CatfishED.com

March 6, 2003

     The bass fishing continues to improve, with quite a few quality fish showing up in the catches.

     Bass guide Ross England of Tackle It Sport Shop in Lakeport (707)-262-1233 reports excellent fishing in the north end of the lake. Rip baits, swim baits and pig-n-jigs are accounting for some outstanding catches including lots of bass between 5 and 6 lbs. Drop shot rigs and texas rigged plastic worms are producing good numbers of fish in the 1½ to 2½ lb class. Live jumbo minnows are producing some big fish including a 13lb 6 oz'er and a 9 lb'er caught near the mouth of Rodman Slough. Most of the action is taking place in 5 to 8 feet of water outside of tule lines and docks.

     Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait & Tackle in Clearlake Oaks (707) 998-1006 confirms the excellent rip bait bite and says some anglers are catching 15 to 20 fish per day with most of the fish weighing over 5 lbs.

     Bass Guide Richard Pounds (707) 279-4739 went out on a 3 hour scouting trip on Saturday and caught two 4 lb'ers on a spinner bait, a 3½ lb'er on a rip bait and 6 smaller bass weighing from 1 to 2½ lbs with a drop shot rigged Roboworm. All fish were caught in the north end of the lake near the State Park in 4 to 10 feet of water. The bigger fish were holding in 4 feet of water and the drop shot fish were in around 10 feet.

     Bass guide Bob Thein (707) 994-4886 took two clients from Half Moon Bay out on Sunday 3/2/03 for an 8 hour trip. They fished mainly in the north end of the lake and caught 24 fish. The biggest fish weighed 7 lbs 11 oz.and the biggest five went 28 lbs. All of the fish were caught with live jumbo minnows.

Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed

     The lake level has stabilized and is at 7.08 feet on the Rumsey Gauge. Last year at this time it was at 6.57 feet.

March 13, 2003

     The bass fishing is still very good and we're seeing quite a few larger fish in the catches this week.

     Bass guide Ross England of Tackle It Sport Shop in Lakeport (707)-262-1233 reports good action for most bass anglers. Rip baits, swimbaits and spinnerbaits are the top producers. There have been several fish in the 8 to 9 lb class taken and one 11 lb'er with the larger rip baits. Ross recommends fishing the tules in 2 to 6 feet of water.

     Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait & Tackle in Clearlake Oaks (707) 998-1006 confirms the rip and swimbait action. He suggests throwing Lucky Craft rip baits and Osprey swimbaits in 4 to 8 feet of water near tules and points.

     Bass Guide Richard Pounds (707) 279-4739 had 4 trips this week and he and his clients caught and released 101 bass including many quality fish .Their biggest 5 weighed 29.3 lbs. They had 3 bass over 7 lbs and several 4 to 6 lb'ers.All fish were caught in 4 to 5 feet of water in tules and near points with jumbo minnows.

     Bass Guide Big George Hawley (707) 279-9269 went fishing on Tuesday with his wife, Pam and they caught 19 fish, among them 2 that went over 5 pounds and one 6¼ lbs. They caught all their fish on tule lines near the State Park with live minnows.

Bass guide Bob Thein (707) 994-4886 had a guided fishing trip on Saturday March 8 with a client from Anchorage, Alaska. He brought his 13 year old son, Mike Hurlbert and 11 year old granddaughter, Shelley Gregory to fish Clear Lake for one 8 hour day. Shelley caught and released 17 fish and Mike caught and released 10 fish. Mike's dad caught one fish. The fish ranged from 1½ to 3½ lbs. All fish were caught with live jumbo minnows in the North end of the Lake.

     On Tuesday, March 11 he had a 4 hour guided trip with Stanley Lowe of San Francisco. He ended up with 18 fish ranging from 1½ to 4½ lbs. All fish were caught with live jumbo minnows in the North end of the Lake.

     Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed

     The lake level has stabilized and is at 7.12 feet on the Rumsey Gauge. Last year at this time it was at 6.65 feet.

March 20, 2003

     The bass action has slowed down as far as numbers are concerned but the quality of the fish has improved.

Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait & Tackle in Clearlake Oaks (707) 998-1006 says they are catching quite a few big fish by slow rolling big spinner baits in the muddier water near creeks and ditches. Throwing rip baits and swimbaits in 2 to 14 feet of water are accounting for some good catches including a 10¼ lb'er.

