Well I couldn't resist the urge to head over to Clearlake after hearing all about the hot bite. I need to do some pre-fishing for the derby later but this trip was strictly for Bass. I usually try to make it over on Fridays to beat the crowd but unfortunately I didn't make it until Saturday. Hit Lakeside to launch at about 10:00 AM and this is what I found.
I have never seen so many boats fishing Lakeside and Tule Point. It was like a sea of boats on the shoreline from Corinthian to the State Park.
Every single boat was a fancy decked out Bass Boat smashed into the tules searchin for beds. Here I come puttin along in my old decrepit boat to take part in the action.
At first I was able to spot many very large fish but they were most likely females roaming around as they ignored everything I threw at them.
Swimbaits, grubs, whacky Senko, Jigs, crankbaits....lol. I knew better they just weren't in the feedin mode. Switched up and started scoping out beds. Found a decent size guy deep in the tules and threw my chartreuse grub onto his bed. He wasn't too happy about this and nibbled it a couple times. Gave it a few jigs and wham. Of course I had my spinning rod set up with 12lb mono and he wrapped staright around some tules before I could loosen up my drag. Snapped me off and I watched him swim around near the bed with a glowing grub in his mouth. Well he put on a show and evetually spit the thing but would have nothing to do with anything I threw after that.
Next I decided to give my eyes a rest and just toss my weightless whacky Senko at the tule edge. This guy gave me a pretty good fight for a little chub.
Stuck with this technique for a while and then decided to get back on the beds after a short lunch break. Creeped up on a bed just at the tule edge along tule point and snagged this hefty little guy
He was just under 4lbs on my scale. I had switched to my baitcaster w/ 17lb mono so it was easy yankin him in the boat.
Came up on another bed and worked another male trying to piss him off with my neon grub. He whacked it and fought pretty good. Ended up spitting the hook after a good fight. About this time the heat started to get to me and it seemed these fish were so pressured they were almost scared to stay on thier beds. I decided to call it a day and head home.
I have to say some of the females I saw roaming around were enormous looking. Water was so clear you could spot anything in 7' of water or less. I would say these gals were pushing 8 plis lbs. If a guy had the right swimbait the results would be spectacular. Did see a couple guys throwing trash fish which is probably a good way to go.
Funny thing is with all those fancy boats I didn't see one guy near me pull a fish. Of course I am sure they were being caught but just sayin'.
