Well.... made it out to Cachuma last thurs and fri in an attempt for the elusive redear. I was planning on fishinig all thurs and fri but seeing that my car broke down on thurs morning on the way down I spent the rest of the day on a tow truck and sitting in Atascadero all day but enough about that grrr..... We started fishing for the Redear on fri and hit storke flats, narrows, jack rabbit, and the Cistern. It was pretty much one here and one there till we got the Cistern. There we fished the Santa Barbara side and it was on. We fished there for about 2 hours and it was a Redear factory. We went no longer than 5 minutes when either of us didnt have a fish on. Got ourselves a couple of smallmouths too in the mix. All the fish were caught at about 35 feet. About the trout, Kelly was right all of the fish are indeed still on the top. We trolled flashers and crawlers with no weight about 50 feet back and did pretty well. Tried trolling the narrows and spotted huge schools of shad and trolled right behind them with needlefish and picked up a couple. The best ticket that we found was trolling the point of Clark Canyon to the entrance of Johnson Bay for the evening bite. Both thurs and fri the evening bite here was awesome. Thanks again for the advice on the redear Kelly the Cistern(SB side)was definitely was the ticket. Oh yeah right before we left from the Cistern I hooked into something huge and I mean huge! I dont know what it was but it kind of felt like a huge cat or big largemouth. It moved me around the boat a couple of times but I just couldnt gain any ground on it or get it to the surface to see what it was with the light spinning outfit I was using. He ended up breaking off after about 20 minutes. I wouldnt be suprised if people in SB didnt hear my scream..... Well I guess that is what keeps us coming back... here are some of the photos....

http://www.calfishing.com/dcforum/User_files/3bfbfeaa093d38a9.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/dcforum/User_files/3bfbff090b3466fb.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/dcforum/User_files/3bfbff8012ccd817.jpg

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)

Great report, thanks for taking the time to write it, and its cool to see the photo’s

I hope to take my kids up to Cachuma soon


Matt W

Great job and great account. Were you anchored or drifting for the redear, and were you using the usual 1/2 nightcrawler?

Well Zacharooni...Looks like you found them. I was happy to hear some of the advice is still good. Hard to believe I haven't fished for them in over 5 years. Seasonal patterns on Cachuma once learned are good forever it has been my experience...A bit of advice on reeling in big fish on spinning tackle....BACK REEL THEM!!! Don't use your drag but use the rod to fight with and back down by reeling backwards while keeping pressure on them....That's why they give you that stupid little deal on your reel which usually causes problems rather than solutions...Try it sometime, it works for me.

Well I am finally done with the old ladys "to do" list that built up during my 2 day fishing trip to Cachuma. Seems like when I left there was nothing to do but when you go fishing with the boys you come back to this HUGE list. It is amazing how they can think of all this stuff that needs to be done while you are out fishing. Now I am finally done and able to get back to planning another trip :-). Back reel em huh Kelly? Dosent that mean that I am reeling them farther away fom the boat???? Oh I get it!!! I need to do is just turn the rod around and reel like I used to right? This fishing thing is so easy.....

Z-Man out