Lakeport, CA - The “Golden State Shootout” at Clear Lake this week is the third stop on the Elite Series and brings an end to the season’s Western Swing. Be that as it may, the swing will go out on a high note according to everyone in the field. Many pros reported Wednesday that, after the weather stabilized and it started to warm up, the bass begin to eat. Due to high winds Tuesday, Monday and Wednesday effectively served as the only practice two days, but rest assured, there are a handful of pros this week who caught them regardless of the windy conditions Tuesday.
Recent tournaments held on the highland reservoir have taken some amazing weights to win. In one, which was a two-day team event, the winning weight was over 74 pounds with a tournament limit of five bass per team! Big bags of bass are a frequent occurance at Clear Lake.
The lake is a natural lake and, as such, fishes quite differently than many others on the Elite Series schedule. Several pros compared it to Okeechobee in that it’s much like a big bowl with a few coves and feeder creeks that provide limited breakups to the lake’s abundant shoreline. A hindrance to many this week will be that the more popular “community holes” will be jam-packed with competitors – another similarity to the Florida fishery.
Regardless of the lake’s shoreline and often-congested fishing conditions, everyone agrees that there will be tons of big bass caught this week. If there’s anything we’ve learned, it’s not to be too over eager in predicting what the winning weight will be, but keep a few things in mind when looking at this event as….uh….objectively as possible.
First, the spawn is on and there are bedding fish scattered throughout the lake right now; however, the high winds during practice have stirred the water to the point where early on bed fishing won’t be a significant factor for most. Secondly, while the fish can’t necessarily be seen, they are locked on, or will be very soon making their susceptibility to big swimbaits very high.
Lastly, and likely most importantly, conditions for the remainder of the week and into the weekend are forecast to be near perfect for catching the big egg-laden females. Again, the swimbait is going to be a factor…but don’t be surprised at all if a flipping bite turns on at some point either.
108 of the world’s best bass fisherman are poised and ready to see just how big the weights will get. The BASS ZONE caught up with a few of them over the course of the week for their insight into
Steve Kennedy
Steve Kennedy spent the first three days of practice trying to acclimate himself to his new surroundings, and one thing stuck out glaringly at first glance. “There really isn’t any protected water here,” he said. “You want to try and get in some protected areas in the event the wind gets up because it can get wicked, but there’s really not too much of it to speak of.
“So, you wind up fishing on top of one another in a handful of areas around the lake.”
The first day of practice, with cloudy pre-frontal conditions, Steve said that the bite was just ridiculous. Tuesday, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. “Monday of practice, I spent some time of shallow and caught quite a few fish,” he sad. “Tuesday, I moved off into some deeper water and found a few too.
“What concerns me is if the wind does get up, there’s going to be a lot of guys on one spot trying to get 15 pounds out of it.”
Steve was south of The Narrows, and didn’t and, outside of Champlain, has never seen water as bit as it was Tuesday. “I promise you, it’s not been too often that I’ve seen water as big as it was Tuesday,” he said. “I called my wife to come down and get me because it was just too big to run in and be safe. Julia came down and picked me up, otherwise it would’ve been a terribly long and wet ride back to the ramp.”
With redemption on his mind, Kennedy is looking to have a strong showing this week at Clear Lake. “I’m really disappointed about my tournament at The Delta,” he said. “I only got one big bite in two days of the tournament, and I really expected it to be different. |
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“My biggest problem there was the fact that it just fished so small. Here, while you tend to get bunched up, it fishes totally different. Clear Lake is one of the best places I’ve ever been to in my life.”
Kennedy has picked up the swimbait during practice and is pleased with the results thus far. “I got on a school of fish in some deeper water Tuesday and had 12 bites – they were all over four pounds,” he said. These fish are just incredible to see.
“Right now, it’s going to take well over 15 pounds a day to win. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a 35-pound sack this week.”
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Bill Lowen
Like Kennedy, Tuesday’s wind meant that there was effectively only two days of practice – Monday and Wednesday. “The first two days of practice were pretty rough,” he said. “I had some areas that I wanted to get to the first part of the week, but couldn’t because of the wind. I’m used to big waves and big water because of being from Ohio, but the way these waves are so tight together, it makes it very tough to run.”
Lowen admits that not being from California places him a distinct disadvantage. “I think the California guys have a real advantage this week,” he suggested. “If the weather cooperates this week – and if the turbidity of the water goes away – it could get equalized pretty quick.” |
Jeff Reynolds
Reynolds arrive at Clear Lake Sunday morning and was rested and ready to hit the water by the time practice opened up Monday. His first impression of the lake that day was that it was going to be a bed-fishing shoot-out. However, the tables turned Tuesday as a front blew through the area.
“The first day was pretty good,” he said. “There were a lot of fish on beds, and you could’ve had 30 pounds pretty easy. Tuesday we just about got blown off the lake and it really spoiled a lot of the best water. Wednesday, I had a pretty good day of practice, and can see Saturday in my future.”
One thing is clear to Reynolds…there won’t be an absence of limits this week. “There are going to be a lot of fish caught,” he said. “Unless the wind gets up again, it should be a slug-fest.”
On the home-field advantage, Jeff views it as a non-factor due to the lake’s size and configuration. “This lake isn’t really big enough to have a specific ‘home-field’ advantage,” he said. “There are fish up on beds in certain areas of the lake, and others that are fixing to turn on elsewhere, so that kind of limits a lot of the local’s ability to spot fish.” |
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With regards to weight predictions, Reynolds thinks 100 pounds isn’t out of the question. “It’s kind of shallow lake, and most of the stuff that you fish here is what you can see. That said, I imagine that it will take around 30 to 31 pounds to make the cut Saturday. I could see it easily take 25-pounds a day to win.”
Jason Quinn
Quinn had never before laid eyes on the California pig farm until hitting the water Monday. He explained that, based on Monday’s practice, big things lake in store for him this week. “I’d never been here before, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but Monday I got introduced to Clear Lake in a big way,” he said
“It was just phenomenal! I caught a bunch of fish that would’ve pressed five pounds.”
In terms of predicting how the tournament might be won, the North Carolina pro isn’t giving anything away. “Right now you can catch them just about any way that you want to,” he said. “There are bed fish, there’s some that are just cruising around, and then there’s still some pre-spawn fish out on rock piles off shore.”
Quinn can’t get over the body-mass the Clear Lake bass hold. He believes that they must be putting something in the water. “There just genetic freaks,” he exclaimed. “The fish here look like nothing that you’ve ever seen a bass look like.
“They have real small heads and bodies that just seem to keep growing. I caught one Monday that should’ve been about three pounds, but by the time I got it out of the water it was closer to five. I couldn’t believe the shoulders this fish had on it – and that’s the way with everyone of them that you catch.”
Quinn believes that it’s possible, should the weather hold, that records could be in jeopardy this week. “I think that it will take 17- to 18-pounds a day just to make a check Saturday,” he said. “I don’t even want to guess on what it’ll take to win. It could just get stupid.”
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