Steve Merlo: Hot bite continues at Isabella Lake
| Thursday, Jun 11 2009 05:51 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Jun 11 2009 05:51 PM
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While the incredible crappie bite at Lake Isabella has fizzled to a mere trickle from shore, boat anglers are reaping the rewards by tying up to submerged trees or rockpiles near deep water and fishing straight down for limits of decent-sized papermouths. Kastmasters, live minnows and mini-jigs tipped with crappie niblets continue to afford the best action on black crappie going to more than 2 pounds each. Light line anglers are doing the most damage by slowly and vertically retrieving their lures or baits, with chartruese or white the predominant attractors.
Catfishermen are also starting to reap excellent whiskerfish numbers as the cats return to the shallows to spawn. Both whites and channels have gotten active, with about a third of the numbers channel cats. Shad, nightcrawlers, shrimp, clams and meal worms have been the most consistant baits. The fish are hitting around the lake at various spots, but especially off of rocky flats and points.
Isabella's huge bass have finally come shallow with some decent fish hitting on lures of all kinds. A friend and I managed to catch a five-fish limit last week that sagged our scale to more than 30-pounds, with nearly 25 between 2.5 and 8-pound-9-ounces each. The majority of our larger fish were still fairly deep, with plenty of smaller fish shallower.
Holdover trout action has been superb along rocky areas of the lake, influenced by the South Fork and main Kern River currents. Nightcrawlers, power bait and Kastmasters have all produced well. The fish are growing larger by the day, with a number of 14-20-inch rainbows finding their way onto fishermen's stringers. The counts for all species would be much higher, but the incessant winds are keeping most boat traffic to a standstill.
Speaking of boating, I needed to purchase some nightcrawlers last week and stopped by the Northfork Marina. It had been several years since I had been inside and was unprepared to see the amount of work the new owners had done to modernize the place. The marina is clean and has been refurbished and restocked with all sorts of bait, sundries, beverages, food, licenses and tackle. I saw no sign of the junk or lack of maintenance that once drove me away from the place.
The owners, Bill and Deb Chase, informed me that they also own the French Gulch marina and have more than 32 boats available to rent, with pontoon, aluminum and personal watercraft available for a very reasonable price. Reasonably priced slips are available for year- round fun, and a nice bonus of renting one allows slip holders to fish from the docks.
I spoke with Bill and found him to be a super guy. In a brief interview he said: "What's nice about owning the two marinas is that we get to be part of people's vacations. It's a fun job."
Hunter education course
Hunting season is right around the corner, and hopeful junior hunters and non-licensed adults need to get their hunter safety completed before they can purchase their first hunting license or hunt in a variety of other states. A minimum of eight hours education is required, with training and testing completed over a two-evening span.
Kern Shooting Sports has announced that its next Hunter Safety Course will be July 11-12. For more info, call (661) 325-8725.
Rabbit and bow seasons for deer begin the first week in July, with the coastal rifle deer opener scheduled for the first week in August. Dove season begins Sept. 1, so be prepared or be left out.
Carp delicacy? You bet!
I've been plagued with questions about whether or not carp are any good to eat. Trust me, they are. Millions of people all over the world consider the lowly carp as one of the finer delacacies in the world, including myself.
When I was growing up in Buttonwillow many years ago, my aging friend Elizabeth Moore would accept all the carp I could take to her. One day, after someone told me carp were a scorned fish and I mentioned it to her, she sat me down and showed me how she cooked them.
She'd take a pot of boiling water, add a bit of vinegar, then cook the fish until it fell off the bones. She'd then drain it, add some beaten egg, then form the carp meat into patties. She'd then flour the patty, salt and pepper it, and fry it to a crisp, golden brown. Delicious ain't the word for it, folks -- especially with "kechup" -- it was as good or better a fish that I had ever eaten.
Later on, I found that simply fileting the carp and soaking the meat overnight in milk or buttermilk completely eliminated any of the mossy flavor associated with any large, bottom-feeding fish. I also found that removing the skin helped the flavor, too. After soaking and skinning, or simply filleting the fish and removing any bones before soaking, I deep fried, barbecued or broiled them and found them to be excellent table fair.
I've also eaten pickled carp, which had a few bones left in it. However, if I didn't know what kind of fish it was, I would have said some kind of delicious oceanic white-meat fish. Here again, a decent pickling spice should break down most bones in any fish, but I would have done that ahead of time by simply filleting the carp right from the get-go and putting it up "clean."
So many carp get thrown aside because they are not considered gamefish, but that's a horrible mistake. They fight well and eat well, too, so don't give or throw them away again without trying some.
