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swimbait 7345 posts April 5, 2008 Water: 61 Clarity: 3-5' Level: 508.22 Wind: 5-20 Baro:

WON Bass Lopez Mark Rogers and I fished the WON Bass Lopez team tournament on Saturday. It was very windy, blowing offshore in the morning (and cold). This let up mid-day, then switched to on-shore to 15+ in the afternoon. Water temps were in the low 60's. The basic plan for the day was to get a limit on beds and throw swimbait for better fish. I had practiced the day before and seen perhaps 50 fish on beds with many more cruising around. We followed a parade of boats to the back of wittenberg in hopes of bed fishing but it was much too windy. With the wind and stirred up water, we threw swimbaits for nothing for a while, then back to the bank to look. This was the procedure for the rest of the day. Swimbait fishing turned out to be worthless for us, but several of the better size fish I had seen the day before were still around and wanted to be caught. They were hard to see, but we put 5 of those in the boat - foul hooking and releasing one other one on a drop shot. All the fish were males. I also hooked about a 3lb crappie on a bed thinking it was a bass. The fish didn't seem that big going in the boat but in the end we weighed 18.95 for the 5 fish with a big fish at 5.15lbs and took 3rd place :) All of the fish we weighed were caught on 5" Big Hammers in the #40 Invader color. It was a good day in terms of execution because we only hooked those 5 bass and they all came to weigh in. We worked a half dozen other fish that wouldn't bite including one that would have meant 2nd place, but that's OK - you can't catch them all. This will probably be my last Lopez trip for a good long while as we are moving in August and Santa Margarita is closer to the house. Lopez is a fun lake, but definitely a windy one. Thanks Mark for making the drive up to fish. It was a fun day.

Sacto John 897 posts March 1, 2008 Water: Clarity: Level: Wind: Baro:

Folsom Sunday 3-30-08 Went out Sunday to Folsom to fish for a few hours. The plan was to throw swimbaits all day and see if I could get a nice fish. On the water at 7:00, just in time to see all the boats blast off for the ABA tourney. I point jumped as much as I could, the ABA guys were on a lot of the stuff I wanted to fish. At 10:30 or so after breaking off a swimbait and drifting to the back of a cove, I decided I wanted to at least catch a fish. I tied on a c-rig lizard and went a dragg'n. To my defense I have had a pretty crummy year so far, I have been fishing 5 times before this trip and have only caught 5 fish (4 fish came last Monday out on the Delta) none bigger than 3.8. Within minutes of "giving in"I hook up with a nice chunky 2.4 spot, a minute later another 1.3, then a rat, then another rat, then a 2.2. in the period of about 20 minutes I have landed just as many fish as I had all year up tho that point. I moved to the back of the next cove and started dragging again. I am watching the meter trying to keep the boat in 15-20 feet, and I see a nice arch on the graph and I think to myself if that is a fish it is a good one, About a minute later when my bait is over the spot I saw the arch, I get bit, set and its a good one. The fish comes out of the water and I about freak, its at least 8 pounds. I fight the fish all the way to the boat and it jumps one last time surges and POP the line breaks at the swivel. I fished until noon catching a few more spots, although I did not weigh them as none of them were as big as the fish I caught earlier. Lesson learned; when dragging a C-Rig check your knots often. At least I caught a few fish.

Ken A 447 posts March 21, 2008 Water: 57 Clarity: 6' Level: 100% Wind: 10-15 Baro:

Santa Margarita, 3/21 My first Friday off for a while so headed up to Santa Margatita. Lake level it topped off from the winter rains. Water temp was about 57* with a visabliliy of about 6' in some areas. A calm morning but the wind picked up pretty early and blew hard. I caught 4 average sized Margarita fish on a drop shot. Lots of boats and campers with Spring break and Easter weekend.

swimbait 7345 posts January 26, 2008 Water: Clarity: Level: Wind: Baro:

