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Left the house in a downpour and arrived at Clear Lake in the same. I launched on the right side of the launch as someone was once again parked at the end of the launch area (illegal) fishing from the boat launch and I didn't feel like messing with it this time. I wanted to hit the shallow bay to the right of the launch anyways hoping the high water would push some fish shallow?! I started throwing a spinnerbait in a sunfish color but the now submerged pads wreaked havoc with the retrieves. Ten minutes of that and I switched over to my swim jig as it just tracks through the 'stuff' better. The only downfall to the swim jig is the inability to run a trailer hook, something that is very important this time of year as the fish can tend to 'short strike'. Three casts with the simmer and fish on! Just a little guy, maybe 13 inches in two feet of water, but a good sign, I hoped. I fished up the pilings almost to the end without a strike on the swimmer so I went back though some of it with the Senko and still nothing. I decided to turn back to the west and fish the logs and pads along the shore where the first fish came from. Got my second hit in the pads but he leveraged me and got off. Got to the lone plastic dock and wham, hooked a nice one on the swimmer but he ran at the boat and came off. I fished my way out to piling point without another hit. I decided at this point to motor over to the south side to fish the pads and flip the areas of the lake that have been inaccessible due to thick pads. I fished the bank out to maybe three feet deep on my first pass through missing one and catching another. I continued this to the east and past the beaver dam with a couple misses and one other 2lber landed.

Back north past the dam I decided to try a Rapala around the pilings but it was raining so hard I couldn't see the launch at this point! The Rapala caught 3 fish on 4 retrieves but the problem was the biggest fish was a whopping 6 inches long and the smallest was the same size as the lure. I decided that was enough of that for the time being and motored over to the three docks in the NE corner. I fished the swimmer here and a jig, no bites. Fished all the way back west towards the launch past the long plastic dock without a bite. This is when things changed for the better...

I hooked fish on every single piling from the dock to the launch! Lost another decent one and continued catching fish in the 1-2.4lb range! I felt fairly dialed into something at this point so I once again headed for the SW corner and began fishing east again around the pilings in the pads. I kept the boat in 3-4 feet of water and by the time I reached the large wood dock I had boated six more bass the biggest going 3.4lbs.

On my way back to the launch I hooked into the fish of the day but once again it was too short of a fight and nothing to show for it. I lost around 6 fish today and three of them should have topped 4lbs or better, bummer. The other bummer was I had the dang shanks all day!!! Very frustrating, maybe my hands were cold but I haven't snagged on casts that much in a long long time :(

Bilge probably pumped 5 gallons of water out of my boat by the time it stopped raining and when I got home I think another 2 gallons drained out into the kiddie pool I keep under the back of my boat?!!

Shout out to JamesB as your Sunday Lake report told me what I needed to know regarding Clear Lake and I knew where I was going today just as long as the wind held off a bit! As I have always said, even if nothing is caught there is always useful information that can be posted, water temp, clarity, depth, algae conditions and other things that can help maybe save someone a trip OR cause someone to plan a trip?! So thanks for including the Clear Lake info in your report, I hoped the conditions would be what they were and when I read your report it sealed the deal on where I was going today! Tough to drive by McMurray knowing it won't reopen until April but oh well.....I may have to hit Clear again tomorrow?? Unfinished business...

bob johansen

11/1/2016 7:57:00 AM

Nice report on a very successful, late in the year, rainy bass fishing trip. Five gallons of water from the bilge - Wow! I have fished many rainy days for bass but at my age now it don't even sound like fun. Keep it up while you are still young. I fished Clear Lake very little. I have an 18 1/2 incher in my records that hit a 6 inch black worm on July 10th 1981 but somehow didn't record the weight - maybe 3 1/2 pounds? Do you have a problem drying out your bass boat after a rainy trip like this?

Jamesb

11/1/2016 5:02:00 PM

Welcome on the report if it wouldn't have been so windy whitecaps on left side I might of stayed on Sunday and fished Clear Lake thinking that going over the sunken pads might of worked with my rapala, spinnerbait and maybe a buzzbait. Sounds like a great day expect for the cold rain and downpours. I might have to run up there again this year. Have to be in couple weeks. My boat is pretty small so didn't want to fight the wind all day. Glad to hear they are still biting. I was having good luck in the channel and found a deep spot in South West in front of pads that they were hitting and chasing my minnow...before you get to the long dock with no trespassing signs on it. Fun lake never fished it before this year. Glad you were posting to get me out to a new lake. I almost hit Beaver Lake Sunday but saw some duck boats and hunters getting ready to launch so bailed on that idea. Keep up the reports.

8theB8

11/1/2016 7:07:00 PM

Bob; not too many problems with the boat drying out, a little slower this time of year and I usually won't fish in the rain if it's supposed to freeze at night but just open all the compartments, jack up the front all the way and make sure the plug is out. Boats better be able to survive the rain in this State! Fortunately the new boat has auto-bilge so it just kicks on when it needs to, I was pretty surprised how long it pumped the first time! :O

James; No problem on the reports, never afraid to share info or lakes. Have you fished Storm Lake in Snohomish? That place is the Rapala mecca! That's all we used to throw up there for years when we were kids, that is until I caught a 7.3 on a 1/4oz jig! We threw jigs a lot after that lol.

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