Went to the Oceano lagoon for a morning of fishing in the tube. Water was 54 degrees and stained. Weather was cloudy with isolated sprinkles, barometer was slowly rising (30.20 when I started to 30.25 when I was fisnished).

I started about 9:30am and worked the island south of the Pier St. bridge. Went down the west side flippin a jig then back up the same side throwing a Senko. No one was home. I then went to the west bank of the lake and alternated between the senko and the jig but no one seemed to be home. It was when I was on the north side of the bridge when the activity picked up.

Earlier in the week I had read Rob's guide to jig fishing and had visited Pete at Wilderness / Tackle Warehouse to collect the necessary gear. Today I decided to fish the east arm of the lake and started with a patch of tules just past the bridge. I flipped the jig in a couple of spots and sure enough I felt something nibbling my bait. A hard pull and the jig comes shooting out of the water. Hmmm. I flip it back in the same spot and while I'm analyzing my fish finder, from the corner of my eye I see my line taking off to my left. A hard pull releases my jig from it's capture (unfortunately).

My next stop is a fallen tree. I pitch the jig under the tree and I watch carefully. Within 15 seconds or so, my line is moving out from under the tree. I take in the slack and give it a gentle jug. Oh, yeah, somethin's got a grip on this one! A hard set and the line goes wild! I reel it in and it's nice largemouth. I go for the scale and realize it's in the truck. My guestimate is a three pounder, lookin' like a male, lean but solid, and with red lips. Yup, they're munching on craws all right.

I ended up going along the lagoon's south bank with no other hits. My fishing ended at noon and after thinking about it, the south bank was probablty the wrong one to try considering the sun has no penetration there. I'll know better for next time.

Rob, my hat's off to you. Your article on jig fishing was top notch and the black/red jig with black & red brush hog did well. For this adventure I ended up using a baby brush hog on a 3/8 oz. black & red jig for a slightly smaller presentation. I figure once the water breaks the 60 degree mark I'll go full brush hog and maybe move up on size of jig.

Where is Ocean Lagoon???

On the Central Coast just below Pismo Beach in the town of Oceano. It's just south of Pismo State Beach off Highway one at Pier Avenue which is the southern entrance to the Oceano State Vehicular Recreation Area where you can drive on the beach and surrounding dunes.

Sounds like a nice place to visit...
May stop by one weekend...
Thanks...

Hey is the lagoon next to the airport also how big is it?

Nice report Mickster! I'm Bryan. I remember you from the other messege board that Pete use to keep. I live up here in North County (Templeton) ....I floattube/kickboat the lakes around here...I have never tryed the Lagoon before though, pretty good? I don't know if you heard yet, but Bass-N-Tubes, a club from the San Jose area is starting a Central Coast region next year. Keep a look out on the Floattubing Messege board for more info in the future.

Bryan

Yup, that's the one. The lagoon is about a mile in length.

Bryan-
I really enjoy the lagoon. Although the lagoon is a mile long, I typically fish the north half.

What I usually do is launch my tube from the south side of the bridge at Pier Avenue, then kick under the bridge and fish the north side. Once you're on the north side, the lagoon has a left and right arm. I typically fish the right.

I haven't tried the south much. Within 100 feet from where I launch, there's an island and I have been hit there but haven't pulled anything from around it. One of these days I'll check out the south portion.

I began fishing the lagoon a couple of years ago. The first year, there was duckweed on the surface, then last year there wasn't any, but the grass grew like crazy. The lagoon is 4-6 feet deep at most so when the grass grew, there were some areas that were difficult to traverse.

I've been told brown jigs have caught bass there, and spinnerbaits thrown under the willow trees do well too, as the bass like to stay tucked next to the protected banks. I've done well with Senko's and then discovered a couple bass liked my red jig.

I ended up going again last Sunday, but forgot about the heavy rain we had during the week, so visibility dropped to 3 inches or so. I did manage to spook a bass and get a reactionary strike on a core shot Senko, but otherwise it was quite quiet.

I think the next place I'll be trying (hopefully soon) is Oso Flaco Lake down near Guadalupe.

Mickster

P.S.- Thanks for the heads-up on Bass-n-Tubes getting things going on the central coast. I would definitely be interested in that when they get things set up.