CatfishED.com

April 3, 2003

     The bass fishing was pretty good earlier in the week but the cold rainy weather of the last couple of days has taken it's toll on the action.

     Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait & Tackle in Clearlake Oaks (707) 998-1006 reports anglers using live jumbo minnows and plastic worms are still catching a few decent fish. There was a 13.6 lb'er taken on a plastic worm in the Nice Area by a tournament angler over the weekend.

     Bass guide Ross England of Tackle It Sport Shop in Lakeport (707)-262-1233 says they're still getting some decent action with jumbo minnows and drop shot rigs. Most of the bass are running from 1½ to 2½ lbs with an occasional 4 or 5 lb'er. The fish have moved to a little deeper water, 3 to 6 feet, around tules and docks since the change of weather. Ross adds that an 11 lb'er was caught at the mouth of Rodman Slough with a spinner bait.

     Bass guide Big George Hawley (707) 279-9269 went out with his wife and a friend on Monday and here's his account of the trip:
"Pete Pinkerton of North Lakeport had never been minnow fishin' so we decided there was no time like the present! We launched at 5th Street about 9:30am and headed down to the tules near the State Park. We caught a few but no real size. After a couple hours we moved up to Lakeport just north of the Skylark and started in on the docks. We boated one just under 7 pounds, another over 5 pounds and some others. We had a total of 9 fish. Not too bad for fishing the leading edge of a front.

     Bass guide Bob Thein (707) 994-4886 had a guided fishing trip on Friday 3/27 with the Parsons' family from San Jose. The boys were Stefan and Chris. The father's name was Ron. Had an eight hour trip, fished the Lakeport area with live minnows and Senkos, caught 35 fish from 1½ lbs to 5½ lbs. It was a great day and the family went home very happy.

     Bass Guide Richard Pounds (707) 279-4739 had 5 trips since last week's report and they caught a total of 49 bass. Richard says the fishing has slowed down quite a bit but most of the fish are good size. The totals include 7.1, 6¾, 6 ½, 6, 5½ and several 4 lb'ers.

Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed

     The lake level is at 7.55 feet on the Rumsey Gauge, 7.56 is considered full pool. Last year at this time it was at 6.90 feet.

April 10, 2003

     According to Percy Oved of Limit Out Bait & Tackle in Clearlake Oaks (707) 998-1006 the top fish getters have been swimbaits, jerkbaits, Senkos and pig-n-jigs in that order. Fishing tules in 3 to 6 feet of water has been the most productive. On the warmer days the fish are real shallow and starting to nest but they're moving out of the beds to 6 or more feet on the cooler days. Most of the bass are weighing from 2 to 5 lbs.

     Bass guide Ross England of Tackle It Sport Shop in Lakeport (707)-262-1233 says split shotting and drop shotting oxblood/blue plastic worms are accounting for good numbers of smaller fish in the 1½ to 2½ lb class while smaller ripbaits such as the Pointer 100's are producing less numbers but better quality fish running from 3 to 4 lbs. Tules and shallow docks in 2 to 5 feet of water are the most productive areas to fish according to Ross.

     Bass guide Big George Hawley (707) 279-9269 had three trips this week and hre's his account of the action:
     On the 7th I took a 7 hour trip with Larry and Jeff from the Bay Area. Jeff's big fish of the day was a nice 6 pounder and we had a total of 12 fish.
     On the 6th I took Gary and his 14 year old son Gerald (from the Bay Area) out for about 4 hours. We fished Lakeport and Nice with minnows. the fish seemed to be holding in about 5 to 6 feet of water on the docks. Gary had two 5's while Gerald had one that went over 6! We had a total of 20 fish.
     The 7th found me going out with John and Steve from Idaho. We fished docks in Lakeport with minnows for about 4+ hours and had a total of 15 fish.        John had one that went 9.13 and there was one that went 5 pounds! As you may imagine, they will go home to Idaho very happy and singing the praises of our wonderful lake!

