Morning topwater still the play from Clear Lake to Mendocino and Sonoma

Midweek pressure is off Clear Lake, and Don Moir’s Sept. 1, 2026 4Reel column in the Ukiah Daily Journal says the bite that is still producing is the first light. He puts the best window at 5:30–8 a.m. for a buzzbait covering water, then a frog or a weedless weightless Senko once you hook one. Catfishing is excellent on a live crawdad drifted under a bobber.

Lake Mendocino has been a solid bass lake all summer. Topwater runs about 5:30–9 a.m., then Moir switches to a Baby Brush Hog, Sweet Beaver, or drop shot around Crappie Cove, Barn Cove, boaters camp, and the southwest end. The column photo is his friend Geronimo with a roughly 5-pound night fish on the full moon.

Lake Sonoma’s mornings improved after Labor Day traffic eased — Cherry and Yorty Creeks, drop shot or slow-dragged plastics, and a wacky Senko — plus some landlocked salmon trolled near the dam at first light. Lake Pillsbury has been excellent on topwater to about 8 a.m., then a deeper drop shot, with the bite largely done by 10; take the Lake County/Upper Lake road instead of the washboard Potter Valley grade. Upper Blue Lake still has no CDFW trout plant since May: a few trout on the troll and sparse early bass.

Photo: Contributed / Ukiah Daily Journal (Geronimo with Lake Mendocino bass).

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Ukiah Daily Journal — 4Reel Fishing: Large Mouth Bass (Don Moir, Sept. 1, 2026).