Bass Busting Time Descends On Northern California   By: Cal Kellogg March 8, 2007 More Articles by Cal

When most uninitiated anglers think of spring bass fishing, they think of things like warm sun, singing birds and brim full lakes framed by a vivid green blanket of sprouting leaves and lush grass. In short, their imaginations picture the conditions often found during the months of late April, May and early June.

Now this is a great period for catching bass, there is no doubt about it. The bass will be holding in relatively shallow water as they go through their annual spawning ritual. Bass at this time tend to be easy to catch because they highly aggressive as they focus on the task of protecting their nests. Yet, for anglers that really want to trade punches with a true heavy weight, fishing prior to the time when the bass move onto their beds is often the best option.

My favorite time for hunting big bass is the period between late January and the end of March. Early in this period the bass will be concentrated and adhering to a well established winter pattern. As spring approaches and you begin seeing flowers pop out on fruit trees the bass will gradually abandon their winter haunts and concentrate near the areas where they will ultimately spawn. This is described as the prespawn period.

Early season fishing is volatile and highly dependent on the weather, but when the conditions are right the rewards can be fantastic. In most cases you are not looking for big numbers of bass, but rather for a handful of big bites. This being the case, patience and a methodical approach are your best allies.

My bass fishing season kicked off to a sputtering start this January at Clear Lake. Two years ago Dan Bacher and I, along with Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience enjoyed a phenomenal January trip to Clear Lake, catching solid numbers of big bass and crappie while fishing minnows and jigs.

Wanting to repeat that memorable trip, I got in contact with Don and Justin Wolfe of Angler West Television and figured out a time when we could converge on the lake and shoot some footage for an episode of Angler West. Based on my experience fishing with Dan, I figured catching bass and crappie would be a slam dunk and it would make for an exciting show.

When it comes to fishing and hunting, just about the time you think you’ve got everything figured out, mother nature will throw you a breaking ball, just to put your ego in check. That’s what happened at Clear Lake…

After launching Don’s bass boat, we headed for Shag Rock with a live well packed with jumbo shiners. Clear Lake’s largemouths stack up in the deep water near the rock in the winter. It is usually no problem to pick up some quality bass in the 3 to 6 pound range holding around Shag and there is always the chance off hooking a real monster.

When I fished the spot with Dan the weather had been cold, yet relatively stable. This year we ended up fishing right after a low pressure system moved through the area, but we were hoping for the best.

When we arrived at the spot Don suggested we start out working small jigs for crappie before switching over to bass fishing. It didn’t take Don long to hook the first fish of the day. From the hard fight it appeared he’d hooked a really big crappie, but when the fish finally showed itself it turned out to be a feisty 2.5 pound bass.

For the next hour we worked hard to catch 4 crappie, but none of them were the extra large slabs that Clear Lake is famous for. Observing that none of the crappie anglers clustered around us were having very good success, we moved out into deep water and started drifting for bass with jumbo minnows.

It seemed our luck had changed when I hooked a big bass right off the bat, but my drag was set a bit too tight and the line snapped, supporting the old saying which states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Don’s turn for a strike came next and he made the most of it, boating a scrappy 3 pounder.

After Don boated his fish, the action slowed down so we spent the balance of the day drifting minnows under bobbers around the lake’s numerous docks. The afternoon fishing was pretty slow with Don and I each boating a single bass.

Our final score was 4 crappie and 4 largemouths to 3 pounds. That would be a good January score at most lakes, but at Clear Lake it represented pretty slow action. The storm that moved through the area had really given the fish a case of lockjaw!

Since my trip to Clear Lake I have not had many chances to go bass fishing. As I write this the Fred Hall Boat Show is underway and there is just no time to get out on the water. This is frustrating because the bass fishing is really gaining steam at most north state destinations.

Recent rains have raised water temperatures across the state in the wake of that frigid January cold snap. While some monster bass have been landed recently things promise to get really exciting over the next several days as the weather forecast calls for spring like high temperatures in the low 70’s.

By the end of next week Fred Hall will be a memory, this issue of the Sniffer will be headed to the news stands and I’ll have time to get out on the water to chase some bass from my Jetcraft. Where will I go? As things stand right now, I’m planning three different combination trips.

I’ll start off with a trip to Folsom. It is my home lake and there is a pretty good trout and salmon bite taking place for trollers out in front of the dam. I have not heard much about bass being caught at the lake, but this is the time of the year when I’ve caught some of my best fish. I’m going to start off trolling for kings early and then around noon I’ll switch my focus to bass fishing.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to tempt a big pre-spawn smallmouth or two with rip baits fished around rocky structure and areas that feature inflowing water on the North Fork. In the past I’ve caught 6 smallmouth bass at Folsom over the 5 pound mark. They all came in the month of March, so maybe I’ll get lucky.

Collins Lake is starting to boot out some quality spotted bass for anglers working drop shot rigs and jigs. Add to that the fact that trout plants are underway and it represents the perfect location to combine a little trout trolling with bass hunting. When I want to catch a limit of bass and trout on the same day, Collins is my go to spot.

Once again, the action will be dependent on the conditions. If I can get there during a stretch of stable warm weather my chances for a great trip will be pretty good. I’ve long dreamed of catching a really big spot. I’ve caught a couple 4 pounders at Collins. This year I’m shooting for a 5 pounder.

My marquee trip in the near future will be a combination black bass and striper plugging adventure on the delta. Both Bobby Barrack of Back To Class Guide Service and Randy Pringle of the Fishing Instructor Guide Service have noted an upswing in the black bass fishing in recent days as the water temperature crept back to the 50 degree mark. Barrack’s clients have landed largemouths weighing 9.25 and 11.4 pounds over the past week while working crankbaits.

My plan is to launch the Jetcraft near the Antioch Bridge so I can explore both Broad Slough and Sherman Lake. For black bass, I’ll be throwing Senkos, Yo-Zuri crankbaits and Persuader Echip spinnerbaits. For the stripers, my arsenal will consist of Berkley Pogy swimbaits, P-Line Predator bucktail jigs and Super Spooks, once the sun is off the water.

At this point I feel like I’m in a bit of a slump. If the fishing gods smile on me and the weather cooperates, I’ll be relating that the slump is broken in the next issue of the Fish Sniffer!