Fishing Report, Lake Conditions. Once again Clear Lake has lived up to its reputation of being one of the best, if not the best lake in the country for catching quality fish. In this past weekends 35th annual Lake County Chamber Of Commerce tournament (3/25 & 3/26) it took 59.55 lbs to win for a ten fish limit, followed by 57.23 lbs for second place. The big fish of the tournament was a 10.13 lber, there were several eight lb fish along with numerous sevens and sixes.
In the 108 teams that fished, 33 teams on the first day weighed in over a 20lb limit for their five fish. This was not an easy task during strong winds. It was strictly a reaction type bait tournament, drop shot worms, ned rigs, shakey head rigs had no place in this one. I went out the next day after the fish got hammered and still managed to catch some quality fish..
Currently the lake is holding just above it's full level and they are letting water out to help keep it below flood stage. The water clarity due to run off and strong winds is muddy to stained. The water temperature is hanging around the 48 to 50 degrees in the morning. The fish are staging for their upcoming spawn and once the water temperature warms up this bite could get even better. 3/27/23

​WIFE and Lake Conditions: I am happy to report after 23 days in the hospital and a major Heart related surgery, my beautiful wife Tary is home recovering nicely. Its been quite and ordeal but we are on the down hill side of things, its just going to take some time to get her healed up. A sincere thank you for those of you who offered your help and prayed for her recovery. On the Lake and business side of things, the good news here is that there was no water under this dock seven days ago.
Currently our lake has come up over four feet in vertical depth from its low point last year and is rising steadily. That equals a lot of footage of the shore line now covered in water. As of today, 1/13/23, all of the launch ramps around the lake are open. I expect that even if we don't get anymore rain, based on last years conditions, our ramps will stay open all year. With all of the run off which is still happening, the lake is muddy pretty much through out the upper end and there is a lot of floating debris, life jackets must be worn and safety in running the boat is a must.
On the fishing side of things, the tournament schedule for this year is out and there will be plenty of them working the lake again this year. There is in fact one scheduled for this Saturday the 14th and then a championship tournament that was rescheduled from last year will be held on the 28th and 29th . Although I have not been on the lake for a couple of months, two recent tournaments were won with 24 lbs for five fish, It will be an interesting year with our high water. I expect to be back in full sw0ng with my business soon, and I depending on the rest of our rainy season, we have a decent change of having a full lake this year. God Bless

The Fall bite seems to be improving for the bass ,  lipless crank baits such as the Lucky Craft LV 500 lure are working along with a variety of square billed crankbaits.  The fish have been up very shallow, right up to the bank and out to about 10 feet. The fish that are being caught are all fat and healthy and the majority are in the two to four pound range.  All of the tournaments that were scheduled for October were cancelled so fishing, boating pressure on the lake has been very minimal.  The reports for those fishing for catfish is that it is  a very good bite for those hard fighting critters.  The crappie have yet to start to school up and move to the shallows but that will start over these next couple of months.   The water clarity is good and currently launching at the 5th street ramp is still okay.  The 5th street ramp in Lakeport  is the only ramp around the lake that can be considered safe to launch from,  you just have to be careful and not back down any further than the warning line they have on the dock next to the ramp.  With the cooler weather and a little rain forecast for later this week,  my guess is that the lake will cease to drop any further and that launching at 5th street will be good for the rest of this year as we get more rain.  Its a great time to get out on the lake and enjoy the fall weather,  fishing, catching is improving and there are very little other boats to contend with.   """Enjoy"" & God Bless     

  We are now in our third year of drought and low water conditions for Clear Lake.   Currently our lake level is slightly lower than it was for this same time frame last year.  What this means is that the launch ramps will  once again be impacted and some will close because of being to shallow to be able to launch your boat.  Currently the best ramp to launch at is the 5th street launch ramp in the city of Lakeport.  The third street ramp is now closed and launching at the County Park or at the Redbud ramp in the city of Clearlake can be very dicey and you have to be very careful.   Those ramps will probably close by the first of September or mid September.  Fishing, catching is very, very slow right now and I don't expect it to get much better until later on this fall when the water starts to cool and the bass start to feed heavily to bulk up for the winter.   We have been in a decline for catching numbers now for the past two months,  so much so that I have cancelled some of my trips and have been turning others down.  It's hard to say why the fishing has gotten so tough, I am sure that the overall pressure from all the tournaments that have hammered this lake year after year and every single weekend has not helped the overall fish population.  Combine that with three years of low water levels which may have  impacted the overall success of the spawn,  and we have a current condition of a down right tough bite with many fisherman not catching a fish for their time on the water. The lake has had some pretty bad algae blooms and they vary from day to day and depending upon which way the wind blows or if it blows, you will find it different each time you go out.   The water temperature has been hanging around 78 to 81,  be sure to picture your fish when caught and release them and not carry them around in the live wells.   I am hoping and praying for a lot of rain this winter to fill up the lakes and that this current condition of a  tough bite is just a momentary thing.    The lake will continue to drop over these next two months,  be safe and be careful while boating anywhere close to shore due to possible hazards.     

