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Tuesday, December 27th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 49-50

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: My Brother Benny and I fished 12/26 & 12/27 with minnows and other offering. We fished our regular places we fish at this time of year, deap docks and off shore reefs but only got 3 fish. Went to the new Tackle shop on Lakeshore Blvd. by Redbud
    and spoke to Bob Rider who owns the new shop and said try this other spot, I thought to myself, man I have fished there before with no luck but he said it was good right now so off we went. We caught 17 bass and 5 crappie in that erea and one of the crappie was the size of a medium pizza, I kid you not, I always thought a good size crappie was the size of my hand and I am 6"1 205 lbs but this crappie that my brother cought was 3 to 4 times the size of my hand, we did not have a camera so I told my brother lets take it home so we have proof but he did not want to kill the awsome specimin. This fish could have swallowed 1/2 of a 12 inch bass with no problem.Day 2 12/27 we only got 3 bass in the same general area but the bait fished move off shore about 25-200 yards.
    My brother caught a 5 lb bass about 100-200 yards off shore on a minnow with no off shore rock or anything to attrack the bass other than bait fish and man there was a tone, fish finder was black on a number of times. In the same area we saw some poeple catching bluegills so we bought some nite crawlers to try for bluegill also and we cought about 30-40, we could have caught more but we got bored.
    City: SAN JOSE

    Tips: Go to Lakeshore Bait and Tackle 707-994-fish
    14913-D Lakeshore Dr. Clearlake, ca 95422. Bob Riders shop is very clean and organized and he is very pleasant and will put you on the fish. One more thing I did catch 1 of the 17 bass on crank bait and 3 on roboworm and a few of the bluegill on blastic.

Friday, December 23rd, 2005

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Fish 23rd. and 24th. Most of the bass in the 2 to 3 lbs. Don fish with me for one day and did get one going 6.8 lbs. I was able to get one 7.3 lbs. Each day 5 bass for around 18 lbs.

    Bassfishing Professional Guide Service
    City: Cottonwood

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    Water Temp: 49-51

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Caught fish on jigs and 1 senko fish. Had a 18 lb sack with a 8lb kicker. Cover alot of water.

    Tips: Fish slow. Look for shallow water with deep water near by.

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    Water Temp: 49 degrees

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Had Ripbait fish to 3 1/2#.All fish were shallow.6 to 10 foot of water.Staycee in Aroura Black was best getter.Fished South end of Lake,Look for the Clearer water.Also green pumpkin tube on a dart head worked well also.

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    Water Temp: 50

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I personally don't have a good catching report to give.Fished skirted grubs,spoons,and drop-shot all afternoon with minimum success,but I did talk with a guy who said he and his partner had a bunch of fish to 4.5 lbs. on rip baits up shallow.The lake looks like it has come up around 2-3ft with this series of storms(that's a lotta water), and it's muddy as hell at Redbud ramp.Guess I'm gonna have to remember that if you can't get even a dink to hit a drop-shot, ya better try to get the total reaction bite,although I did try spinnerbaits in tulles with no luck. None the less,the day on Clearlake was extraodinary. Cali rules!! Merry Christmas.

    Tips: Minners?

