M.O. Clear Lake 05/29-05/31

Visited my friends up in Soda Bay this last weekend and opted for the kayak rather than the motor boat. Ended up only fishing from the pier due to wrong attitude - attitude was to set to PARTY TIME!!!. Did get alot of on the water time but mostly just cruising with friends and visiting the local floaty bar. Did bump into another NCKA member - Jim(?) I believe, and he let me try his Hobie revolution out. It is a very nice ride. Only downside was we talked for a while and I got busted for missing most of dinner. Oh well, priorities, the cocktails can always wait a bit. Anyway, managed to catch 4 nice bass in the 14" +/- range. Water clarity was phenomenal (6'+) and all were sight fished off beds around the dock and released within a few feet of those same beds. They seemed to be males. It took them about 15 to 20 min to get back on the beds. On sunday, a large bass cruised up to one of those fish and they rolled over each other for a minute or so, so it could be that they are just now starting to spawn. The Carp started spawning on Sunday as well and by Monday morning, the water clarity had dropped by a least half and there were eggs clinging to the hydrilla here and there. If this is the case, it may still be a bit early to target the bass with plugs, but rather still use spring tactics for them. There was a really nice fish hanging out by the floaty bar, must have been a good 5#.

Did try out one of my friend's parents' kayaks, a sit inside from Costco, they seemed pretty decent and comfortable for longer periods of time. The finish was not too bad either. A bit heavy though.

Pics to follow.

Good luck.

Party on!!

Glad you had a good time.  Thanks for the report Mike.  Looking forward to see the pictures.

It was a pleasure meeting you at CL Mike. Sorry I made you late for dinner and thanks for the 0-rings. Here's some pics I took over the weekend. The carp was netted by a little boy as it was rolling topwater by the dock. He released it after a few pics. I ended up not fishing much the day after we met but I did hit up Mendo on the way home for one fish. Great weather to relax around the campsite, enjoy the view, and get our beers on! jim

Hey Jim it was good meeting you and good to see you scored at Mendocino. I hit Mendocino on the way home on Monday at the north side, but I got there around noon and by that time the wind and boat traffic made the water pretty nasty. I fished the flooded forest for an hour or so then decided that I wanted to head off to Lake Sonoma. Launched there about 5 pm and fished across the Marina for 2 small bass. I got them on ripping a small rattle trap/lipless crankbait.  I found a flag pole with a muddied up Old Glory so that was kind of nice.

PS, on the way from Mendo to Sonoma, as I was getting onto 101 south I saw a really cool rig; It was a truck towing a travel trailer and on the roof of the truck was a pair of double stacked Mini-Xs in sand color. Looked like a pretty slick set-up. Wondering if it was a NCKA member.

Beautiful place!