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By JOSEPH HARGREAVES
Clearlake
Bass fishing up at Clearlake seems to be getting better and better every day in terms of both size and quantity. Last week I had a chat with Bob Higgins of Limit Out Tackle and he told me that the action had picked up on the South End, but that the majority of the fish were 2-3 lbs. This week I spoke to Ed Spencer at Tackle-It in Lakeport and he reports good fishing for numbers and size on all kinds of baits but primarily in the Mid-Lake areas and the South Lake areas as the North end is still considered unfishable due to low water levels and extreme vegetation congestion. |
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I would like to think that sooner or later when we do find the North end more fishable, we might find several large groupings of big bass that have been hanging out unmolested under the mats for months growing more and more confident each day due to the lack of fishing pressure. That is at least my hope. As for right now the following baits have been on fire this week:
- The LV-MAX 500 in either Crawdad Patterns or Shad Patterns. My choice would be the Madcraw and the Chartreuse Shad LVS, and I would switch the hooks out for a #2 Red Gamakatsu Round Bend Treble up front and a #2 Gamakatsu EWG Treble in the back.
- Deep diving cranks like the Norman DD22 or Rapala DT-16. My choice would be the Rapala DT-16 Sureset In Hot Mustard Shad, Shad, and Dark Brown Crawdad or Normad DD22 in Lavender Shad, Gel Coat Watermelon Seed, and Red Crawdad. I would fish the Rapala DT Suresets straight out of the box, but on the Normans I would switch the hooks out to #2 Gamakatsu EWG Trebles and add 4 Suspen-dots on the belly of the bait.
- Drop shot rigged Robo worms, Maverick worms, and other assorted hand pours from 4”-7”. My choice would be Robo Fat Straight Tail Worms in Morning Dawn, Warmouth, and M.M. III or Basstrix Fry Baits and Matrix Shad Baits.
- Brown Orange or Brown Purple Football Head Jigs with Craw Trailers or Twin Tail Grub Trailers. My choice would be either a ½ ounce Jig Monster Football Head Jig in Signal Craw with a Gambler Flappy Daddy Trailer or a ¾ oz Jig Monster football head jig in signal craw with a #1 Uncle Josh Jumbo Pork Frog in Purple, Orange, or Black.
- Heavy duty Carolina rigged Double Wide Beavers. My choice would be a 1 oz Tungsten Cylinder with a Glass Bead and a 3’-4’ 12# Flouro Leader to a 5/0 EWG hook rigged with a Gambler Flappy Daddy or a Strike King Tube Technology Wild Thing in Green Pumpkin w/ Black Flake or Black with Blue Flake or a Berkeley Chigger Craw in Green Pumpkin w/ Black Flake, Black w/ Red Flake, and Watermelon Seed.
All the baits are working right now and the best spots to try them are the usual rock piles like Shag or Henderson, so get out there and stick some before winter gets here and traps you at home. Oh yeah, the FLW will be at Clearlake this weekend so if that freaks you out you might hit the Highland Reservoir.
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