For those of you who might be interested in viewing the Bassmasters at Clear Lake on ESPN2 here's the schedule:

ALL TIMES ARE EAST COAST TIME

04/19/03 SAT 10:30A 2003 CITGO BASSMASTER TOURNAMENT TRAIL PART 1, CLEAR LAKE
04/26/03 SAT 10:30A 2003 CITGO BASSMASTER TOURNAMENT TRAIL PART 2, CLEAR LAKE

04/24/03 THU 04:00P 2003 CITGO BASSMASTER TOURNAMENT TRAIL PART 1 (Repeat), CLEAR LAKE
05/01/03 THU 09:00A 2003 CITGO BASSMASTER TOURNAMENT TRAIL PART 2 (Repeat), CLEAR LAKE

Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed

The lake level is at 7.57 feet on the Rumsey Gauge, 7.56 is considered full pool. Last year at this time it was at 6.90 feet.

April 17, 2003

     Even with all the cool and rainy weather we've been having the bass fishing is still rated very good.

     Bass guide Richard Pounds (707) 279-4739 had a great day today (April 17th). He took out Tom Gallagher (age 10) and his dad Danny. This was Tom's first time fishing and he caught all the big ones. They caught 10 bass for a total weight of 61.2 lbs including 9.2, 8.3, and 7.8 lb'ers. All fish were caught in 4 to 5 feet of water from the State Park to Lakeport with live jumbo minnows.

     Bass guide Big George Hawley (707) 279-9269 gave a great account of how the pros caught their fish at Clear Lake during the Citgo Bassmasters tournament last week, here's his report:

"April 14, 2003,
     We did not guide last week after Monday. Instead, I ran a camera boat for BASS. For 4 days I drove Charlie Back, photographer for Bassmaster magazine and BASS Times. I certainly learned a lot about what patterns were happening on the lake while the BASS tournament was going on.

     We saw jerk bait fish caught early in the morning (1st hour and a half) and on the lower end of the lake in the Redbud arm. There were a few spinnerbait fish caught in the tules around the lake with white being the best color.

     The swim bait (Fish Fishurn calls it a tennis shoe) bite was not really on but it seemed that almost every contestant had one tied on and all seemed to be in a hitch color.

     The bed fishing (when fish could be seen) was done with various grubs and lizards, mostly in white, chartreuse and red. The other bait that was used on beds and docks were Zoom trick worms (or the like) in brown and watermelon and rigged wacky (hooked in the middle).

     When the field narrowed on Saturday and Sunday, the 2 predominent baits were Senko-like baits in watermelon with black flake and some with red or purple flake. Alton Jones (winner) used a 1/32nd oz slip sinker with that.

     The other dominant bait was similar to a brush hog (6") in water melon and colors were as above.

     Some fishermen were way back in the tules and wood looking for bedding fish while the winner was fishing outside in the new, second growth tules where a few larger fish were cruising.

     Hope this fills in the gaps in the information you have about what the pros were doing while they fished Clear Lake. They all said that in spite of the weather conditions, they really liked our lake and would enjoy coming back. I am happy to share my experience and observations with you."
Big George
Big George's Guide Service
(707) 279-9269

Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed

The lake level is at 7.51 feet on the Rumsey Gauge, 7.56 is considered full pool. Last year at this time it was at 6.83 feet.

April 24, 2003

Notice!

     We regretfully announce that this will be the last regular weekly fishing report. I will still put out an occasional brief report when I get a chance and there is something worthy of reporting but there will be no more regularly scheduled weekly reports.

     We have been doing these reports faithfully every week since early 1999 and have finally become burned out. I have enjoyed doing them and I know that they have been appreciated by many anglers but I just don't have the time to continue them.

     You can get some good reports at times by going to the Forum and checking the various categories such as "Clear Lake Fishing Reports". There are several active members who post their reports there right after they get home from a trip, in fact that's where I got this week's report from "Catman".

     We hope to have at least one brief catfish report before the derby so check by this page once in awhile.

     Wishin you good fishin................Catfish Ed

     The continued cold weather has finally taken it's toll on the bass fishing. The swimbait and jerkbait bite has slowed down to a crawl.

     Bass guide Ross England of Tackle It Sport Shop in Lakeport (707)-262-1233 says drop shotting, split shotting and Senkos are producing a few fish. For consistent action Ross recommends using live jumbo minnows.

     Bass guide Richard Pounds (707) 279-4739 has been producing some good catches for his clients with live jumbo minnows from State Park to Lakeport. On Friday they had 10 bass weighing from 3 to 6.3 lbs. On Saturday they caught 17 fish from 1½ to 5 lbs and Sunday produced 9 fish from 3 to 6 lbs.

Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed

The lake level is at 7.60 feet on the Rumsey Gauge, 7.56 is considered full pool. Last year at this time it was at 6.83 feet.