July 23 fish report
| Thursday, Jul 22 2010 05:17 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Jul 22 2010 05:17 PM
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Tim Thomson caught this 32-pound white sea bass July 3 at Santa Cruz Island in 65 feet of water aboard his boat, La Lechuga.
Elise Iturriria, 6, caught this 4-pound German brown trout at Bridgeport Reservoir on a night crawler July 1, using her kid's fishing pole. At left is Frankie Iturriria.
Kern County, southern San Joaquin Valley
BOB'S BAIT CATFISH DERBY: The month-long Bob's Bait Catfish Derby kicked off July 1 with a $100 cash prize going to the angler who weighs in the biggest catfish at Bob's Bait in Bakersfield during July. The current leader is David Kiel, Bakersfield, with a 6-8 cat caught from the aqueduct.
LAKE ISABELLA: The largemouth bass bite has fair to good with quality fish from four to six pounds and some bigger showing on Senkos and deep-diving cranks. The catfish action also remains very good in Stein and Robinson coves on frozen shad and clams with lots of fish from two pounds and up. The crappie action has moved deeper water, but thereís still a pretty good bite on fish up to a pound on small minnows for boat and float tube anglers. Brownís and Jauchinís coves in the South Fork arm are still the best. Trout action is still good at the cemetery area auxiliary dam on Power Bait and nightcrawlers. Bluegill finally starting to improve.
KERN RIVER: Continued good action in the upper river and very fishable flows. The upper stretch nearly to the Johnsondale Bridge was again stocked this week and the best bite has been on salmon eggs and crickets. All the other stretches were also planted in both the upper and lower river. The lower river is still pretty high, but careful anglers are getting trout, especially in the Richbar area.
AQUEDUCT NEAR TAFT: The catfish and striper action remains good but there has been relatively light pressure with the heat this past week. Lots of cats showing on cut baits, and the striper bite continues to be mostly on blood worms. Eric McGee, Bakersfield, landed a nine-pound on blood worms.
HART PARK LAKE: Good action on small bluegill with wax worms or crickets. Most hand-sized. The carp are good on homemade dough baits or Powder Bait. Bass very slow.
TRUXTUN LAKE: Good bluegill bite, and the carp bite has been good on Powder Bait. Fair catfish bite on nightcrawlers and shad. Bass and crappie spotty.
RIVER WALK PARK: The bluegill bite is good on wax worms, meal worms, and crickets, and the carp action is good on homemade dough baits and Powder Bait. There are a few bass showing on minnows, nightcralwers, and plastics, but this bite is very slow.
MING LAKE: The carp bite is very good on Powder Bait and other dough baits. There has also been a very good bite on bluegill, mostly on wax worms and meal worms, and the bass action is slow with a few on plastics.
BUENA VISTA LAKES: Continued good catfish action on frozen shad, dip baits, or green garlic nightcrawlers, with most of the cats running from two to five pounds and showing from the small lake. The lake is being planted with catfish every couple of weeks, and there is a five-fish limit on the cats here. A fair number of stripers on bloodworms, minnow, and Zoom Flukes or similar surface swim baits, and a few smaller crappie have been showing again on live minnows. The bluegill action has been fair to good on wax worms. Carp good for those targeting them.
WOOLLOMES LAKE: The bluegill bite is good on red worms, meal worms, or wax worms, and a few bass are showing on plastics. Pretty good carp action, too.
SUCCESS LAKE: Pretty good bass action Senkos and plastics, and some bluegill and catfish also starting to show. Water level coming up.
KAWEAH LAKE: The largemouth bass bite has been fair to good with a lot of fish on plastics and some on topwater and reaction baits. The redear and bluegill are really starting to take off in the shallows. Some catfish beginning to show.
Other regional lakes
CACHUMA: Crappie bite slowed this past week with the heat. The bass are showing on cranks and topwater over much of the lake. Bluegill are fair to good in most coves on small baits. Few redear reported. The carp are good over much of the lake.
CASITAS: The bass bite remains good in 18 to 25 feet of water nightcrawlers, plastics, and jigs, in spite of the heat. There continues to be a good trout bite for trollers working eight to 10 colors of leadcore and Needlefish or by bait anglers drifting in about 40 feet of water near the dam.
CASTAIC: The lagoon has been excellent for largemouth bass. Slow trout action.
LOPEZ: Fair largemouth and crappie action, and the bluegill bite is good. Smaller bluegill and redear are showing in most coves. Some catfish showing.
NACIMIENTO: Both the smallmouth and largemouth bites are fair with some topwater early and late in the day and then better action in deep water after the dawn-dusk flurries on top. Catfish bite is improving, and anglers targeting carp are seeing excellent action.
PIRU: Fair to good action on bass, while the crappie, bluegill and redear bites are slow to fair. Catfish still very slow.
