Catfish Report/October 29 1999 The catfishing is slow in the south and north end of the lake but it is very good in the Clearlake Oaks arm around the north end of Rattlesnake Island. Percy Oved of Limit Out Bait and Tackle in Clearlake Oaks reports a pair of lucky anglers caught over 30 channel catfish in a 3 day period ranging from 8 to 12 pounds drift fishing in 30 feet of water near the north end of Rattlesnake Island. They caught most of their fish on shad and herring. Bob Simmons of Lakeport Tackle had one report of a 20 and a 17 pound channel cat taken at the mouth of Adobe Creek near the County Park with nightcrawlers. The drift fishing off the Nice/Lucerne shoreline has all but died. I went out a couple of times this week and was skunked both times. I think the bite will return in the next week or so because it has always been good in the first half of November in the past. Al Freitas of Don's Bait and Tackle in Clearlake says the die hard catmen are catching a few around the white bridge in Cache Creek with cut bait such as mackerel or shad. Al adds that they are really nailing huge crappie around Kono Tayee and the Sea Breeze Motel in Glenhaven with live minnows. Good Fishin.................Catfish Ed As of 8:00PM last night the lake level is 1.36 feet above Rumsey.   Catfish Report/October 22 1999 I have not had much luck getting catfish reports this week due to the lack of catfishermen out on the lake. Dorothy of Limit Out Bait and Tackle in Clearlake Oaks had one customer come in with a 14 pound 14 ounce channel cat that he caught on a live crawdad. There was a boat drifting off of Barne's Yard in Lucerne on Monday and they caught 6 small cats about 3 or 4 pounds apiece using shrimp and nightcrawlers. I went out for a couple of hours on Wednesday and Thursday morning and only managed one 9 pound channel cat. I did miss several good strikes both days, I guess I was asleep at the switch. Most of the strikes came on anchovies in 12 to 15 feet of water off of Holiday Harbor in Nice. I saw a lot of bait on my graph and plenty of fish marking right near bottom but I guess they're not active, at least not for me. Good Fishin.................Catfish Ed As of 8:00PM last night the lake level is 1.42 feet above Rumsey.   Catfish Report/October 15 1999 The fishing is fair in the south end of the lake and very good for trophy size cats in the north end. Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait and Tackle in Clearlake Oaks reports very few catfishermen going out. He adds that there are a few nice fish falling for live crawdads around the mouth of the keys at M&M Campground. Al Freitas of Don's Bait and Tackle in Clearlake reports good action at Fraser Point using live crawdads. Most of the fish are going from 15 to 17 pounds. They are getting a few off of the Redbud Community Pier using mackerel including a 20 pounder. The big channel cats keep biting off of the Nice/Lucerne area. After I put out last Friday's report I tried a little drift fishing about a mile off of the World Mark Time Shares in Nice. I fished for about an hour and broke my record again with the all time biggest for me of 24 pounds 1 ounce. I was fishing in 16 feet of water and caught the fish on shrimp as well as an 8 pounder also on shrimp. I went back out Wednesday morning but fished a little closer in, about a half mile out off the time shares (12 feet deep) and caught a 17 pounder and another 8 pounder. I caught the 17 pounder on a live crawdad and the 8 pounder on anchovy. As the water temperature is cooling down the bait fish are schooling up and the catfish are following them. This pattern should continue and the fishing should improve until early November. Good Fishin.................Catfish Ed As of 6:00PM last night the lake level is 1.53 feet above Rumsey   Catfish Report/October 8 1999 The catfishing is fair all around the lake. Most of the fish are being taken drift fishing in 15 to 25 feet of water. Kim Freitas of Don's Bait and Tackle Shop in Clearlake reports good action drifting live crawdads around White Rock, Bass Alley and Indian Island. Most of the cats are running from 10 to 15 pounds. There is a fair drift bite off the Nice/Lucerne area in 15 to 25 feet of water. Most of the fish are trophy size and the top baits are live crawdads and either shrimp or prawns. My friend Tom Le Clercq of Foster City California caught a 16 pound 8 ounce beauty (click for photo) on a live crawdad in 15 feet of water off of the World Mark Time Shares in Nice. I went drifting off of the Time Shares on Wednesday morning at 7:00am and returned at 7:45am with a 21 pound 3 ouncer (my biggest ever, photo coming soon) caught on a whole prawn also in the 15 foot zone. Good Fishin.................Catfish Ed As of 8:00PM last night the lake level is 1.61 feet above Rumsey. Hot Update!!!!! October 8, 9:00AM I went drifting off of World Mark Time Shares again this morning and caught an 8 pounder and broke my all time record again with a 24 pound 1 ouncer. Click for photo I caught the fish using shrimp and drifting in 16 feet of water.    Catfish Report/October 1 1999 The catfish action is slowing down a little in the south end of the lake and picking up a little in the north end. Al Freitas of Don's Bait and Tackle in Clearlake reports fair fishing around White Rock and Monitor Island. Drift fishing at Luebow Point has also been fairly productive. The top baits according to Al have been jumbo and extra-large minnows with mackerel being the next best choice. Percy Oved of Limit Out Bait and Tackle in Clearlake Oaks says he has not had a single report on catfish in the last week. There have been several reports of decent drift fishing off of the Nice/Lucerne area. The best report comes from my friend Greg Cornish of Nice. He and a couple of buddies went out Wednesday night and nailed 8 cats from 2 to 14 pounds. Click for Photo They caught most of them about a mile and a half off of the World Mark Time Shares in Nice from 3:00am to 7:00am. Greg said they took night crawlers and shrimp about 50/50. I went out Thursday morning just as Greg was coming back in. I fished off of World Mark in about 15 feet of water for about an hour. I caught one 16 pound 1 ouncer on shrimp. Ed Ott of Ed's Market in Nice (707-274-8029) reports some of his customers are catching a few channel cats drifting off of Barnes Yard in Nice using nightcrawlers and mackerel. Good Fishin.................Catfish Ed As of 8:00PM last night the lake level is 1.84 feet above Rumsey. Back to Old Catfish Reports