Tuesday, December 13th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 50

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: One of my regular clients decided it was time for some winter punishment, so off to Clear Lake we went on Monday evening. We were hoping for the cloud cover to hold for awhile, but no luck. Clear sky, cold damp night, and a moon that was too bright. Sunday night would have been better. I think many of the large bass fed Sun night as conditions were perfect then - a warmer cloudy night. Anyway, to our surprise, the bite was good from about 7 to 11 pm. We caught 16 bass on jigs, 10" Power Worms, and brush hogs. The biggest was only 5 1/2 lbs and the best five a little over 18 lbs. The bite died after midnight as the temp really dropped. So did our attitude as we each lost a big bass at the last rockpile we fished. Bummer!! When we left Clearlake Oaks at 2 am, the temp was 29 degrees. I was happy to see that my new Ranger 520 and Evinrude E-Tec could handle the cold night just fine! We did too in snowsuits and hand-foot warmers!! Funny thing - we didn't see another boat!!!!
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: I was really surprised how active the 3 to 5 lb bass were considering the terrible post-front and moon conditions. For example, the jetty north of Konocti Resort (lower lake) had bass all around it - including the 5 1/2. Early in the evening too. 50 degree water means feeding bass - day or night. The problem with winter night fishing at Clear Lake is to fish slow enough without snagging every rock you hit. If your bait gets stuck on a rock - release the pressure and see if it will back off - then pop it a bit. Often the bait will jump right over the rock. Or -- you are snagged big time! Well, the bass will have a rest from my hookset at least, as I will be gone from the lake for 2 months. I hope everyone saves some dumb ones for me. Good luck!!

Thursday, December 8th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 50 F - 55 F

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the north side adjacent to Hywy 20. Hooked and landed 6 bass from 1# - 31/2#. The best five weighed about 12# - 13#. The bass I caught were on the bottom in 15' - 20' of water on broken rock-covered steep dropoffs. They literally ate Watermelon/Red BrushHogs on 1/8 oz. Slider heads, fished with light spinning tackle on 6# test line.
    City: Santa Rosa

    Tips: Use light tackle, and use a good knot for light line. My favorite is the Crawford Figure-Eight Knot. The editors of the old Fishing Facts magazine (1970's) tested every knot they could find, and they concluded that the Crawford had the greatest strength. This is how you tie it:

    Thread the line through the eye, leaving a 3"-4" tail (you can reduce this length with practice).

    Loop the tail under the main line, then secure it with your thumb on top of the main line. The loop should have a 1/2"-3/4" diameter.

    Loop the tail under and then over the loop you previously formed, and again secure the tail end with your thumb.

    Thread the tail end, from below, through the first loop and pull it parallel to the main line away from the eye.

    If you have tied the knot correctly, you will see a figure-eight formed by your untightened knot.

    Tighten the knot against itself, so there is a 1/4"-1/2" loop between the knot and the eye. Then pull the knot tight against the eye and trim the tail end of your line, leaving about 1/4".

    If you tie the Crawford Figure-Eight Knot correctly and are using good-quality (uniform) monofilament, this knot will have a breaking strength effectively identical to the line itself! The Crawford Figure-Eight is the best I've found for terminal knots using light monofilament. Try it out for yourself!

Saturday, November 26th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Another "first" for me at Clear Lake! No, not the fishing - although I did take a brother and sister for the first time in my career! The "first" was when we arrived at the Clear Lake Oaks ramp about 9:30 am (this time of year I like to guide 'til dark), boats were pulling out! The lake was really getting nasty windwise and one or two guys told me they caught nothing. So I gulped and said to myself "here we go"!! We motored over to Rattlesnake Island to hide from the wind (that lasted about 10 minutes!) and I set up their rigs. It was even hard to fish there but we managed. They were using Dead Ringer worms and he landed the first - near 2 lbs. Soon she has a good one on and I netted a bass that looked 5 but was only 3 1/4. This was the fattest bass ever to come into one of my boats. She looked like she swallowed a trout - no kiddin'!!! I may post a pic so you can see! Anyway, the bite wasn't too good and the wind would not let us do anything, so we made the decision to pull out and go over to Konocti Resort and launch. It was a little better there but not much. The wind never let up and was swirling at 25-30 mph. Talk about boat control - that was a joke. Sis had the touch though and landed 4 quality bass in the 2 1/4 to 3 1/4 lb class - all on worms. Brother only landed the one. I tried different baits when I had a chance and did land 4 or 5 to near 2 3/4 lbs. We should have drop-shotted earlier - that was working next to docks as we flew by them with a 30 mph tailwind!! Her four and one of mine gave us about a 13 lb limit. I'm happy we had a limit at all! It was interesting to feel the temp drop a few degrees every hour as the post-front set in. At least most of the rain was over.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: It is always interesting to me that when the big fish are off the bite, the dinks have run of the place. I caught 3 or 4 five to seven inch bass - a good sign for next year. We couldn't fish any off-shore structure, but did find fish at the ends of docks on the deepest pilings. Docks with the steepest drops held the most fish but the wind just didn't allow us to do much very effectively. I was able to help them learn some techniques and a few good areas to fish - when conditions are better!!!! We really enjoyed the day in spite of the wind.

