    
Catfish Ed
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 | | Posted on Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 4:57 pm: | |
Subject: Clear Lake Report
Catfish
The catfishing is still in a deep slump but the recent rains have improved it a little. Muddy water runoff from the rains is causing the cats to go on the bite in some areas.
Vic Fung of Clearlake Oaks has been catching a few brown bullheads in the 2 lb class off his dock in the Keys using shad as bait and has lost a couple of really large cats that broke his 30 lb test line.
There have been a few nice size channel catfish and some nice stringers of brown bullheads being caught in Rodman Slough. The top baits have been mini crawlers and gobs of garden worms. The slough has muddied up from the recent rains which has caused the cats to start feeding.
Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait & Tackle in Clearlake Oaks (707) 998-1006 says they are catching an occasional 8 to 10 lb catfish around Rattlesnake Island with jumbo minnows and mackerel. There are quite a few small cats in the 1 to 2 lb range being caught in the Clearlake Oaks Keys with minnows and mini crawlers. Bob adds that the crappie fishing in the Keys has broken wide open. Some anglers are limiting out on crappie going from ½ to 1½ lbs. Medium size live minnows and red & white crappie jigs are accounting for most of the action.
Bass
The bass action has slowed down as far as numbers are concerned but the quality of the fish has improved.
Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait & Tackle in Clearlake Oaks (707) 998-1006 says they are catching quite a few big fish by slow rolling big spinner baits in the muddier water near creeks and ditches. Throwing rip baits and swimbaits in 2 to 14 feet of water are accounting for some good catches including a 10¼ lb'er.
Bass guide Ross England of Tackle It Sport Shop in Lakeport (707)-262-1233 confirms the spinnerbait and swimbait bite and adds that knowledgeable anglers using jumbo minnows are still catching and releasing from 20 to 30 bass per outing ranging from around 1½ to 5 or 6 lbs.
Bass Guide Richard Pounds (707) 279-4739 and his clients fished last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all 4 hour trips, and totalled 30 bass. All the fish were caught on jumbo minnows on tule points in approximately 8 feet of water and weighed from 2 to 7.6 lbs.
Richard went out yesterday to prefish for upcoming guide trips and caught 3 fish weighing 7, 8 and 9 lbs on a swimbait and 3 small bass with drop shot rigs. His best 5 fish weighed a total of 26 lbs.
Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed
The lake level has risen slightly and is at 7.60 feet on the Rumsey Gauge, 7.56 is considered full pool. Last year at this time it was at 6.67 feet.
CatfishED.com |
