We've seen some BIG catfish over the last week?Ķ And for good reason. The Clearlake Oaks ??? Glenhaven Catfish Derby played out this past weekend and the results were fantastic.?? For starters, they had 487 adult and 96 youth entries. That's a whole lot of folks catfishing at one time. We'll come back to the derby results and the catfish report in a moment.?? First though, let's take a look at what the other bite reports look like and how the weather has been.??

We'll start with bass. There's been plenty of buzz about the bass bite on Clear Lake this year with a few high profile tournaments setting new tournament records for size and quantity of fish caught.?? So, what's happening right now??? Lots.?? Anglers are fishing plastics of every type and size and in every conceivable manner. Most are reporting moderate success fishing water from about 5 feet (in the weeds) to 25 feet (on the rock piles) and everywhere in between. What's best??? It seems as though the bass are flip-flopping back and forth between slow and fast presentations.?? What's this mean??? Be ready to switch it up mid-game.?? We're also hearing about a few other things: Spinner baits, crank baits, and some mid-day top water action.?? We're pretty much past the spawn and a bit early for our raging hot summer bite. Don't expect a fish-a-minute, but the fishing is good and you'll be catching plenty of fish.??

Let's talk about the wind, um, I mean the weather.?? Bright, balmy, sunshiny days have been the rule.?? It has, however, been consistently windy. The wind has made fishing in a slow and controlled manner almost unmanageable. If you can get on the water when the wind is ripping down the lake you'll find the fishing to be quite good.

Not much is happening on the crappie front. We're hearing about a few crappie being caught here and there. We're selling Panfish Assassins and Fin-S Shad in light colors (variations of white), chartreuse, and silver/black. Try your luck in the shade of docks in 8 to 15 feet of water.

Now, let's get back to the catfish report. The big fish for the derby was brought in by James Paschke of Woodland. James won the boat, motor & trailer grand prize package. The fish tipped the scales at 28.23 pounds. The winner in the kids division was Chance Barrett from Kelseyville with a 15.16 pounder. Chance took home a new ATV for his efforts. James Champlin from San Jose dropped by with his 24.63 pound 3rd place fish just after he weighed it in at Derby HQ. We've got the rest of the derby results posted in the store, so if you're curious, stop by and see how the rest of the field did.

Most reports had the big cats coming from water in and around 12 feet of water.?? Mackerel is getting the most attention as the catfish bait of choice.?? Plenty of folks used other goodies such as clams, anchovies, shrimp, shad, nightcrawlers, and minnows to entice the whiskerfish.?? The wind was a big factor in presenting a bait that would get bit. If the wind lays down some, we'll be getting back to drifting for some big cats.

Our Lake Berryessa kokanee salmon report comes via Doug Crandall of GetRDone Fishing Guide Service. (www.GetRDoneFishing.com) He reports that the kokes are being taken at Skiers Cove and Big Island between 35 and 40 feet.?? Doug was using the Rocky Mountain Assassin lure in pink tipped with corn to land kokes from 14 to 16 inches. He added that the water is still warming and the kokes should be going deeper.

-Bob Rider, Owner
Lakeshore Bait & Tackle
14913-D Lakeshore Drive
Clearlake, CA 95422
707.994.FISH
707.994.4961 fax
www.994Fish.com