Jan. 21 fish report
| Thursday, Jan 21 2010 05:27 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Jan 21 2010 05:27 PM
Kern County and southern San Joaquin Valley
LAKE ISABELLA: Little fishing pressure this week with the weather, but the catfish bite was pretty strong this past weekend at the Engineer Point and French Gulch areas on frozen shad with fish to 6 or 7 pounds showing in this bite. A few quality largemouth bass continue to be caught on jigs fished in deep water around structure, and there is a fair trout bite at the auxiliary dam on floating baits. Other species are slow.
KERN RIVER: Generally dismal trout fishing in the whole upper Kern River. The few fish caught this past week were on small, deeply fished nymphs or salmon eggs. The Wild Trout stretch is even slower with the cold water conditions. The lower river is slow, too, with only a few small smallmouth bass in the Richbar, Hobo areas off on spinners, crawlers and plastics.
AQUEDUCT NEAR TAFT: The striped bass bite has been fair with a lot of keeper fish over the 18-inch minimum size. The best action has been on blood worms, but more and more lure fish are being caught on shad-like crankbaits or Gitzit-sytle lures the best bets. Also still a few catfish showing.
HART PARK LAKE: DFG trout plants last week and three weeks ago. Best action on Power Bait and green, garlic nightcrawlers. Other species are very slow.
TRUXTUN LAKE: DFG trout plants last week and three weeks ago. Action finally improving a little on the trout. Other species very slow.
RIVER WALK PARK: DFG trout plant last week and three weeks ago with very good action. The hot ticket has been to fish tiny mini jigs or Trout Traps just 12-inches under a rattling bobber. The rainbows are also showing garlic Power Bait, chunky cheese Gulp! and green, garlic nightcrawlers. Fly anglers fishing midges are also having very good success. Bass and bluegill very slow.
MING LAKE: DFG trout plants last week and three weeks ago. Fair to good action on Power Bait and garlic nightcrawlers. Other species are slow.
BRITE LAKE: DFG trout plant three weeks ago.
BUENA VISTA LAKES: The trout action continues pretty good with quality fish a part of many stringer. The trout are best on garlic Power Bait and green, garlic nightcrawlers. Jason Bowyer, Bakersfield, landed a 6-8 rainbow on Power Bait, while Randy Hudnall, Bakersfield, had rainbows at 5, 4-8 and 4 pounds, all on nightcrawlers. The Innagural Two-Day Trout Derby will be held Jan. 30-31 on Lake Evans. Only fees are usual park entrance and fishing fees, and the top prize for the biggest trout is $500 with $200 for the smallest rainbow. In the 15-and-under category, the biggest trout is worth $100 and the smallest worth $25. Also many other prizes. The winter crappie bite is also still pretty good on live minnows with fish to two pounds showing. A few catfish are also starting to show, but no big fish this week.
WOOLLOMES LAKE: DFG trout plant three weeks ago. Fair action on corn Power Bait and garlic nightcrawlers. The bluegill bite is slow on red worms or meal worms.
SUCCESS LAKE: DFG trout plant last week. Other species mostly slow with a few bass still showing in deeper water on plastics and jigs.
KAWEAH LAKE: DFG trout plant last week. Mostly slow action on other species with only a few bass and the odd redear showing.
Other regional lakes
CACHUMA: A DFG trout plant went in last week and three weeks ago and the action has been very good. Nightcrawlers and jigs have been the top baits. Gary Hugh, Goleta, caught a limit of trout fishing all over the lake with a Dodger-worm combo. There is still a pretty fair bite on smallmouth bass on the rocky points, mostly on plastics and jigs in deeper water. James Thunder, Simi Valley, caught nine bass using jigs and nightcrawlers in 10 to 30 feet of water. Mostly slow other species. For quagga mussel and the boat launching information, log on at http://www.sbparks.org/DOCS/Cachuma.html. The marina is closed and boat rentals have ceased, effective in mid-October. The marina isn't expected to be reopening in the near future, but the boat launch is still open.
CASITAS: The lake had come up over a foot by Wednesday morning, thanks to this week's rain, but few anglers have been fishing this week. The exception is catfish anglers lining the banks in the Santa Ana River arm where the most flow is entering the lake. While there have been few reports back to the marina, the inflow usually triggers a pretty good bite on bigger catfish to 20 pounds and better on mackerel chunks or other cut baits. There was a trout plant last Thursday, a whole truck load for a change. The trout action was pretty good before the storms broke, mostly on small spinners or floating baits. The largemouth bass bite has been fair on two to four pounders in 15 to 35 feet of water on plastics, jigs and ice jigs. Mark Mitrany, Ojai, had an 8-8 last week on a plastic. Crappie and redear slow. Private boats are allowed at Casitas, but boats will be inspected and face a 10-day dry dock requirement because of fears of quagga mussel infestation. The lake is open every day, including all holidays from dusk to dawn.
