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4/26/12 Update/conditions/results

4/26/2012

""WOW"" It's been a busy month and that's a good thing. For those of you who may be thinking of booking a trip, please try and book out as far in advance as possible. After 14 years of fishing this lake full time and after nine years of guiding full time, I have a lot of regular customers and popular months such as April book up fast. This past week saw the biggest fish of the season and even all of last year being caught. A ""Beautiful"" pre spwan female that weighed ""10 1/2 lbs"". Pictured and released right away. The lake is still fishing strong even though we are not catching the numbers we did a few years ago. A typical trip is averaging 10 to 20 fish depending upon the type of baits we are using. Most of these past few weeks of trips have been with live bait. Water conditions are good with all of the creeks now running clear and water clarity is good in most all areas of the lake. The fish are in all stages of spawning, some have spawned out, others are spawning now and even more are moving up daily to spawn. The spawn here will go through the month of May and even into part of June. I have to classify the artificial bite as slow right now but on sunny days you can ""Sight Fish" or known as Bed Fishing and catch several fish for your trip if that is how you like to fish. We are still using live bait for those who prefer it and it is still very effective. The FLW Stren series tournament starts today. They should have around 120 boats and the weights should be impressive. I will be attending the weigh in and will update results and techniques here later on. With the fish moving to the beds and with sight fishing popular and also effective, the Alabama rig has dropped off in effectiveness but is still being thrown by a lot of people. Now is the time to use baits such as senko's, drop shot's, jig's and carolina rigs. The topwater frog will also start to see some action as the fish are spawning up shallow and will hit the frog under the right presentations. This is a hit and miss technique but can result in catching some fish.
It's been a real ""BUSY"" lake with the casual folks, and the tournament folks, all hitting the lake. The lake has topped out at 5.83 feet on our scale and I doubt it will rise much further unless we get some late rain fall. That's it for now, stay safe and God Bless. Bob

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4/23/12 Lake Update & Fishing Report

4/23/2012

2 Comments

Well that time of the year is here, we have had a "Big" warming trend and the bass have just one thing on their mind and that's to preserve their spieces and "'Spawn"". When the first big spawning wave happens, the artificial bite turns tough. The bite these past four days has been very slow with artificials and even the live bait bite slowed way down. This is a typical happening every year but the good thing is the bite will get better and better. If you just wanted to sight fish these past couple of days, you could easily have put ten to twenty fish in the boat but if you wanted to ""fish" for the fish with artificials it was a slow bite. With the low water we have this year, the shallow bass are really exposed and that's not really good for the success of the spawn. I would encourage everyone that is "sight" fishing to put those bass back on their beds after you have caught them. If released right away and at the area where you caught them, the male bass will go right back and guard the nest. If the bass are caught and taken away from the bed, that bed is doomed and any eggs there will be eaten by blue gill or crawdads.
The latest hot spells we have had have brought the afternoon water temps up to around 70 degrees in some areas. I have seen lot's and lot's of bass up shallow and many on beds. With the great weather we had this weekend and with the many tournaments hitting the lake, it was very busy on the water yesterday and the boat ramp parking lot was full when I pulled out. Targeting your fishing trip to Clear lake on a weekday is a good idea if you can schedule it. Although the artificials were slow to just downright tough this past week, now that the spawn has started the bite will slowly get better and better. Senko's, drop shot, shakey head jig's, jig's should all start to put fish in the boat. My favorite color for the senko's is the number 912, it's a combination color of watermelon with black flake and Green pumpkin. I also like to use a watermelon candy baby brush hog and a watermelon candy color worm for my drop shot. I use the zoom trick worms in watermelon candy and watermelon red on my shakey head jigs. For my jig's I like a 3/8th's to a 1/2 tipped with either a Sweet Beaver trailer in the smallie size or the mid size. I like the "Big Texan" color for the sweet beaver trailer. The Yamamoto twin tail trailers in watermelon red are also a good choice for your jig trailer. There are a whole other variety of baits that will work this time of the year if you stay with them long enough. Swim Jigs, swim baits, topwater frog's, Alabama rigs, spinnerbaits, can all catch fish at this time of the year, so pick your confidence bait and get on the lake and have some fun. The FLW Stren series starts this Thurs, Fri, & Sat, expect the lake to be very busy with at least a 115 boats in that tournament. ""Good Luck"" and Happy Fishing, God Bless, Bob

