March 11 fish report
| Thursday, Mar 11 2010 06:43 AM
Last Updated Thursday, Mar 11 2010 11:12 PM
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Mike Cariker, 60, of Bakersfield caught this 23-inch, 6-pound rainbow trout March 5 at Riverside Park in Kernville. He used red salmon eggs for bait.
Kern County, southern San Joaquin Valley
LAKE ISABELLA: The weather over the past week has kept most of the action slow, except for trout, which have been good thanks to a DFG plant two weeks ago and a pair of Alpers' trout plants in preparation for the March 27-29 21st Annual Isabella Lake Fishing Derby. (This event has over $200,000 in prizes this year. For more information go to www.derby.kernrivervalley.com.) Some surface action for fly anglers in the mornings, but most of the action is on floating baits. The largemouth bass bite has been up and down with the weather, but it has been tough this past week. Ditto for catfish and other species.
KERN RIVER: Good trout action in the upper Kern just below Power House No. 3 and the Kernville Park, both areas stocked last week. The Hobo section on the lower Kern remains pretty good for planted trout, too, but there haven't been plants for a couple of weeks. Best action on salmon eggs and crickets. The flyfishing above Kernville remains tough, but there has been some improvement in the bite, including a little dry fly action during a mid-day baetis hatch. Most fish showing on small mayfly or midge patters (size 16 to 20) or a No. 10 stonefly pattern fished deeply under and indicator.
AQUEDUCT NEAR TAFT: While the bite is far from wide open, there has been a pretty decent bite on stripers from 3-5 pounds with blood worms and live minnows the best bet. Some anglers also getting a few fish on cranks and swimbaits. Still relatively light pressure. No catfish reported.
HART PARK LAKE: DFG trout plants this week and two weeks ago, and the bite has been very good on the spring green and hatchery formula Power Baits, with those doused in garlic oil or the new garlic formulas working the best. The bass action is slowly improving, but Jose Joseph, Bakersfield, landed a 5-8 bass on a nightcrawler. Other species are very slow.
TRUXTUN LAKE: DFG trout plants this week and two weeks ago, and the action has been very good on garlic enhanced Power Bait or nightcrawlers. Still mostly slow for other species.
RIVER WALK PARK: Very good trout action after plants this week and two weeks ago by the DFG. Best action has been on small flies (midge patterns), green pumpkin Power Bait, or other garlic-enhanced floating baits. The carp action is also starting to turn on with homemade dough baits and Powder Bait the best bets. The bluegill bite slowed with the cooler weather this week, but they can still be caught on waxworms.
MING LAKE: The spring bite seems to be turning on here in spite of the poor weather this past week. There is a good carp bite on Powder Bait, and the largemouth bass action is pretty fair, too. The trout also continue to be good after DFG plants this week and two weeks ago. Best bite on Power Bait and garlic nightcrawlers.
BRITE LAKE: DFG trout plant this week after more than a month hiatus.
BUENA VISTA LAKES: While the trout action is slowing down, a few decent rainbows continue to be caught by anglers fishing garlic-flavored or enchanced floating baits or nightcrawlers. The big news is the crappie bite has really started to take off on live minnows, and some of the fish are real slabs. Ricky Franklin, Bakersfield, had a nice batch of fish on minnows, including a 2-8 as his top crappie. A few catfish are also starting to show on frozen shad.
WOOLLOMES LAKE: DFG trout plants this week and two weeks ago and the bite has been pretty good. The bluegill bite is starting to improve on red worms or meal worms.
SUCCESS LAKE: DFG trout plant two weeks ago. Just fair action. The bass action is fair to good with more fish starting to move shallow. The best action is still in 12 to 20 feet of water on plastics and jigs.
KAWEAH LAKE: DFG trout plant two weeks ago with a spotty bite. 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: Trout action has been good and with a plant of 4,000 pounds slated to go in this week from the water district. Bass action is fair for both largemouth and smallmouth, but quite a few fish have been seen moving shallow in a pre-spawn bite. Slow other species.
CASITAS: The largemouth bass bite is very good with males in the shallows on beds and 15 to 25 fish days are pretty easy for anglers tossing nightcrawlers or plastics. Most of the bass are 2-3 pounds, but not many big fish have moved up yet.
