Recreation
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- Written by: Editor
CLEAR LAKE STATE PARK – Clear Lake State Park Interpretive Association (CLSPIA) invites its members and Friends of Clear Lake State Park to its annual meeting on Saturday, March 14, at 1 p.m. in the park visitor center auditorium.
Members of the community are also invited to attend, meet the officers and members of CLSPIA, and learn more about this nonprofit park support group and how to become involved if they so wish.
Since 1983, CLSPIA has been providing public education about the valuable natural and cultural resources of the area, promoting a strong environmental ethic and raising funds to promote these goals.
Association President Madelene Lyon will review the accomplishments of 2008, which includes the signing of the Education Pavilion contract, and provide a look at the goals for 2009.
Featured speaker will be Robert J. Keiffer, superintendent, Hopland Research and Extension Center. Keiffer will tell of his experience as a member of the Third Search Party to look for the ivory-billed woodpecker in the swamps of Arkansas.
Keiffer has joined CLSPIA on many occasions and always brings an extraordinary message. This time he will shed new light on the illusive woodpecker.
Clear Lake State Park is located at 5300 Soda Bay Road, Kelseyville.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Bass and cats have all been cooperative this week, but the mighty crappie remain elusive. The weather forecast is calling for some downright wonderful weather heading through the weekend and into next week. Now’s a great time to get your line wet!
Bass anglers have had a ton of great stuff to report this week. First, the lake level is up to nearly 4 feet and we’re starting to see tule beds produce some nice fish.
Many of the pro/am tournament fishermen on the lake currently are finding some quality fish in the 2- to 4-foot depth using shaky heads, finesse worms and jigs. Also working for the artificials guys are the lipless cranks over ledges with 10- to 15-foot depth transitions.
Our folks fishing live jumbo minnows are finding that success is easier to come by. The same areas are working well. Find yourself some newly flooded areas with isolated stands of tules and get in close with a live minnow. Or fish the transitional areas, docks, and walls. We’re definitely seeing the onset of a spring bite.
Crappie hunters have been tight lipped this week. I’ve seen no crappie that have been caught, but I’m hearing of good crappie fishing in some undisclosed locations. One could speculate as to where they’re being found … But alas I’ll wait until we hear something more concrete.
Catfishermen are having a ball catching cats to 20-plus pounds. The mouth of Cache Creek and Indian Island have both been productive spots for my customers. Other areas where water turns from stained (from rain runoff) to clear have been productive. Use mackerel, anchovies or live minnows for best results.
Enjoy the spring-like weather that’s on order for the weekend. We hope to see you here in the shop.
Bob Rider is owner of Lakeshore Bait & Tackle, 14913-D Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake, telephone 994-FISH (3474). Visit the store's Web site at www.994Fish.com.
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- Details
- Written by: Bob Myskey
The fishing for bass has to be rated “decent.”
The results of the Pro Am West Coast Bass tournament that was held this past weekend saw some good bags of fish come in despite the rain and wind that they had to endure.
Fish in this tournament were caught on a variety of baits and techniques and were caught both in shallow water and in deep water. This basically means that the average fisherman can get out and try a number of different things and should have reasonable success.
The weights were down slightly from what they have been in past years but they still would rate as being "good" or better than most of the lakes in the US.
The tournament season is definitely here and from now until the middle of June we will have a tournament of some sort on the lake every weekend, and this bodes well for our local economy.
I think that most people do not realize the importance of these tournaments. This week the FLW Stren series starts on Thursday and they will fish through Saturday.
This tournament will draw a 150 boats, two fisherman per boat, 300 people with 99 percent of these people being from out of the area. Most of them arrived here at least two days in advance of the tournament. They stay in the motels, buy gas, buy tackle, eat at the restaurants and shop in the local stores. I would say that the money they spend definitely stays local.
Having fished these tournaments myself for many years, I can personally attest to the money that gets spent. A lot of our local people would probably prefer to have the lake to themselves and not have all these boats on the water. Even as a guide it makes it hard for us to fish around these big tournaments. but in the overall scheme of things, we need these people coming to the lake and Lake County can only benefit from this exposure.
I know there is a lot of different opinions and possible consequences of having all these out-of-area boats frequent our lake. There is always the danger that the quagga mussel might be brought in by a boat coming from infected waters.
It is my opinion and my experience that the majority of these tournament fisherman are much more in tune to doing the right thing by making sure their boats are “clean and dry” and will get their boats inspected before launching. The danger will more likely come from a vacationer or casual boater who is not aware of procedures.
As far as the guiding goes, it looks like bookings are holding up pretty good compared to last year.
The fish that are being caught are healthy and in good shape. I would encourage those who will be catching fish to realize that most of the larger fish are females and at this time of the year they will all have eggs in them and need to be released to spawn so that we can continue to keep this great fishery going.
Bob Myskey owns Bassin' With Bob Guide Service, www.fishclearlake.com, telephone 707-274-0373.
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- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
CLEAR LAKE STATE PARK – With the recent rains, changes are taking place rapidly in the landscape of Clear Lake State Park.
Take the opportunity to check it out by joining park docent Walt Lyon on Sunday, March 8, for a walk on the park’s Indian Nature Trail.
Meet Lyon at the front entrance parking lot at 8:30 a.m. to start the ascent of this intriguing hillside trail. Wear sturdy walking shoes for safety on this trail.
Lyon will describe how American Indians used the natural resources along this trail to enrich and sustain their lives. Many plants were prepared for medicinal uses and others for food. Many plants had multiple uses.
The Indian Nature Trail was built in 1959 for a mere $1,000 to give park visitors a great walking experience, as well as showing the importance of the natural resources in the park. Take time out of your busy schedule to enjoy this trail for all seasons.
Rain cancels the walk. There is no entrance fee to the park for participating in walks.
Docent led walks are scheduled for the second and fourth Sunday of each month. The next walk will be with Glenn Smith on March 22.
Clear Lake State Park is located at 5300 Soda Bay Road, Kelseyville.
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