Wednesday, November 16th, 2005

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Went to Clear lake for a 2 day mid week trip...and JUST KILLED'EM!!! over 20 bass all over 3lbs!! mostly 5-7lbs but the smallest being 3lbs! got the pics to proove that too!! I do want to thank the shasta boys..that we fished next too for the tips. that was incredibly nice..Ive noticed that many bass fisherman are too serious and not friendly so thank you!!
    anyways..fish on action all day...maybe 1 hour pause but the fish were all deep. 2 boat lengths from shore in 25ft water. we were fishing with Drop shot robo worms in a shad like color. with about 8 inch drop. just boucing it down from 10ft -25ft shelfs.. also we were using kastmasters that produced alot too. but maining the dropshot hooking into them almost right under the boat. very suddle bite..tap tap tap..then a little pressure...felt very much like the perch that we were catching all day too. some nice big ones...if you like that sort of thing :) but a unbeliveable bass fishing trip..a touney guys dream! saw a few boats fishing close to us..but t didnt seem that they were getting the action we did..kinda funny seeing them get pissed and leaving.
    bigeest fish of the day was on a carolina rig. I casted it out and I got a HUGE black lash..I was picking it out for about 10 minutes and i didnt even get a chance to get it all out.. when my pole doubles over! A nice 7lb 4oz! it was so funny that that happened! :) Ill post pics some where on this site
    Thank YOU!
    City: walnut creek

    Tips: look for 25ft water on rocky shoes that have like 8-10 ft right off the shore! a good spot where everyone fishes is the little rock islands by the narrows..went there and fished by 3 other boats..with in 5 minutes a 5 and a 6 lber fish are in the deep...at least the big ones are.. DropShoT rocks if you shake and work it slow.. and use shad color 4-6in. carolina worked for the one fish...and we caught a few on spoons...but mostly dropshot... if you have no fishfinder.. 2 boat lengths away from a steep shoreline..is where they are at..

Saturday, November 12th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 57

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fish our first club tourney since the death of our member Bert Studert last month. It was a little somber at the blast off but I think all had a good time. We heard the bite was tough and it turned out "they" were right. Couldn't get much of a reaction bite going in the Henderson Point area throwing blades and deep cranks for two hours so we switched up to darter head worms and dropshot and still foung it tough with 1 blade fish for 2lb and nothing else until we s3witched areas. Went through the narrows to Anderson Island and while I tried a craw crank to no avail, my partner drug out his Carolina rig and found a little something in 30-35 feet on a break. A baby black brush hog seemed to grab the interest of a few fish but nothing over 2 lbs. Ended the day at Soda Bay and caught more fish (7 or 8 I believe) but again, nothing over 2 lb. Ended up with our best 5 going 10.2 with our club winner getting 14.6 for five fish. Not the kind of weights we are used to seeing in November but I guess the enormous pressure on the lake the last 6 weeks is showing up.

    Still better than work !!
    Dave
    City: Ukiah

    Tips: Slow down and go either real shallow as some of our members reported getting their fish in less than 3 feet of water, or go deep and try for some less molested fish. Carolina rigged plastics on deep breaks would probably work all over if you could find the deep breaks. Sure would like to know where the bigger fish have gone.

