Visiting the in-laws this week, so I decided to bring the boat along and hit Clear lake again. Awesome day, great weather, cooperative fish, and were it not for the tuna boats, everything would have been perfect.
Trolled spinner rigs in the main lake basin just East of the island. Deep was the answer, with the bright sun and power boats and skis. Lots of fish, not lots of size. Ended up catching about a half dozen yellow bass, two bullheads, and about 15 walleyes in three hours. Had to measure almost all the eyes, and only one made the slot (all were right in the 12-14 range, not over the high end by any means).
I ended up missing a lot of fish because the crawler harnesses I was dragging, which were originally two-hook harnesses, got cut back to one hook after a pair of bullheads engulfed both hooks too deep to retrieve. Rather than kill them I cut the back hook off both and just dealt with missing the short-strikers (about half the fish) the rest of the day because I was too lazy to re-tie the entire harness.
Interesting thing, all the fish but one came on the sunny side of the boat. I suppose with the water still so clear, the boat shadow may have been spooking fish. Perfect situation where side-planers would have been a big help, so birthday and father’s day lists have been updated appropriately.
Good luck, it’s a jungle out there.
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