Camped at Cachuma with Brian and Zack on Sunday. We had some problems with getting a vehicle to launch the boat on Monday morning (and no slips on Sun. night) so come Monday morning we drove over to redrock. Hiked back into redrock and threw poppers, along with worms. Poppers seemed to be the ticket and we nailed the smallies for quite a while. Brian #2 actually stuck a couple nice fish, about 2lbs. Pretty surprising for redrock, as they're mostly the little 8"ers. We also saw a couple bigger smallies cruising and I had one literally jump 2 feet out of the water when attacking my popper. Not after I hooked it, mind you, but on the strike it just jumped way out of the water. It was really cool. I ended up farming it, but it was a nicer fish. The redear were in the mix, especially toward the end of the day. Brian slayed and probably had around 13 fish or so. Zack and I both had about 5 or 6 fish. All fish released, and if somebody wants to go back there, PLEASE release your fish. It's a really small area and can be dessimated very quickly. We saw one guy with what looked like a couple short smallies on a stringer amongst a bunch of bluegill, so we informed the ranger on the way out.

Monday night I had to go home to attend the Sanctuary Advisory Council meeting on Tuesday, but Brian and Zack fished. Zack caught his personal best fish at 4lbs. along with another 2lber I believe, while Kettler caught a bunch of little smallies and some keepers. He said every 15 yards of shoreline he'd catch a fish, so I guess it was pretty good...

Came back to the campsite on Tuesday night and was up on Wednesday morning at 5:45. We fished a bunch of different areas and it was pretty slow. Brian picked up a couple fish on topwater in the morning, but the topwater bite never really turned on. We heard of a crankbait bite so we went crankin for a little bit. We weren't getting bit too much, so as I was blankly staring at my tackle box I realized how much baby bass are in the water and that I have a 1/4 oz. baby bass rat-L-trap that I never use. So, I tied it on and proceeded to nail fish. Kettler soon tied on his only baby bass colored crankbait and we caught a few fish. I ended the day with 3 keepers and 3 shorts. All smallies, biggest only about 1 3/4lbs. for a grand total of 3.75lbs. for my 3 fish. Brian had 2 keepers I believe, one "rarjmow" and one "smarmow" both of the 1lb. variety. Zack probably had a legal fish, but I don't remember. We all caught quite a few little smallies mixed in with the keepers.

Wednesday night Zack had to leave and David came up this morning. We threw Rat-L-Traps all day long and caught a few fish, but it wasn't as good as yesterday. I had two legals, one barely 12 and one 13 inches. Kettler had 3 (I think, maybe 2... I'm tired), with one nice one a little over 2lbs. David got a legal and dominated the baby bass. I had 5 fish, counting shorts, David had 6 and Kettler had 7. So, pretty good fishin. Definite crankbait bite, and on the traps no less. We tried the crawdad colors a little bit cause that's what the fish were supposed to be eating, but they just chewed those baby bass colors. Wish I had more of em... Never thought I'd see a baby bass Rat-L-Trap bite at Cachuma, but it happened... Fish seemed to be on rocky shorelines, but we caught fish in the weeds too. Ten Pound Point and the surrounding area produced for us, as well as similar areas.
-Brian

I once caught 22 smallies hiking from Red Rock to the dam.
Mostly on spinners or small spoons.
Biggest was about 2 lbs that day.
Maybe half a dozen or more above a pound
Once took a four or five pounder from one of the deep pools.
It can be a great place.
Don't overlook the broad shallow pools, they can hold nice fish.

Yep, we've been nailing the nice fish there since 1988. The key is to hike up before light and fish the pools before all the littering a-holes show up. We usually are out of there by 9:00 am. My personal best is 18 inches (both largemouth and smallmouth). If you can ignore the litter that the Forest Service doesn't seem to care about it is one of the more beautiful places around here to fish.

Tagged a couple smallies years ago and found one that moved over a mile upstream in less than a week! That's about the time I also discovered the shallow flat areas will also hold fish.

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You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.

about two years ago i caught a small mouth Bass up there, it was about 12" Long (I know big whoop!) but the cool thing was it was tagged the tag was about 1 1/2 inches long Green and said "please release me" I wonder if it was one of the fish you had caght earlier?
I am planning on going to Red rock this week after work, i will let you know how i do.

Matt W

(Practicing catch and release)

Hey that's cool! That's gotta be Pete.

Yep, that was me.

Matt - do you remember the tag number?

I have narrowed it down to two fish given the size and that I only tagged a few with the "Please Release Me" tags. Anyway, When I caught the fish they were in what I call the "Fourth Pool" (where the old rope swing used to be back in the late eighties before the tree fell down). They were caught at 7:45 and 8:00 am on June 25, 1997. I recorded them at around 13 inches but I usually guess when they're that small so I'm not keeping them out of the water for longer than necessary. They were both caught on the R & R Strokers Beavertail Grub color 000.