Wednesday, November 9th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 50 F - 55 F

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Same pattern as yesterday, except that the bass were bigger and in shallower water. Hooked six, landed five for a total weight of about 20#. The bass are definitely oriented toward feeding on crayfish.
    City: Santa Rosa

    Tips: Go fishing NOW! The good weather will not hold for long and the fish are truly committed to feeding! This may be the last nice-weather weekend of the year, so live while you're alive! There's no chance that you'll do what I do, so I feel no pressure to lie. The fish are biting NOW!
    Go for it! Get out here!!!

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005

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    Water Temp: 62

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I showed 2 guys the ins and outs of night fishing Clear Lake last night as a front was moving in. I knew that would be good as long as the front held together since fronts bring in warm air. We won the battle until midnight when the front fell apart (before any rain, thank goodness)! After the frontal passage the temp dropped and the fishing died. My clients brought their own rods - but they were two piece catfish rods - spooled with heavy flourscent line that gave them fits on their spinning reels. In spite of that, they did catch 7 bass between them and the guy in the back of the boat didn't let me down!! He caught the biggest (on a brush hog) - a very skinny 5 pounder, maybe an ounce under. That bass should have been much heavier - it looked healthy. It is amazing how many folks catch the biggest bass in the back of my boat. I guess my new '06 Ranger 520 will be no exception! Driving home, I wondered how many they would of caught on quality bass rods. There was no bite - just pressure. Of the three I caught, one was 4-2. We put together a nice limit near 18 lbs in spite of an increasing north wind. All were caught on soft plastics - Power Worms, Yamamoto Kut-Tail worms, Dead Ringer worms, and Brush Hogs - all in dark colors with scent. We fished the narrows areas, Henderson area, Rattlesnake, and the west shore near Konocti Resort. Most bass were caught at the 20 foot depth.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: This is the second time I can remember 60 degree plus water in November. It will take some cooler water to get the big bass moving and feeding heavily. I felt the bite should have been better last night but I am aware the lake has been hammered for the last two months. It will take a few weeks for great things to happen again and am looking forward to some big bass in future trips!

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: They posted it.
    City: Sac

Monday, October 31st, 2005

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Does anyone know who won the Future Pro Tour Tournament this past weekend?
    City: Sac

Saturday, October 15th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 64

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: We (Mendo Bassers) had our yearly 2 day tourney scheduled out of State Park this weekend but a terrible accident on Saturday resulted in our cancelling the tournament. We lost a good friend Saturday afternoon, Burt Studdert, to a boating accident on an ocean-like Clearlake. He was 76 years old. The 18 foot Glastron he was fishing out of capsized in extremely rough water and Burt did not survive the ordeal. Contrary to rumor already circulating, he WAS wearing his lifejacket according to tournament regulations. Burt was a great fisherman and an even better person as anyone who has spent even 5 minutes around him can testify to. We will miss him dearly. I want to remind everyone who fishes on this lake that the conditions can change by the minute. I was fishing the tournament with my 12 year old son and after a typically rough morning down south, we decided around 10:30 am to make the run to Lakeport to fish calmer water. After receiving the call to have everyone come in around 1:00 pm, I realized we might be in trouble ourselves. While it was pretty calm in Lakeport, it didn't take much running to get right into the middle of what can only be described as "scary water." We fought 5-6 foot waves at little more than idle speed and after "punching" several waves, we felt very lucky to make it back to the ramp. It was the first time ever that I was actually scared to be in my boat. Many of our members reported having waves break into their boat that day while one longtime member who has fished many years on Clearlake stated it was possibly the roughest day he has ever seen there to date. I myself have spent days on this lake running full speed without my lifejacket on but that will never happen again. For those of you who knew Bert and even those who didn't, please remember him and his family in your prayers sometime soon. We will miss him. God Bless
    City: Ukiah

    Tips: Keep an eye on ever changing conditions and always wear your lifejacket when running on Clearlake.

