CaliBassin Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 I am going to clear lake in late may for the second time in my life. I do not know much about the lake and will be fishing a tournament. What kind of baits (swimbait or conventional) will I need to do well that time of year? I know guys crush them on drop shots but would prefer to fish more reaction baits. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthefisherman Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 Look up Stoked On Fishing's old videos with Matt Newman and Paul Bailey. They grind on big rocks with hudds and get onto some good fish. I must've watched all those videos a hundred times by now trying to learn everything I could about fishing the lake. CaliBassin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliBassin Posted April 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 2 minutes ago, danthefisherman said: Look up Stoked On Fishing's old videos with Matt Newman and Paul Bailey. They grind on big rocks with hudds and get onto some good fish. I must've watched all those videos a hundred times by now trying to learn everything I could about fishing the lake. I have also watched them hundreds of times.... last may when I was there I threw big baits all day and could not catch anything. (very weedy) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthefisherman Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 32 minutes ago, CaliBassin said: I have also watched them hundreds of times.... last may when I was there I threw big baits all day and could not catch anything. (very weedy) My brother and I fish the lake around the same time every year when we can. We fish from shore so it's not the same exact scenario, but it can get really tough especially when the sun is blazing at its highest and/or the bass are keyed in so much on the shad. Last year there were actually a lot less weeds than we were used to. I threw swimbaits until my arms felt like they would fall off and only managed one half-hearted bite. I did get quite a few good follows though on a shining rainbow Gancraft 230. Fish were either holding tight to docks or working schools of shad. In four days fishing from shore I only managed to land one decent bass on a jerkbait. I assume you'll have a boat though so you should be able to locate fish willing to bite. I'd work shad schools with an Arig or crawl bottom with a hudd. If that doesn't produce maybe try pitching glides right up to docks. Good luck! CaliBassin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baitmonkey Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 I live 4 blocks from the lake PM me. basskickinrednick and CaliBassin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewbaver Posted April 23, 2019 Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 I have hammered them on wake baits that time of year I am going in two weeks and plan on slaying them, skipping paddle tails also have done well for me as well. Big ospreys etc. I got my boy painting up some custom hinkles to do some damage though cant wait! CaliBassin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate1302 Posted April 23, 2019 Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 I was there on Friday and Saturday, and the only thing that got any attention for me was a wake n crank along the deep ends of docks. Nothing big and nothing wanted to commit, but had lots of follows and misses. CaliBassin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliBassin Posted April 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 Thanks guys. definitely planning on throwing some big topwaters. I’m looking to buy a couple evergreen SB in the 6” size and also some wakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewbaver Posted April 23, 2019 Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 Nate1302 Was there a lot of boat traffic when you were there? Also have the fish moved up on beds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate1302 Posted April 23, 2019 Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 There were lots of boats. There was one tournament on Friday and then two tournaments on Saturday. The fish were on beds, but the water wasn’t clear enough to sight fish them in most areas. On Saturday the wind picked up to about 20 which made it almost impossible to fish them on beds. From what I read, I’m pretty sure all of the tournaments were won by flipping tules though, so I assume they were just blind casting to beds. CaliBassin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewbaver Posted April 23, 2019 Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 Damn that's a grip of attention down there guess it's the time of year. I'm headed down mid week so I should miss the tourneys but I know everyone is gearing up for the FLW coming up. Thanks for the info CaliBassin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hmoob Posted April 23, 2019 Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 I check the schedules for clear lake and that place has a tourney every weekend, even some on the weekdays!!!! It's a miracle those fish are still biting they get hammered every single day!!! CaliBassin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliBassin Posted May 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2019 Well things are pretty much set now. Have a couple spots and bait ideas but am hoping to have everything dialed and not have to switch baits a ton. I’m only getting one day to prefish and so far as of swimbaits my 2 main baits on the deck will be a 8”punker and a 8” wrs. If anyone else has fished the lake recently and has found something that wasn’t mentioned above, help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliBassin Posted May 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2019 Finished up at Clearlake in 14th out of the 56 boats. We only had 15.5 lbs anchored by a 5.5 on the 8” punker. During prefishing we had close to 19 lbs which would have put us in top 5 and advancing to the next tournament. Oh well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hmoob Posted May 22, 2019 Report Share Posted May 22, 2019 Nice!!!! There's always next time CaliBassin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.