Clearlake Bass Fishing

Clear Lake, California’s largest natural lake, has more fish per square acre than any other lake in California. Bass master rated it as the second best bass fishing destination in North America. It has over 43,000 acres of surface area and 100 miles of coastline. This makes it easy to find a great fishing spot in no time.

Features Of Clear Lake

Clear Lake is a rich, fertile lake with a thriving warm-water fishery that includes crappie, catfish, bluegill. There are other species in addition to bass.

The fact that Clear Lake is relatively shallow is one of its distinguishing features.

Clear Lake, which is only 59 feet deep at its deepest point, is wet, weedy, and nutrient-rich. It provides an abundance of the habitat and forage that game fish like largemouth bass need to survive.

It’s simply a fantastic spot for a day of fishing. Keep an eye out for osprey and bald eagles in the sky. Also, look out for pelicans and great blue herons hunting along the shoreline, as you explore the lake.

Largemouth Bass, The Fish With All The Attention

Although Clear Lake is a superb multi-species lake, there’s little dispute about which fish most fisherman come here to catch: largemouth bass.

Since the 1950s, Clear Lake has been supplied with both Northern and Florida strain largemouth bass.
Because of this, it’s one of the few lakes in the world that excels in both numbers and size. Trophy bass can be found in Clear Lake, as well as an abundance of other smaller fishes.

It is no big deal coming across ten-pound bass here. The biggest largemouth bass caught ever was by Jerry Basgal in 1990 and it is 17.52 pounds in weight.

If numbers are a bigger deal to you than size, it is easy to catch dozens of bass 3-5 pounds range at the right conditions.

When To Fish

In the spring, there are more huge bass in shallow water than at any other time of year and this makes it the best time to catch a largemouth bass at the lake.

Largemouth bass spend the winter in relatively deep water, but in March, they begin to migrate to Clear Lake’s shallows. The spawn is usually in full swing by mid-April.

Largemouth bass spawn when the water temperature is between 55 and 65 degrees, though the exact period varies.
Clear Lake  provides greater shallow fishing chances throughout the year than other California lakes.
Even in the summer, bass can be found in less than 10 feet of water, particularly around dawn and dusk.

Where To Fish

Clear Lake has a lot more aquatic vegetation than typical Northern California lakes, and weeds are a good place to look for bass.

Tules, in particular, are abundant throughout most of the lakeshore, and largemouth bass hide and hunt in them. Casting near the tules’ edge is a popular technique among local fisherman.

There are plenty of man-made structures on Clear Lake as well—docks, piers, and pilings—and bass love to hide beneath and around them.

Natural cover, such as brush, boulders, hydrilla, and other flora, should also be considered.

The lake’s northwestern shoreline around Lakeport and Berger Bay, is a favorite bass fishing spot, especially early in the season.

However, Clear Lake is a large body of water with numerous excellent bass fishing areas.

Points like Point Lakeview, Baylis Point, and Luebow Point are usually productive, while the mouth of Kelsey Creek, as well as the narrow section of the lake immediately off Shag Rocks, are regular favorites.

Tips And Tatics

There are numerous approaches to bass fishing at Clear Lake, and it’s wise to bring a variety of lures. You never know what the fish are looking for.

Even so, there are a few techniques that never seem to fail.

Throughout most of the year, tossing a crazy worm along the edge of a tule bed or beneath a boat dock is a surefire way to get a bite.

During the pre-spawn and post-spawn phases, spinnerbaits and ripbaits can elicit furious reflex strikes.

Casting floating frogs around potential spawning areas is another popular spring strategy, and it can be productive all summer, especially during the low-light hours when bass are most likely to strike a topwater bait.

As bass travel into somewhat deeper water near sloping points, ledges, and rock piles in the summer, crankbaits and drop-shot rigged soft plastics are effective.

Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and jerkbaits are effective lures for covering a lot of water and finding fish in the fall.