Catfish Report/Sept. 24 1999 The only real good report is from the Clearlake Oaks arm around M&M Campground. Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait And Tackle in Clearlake Oaks reports anglers fishing M&M Campground in the Oaks are averaging 4 or 5 channel cats from 10 to 18 pounds per outing using live crawdads and live minnows. Kim Freitas of Don's Bait and Tackle in Clearlake says the catfishing is about the same as last week with most of the action in Cache Creek with clams and minnows. There are still a few cats being caught at Redbud Park from the pier with clams. The north end of the lake is still slow. I went drift fishing Saturday morning in my old area about 2 miles off of Barnes Yard in Lucerne and caught 2 nice cats in an hour and a half. I went back out on Sunday and Monday mornings for zero bites for 8 hours of fishing. I tried it again yesterday morning for almost 4 hours and only caught one, a 10 pound 10 ouncer. I have run out of excuses as to why they haven't showed up in great numbers off of the Nice/Lucerne area. Normally I would be doing real well at this time of year. I can only hope it will break open soon! Good Fishin.................Catfish Ed As of 5:00AM this morning the lake level is 1.99 feet above Rumsey.   Catfish Report/Sept. 17 1999 The catfishing appears to be slowing down even in the south end of the lake. This could be misleading since there are very few catfishermen going out anywhere around the lake. Kim Freitas of Don's Bait and Tackle in Clearlake reports a few fish in the 6 to 8 pound class are still being caught in Cache Creek. The top baits have been minnows and clams. Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait and Tackle in Clearlake Oaks says there are very few anglers trying for cats. He heard of one 16 pounder caught at Rattlesnake Island with clams and one bass fisherman caught a 12 pounder on a crankbait. Terry Knight of the Lake County Record Bee reports a few 5 to 6 pound channel cats being caught drifting with clams and mackerel about 50 yards off of Aurora RV park in Nice. Terry also mentioned seeing quite a few cats cruising the shallows around submerged tires and rocks along the Nice shoreline. Bob Simmons of Lakeport Tackle reports a 20 pound channel cat taken at the Skylark Motel in Lakeport on nightcrawlers. Good Fishin.................Catfish Ed As of 2:00PM September 18 the lake level is at 2.20 feet above Rumsey. UPDATE !!!! SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 18 1999 I went out drift fishing for about an hour and a half this morning off of the Nice/Lucerne area in 24 to 27 feet of water. I caught 13 pound 8 ounce and 10 pound 8 ounce channel catfish using shrimp. (SEE PHOTO) I also lost a good one and saw a lot of fish on the graph. Maybe they are really starting to show up.   Catfish Report/Sept. 10 1999 The catfishing is still decent in the south end of the lake but still on the slow side on the north end. Bob Higgins of Limit Out Bait and Tackle in Clearlake Oaks reports the best action is around Rattlesnake Island and Two-Bit Island with fresh clams and crawdads as the top baits. Most of the cats have been running from 8 to 10 pounds. Kim Freitas of Don's Bait and Tackle in Clearlake says most of the catfish action has been from shore at Redbud Park and in Cache Creek. Kim rates fresh clams as the number one bait followed by minnows and mackerel. Kim adds that the cats are averaging around 7 or 8 pounds. Bob Simmons of Lakeport Tackle reports a few channel cats are being taken from docks in the Lakeport area with nightcrawlers. I tried some drift fishing off the Nice/Lucerne area on Wednesday but was unable to get a bite. I have no idea as to why the drift fishing has yet to get going. In past seasons it was red hot by early September. I won't make anymore predictions but I hope it breaks open real soon. Good Fishin.................Catfish Ed As of 10:00AM this morning the lake level is at 2.35 feet ---above rumsey.   Catfish Report-Sept. 3 1999 It's hard to get a read on the catfishing due to the lack of catfish fishermen on the lake. The one exception is in the Clearlake area where they are still catching quite a few. Kim Freitas of Don's Bait and Tackle in Clearlake reports good catfish action at Cache Creek, White Rock, Indian Island and Bass Alley. Kim rates fresh clams as the number one bait followed by cut mackerel. Most of the fish are running from 7 to 12 pounds. I could not muster up any information on the north end of the lake since there are practically no catfishermen out there. I haven't been out since last weekend when I fished the derby for zero results. I feel fairly confident that the fish will start to gather in the 15 to 25 foot area off of Barnes Yard (Nice/Lucerne Area) any day now. Every year they have shown up in early September. I caught a few in that area last week but they shut down last weekend. Look for better news by next weeks report. Good Fishin.................Catfish Ed As of 9:00AM this morning the lake level is at 2.51 feet ---above rumsey.   Back to Old Reports