San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Second trip to Barrett. First trip two weeks ago. Totally unprepared and didn’t have a clue. Barely eked out 5.

This trip…I found this board. Talked to some frequently flyers at the dock and at the kayak launch. I just want to say thank you to everyone. You guys are so generous with your information and tips. Thank you thank you

Got there at 4. Out on the water by 4:20. Very light wind all day. Air started 66. Was 88 by 12:00. Water 79 degrees.

Headed to the back of the Pine Arm? I think that’s what it’s called. The left side. Found a couple in the dark on a spinner bait. Got to the back of the lake and proceeded to find 8 on the whopper plopper.

Slowly started working my way backwards. Here’s where the magic begins. Saw a cove with a lot of boils. Paddled over and tried a bunch of stuff. Finally cracked the code with a 4” black and blue senko. Proceeded to pull up fish on almost every cast for the next three and a half hours. Saw two dudes on yaks watching me so I waved them in and the three of us continued to hammer them until I ran out of senkos and hooks. FOUR BAGS OF SENKOS and 20 hooks. I took 45 pics because I didn’t think any of my buds would believe me. But I got tired of taking pics so I stopped. My best guess is maybe 80-100 fish in the boat and don’t even know how many I lost or broke off (still unprepared. Will beef up on the line next time).

Left those two guys still hooting and hollering. Super cool guys offered up some hooks and senkos but I had to go.

I know it’s not always gonna be like that. But when I was reading this board and I saw people saying “oh I got 80”. “Oh I got 100”. I was like “bullshit!” But it’s not. Right place right time and the legend of Barrett is for reals. Thank you all for the tips and suggestions. Without all the knowledge on this board it would’ve taken me twenty trips to dissect this lake. [/img]

That's a great second trip to Barrett. When those busters are going it's so much fun to just cast in the mess of fish and see what you get.

Barrett Magic!!

Dang another one found out.

You'll remember that day for years to come!

Nice work!!!

Congrats on finding and getting on that wolf pack action. We found very little of that on Saturday, was a tougher day for us for sure. BTW, how did you lose so many hooks, were most swallowed?

I was using 4lb flouro and light gear. Just kept getting wrapped around twigs and weeds. Few of them just came off on the hook set. Few of them just broke me off during the fight. And I've never seen a pack of fish feed for 3 1/2 hrs. Insane. Only one gut hooked. New to Barrett. Will be armed with heavier line and heavier gear next time. Cycled through a bunch of lures.....A rig, swim bait, crank bait, spinner bait etc, but they really only wanted that tiny little 4" senko.

FWIW I have had a lot of fun with the wolf packs and light line ( 9lb braid to 6 lb fluoro) with a small Rapala or x70 Megabass jerkbait. The wolf packs mostly seem to range from 1-3 pounds so you can really have a lot of fun with the lighter line. Occasionally you get a surprise bigger one and it's really great to hear your drag sing.

And that’s exactly what I love about you guys. Super generous with the info. Thank you. As much as I wish I could be a super hero….the first thing I threw was a megabass jerkbait. But I was so excited to see the boils that I completely blew up my reel on the first cast. LOL. Wasn’t sure how long that pack would be there so I just picked up another rod and tried working something else. #amateurproblems