Recently I’ve been putting in some time on Clear Lake. I’ve had some real good days the last couple months. I apologize for not keeping the board updated. After this last trip, I’ve realized that this good fishing is officially not just a fluke, so I feel its time for a little update for the Warm-Water board.
I’ve been on this board for a long while now and this community has helped me progress as an angler very much. Because this board has given me so much valuable information throughout the years, I do feel a bit of a responsibility to give back and contribute tid bits of good information when I happen to stumble upon some. I am offering guided trips here, but I don’t want to come across like I’m doing this just to push trips on everyone. That’s really not the case. But if you would like to hire me for a trip, my website is www.flyfishcnv.com So with that being said, here is my little update on Clear Lake. Hope you enjoy, or better yet find this useful.
I’m sure people have fly fished here before, but I could never find any info for fly rods on the lake, and I’ve been trying to find info online about this since 2006.
So incase anyone has ever wondered like myself, the main purpose of this post is to say… Yes, the fly works great here…
As far as Clear Lake being a quality fishery, I want to keep my hyping to a minimum, so if you don’t already know, maybe google or youtube Clear Lake bass fishing and see for yourself what kind of a fishery this is.
WATERCRAFT
Some type of watercraft is needed. A bass boat is best, john boats or prams can work, even jet boats. There are all kinds of jet skis out there even though the water is thick with algae in spots, and my jet boat got me into some great action. The lake is huge and can get very rough on windy days. However just about any boat will suffice on calm days. I’ve seen allot of conventional anglers utilizing anything from your typical 1 man pontoons to 250 horse bass boats, and everything in between. Even on windy days there are areas one can put in a pontoon or pram and stay sheltered from the wind. On calm days, I’ve seen pontoon boaters going across the lake. I wouldn’t recommend doing this however in case wind picks up. There are lots of docks out of the wind, marinas, etc. Clear Lake State Park has great camping and allot of fishable water off the main lake for the most part. Rodman slough is another area where you can get off the main lake. There are countless other areas like this though, I’d just recommend to check it out on a satellite map, and see where you can put in and be out of the wind.
GEAR & TACTICS
For myself, I’ve had most of my luck using a 6wt with an intermediate line. Stripping a small lightly weighted clouser very slowly. I have also used my float & fly/ indicator tactics when I was a bit more desperate to learn the lake. The indicator has got my boat’s 2 largest bass though. And probably 80-100 crappie! If you go and choose to use the indicators for crappie, this is allot of fun, but I suggest using a 5wt or higher incase you hook a big bass. This can be a great way to simply learn where the bass are holding and still have fun using a fly rod. Because the flies I’ve been using are all 2.5” or less I’ve been using 8-10lb test at the end of my leaders. Leader lengths are best kept around 5-6’ or less for accuracy.
As far as topwater goes, I’ve only been able to scrap one small fish here and there. I’ve seen massive blow ups though. So I really don’t have much advice for topwater out here unfortunately. I’ll get it dialed sooner or later, I know there’s great potential for this though.
FLIES
The fly pictured is the only one I’ve done great with out here. That little clouser with an intermediate line is really all you need. There’s a TON of shad (I think they’re shad) and that little clouser imitates them as good as anything it seems, and they’re easy to tie.
CONCLUSION
So the main purpose of this little writing is to let everyone who’s ever wondered know that yes… Clear Lake is fly-fishable… Posting pictures to prove what I’m saying, and it wouldn’t be right to just say… “yes it’s fly fishable here’s some pictures, and good luck finding information…” So that’s why I made this like a little write-up for everyone
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the rest of the pics! Any further questions feel free to ask! Looking forward to seeing what people think about this.
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