Finally made it back to Clearlake! It had been 7 years since my last trip in 2009. It wasn't what I had expected. But none the less, it was a humbling learning experience!
I had the great pleasure fishing with my big bass mentor Dan "Crawdad" Sansome. Many of you may remember Dan when he was the owner of Point Loma Sport fishing and the American Angler (though he did own many other fishing boats throughout his fishing career). Truly impressed with the way he approaches crawdad fishing, and the results, and success he's had throughout the years have been record setting.
Got to Dan's house early Monday evening, sat down and went over lake conditions and weather for the next few days. Checked out his nearly new 2014 Ranger Commanche Z521. Wow, what a fishing rig!!! Beautiful! Tired from the long drive, went to bed early, got up next morning and proceeded down to the lake.
Super clear, light winds! Got in the Ranger and the venture begins....... into the COLD!! Shame on me for not having enough cold weather gear for the trip. Forgot the thermo's, gloves and full face gear. This made fishing challenging for the next few days! And when the winds kicked up, it made it chilling!!
Day one -
I decided to fish swim baits the first day, which I stuck with for 90% of the time. Only problem, a cold front/storm had just passed and the lake is just full of shad. Some up to 6", and in massive schools. Birds were diving on bait balls throughout the lower lake. Threw different types of swim baits throughout the day, with no love. Dan tried to convince me to try the "darkside crawdads", but I really wanted a swim bait fish. Met up with a couple guides and they mentioned swim baits was not the ticket during the week. If you got a lucky hook up, it was a nice fish. No joy or love on day one.
As for Dan, his first spot/first cast landed a fat 7-1/2lb green fish. Just plugged with shad. For the day, he ended up with 9 bass 3-1/2lbs to 7-1/2lbs, all on crawdads. He was working the crawdads super slow, as most bites were very light. Fish were not aggressive. Blame it on the shad meat balls!!
Should have taken Dan's advice and fish crawdads!
Day two - Light winds, overcast, with the possibility of showers. Bit colder than the first day.......see the pattern, dress for the cold weather!!
We headed out to similar spots from day one on the lower lake, however, the bite was much slower. Dan got few on crawdads, I missed a few on the crawdads. Broke off a nice fish due to braid failure. As for the cold, when the wind hit your face, it felt like "ice spears". We moved up to the narrows and action got better later in the day. Finally got on the board with crawdads. Got 4, not much to size, 1-1/2lbs to 2-3/4lbs. Not the quality I was looking for, but its still green fish!! As for Dan, he got 7 or 8 bass, 3lbs to 8-1/2bs. It was humbling watching Dan catch quality fish, on a not-so-quality day. Met up with some guides, they too were having a rough time catching quality fish. They did recommend shaky head fishing. Most guides that were fishing the upper lake were catching really small fish, most on live bait. Could not complain, when others were not catching much!
Day three - Light winds, clear day, but super ugly cold!!! Dan decided to fish closer to the ramp and we hid behind one of the islands for most of the day. Dan started off catching nice fish 4lbs to 5lbs, again on the crawdads. And yes, I got a couple on the crawdads too. Again 1-1/2lb to 3lbs. Took Dan's advice and fished shaky heads early afternoon. Wow, never tried shaky heads before, and caught 5 fish from the same spot. Really enjoyed the technique. I'm hooked!! As I gained confidence with shaky head, got a few more fish. Spoke with another guide, and he mentioned shaky head fishing had been fantastic throughout the summer and early fall. Ended up having a great day.
I learned so much about crawdad fishing from Dan. He's bait selection, the way he hooks each bait, tackle presentation, finesse style slow fishing, and much more. The results were clear, everyone of his fish were bigger than my catch. If I didn't have to leave so early for an upcoming work trip, I would have stayed another 2 days. Well, next time!
I took this picture of his office wall of green fish. He should have named it, "lunker wall". Fish ranged from 13lbs to 18lbs, bottom left being the largest. He's caught two over 15lbs at Clearlake the past 18 months. Still looking for the lake record. Thanks Crawdad Dan!! See you soon!!
I've already have dates set to fish the first week of April, which is prime swim bait time. Can't wait for my return!!
Lessons learned:
Prepare for the cold conditions. Time to invest in warm Gortex fishing gear.
Fish minimum 30lb braid. Broke off some nice fish due to light braid failure.
Bigger wire hooks for crawdads
Mel - Kahuna bass
Darkside live baiter (more next time)
STAN - How do I download pictures, it keeps telling me files are too big!! Help
