vito1023 wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2026 6:18 am
I’m curious if Barrett has buoys on the dam now, I’ve fished it before and no buoys?
Hey Vito, I just talked to 2 buddies who fish
Barrett often and both say there is a buoy and
that you cannot go beyond it to fish at Barrett. Maybe years ago in the past maybe you could fish right up to the dam but not anymore.
This is from the City of San Diego website regarding Lake Barrett: • Anchoring of any type of watercraft on the Restricted Area Buoy line is prohibited.
vito1023 wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2026 6:18 am
I’m curious if Barrett has buoys on the dam now, I’ve fished it before and no buoys?
Hey Vito, I just talked to 2 buddies who fish Barrett often and both say there is a buoy and that you
cannot go beyond it to fish at Barrett.
Maybe years ago in the past maybe you could fish right up to the dam but not anymore.
This is from the City of San Diego website regarding Lake Barrett: • Anchoring of any type of watercraft on the Restricted Area Buoy line is prohibited.
Yeah I thought it was weird I remember pushing off the dam and catching a nice bass, I don’t remember any other lake that I’ve fished where you could do that.
I think it has been a few years since they put the buoy line up at Barrett. The story goes that there were some State inspectors looking at the dam and they noticed tubers and boaters fishing against the dam.....needless to say they went NUTS. That used to be some of the best fishing when the bass had the shad pushed up against the dam.......you had to squeeze in to get a spot to fish....."those were the days my friend".
TommyP wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2026 8:34 am
I think it has been a few years since they put the buoy line up at Barrett. The story goes that there were some State inspectors looking at the dam and they noticed tubers and boaters fishing against the dam.....needless to say they went NUTS. That used to be some of the best fishing when the bass had the shad pushed up against the dam.......you had to squeeze in to get a spot to fish....."those were the days my friend".
TommyP
Sounds like that was a blast! All my fishing life I always used to look over at the dams at our lakes protected
by the buoy lines and think I bet there are some big bass over there and wish I could fish there.
VinnyBass wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2026 9:27 am
Sounds like that was a blast! All my fishing life I always used to look over at the dams at our lakes protected
by the buoy lines and think I bet there are some big bass over there and wish I could fish there.
Ah... the forbidden fruit! Don't forget about those giant catfish the divers have seen!
tomnilll wrote: Thu Jul 09, 2026 11:31 am
Well, thanks all for the "advice"! Just spent an hour scouring regulations to find where it says you cannot fish from shore beyond a line of buoys in the water...any help?
Don't take this wrong...but the buoys basically tell you that beyond them it is a restricted area and the furthest you can go
on the lake if you are fishing in any type of floating craft on the water, so the same would apply to the shore fishermen.
Heck if all shore fishermen could fish between the buoys and the dam, there would be tons of fishermen fishing those areas.
For years I would look over at beyond the buoys at any lake and say wow, I would love to fish over there and I bet there
are a lot of bass near the dam. Several decades ago my buddy and I were in a lake boat at Hodges. I don't know what
happened but we were working the shoreline toward the dam and somehow the buoy line was broke so we just kept on
fishing and got really close to the dam. It was pretty cool and looked very fishy as we never got that close to the dam.
Suddenly one of the city workers who worked the lake came flying up in a boat and told us we could not fish in that area.
Another worker in a boat later came out and they reconnect the buoy line. For me it has always been just known that
the area between the buoy line and the dam is a restricted area otherwise why would there be a buoy line?
I swear there was no buoy line at Hodges in the 80s..I remember fishing right up against the dam...
tomnilll wrote: Thu Jul 09, 2026 11:31 am
Well, thanks all for the "advice"! Just spent an hour scouring regulations to find where it says you cannot fish from shore beyond a line of buoys in the water...any help?
Don't take this wrong...but the buoys basically tell you that beyond them it is a restricted area and the furthest you can go
on the lake if you are fishing in any type of floating craft on the water, so the same would apply to the shore fishermen.
Heck if all shore fishermen could fish between the buoys and the dam, there would be tons of fishermen fishing those areas.
For years I would look over at beyond the buoys at any lake and say wow, I would love to fish over there and I bet there
are a lot of bass near the dam. Several decades ago my buddy and I were in a lake boat at Hodges. I don't know what
happened but we were working the shoreline toward the dam and somehow the buoy line was broke so we just kept on
fishing and got really close to the dam. It was pretty cool and looked very fishy as we never got that close to the dam.
Suddenly one of the city workers who worked the lake came flying up in a boat and told us we could not fish in that area.
Another worker in a boat later came out and they reconnect the buoy line. For me it has always been just known that
the area between the buoy line and the dam is a restricted area otherwise why would there be a buoy line?
I swear there was no buoy line at Hodges in the 80s..I remember fishing right up against the dam...
You are right.... but then they put a buoy line and that day me and my buddy went around it because it somehow
broke away from where it was connected to the shore and started fishing near the dam and the ranger or whoever he was
came out and told us that area is restricted.
TommyP wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2026 8:34 am
I think it has been a few years since they put the buoy line up at Barrett. The story goes that there were some State inspectors looking at the dam and they noticed tubers and boaters fishing against the dam.....needless to say they went NUTS. That used to be some of the best fishing when the bass had the shad pushed up against the dam.......you had to squeeze in to get a spot to fish....."those were the days my friend".
TommyP
Sound like a fun way to fish, but would have to argue that the good old days were hiking in before the lake ever opened back in the 80s and very early 90s. It was topwater every cast. They hit topwater all year long. Even in the winter and spawn. It was every cast!
VinnyBass wrote: Fri Jul 10, 2026 6:27 am
Don't take this wrong...but the buoys basically tell you that beyond them it is a restricted area and the furthest you can go
on the lake if you are fishing in any type of floating craft on the water, so the same would apply to the shore fishermen.
Heck if all shore fishermen could fish between the buoys and the dam, there would be tons of fishermen fishing those areas.
For years I would look over at beyond the buoys at any lake and say wow, I would love to fish over there and I bet there
are a lot of bass near the dam. Several decades ago my buddy and I were in a lake boat at Hodges. I don't know what
happened but we were working the shoreline toward the dam and somehow the buoy line was broke so we just kept on
fishing and got really close to the dam. It was pretty cool and looked very fishy as we never got that close to the dam.
Suddenly one of the city workers who worked the lake came flying up in a boat and told us we could not fish in that area.
Another worker in a boat later came out and they reconnect the buoy line. For me it has always been just known that
the area between the buoy line and the dam is a restricted area otherwise why would there be a buoy line?
These days at Sutherland you're allowed to fish the dam on foot, the rangers don't care even if you are in a tube/boat/yak
