Just got back from six days at Clear Lake. This place is amazing. The bite was off according to the locals, we fished through back to back tournaments and that traffic and three cold fronts back to back to back and still caught some realy nice fish. Ed from Tackle It in Lakeport is an awesome guy who will help you in any way possible. My last two fish of the last day were a 7-8 and a 6-10 and the average for the trip was just just under five pounds each. Same for my buddy. I'm sore, my hands are raw and hurt, my nose is peeling and I can't wait to go back. Don't expect to catch 50 a day but a 12 to 15 fish day of quality chunkers is realistic. The " rat " of the trip was a 3 3/4.

That's a great average weight! Sounds like Clear Lake is still holding it's own for quality fish... WTG

Big O

www.ragetail.com

I've always loved that place. It does have a ton of nice 5 to 8 lb'ers in it ! Legit 10+ fish are really tough there though. For that reason, I don't go there with any really big hopes for a 10 to 13 lb monster....

But instead, I'll go there sometimes in the Spring with crawlers, or tiny live dads, and the micro-light gear, and just stick nice, chunky 3 to 8 lb'ers all freaking day long. Just a ton of fun

In 2001, I fished there right at 90 days. I caught more than 1000 bass, with 28 of those being over 8 lbs (weighed). But the biggest fish of that whole year was..... drumroll please.... 9.8 lbs. (most of those fish were on live bait.... but more than half of the 8+ fish were on swimbaits)

Then, in 2002, I started fishing the little trout-fed ponds up here in Nor Cal. My numbers probably dropped from 1000+ fish in 01', to 100 or 150 in 02'...... but out of those 100 or 150 fish, 28 of them were over 10 lbs, and the biggest was 16.5.

It all just depends on what your goals are.

Clear Lk. has also had some amazing Crappie and Catfish bites, but they are extremely cyclic.

Peace,

Fish