FYI Clear Lake / Lake County Record Bee

[SHAFT]

Clear Lake's bass fishery may be in trouble
By Terry Knight -- Record-Bee outdoors columnist
Article Last Updated: 01/22/2008 11:29:34 PM PST


After a summer and fall of record catches of bass at Clear Lake, fishermen are wondering how the fishing could go from excellent to poor in just a few weeks. Whereas fishermen were catching 15 to 25 bass per day two months ago, anglers have been struggling to catch one or two fish the last two weeks. In fact, more than one experienced fisherman has reported not even getting a bite.

What's going on?

Good question. First, the threadfin shad population has pretty much bottomed out. The shad have been the primary food for the bass during the winter months and now they are gone. The cold weather has probably killed at last 80 percent of the shad in the lake. Along with the shad die-off, the fish-eating birds such as grebes, gulls and pelican also have disappeared.

The other factor could be the cold water. On most mornings the water surface temperature has been ranging from as low as 39 degrees to only 41 degrees. By afternoons it has been holding from 46-50 degrees. However, a look back at my records of previous years shows similar water temperatures but much better fishing action than this year.

Several fishermen have suggested the overall bass population in the lake could be down. Actually there is no way of knowing
this. The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) has done few studies at Clear Lake to determine the bass population, so we really don't know whether the numbers are up or down. The best gauge we can use are the results of bass tournaments. For example, American Bass held a team tournament out of Lakeport on Sunday. That tournament drew 36 boats and only five teams weighed in five-fish limits. Twelve teams failed to catch a single fish. The average number of bass caught per team was only 1.8. Only one team reported culling fish, meaning they caught more than five fish. There hasn't been that poor a showing at a Clear Lake tounament for several years.
We don't know if the reason for the poor fishing is because there has been a massive die-off of the bass or if they've just moved to other areas of the lake. When fish die during the cold months only a few float to the surface because gases don't form in the bodies. Most sink to the bottom.

Several tournament fishermen believe something has happened but they don't know what. They said they haven't seen the fishing this poor at Clear Lake in a number of years.

Another factor could be the combination of low water and cold temperatures, which has forced the bass to deeper water. This year the lake level is lower than it has been in recent memory.

Some of the fishermen who didn't catch a fish during the tournament said they targeted the deeper water in the south end of the lake and still didn't get a bite.

It's a well-known fact that bass, like other fish, adapt to their surroundings. When the water temperature decreases, the metabolism of the fish slows down. They won't feed as much or as often as when the water is warmer. Bass can be caught in cold water. In fact, in the northern states many fishermen catch bass while ice fishing, and that's in 35-degree water.

The other big mystery is what has happened to the crappie. There were huge schools of crappie at Kono Tayee, Shag Rock and the Four Poles only last fall. But few crappie have been caught at any location the past few weeks. The same applies to the bluegill.

If Clear Lake's fishery is in trouble, the proof will be in the results of the upcoming tournaments scheduled for later this month and in February. There is the possibility that all this could just be just a blip on the radar screen and the excellent fishing could return.







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[D.B.COOPER]

That's just what it is. A blip on the radar screen. The fish are there. I caught some nice ones on Sat. in the south end in several different locations. A lot of fishermen simply not fishing slow enough to get em. I would sit there and watch them moving around and fidgeting too much and changing lures too often. I know they are not going to catch them. Sunday we got blown to smithereens in the south end and could not fish our areas properly. Two fish only. Went to Corinthian late afternoon and watched two bass boats side by side slaughter them with live minnows. D.B.COOPER

[Steve Ericksen]

that explains my horrible weekend!

[shifterpilot2001]

Clear Lake in trouble?.... please...

[Tobe]

These low tournament weights occur almost every year in January, so I do not think the sky is falling.

This particular writer seems to have an axe to grind with bass tournaments being held on Clear Lake so I would also consider the source.

[BIG DADDY BLUE RANGER]

OMG.... tough bass fishing in January... say it aint so




as for the crappie not there this year..............maybe because they all ended up under bare feet in the bottom of a little dingy last year and sold at the market........ poachers suck

[SHAFT]

Keep in mind the lake level is about 2.5 to 3 feet lower than the norm for this time of year , it never hit high lake last year and was lower than norm before the rains began so its playing catch up .

[Caudawg]

Tobe: Terry Knight is NOT an anti-tournament guy. He is, however, a strong proponent of proper fish handling and has made it clear that improperly handled fish by both fishermen and tournament organizations will not be tolerated.

