December 5, 2002 The majority of the catfish action is still occurring between Wheeler and Frasier Points in Konocti Bay. Fish Chris from TrophyBassOnly.com has really been nailing the big catfish in Konocti Bay. His first trip was on Thanksgiving day and he caught and released 31 channel cats weighing from about 8 pounds to over 20 pounds with a total weight of 474.5 pounds. He went back out on Tuesday with his fishing buddy Dee and they only managed 19 cats for a total weight of 220 pounds. They had trouble locating the fish until around 2:00pm. He returned yesterday and caught 28 channel cats for approximately 335 lbs including 2 fish over 20 lbs and 11 white cats for about 50 lbs. Chris has been catching all his catfish in or near Konocti Bay with frozen shad and fresh shad when he's lucky enough to dipnet a few. He's using ultralite spinning gear with a whole shad on a #2 hook and a small split shot about 1 foot above the hook. The trick is to watch for white pelicans and diving birds either diving or landing in the water. When you approach the birds they fly away but the catfish are still there. There have been several other anglers trying their luck in the Konocti Bay Area but they have met with limited success. I think you have to be there at the right time and use shad instead of the other popular catfish baits.   December 12, 2002 Most of the catfish action is still occuring in Konocti Bay, Konocti Harbor Marina and off Henderson Pt. It's been anywhere from pretty good to downright fantastic. On Tuesday there were 4 boats including myself working Konocti Bay. There was a good flurry of action around 9:30 am which produced about a dozen nice cats including a 19lb 6oz'er for Fish Chris from TrophyBassOnly.com and an 18lb'er for me. The action died off abruptly at about 10:15 am so everyone went looking for more birds and fish but the only one that found them was Ken Brown from Fair Oaks. He and his buddy caught 20 channel cats including a 28 lb'er on 6 lb test line while working the Soda Bay side of Henderson Point. They ran out of bait so they started casting out with an empty hook and reeling in fast until they hooked a shad, then rehooked it properly and would immediately catch another catfish. The rest of us ended up fishing near the docks at Konocti Harbor and caught a few more fish but it was slow fishing compared to what Ken and his buddy were doing. I ended up with 6 channels weighing from 10 to 18 lbs and my buddy caught a big white cat that weighed over 5 lbs. The trick is to find the birds diving and circling which indicates a large school of baitfish with a school of catfish feeding on them. The top bait by far is threadfin shad either store bought or fresh caught. When they are thick enough you can dip net them or even snag a few with small treble hooks but keep in mind that it is technically illegal to snag any fish, even baitfish. Most of us are using light spinning gear with a #2 or #4 hook tied to the end of the line with a small split shot about a foot above. If you want recent updates on the Konocti catfish action, there are several fishermen posting their reports on the Fishing Forum with details as to when, where, how, etc. December 19, 2002 Due to all the stormy weather we've been having there has been very little catfishing activity but the few that are going out are catching some decent fish. Fish Chris from TrophyBassOnly.com was out on Tuesday and caught and released 6 channel catfish weighing from 10 to 19.5 pounds and 5 white cats weighing from 4 to 5 pounds each. He was using frozen shad for bait and fishing in the wind sheltered area inside of Frasier Point near Konocti Harbor Marina. Chris went back out on Wednesday and really had a field day! He caught and released 30 channel cats weighing from around 7 lbs to a whopper of 28 lbs 3 ozs including a 21.9 and 20.3 lb'er! The total weight of the channels was approximately 420 lbs.  He also caught 12 white cats ranging in weight from around 3 to 5 lbs. The bite was scattered from just outside of Konocti Marina all the way to inside the Konocti Bay side of Wheeler Point. All his fish fell for frozen shad on an ultra light spinning outfit. For a detailed version of Chris's report visit the forum and look under "Clear Lake Fishing Reports". Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait & Tackle in Clearlake Oaks (707) 998-1006 says they are catching a few nice channel catfish in the Clearlake Oaks Keys using anchovies and nightcrawlers. Percy Oved from M & M Campground caught a 20 pound 10 ounce cat off his dock in the Keys on Tuesday morning with a gob of nightcrawlers. In the north end of the lake there are a few catfish being caught in Rodman Slough with nightcrawlers and mini crawlers. The slough has a pretty good flow of muddy water from all the rain and this is causing the catfish to start feeding.   December 26, 2002 The catfish action has slowed down considerably, even in the Konocti Bay area of the lake. Fish Chris from TrophyBassOnly.com was out again this past Tuesday with his buddy Nico from ICHTHY.com and they only managed 5 fish weighing from 8 to 17.6 lbs. They were fishing from Konocti Harbor to Wheeler Point. There were a few boats fishing the Konocti Area on the weekend and on Monday but none of them caught many fish. I was out on Sunday with Shannon Jay from Team Catfish and we didn't even get a bite. Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait & Tackle in Clearlake Oaks (707) 998-1006 says the catfishing is very slow in the Oaks area. They were catching quite a few in the Clearlake Oaks Keys but they seem to have shut down in the last few days. In the north end of the lake there are still a few catfish being caught in Rodman Slough with nightcrawlers and mini crawlers but it's a lot slower than last week. A lot more rain is predicted in the next couple of days which should improve the bite in the slough.