December 6, 2001 Due to the continued cold and rainy weather I was unable to get any information on catfishing anywhere on the lake. I am usually able to get a little info from die-hard catfish anglers but unfortunately that is not the case this week. Brad Farrin of Don's Bait & Tackle in Clearlake 707-995-9668 says that to his knowledge not a single catfishing boat has braved the cold and nasty weather since late last week. As I reported last week they were catching a lot of good sized catfish at Wheeler Point with jumbo minnows so that area is probably still a good bet if the weather cooperates. We have been throwing a catfish line out off our back deck here in Holiday Harbor and hadn't any action since the weekend of November 24th & 25th until last night when I caught an 18 pound channel catfish with a gob of mini crawlers. The rising lake level should cause the action to pick up in the north end of the lake anytime now. I received an email from "Fish Chris" this morning with a heck of a report on his catfish trip to Clear Lake on Tuesday. Unfortunately he didn't reveal the location but he caught and released 22 catfish weighing from 5 to 15.8 pounds using live silverside minnows that he caught with a dip net in Clear Lake. For a detailed report go to his website and for a bunch of photos of his catch go here.   December 13, 2001 The south end of the lake is kicking out lots of nice catfish but as usual, there has been no catfishing activity in the north end that I am aware of. Brad Farrin of Don's Bait & Tackle in Clearlake 707-995-9668 says the windy weather has kept most catfishermen off the lake. The few that have gone out have had good results around Wheeler Point and Frasier Point with live jumbo minnows. The trick is to find a school of silverside minnows and or shad and fish with the jumbo minnows on or near the bottom under the school. Most of the cats are running from 8 to 12 pounds. I received another email from "Fish Chris" of www.trophybassonly.com and he really nailed the cats this Tuesday. He caught and released 23 channel cats for a total weight of 240 pounds!!! He was fishing in the general area of Frasier Point near Konocti in 15 to 25 feet of water and was using silverside minnows that he catches with a dipnet right where he's fishing for the catfish. There's nothing happening in the north end of the lake because no one's going out, I haven't had time to wet a line much myself. If you want to give the north end a try, I suggest casting off the ends of docks at night with mackerel, you should manage a nice catfish or two if you wait it out.   December 20, 2001 The continued cold and rainy weather is keeping the majority of catfishermen at home and next to the fireplace but the catfish are cooperating for the few that are willing to tough it out. "Fish Chris" of TrophyBassOnly.com talked me into going fishing with him on Tuesday morning out of Konocti Harbor in Kelseyville. We started fishing at 8:00AM and had consistent action throughout the day. I fished until 3:00PM and ended up catching and releasing 3 cats weighing 12, 15 and 16.3 pounds plus I lost at least 4 or 5 others that came unbuttoned. Chris stayed until 7:00Pm and ended up with 8 cats weighing from about 4 pounds to 16.8 pounds. Chris went back out yesterday with a friend of his in the really windy weather and they caught and released 10 catfish weighing from around 10 pounds to 17.3 pounds. All of the fish were caught from just off the marina to Frasier Point with either frozen shad and silversides or fresh caught silversides. Most of the fish were caught in 12 to 25 feet of water. For more detailed account of the action Click Here and read "Fishing report Wednesday 19th.......... over 420 lbs of fish !!! By Fish Chris 12/20/01" and " Fishing report Tuesday 18th.......... They are still on ! By Fish Chris 12/19/01"   December 27, 2001 A combination of cold weather and the Christmas Holiday has kept the majority of catfish anglers off the water. The only serious catfish fisherman that went out this week that I am aware of was Fish Chris of www.trophybassonly.com who really nailed the catfish again. He went out on Christmas Day and caught and released 25 channel cats for an approximate total weight of 230 pounds including a new PB for him of 23.2 pounds and an 18.3 pounder. He was using ultralite spinning gear with frozen shad and silverside minnows for bait with just a split shot a few inches above a #1 hook tied to the end of his line. He launched his boat at Konocti Harbor Resort and fished from just outside the boat docks to Frasier Point. This action has been very consistent for Chris for about a month now so I see no reason for it to slow down for a while. For a more detailed account of Chris's Christmas trip in his own words, click here. The north end of the lake is very slow, I haven't caught a catfish off my back deck for weeks. The only action I heard of was in Rodman Slough west of the bridge where they are catching a few brown bullheads with mini crawlers and garden worms. Back to 2001 Catfish Reports