Too much work has kept me from doing anything this week but I had some great excitement when my buddy Jose Robles came into the shop and brought in a MONSTER fish. Jose said it was a bluegill and I was inclined to agree and we got an official weight on the fish from the Arroyo Grande Meat Market; 3.97 pounds! I got some good pictures on Susanne’s digital camera and they are on the bulletin board at the shop. We called DFG and they want someone to inspect the fish and render a judgment as to the species. If it is a bluegill it will beat the previous state record by almost 8 ounces, if it is a redear it is 1 pound 3 ounces short of the record. Needless to say we are hoping it is a bluegill!
I need to start taking notes, so many people have been in with fish reports this week but I can’t remember a thing. Cachuma has been fishing well with dropshot leading the way and some reaction baits like rattletraps and spinnerbaits also catching some fish. Trout baits have been taking some really good fish and the bite seems to be continuing. Senkos also have produced some fish in the brushy areas particularly behind the island.
Lopez has still been on fire with good fish on 7” Roboworms, dropshot, and some Senko fish like the nice one Phil got earlier. The trout bite has been very good and they are offering $100 for any tagged fish brought to the ranger station. Crappie and bluegill have been hot and the wind should not be too bad over the next few days. Susanne and I drove out there Friday night after work and it wasn’t whitecapping, which is good for that lake in the spring. My old buddy, Crappie John, got his boat smashed by 3 young kids in a big Bayliner who weren’t paying attention as they were heading out for an afternoon ski trip. John was dead in the water and the Bayliner sheared the bow off John’s old tri-hull.
Santa Margarita has been pounded by big tournaments and there is one more there Sunday. Western Bass will draw about 40 boats and after that there are none for a while. At the last tournament, Gold Coast, there were 26 boats and a 6 fish limit and the winner, Jerry Williams, brought in 32 pounds for a 5.3 pound average! All the fish were caught on the Osprey; he reported he had over 20 fish caught! Second place was held by Todd Livermore with 23 pounds all on the trout and almost everyone in the tournament caught trout bait fish. I went up there on Wednesday and threw the Osprey around for a few hours with 5 bites and only one hook up, a nice 5 pounder we landed. We threw topwater extensively and never had a sniff. Our best bite was the dropshot fished almost everywhere. We also had some good fish on the Lucky Craft LV 500 in American shad and Nishiki. If you haven’t tried an LV 500 you should, they cast like a bullet and just seem to catch big fish.
Nacimiento is still hot but with the warm weather coming dodging wakeboarders and jet skis will be a problem. I saw a guy at Lopez Lake a couple of weeks ago with a broken leg when he got smashed between the jetski he was driving and someone else’s. They were doing doughnuts and got out of control. Try worms and jigs but the topwater bite should be very good still.
San Antonio has a tournament Saturday, May 04, 2002, with Tri-valley, and I will have some good information later on that lake. In the meantime the boats that have been up there have reported incredibly clear water and some good fish on Senkos in the river around the brush and a good flip bite there as well. There should be some bed fish still and they will be easy to see but probably tough to catch.
The boats that have gotten out with this bad wind in saltwater have reported good catches of rockfish since the season opened on the first and a few halibut outside but I haven’t heard of any inside the harbor. Some salmon are being caught and I hope that bite picks up. Good fishing everyone, tell the rest of us how you do!