Recreation

Tough fishing has challenged bass and crappie anglers this past week. The water temperature is running around the 41-degree mark. The weather has been cool, but pleasant this week. It should remain clear to partly cloudy through the weekend and right on into next week. Here are the details of the report …

The bass folks are striking out soundly on artificials. This is the “throw the tackle box at ‘em” type of fishing that we struggle with each year when the water temp drops to the low 40s.

Minnow anglers reporting in late Thursday indicate that the minnow bite may be on a definite upswing. Several sets of anglers reported catching fish from 10 to 20 feet deep, in rocky areas, on just about every minnow they put in the water. That’s a GIANT improvement over just two or three days ago. The next few days should get pretty interesting …

Crappie anglers are searching for a bite with little or no luck. None of the key spots that normally hold crappie are producing – right now. We expect this condition to change dramatically – hopefully we’ll see the bite turn back on soon. This may be an all of the sudden kind of thing … Stay tuned – if we get good word of a crappie bite we’ll kick out a special report to let you know. Shoot us an e-mail (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or call (707-994-FISH) for the latest, up to the minute reports.

Catfish anglers are quietly enjoying a decent bite. Cut bait and nightcrawlers are the top baits. Shore anglers have been having the best success – which tells us that the bite is in close to the shoreline. Look for stained water where a fresh food supply has washed into the lake.

Bob Rider owns Lakeshore Bait & Tackle in Clearlake. Visit his Web site at www.994fish.com or call him at 994-FISH (3474).

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Howdy Folks. We’re fresh back from our annual trade show in Las Vegas. We found some great deals, some great gear, and had a great time.

While we were gone, the storms came in here at Clear Lake. High winds and copious amounts or rain made for a pretty miserable week here – or so I’m told.

This week, the winds have subsided, but the rain continues … And for that we’re actually quite grateful. Our marvelous lake has risen over a foot in the last 10 days with water continuing to stream in from the watershed. We’ve had only a few reports so the actual fishing report pretty thin.

Look for a decent bite to kick in as the weather improves into this coming weekend and beyond. (At least, that’s what the weather guessers are saying it’s going to do.) Minnows and nightcrawlers should get hammered as well as drop shot rigs and slow moving plastics. The lake will be muddied up a bit so you may have to adjust colors to suite the current conditions.

The crappie fishermen are hoping for a big return as the lake fills and once popular fishing holes spring back to life. We’ll keep you posted as things develop …

Catfishermen know – they just know – that heavy rain means a big upswing in activity for hungry whiskerfish. We’re looking for this bite to swing into gear also. Now, all we need is a few nice days to get anglers back into the swing of things and start getting some solid reports.

For up to the minute reports, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us at 707.994.FISH (3474).

Bob Rider owns Lakeshore Bait & Tackle in Clearlake. Visit his Web site at www.994fish.com or call him at 994-FISH (3474).

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Welcome to our last report for 2007. Changing (constantly, it seems) weather and a bite that changes with it are the story lines for this week. It was 21 degrees at the shop Thursday morning when I arrived and that’s a far cry from the 43 degrees from just a couple of days before at the same hour.

We’ve had a dry week, but rain is in the forecast. Daytime highs have been in the 40s to low 50s. The water temps are still dropping, but ever so slightly. Look for low to mid 40s for surface temps around the lake.

What you really want to know is this …

Bass have cooled off a bit. The hot bite of just two or three weeks ago is now a more typical winter bite. So, from 15 to 20 fish per day you can expect half a dozen or so. Folks are still catching big fat fish, just fewer of them for their efforts.

Minnows, jigs and swim baits are the most talked about big fish baits this week. Lots of folks are switching over to a finesse presentation – drop shotting or shaky heading soft plastics. Deeper water and rocks still dominate the scene for locations.

Crappie anglers were enjoying a bite that has improved nicely at Konocti Harbor Resort this week. A single – but dreadfully honest – report from Thursday indicated that the sudden drop in temperature and looming rains have knocked the bite back off again. This pattern of on again/off again will likely continue until we get into a more consistently cold and drizzly weather pattern.

Kono Tayee is still getting a lot of attention and is reported to be packed with boaters/anglers most every day. There’s still no action being reported at the Four Poles. Minnows and mini-jigs are going about 50-50 here. The Nitro brand Crappie Gems are the hot ticket for most folks casting and catching.

There hasn’t been much movement on the catfish front … Guess most folks are taking advantage of the good crappie bite.

There will be no fishing report for the first week of January as I’ll be attending a trade show in Las Vegas. Our next regular report will appear on Jan. 10.

All of us here at Lakeshore Bait & Tackle would like to extend a humble thanks to so many of you that have made 2007 a fun and prosperous year for us. Our hope is that 2008 will bring you good health, happiness and many big fish.

Bob Rider owns Lakeshore Bait & Tackle in Clearlake. Visit his Web site at www.994fish.com or call him at 994-FISH (3474).

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