Busy weekend for hunters, anglers
Typical hot weather in store for hunters as Zone A deer season opens
Lake County will be a busy place this weekend as the Zone A deer season opens Saturday and the bass fishing at Clear Lake continues at an excellent pace.
As is common on the opening weekend of the Zone A deer season, the temperatures are expected to be in the 90-degree-plus range, perhaps even triple digits, and only the hardiest of hunters will be out hunting all day. Expect most hunters to call it quits by noon. Actually, most of the deer will be bedded down in deep canyons within a couple of hours after daylight and will be concentrated near the available springs and water holes. For deer hunters, water is the gift of life. Most experienced hunters carry at least two canteens. This is especially helpful if you have to pack out a buck in this heat.
The Mendocino National Forest from Upper Lake to Lake Pillsbury should draw most of the hunters. You should check with the Mendocino National Forest for possible closures
Typically the game wardens and forest rangers validate about 10 deer tags from the national forest on opening weekend. A successful hunter must fill out the deer tag and have it validated.
There is a high fire danger in the national forest and care must be used throughout the forest. Only campfires in designated campgrounds are allowed.
Hunters should tell someone where they plan to hunt and when they will return. That should include the description and license number of your vehicle. In fact, I recommend writing the information down on a piece of paper and leaving it with your spouse or close friend. This simple little act could save your life. Be sure to carry a cell phone with an auto charger.
The number of hunters out for the opening weekend will be down considerably. Hunting license and deer tags sales are way down throughout California.
As a clarification, in my Wednesday column I wrote that steel bullets were required. Actually the law says that only nonlead ammunition can be used.
Bass fishing
Fishermen will be out in force this weekend as well. Although there are no major tournaments scheduled
on Clear Lake, there will be dozens of recreational anglers on the water as well as several club tournaments going on. Overall the bass fishing on Clear Lake remains excellent and most fishermen report catching from 1540 bass per day. They are ranging in size from 1-5 pounds with an occasional 8-pounder. The most productive
method is dropshotting a plastic worm. White spinner baits are also catching fish as are jigs and Senkos.
The entire lake is producing decent numbers of fish. A few anglers are having success using topwater lures late in the evening and early in the mornings. The busiest boat ramp should be the Fifth
Street ramp in Lakeport. The Third Street ramp is closed due to the low lake level.
Other fish
Crappie action is rated fair to good. Some of the better areas are Shag Rock, Henderson Point and the docks at Lakeside County Park and at Library Park in Lakeport. Bluegill action is still rated excellent and some huge bluegill are being caught. Catfish are also starting to bite. The docks and shoreline from Nice to Clearlake Oaks should give up some huge catfish.
Upper Blue Lake
Trout action has slowed to a crawl at Upper Blue Lake where the docks at the Narrows Resort are giving up a few trout. The lake hasn’t been stocked in more than a month.
The bass fishing continues to improve. Dropshotting a plastic worm or working a jig slowly along the bottom has been the most productive technique for bass.
Highland Springs
Bluegill are being caught at Highland Springs Reservoir. Red worms and nightcrawlers are catching most of the fish.