It's good to have guys like Terry Knight helping to protect one of thee finest bass fisheries in the country.

As far as his article goes... there have been shad die-offs in years past that have had an effect on certain year-class populations. I guess we'll see this spring/summer. I personally doubt there has been a major die off. Bass get very lethargic and seem to dissappear during the coldest winters. But then, once the water warms back up to the mid 50's... kadiebar the door!

[Dan Stahlman]

Tobe, John's right. Terry is not against tournament fishing. As a mattert of fact he was the individual who started the Record Bee/ Chamber of Commerce years ago. Terry still fishes this tournament (Holder Ford) and a couple of other tournaments a year. As a matter of fact he was helping me prefish for the ABA tournament which lack of fish I did not enter. My personal feeling is that the lowest water we have had at this time of year in years and the bitter cold are combining to shut the fish down to some extent. The unfortuant part is the rains that are hitting every where else in CA are missing us. What can be done, pray for rain.

[Phil]

CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG. BUT I ASSUMED THAT CLEARLAKE, ONCE IT HAS REACHED A CERTIAN LEVEL IS A NATURAL LAKE AND IS ONLY HIGH BECAUSE OF A 10 FT DAM IM-PLACED BACK IN THE 50'S OR 60'S FOR WATER FOR THE VALLEY IRRIGATION (I THINK)??? . MANY TIMES IT HAS BEEN AT THIS NOW NORMAL LEVEL ( YOU CALL LOW) ? FOR FISHING.........COULD IT BE A MULITUDE OF TOURNAMENTS AND FISHERMEN THAT CLEARLAKE HAS NEVER SEEN IN THE PAST. MAYBE IT CAN'T HANDLE IT AS GOOD AS YOU ALL THINK. MAYBE WE SHOULD ADD ANOTHER 10 / 20 OR SO TOURNAMENTS AND WHY NOT A FEW MORE GUIDES AND FISHERMEN ??? SHAD HAVE ALWAYS DIED OFF EVERY WINTER. IT GETS COLD ALMOST EVERY WINTER.......I SAY LOOK FOR ANOTHER REASON ??? YA THINK ???

[Caudawg]

Jigs: Nah....it's the cold water. It happens this time of year.

[StockOption]

Clear Lake is in trouble. There are no more bass to be caught and I suggest everyone go fishing elsewhere. I of course will continue to fish it and let everyone know when the bass have returned. Sounds good? Yes this is a sacrifice by yours truly, but I'm here to help.

[fishyd]

4 weeksto go 40#'s a day, I can not wait.

[WildDog3]

Clear Lake is fine. Its in the 30s up there at night..

[nipples]

You guys might want to Talk to Jimmy Reese on this one... (If I am remembering correctly, I think it was Jimmy and not Skeet) I'll have to go through my Library of True Bass shows, but I remember him fishing Clearlake and discussing the shad die off. He said the lake flip flops from Shad to a different kind of minnow ( I think he called it a glass sided minnow or something).

Anywhoo... I think he said the glass sided minnows are not that high in protein and the shad are. Every 8 to 10 years, the bait fish swap dominance and when the glass minnows are predominant, the bass suffer. And when the shad are dominant, the bass thrive. He said he has seen this happen several times since he was a kid.

So in a nutshell, he is saying the fishing might get tough on clearlake for several years until the shad populations rise up again.

To me it makes sense and it sounds valid. Two years ago, I saw a ton of shad die off on Clearlake, it was smelly and bizarre. Last year I didn't see near as many die nor did I see the masses of shad balls everywhere on the lake. So it might just get tough...

I don't see any reason to be in denial about it.


Good Fishing,

-Paul-

[StockOption]

Those would be silverside minnows.....

[NaCl]

Clearlake is fine. There are numerous sources of food for bass...

silversides for the smaller bass,
threadfun shad for the middle sized bass,
bluegill, young crappie, baby catfish, baby carp and hitch minnows for the bigger bass.

When any one of these food sources is compromised by weather, lake chemistry or predation, then the other food sources become more prevalent.

The terrible bite right now is entirely consistent with the cold weather feeding characteristics of Florida Strain largemouth bass. They get lockjaw when the water temps drop below 45 degrees. On Monday, the highest water temp I could find was 46. I was not at all surprised by the tough bite. And, the bite will stay this way until spring warm-up brings the temps back to 48+.