     Bass guide Ross England of Tackle It Sport Shop in Lakeport (707)-262-1233 confirms the spinnerbait and swimbait bite and adds that knowledgeable anglers using jumbo minnows are still catching and releasing from 20 to 30 bass per outing ranging from around 1½ to 5 or 6 lbs.

     Bass Guide Richard Pounds (707) 279-4739 and his clients fished last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all 4 hour trips, and totalled 30 bass. All the fish were caught on jumbo minnows on tule points in approximately 8 feet of water and weighed from 2 to 7.6 lbs.

     Richard went out yesterday to prefish for upcoming guide trips and caught 3 fish weighing 7, 8 and 9 lbs on a swimbait and 3 small bass with drop shot rigs. His best 5 fish weighed a total of 26 lbs.

Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed

     The lake level has risen slightly and is at 7.60 feet on the Rumsey Gauge, 7.56 is considered full pool. Last year at this time it was at 6.67 feet.

March 27, 2003

     The bass fishing is very good with jumbo minnows and plastic baits. For bigger fish but less action, jerkbaits and swimbaits are the way to go.

     Percy Oved of Limit Out Bait & Tackle in Clearlake Oaks (707) 998-1006 says jerkbaits and swimbaits fished near tules and docks are accounting for some good catches. For fast action Percy recommends using live jumbo minnows in the same areas. The fish are varying in size from 3 to 9 lbs with most in the 3 to 4 lb range.

     Bass guide Ross England of Tackle It Sport Shop in Lakeport (707)-262-1233 reports lots of action on smaller fish up to 3 lbs in the north end of the lake throwing plastic worms and crankbaits around tules, docks and seawalls. Throwing swimbaits and jerkbaits is producing fewer fish but most of them are going 5 lbs and up.

     Bass guide Big George Hawley (707) 279-9269.had several good days this week. Here's his report:

March 22nd-Mike and Vince from Grass Valley have been going out with me a couple times a year since 1999. We always have a great time and catch fish, too! Yesterday was no exception. We launched at Lakeport and worked down to the state park over 8 hours. We worked tules with jumbo minnows and drop shot rigs. We caught and released 29 fish...among them two 6 pounders.

     March 23rd-We launched at 5th street again and headed for the tules. Using Jumbo minnows we worked the outside line of the old tules. As the sun got up a bit an the water started to warm, the fish came on. We fished for about 6 hours and caught a total of 24 fish...2 days away from his skateboard are a little tough on 14 year old Vince, but he had a great time. Among the 24 fish, we had two over 5 pounds and the rest were solid, fat fish.

     March 25th-Jim hails from Sparks, Nevada. I picked him up at World Mark at about noon and we headed back over to the tules between the State Park and  County Park. Using jumbo minnows under bobbers, we fished the outside of the old, broken off tules looking for something of substance. Guess we were in luck because we had 14 fish in 4 hours. Among them was a very nice one over 7 pounds and her younger sister, who weighed in at just over 6 pounds

     Bass guide Bob Thein (707) 994-4886 has been doing well. On Saturday Manny Gonzalez and Ramon Flores from the Bay Area caught 26 fish from 1½ to 5¾ lbs on an 8 hour trip. On Monday Mr. and Mrs. Gallardo of Vallejo caught 23 fish from 1½ to 6 lbs on a 4 hour trip. On a 4 hour trip on Tuesday Tosh Lupoi and Ryan Garrett of Walnut Creek caught 13 fish from 1½ to 5½ lbs. Most all of the fish were caught on live minnows and a few with watermelon red brushhogs. All of the fish were caught from State Park to Lakeport.

     Bass Guide Richard Pounds (707) 279-4739 had three trips this week. A six hour trip on Saturday produced 23 bass including a 9.12 lb'er and the best 5 weighed over 39 lbs.

A 7 hour trip on Tuesday produced 19 fish including two 6 ½ lb'ers and a 5 lb'er.

A half day trip on Wednesday accounted for 13 fish from 2½ to 3½ lbs which was very good considering the extremely windy conditions.

All fish were caught on jumbo minnows from the State Park to the County Park and were released alive to be caught again.

Good Fishin.....Catfish Ed

The lake level has stabilized and is at 7.56 feet on the Rumsey Gauge, 7.56 is considered full pool. Last year at this time it was at 6.81 feet.