November 26 1999 The catfish are still fairly active but most catfishermen are not. As winter weather sets in, there will be less activity and therefore less to report. Al Freitas of Don's Bait and Tackle in Clearlake reports a few of the regulars are still doing pretty good on channel catfish drifting cut bait and minnows from the Pipeline to Luebow Point and around Indian Island. Curtis Sloan of Aurora RV Park in Nice (707-274-5531) says his guests are catching quite a few large channel cats from the southeast end of the resort using nightcrawlers. There are a few cats being taken from docks all around the lake with cutbait and nightcrawlers but it's a long wait between bites. As of 9:00PM last night the lake level is 1.44 feet above Rumsey. Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed November 19 1999 The bad weather has been keeping most catfishermen off the lake. The water temperature is dropping into the low 50s which makes the catfish less active. Al Freitas of Don's Bait and Tackle in Clearlake reports a few hardy anglers have been having fair success with cut bait fishing in 15 to 25 feet of water around breaks and drop-offs in the Clearlake area. They are moving from spot to spot until they find a concentration of fish and when they do, the action is pretty good for channel cats averaging 7 to 10 pounds. There are a few small channel cats and brown bullheads being caught from docks and beaches in the Nice/Lucerne area using mini-crawlers and nightcrawlers, mostly at night. There has not been anyone out trying drift fishing in the Nice/Lucerne area for at least a week due to the weather. I'm beginning to think the drift bite is over for the most part until next year. Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed As of 8:00PM last night the lake level is 1.43 feet above Rumsey. ( Same as last week)   November 12 1999 There are still quite a few catfish being caught in the north end of the lake and in the Clearlake arm. The water temperature is down to the mid-50s and the cats are fattening up for the winter. Curtis Sloan of Aurora RV Park in Nice (707-274-5531) reports that on Wednesday and Thursday at least 15 channel catfish from 8 to 12 pounds were caught off the bank in the RV park all with nightcrawlers. There were 4 channel catfish ranging from 6 to 14 pounds taken off the Nice Community Pier with nightcrawlers on Tuesday evening. Al Freitas of Don's Bait and Tackle in Clearlake says they are catching quite a few good size catfish off the pipeline in Clearlake and at Bass Alley and White Rock with cut baits such as mackerel and anchovies. I haven't seen anyone drift-fishing off the Nice/Lucerne area all week, probably due to the nasty weather. There is still a chance for decent drift fishing action in the next couple of weeks depending on the weather. Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed As of 8:00PM last night the lake level is 1.43 feet above Rumsey.    November 5 1999 It's the same old story, the few catfishermen that are going out are keeping their mouths shut ( maybe the catfish are also ). Terry Knight of the Lake County Record Bee talked to a couple of shore fishermen at the County Park that had 3 or 4 catfish in the 2 to 3 pound range. I went out drift fishing for a couple of hours on Wednesday and Thursday mornings to see if I could locate some more trophy sized cats. On wednesday I caught a 13 pound 12 ounce channel cat and 2 nice brown bullheads about 3 pounds apiece. Thursday morning I only had one bite but it was a 16 pounder so that made my day. I caught these fish drifting off of the Nice/Lucerne area about 1 mile out in 16 feet of water with anchovies. Good Fishin.................Catfish Ed As of 8:00PM last night the lake level is 1.37 feet above Rumsey. Back to Old Reports