San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Well another local body of water with no lifetime skunk for me. This one took me 4 trips and every one was filled with optimism, the place looks so fishy...anyway here are some examples...nothing big but feels good to wash the skunk off...
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With a very hot day ahead, I was going to stay home but decided to go to Murray. Finally got on the water a little after 7am and messed around trying to catch one of the bass chasing shad along the surface. It was next to impossible as those little buggers were up and down quickly but did pick up ...

When I went to Murray on Tuesday the lake was alive with busters everywhere. Yesterday it had calmed down considerably. I still managed a few topwater early, but it got hot.

I started focusing on shady pockets in the tules, and found some jig success that way. Surprisingly, I saw a couple of very ...

It has been a while since I found some quality at the local pond...but got a couple good ones Monday evening... on my 2nd cast/flip
about 5 minutes later...

Finally caught something worth posting about at sweetwater all I ever catch here are bass all under 1lb finally caught these 2 on back to back days I guess the rumors of people catching 10lb bass here are true.

Sometimes you just need a little break and decided it was time again to hit Murray in the morning before it gets too hot. Did not get an early start as I finally was on the water around 7:45a.m. Not much surface action so I decided to flip a little with a Tokyo rig. I probably mentioned it a number ...

Camped there last month. There were plenty of trout most small. Small cast master and drop shot.

So,

As everyone knows Hodges opened last week. I've been starving for a crappie bite all year. I had to go. Plus the kids have been asking to get out as well. Thought it was the perfect opportunity for both.

Got there in line before it opened to ensure we got a rental.

The ramp is now the parking ...

Continued my quest for improving my kayak crappie techniques on Father's Day with a very lazy 'gentlemans hours' kayak launch at 10:30 am. Weather was bright sunny and the water temp pushing 74.

The deeper side of the lake in the deeper channel areas seemed to be the ticket for finding them. Used ...

Man that's one badass cooler shot. Eatin good!

Guys,
I cooked up them crappie tonight, fillets. Mixing bowl 1/2 and 1/2 and 1 egg.
Put fillets on a paper towel and dry well.
Add Tony chacheres seasoning. Then dip in egg then into Zatarains fish fri (seasoned yellow box) .
As long as you live, you'll never let a fish swim away again.

Haha

The kids have been ready for another trip since we did so well @ Hodges a couple of months ago. I've been hearing the bluegill bite was on @ Otay so I thought we would give it another try. I say another try as I've taken the kids here a few times and we never seem to have a good day. My son labeled ...

No Warmouth in California. You guys are catching Green Sunfish.

They are found in creeks pretty often. Lake option are the hybrids like this May 28, 2023 from San Vicente.

578ED294-151C-40A2-A791-225B639F734C.jpeg This one came from Harmony Grove. The orange was amazing.


That's where I caught them before too along with bass up to 5lbs. This was before the housing development and horse corral was built but I'm sure they're still there because I saw some little ...

I had so much fun catching that crappie this week I decided to panfish Otay. It'd been a while since I'd done it and man was it fun. I caught 12 sunfish/bluegill a long with a bunch of bass. All the fish fell victim to a Megabass Griffon crankbait.

The highlight was a massive 2 1/4 pounder. I ...

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Took a stroll along a local creek....
Got that pretty bluegill, as well as five small bass.

And bumped four of these out of the brush...

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The bluegill and a couple bass bit a gold Panther Martin. The other bass ate the ever-popular 3 inch bass ...

Have fished successfully at Santee Lakes for bluegill and bass lately. The hotter the better. I'm fishing my UL trout rod, usually no weight or float and getting some on the micro-popper too. If you have kids this is an easy place for catching fish, 4# or 6# fluoro line and small #10 mosquito hooks ...

Cancelled my freshwater plans after the rain. Slept in all morning. Jumped in the water at 9:45(slack tide) calm and empty. Got bit right off.

I had a 1/4oz jig on 6lb and 1/2oz jig on 8lb. Crawling them deep in the middle of the bay. I got out at 12:30 cause it got crowded and windy.

Ended with ...