Overall the bass fishing is still a little slow with most of the anglers working hard to put three to five fish in the in the boat for a full day on the water. The water temperature has been in the high 70-degree range. Senkos and crankbaits have been the top lures and best areas have been in Clear Lake Oaks arm is the top location. The more successful fishermen have been using their electronics to locate the fish and are then retrieving their lure super slow. Sight fishing for spawning fish has also been successful. The only problem has been the bass are slow to go after a lure.
Only a few bass weighing more than 8 pounds have been caught. This is normal for Clear Lake. The super large bass disappear for several years and then come back.
The bass tournaments return to Clear Lake this weekend with a Best Bass Tournament (BBT) being held on Saturday and several club tournaments on Sunday. The BBT tournament should draw at least 60 boats. The weigh-ins will be at Library Park in Lakeport starting at noon. The Department of Fish and Wildlife (DWF) imposes a regulation that effective between June 15 and September 15 all bass tournaments can be of only a six hour duration. In other words a boat must weigh-in within six hours of when it blasted off.
The purpose of the regulation is to protect the fish during the hot weather. When the air temperatures reach 95 degrees, the water in the livewells can get so hot the bass will die. Even with the regulation a lot of bass will die after being released. It may take three or four days for the fish to die. It's called "delayed mortality." This is also the time of the year when tournament fishermen need to keep the pumps in the livewells on when they are holding fish. Many fishermen don't turn on their livewell pumps because they don't want to run their batteries down.
A full lake and growing aquatic weeds have greeted fishermen and lake users at Clear Lake. The weeds are sprouting up along the shoreline. The lake is home to an estimated 35 species of aquatic weeds and two-thirds of them are non-native or what are called "invasive weeds." These weeds plug up the entrance to the boat ramps and make using the lake a nearly impossible task. The county has instituted a program of killing the weeds that has been very effective. A private company is used to apply the herbicide which will kill the weeds.
The company doing the spraying has rules they must follow to protect the fish in the lake. The water temperature must be below 85 degrees and they must also take dissolved oxygen (DO) readings. If they are too low they must stop spraying.
Lakeside residents can hire a local weed remover, but they first get a permit from the Water Resources Department. If they have any questions they can call Water Resources at (707) 263-2344.
Crappie and catfish are being caught in decent numbers. The crappie are all around the lake and there isn't one hot spot. The same applies to catfish.
Trout action is rated as good in Upper Blue Lake and in the East Branch of the Russian River. No local bodies of water were stocked this week.
A trip to the Lakeside County Park, located just off Soda Bay Road will offer an excellent opportunity to view a pair of Ospreys with their small chicks. The adults can be seen bringing fish to their chicks.
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