    
Catfish Ed
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 | | Posted on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 12:57 am: | |
Subject: Clear Lake report
Catfish
I realize that this is getting really boring but the cold and rainy weather is still keeping the catfish from going on the feed.
Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait & Tackle in Clearlake Oaks (707) 998-1006 reports a few small catfish in the 2 to 4 lb range are being caught in the Clearlake Oaks Keys with minnows and clams.
Due to the heavy rains we had last weekend and the resulting muddy water runoff, Rodman Slough in Nice is producing quite a few pan sized brown bullheads in the 2 to 3 lb range and an occasional channel cat in the 8 to 10 lb class. The top baits are mini crawlers and garden worms.
Bass
Even with all the cool and rainy weather we've been having the bass fishing is still rated very good.
Bass guide Richard Pounds (707) 279-4739 had a great day today (April 17th). He took out Tom Gallagher (age 10) and his dad Danny. This was Tom's first time fishing and he caught all the big ones. They caught 10 bass for a total weight of 61.2 lbs including 9.2, 8.3, and 7.8 lb'ers. All fish were caught in 4 to 5 feet of water from the State Park to Lakeport with live jumbo minnows.
Bass guide Big George Hawley (707) 279-9269 gave a great account of how the pros caught their fish at Clear Lake during the Citgo Bassmasters tournament last week, here's his report:
"April 14, 2003,
I did not guide last week after Monday. Instead, I ran a camera boat for BASS. For 4 days I drove Charlie Back, photographer for Bassmaster magazine and BASS Times. I certainly learned a lot about what patterns were happening on the lake while the BASS tournament was going on.
I saw jerk bait fish caught early in the morning (1st hour and a half) and on the lower end of the lake in the Redbud arm. There were a few spinnerbait fish caught in the tules around the lake with white being the best color.
The swim bait (Fish Fishurn calls it a tennis shoe) bite was not really on but it seemed that almost every contestant had one tied on and all seemed to be in a hitch color.
The bed fishing (when fish could be seen) was done with various grubs and lizards, mostly in white, chartreuse and red. The other bait that was used on beds and docks were Zoom trick worms (or the like) in brown and watermelon and rigged wacky (hooked in the middle).
When the field narrowed on Saturday and Sunday, the 2 predominent baits were Senko-like baits in watermelon with black flake and some with red or purple flake. Alton Jones (winner) used a 1/32nd oz slip sinker with that.
The other dominant bait was similar to a brush hog (6") in water melon and colors were as above.
Some fishermen were way back in the tules and wood looking for bedding fish while the winner was fishing outside in the new, second growth tules where a few larger fish were cruising.
Hope this fills in the gaps in the information you have about what the pros were doing while they fished Clear Lake. They all said that in spite of the weather conditions, they really liked our lake and would enjoy coming back. I am happy to share my experience and observations with you."
Big George
Big George's Guide Service
(707) 279-9269
Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed
The lake level is at 7.51 feet on the Rumsey Gauge, 7.56 is considered full pool. Last year at this time it was at 6.90 feet.
CatfishED.com
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