PYRAMID: The striper action remains good for anglers drifting with anchovies or sardines. Largemouth bass action is fair to good with a lot of 1-3 pounders. Also quite a few smallmouth in this bite.
SAN ANTONIO: The striped bass bite finally slowed down this past week with only a handful of fish reported during the heat wave. The catfish action is improving and there has been a fair crappie bite, especially if you can get live shad.
SANTA MARGARITA: The bass action has been tough on Senkos, jigs, and Creature baits. There is a pretty good bite on bluegill and redear, a few catfish are starting to show, and thereís still a fair bite on crappie to two pounds or better.
Eastern Sierra
WEST WALKER RIVER REGION: The West Walker River is finally coming down with flows about 500 cfs and it is starting to fish pretty well with bait, lures, and flies. The Little Walker River very fishable and has been good. Kirman Lake improved this past week with some anglers reporting 10-fish days with mostly brookies, but a few cutts.
BRIDGEPORT REGION: The trout action has been very good at the Twin Lakes with some fish to three pounds. The kokanee are also turning one with reports of as many as 20 to 30 fish per day caught and released. Bridgeport Reservoir is still excellent for fly, bait, and trolling anglers.
JUNE LAKE LOOP REGION: Fishing is fair to good on all four lakes, June, Gull, Silver and Grant, on the usual floating dough baits, inflated nightcrawlers, and the fly-bubble combination, especially at the stream mouths and outlets. Rush Creek below Silver Lake has been the hot spot this week with a lot of fish on salmon eggs and dry flies.
MAMMOTH AREA: Crowley Lake is still good for fly anglers, but the fish have moved into the bays where water is entering the lake. Lots of 16 to 22-inch trout -- rainbows, browns and cutts. Convict Lake is good for planted fish. Fair action in Twin Lakes out of Mammoth and the first plants of the season went in this week. Rock Creek drainage planted again this week and the action has been very good. Virtually all of the back country is open now.
BISHOP AREA: South Lake has been excellent with limits of rainbows and a nice sprinkling of brook trout from the stream inlets showing in the catch. Sabrina has been good to excellent with a lot of limits showing all around the lake on a wide variety of baits and lures, with the inlets perhaps the best spots. All the forks of the Bishop Creek have been good for knowledgeable stream anglers, and all three forks of the creek were also planted again this week. North Lake is still not receiving plants but the action has been pretty fair.
BIG PINE TO LONE PINE AREA: Generally fair to good action after DFG plants again last week on all the creeks this week.
Trout plants
KERN: Kern River from Powerhouse No. 3 to Riverside Park, Kernville.
TULARE: Balch Park eastern lake, Balch Park western lake, Hedrick Campground pond, Kern River from Brush Creek to Fairview Dam, Kern River from Fairview Dam to Falling Waters Lodge, Middle Fork Tule River, South Fork of Middle Fork Tule River at Camp Nelson.
Ocean report
ALBACORE UPDATE: The albacore season is in full swing right now, but the economy has kept the boat traffic and coverage at a minimum and it has been more difficult for the fleet to stay on the fish. Still, the bite is generally very good on the 1 1/2-day and longer trips with the fish hanging about 100 miles south of San Diego. The albacore are running from 18 to 25 pounds and the bluefin are 10 pounds better or more.
CORONADO ISLANDS SURFACE BITE: For the 3/4-day boats out of San Diego, the Coronado Islands improved again this past week with a pretty good shot on yellowtail. Good days, skippers are coming back with 25 to 50 fish for the whole boat, but even on tougher days this week, the are usually still a handful of yellows, and a decent pick on the bass and barracuda. This bite, like most of the others this week, should just get better with improving tides going into the full moon this Sunday.
SEABASS AT LA JOLLA: There continues to be a pick on the white seabass bass bite off the La Jolla kelp but boat traffic has made this action touchy and kayak and mid-week anglers are having the best shot at these fish.
BASS BITE CONSISTENT: While the sand bass action took a major dump over the weekend, the action has improved every day since with four to five fish per rod common this week, and some of the boats at mid-week were posting limits for all anglers on board. Top spots have been off Huntington Beach and south of San Diego off the bull ring. The calico bass bite has also been good from San Diego up into the channel islands and at the offshore islands. There continue to be a lot of quality fish all up and down the coast. Sand bass to 10-plus pounds have been reported again this week.
CATALINA WHITE SEABASS UPDATE: The white seabass are still up on the beach and there has continued to be a good pick at Catalina Island this past week. The Mardiosa, a six-pack charter boat out of Pierpoint Landing, was out with six anglers on Monday and they came back with 18 fish -- full limits -- with several over 30 pounds. The live squid continue to be available and are the top bait. This is always a hit or miss bite, but the action has generally been good this week.
