Top 5 Patterns from Clear Lake Day 1
Rainy weather forced many pros to change plans
Lane Olson of Forest Grove, Ore., benefitted from a double dose of Clear Lake kickers when he found the right set of docks in a major spawning bay. Finesse baits did the trick up shallow for the day one leader at the Costa FLW Series Western Division event presented by Ranger Boats. Other slow presentations served his brief offshore work. Handling the day’s weather challenges was a big part of Olson’s success.
Here are the details of the rest of the top five.
2. Joe Uribe Jr. – Surprise, Ariz. – 22-8 (5)
He wanted wind for his preferred reaction bait, but when Joe Uribe Jr. found himself starting the day with calmer conditions, he switched gears. That decision led him to a second-place limit of 22-8.
“This morning, I didn’t know where I was going to start,” Uribe says. “Yesterday [my sister] Rachel and I went out in the rain, and we found a good area with some fish that were actually still prespawn. I decided to go try that this morning, and since there wasn’t any wind for the reaction bite, I went straight to the drop-shot.
“On the first stop I made, I caught my limit by 7:30. My big fish [8-11] was my second fish of the morning, so that kicked off the day well. I just stayed on that bank, and as the day got later, I went from deep to shallow because the fish started moving up.”
Fishing mid-lake to the south end, Uribe made precise cast into tule pockets using a 6-inch Roboworm in the margarita mutilator color.
3. Travis Archer – Covington, Wash. – 21-2 (5)
Clearing the slate and starting from scratch was the game plan that Travis Archer carried into day one. The strategy obviously worked, as the Washington pro sacked up a third-place limit of 21-2.
“My practice didn’t go well at all. I wasn’t catching anything over 2 pounds, so I decided to just go fish and do what I know how to do,” Archer says. “My best bite was flipping, so I ran new water today and kind of put the pieces together as the day went on. I left fish biting today because I couldn’t catch one bigger than the 3 1/2-pounder that was my smallest fish.”
Archer mostly flipped reeds with Texas rigs using a mix the Missile Baits D Bomb, Berkley Havoc Pit Boss and other creature baits in green pumpkin. He stayed on the move and hit as many targets as possible.
“I’d flip it in there, let it slack line sit for the seconds and shake it a little bit,” he says. “The key thing that I found was that if a fish bit and I immediately swung, I missed it every single time. When I felt the bite, I had to wait until I saw my line running, and then I’d swing.”
4. Wayne Breazeale – Kelseyville, Calif. – 20-14 (5)
Local standout Wayne Breazeale – winner of the 2018 event on Clear Lake – had to dig deep into his well of knowledge when the day’s weather shuffled the deck. Fortunately, he was able to put together a program that yielded a limit of 20-14 and landed him in fourth place.
“I couldn’t do anything I wanted to do. It was all back-up plan today,” Breazeale says. “I couldn’t do any sight-fishing today. The shallow fish backed out today.”
Breazeale says he ended up catching a couple of his fish on reaction baits while the others came on slow presentations with soft plastics. He started his day in Clear Lake’s south end and ended up in the north end. He targeted the perimeters of spawning areas, where the fish had retreated due to the cold front.
5. Justin Kerr – Simi Valley, Calif. – 19-11 (5)
Coming into the tournament without a solid game plan, Justin Kerr took the advice of friends and stuck with one pattern all day. His efforts yielded a fifth-place limit catch of 19-11.
“I never really had a good practice, so I just did something different,” Kerr says. “I had a couple of buddies tell me a little something they were doing, and the weather set up pretty good for it. I just went and fished some areas I had fished before and caught them pretty good.”
Kerr says he’s fishing an Evergreen reaction bait along tule edges in about 5 feet of water. Cloud cover allowed him to work this pattern throughout the day. His better action came in the morning.