Nov. 27 fish report
| Thursday, Nov 26 2009 05:17 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Nov 26 2009 09:06 PM
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Chase Chapman, 10, of Bakersfield, caught this 25-pound bluefin tuna recently from the Pacific Queen from Virg's Landing in Morro Bay, about 45-50 miles offshore with his grandfather, Jerry Wattenbarger. He was using a Shimano TLD 15 w/20-pound Ande Line with fluorocarbon and a sardine for bait. He, also, landed four albacore. The Bluefin was gaffed by deckhand Dan Price.
Mike Vaughn of Taft, a senior at Cal State Bakersfield, holds up a spawning German brown trout he caught the last weekend of October while on a fishing trip to the June Lake Loop. He was fishing Rush Creek near the Grant Lake inlet when the hungry Brown hit his 1/16 -ounce black and yellow Panther Martin spinner. The fish weighed 2 pounds, 8 ounces and measured 21 inches. Unfortunately, due to injuries, the fish was not able to be released. The fish will be mounted by Tony Davidson Taxidermy in Lone Pine.
Kern County, southern San Joaquin Valley
LAKE ISABELLA: There continues to be fair catfish action, mostly on frozen shad and cut baits. The crappie bite is finally slowing and the bass action has been very spotty. Few trout up around cemetery, and just slow to fair trout action at the auxiliary dam in deep water on Power Bait. Carp action slow.
KERN RIVER: Flows in the upper Kern are low and the river is fishing slow to fair in the 20-mile roadside stretch above Kernville with the best action on small nymphs as the water continues to cool. Wild Trout stretch also just fair. The lower river is pretty good for smallmouth bass in the Richbar, Hobo areas off on spinners, crawlers and plastics, but the water is very low and the fish are small.
AQUEDUCT NEAR TAFT: The striper bite has been very good with a lot of quality, keeper fish over the 18-inch minimum size and even some bigger fish rumored. The bite has been on blood worms, sand worm and shad-like crankbaits and Gitzit-like swim baits. Jacob Fritz, Bakersfield, landed a 4-pound striper on a nightcrawlers. The catfish remains also pretty good on cut baits.
HART PARK LAKE: DFG plant slated for this week. Fair to good action, mostly on Power Bait and green, garlic nightcrawlers. There is also a pretty fair night bite on catfish. The bluegill bite slowing with only a few fish on wax worms, meal worms or red worms. The carp action is also still fair on Powder Bait. Slow bass action.
TRUXTUN LAKE: DFG trout plants this week and two weeks ago. Still slowish trout action. Other species also slow.
RIVER WALK PARK: Wide open trout action, and another DFG plant was scheduled for this holiday week. Best action on garlic Power Bait and chunky cheese Gulp also decent bets. Green, garlic nightcrawlers have also been good. Bass and bluegill slow.
MING LAKE: DFG trout plant this week with a good bite on Power Baits and garlic nightcrawlers. Bluegill are slow to fair with a few on red worms. The bass, crappie and carp bites are very slow.
BRITE LAKE: DFG trout plant this week.
BUENA VISTA LAKES: Very good trout action since Saturday?226-130?s opener with a lot of limits and quite a few quality fish. Edward Fernandez and Gavin Yourgugez, each of Bakersfield, had six-pound rainbows, while Chloe Ann-Marie Cantou, Bakersfield, had trout at 4 and 2 pounds. Other species are slowing, but still a fair bite on bluegill and the odd bass and catfish. Carp and crappie.
WOOLLOMES LAKE: Very good trout action, and a DFG plant was slated for this week. Best action has been on garlic nightcrawlers and Power Bait. The bluegill bite is slow to fair on wax worms, crickets, red worms or meal worms.
SUCCESS LAKE: DFG trout plant two weeks ago. Still fair action. Slowing bluegill action, but still pretty fair bass action on cranks and plastics. Other species were mostly slow.
KAWEAH LAKE: Fair bass bite on live bait and plastics, and quite a few bluegill are showing.
