Hey I headed down to San Diego with a private boat. That should give you an idea of where I fished....still can't guess...come on, the only San Diego lake open to fishing and private boating...ok, San Vicente!

I fished all over the lake, doing my normal milk runs. Finally, I got one to suck down my Eagle. She was about 6 or so pounds and came out of shallow water.

I had 2 other vicious strikes, and suprise-suprise, I missed 'em. It took me all day of chunking that thing to get the bites.

Here are some new things I'm doing that I think is helpful to communicate: Fluorocarbon leader...I've been using 30LB Sugoi attached to 30Lb P-Line CXX Green. And I'm using a Shimano TE 400 Calcutta (compliments of da Shimano crew!). Overall...I can't believe I did it any other way...Here goes:

The Fluorocarbon is of course low profile, but even more, it's very durable and abrasion resistant. Those Eagles, and the collar-system will flat cut your line, so go big, or re-tie often, or be prepared to suck. I choose to go big. I still am changing my Fluoro leader about once or twice a day. After catching the fish pictured below, my leader was thrashed. But, it didn't break! 30 lb P-line floats real well and helps me keep my bait near the surface. AND it helps fill up my TE 400 reel easily! On the reel side, that 400 series has been a major step up over the 200 series TE....couple of things here: big handle--the handle alone makes fishing the bait 25% easier. Line retrieve--I'm not a gear ratio/line retrieve junkie, but that 400 seems to be a faster reel than the 200...or should I say I can reel the bait in faster with the 400 than the 200.

I did throw a Generic Trout hard bait, and had a few followers. I'm still learning that bait. Gonna have to go direct to Rob on some GT 101 classes.

San V overall is very tough..in my opinion. Not very many if any fish being caught. Someone's on them!

M

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

Attachment #1, (.gif file)

Nice fish on the swimbait. I wish i had all thosebass setups you have in your boat!


----
Andrew Giaconi
AndrewGiaconi@Basserman.com
http://www.Basserman.com

Cool pics matt you made all those changes for the upcoming season and I like your thoughts on the floro but you really need to find a way to load that eagle up with hooks.

Lake,

I'll post some pics on the latest rig I'm using..plus my thoughts. I have a 50% it's the bait, and 50% it the damn clear water and super savvy fish theory.

I made up a hanging hook rig...

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

Sweet cant wait to see it

Nice one dude. Can't wait till things get hoppin on the trout baits. Did you throw the generic swimbait at all (assuming you picked one up)?
-Brian

Brian,

No I didn't buy one the G-Trout softies....I did buy a Kanji and a Charlie....

No reason, other than I am on swimbait overload right now.....too many baits, and not enough confidence in any of em!

:)

The G-Trout softie looked cool. I wasn't blown away....the rig looked kinda Osprey-ish....which to me = gay. The bait itself looked great, and my friend Dane aka nosehookrook...bought one and we fished Lake MV after hearing Aaron ramble about Tora Tubes!!! Tora Tubes?

Oh boy, another day.

It swam real good and looked like it had a good profile...It just didn't look real "heavy duty" to me...

M

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

Thanks for the report Peepers. You got something going with that Eagle bait there that's for sure. Keep messing with it and maybe you'll crack the case on hooking and landing those big dogs.

I'm gonna be sending one up your way, so you can help reduce the learning curve!

:)

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

nice fish dude. san diego lakes are all pretty cool looking, and apperently hold some pretty cool looking fish.

man, who took that picture?

Don't worry, we'll get it figured out by the end of the season. My goal, hook 75% of the bites I get on the Eagle. That should equal 2-3 fish over 5 a day down there. Should make for some fat sacks at weigh in time:)

Keep a tight line
Cam

Socalfrogger!

Cam, I had no idea. I didn't know you had a screen name. Give the guy a computer and see what happens.

So we got the NoseHookRook, SoCalFrogger, and BassNet now from Shimano.

You guys can forward my Shimano plugs up the pole to get me that Team Shimano boat right?

:)

M

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

YEAH MATT, THE SHIMANO TEAM BOAT CONSIST'S OF 8 BROKEN CALCUTTA RODS TAPED TOGETHER, AND A CALCUTTA W/ A PADDLEWHEEL FOR A SPOOL MOUNTED ON THE BACK, AS FOR A FISHFINDER, WE JUST GIVE BASSNET SOME FLIPPERS AND A PAIR OF GOGGLES, AND SEND HIM ON DOWN FOR A LOOK!!!!

NO REALLY MAN, IF ANYONE IS GONNA SET THE MARK DOWN THERE, I'M SURE YOU AND CAMMY ARE ON TOP OF IT!!! BTW---> I TALKED TO ERIC, FROM ERIC'S TACKLE, HE HAS SOME OF THE BABY BASS CASTAIC PLUGS LEFT, HE WILL GIVE THEM TO "US" FOR $50...