Monday, October 10th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 62to67

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: the bite has slowed considerably. fished sunday and monday. lot of boats out both days ,all prefishing for bassmaster.only 13fish sunday but some good fish.best 5 were 25lbs 5ozs 2.3,2.9,4.6,5.3 and a kicker 11lb even. monday 14 fish total best 5 were 24lbs1oz. 2.12,3.2,4.11,5.11 and 6.11. we have a tournament in two weeks (a.b.a) , hope we can do this when it counts.
    City: oakland

    Tips: see photos

Friday, October 7th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 67ish

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I needed a day on my favorite lake, so I braved clearlake knowing that 188 ACTOC boats would be there in addition to the guys prefishing for the BASS event. I fished what I call my barometer dock to see if the fish were biting. No bites off the dock........hmmmmmm. Fished from 9-11 am and not a bite cranking, jigs, dropshot,. Wheeler yielded me a nice catfish on a dropshot and a10" bass. My buddy and I fished hard till 4:30 and never boated another fish, much less had a bite. Some days your the windshield, some days your the bug!
    City: Yuba city

    Tips: I always try to learn something every day I'm on the water. Today, I saw a guy get a decent fish on a dropshot. I saw another spinnerbait a 3 lb fish, I saw a guy sitting in 30 feet of water off Glenhaven fishing the TOC by himself. He was, I believe carolina rigging something in 30' and catch one about 1.5lbs.(by the way, you were very rude, and I hope your motor broke and you never got to weigh your fish!). I had a hard time bringing myself to write this report. I knew that just because we sucked this day that limits over 20lbs would be weighed on this day. I just couldn't believe that at least a few fish wouldn't eat my stuff.

Tuesday, October 4th, 2005

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    Water Temp: 70

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Just returned from the Anglers Choice fish off Sep 29 - Oct 1 out of Konocti Vista. Lots of fish in the 2 1/2lb range. We focused mainly down in the South End. Caught numerous fish on blades, Dropshot, carolia and cranks. Most fish came from the docks with rock and tules. Winning weight was 55lbs. Gee I wished I new where they got that! Overall fishing was great. We averaged 30 - 50 fish a day. My partner and I both lost two fish ea or 9lbs. The weather was great until Saturday. 25+mph winds and three foot waves. What a ride
    City: Oxnard

    Tips: Slow roll spinner baits, Carolina rig with Brush hawgs around docks & tules seemed to get the better fish.

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Ok, time for the annual Father Son fishing trip. Lucky us its in Clear Lake but weve never fished the lake in the Fall. Any advice would be great. Staying in the Oaks and wanna fish there but never once read a report on it. Any tips on fishing that part of the lake would be great!!! THanks in advance and good fishing.
    City: San Jose

Sunday, October 2nd, 2005

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    Water Temp: 67

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Came in for the day and went out of a really nice public ramp (Lucern?). Headed south and fished some Tulies / Structure. Steve nailed a 4.7 early and then a couple other 1.5, 1.7 all on a Yamamoto Lizard Watermelon/Red split shotting. I abandoned the blades / crank and even the dropshot for a split shot with a brushhog. 3rd cast I got mine, got one more a while later. Much too windy to fish with our limited knowledge of this lake. We did see several people locked on off-shore rock piles but not sure if they produced or not. I hear alot of Clearlake experts know of a dozen or so of these secret spots, can't miss areas. For us we stuck to structure / visible rocks and Tulies. Definately had better days.
    City: Pacifica

    Tips: Do not launch a 17 foot bass boat out of the north end of the lake unless you want to get your butt kicked by Clearlake! That was the worst ride I ever had, but limited damage in the end. Our old ProCraft held it's own but we were soaked and happy to make it home. Way too windy for our taste. In the past I have stayed out of the Big Lake and the South can be bad enough. We joked that it must have been a sight from Lakeshore blvd watching us.