May 7 fish report
| Thursday, May 07 2009 06:53 PM
Last Updated Monday, May 11 2009 11:17 AM
Kern County, southern San Joaquin Valley
LAKE ISABELLA: The crappie bite is off the hook. Lots of nice stringers of fish up to three pounds are showing on small minnows and small jigs tipped with Crappie Nibbles at Camp 9, Kissack Cove, and Joughin Cove. Trout action remains good, especially at the dam. The catfish bite is finally taking off, but the largemouth bass action is still spotty, however Daniel Jimenez, Bakersfield, landed a 6-pounder fishing Power Bait.
KERN RIVER: Slow action in the lower river with only a few trout reported, but more and more smallmouth and largemouth bass are starting to be caught. The upper river is fair to good for wild fish, and anglers are reminded this part of the river is not being stocked any longer and catch-and-release fishing is prudent.
AQUEDUCT NEAR TAFT: Very good striper action on fish from 3-6 pounds, mostly on blood and sand worms. Mike Luna, Bakersfield, caught a 30-pounder on a jerk bait, while Jose and Esteban Mejia, both Bakersfield, limited on stripers to 5 pounds on nightcrawlers. The catfish bite is still spotty, but Jennifer Vlahos, Bakersfield, caught a 6-pound carp.
HART PARK LAKE: Fair bass action on minnows, nightcrawlers and plastics, but bluegill are improving. Carp are excellent on Powder Bait.
TRUXTUN LAKE: Fair to good bass action on nightcrawlers and plastics. The carp action is also very good with a lot of fish to 6 pounds, occasionally bigger, on dough baits and Powder Bait. Bluegill improving with some good catches now.
RIVER WALK PARK: The bass and bluegill bites are fair. Best bass action on plasics, nightcrawlers, and small swim baits. Bluegill best on crickets, wax worms, and meal worms.
MING LAKE: Awesome carp action on fish to 10 pounds. Best action has been on Powder Bait, but most dough baits are working. The bass bite is fair on nightcrawlers, minnows, and plastics. A few crappie still showing. The lake is closed to boating only now into August while repairs are made, but the lake remains open to fishing during this time.
BRITE LAKE: No report.
BUENA VISTA LAKES: Very good carp action on dough baits and Powder Bait. Also some crappie bite still showing on small minnows, and the bluegill bite has started with the best bite on wax worms. The bass action has slowed to just fair, but the catfish bite is starting to take off on frozen shad and Sonny's dip bait. There will be a catfish plant again this week.
WOOLLOMES LAKE: No reports.
SUCCESS LAKE: Bass fair thanks to winds, and the crappie bite slowed. DFG trout plant three weeks ago.
KAWEAH LAKE: Good bass bite on live bait and plastics. Still few crappie reports. DFG trout plant three weeks ago.
Other regional lakes
CACHUMA: The largemouth and smallmouth bass bite has been fair to good with a lot of fish still shallow, but most of the spawn seems done. Plastic worms and nightcrawlers top baits, but more and more fish are showing on reaction baits. Trout action fair.
CASITAS: The bass bite remains good, but most of the action is on live shad. Plastics and nightcrawlers are lesser second bets.
CASTAIC: Striper action slowed from last week but is still fair to good with a few nice catches reported. Stripers particularly good at the back buoy line.
LOPEZ: Bass action is good at the dam, main lake points, and up in the coves. Most of the fish are done spawning, and the best bite is now on reaction baits. Trout slow.
NACIMIENTO: The bite for spotties is very good on plastics, jigs, and spoons in the narrows and off the rocky shorelines with the best bite mornings and evenings on fish to four-pounds. Largemouth and smallmouth action is nearly as good.
PIRU: Fair to good trout action with the last DFG plant two weeks ago, but the crappie bite remains very good. Crappie are showing around structure, mostly on small jigs tipped with a bait or Crappie Nibble. The bass action pretty fair with a lot of fish still shallow.
PYRAMID: Excellent striper bite this past week. Since Monday the aqueduct has been dumping water into the lake and the channel is flowing. Lots of 10 to 30-fish stringers with a 2-pound average.
SAN ANTONIO: Striped bass fair to good on live shad, if you can net some bait. The largemouth and smallmouth bass action is good in the coves and shallow areas, but much of the spawn in done.
SANTA MARGARITA: Good bass action with a lot of fish still shallow, but the spawn in mostly done. Bluegill really took off this week with a very good bite, but catfish remain just fair.
Trout plants
KERN COUNTY: None scheduled for this week.
LOS ANGELES: Castaic Lagoon, Pyramid Lake.
TULARE COUNTY: Bravo Lake.
Eastern Sierra
BRIDGEPORT REGION: East Walker River remains excellent with a lot of 14 to 22-inch browns reported by catch-and-release fly anglers on dries, nymphs and streamers. A local guide had a 32-fish, 3-hour stint.
LEE VINING REGION: Little change here. Lower Rush Creek was fair for fly anglers fishing a two-fly dry-dropper rig with an elk hair caddis and beadhead prince nymph. Lee Vining Creek has been good for planted fish and some wild trout.
JUNE LAKE LOOP: Very light fishing pressure since the opener, but generally good fishing throughout the Loop lakes with fish to four pounds reported (that one a cutt from Gull). June, Gull, Silver and Grant are all producing a lot of fish on floating baits and small jigs or trout plastics.
MAMMOTH AREA: Both Convict Lake and Convict Creek had good trout fishing this past week. Anglers reported a good number of fish in the 1- to 3-pound range.
BISHOP AREA: The Bishop Creek drainage has been good and Sabrina Lake is now ice free and providing pretty fair action. Intake II has been fair to good. Bishop Creek was generally good for patient stream anglers fishing salmon eggs and nightcrawlers. The lower Owens River remains good. Fly anglers are seeing some caddis and mayfly surface activity.
Ocean report
BARRACUDA NEWS: The barracuda bite exploded off San Diego with the best action at the Coronado Islands and south. This action has been very good for the 3/4-day to 1 1/2-day boats with the overnight and longer trips also getting a shot on yellowtail, which seem to be biting at first light. After that, the barracuda won't let a bait get down to the yellowtail. Most of the barracuda are in the four to 6-pound range, so this early season bite is made up of quality fish. The barracuda have also been showing in spots further up the coast, with shots of fish landed by Oceanside boats and up into the Redondo Beach region. The New Del Mar has a shot of barracuda both Monday and Tuesday this week. It finally looks like spring is here.
CALICO AND SAND BASS: The better weather this past week and especially early this week has led to much better scores on both calico and sand bass all along the coast from San Diego up into the Newport region. The calicos are on the kelp, while the sand bass are showing on structure and mud spots.
CATALINA, CLEMENTE UPDATE: Catalina and San Clemente islands have been tough this past week because of conditions, mostly wind. The few boats running out to Clemente in recent days have found decent bass action, but most skippers have switched over to the good rockfish bite. At Catalina, winds have really hurt the white seabass bite on the island's backside.
