We have had mild weather all winter in Nor Cal. It is crazy. Days are in the mid 60's with sunshine and mornings in the 30-40's. Very little rain - about 20% of normal. January, Feb, Mar are usually the rainiest months so we have a chance in the next six weeks or so. We get almost no rain in the late spring, summer, and fall so we are dependent on those three months for the bulk of our water supply. Due to the poor planning of our officials we have very little storage given the number of people. So, even when we have a good year like we did last year most of that excess water goes down river to the ocean and does not help us this year.
Low water does affect the spawn at Clear Lake (one of our biggest big bass haunts). Clearlake is a natural lake that averages about 15 ft deep in the north and 30 ft in the south. A lot of the fishing gets done in 5-7 feet of water around the tules. The lack of water keeps the tules out of play which really hurts the survival rates for young bass and limits feeding opportunities for growing bass.
Hoping for some good rain in California in the next 6 weeks.
