Things to do in Clear Lake
Where to eat, what to rent, which beach — and how to find the crash site on the first try.
You don't need to own anything to have a good weekend here, and most people's first summer is spent renting.
Golf carts — and the rules nobody publishes
Carts are a real way to get around here. They are also street-legal only with a city permit, and this is the part almost every guide gets wrong:
- $40 a year, issued to one specific vehicle, renewed annually
- An in-person inspection by a Clear Lake police officer before the permit is issued — and don't drive the unpermitted cart there to get it done
- The driver must be licensed and at least 18. Not 16. This catches families out
- Sunrise to sunset only
- Not on Highway 18 or Highway 122 — you may cross them. Not on the trails, sidewalks, or in city parks
- No overnight parking on city streets
- A Ventura permit is not valid in Clear Lake, and vice versa
The city’s permit page has the application and the current ordinance. If the vehicle is road-registered and plated, none of this applies.
Lake Life Rentals, 2 N 8th St, is the one to call — electric carts and e-bikes, Memorial Day to Labor Day. (RPM Carts on 4th Ave sells carts; they don't rent.)
Boats
A pontoon is the right first move on this lake — it's made for going slowly with a cooler aboard.
- Lake Time Boats, dockside at 1603 S Shore Dr — ten pontoons plus tubes, skis, wakeboards, kayaks and paddleboards. Mid-May through September, fuel included.
- Lighthouse Boat Rentals at the Clear Lake Boats marina, 15296 Raney Dr — pontoons including a double-decker with a water slide, and the only confirmed jet ski rental on the lake. Memorial Day to Labor Day.
- Lake Dream Marine, 601 E Lake St in Ventura — pontoon, kayaks and paddleboards, west end.
- Muskie Rentals, 700 E Lake St, Ventura — pontoons, kayaks and slips.
Most renters require the person booking to be 25 or over for a boat. Worth knowing before you plan around it.
Fishing
Year round, and one of the better walleye lakes in the state — plus yellow bass everywhere, crappie, perch and a long-running stocked muskie program. Guides run around $350 for a half day and $500–575 for a full day, and one of them will teach you forward-facing sonar, which is unusual anywhere.
Clear Lake Bait & Tackle on Highway 18 East posts daily fishing reports and runs live lake cameras. The Crazy Minnow keeps a 300-gallon tank where anglers weigh and photograph the big ones — which is how most of the lake's monster muskies end up documented.
Limits change annually and there's a protected slot on walleye, so check the DNR before you go out rather than taking anybody's word for it, mine included.
Sailing
The Clear Lake Yacht Club has been here since 1935 and races every weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day — Saturdays at 9:30 and 1:00, Sundays at 10:00 and 2:00, in everything from Optimists to Hobie Cats. The affiliated sailing school teaches children from about five upward by the week, and runs adult sessions in the evening for people who've never done it. Book a few weeks ahead; classes fill.
🚤 Ask me who to rent from — I know who looks after their equipment and who'll still answer the phone on a Sunday.
Ask me anything
Text me before you come up and I’ll tell you what’s worth doing that weekend — what’s open, what’s on, and where to eat. No appointment and no pressure. I do it for people who have no intention of ever buying a house here, because that’s the town, not the job.
Places open, close and change their hours. Everything here was right when I wrote it — check with the venue before you drive across the state for it.