HBC - The Report My day started at 2:48am Friday morning. My alarm was set for 2:50 but for some reason I had a dream where I heard a doorbell and woke up out of a dead sleep. I guess my brain knew it was just about time to get up and go fish! The drive to the lake kept me on my toes with heavy rain squalls and two rock slides to dodge on 33. I got checked in and found CV. Took some time to chat it up with old friends and acquaintances. My observer for the day was John Wheat, a local fisherman. CV ate 4 eggs with toast while we bs'd and waited for the rules meeting :) The sound of the rain on the metal roof of the bait shop during the meeting was like an ominous drum roll. I think it was Lake Casitas' way of saying - if you want these big bass, you're going to have to earn them. Ken Huddleston gave a heart felt speech about his dream for the event, which was met with a warm round of applause. I was boat 8 out. I told Urban we should have a race, but I think he had me beat with his 25hp motor. If there was a prize for smallest boat in the field, I'm sure I would have won. I had a spot that I was very much hoping to get on in the morning, and felt I had decent odds being boat 8. I knew the first 10 minutes of the tournament would be critical (as they later turned out to be). When I pulled up, someone was on it - pretty sure it was Butch. I expected that the good spots would all be covered up immediately in this tournament, and frankly I was not disappointed. The talent in the field was so great that people were all over the good areas all day. I hung on a nearby spot and waited. The spot cleared out and before I could move over to it, another boat pulled up and hit it perfectly again. About this time the wind kicked up. For the rest of the day we would have 10-30mph winds, with rain squalls tearing across the lake. It's really something when you can hear a squall coming before it hits :) I battled it out, fishing deep with the stocker trout and 10" mattlures and up shallow with slammer and triple trout. My key spots were all covered up by other guys, but I got my shots in when the spots opened up. I also spent a lot of time in the brush looking for the random 5-8lb bite. John was great, encouraging and professional. I know it as killing him to be on the water and not able to fish, or help me out. My boat is very wet in the chop, and we got thrashed pretty good coming across the open fetches of the lake. He never complained. My battery is going on 2+ years and needs replacement but it wasn't the in the budget. Nonetheless, the Trojan SCS-225 held out until noon before dying. I went to my backup 12v graph battery to keep me going until the last cast. I couldn't hold on the open lake, but I was able to fish a lot of good water during the day. In the end I never got bit, bumped, or followed. I did spend about 20 minutes with a 7" senko, but it as 95% swimbait for me. I won't be able to fish the July 11 Clear Lake event, so there was no point in trying to catch a small one for qualifying purposes. Looking back at the day, I have no regrets. I cycled through the key areas as often as I could, fishing percentage baits on the key casts. I didn't cave and go hide out of the wind, or panic and start jumping random points. A new battery might have helped some, but overall my gear held up and the boat did the best it could for a 15 footer in tough condition. At the end of the day I hung out and talked it up with more old friends and acquaintances. I kept trying to leave, and then kept running in to more people I wanted to talk to lol. Getting to see everyone really took the edge off a tough day of fishing. On the drive home I talked to Lake, Mark Rogers, Nico, and Matt Peters. It took 3 hours and 45 minutes to get to Atascadero, with horrible traffic by Gaviota, but Matt kept me awake and driving between the lines. Thanks bro. I would rate the event as a big success. For trophy guys, for the organizers, and for the sport in general. The observers in particular deserve a huge thanks for adding legitimacy to the event and ensuring fairness. This tournament felt a lot more like an FLW Pro-Am than a team tournament as far as the overall quality of the competition and feel of excitement in the air. I, for one, will be be back. All photos by John Wheat Ron Cervenka addressing the anglers Ken Huddleston Cris Vanclef Checking the boat, Don Moorman left and Leroy right Launch Battling the wind

swimbait 7345 posts January 20, 2008 Water: 57-58.5 Clarity: 3-6 feet Level: Wind: 0-8 Baro:

Last Day of HBC Practice I took the boat down at the last minute Sunday to Casitas. I've been sick and wasn't sure if I would make it. The lot was crowded, I stopped counting at 60 trailers in the main lot and there were at least 20 more over at the Coyote ramp. ABA tournament and just a lot of people fishing. Water was dingier than a few weeks ago. 3-6 foot visibility with a lot of "stuff" in the water. Green color. Temps were 57-58 degrees, occasionally 58.5 in the afternoon. I made my first cast at 10am, the conditions were flat calm with clear skies. Breeze came up around 10:45am and it was around 5mph winds for the rest of the day. 10 minutes in to the day I got cracked by a 5lber on on the 9" MS Slammer. I wasn't watching the lure but turned in time to watch the fish twist and come off. That was a decent start. I mixed it up moving shallow to deep and trying to locate any kind of pattern or concentration. During the rest of the day I had two follows and saw one other fish. One follow on the Slammer was about 12lbs. The other one was on Triple Trout and would have gone 7 or so. The only fish I actually eyeballed up shallow was about 10, it was just cruising. No shad are up now. There's birds around the lake but they don't look like they are really on anything. I could see the shad coming up or down any time but with rain now and more rain forecast it will not be obvious where the bait is visually. My prediction for the tournament is that a 9lber will take it. 6lber will get you top 5. Half the field will blank give or take. It will depend how many guys bring spinning rods to just get bit and catch a fish. My gear is already rigged for Friday. 6 swimbait rods that go like this: Okuma 7'11"XH - CTE400 - 25 Triple Fish - 10" Stocker Trout Rainshadow SW967 - CTE400 - 25 Triple Fish - 10" Triple Trout Okuma 7'11"H - CTE 300 - 25 Triple Fish - 9" MS Slammer Calstar 900L - Calcutta 400 - 25 Triple Fish - 10" Mattlures Trout (proto) Whitmer Downwrap XXXH - Curado 300 - 50 Bully Braid - Lunker Punker Rainshadow SW967 - CTE400 - 25 Triple Fish - Rago Live Trout Softbait That's the deal. My expectation is for 1-3 bites on the day. If one of them sticks and goes in the net, I'll be happy. Winning will all come down to whether it's the right bite or not.

