Sept. 3 fish report
| Thursday, Sep 02 2010 05:02 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Sep 02 2010 08:45 PM
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David Palinsky, 49, caught this personal-best 25-pound, 39-inch striper in the Aqueduct on July 30 at about 5:30 a.m. on a half-ounce Strike King Red Eye Shad lure on 10-pound Berkley Trilene with a 5-foot-10 light Ugly Stick rod and a Diawa reel.
Kern County and southern San Joaquin Valley
BOB'S BAIT STRIPER DERBY: The month-long Bob's Bait Striper Derby ended August 31. The $100 cash prize went to Alfredo Vasquez, Bakersfield, with a seven-pounder he caught from the aqueduct.
LAKE ISABELLA: Light fishing pressure this past week, but the catfish action remains fair to good on frozen shad, clams, and Sonny's dip bait with lots of fish from two pounds and up, with most anglers fishing at night. The largemouth bass bite has slowed but a few fish are still showing on Senkos, brush hogs, and deep-diving cranks. Dropping water level has the fish suspended and tough. The crappie action is slow. Trout action is fair at the auxiliary dam on Power Bait and nightcrawlers.
KERN RIVER: There has been continued very good action in the upper river and low flows. The upper stretch nearly to the Johnsondale Bridge was again stocked this week and the best bite has been on crickets, salmon eggs and spinners. Fly anglers are also seeing decent morning and evening dry fly action. The lower river has continued to drop with flows around 1,200 cfs this week and the bass action has been good in the Richbar and Hobo areas. The trout are also pretty fair.
AQUEDUCT NEAR TAFT: The catfish and striper action remains fair to good but there has been relatively light pressure. The moss and vegetation is a nightmare, too. Most of the stripers are in the three- to six-pound range and showing on blood worms, almost exclusively, with only a few on lures. Lots of cats showing on cut baits with a lot of four to six pounders.
HART PARK LAKE: Very good bite on bluegill with wax worms or crickets. Most of the bluegill are hand-sized. The carp are good on homemade dough baits or Powder Bait. Bass very slow with only a little action early and late in the day.
TRUXTUN LAKE: Still a good bluegill bite, and the carp action has been good on Powder Bait. Fair catfish bite on nightcrawlers and shad. Bass and crappie spotty, but some bass showing early in the day.
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 early in the day, but this bite is mostly 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 or topwater early in the day.
BRITE LAKE: No reports.
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 bite on largemouth bass this past week with a few fish on topwater and live bait. The bluegill action has been fair to good on wax worms. Carp good for those targeting them. Not much on stripers or crappie.
WOOLLOMES LAKE: The bluegill bite is good on red worms, meal worms, or wax worms, and a few bass are showing on plastics or jerk baits early in the day. Pretty good carp action on dough baits.
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: The catfish bite was good again this week with a number of fish five to eight-pounds reported.
CASITAS: The bass bite remains fair to good in 20 to 30 feet of water on nightcrawlers, plastics, and jigs. Morning and evening are when the action has been best, with a quite a few topwater fish early. Eric Elshere, Ojai, has had a pair of five-fish limits at 20 and 25 pounds on buzzbaits this past week.
CASTAIC: Striper action has been mostly slow and the few that are being caught are smaller fish, but there have been some flurries of action with the odd fish over 10 pounds. Trout slow.
LOPEZ: Fair bass action and a good bluegill bite in the mornings, especially off the F Dock on meal worms and red worms. The bass have been best on swim baits and cranks with the best action at the bridge. The crappie bite has slowed, and some catfish are showing.
NACIMIENTO: Both the smallmouth and largemouth bites have been fair. The catfish bite is improving, and anglers targeting carp are seeing excellent action.
PIRU: Light fishing pressure but fair to good overall action. There continues to be a decent pick on the crappie, and good bluegill and redear action on fish to a pound or so. The bass are showing on topwater early and then on plastics and swimbaits in the day with some quality fish showing. Tops recently was a nine-pounder.
PYRAMID: The striper action remains fair to good for anglers drifting with anchovies or sardines, and they continue to average from one to two pounds with an occasional bigger fish. The bluegill are showing in pretty good numbers with quite a few fish to half-pound. Crappie slow. Catfish have improved with a pretty good bite and some fish to 10 pounds or better in the evenings on cut baits. Trout spotty.
