Feb. 26 fish report
| Thursday, Feb 25 2010 06:56 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Feb 25 2010 10:13 PM
Images
Jackson R. LeMay, 6, caught a 6-pound spotted bass Feb. 8 at River Walk Park, using a mini night crawler for bait. The fish was released back into the lake after the photo and being weighed. Jackson was fishing with his grandpa, Ray Franey.
Josh Lynch of Bakersfield caught this 53-inch white sturgeon Feb. 18 in the Sacramento River. He used an eel for bait.
Kern County and southern San Joaquin Valley
LAKE ISABELLA: There continues to be a decent catfish bite at Engineer Point on frozen shad with most fish pan-sized up to four pounds. There is a fair trout bite at the auxiliary dam on nightcrawlers and floating dough baits. A recent Alper's trout plant went in as part of the stocking for the 21st Annual Isabella Lake Fishing Derby set for March 27-29 with over $200,000 in prizes this year. For more info, visit: derby.kernrivervalley.com ... DFG trout were also slated to go in this week. The largemouth bass bite has been slowly improving, too, with more and more fish starting to move shallow and some action has been as shallow as 10 feet. Other species are slow.
KERN RIVER: Last week's trout plant in both the upper and lower river has kept the trout action pretty fair in the Kernville area and the Richbar and Hobo locations in the lower river with the best bite on crickets and salmon eggs. The flyfishing on the upper river is still very tough with cold water conditions and only a few fish showing on midge larva or pupae patterns and small nymphs. A few bass also are showing on nightcrawlers and plastics in the lower river. Next plants in Kern will be in March.
AQUEDUCT NEAR TAFT: The striped bass bite has been pretty fair this past week with a lot of quality fish over the 18-inch minimum size, and most of the bite has been on small swimbaits and blood worms or sand worms. Eddie "Fish Taco" Martinez, Fontana, caught a 15-pounder this week on one of his own baits. Only a few cats showing.
HART PARK LAKE: DFG trout plants this week and two weeks ago, and the bite has been pretty good on the new garlic-flavored PowerBait, the green pumpkin color and the hatchery formula baits. Nightcrawlers doused with garlic scent are also a good bet. Other species are very slow.
TRUXTUN LAKE: DFG trout plants this week and two weeks ago. Fair to good trout action on garlic PowerBaits. Other species still slow.
RIVER WALK PARK: Very good trout action with DFG plants this week and last week, with PowerBait in garlic and garlic nightcrawlers the best baits. The carp action is also starting to turn on. Ed Villareal, Bakersfield, landed a 12-pound carp on garlic Power Bait. The bluegill bite slowed with the cooler weather this week, but they can still be caught on waxworms.
MING LAKE: Fair to good action after DFG trout plants this week and two weeks ago. Best bite on PowerBait and garlic nightcrawlers. Some largemouth bass are also starting to show on plastics and nightcrawlers and they start moving into the shallows for the spawn. The carp action is also improving with some fish showing on Powder Bait.
BRITE LAKE: No DFG trout plant in over a month.
BUENA VISTA LAKES: The trout action is winding down with no plants in several weeks. The few trout still being caught are showing on garlic nightcrawlers and PowerBait. A few bass are starting to show, but the winter crappie bite seems to have fizzled. Still a few catfish showing, but light fishing pressure on the cats.
WOOLLOMES LAKE: DFG trout plant this week. The bite had been slow without plants for over a month. The bluegill bite is starting to improve on red worms or meal worms.
SUCCESS LAKE: DFG trout plant this week after a month hiatus. Some improved bass action over the past week with some fish starting to move shallow. Most fish still in 15 to 30 feet on plastics and jigs.
KAWEAH LAKE: DFG trout plant this week. Last plant over a month ago. Slow action on other species with only a few bass and the odd redear showing, but all the warmwater species seem to be improving.
Other regional lakes
CACHUMA: Bass action is good for largemouth and fair for smallmouth, with a lot of fish moving shallow in a pre-spawn bite. Trout action slowed with no DFG plants for at least three weeks.
CASITAS: The largemouth bass bite is starting to break open with more and more bass moving into the shallows and already on beds. While the weather has hampered the fishing, there have been some good scores in the past week. Top fish reported was an 8.3-pounder caught by Travis Walters, Oakview, on a plastics. Mark Torrez, Camarillo, landed a 6-8 bass on spear worm, while Kevin McClure, Ventura, landed a 6-pounder, also on a plastic. Colt Pulley, Ojai, had a pair of bass that weighed 9 pounds total, both on jigs. They also won the big fish prize with a six-pounder. The crappie bite is also starting to turn on with the fish staging in 15 to 20 feet of water.
