San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

So the early charity and insider club season is on for 2025 and it sure looks like this year is going to bust out with both numbers and size. I was fortunate enough to get an invite today and happily paid the premium for myself and the better half. After a very chilly morning (low 40’s if that) the sun gradually warmed the lake up. But the fishing was hot from the start and maybe getting hotter when we left at noon.

Not seeing much surface activity heading out and catching a few smaller models on 4” senkos, I switched to jigs n craws in green variations by 7am and was getting slammed hard every few minutes. My gal started with reapers and quickly landed two smaller models but bad line on her setup forced me to put her on a Texas rigged setup. She pinned on 6” margarita mutilator worms and started nailing bigger models. By 8:30 we had three 5+ fish and several 3-4’s to go with the usual clones. She got her personal best which sure looked bigger than 5-5 but we weighed her 3 times in disbelief. Anyway after finally making a move, I started throwing a T-rigged watermelon seed lizard and the numbers kept coming as she stuck with her mm worm. I would guess 3/4 of our 57 were caught at or outside the first submerged tree line as opposed to up shallow. Seemed like the shallowest were the smallest.

We cut out early with an obligation but chatted with a few of the guys on the way in. It sounded like everyone was getting in on the size and numbers. Not confirmed but there’s word of an 11 caught today. Not surprising!

Today was a super nice day at the lake only thing missing the topwater.... can't wait till the lake opens next month... see you there bud

Thanks for a great post!

It was a really awesome day! Yes there was a legitimate 11.3 pounder caught. I myself reported to the group four fish over 5lbs, but in reviewing my saved scale numbers one of them was actually 4.8. My final numbers were 43 bass, 2 very large crappie and a slab of a bluegill. Several guys went over 100 in total as I understand it.

I hope they do it again in the future. It was a great event and everyone were just amazing people.

I had a great time out there yesterday! Was awesome to meet and fish with everyone. I can’t wait to get back to Barrett!

EL_prowler_619 wrote: Sun Apr 06, 2025 7:46 pm Today was a super nice day at the lake only thing missing the topwater.... can't wait till the lake opens next month... see you there bud

Top water was there if you know where to go. I got 20 on the popper, didn’t try anything else cause it was too much fun. Ended up @50 and a nice 4 and 5s on jigs. Great to see everyone and thanks again Chris!

Well done folks.

Thanks for the report! Can’t wait for opening. What was the water level like? Higher than when it closed last year?

Here’s the 11-pounder: https://www.instagram.com/share/BALeRznPic

Yes! Believe it or not, that really is a Barrett bass. As I understand it, the ranger said that it may well be the lake record.

AutoJonez wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 1:00 am Thanks for the report! Can’t wait for opening. What was the water level like? Higher than when it closed last year?

Here’s the 11-pounder: https://www.instagram.com/share/BALeRznPic

Level was down a few feet but its happened gradually and hasn’t affected the bite negatively. Where the tree tops were just showing late last year, they are now in just a few feet of water. And fish were in there, it just seemed like the bigger models on average were a hair deeper. But I bet a big female or two was up on beds.

Lake record I think was 13 and change lbs.?

falafeluver wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 10:37 am Lake record I think was 13 and change lbs.?

Yes, its bigger than 11-something.

JWall wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 2:10 pm

falafeluver wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 10:37 am Lake record I think was 13 and change lbs.?

Yes, its bigger than 11-something.

I dunno, I'm just repeating what the ranger evidently stated.

Wasn’t Shawnster’s kid on a 11.94 last year and featured on WON?

falafeluver wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 8:49 pm Wasn’t Shawnster’s kid on a 11.94 last year and featured on WON?

Just an estimate. No scale or measurement before released. It was a genuine hawg tho for young Theo!!

Looks and sounds like a dream day lads… and maybe a precursor of great things to come this season!

I wasn’t privvy to the charity event unfortunately… Hoping to scrounge some May tickets so me and Theo can get out there… we were at his baseball game and the connection was horrible - got skunked in the ticket department! Hope to see all y’all out there soon! ~Shawn

Shawnster wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 9:53 pm Looks and sounds like a dream day lads… and maybe a precursor of great things to come this season!

I wasn’t privvy to the charity event unfortunately… Hoping to scrounge some May tickets so me and Theo can get out there… we were at his baseball game and the connection was horrible - got skunked in the ticket department! Hope to see all y’all out there soon! ~Shawn

We had 4 of us on it for weekend dates and only got the 31st. It was high demand for sure!

Nice! I can’t wait for the video from the beefshaman.