Greetings! From 107+ degrees during the heat of the day a week ago to 49 degrees on the way to work Thursday morning … Our weather has had some changes. We even had a spot of rain mid-week this week. Our daytime high yesterday was in the mid-80’s. Today should be a more of the same. But for all the changes, the fishing remains darn good. Here’s the report …

The folks that are bassin’ are reporting great success with brown and purple or brown and orange jigs fished with a bulky trailer such as Roboworm’s Sour Puss or Zoom’s Brush Hog. Fish the jigs to as deep as 25 feet and look for bottom features such as humps or rock piles.

Others have had a great time fishing top water lures such as poppers, frogs, Spooks, or Baby Ducks. Fish your top waters around tule beds or in open water around docks. Hit the water early in the day for best top water action.

Drop shotting and weightless Senko fishing has been productive for most as well. The key here is to move your offering deeper as the day wears on – when the shallow water bite tapers off, move out and fish deeper. Don’t be afraid to throw something big and chunky on your drop shot, either. That can work with your finesse baits don’t.

The crappie are back from vacation and making a deep water appearance at a few key spots here in the south end. You’ll likely wind up with a mixed bag of bass and crappie for your efforts, but the crappie are still nicely sized and tasty table fare. Fish the 20 to 25 foot depths around Konocti and Four Poles using minnows or mini-jigs. Curly tail jigs in chartreuse or white are our best sellers this week.

Catfishermen are having a ball nailing cats off Austin Park and way down in Cache Creek (past the twin bridges of Highway 53). Mackerel, nightcrawlers and minnows have been tops. When fishing the lake, look for deeper water to soak your bait. The sizes haven’t been huge, with the exception of a few nice big ones from the creek, but anglers are hooking up with frequency. That’s good!

We’ve got our first catfish event – CatFest – coming up Saturday, July 21. The event begins here at LSBT with folks gathering between 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Bring your gear, your boat, your dinner and drinks, and plenty of anticipation. We’ll hang here and get our stuff ready until we close up the shop around 5 p.m. After that we’ll all head for Redbud Park, launch and make sure everyone’s good to go, then we’ll fish! Stick with the group for a great time on the water or see how you do striking out on your own. We’ll have a pool for biggest fish. Come and join us!

Lastly, a quick recap on our inaugural Lake Friends of the NRA benefit dinner. The event was held on Saturday, July 7. We had a full house with nearly 140 people in attendance. A prime rib dinner was served by Porter Street BBQ. Twenty-two firearms will change ownership this week as the winners and buyers claim their prizes. There were many other great items featured in both live and silent auctions such as artwork, sculpture, knives and a seven-day guided African safari hunt. Great stuff. The event has been ranked as one of the top 30 first-year dinners nationwide! We’d like to thank the committee members, sponsors and donors that helped make this event such a hit.

Bob Rider owns Lakeshore Bait & Tackle in Clearlake. Visit his Web site at www.994fish.com or call him at 994-FISH (3474).

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