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Sunday, October 17th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I guided Thurs, Fri, and Sat - "teach the lake" trips, mostly in the south end. Each day was similar - except the wind on Sat - wow! Each trip produced 17 to 19 tournament keepers up to 3 1/2 pounds, plus numerous smaller bass that are getting in their final feed while the bigger fish are offshore. Fri produced larger fish including two that my client broke off because of his line being too light in test. One can use a minimum of 12 pound test in the dirty water. I, too, had problems. I was using a Strike Pro Bad Boy 80 crank (lemon-lime) with good success Thurs. Fri. morning I had a big bass just attack it on a rock ledge and snap my new 12 lb test and fresh knot! I didn't even have a chance to react - just snapped it!! I saw the fish briefly under the surface and she was big. Of course, that was the only Bad Boy I had. The bass seemed to love that bait. Might be time to chanbe to 14# test! We used Senkos, spinnerbaits (my client Sat was a pro at fishing them!), crankbaits, Power Worms and Dead Ringer worms. Could not get a jig bite to go, but the Yamamoto Kreature bait was again a winner. We fished tule-rock areas with good success. We found shallow and deep bass, but the shallow ones seemed more active.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: Since these fellows are fishing upcoming tournaments, I won't be specific about how, what, and where. I will say that experimenting with different colors will pay off. We did find a "hot" color with the Kreatures - definately. But that has to remain a secret for my clients. It looks like an earlier fall than previous years. If heavy rain happens at the lake Tuesday, it could help the bite for larger bass and bring them all a little shallower. I expect the water to cool off by several degrees in the next few days. One may need to slow their presentations a bit. Who Knows?!

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    Water Temp: WARM NO TEMP GA

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: My Brother Benny and Sister-in-Law Sandi came down from Oregon to fish and I dropped the boat in at Red Bud and fished the south end. Fished deeper docks and off shore reefs with drop shot and senkos, only 2 fish on senkos and 38 fish on drop shot. I cought the numbers in am, Sandi caught the larger fish in the am and than my brother schooled us in the evening catching 8 fish to my 2 fish, calm in AM windy in PM that was Saturday. Sunday we caught about 15-20 fish on same set up. fish were 1/2 to 2 lbs with mostly about 1 1/4 lb.
    City: SAN JOSE

    Tips: Don't fish dock that do not have deeper water close by like the one at Red Bud, you will catch fish there but not as many as you would docks with deeper water close by and rocks, for example if you fish Red Bud pier the closest deep water is about 1/4 mile, this is great in the spring but not in the summer fall or winter, yes you will catch some but not numbers and yes I have caught 5 lb fish in 5 inches of water but again if you want numbers fish deep water close by. Dead stick that worm with drop shot, lift rod and lower rod and don't move the weight, sometimes don't even move the worm, a lot of bites came with out even moving the worm like live bait.
    Purple worms 4 inch strait and 4 inch curly tail.

Saturday, October 16th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: A cold front was moving in, but the fishing was still pretty good. Fished Soda Bay and had a few fish on crankbaits pretty deep, and dropshot and senkos, pretty shallow. Couldnt find a pattern.

    FIshed Konocti. Was pretty calm in the morning with some rain. THen the wind started up and it was hell from then on. In the end, i caught about 20 fish dropshotting docks and rocks. Only one of those over 12 inches. Broke off a nice fish, prolly around five pounds right in the konocti marina.

    I think i saw u out there Cooch, but didnt have a chance to say hi.
    City: Clear Lake

    Tips: Reaction bite in the morning.
    In the afternoon, drag plastics, dropshot, or throw senkos. Something slow.

Tuesday, October 12th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 68-72

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: had some major boat trouble...but my buddy let us use his boat for the day...life saver

    so we didn't get going until 930am fished the south end south of konocti..caught a lot of fish on drop shot and grubs..nothing too big. 4lbs with most fish around 14 inches
    a lot of fun but couldn't find any quality fish..suprising since we were catching most fish in 12-15 feet of water
    City: Los Altos

    Tips: once the water cools the fishing should pick up big time

Monday, October 11th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: A good day, not a great day. Me and my partner fished mostly the south end. We caught a dozen fish, the largest was 6.7 on the digital. A couple of three pounders, but we expected more after reading the latest reports. Fish are extremly shallow, in fact almost right on the shore. I caught the 6 on a Cordell Spot. Pattern must be changing with the weather.
    City: San Leandro

    Tips: Clear Lake is one of the few places you can go and hook a 7 pounder and still be a little disapointed. Most of the fish we caught were in 2 feet of water.

