(Clearlake) The crappie bite has busted loose on Clear Lake, drawing lots of anglers to target the slabsides from shore and boat around the lake.
“A friend and I went out fishing for crappie on Sunday,” said Dave Brabec at Clear Lake Outdoors. “We caught and released around 100 crappie while using 1/16 oz. jigs on 4 lb. test line. They were all goods-sized, around a pound each.”
“The crappie are showing over the entire lake,” said Brabec. “They’re hitting best in 5 feet of water. Shore anglers have reported hooking the fish at Clear Lake State Park, Indian Beach, Holiday Harbor and elsewhere on the lake.”
“We fished from 8 am to 2 pm,” said Brabec. “We also fished for bass for a bit. We had a lot of fun and were giggling like a couple of kids as we hooked one crappie after another.”
The bass fishing is also going strong. “It took a five fish limit of 36-1/2 pounds to win a recent ABA tournament at the lake,” he said. “A friend caught five fish weighing 27 pounds and he didn’t even get a check.”
Lucky Craft LV 500s, jigs, ripbaits and swimbaits are producing the better largemouths, he noted.
The water temperature has risen to 54 degrees during midday. The water is starting to get clear, but the forecasted rain should color the water a bit with run off, he said.
Since everybody is concentrating on the great crappie and bass bites, hardly anybody has been targeting catfish.