Steve Merlo: Proposed closures at Lake Isabella are outlandish, unfair
| Thursday, Mar 19 2009 11:12 PM
Last Updated Monday, Mar 30 2009 04:25 PM
To the citizens of Lake Isabella and the Kern River Valley wanting to know what could be done to stop the rash of idiotic laws sponsored by the government trying to change the lifestyle at your lake:
If I found out that governmental personnel were trying to close off huge portions of Isabella Lake to vehicular travel, I'd be just a little incensed. In fact, if they do succeed in getting their tree-hugger agenda passed, I believe, if I was cited, I'd practice full civil disobedience and then load the courts up with as many citation-holding citizens as possible. This would let judges know that insane laws like those recently proposed are outlandish and unfair and will not be tolerated. Remember, the folks in charge around the lake are supposed to be working for you and doing what you want them to do, and not the other way around.
Hot fishing at Nacimiento
Ah, Spring -- that time of the year when fishermen find nearly every species swarming into the shallows in preparation for the coming spawn. Bass, crappie, bluegill, stripers, white bass and crappie move from their deeper, winter haunts to flats and headwaters to drop their roe and rekindle the life cycle.
Every year, when midday temps sneak into the mid-70s, things start happening in the fish world. The days are longer now, kicking off an instinctive reponse in fish to consume huge quantities of food in anticipation of the spawning rigors to come. Called the 'pre-spawn,' fish need to reestablish their fat reserves before fanning beds or migrating great distances to lay their eggs upriver. This is also the time when fish select bedding areas, prowling the shallows for a suitable spot to use when conditions are ideal. And, they are always hungry.
Right now, conditions at Lake Nacimiento, located 20 minutes northwest of Paso Robles, are exactly that -- ideal -- and the fish are indeed hungry. Several friends and I have made the mini-trek three times in the last 10 days and have not done too badly, catching scores of spotted bass, crappie and white bass. During the last trip, my friend Bill Lewis and I ventured as far up the river as we possibly could and found hundreds of white bass spawning in the gin-clear waters. While the fish had other things on their minds than eating our lures, it was still worth the trip up through the Narrows to see them. Although white bass are far smaller in size, watching them in such numbers reminded me of rivers teeming with Alaskan salmon.
Last weekend, during our second excursion, the whites were swarming just past the five-mile zone marker, and three of us caught nearly 60 of the hard-fighting gamesters, some weighing nearly 3 pounds each as they headed upriver on their annual spawing trek. Trolling in 12-to-15-feet of water, we towed shad-colored Rapala SR-7 Shad-Raps behind the boat, scoring many double hookups, along with three 'triples'. We also stopped several times to cast our crankbaits shoreward and were rewarded with many additional hookups.
Of course, at the end of the day, the filleting party at the cleaning station took a lot more time than we anticipated, but the results were several gallon-sized bags full of pure white meat, which we have been devouring on a steady scale. By the way, any fisherman catching a white bass in Naci needs to be aware than it is illegal to keep them without slicing their throats and killing them first. Anglers may not keep white bass in a livewell or stringer, either, unless the fish are cut and dead. Violations are severe, and can include boat and vehicle confiscations, so just bring an ice chest to allay any problems.
The spotted bass inhabiting the popular ski lake are easy to catch, but a little understanding of bass fishing is required to catch them. After the recent rains, the lake came up and then went back down, sending the bass to a little deeper water or forcing them to suspend in the water column. Our best approach to garner a limit has been to pitch or cast one-16th ounce sharpened dartheads coupled with plastic worms or grubs beneath the docks and piers scattered through out the lake. The fish lie back in the shade, midway down at about 12 feet, then swim up and engulf any decent, slow-falling presentation.
The spots are very aggressive, and by keeping a watchful eye on our light lines where they enter the water, we can actually see the line twitch when a fish hits the bait on the sink. The slow fall is necessary to give the fish a chance to hit, but once one detects the first bite, a spongy feeling on the rod tip, the rest are easy. On some days the fishing is wide open, with 50-80 fish counts the norm. Even our slowest day netted us 30, but we had already spent the all-important morning bite chasing white bass way up river. None-the-less, the 30 bass took only two hours to catch and release, all on light tackle.
Our gear consisted of G. Loomis 783 and 844 casting rods for the trolling, and Model 720 spinning rods for casting the light jigs we used. The great eating spots need to be 12 inches long to keep, laying on a flat measuring board, though we've caught very few under 13 inches and plenty around 15. They fight harder than any other black bass, including smallmouth, necessitating light drags. The limit on crappie and white bass is 25-per day, per person, while the limit on spotted bass is five per person. Fees at the lake have been reduced since Monterey County took over the aquatic wonderland. Daily fees are $16 total for boat and car, and more for hookups and camping.
Anyone spending even a little time on the water can really reap the benefits of the lake at this time. Skiers are almost non-existant and the beauty of the lake far surpasses anything in our area. Plenty of avian wildlife, including bald eagles, keep the venture interesting. And, to keep telling the truth, if someone has a hard time catching fish there now, he probably ought to consider taking up golf...
