Back2back sweetwater

[Bigdog]

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.

[VinnyBass]

Nice ones!!!
Thanks for sharing.
Tight lines

[Bendo]

Until you see a weighed 10 Pound Bass, all they are all rumors. My Buddy Perry Ten Pounder catches loads of Ten Pound Bass. Nobody has ever seen one. “I fish at night”, “You didn’t get any because the school moved on”, “I forgot my phone”. All the excuses. He’s a hardcore fisherman. I’m sure his “Ten Pounders” have to be Bass over 6. That’s when they start turning into big looking fish. Until you have caught one, you don’t realize how big they really are. Lots of space down their gullet, and bugged out eyes. Every bit of 2 1/2 feet long with a fat belly. It takes a monster to drag that scale down past Ten Pounds. Most aren’t landed. They are different Fish that straight over power your gear as they dive into the cover they’re almost always adjacent to. No matter how great a fisherman you are, it still requires a bit of luck to get one in hand. The biggest secret to landing one is to fish where they are plentiful. I’ve been blessed to be taught by the best and have access to some Monster Lakes. It still took me until I was 22 to land my first, at Castaic Lake. Just an incredible feeling to finally hold one. It is worth the time and expense. My Dad said all you gotta do is put something good in front of their mouths. Simplest explanation of fishing I’ve ever heard. He also taught me bigger Bass were usually outside and deeper than the school fish. So that is where I concentrate. Once in a while it all comes together….

[DarkShadow]

It still took me until I was 22 to land my first, at Castaic Lake.

Was this in the early 90s?

[vito1023]

That looks like the {BASS} they were fairly plentiful at Otay back in the 80s. That’s what a {BASS} should look like.

[Bendo]

Time Frame is correct, this one was from the Afterbay. Back then, every local Kid on the Lake had Pics of Giants. The hot bait was a 4 inch white Mr Twister on a 1/4 oz jig head. This one was hooked on an AC Lure thrown with my Flipping Stick and a 6501c Ambassador Reel with 20 pound line. As it was I barely kept her from tangling me on a Bouy then under the Rental Dock. Seems like yesterday….

[KillinTime]

Nice. Whish they would open it to boats.

[Mcfish]

That looks like the {BASS} they were fairly plentiful at Otay back in the 80s. That’s what a {BASS} should look like.

I think the 80s were the prime years to get a double digit! San V, Hodges, and Otay all had 10+ fish that were there for the taking! If you didn't get a 10 back then, you probably at least lost a couple!

[vito1023]

Back in the 80’s I recall this one day anchored up fishing along with about 6 other boats not that far away from us when someone turned the lights on and every boat all at the same time hooked up with monster Bass, my two buddies caught 9lb and a 8lb Bass and I caught a 6lb all within 10 minutes and we looked up to see the other boats doing the same it was wild.
I remember it was 3 days before the New Moon and have always tried to fish the same circumstance when possible. Same with Hodges down by the Dam lots of good size fish 4 to 5lbers sadly those days seem over and I still haven’t caught double digit Bass.

[DarkShadow]

Time Frame is correct, this one was from the Afterbay. Back then, every local Kid on the Lake had Pics of Giants. The hot bait was a 4 inch white Mr Twister on a 1/4 oz jig head. This one was hooked on an AC Lure thrown with my Flipping Stick and a 6501c Ambassador Reel with 20 pound line. As it was I barely kept her from tangling me on a Bouy then under the Rental Dock. Seems like yesterday….

The early 90s is when I started moving from PowerBaiting off the face of the dam at Castaic for holdover trout, to becoming more focused on catching bass.

There wasn't a day that would go by where boaters would dock, take pics of their double digit(s) and let them go. A lot went down to the old tackle shop to weigh them, and then would release them into the lagoon, hence why that place was/is still loaded with DDs. (Ask Butch Brown)

A funny story:

During those years, I also learned that these big mommas LOVED crawdads, but for some reason, they would not touch the crawdads that you bought at the tackle shop. So, I'd spend an afternoon at the local 'creek' (if you could call it that) and would get 15 or so 2 to 2.5 inch craws, and not the bright red ones that you would see everywhere. They were more brown/green, and it was bass candy. I never realized how many 5's and 6's I was catching from shore, just because that was the norm back then. One time I brought out my cousin, and he went out a few times by himself after that. One day as we're having a party at his home, I open the freezer to get some ice, and there are two BIG OLE BULGING eyeballs staring at me. Yep, this guy had caught what I estimated to be a 10-12 pound fish, and took it home and ate it. All that was left was the head. "I'm gonna make soup with it."

Here I was, trying to catch a DD at 13 years old, and my older cousin had already beat me to the punch, and he had zero idea how to fish.

(I explained to him why he should've released it, and kept the smaller fish, so he did learn the folly of his ways)

If anybody wants to read more about Castaic in the early 90s, they should read "Sowbelly" by Monty Burke. It's a great read.