Clear Lake 6-28-21 Kate gets her PB

[Pat Dilling]

We launched at Clear Lake Oaks this time planning to fish the Rattle Snake Island arm.  Man the algae bloom is terrible at that end of the lake, it even stinks!  Probably due to a consistent NW wind that blows everything that way.  The wind was stronger than forecast, apparently Clear Lake creates its own weather. Water temp was 79-80 so it has come up a lot in the last week. So we bumped our way up to mid-lake where the wind was tolerable.  First rocky point we stopped on we immediately doubled up.  We ended up catching 8 on that point before they got on to us.  Nothing big, but nothing small either.  Worked our way to another area where I had a 4+ about 10 days ago.  Wind was blowing across a very rocky point. Got the boat positioned and spot locked, love my Ultrex!  Caught a couple pretty quick, then a lag then Kate hooked a good one and as soon as I saw it jump I was "Oh my God Kate!"  She did a great job fighting it, even loosened her drag like I showed her.  Got it up to the boat and into the net.  Clearly the biggest she has caught so far.  Weighed 5 pounds even!  She later caught a 3.2 then hooked something giant!  She is using a Dobyns Fury 703 spinning rod with a Daiwa Exceler 2500 reel.  15" braid with 10# FC leader. The fight went on for what seemed like an hour and we finally see the fish and realize it is one of Clear Lake's giant catfish.  It sees us and sounds again   We finally get it in the net and in the boat.  I estimate it to weigh between 12-15 pounds, the head looks a foot wide.  We did not weigh it or take pictures, but what a thrill!  All of her fish came on a PBJ ZMan Hula Stick on a 1/4 oz Flatlands Custom Tackle jig head.  Later on I hooked a similar cat on a jig and went through the same thing all over again, but I was a little better equipped with a bait caster and 15# FC.  We ended up with 20+ fish at various locations I had the numbers and my best was about 3#, but it was her day again!  Water clarity varied due to the algae bloom, most places we fished it was not bad.  Water temp ended up at 82 and air temp at 99.  Water lever remains very low. have to be careful of rocks anywhere near shore.  Wind varied from 5-15, had to work our way through white caps and rollers in some parts of the lake.

[Mike Cork]

Tell Kate Laurie and I said Congratulations Congrats to you for putting her on them

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