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You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.

Hi Pete,

I didn’t see a number on the tag. I know the pool you are talking about, that’s not were I caught this bass. He/she was about ¾-1 mile down stream.
I will try to describe the hole. As you walk past red rock pool the trail crosses the creek and goes up the right side of the canyon, after a while there is what I call the first pool long wide and shallow. There is a new trail on the right that goes over the last part of the ridge and back to the creek. The first hole after you get back to the creek is where I caught the fish. (I call it second hole) its befor you cross the creek again.
It happened late afternoon on ether a popper or a small Rebel Crawdad. I cut off the front treble hook and bend down the barbs on the trailing one. When I let him go he was in good shape. I am so amazed that these fish survive the winter storms. They must get moved around a lot…
If we ever meet up let me tell you about getting the crap scared out of us by the Beavers on night while fishing that creek… Yep I am scared of wild Beaver…J

Also I think I met you Fathers day Sunday at the Launch ramp I was walking my Dog (Chocolate lab) and you were going back to the car with your float tube. I asked how the fishing was you said great… I should have stopped you and asked a few more questions I keep thinking about getting out and fishing the harbor, off a friends Kayak she keeps over on Marina one.

Matt W

PS: I wraped the trout rod I use, the blank is a piece of junk I bought at the Feed hall for two bucks. but it sure is cool fishing with somthing you made yourself..

LAST EDITED ON Jun-28-01 AT 10:50 AM (PST)

Matt,

I know the pool you're talking about. I call it the third pool. That pool is the furthest pool down that I've caught largemouth. I've caught smallmouth all the way down to the White Rock picnic area.

I started fishing there in 1988. After a couple "sunfish" only trips I caught an 8 inch smallmouth. I had never seen a smallmouth before but new it was a bass. The next weekend my cousin and I went up there before dark and did very well on decent sized bass (up to 16 inches). I'd have to say the R & R Strokers Beavertail Grub and the Rebel Crawfish are the best lures. It's amazing how much the river has changed in the past 13 years yet the bass remain.

I screwed up. The rope swing pool is what I call the "fifth pool". There is a small hidden pool just up river from the pool you caught the fish in that we call the "fourth". I have found 8 "pools" that hold decent bass from time to time not counting the pool below the dam. The seventh pool is my favorite - it is where I got my biggest redrock largemouth (18 inches).

I got my biggest redrock smallmouth (18 inches also) from the "second pool". That wide flat one right before the pool you're talking about.

The beavers scared the hell out of us the first morning we discovered them also. I still have friends here in town who do not believe me when I say there are beavers up there.

All this talk makes me want to get back up there. The ocean has had my attention too long.

I didn't fish on Father's Day (at least I don't remember fishing Father's Day :)). I did fish that Saturday (16th) with live bait for the first time from my tube.

Pete

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You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.

I am not yet concerned about beaver attacks, but perhaps if you posted your story about the red rock area beavers I would become concerned when I next fish there. Being new to the area I do wonder if bears or mountain lions are a possible threat between red rock and Gibralter dam (or, for that matter, between red rock and the Paradise pools area) especially during hours or seasons when the angler is the only one there? (Rattlesnakes too?)

Can any locals provide information about such wildlife? Thanks.

Do beavers attack? I've never heard of that. I've float tubed in many waters back east that are filled with beavers and never had any problems.

As far as other wild life I heard things that freaked me out a little when I would hike back there alone but never saw anything except a skunk early one morning.

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You can't catch tomorrow what you kill today - please practice catch and release.

In my life time I've seen 6 Mountain Lion, 4 Blackbear, over a dozen Beaver, over 30 Wild pig, and many Deer, Skunks, 'possums, Raccoons and snakes. The only ones I've had trouble with were a buck that was at Del Valle Lake and a Raccon at Henry W. Coe state park.
The Buck was tending 3 does in the heat of the rut and my dad and I got between him and the does. Dad was shoved into the water and had to get 5 stitches low in his arm pit. The buck obviously took us as a threat to his breeding rights over the does.
As for the Raccoon, I didn't get hurt by it but I couldve and it would have been my unwitting fault. I had taken shelter under a burned out Oak tree at Mahoney pond when a hail storm started. The 'coon was coming back to it's den of kits in the same tree. I had gotten between her and her babies and she was ready to kill me or die trying. Luckly I got out of there with only a bite to my backpack which I used to keep a barrier between us, and she went to check on them.
The moral of these 2 incidents is be aware and don't seperate a group of animals. All my other encounters with animals have had the same conclusion; as soon as they became aware of me they maintained a safe distance or vacated the area immediately.
You have little to fear of any healthy wild animal, so long as you give them there space.

Tight lines,
Wade