Sunday, October 10th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the ClearLake BASSMASTERS Bass Derby yesterday (Sat, 10-09-04)and the wind kicked our butts. It was cold a windy but we had a really good time. First I would like to thank the ClearLake Bassmasters for hosting such a teriffic event. Front start to finish the event went very smoothly, truely professional-Great Job guys, everyone involved deserves a special THANK YOU.
    Secondly I would like to send my thanks out to my partner, Len Kovats. Thanks Len for such a wonderful experience and the sacrifices you made to keep us on the fish in those horrible conditions. It really takes some extreme conditions to test a boater and his boat-and let me tell all of you that the saying is true, "Nothing Rides Like a CHAMPION!" that was more than obviously clear yesterday. That boat handled the wind and water wonderfully. The fishing deck stayed stable even in those conditions. But the ride back to weigh in truely separated the men from the boys. We were in the rattlesnake island area and had twenty min. to get back to Libray Park, no problem on a nice day but when the wind is 20 mph+ and 2-3 ft. swells it is a ball bustin' ride. That ol' girl (The Champion Boat) had her work cut out for her, but she came through, we made it with 3 min. to spare!! A true Champion! Great Job Len, that ride back was not for your novice captains, I was scared $#@*less but survived to write this post.

    The fishing was good. We had 47 teams show up to fish and we all caught 193 bass (wich 193 were released alive and healthy)good job to all anglers and the release boat staff, job wll done! The average weight for the tournament went about 2.5 #'s, the big fish was a beast, 9.5 #'s caught by my fellow Yuba City Club memeber, Jackie Cox-way to go Jackie!! Len and I finished in second place, with a weight of 18.6 #'s, big fish was 7.5 caught on a Margarita Mutilator, dropped shotted around hydrilla and docks. We caught all our fish drop shotting and crankin' red craw, shad patterns and a parrot/ fire tiger colors. It was a rough day but most anglers seemed to catch fish, thanks again to the ClearLake Bassmasters for such a wonderful tournament!
    City: YUBA CITY

    Tips: We fished wind blown points and deep docks that offered at least one additional form of cover,rock or weeds ect... We fished deep diving cranks (above) and bounced them off the bottom from 5 ft to 12 ft. The docks we hit with a drop shot, rigged mostly with MM and Aaron's magic, not shaking it too much, one or two pumps then let it sit for awhile then repeat. Good Luck, hopefully the wind goes and lays down for awhile!

Saturday, October 9th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 67

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Managed to talk the wife into a fishing vacation at Clear Lake. We rented a little cottage in Lakeport. My boat doesn't really have enough range to cover water, so I stayed in the north end. Fished as far south as the Lakeside State Park and along the northern edge by Highway 20 from Rodman to the Narrows. Weather was clear and calm in the mid 80's from Tues-Thurs, but it got cold and windy on Friday and Saturday. The bite was great early in the week and midweek, seemed to turn off when the weather changed. Just fished the mornings from sunrise to about noon - averaged about 20 fish a day, best limit on Tues went to 15lbs. Otherwise, it was probably around 10lbs a day except for Saturday where all I could manage were a few small keepers.
    City: Newark

    Tips: Flipping green pumpkin senkos into shallow tulles accounted for over 50% of my fish. Had a good gold/gold white/chart spinnerbait bite in front of tulle lines that went on and off throughout the week. Also had luck with texas-rigged 6" worms under shady docks tight to shallow pilings.

Friday, October 8th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 71

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: I guided a fellow in his boat Thursday, showing him how to fish Clear Lake in the fall. It was a nice day and the fishing was fair. Since the lake was calm, the crank bite wasn't good for us. We had several short worm strikes for some reason, most of the day. The worm bite still worked however, again, topped by the red shad Dead Ringer. The last spot I showed him, a little known ledge down south, produced one bite, but she was almost 4 1/2 lbs. The red shad worm did the trick. We fished most of the time, but did a lot of looking and running around. We caught around 12 or 13 bass for a limit near 14 pounds.
    City: Yuba City

    Tips: My clients and I are having more success Carolina-rigging the larger worms rather than Texas rigging. They are a little harder to cast in the wind, but the bass seem to like the worm off the bottom a bit. We threw spinnerbaits a lot but don't think we got a single bass on one. I got out a Senko for the first time in awhile and, fishing them in shade pockets on Henderson Point, caught 2 and missed a good one. My client is a good fisherman and did well. I know he now understands the importance of his meter during the fall and winter season at Clear Lake!

Monday, October 4th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Fishing was outstanding. Hooked up with some real nice fish in Jago bay. Saturday was a pain cause of the Anglers choice TOC. Boats were everywhere. It was unreal. Dropshotting,jigs and buzzbaits were all we used. I stuck an 8 on sun night off a buzzbait. Fished a hundred yard stretch and caught an 8, a 6, two 3lbers in fifteen minutes. Every fish off the buzzbait were right off of peoples boat launches. Fishing this weekend was unreal.

