Clear Lake Conditions

Water level today is documented at 1.07 feet Rumsey. This is a drop of an inch or so in lake level during the past month. Last year, same date, the lake level was 1.13 so it is virtually the same level as last year. Dam releases are little more than a dribble or leak between the boards of the dam.

The water temperature is hanging around the mid 60’s, but I anticipate it will be dropping this week into the low 60’s or even high 50’s with a series of fronts and storms coming in. We are starting to see morning lows around the lake in the low 40’s to high 30’s.

Water clarity during the past month is still o.k. in most areas and still real clear in some of the weedier areas. One of the water conditions we have not seen here this year is the nasty, coffee colored water that sometimes plagues the fall transition. Overall, I have to rate the clarity as pretty good in most areas where we are catching fish. A lot of the lake has two to four feet of visibility.

The Final on the Carp Die Off

As a wrap up to last month’s note about the massive die off of carp the results are in. According to Jay Rowan, the Department of Fish and Game biologist responsible for Clear Lake, it was in fact a virus. Tests revealed that Koi Herpes virus was the culprit. It is a serious virus causing death in 24 to 48 hours. More than likely the virus was introduced into the lake by the release of an infected pet into the lake. Over the years we have seen Koi in several areas of the lake. There have also been numerous documented reports of other former aquarium specimens caught by surprised anglers the last that I recall being a Pacu, a fish that closely resembles the Piranha.

What the carp incident brings to mind is how quickly everything could go wrong in a body of water even the size of Clear Lake. In a short period of time, literally just a few days, dead carp showed up along the shorelines of the entire western bowl of the lake, and down through the narrows extending to the Clearlake Oaks keyes. Just doing an eyeball count through small areas, I did an estimate that suggests that tens of thousands of carp died during the span of one week.

Activity This Month

Fishing pressure will drop off to virtually nothing this month, a blow to the local economy but a blessing to those of us who enjoy fishing a lake in peace and quiet.

There is a total of thirteen permits current for the month of November. Eight of those permits are for bass clubs that typically put 5 to 15 boats on the water. There are three sanctioned team tournaments taking place on the 1st, 22nd, and 23rd. These events will have fields of 20 to 30 boats, not a big deal. The Future Pro Tour will field a fish off on the 8th & 9th that has a qualified field of 66 boats making it the largest field of the month. Finally, on the 15th & 16th an event put on by the Nor Cal Federation will take place. I am not sure what the field will be but anticipate it will be small.

In comparison to the typical action that takes place in October on Clear Lake, November will feel like a Monday, the day after everyone goes home.

As always, if you are planning a trip to Clear Lake and don’t know if your dates are going to be shared with a competitive event, drop me a line and I will let you know what I have listed on the calendar. Just another service we offer.

October Fishing Recap

October actually brought about the feeling of fall. We had a number of days that hit the mid to high 80’s and the water temperature pretty much held in the sixties. It was a great month to be on the water during the week and the weekends were complete chaos due to the tournament activity. What this brought about was an incredible amount of fishing pressure from above average tournament anglers who typically leave no dock unexplored.

October did not produce impressive numbers due to the fact that we were not on the water as much as we would have been normally. For the few days we were able to get out, it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t too bad. The numbers for October include 7-four pounders, 1-five pounder, 5-six pounders, and 1-seven pounder. A brief overview of the year so far is a total of 135 fish this year of five pounds or better.

Most of the 4’s came on frogs and the rest of the better fish of the month came on swimbaits. Almost all of the better fish we caught during October came from the “North” end of the lake.

One particular observation from watching the numerous major events of October is just how tough the fishing has been for most anglers. The weigh ins of fish offs in a typical year are long, drawn out affairs due to the fact that almost every team in every event will bring in a limit of bass to the scales. On the average for the events of last month, less than half of the field was able to bring a limit of fish in to weigh each day. The top ten also included weights in the high teens for five fish which is equally unusual. There were reports of 30 pound plus limits during the practice periods but they could not produce those bags during the days of the heaviest fishing pressure, the weekend of the tournament.