CASTAIC: The striper action picked up this past week with the best action in the afternoons. Sardines fished from shore, Kong Island, or the fore bay buoy line has been best. The largemouth bass bite has been improving with some fish starting to show up in shallower water for the spawn, but most of the action is still 10-25 feet of water on plastics and jigs. The lagoon has seen excellent largemouth action on small swimbaits or shad-like baits.
LOPEZ: The bass bite has been fair to good this past week 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 the ranger's boat house and Strawberry Flats on jigs or red worms. Few other reports.
NACIMIENTO: Very little fishing pressure with the weather this past week, but there continues to be a very good spotted bass bite on jigs, plastics and swim baits.
PIRU: Best action has been on largemouth bass in 15 to 40 feet showing on plastics and jigs, but more and more fish are starting to move up for at least some of the day. The crappie bite is also starting to turn on with the fish schooling up in 15 to 30 feet of water and whacking small jigs. 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.
PYRAMID: A fair bite on smaller stripers on anchovies and sardines in deeper water in the main body of the lake. Also an occasional bigger fish on a swimbait. The last DFG trout plant was Jan. 25, and only a few fish are still showing on Power Bait or small lures. The largemouth and smallmouth bass bites are improving, but they are still mostly in deeper water and showing on plastics and jigs. The redear, bluegill and catfish are all very slow.
SAN ANTONIO: No report.
SANTA MARGARITA: The bass bite is really starting to take off with a lot of fish flooding into the shallows. Plastics and small reaction baits are getting the most fish. A few crappie are showing on small jigs, too, but the fishing pressure has been very light.
Eastern Sierra
GENERAL: General trout season reopens in Inyo and Mono counties on April 24.
Trout plants
LOS ANGELES: Castaic Lake, Elizabeth Lake
KERN: Brite Valley Lake, Hart Park Lake, Lake Truxtun, Lake Woollomes, Ming Lake, The Park at River Walk Lake.
Ocean report
FIRST WEEKEND OF SPRING?: This is shaping up as the first weekend of the spring fishing season for saltwater anglers. The winds, rain and tsunami tides that have plagued the fishing scene for the past few weeks look to be subsiding as we enter one of the best tidal periods of the month going into Monday's new moon. With water temperatures approaching ideal for spring fishing, this could finally be the weekend where the bites break open.
CORONADO ISLAND YELLOWTAIL: The yellowtail bite at the Coronado Islands was knocked on its butt by high seas and wind this past week, but the conditions at the islands are ripe for this bite to rebound. The fish are there and the few boats fishing the Coronados between blows have continued to find good action that has been reminiscent of years past. The Pacific Star, running out of Pierpoint Landing during the winter, ran a two-day trip this past week and snagged 100 yellowtail at the Coronados and then ran out to San Clemente to get three white season. The Coronados should be one of the first bites to surge this week.
CATALINA ISLAND UPDATE: Winds have made conditions horrific much of the past few days, but they were supposed to subside late this week and spring-like conditions return. That could really turn on the white seabass and maybe even the yellowtail action here. Between wind and rain, there has been a consistently good mixed bass and bonito bite with a few rockfish and even barracuda in the bag. There have also been enough seabass to make things interesting.
ROCKFISH EXCELLENT: Rock season reopened two weeks ago and the bite has been excellent ever since for boats out of landings from Oxnard north. Limits have been the rule every day since the season reopened. Further south the action has been nearly as good with limits or near-limits still the rule. The Spitfire out of Marina del Rey has been posting exceptional scores. Really strong currents and winds have made the bite tougher this past week due to the adverse conditions, but this excellent bite will continue. SQUID? WHAT SQUID?: It is amazing how fast the Humboldt squid have disappeared from the local fishing scene. OTHER NEARSHORE ACTION: All along the coast from San Diego into the Santa Monica Bay, there continues to be a pick on bass and a few halibut and this action has been improving with each warm day and when conditions have allowed for fishing. That has been infrequent. On Monday and Tuesday this week, most of the half-day fleet has been scratching to get a fish per angler. Everything seems to be coming together for a major turn-around.
