Northern CA Freshwater Fishing Report

Trout and bass action on tap at Topaz Lake The Clear Lake a challenge BY PAT YOUNG/WON Staff WriterPublished: May 03, 2012

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TOPAZ — Topaz Landing Marina hosted a group of 60 anglers from a Carson City casino this past week and the fishermen found a mixed variety of species hitting — rainbow trout, smallmouth bass and the rarely seen brown trout.   “We had 60 anglers fishing here this past week and they held a little derby,” Chuck Fields said.  “We had 8 bass, one brown trout, and lots of limits of rainbows brought in so the weigh-in was very interesting. The bass category was won by Ted Doyal of Markleeville with 4 bass from 2 pounds to 3 pounds, 5 ounces. Doyal caught his fish on the north end of the lake. Butch Rashoff of Carson City came in with a beautiful 3¾-pound brown trout taken on a rainbow Rapala trolled on the SW side. The biggest rainbow was taken by Ed Fabray of Carson City — a 2-pound, 6-ounce fish caught on a flasher/worm combo on the south end of the lake.” Fields said that even the shore anglers were doing well in this event and a lot of limits came in for those using Power Bait. Fields related that the brown trout caught by Butch Rashoff was a rarity — a brown hadn’t been seen taken out of the lake in years. Brown trout were more commonly found in the canal that flows into the south end of the lake than in the lake itself. The Clear Lake a challenge BY ROBIN WADE WON Staff Writer    KELSEYVILLE — With tons of fishing pressure, huge variations in weather swings, water temperature changes but plenty of fish, this past week was a challenge at Clear Lake but a good one.   “The spawn is on and there are bent necks looking at bass on beds all around the lake,” bass guide Ross England said. “The lower end of the lake has the clearest water, with clarity to 10 feet being reported. But the upper end of the lake is a different story, with clarity that runs from 2 to 4 feet.” “”The more successful anglers are fishing with methods that just tend to produce when pressure increases such as drop-shotting worms and weightless Senkos,” England said. “Anglers are looking for spawners but when they can't see them they are just fishing and catching. The average fish is running between 3 and 4 pounds and most are in real good shape. The only anglers scratching their collective heads are the ones using live bait as the water was warm enough to slow down that bite for a bit. We saw water temperatures in the high 50-degree range but that is going to be heading up again quickly with the good weather on its way.” Bass guide Bob Myskey reported an interesting week fishing since they had a warming trend at the first part of the week that brought a big wave of fish into the shallows to spawn and a decent bite. “Then mid week we had one day of rain and a cold front that brought night time temperatures down to 39 degrees and really strong winds the next day,” Myskey said. “This seemed to put the fish off the bite but now we are back into a strong warming trend and the bite will pick back up.”