywhere else - meaning the weight of the bass compared to their length. I'm telling you - that 5 pounder - if you glanced quickly at it - looked about 15 inches long! I think we should put more baitfish in the lake, har!!!!
  City: Yuba City

  Tips: The early summer bite is definately on for the average 2 to 4 lb bass. Their diet seems to included crawdads in addition to all the baitfish. We actually saw bass chasing bait out of the water and one doesn't see that much at Clear Lake. The biggest bass was caught under the boat around 20 feet deep. I assume many of the larger bass are in deeper water now. Ten to fifteen feet seems to be the magic depth on my boat. Green pumpkin and black grape worms continue to do well for us. I did try some buzzbaits this morning early with no results. That bite may be aways off since the bass don't have to work too hard for their meals now! Remember to try to tick the rocks with your crankbaits or spinnerbaits. And finally, NO bluegills this trip!!!!

Tuesday, June 27th, 2006

• By robert lau

  Water Temp: 80-84

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Fished last week Monday, June 19 through Thursday afternoon, June 22. This was some of the most productive bass fishing I have ever experienced, numbers wise. Landed over twenty bass almost every day. I stopped counting after the 70th or so bass! Only a few were not 14" or over. Wednesday was the only day I landed less than twenty fish, but the lack in numbers was more than made up by the quality of fish during the evening bite. Between 6:30 and 7:45 pm, I landed three three pounders, two four pounders, two five pounders, and a 6+ pounder! They were all caught on a 10+ deep diving crank bait in a crawfish pattern.
  Most of the 70+ fish I caught on this trip came from the Rattle Snake Island arm of Clear Lake, cranking 90% of the time, off points. I didn't get started until after 9am everyday. (I like to sleep late.) When they stopped hitting the cranks offshore, I moved into shallower water and drop shotted into deeper water on either side of the points. I usually managed to pick up a few more fish this way, after targeting the more active fish on the cranks.
  City: san francisco

  Tips: During late morning or midday, I like to throw a deep diver at points with adjacent deep water, when the air is between 80-90 degrees. Casting from 50 yards away and then gradually moving in, using a pause and retrieve method worked for me. After the cranks, I would pick up more bass from the points by moving in tight to the shore and casting out drop shot worms into the deeper water off the point. Motor oil with red flake midday, and purple/black during the evening. Happy fishing. Be patient. Don't move off a point after only a few casts. Sometimes, my first fish off a point came after the tenth cast.

Wednesday, June 21st, 2006

• By Larry Hemphill

  Water Temp: 72-80

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: Yes, the water temp was 72 in the morning at Clearlake Oaks and over 80 in the afternoon around Soda Bay with a heavy algae bloom on the surface I think that is called green mud. Could the summer pattern be here - finally?! A father/son team and I caught lots of bass in the morning up to 3 1/4 lbs on a variety of dark colored worms, brush hogs, and other plastics. A DD-14 shad crank produced one bass and one catfish! I tried some brown/orange Rodstrainer Jigs w/#180 Yamamoto grub trailers and caught several. We targeted rock piles and rock/tule shorelines. Tried dropshotting docks, but couldn't find willing bass. As we worked our way to Henderson Point and Soda Bay to state park, the weather for the next several days at Clear Lake set up - not a breath of air moving and almost hot. I don't want to be there at 2 pm tomorrow!!! Anyway, the bite got better as it got hotter - typical Clear Lake pattern. The highlight was dad and son getting a double hookup around 1:30 pm and landing both - over 8 lbs for combined weight! I love it - dad who is not a bass fisherman - beats the pros with his 4 lb 5 oz bass - in the back seat! Love it!!!! The other bass was 3 3/4. However, sonny lands another bass soon - again around 4 lbs. In the process of the excitement of the double hookup (I netted dads bass) I am without a net now. It just disappeared over the side - never saw or heard it go! All three of their good bass were caught on a ledge - about 10 to 15 feet deep. We wound up with 25 tournament keepers and a limit just shy of 18 lbs. Nice trip! I also did night trips Fri and Sat night (one client each trip) and the results wern't nearly as good. Big fish was only 4 1/2 lbs and we caught about 7 bass each night. Friday night found NO escape from the wind - even in Jago Bay and Sat night wasn't much better. Green pumpkin worms and jigs were the best baits before dark and junebug worms after - also caught a few on 10" black Power worms. I was really surprised at how slow it was after a good night trip Tues night (previous report). There were plenty of bass bites (not bluegill) but just wouldn't inhale the bait.
  City: Yuba City

  Tips: So, I know some of you that are interested in my carp activity/bass bite theory for night fishing at Clear Lake - want to know the story. Well, here it is. Three carp rolled on Fri night and ZERO on Sat night. I would say that my carp theory is still water-tight! Lots of carp activity - lots of bass activity. Little or no carp activity (rolling around) - little bass activity. By the way, the carp were quite active yesterday morning and through the day. Hmmmmmm. Dark colors like green, black grape, red shad, and black are working in my boat - day or night. Bass are beginning to move offshore, though it should be a slow migration since the water is so high. There is still a lot of good shallow cover. If you like it - fish it. There may still be some big fish shallow. The night bite should be more consistant after the 4th of July. Good luck!!

Thursday, June 15th, 2006

• By Larry Hemphill

  Water Temp: 68-70

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: I began the official summer night fishing season with my "catfish king" client from Colorado last night. He is vitising "sunny California" - right? We started at 7 pm with post-front conditions after earlier rain, stiff cold wind though not horrible, fog forming after midnight - and this is all a week before the longest day of the year! I was determined to see him go home happy after a tough week of family boating and cold weather. We caught three before dark in the Rattlesnake arn on worms. I had fun doing what I used to do a lot - "called the fish"! I told him where to cast and said he would catch one - he did! I did it again later at night - what a hoot!! About 11 pm thing began to happen where the wind would let us fish and starting getting bass from Buckingham Point to and including Konocti Bay. He had the hot bait - an 8" dark green/chartreuse tail Yamamoto grub. The bass wanted that!!! He caught a 5 lb 6 oz, two 4 1/4's for starters on that bait. My biggest on a Berkley 10" Power worm was only about 4-2. We did wind up with 19 bass with a "just under" 22 lb limit. He lost the last 3 or 4 and then discovered a dull hook! This trip broke my rule that you can't do well on a damp, moist night when the boat is all wet. Maybe it's ok in the summer months! His trip home will hopefully be a little more pleasant!
  City: Yuba City

  Tips: The weather will warm up quickly now and may be stable for a week or so. Wouldn't that be amazing! Maybe the topwater/frog bite will take off!!

Wednesday, June 14th, 2006

• By CASITAS RICK

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: HI ME AND MY BRO IS GOING TO CLEAR LAKE ON THE 18TH AND 19TH AND IT WILL BE YOUR FRIST TIME THERE ANY TIPS WILL BE HELPFUL THANK YOU...
  City: OJAI