Other regional lakes
CACHUMA: Continued light fishing pressure, but there's a pretty good trout bite for trollers and bait anglers fishing Cachuma Bay and at the dam. Top baits have been Power Baits and nightcrawlers, while trollers are using Needlefish near the surface.
CASITAS: Pretty fair bass action this past week with the fish focused on shad right now. The candy bait are showing in the surface early and late in the day and anglers dip-netting the bait -- which has been tough -- are doing best, but cranks, small shad-like swinbaits and even spinnerbaits are all working pretty well.
CASTAIC: Overall slowdown in the action over the past week. The water level has come up 12 feet and the water temperatures have dropped. This has pushed the shad into deeper water and the stripers have followed them down and the best bite has been on cut baits this week rather than swimbaits. The bite is still pretty fair, however.
LOPEZ: Fair action on bluegill and redear with wax worms, meal worms and crickets the top bet. A few crappie showing on jigs. The bass bite is fair, and only a few catfish have been reported this week.
NACIMIENTO: Fair spotted bass action with cranks, plastics, and swim baits all producing fish. Catfish fair on cut baits, mostly early and late in the day.
PIRU: DFG trout plant last week with pretty good action on the smaller rainbows since. Few reports again this week, but there continues to be a fair to good bass bite, mostly on crankbaits in 30 feet of water. The crappie bite is still fair on small jigs in 40 feet of water. The bluegill and redear are either slow or not being targeted right now. Catfish slow with only a few showing on nightcrawlers and cut baits.
PYRAMID: Good trout and striped bass action. There was a DFG last week and three weeks ago, and there has been a good bite since on floating baits and small lures, mostly around the marina and main channel. The best striper action has been on jerk baits in the marina, channel, around the island, Yellowbar. Most fish in the 1- to 5-pound range with some better quality fish showing up into the 10-pound range.
SAN ANTONIO: Catfish, which have been pretty good. Best bet on cut baits.
SANTA MARGARITA: Bass slow with good anglers lucky to get a fish a day. The crappie have been improving with some nice fish coming in on small red and white jigs. The cats have been spotty. Light pressure.
Eastern Sierra
GENERAL: General trout season closed in most of Inyo and Mono counties Nov. 15.
BRIDGEPORT REGION: Flows on the East Walker remain very low (around 19 cfs) and the bite is fair to good on fish stacked up in the runs and pools and a few fish are being caught on streamers and caddis nymph patterns. This is a catch-and-release water open year-around.
MAMMOTH AREA: The upper Owens River and Hot Creek, both open to year-around catch-and-release fishing, are both very good for fly anglers. The Owens has quite a few quality rainbows and browns up from Crowley.
BISHOP AREA: Pleasant Valley Reservoir, the lower Owens River, and the Owens River gorge remain open to year-around fishing. The lower Owens River remains good for fly anglers. Pleasant Valley Reservoir has been fair for lure, jig, bait and fly anglers, especially for float tubers fishing near the inlet or at the dam. DFG plant at Pleasant Valley last week. Owens Gorge good for small browns.
Trout plants
KERN COUNTY: Brite Valley Reservoir, Buena Vista's Lake Evans, Hart Park Lake, Lake Truxtun, Lake Woollomes, Ming Lake, The Park at River Walk Lake.
Ocean report
ISLAND YELLOWTAIL: There has been a very consistent pick on the yellowtail at both San Clemente and the Coronado Islands this past week. At Clemente, six-pack charters and some larger sportboats are getting 15 to 30 pound fish in a good bite. On Monday, the Option with six anglers had 20 yellowtail from 15 to 30 pounds. At the Coronado Islands, the three-quarter -day boats out of San Diego are cashing in on a decent bite on fish up to 20 pounds. This is the beginning of a pretty darn good winter bite.
LOCAL SCENE: Little change for the half and three-quarter day boats from the Channel Islands south to San Diego. The anglers on these boats are seeing generally good mixed bag action with virtually everything open right now. If the surface fish don't cooperate, the rockfish are there, but most bags are pretty full of calico bass, sheephead, blue perch, whitefish, sculpin and rockfish. Again, there is just very light angling pressure in spite of the generally decent fishing.