swimbait 7345 posts December 28, 2007 Water: 51 Clarity: 3-15 feet Level: 748.50 Wind: 0-8 mph Baro:

San Antonio Largemouth Mr. SWMB8R was up in town for the holidays so we decided to mount a striper mission to San Antonio. The forecast was for light rain, and the day turned out to be great fishing weather, with a threatening overcast all day and light winds from the south, switching to the north at the end of the day. Water temps were 51 on the surface. The clarity on the west end of the lake was algae with 2-3 feet vis. By the dam however it was blue and super clear, 12-15 foot vis. We checked the entire lake for stripers casting and trolling Big Hammers. We tried Triple Trout, spoons, rattle traps, and Lunker Punker. We started 20 minutes before sunrise and fished until sunset. On the first spot of the day, Mark had a 5lb striper chase the Lunker Punker. There may have been some fishing busting here but they could have been carp also. Thousands of carp in that lake. The boils were small and sharp like striper boils but it was impossible to tell. After that initial striper sighting, the rest of the day was brutal tough. There was sign of fish on the meter on the river end of the lake, but they would not bite. Around 2pm we gave up on the stripers and drug some worms around for bass. Mark caught a 2lber on a random break way out in the lake that we saw on the meter. Finally, around 4pm we hit our last spot of the day. I picked up another fish drop shotting a good old fashioned 5" green pumpkin worm. We turned around on the spot and had a double hookup. Go figure? I was a bit surprised to get 3 fish almost in a row after a brutal day. The next 30 minutes though, the fishing went stupid on drop shot. We caught 12 more largemouth, most of which were around 2lbs. I had almost left the spinning rods at home but it turned out a good thing in the end. As soon as the sun went over the hill, the bite ended. We hit the window for the entire day, and were fortunate to be on a spot with a lot of fish. Funny day in that regard. The fish were in 15-18 feet of water. I think they were triggered in to biting during the warmest part of the day. The water down deep has to be super cold there right now because my lures felt frozen when I put them in my hand. I think the shad have moved to the deeps, and are perhaps dying now with the cold. Lots of these Sunset on the water http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/12_28_07_sunset.jpg

swimbait 7345 posts December 21, 2007 Water: 60 Clarity: 10-12 Level: Wind: 0-15 knts Baro:

Casitas - lake lockjaw The plan was to go to Silverwood. The forecast was for 25 degrees and 40mph winds. We said funk all that, woke up at 4am and went to Casitas. Casitas was post front but nice weather. Only 37 in the morning, and not much wind at all. They planted 2900lbs of trout a few days earlier. The quagga mussel inspection was much more relaxed here. The guy at the gate pretty much told us that the other gate guys were jerks and he was going to let us through even though the boat was wet - which I hinted was because of the RAIN. But hey... Water temps were 60 degrees. Water was the clearest I have seen at Casitas overall. It was a good 10-12 feet on most of the lake. Fishing was the worst of the entire trip. We did a lot of regular fishing even. We never saw a bass up shallow and never had a single follower. We cast and trolled and c-rigged and drop shotted. It was laughably bad. In the marina there were shad under the docks. The water there was green, which explained the shad. Guys on the docks were netting shad and catching bass. Saw 3 fish caught including a 7lber. I caught a ROF12 hudd and a 9" stocker trout while trolling. Nico caught a sweet push button reel combo casting. We got skunked as far as catching actual live bass went, so we packed up and drove to Atascadero. lake lockjaw http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/12_21_07_casitas.jpg

swimbait 7345 posts December 20, 2007 Water: 58-59 Clarity: 3-4 feet Level: 1711.74 Wind: 0-10 knts Baro:

