The Real Report from the WEST End

[Catman]

I just returned from a week at Lakeport and fished every night from sundown to midnight or 1AM.  Grass is starting to take over some areas of  the shoreline from the Skylark down to the lagoons and around the corner down to the County park.  That's the areas I was in.  Don't know about elsewhere.  You have to go out to a depth of at least 10 feet to not see it on the surface or growing below the surface.  It will foul the prop and makes it tough to find a place to fish weed free.  The Lagoons have been spraying or casting pellets so they have a clear channel in between the buoys and all of the lagoons are clear.  Shirley slough by the County Park is clear of grass.  It has a lot of afternoon shade.  Don't know if that's why it's clear or if they are treating it also.  Water temps throughout the week were 78 to 82 degrees.  Algae out in the middle was present but not real bad.  Of course if anyone asks me I tell them the lake is covered with algae and I would never go to Clear Lake.  Kinda like the locals bringing in bad weather all spring to keep the tourists out.  The moon went from half to full through the course of the week and it seems like the bites and the fishing got worse as the moon got brighter.  The bugs weren't bad compared to other years, but I was also using LED lights.  Did you know they can't see the wavelength of light put out by LED's? 

The first night we moved around the County Park and finally got a 5 lb bullhead off the Long Tule light.    The next night inside Shirley Slough, a 4 and 2 eight pounders.  The next night Shirley Slough was the place to be.  A four, 3 sixes, and a 9 pounder.  Next night Shirley left us without a touch, so we went to Long Tule light and picked up a 9 pounder.  The next night the whole County Park area let us down so we ran to the Lagoons and got a 2 pound bass on mackeral and a 13 pound cat.  Oh yeah.  The last night the Lagoons gave us two 8 pounders at dusk and that was it for the night.

We only used mackeral and of course we turned them all loose.  The 9 pounder out of Shirley slough looked like he had a real bad day.  He was lethargic, weak, felt mushy, and there wasn't a fin on him that wasn't beat up and bloody.

Tight lines to all

.

[catfished]

Thanks for the thorough report Everett. We haven't seen a report from the north (west?) end for a long time.

Glad to hear that you had some action but I wish you had hooked into some bigger fish. Maybe next time.

[KnotGillty]

Thanks for the report Everett.

I bet you would have done better in the south end

Been using LED's for years.  Cabelas makes a kick ass 5 led light that is super small and clips onto the bill of your cap.  Perfect for fishing in the dark and is the smallest & lightest unit I have yet to find.  I prefer green LED's for keeping the bugs away.  

I would have liked to see that ugly cat.  Just curious, did he smell too?  I once caught a cat at Clear Lake that was the stinkiest fish you can imagine.  As soon as he came out of the water we said 'What's that smell'.  He ended up rolling on the floor of the boat and got fish slime everywhere, literally left my boat smelling like sewage for hours.  He was a fish in the mid teens and looked normal otherwise.  Very strange .  .  .