CASTAIC: Striper action is slow to fair with the fish mostly in very deep water and showing on cut baits. Swimbaits are also a good bet, but only for the days immediately following a trout plant. DFG trout plants in both the lower and upper lakes last week helped bring back the trout bite. The lower lake action has been good with Power Worms and Power Bait working best. The largemouth action is still slow to fair with a few nice reports. Robert Martinez, San Fernando, caught an 11-12 largemouth on a Huddleton fishing the lower lagoon shoreline recently. The lagoon has remained the best bet with largemouth, trout and panfish all showing in fair numbers on a variety of baits.
LOPEZ: Very light fishing pressure with storms this week, but the bite was pretty good on crappie with some anglers posting 25-fish limit of 3/4-pound fish fishing jigs at the dam. The bass bite has been fair with the smallmouth bass best in the finger coves near the dam. Few other reports.
NACIMIENTO: Fair spotted bass action with jigs, plastics and swim baits all producing fish. Other species slow.
PIRU: No anglers at lake since Sunday and there were few reports before that. The rains had the lake up four vertical feet as of Wednesday morning. There was an 1,100-pound DFG plant last Tuesday at the marina and the rainbow action was pretty good until the rains began. The best action has been on floating baits and small lures and jigs. The largemouth bass action is slow on jigging spoons and ice jigs in 30 to 50 feet of water. A few crappie continue to show on small jigs and bluegill and redear are spotty on nightcrawlers and red worms. Catfish very slow, but the rain could perk that action.
PYRAMID: Few reports this week with the rain, but before the storms there was a slow to fair stripers bite in the channel, marina and dam. Most of the fish are two to five pounds and they were showing on swim baits and cut baits. The bigger fish are best in the marina with the smaller fish in the main channel. The trout action perked after the DFG plant last week on Power Bait, small trout jigs, or plastics. The largemouth and smallmouth bass, redear and catfish are all slow.
SAN ANTONIO: Very few reports.
SANTA MARGARITA: Bass action still slow, but a few crappie are showing on small jigs. Very light fishing pressure with the wet weather. The marina store is open Wednesday through Sunday.
Eastern Sierra
GENERAL: General trout season reopens in Inyo and Mono counties on April 24.
Trout plants
No plantings scheduled this week for Kern or Tulare counties/
Ocean report
LONG RANGE FLEET HOOKED-UP: The long-range boats down off the tip of Baja continue to hammer the big yellowfin tuna. While they dodged weather a couple of days this past week, conditions have been nothing like here and the fishing remains top-notch. The Excel just returned to San Diego with yellowfin to 345.6 pounds. Eric Griggs, Melbourne, Fla., took three hours, 15 minutes to land the bruiser. Most of the fish have been from 80 to 150 pounds with about one in 10 to one in 15 being over 200 pounds.
MEXICO ROCKFISH TRIPS EPIC: Recent 11/2 and two-day rockfish trips out of San Diego targeting Mexican waters have been seeing excellent action with a wide range of rockfish, including some lings and cows, on these freezer-filling jaunts. Many boats are getting full limits, including ling limits (two fish). This action will surge back after these fronts move through.
HUMBOLDT SQUID STILL EXCELLENT: Before the latest round of storms, the only bright spots in the local fishing scene was the action on the big Humboldt squid for the San Diego and Oceanside boats running evening trips. Catches ranged from 2 to 5 or 6 squid per angler and the squid are running 15 to 30 pounds. Boats from both Seaforth, H&M Landing and Helgren's Sportfishing (Oceanside) are now running the evening trips.
ISLAND UPDATES: The weather washed out what little action there had been at Catalina, Clemente and Coronado islands. Catalina had been showing the most promise with a decent pick on the calicos and pretty good bonito action, but the white seabass and yellowtail have disappeared this week.
LOCAL NEARSHORE ACTION: Dead. The few half- and three-quarter day boats running from Oceanside to Santa Barbara are just seeing a pick on the sculpin along with a few bass. The only other option has been sand dabs and the few boats targeting the sandabs are hammering them.