CASTAIC: Good striper action in spite of the weather with some quality fish over 10 pounds starting to show. Most of the fish are 1-3 pounds, and the action has been best on anchovies or sardines, with squid or nightcrawlers are decent back-up baits. Sharron's Rest, Elizabeth Canyon, Kong Island and the fore bay buoy line are the top spot. Best bite in the afternoons. The largemouth bass bite has been improving with some fish starting to nose up into shallower water for the spawn. Most of the action has been in 10 to 25 feet of water on plastics and jigs. The lagoon seems to be ahead of the main lake with some fish already in shallow kicking out beds. A 14-pound largemouth was caught this past week by a float tuber in the lagoon (photo on FishingNetwork.net forum).
PIRU: Best action has been on very good largemouth bass which are acting like it's spring and starting to move up into shallower water. The bass are still mostly in 15 to 40 feet showing on plastics and jigs. Steve Rauch, Kagel Canyon, 9.8-pound largemouth on Tuesday this week. The crappie are also starting to improve on small jigs in 20 to 25 feet. Trout are very slow with no plants since Jan. 18, and none likely anytime soon. Bluegill, redear and catfish are mostly slow, too. There will be a public bass tournament March 21.
LOPEZ: The bass bite has been fair with more fish starting to move shallow with the best bite on plastics and cranks. Top spots have been Cottonwood Cove and near the launch. Crappie have been pretty good at at the ranger's boat house and Strawberry Flats on jigs or red worms. Rains have jumped the lake from 48 percent to 56 percent of capacity. Few other reports.
NACIMIENTO: Very little fishing pressure with the rains, but there continues to be some decent spotted bass action with jigs, plastics and swim baits. No reports on other species. The lake level has gone from 11 percent capacity in October to 46 percent on Wednesday.
PYRAMID: Weather has made for rough fishing conditions, but there is still a fair bite on smaller stripers on anchovies and sardines (if you can get them) in deeper water in the main body of the lake. Also an occasional fish on a swimbait. The redear, bluegill and catfish are all slow.
SAN ANTONIO: No report.
SANTA MARGARITA: Rain, rain and more rain has slowed the action to a crawl. A recent bass tournament with 36 boats saw two-thirds of them skunked.
Eastern Sierra
General trout season reopens in Inyo and Mono counties on April 24.
Trout plants
KERN: Hart Park Lake, Isabella Lake, Lake Truxtun, Lake Woollomes, Ming Lake, The Park at River Walk Lake.
TULARE: Lake Kaweah, Lake Success.
Ocean report
LONG RANGE TUNA ACTION WINDING DOWN: The long-range tuna season is pretty much drawing to a close. The Excel, Royal Polaris and Royal Star are all en route home from trips that were hammered by 18 to 22-knot winds this past week. There was still decent fishing in between blows on 80 to 100-pound fish with some bigger. The biggest fish on the Royal Polaris on Friday was a 239-pounder, but conditions made the fishing tough this past week. Few other trips scheduled this season down to the big tuna grounds.
SQUID STILL GOOD OUT OF SAN DIEGO: While the Humboldt squid action slowed north of San Diego, with many boats from Dana Point north to Marina del Ray had evenings when the squid simply didn't show this past week, the San Diego-based boats are still seeing very consistent squid action with four to five per angler common. The squid continue to be up to 50 pounds when anglers get into them.
ISLAND UPDATES: The weather has prevented anglers from making it out to San Clemente this week and the few boats fishing Catalina have had rough conditions and they have drawn blanks on the white seabass. There continues to be a pick on the bass at Catalina but even that bite has been off.
LOCAL NEARSHORE ACTION: The nearshore bite for half and three-quarter-day boats have been just fair this week, losing some of the momentum that it seemed to be gaining during the good weather. Boats from San Diego all the way up the coast to Ventura are just seeing a pick on bass and sculpin right now, but rockfish season reopens on March 1, which should provide some welcome relief until the surface bite kicks into gear.
LOBSTER CRAWL BETTER: Both nearshore and island lobster hoop netters found better action this past week, with the crawl at Catalina especially good again this past week.