SAN ANTONIO: The striped bass bite has continued to roll for trollers and anglers working boils with surface poppers. Lots of six to 12 pounds and some fish over 20 pounds. Lots of daytime action on boiling fish this week. The catfish action is also improving. Carp are wide open if you target them.
SANTA MARGARITA: The bass, bluegill and redear, and catfish bites have all improved over the last week with fair to good action on all three.
Eastern Sierra
WEST WALKER RIVER REGION: The West Walker River is very good on bait, lures, and flies from Pickle Meadows downstream through the canyon. The Little Walker River very fishable and has been good. Kirman Lake still has been picky with just fair action on the big brookies and no cutts. Damsels and midges seem to be top patterns.
BRIDGEPORT REGION: The trout action has been very good at the Twin Lakes. Most are pan-sized and the best action in both lakes at the inlets. The East Walker River has been fair on midges and nymphing. Bridgeport is still fishing excellent, with the top areas Buckeye and Robinson channels, the East Walker channel, Rainbow Point and right out in the middle about halfway between the marina and Buckeye Bay. Most fish are one to two pounds with some up to six pounds. Virginia Lakes remain good for fly, lure, and bait anglers.
JUNE LAKE LOOP REGION: Good trout action on all four lakes, June, Gull, Silver and Grant.
MAMMOTH AREA: The Crowley Lake action for fly anglers has been good in the bays with a lot of fish to 22 inches on midges and perch imitations.
BISHOP AREA: North Lake, South Lake and Sabrina are all pretty good with lighter crowds this past week. South Lake is still best at stream inlets.
BIG PINE TO LONE PINE AREA: Generally fair to good action after DFG plants again this week on all the creeks.
Trout plants
KERN: Kern River from Powerhouse No. 3 to Riverside Park, Kernville, Kern River from Sandy Flat to Democrat Beach
TULARE: Balch Park eastern lake, Balch Park western lake, Bone Creek, Dry Meadow Creek, Hedrick Campground pond, Kern River from Brush Creek to Fairview Dam, Kern River from Fairview Dam to Falling Waters Lodge, lower Peppermint Creek, Nobe Young Creek, upper Peppermint Creek.
Ocean report
LONG RANGE ACTION AWESOME: The multi-day boats heading down the Baja coastline continue to see awesome action at Cedros and Benitos islands on the way down or back from Alijos Rocks. The action a Alijos has been very good on yellowfin tuna to 110 pounds with some flurries of good wahoo action. At Cedros and Benitos, the yellowtail bite has been wide open on fish to 40 pounds.
ONE- AND TWO-DAY TUNA ACTION: The bite has finally improved for the one- to three-day boats fishing south of San Diego from 60 to 120 miles with pretty good mixed tuna action over the weekend. Most boats returned with 40 to 75 yellowfin, bluefin, with a smattering of albacore. Some boats hammered them, getting up to 140 mixed tuna for 15 to 25 anglers. The fish are mostly nice quality fish from 16 to 40 pounds with the average around 25 pounds for both the yellowfin and bluefin, while the few albacore in the catch are 25 to 35 pounds. Skippers are also seeing more and more yellowtail and dorado on kelp on these trips. Seaforth's Eclipse was on a two-day trip with 25 anglers who landed 64 bluefin, one yellowfin and one albacore in a trip that returned Tuesday. The Searcher was on a three-day trip, returning Monday, and it's 16 anglers landed 134 yellowfin and three yellowtail.
ISLANDS UPDATE: There continues to be a pick on the yellowtail at the Coronado Islands, but just a pick. At Catalina, there are still white seabass and squid. That bite and that bait should have been gone months ago, but there it is, and it's still providing the best surface action along the coast. Clemente has been mostly off limits thanks to the military.
NEARSHORE NEWS: Rockfish. Most half-day and three-quarter boat skippers are focusing on rockfish because the bass, barracuda, bonito action -- normally sizzling this time of year -- is non-existant. So it's rockfish, and a pretty good bite on those. There is still a pick on the sand bass from Point Loma south.