    Tips: Morning and evening find peoples boat launches and throw buzz baits over them. Good luck.

Sunday, October 3rd, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Went up for the weekened here at clear lake. Have'nt been here for 11 years. Stayed at Konocti. Caught a lot of fish. Biggest one weighing 5.6 pounds on a 4inch worm, The rest of them were all little ones. Had a lot of fun. I have been using the dropshot method but then decided to change to using Split shot. Worked just as gd as the dropshot. Had a great time. Hope to come up here again soon.
    City: San Bruno

    Tips: Forget the dropshot. Use the splitshot method. Seems to work better.

Tuesday, September 28th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 69 to 72

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Took two buddies out for a full day of fishing. Fished 6:45am to 7:00pm. Hit Buckingham 1st and boated a 4.6 right away on a spinnerbait. Picked a up few more keepers in the area. Went down to Konocti and boated some good fish drop shotting and cranking. Zoomed across from Konocti and boated a bunch of smaller fish 2 lbs and under. Went down to rattlesnake and boated some better fish, 2 to 3 lb range. Worked up the Highway 20 side throwing blades, drop shot, crankbaits and boated a lot of quality fish with a 9.7 kicker to go with plenty of 3's and 3.5's. Finished up the day around Buckingham with spinnerbaits and drop shot. The early evening bite was very good once again. It was a fish every other cast or a hard hit and miss with the spinnerbait. One buddy lost a good fish at the boat, saw a flash of it but would not come up and broke him off. We boated over a hundred fish for the day and the five best going a touch over 25 lbs. A lot of boats on the lake today, everybody was pre-fishing for the Anglers Choice South Division TOC.
    City: Davis

    Tips: Chart. Spinnerbaits, 6 inch M.M., Chart/Purple Crankbait. Congrats to ROME for boating his biggest bass yet, 9.7 beaut.

Monday, September 27th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 71

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: First time on the lake; went with Larry Hemphill. Started at 7:30 PM. Fishing was slow until 1:00 AM. We fished the south area with jigs, worms, cranks, & spinnerbaits. Even though it started slow, we did well in the end. We had one in at 6.5 & the rest were 2 - 3.5. Best 5 went a little under 17. Had a good time for the first time out.
    City: Visalia

    Tips: For first timers, go with Mr. Hemphill. He is very knowledgable about Clear Lake, very informative, & is a really nice person! He's fun to fish with too! Beats getting skunked trying to learn this big lake by yourself.

Sunday, September 26th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Where's all the reports???? SOMEBODY has had to fish here in the last week-give it up guys!
    City: Chowchilla

    Tips: POST your reports so we all know

Saturday, September 25th, 2004

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    Water Temp: 68 night 72 day

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Started 7:00 pm Saturday with a 4.65 lb crank bait fish near rattlesnake. Quick action till dark then the winds picked up a bit. I quit at 1:30 am, too long a week at work. Total weight for the pm shift was 17.6 lbs for the best 5 with a total of 14 fish caught. Nothing on my usual night spots and all most all my night fish came on crank baits and maybe 20% on jigs. Nothing on big worms. 7:30 am till 3:30 pm was somewhat slow with a total of 12 fish caught , best 5 going 12.6 lbs. Most everything on double wide beaver and jigs with a few drop shot fish inbetween. I also tried to spoon the deeper breaks with mixed results, too early yet.
    City: Sacramento

    Tips: Big time transition over the last 2 weeks. Lots of bait balls and in Soda Bay at night the bait literally blacked out my Lowrance for 100 yard streaches at a time. A lot of 3 inch shad would jump in the boat around the black light. All the fish I caught were stuffed to the gills and fat. I would expect the crank bait bite to continue and cover a lot of water for the better fish. One tip , I spent 4 hours or so in Rodman, waste of time. I did pick up a few on traps in the grass but nothing wanted to play with froggie.

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    Water Temp: 70-74

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: The bass Classics had thier tournament here and almost everyone had limits. However there were alot of small 1-2 lb fish and everyone struggled to get 10 keepers average a day. In first place with 27.65 lbs and the second big fish a 4.75 lber was Chris Lee. He said he caught most of his fish on robo worms 7" in margarita mutilator color on shallow dock poles in the back of a cove and some on senkos fished wacky style on deep water rocky points in henderson bay.In second place was Dieter Spicker with 24.40 lbs he caught all of his fish flippin the Senko's in black with blue flake and watermelon red flake fished texas style way back in the tulles on braided line.In third place was myself I had fish going on rock banks and docks with white spinnerbaits with gold blades. Some of the better fish were on the cement launch ramp corners as well. On Sunday the bite slowed down and I had to split-shot my limit on robo worms out in front of the docks in 7-10 ft of water down in the south arm near bass alley.In fourth place and with the 6.72 lb big fish was Dave Brown he had 24.17 lbs for 10 fish. He said the big girl was caught on a bluegill hula grub on a ramp with a wall and on a windy bank. He also had some on the fat free shad and senko's.
    City: Fremont

    Tips: The bite was tough move around until you find the fish then work them hard because they will keep biting and they are schooling together so try the same area a couple of times.

