Steve Merlo: Local fishing outlook takes a turn for the better
| Thursday, Jul 02 2009 08:22 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Jul 02 2009 08:22 PM
Local fishing prospects look a lot better since the heat wave began two weeks ago. The spawn has ended and air temperatures above 100 degrees are forcing gamefish to seek either the protection of deeper water or, in the case of the California Aqueduct, moving waters. Despite recent court rulings regarding agricultural water flows, the concrete ditch continues to send water to the south, its computerized gates attracting bait schools, stripers and catfish to their churning waters.
Unfortunately, the blazing heat also compounds the sun's effect by radiating heat off the cement and barren banks, making afternoon fishing a tough test of human endurance. Night fishermen have been scoring regularly on both striped bass and catfish, but I find that ample hydration, sunglasses, hats, sunscreen and a desire to fish far outweigh the effects of staying out all night. Besides, the striper fishing's better in the daytime, as far as I'm concerned, and safer.
First of all, anglers are going to find far less competition during the heat of the day. Striped bass are far less wary when they're not being bombarded by a continued barrage of fishermen heaving huge, splashing, kerplunking weights over their heads. Secondly, the high temperatures can turn the rest of the canal literally into a boiling cauldron, and the fish respond by migrating to cooler, more oxygenated areas that provide both shade (in the form of bubbles) and ample food -- the gates.
The third factor, body metabolism, affects the fish by forcing them to eat at all hours of the day. When water temperatures near or exceed 80 degrees, most fish, including black and striped bass, have to eat at least once every 10 hours or so or risk dying. Largemouth can and will seek out deeper water, where the cooler sanctuaries of the thermocline offer a respite, but stripers in the canal are forced to occupy the same warm depths day after day. They continually burn calories fighting the curents without rest, necessitating their ingesting many replacement calories and, hopefully, anglers' baits or lures. They also seem to be in perpetual "hyper-speed," and can now chase down fast-moving artificials while shunning slower retrieves.
While heavy aqueduct flows through the gates increase the odds of contacting gamefish this time of year, Isabella Lake fish are reacting in an entirely different way. Now that the spawn is over for most species, a jillion successfully- reared fry float all over the lake, and many gamefish come shallow to eat them. Crappie, bass, bluegill and other species now compete with each other to canabilize their own and each other's young.
The baby fish stay close to the surface to grow, ingesting the plankton and insect larvae that call the surface home. Right beneath them, fully grown gamefish lurk, eating their fill and trying to recuperate from the stresses of the recent spawn by adding back their depleted fat stores. They tend to bite early and late, getting their fill, then moving to cooler haunts when the sun is high and returning to fill up again in the evening.
Like stripers, they also stress in high temperature water, but the runoff has started, sending cooler waters into the lake and moderating the overall picture. This is exactly what happened this last few weeks, when crappie, bass and catfish returned to the shallows at a variety of different locations. The fish went on a feeding rampage and fishermen are and did return to catching huge stringers of crappie, cats and bass, with a whole lot of very aggressive trout rounding out their stringers.
The right baits are needed to catch them. Remember, the fry are small -- less than an inch in most cases -- and anglers need to present a reasonable facsimile of what's swimming near the surface. Tiny jigs, tipped with meal worms and small, live minnows will entice most species, especially when fished below a small, easy-to-pull- under bobber.
Here again, water temperatures are up, and so are the gamefish's metabolisms. Anglers can now work the surface with loud top-water baits or move their bobbers at a good pace to draw strikes. Unless I was fishing right among the trees, I'd still opt for lighter line -- in the 4- to 6-pound-test range -- and play them carefully. The bass, on the other hand, are shallower than ever and eating the fish that are eating the fry, so think bigger in the way of lure offerings. I'd also step up in line weight in case I had to pull one of those huge "teen-sized" fish out of the trees or brush. Big jigs and 10-inch worms are just now coming into play, so the die is cast for everyone to take advantage, whether it be for panfish or bucketmouths.
