To my surprise, Zane hit two nice fish weighing 3-3/4 and 4-1/2 pounds on a Rapala deep diving Fat Rap within the first 30 minutes. It was getting close to dark and I was contemplating switching over to the same bait when a fish grabbed my Bill Norman Deep Little N' crankbait. It felt like a solid fish as it made a break to the left and started to pull line off my reel. Unfortunately, the fish came unbuttoned about 10 seconds into the fight. As we rounded the last dock on the stretch of water we were fishing, I had another solid hit on the Norman crankbait and brought in a hard fighting, acrobatic fish just over the five pound mark.

Temperatures dropped into the upper 20's that evening and we were greeted by a solid layer of ice covering the entire boat on Saturday morning. We decided to grab some breakfast and wait for things to warm up a bit. By 10:00 am, the air temperature was nearing 40 degrees, we had our fill of coffee and pancakes and were ready to hit the water.

Considering the cool temperatures and the fact this would be John and Zane's only chance to fish Clear Lake this year, I decided our best shot at catching fish would be drifting jumbo minnows on deep rockpiles. We stopped by Limit Out Bait and Tackle in Clear Lake Oaks and loaded up on three dozen minnows and put the boat in at M&M campground.

Our first stop was on Dollar Island where John hit the first fish of the day, a quality 4 pounder that grabbed his minnow in 17 feet of water. Zane hit another fish just over 3 pounds, then we headed over to Anderson Island. This is where Zane hit the biggest fish of the day, a 7 pound, 8 ounce bucketmouth, that grabbed his minnow along a tule lined bank in 10 feet of water.

We spent the next two hours working 14 to 28 feet of water on Henderson Point and landed several good fish in the 4 to 6 pound class and finished off the day in Jago Bay for a few fish in the 2 to 4 pound range. We ended up with a total of 12 fish topped by Zane's 7-1/2 pounder.

Sunday morning, we awoke bright and early to find the temperature was sitting at 21 degrees. We decided another another late morning outing was in order, so we headed into town for breakfast and waited for the boat to unthaw. Another trip to Limit Out for some jumbo minnows and we were on the water by 10:00. This time we started out on one of my favorite rockpiles on Rattlesnake Island. It didn't take long to score as a 4 pounder grabbed my minnow within the first five minutes. Zane hit another 4 pound fish on the same spot and I followed it up with my biggest fish of the trip at 6 pounds, 10 ounces. Only an hour into the day and we had 3 fish for more than 15 pounds.

It was pretty much the same story throughout the rest of the day. We landed 1 to 3 fish off every spot and ended the day with a total of 17 fish. All but two fish were over 3 pounds and most were in the 4 to 5 pound class.

Monday is when things got really interesting. The low hit 20 degrees Sunday evening and we were looking at cloudy skies and a stiff breeze as opposed to the dead calm, sunny conditions we had the two previous days. Once again, a late morning launch was in order and we hit the water around 10:00 am and planned to fish for a few hours before John had to head back to the airport.

We started out on Rattlesnake Island, fishing an offshore rockpile in 12 feet of water. Conditions were extremely cold with a light drizzle and a 10 mile per hour wind that cut straight to the bone. As I held the boat straight into the wind and two foot waves, John suddenly yelled "fish on" and brought in the first fish of the day, a 4-1/2 pounder. Another 30 minutes went by and Zane finally hit pay dirt and brought in another quality fish just shy of 4 pounds.

The rain started coming down hard now and we could feel the temperature dropping by the minute. We decided to hit one last spot before heading in and made a run up to the Narrows to fish a deep point we had taken several good fish off the day before. Mid way through the run, it began to hail and we were pounded by stinging pellets of ice as we screamed across the lake at 60 miles per hour. The wind was really starting to crank as we arrived at our destination, so I held the boat straight into it with the trolling motor only 3 or 4 feet away from the rocks and the back of the boat hanging over 20 feet of water. John and Zane both stood on the back and dropped their minnows straight down while I held the boat in position.

To my amazement, Zane hooked a good fish right off the bat and while John was reaching for the net, his rod took a sharp dip and they were into the first double hook-up of the trip. After a mad scramble, they had two quality fish laying on the deck of the boat. John's weighed in at 5 pounds, 13 ounces and Zane's weighed 5 pounds, 8 ounces. We tucked under a tall dock to get out of the rain and took a few pictures before releasing the fish.

At that moment, John suddenly realized the hills surrounding the lake were turning white and the rain that had been pounding us for nearly an hour was turning into snow. By the time we had the rods put away and were suited up for the run back to M&M campground, it was a full on snow storm and one of the most surreal scenes I have ever witnessed. What a way to end an incredible three days of fishing.

Clear Lake should remain productive for the next month and should even improve as the fish begin to school up around docks and rockpiles. I should add that all fish were released unharmed during the entire trip. We used #2 Gamakatsu shiner hooks and not one single fish was deep hooked. Please try to practice catch and release whenever possible and especially when fishing a lake as heavily pressured as Clear Lake.