November Fishing

Winter is coming which brings cooler temperatures, both in the air and in the water. There are so many different bites that really have not turned on yet that you just have to figure will start any day. The crank bite is o.k., but not what it should be. The jig bite should be off the hook (pun intended) by now and it is still just kind of sputtering along. The top water action is slow at best and even the bite on plastics is slow.

We have begun to find groups of fish in places that we normally don’t find fish. As long as the weather remains fairly consistent and doesn’t get too cold this month I think the bite we are finding with swim baits will continue. If it does get a little colder than normal, then the rip bait will go into action, but I am going to find out how cold the water has to get before the bass will quit eating the swim bait, it is just too much fun.

Rock is important in November for active fish. On days with sun, the rock will hold a little more warmth than the surrounding water so bait will find those areas and of course, bass will follow. There will still be fish in extremely shallow water. Last month, I explained to several clients while on the water that bass can be shallow, real shallow. I showed them bass cruising and sitting in water that was one to two feet deep, much shallower than their vision of shallow.

Look for a jig bite, a rip bite, hopefully a swim bait bite, and of course, as the water begins to cool off, live bait will come into play.

Big Fish of the Month

Again, this month’s big fish will not be pictured, nor will the second big fish as, unfortunately, they were not caught by a client, they were caught by my partner Jim and me…and like last month on the same day. We were out working on a new pattern and set of bait selections for trips this month. Those two big fish could have been caught by you, but you weren’t here!

Big Bass Fish of the Month

Alan Knutti of Fair Oaks was here and he got one of the sixes on a top water bait, what a shame! A big fish and caught on the surface too, can’t ask for a whole lot more.

November Dates

We have plenty of good weather in November to enjoy some productive trips. Give me a call for availability and let’s get you on the water.

Bass Fish

Chris Kilgo of Dallas, Texas had success on the lake just two days before she did a shark dive off the Farallon Islands with her brother… I have not heard from her since……..

Looking to Next Year

I am making some changes in the way we do things for next year, actually quite a few, but the biggest is to do a better job for you, our customer.

We are cutting back on our tournament activity. As chronicled all this year, the bite is tough on our lake. It has been and probably will remain a little down next year as well. When the bite is excellent, it is easier to put on a great day for our clients and still be able to be competitive during tournament competition. My primary concern though is putting clients on fish and not fishing a tournament. There were times this year that trips with clients hurt our chances to do well in a tournament the following weekend. I would still rather see one of you catch a good fish than weigh it in myself during competition. Your success will always be my number one priority. We will still fish a tournament here and there but we will not be fishing any of the local circuits to hopefully do a better job for you.

I feel that we catch more big fish for our clients than any other guide service on the lake. If you pull live bait out of the equation, we catch far more big fish for our clients on artificials than any other guide service on the lake, period. In 2009 we are going to concentrate even more on the bigger fish so you might want to be a part of that!

We are also closing in on some new business associations for the new year. You will begin to see us highlighted in a national bass fishing magazine, we have already turned in our first article. We are currently working with a new line of premium Japanese fishing line that we may be able to introduce to many of you this next year. One of their lines, a braid, is the coolest braid I have ever touched! We are also looking at the feasibility of adding an on line store to our web site to make it easier for you to find some of the specialty items we use. We are going to make our custom swim bait rod available for sale this next year on a limited basis due to the number of requests we have received.

These are just some of the things on our “to do” list, there are more that we are exploring to do a better job for our loyal customers. 2009 will be a year of exciting times at Clear Lake Guide Service!

Closing

Thank you for your continued interest and support of Clear Lake Guide Service! Our business continues to grow with the help of you and your spreading the word and my wife Deb and I both thank you. In the coming months, look for some changes and updates of our web site as well as some new services that will be available the first of the year. Good fishing and keep a tight line.

Miss an Issue of the Clear Lake Report?

We have archived all of our past Clear Lake Report Issues on our Clear Lake Fishing Guide Service website! Go to our Clear Lake Fishing Report Index!

There is a lot of useful information available on the Clear Lake Website. Even insights into the best times to fish the lake and other fishing tips. Local lodging, weather, and even lake level reporting is available through the links we have set up.

Good fishing, and I look forward to seeing you soon!