DVL Striper We should have woken up earlier this day. We had to go to the parking lot at Perris because I lost the clevis pin that holds the transom saver on the boat. Luckily we found it. Then we drove through beautiful eastern LA, and the endless stoplights of Hemet, CA. Then the grocery store to get something to eat. We wind up at Diamond Valley some time after 9am and are subjected to a thorough quagga mussel inspection, by a guy who was a nice guy - but very thorough. Next to us in inspection land is none other than Allan Cole and his buddy Mark. We chatted for a bit. They relayed to us that the trout stock had been first thing in the morning and they had seen 20 chasers from bass and stripers. Dammittalllallallllallallllal. We got our sorry asses on the water (which was 58-59 degrees with 4-6 foot clarity and stained) and pounded the marina trolling swimbaits and casting. Not a damn thing, no chasers, nothing. We watched some guy catch an 8lber on a live trout, and watched another guy slow troll live trout around the marina. Welcome to So-cal. We learned that if you are using live trout while fishing from shore and you don't want to be seen casting it, you should throw small rocks at the trout by your feet to make it swim away from shore. What a bunch of clowns fishing at DVL in the marina. After a few hours we went to the other side of the lake, which took forever. We tried by the dams, mainly trolling. Nothing. Then we jumped every point from the west dam to the main dam. On the last major point before the smaller marina points the meter lit up good. We fished it, then turned the boat to cast more. I tossed a 5.5" rainbow trout colored big hammer and got hit. Hooray a fish! It turned out to be a 12.26lb striper. We fished out the day then put the boat on the trailer and fished from shore in the shore fishing only area. No sign of life. We left the lake at 4:27pm and headed for Silverwood, which is about 65 miles from Diamond Valley. It started raining. Traffic turned to crap city. We passed a Bass Pro Shops sign. It was getting on 2 hours of driving and we had to be to Silverwood by 7pm or not get in the gate. SWMB8R bailed or butts out big time. He lives 4 miles from Bass Pro and on the way to Silverwood. We stayed there again. But first we went to Bass Pro, with a dead striper in the back of the boat, in the rain. Bass Pro was a bit of a let down. They had the 12" BPS worms which was sweet, but the people in the fishing department didn't know what an ice jig was. It was somewhat likely that they also did not know the difference between a largemouth bass and a trout. The aquarium had nice fish. Mark bought Uncle Bucks beer batter for the striper which was YUMMY. Mark filleted our fish for us and we had beer batter striper for dinner at like 9pm. Delicious. Big Hamster Striper DVL http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/12_20_07_dvl.jpg

swimbait 7345 posts December 19, 2007 Water: 57-59 Clarity: 3-5 feet Level: Wind: 0-5 knts Baro:

Perris report Got a late start this morning. It was cloudy again. Great condition. Perris was 57-59 degrees and stained. In some places it seemed like you could see down 5 feet, other places 3. There are about 20,000 seagulls on Perris right now, most of which seem to be spending their days eating mayflies on the surface of the lake - which is odd. We focused on rocky areas, fishing obvious stuff. We stayed pretty shallow all day. Nico got in to the carp pretty good with a rattletrap at one point, which was exciting until we realized they were carp. He hooked several but they kept coming off. They were big suckers lol. Bass fishing was slow... I caught one nearly dead, blind in both eyes bass that probably weighed a pound and a half on a 5/8oz black/red Assalt jig. Nico scared the crap out of me when he got a 4lber on the BBZ-1. The fish ate the lure at the tip of his rod and when I heard the splash and turned, the fish was already in the boat He snagged the fish right in the eye, poor thing. We thought that might bode well but the rest of the day resulted in nothing. We camped at the lake, charged our batteries in the bathroom and got hassled by the cops (who entertained themselves by driving 50mph through the campground for a few laps before and after). Really they were just checking in to see what kind of lunatics would be camping at the lake in December. That would be us. I specialize in catching blind bass Nico The lake http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/12_19_07_perris.jpg

swimbait 7345 posts December 17, 2007 Water: 57 Clarity: 4-6 feet Level: Wind: 0-5 knts Baro:

winter bassing, castaic lagoon The water at the lagoon was low, with moderate clarity of around 4-6 feet. I forget the temp, around 57 I think. We were the only boat on the lake. Fishing was slow. We threw swimbaits of course. No nibbles or follows for the first few hours. About 10am I looked across the lake and saw seagulls getting frisky, then noticed the trout stocking truck. Merry Christmas to us from the Department of Fish and Game. he he. We headed to the ramp and watched the trouts adjust to their new surroundings. No sign of momma bass here. We fished all over by the ramp. Butch showed up after a while. I wanted to talk to him but never got a chance. We felt less stupid about not catching anything when he headed straight to the spot we had spent most of the morning on. After another lap or so around the lake I finally connected with a 4lb bass on the triple trout. Nico may have been bit the cast before that to the same spot. The fish I caught hit twice, or there were multiple fish on it. At sunset, we went back to that spot again, circled upwind, dropped the anchor and let some scope back. Nico lined up the cast with the 12" MS Slammer, wagged it along about 30 feet and got attacked on the surface by a 6.35lber That was cool. After dark we parked the truck and the boat and shore fished until I think around 8pm. In the first 20 minutes I made a parallel cast with the 9" Slammer and got exploded on. A very sharp, hard hit. I got about 3 cranks on the fish and it seemed to point its head straight at me and it pulled off. I was pretty annoyed, the fish looked to be over 8lbs, perhaps bigger. We had no more bites after that despite fishing all the way to the buoy line and back. http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/12_17_07_nico_6.45lbs.jpg