To say its been a busy lake for fishing is definitely an understatement,  for the past seven weeks we have had a major tournament of some type working the lake, combine that with several smaller club tournaments,  along with your weekend anglers and finding a spot to fish or park your boat trailer can be an issue.  Currently many fish have spawned but many have yet to finish the spawn and you can find many on beds either spawning or guarding the eggs.  The water level is about six inches lower right now than it was for this time last year and it will definitely be another year where certain launch ramps will have to close due to the low water.  The algae blooms have already started happening in the Rattlesnake and Redbud arms,  so far the upper 1/2 of the lake has not experienced any blooms.   Most people working the banks right now are sight fishing and trying to catch the fish off of the beds.  The top water action has just started and will continue to get better as the spawned out fish will need to feed up from the rigors of spawning.  The weed growth in the offshore water is already getting a good start and now the carp are spawning and thrashing around and creating floating weeds.      The majority of the fisherman working the lake who are not sight fishing are using a variety of techniques,  the drop shot,  weightless senko,  ned rig, neko rig, and shakey head are all being used to put fish in the boat.   The past two weeks have been a pretty tough and very slow bite,  very typical for this time of the year.   It will get much better as we move through and the spawn finishes up.  The annual catfish derby hits the lake the weekend of the 13, 14, and 15th of this month, that derby usually has about 800 entries.  The crappie action has been very good in many areas around the lake but is starting to taper off and by the end of this month will not be near as good. 
     What you can expect as we go into the summer months,  low water conditions will close some of the ramps,  weekends will always be busier than during the week,  algae blooms will continue to happen, especially on hot days.  Just a reminder, the lake water temperature which is getting up to around 65 to 67 will continue to get hotter so take a picture and release the fish, don't carry them around in the live, well for pictures later.   Be sure to have your boat checked and get a launching sticker before launching if you are coming from out of the area.    Clear Lake despite all the fishing pressure, algae blooms, and weedy conditions, still ranks as one of the top lakes in the country and even with low water conditions we are in much better shape than many of the other lakes in California.   Be safe, be courteous, take care of the fish,   God Bless   

Its that time of the year,  the fish are moving into the shallows and out in front of the spawning bays in preparation for the spawn.  The spawn will start once the water temperature hits 60 degrees and stays there.  When the fish are moving in as they are now,  they will also school up and they also are looking to feed and bulk up getting ready for the rigors of spawning.   Currently you can use a whole variety of baits and techniques and if you stay with them long enough,  have success in landing fish.   Swimbaits, jerk baits, lipless crank baits, Alabama rigs,  big glide baits, under spins,  are the the bulk of the baits that are being used.   The lake is being hit hard with tournament fishing,  two big tournaments just finished up this month and we have two more to finish out the month,  both big tournaments,  to say the fish are getting pounded is an understatement.  I attended a weigh in yesterday for a two day 115 boat tournament,  and a lot of nice healthy fish up to the eight pound range were weighed in.   The winner had somewhere around 45 pounds for their two day total of 10 fish to win the tournament.  All of the above techniques and baits mentioned were used to catch those fish.
     Currently the lake is slightly lower than it was for this same time frame last year and the long term outlook for rain is not good so low water conditions will remain in effect as it was last year.  You need to use caution when motoring anywhere close to shore,  it does seem that most of the offshore hazards have been marked with a hazard buoy.   Water temperature has been starting out around 53 degrees and getting up to 58 degrees in the warmer afternoons.   The crappie bite is still going strong,  most of the action has been at the lower half of the lake but is now starting to be good on the upper West end of the lake as they are moving in to spawn.  
Based on the results of the last two big tournaments,  I would say the lake is fishing very good but you have to put your time in to find them.  We are in a cycle of where the big fish are going to be in the six to eight pound range,  very few fish are being caught over eight pounds,  but catching solid fish in the three to five pound range  is a normal thing that most lakes cannot come close to matching.  Plan ahead for your trip, check with the local tackle stores to find out when the big tournaments are, be prepared that towards the middle of summer, some ramps will again be closed due to low water.   Be Safe, be courteous, have fun, 
God Bless