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Date:3/29/2007 - 4/1/2007

Bassmaster Elite Series

Clear Lake

Lakeport, California

March 29^th thru April 1^st, 2007

            After missing the cut by just a few pounds at the Delta, I wanted badly to crush them at Clear Lake.  Once I got on the water, I was amazed by the number of fish cruising the shallows first thing in the morning.  The water was in the mid to upper 50s, and the bass were trying to spawn.  The water color was fantastic, with a greenish hue that you could see as much as 10 feet into.  The problem was that on 2 of the 3 official practice days, the wind blew over 20 miles per hour, making it nearly impossible to move around the lake.  I got onto a great jerkbait bite in the wind, but when it calmed down on the final practice day, I had to switch gears.  I found a large concentration of good fish in the Clearlake Oaks residential canals on the far end of the lake.  It was dirty, shallow water with lots of docks.  To a guy who cut his teeth on LOZ, it was perfect.

Day 1

            I ran straight to the canals on the first competition day.  I had shaken off around 30 fish the day before on a 5/16 oz Eakin’s Jig in TX Craw.  I tell you what, that little jig has caught me a TON of fish over the years.  My first bite was a 5-02 on the outside of a willow stump.  The next 8 bites were all over 4 pounds, and I racked up a 21 pound limit in the first few hours.  I decided to let my canal fish rest and ran out to some good jerkbait banks that I had found in the wind.  I was using the new deep diving Pointer 100 in American Shad, and they had eaten it well all week.  I was able to catch a few fish in the 3 pound range, then finally culled with another around 5 pounds.  I was happy with my bag, and excited about the good possibility of catching a similar bag on day 2.  When I got to the weigh-in, however, my 22 pound sack started looking smaller and smaller, as guys weighed bags over 25 pounds with regularity.  I was stunned as the top-50 cut weight moved closer and closer to 20 pounds.  These guys could catch ‘em!  I’d never seen anything like it – everyone had a 6 or a 7 in their bag.  I ended up around 38^th, with the cut going 20-05.  Ridiculous!

Day 2

            I headed straight to the canals again on day 2, this time with a little more company.  I started on a stretch with Brian Snowden working the opposite bank.  It was no surprise that he was also pitching an Eakin’s jig (leave it to the Missouri boys to figure that out).  My first fish went 4 ½, then my next four bites all went 3 ½.  I was in pretty good shape right off the bat, but I knew I’d need another 5 pound bite, and a few smaller culls, if I wanted to make it to day 3.  I got bit with regularity – the back end of the dead end canals all had fish in them, behind the walkways of docks in around 3 feet of water.  It was ideal, and I knew how to approach them.  I had around 19 pounds in the first hour, and went through about 20 keepers by mid-day.  However, I still hadn’t gotten that big bite that I knew I was going to need.  My decision then (and, looking back, my mistake) was to stay in the canals and grind out a big fish.  I was putting a major hurting on the fish, and couldn’t bring myself to leave biting 3 ½ pounders.  In the end, I realized that the canals just didn’t have the quality that the main lake had.  I was too far away from deep water, and the big gals just weren’t there.  I wouldn’t have had to go far, however – some of the highest finishers were fishing the mouths of these canals.  I went to the scales with 19-04, then watched as my weight of 41-01 over 2 days slowly slipped to 50^th, then to 55^th…again.  I had missed the cut by a mere 10 ounces.

            I was so discouraged that I decided to stay another day, and fished the main lake on Saturday.  I stayed out of everyone’s way, and I figured out a great way to catch those main lake fish in ultra clear water.  It seemed like there were a handful of fish under every good-looking dock – most around 4 pounds, but usually one or two that would go 8 or better.  I even saw one I estimated at 15!  They were suspended about 5 to 10 feet down over 20 or 30 feet.  They seemed very lethargic, so I decided to break out the spinning rod and finesse them.  I tied a 1/32^nd ounce darter head to 6 pound Seaguar fluorocarbon, then tied that to my 30 pound Power Pro braid main line.  I put a small 2 ¾ inch paddle tail minnow in a purple-ish color on the darter head, and let it spiral down through the suspended fish.  Talk about finesse!  I could barely cast the rig, but it would skip 10 yards or so up under the docks.  It was neat to watch the fish turn and look at where I thought the bait must be, but when they turned away, my line would move off!  I caught a 26 pound limit this way on Saturday, including a fish over 8 pounds.  I had another good fish wrap me up on some pilings, but other than that I just moved the boat away from the dock once I hooked one, and let them tire themselves out in open water.  I could catch fish under every dock where I could see them, and I marked about 20 docks that were holding monsters.  Clear Lake is definitely the best lake in the country.  The next time we’re in California, I’ll have a little different game plan.  For now, I’ve got to concentrate on Clark’s Hill and Guntersville.  Until then, thanks for reading, and God bless.

Scott Campbell

scottyc32@hotmail.com

(660) 641-3973