.....NaCl

[Guest]

Wow... Clear Lake is fine. This was one persons opinion. He is no more an expert on fish or even Clear Lake for that matter than anyone else is. The water is butt arse cold and that is why the fishing is tough right now.

Look at the minnow fisherman. Bob Myskie had a day 2 weeks ago with 28 fish when I and every other guy I saw on the lake couldn't get bit.

The fish are all schooled up.. so if you aren't in the right spot you aren't going to get bit... and they are VERY lethargic so if you aren't fishing VERY SLOW you aren't going to get bit. There are very few anglers that are willing to fish slow enough to get these fish in the boat. There are also very few anglers that can truly find them when they are this schooled up. So naturally the numbers are going to be down in January.

As Fishyd said - 4 more weeks and we'll be laughing at the scales with the winning weights being 35+.

As for fish handling and Terry Knights idea of how they should be handled... I think every one of us who loves to fish Clear Lake care as much as he does about the fish and the fishery. If that was his true motivation for his actions maybe he ought to write articles on the proper handling of fish and why to catch and release instead of catch and kill. Instead we get the same ole' garbage in every one of his articles.

I once drove 4 or 5 miles and missed the ABA award ceremonies and my check just to release one 4 lb bass in deep water because we couldn't get it deflated. I dropped it down on 2 lb test and a heavy weight (which I had to rig up) to 35 feet and then pulled it free so it could survive. I did this because I could not deflate it on the first punch and I didn't want to stab the fish any more. Talk to me about caring about fish. I know dozens of guys who stick around and needle fish at many lakes... people think tournament guys and/or tournament orgs don't care - that's a VERY FALSE myth. Want to police the lake> Then police the people who need it. The fun fisherman who don't know the rules, don't have licenses and don't give a rats arse about the fishery!

Feel Free to Fire at me if you want... I am off this topic.

[Phil]

KINDA LIKE PREDICTING DROUGHT !! I FIGURED CLEARLAKE WOULD BE AND WAS OK. SAME OLD SHAD DIE OFF ...

[kopper_bass]

hahahahaha!
Gotta laugh at this article and the responses it provokes.

Just another great example of why everyone should take what they read on the internet, WesternBass site, or anything for that matter, with a little skepticism and do your own investigating if you believe it could be true. dont trust what you read!

I'm sure the article was well meant, but it really has no real relevance and is no more than an opinion and half-baked hypothesis by the author (which i am sure is truly a nice guy).

go fishing, and enjoy it! The big bite will show up soon enough.

Kopper_Bass

ps- read this post too with skepticism too!

[StockOption]

FWIW....this story was published the previous week in the Record Bee. One could argue that this paints a much different picture:

"Few fishermen spend as much time on Clear Lake as local fishing guide and tournament fisherman Bob Myskey of Nice. The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) requires all licensed guides to keep a count of the fish they catch when guiding. Myskey has gone one better as he logs all the fish he catches including fish caught while guiding, caught in tournaments, and caught when recreational fishing.

Myskey's logs for 2006 and 2007 provide some interesting data on the bass fishery at Clear Lake. In 2006, he fished 185 days and caught a total 3,121 largemouth bass. Of that number, 1-3 pounders made up 2,664 fish, 3-4 pounders 282, 4-5 pounders 126, 5-6 pounders 24, 6-7 pounders 13, 7-8 pounders seven, 8-9 pounders one, 9-10 pounders one and 11-plus-pounders one.

In 2007, he spent 183 days on the water and caught 2,798 largemouth bass. The breakdown was 1-3 pounders, 2,798; 3-4 pounders, 444; 4-5 pounders, 142; 5-6 pounders, 43; 6-7 pounders, 24; 7-8 pounders, eight; 8-9 pounders, seven; 9-10 pounders, six; 10-pounders, one; and 11-plus-pounders, none.

Myskey also averaged 16.8 bass per outing in 2006 and 18.9 bass per day in 2007. It should be noted that these figures include his clients catching most of the fish. On most days, he had two clients fishing. Myskey used artificial lures as well as live jumbo minnows.
The data shows that, by a very large margin, most of the bass caught in Clear Lake weigh 1-3 pounds, very few weigh more than 8 pounds, and it's rare to catch a 10-pound-plus bass in the lake."

Source:
http://www.record-bee.com//ci_8004185?I ... rd-bee.com