Cooler weather and improved air quality have made for a much more pleasant week of fishing. The water temp is holding steady around the 77 degree mark. The bite is rated as “tough,” but not bad. Let me explain …

Bass anglers are working hard and catching fish. We’re not seeing 80-fish days, but 20 to 30 fish for an honest day’s effort can be expected.

The hardest part of the equation this week is the weeds. Your natural instinct is to simply stay away from them for the ease of fishing. However, if you do that, you’re also staying away from the fish. Simply stated, you MUST fish the weeds or weed lines to get into the quality fish.

If you’re paying attention at this point, your brain just went into warp drive: How can I fish the weeds and not deal with constantly pulling salad off my gear? You can’t. Face it, bass are structure fish. Weeds are structure. In fact, aquatic plants give off oxygen, provide fish with cooling shade, and allow them to lay in wait to ambush their prey. So that’s where you need to be … In the salad.

How do you do it? There are ways. Texas rigged worms with pegged weights. Whacky rigged worms on hooks with a good weed guard. Buzz baits, spinner baits and even flipping jigs. Flip a Beaver into pockets. Get creative. Also, we’re seeing some swim bait fish coming in. The smaller swim baits are working far better than their larger counterparts. We’re also hearing about some nice fish from deep (25 to 30 feet) water. So bring your gear, fish hard and enjoy this magnificent lake.

Crappie? I just looked at a nice stringer of five beautiful crappie caught by a boater in the area north of the Boat Works. Again this week, the report is of large, widely scattered schools located around areas that we commonly know to hold slabs. Mini-jigs and minnows will do the trick. We’re currently stocking a new size minnow called “large.” These minnows are not all that big as they are just one size up from the medium size we normally (and still do) stock. The “large” minnows have been responsible for catching a lot of crappie lately. We’ve got us some good sized crappie, it is no wonder they are eating this larger sized fish.

Catfish are going strong. Jago Bay is stacked with ‘em. Other areas too. Use your favorite baits and have a ball. Leave some for us, though, because Saturday night is our CatFest event and we’ll be out there looking for some nice whiskerfish of our own.

And speaking of the CatFest … Meet here at the bait shop after 3 p.m. We’ll start the barbecue around 4 p.m. and eat, chat and set up gear until about 6 p.m. At that point we’ll head for the launch ramp, get all the boats in the water and head out to our fishing hole together. We’ll come off the water at 11 p.m. and compare notes on biggest fish. Buy in to the big-fish pool is $5. We’d like a $3 donation for the barbecue.

Hope you’ll come and join us for this evening of fishin’ and funnin’.

Bob Rider owns Lakeshore Bait & Tackle in Clearlake. Visit his Web site at www.994fish.com or call him at 994-FISH (3474).

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