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    Water Temp: unknown

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: My partner and I were night fishing saturday night, catching the saturday evening and sunday morning transition times as well. Water was muddy with alot of suspended particulate...chocolate brown with near zero visibility. Some areas were green, but still almost no visibility. Nice breeze to give a slight chop to the water, except during the brief transition to dark sat night when a small amount have heavier chop existed. We were fishing mostly rocks on the south half of the lake, hitting some docks and bank areas as well. For us the bite was extremly slow and spotty. When they took a bait it was very subtle. For us it was mostly 2 to 3 pounders, but few in number. Tons of bait fish everywhere....huge bait concentrations with some bait "balls"...you can definately see fish on your electronics hanging near the bait....doesn't surprise me that a drop shot or verticle jig in/near those bait balls might work. Absolutely no top water bite for me.
    City: Concord

    Tips: I'd watch your electronics for bait concentrations. Top water doesn't seem to be working....I'd rotate between cranks, jigs, and worms and cover alot of area...and be ready for subtle bites. Sounds like a drop shot setup might be a must-have.

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    Water Temp: 68.7

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Waited until tournaments finished and fished mid-afternoon to 10:00 PM from Shag Rock down
    to Bayliss Point. Bite was hit and miss during daylight hours; however, with the bright moon and lights from Brooks and Dunn concert, found very good action right in front of Konocti Harbor. Lots of fish in 1-2 pound range, with a couple in the 4 pound range. Bite quickly ended once the boats vacated the courtesy dock after the show. Lost count, but probably ended evening with 25-30 fish.
    City: Sebastopol

    Tips: Dark jigs and drop-shotting "anything" over rocks in 10-15 ft range produced well.

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    Water Temp: Unknown

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the West side from Konocti to Jago Bay using a variety of baits. Caught five fish on white & blue spinner bait with a Gary Yamamoto split tail grub trailer. My buddy caught fish on a shad colored rattle trap, Storm Minnow imatation fished drop-shotting. He also hooked a few fish finess rigging a 5" pumpkin seed worm with a chartreuse colored tail, including one nice one which broke of on his light tackle. All the fish that we caught were in the 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 lb. range. ALOT of bass boats on the water due to 2 tourmaments out of Red Bud park. Fishing has slowed down a bit since the unbeliveable action a month ago. All in all, still a great day on the water.
    City: Santa Rosa

    Tips: Fish slow and be patient. All of the fish we caught seemed to want a slow presentation.

Thursday, September 23rd, 2004

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    Water Temp: 72

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Last Friday, I was helping my buddy prefish for his tournament the following day. Since we have never fished Clear lake together, I was able to show him some new water, we fished many baits and we were trying to dial in a pattern. While the bite was steady with 1-2 pound fish, we failed to find any kicker class fish, the biggest coming in at about 4 Lbs. Here is what we concluded:

    The most productive colors were bright or dark.

    On this day, red out produced white or chartruse in a crank bait (7a bomber in red craw was the ticket) You had to be banging the bottom.

    Senkos filled the boat and produced lots of bites. Texas or wacky didn't seem to make a difference, as long as it was unweighted. The watermellon/chartruse lamenate produced numbers of fish up to 4 lbs

    Spinnerbaits didn't produce for us. But dropshotting docks produced lots of keeper fish and dinks.

    For those of you that are interested, a group of us have formed a club, Devil Mountain Bassmasters (because we all live around the mountain, Brentwood, Walnut Creek, Livermore...) for more information go to www.dmbass.com

    Good luck,
    TD

    PS. My buddy and his partner came in 6th.
    City: Walnut Creek

    Tips: Fish the shade pockets or the shadow of the docks.

Sunday, September 19th, 2004

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished the Anglers choice pro/am this weekend for the first time, Finished 9th with a weight of over 34lbs for 2 days, covered a lot of water in the wind, that made for quite a ride with my Pros( spent more time in the air than on the water lol)
    caught quite a few fish in the 2-4 lb range with my pro catching a 7 lb hog on Fri lots of big fish weighted in on Sat, Am weight in one over 9lbs. Would like to thank the Pro I fished with Brian and Ron you guys were great and hope to fish with you again!
    City: Alameda

    Tips: Drop shot and jigs that's all I'm saying