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4/14/2012 Lake Up Date/Fishing Report

4/14/2012

8 Comments

With the March and now the April rains, the lake is still rising and it looks like we may get close to 6ft by the end of next week.
Our lake is considered full at 7.50 feet. The rain has started the creeks to flow so the mouth of all the creeks are running muddy.
The good news is that with the rains and the creeks running, our native fish the "Hitch" have been seen in the creeks doing their annual spawning treks. The water temps have been holding right around 52 to start in the mornings and getting up to 55 to 56 in some of the back sloughs. Although some fish have probably started to spawn, I personally have not seen any on beds or any evidence in the fish we are catching that they have spawned. We are scheduled for a warming trend starting today and daytime temps should be up close to 70 these next few days. This should move more fish up into the shallows and the bite should really turn on. The senko bite is working now and we have been catching fish up in the tules. Most tule areas on the North end of the lake have at least 3 to 5 feet of water on them. Jig's, drop shot and shakey head are also producing fish. The lake is in it's busy period for tournaments so expect to see a lot of boat traffic on the weekends. Starting today and through the end of the month we will have several club tournaments, the Angler's Choice Pro Am and the FlW Stren series all hitting the lake.
It's prime time and the weights should be incredible for the tournament folk. The Alabama Rig is still the hot ticket on the lake but a whole variety of swimbaits are putting some good fish in the boat. My customers this past week have caught some nice six pounders with a 7lb, 11oz being the biggest fish caught. It's been a cold spring and I think we are about two weeks behind the normal good spawn. Yesterday when I launched with my customers it was 35 degrees with snow on the lower hills and it hailed on us while we were fishing. I encourage everyone to take good care of your fish, all of the big fish you catch right now are probably females and will be full of eggs. Take those pictures and let them go as soon as possible. All of the big fish you see pictured here on my website are released alive and well. Now is the time to get out and fish for that ""Personal Best, tie on your confidence bait and go out and have fun. Feel free to leave me any comments or any suggestions on what's been working for you?? Thanks' Bob

8 Comments

Improve your Drop Shotting

4/4/2012

2 Comments

The first key to being successful with drop shotting is to invest in a good rod, I prefer the Dobyn's 701 sf light fast action rod. You need at least a 7ft rod with a sensitive tip. Drop shotting is all about feel and you cannot feel the bite with a heavy action rod or a rod that is too short for the technique. The 701 is a seven foot rod, one power, which means it is a "light action" rod which is needed for the drop shot. The second thing to keep in mind is to use the lightest test line you can get away with for the size of the fish you are trying to catch. Here at Clearlake, I never go over 12lb test line and usually do not drop below 8 pound test. On clearer water lakes such as Lake Shasta, you will need to drop down to 8lb or even six pound test. The lighter the line test, the more feel you have and the less feel the fish have. The third tip I do is I like to use the combination of braid and a Fluorocarbon leader. I use 20lb Power Pro in the High Vis yellow color. I then add a good 10 to 12 feet of Seaguar Invisx line for the leader.
The advantage of the braid and fluorocarbon leader is you get Much More Feel, the braid is super sensitive which is very important in feeling the bite, it also has no stretch and allows a much better hook set. The fluorocarbon line also has less stretch than regular mono line, it also is more abrasion resistant and does not show in the water like a monofilament line will. The reason I use the ""High Vis""yellow Power pro line is that I can easily see it. Often times you will see the bite through the line before you will feel it. As a guide here on Clear Lake, I don't fish with my customers, I am constantly watching what they are doing, the tension on the line, etc. I often see the bite before they realize they even had one. The normal Moss Green braided line is hard to see against the background of the water. Using the ten to 12 foot leader, the fish will never see the yellow line. The last thing to do to increase your success is to use the lightest weight possible. I normally use a 1/8th oz weight and the reason for the light weight is that you don't want the fish to feel the weight when they pick up the bait and also the lighter the weight you use, the more you will feel the bite when the fish picks up the bait. In high wind conditions or when fishing very deep structure, I will go to heavier weights. So in a nutshell, invest in a good rod, use a braided line with a flourocarbon leader, use the lightest test line possible and the smallest weight sinker as possible. Hope this helps, ""Good Fishing""

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4/26/12 Update/conditions/results

4/23/12 Lake Update & Fishing Report

4/14/2012 Lake Up Date/Fishing Report

Improve your Drop Shotting

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