San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Had a little bit of everything out at the Big B this morning. Watched a bobby sleuthing along near vertical rocks looking for prey, man their paws grip good! Then along with Early Release Dave and Pourboy Chris watched a hungry osprey attacking unsuspecting bass too lazy on the surface, not once, twice, but three times getting away with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. To top that off we watched as a family of four deer ambled along another bank in Hauser doing their thing. Its just a veritable Safari Park out there every day!

Oh and some bass too. Danno and I fished hard for almost 7 hours, sometimes throwing the same, often not, all to see who was best on this fine day. Can’t believe we both ended with 43! Had to post the clickers as proof. Oh well, something about kissing sisters

Best weapon was by far again the green pumpkin jigs and trailers, several each on the minnow, a few on 4” senkos and 7” robos, one on a grub, and a couple on a rattletrap. Had success throwing at boils early but not much after 9. We concentrated on rocky steeps and anywhere from a few feet to 15ft deep.

Nice! Plenty to see and do. Can't beat that.

Nice job out there John and good to see you guys today! Me and Theo ended with 59. We had to work for them in the afternoon—the only really consistent place was where we saw you. Also noticed more birds today! Osprey was killing it. Fun day!

Shawnster wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 10:50 pm Nice job out there John and good to see you guys today! Me and Theo ended with 59. We had to work for them in the afternoon—the only really consistent place was where we saw you. Also noticed more birds today! Osprey was killing it. Fun day!

Always great to see you and Theo having fun. Bassquatch has worked out nicely for you guys and its fast on the water!!

Good report and nice angling. Part of the fun at Barrett has always been the wildlife sightings.

Good to see you out there, John and the Osprey was cool to see, I think Chris really keeps an eye for those birds after his "meeting" with one on the bay.

It was a nice day to both fish and see critters, I had a lot of topwater fish, which are a favorite of mine. The crankbait along the rock walls was fun and productive and the weightless plastics really rounded out the day for me. Shawn, sorry I missed you and Theo again.

Nice report John.

Hey JWall,
Thank you for the great report and photos. I will be fishing Barrett for the first time ever on Sunday July 13th from a boat rental. May I ask what is the best time in the morning to arrive at the gate? I've seen different posts for either 3:30am or 4:30am.

kjbass17 wrote: Tue Jul 08, 2025 11:17 am Hey JWall,
Thank you for the great report and photos. I will be fishing Barrett for the first time ever on Sunday July 13th from a boat rental. May I ask what is the best time in the morning to arrive at the gate? I've seen different posts for either 3:30am or 4:30am.

We will be there too, keep an eye out for this old man! As to your question, the gate opens shortly after 4am although the official time might be 4:30. Lately we have been arriving 4:15ish and the gate is open with the last of the earliest arrivers being checked in. After the 10-15 minute drive to the dock, most guys that early are still staging but we do see boats leaving literally in the dark. Make sure you have a good headlamp or two for your own benefit but to also be seen by others, especially the tubers and yakkers that may not be as visible. It sounds like you want to be there as early as possible and thats never a bad thing. Guys are catching fish just as soon as they get a line wet and the morning bite had been awesome. You also have more boats to choose from. Look for the newer Yamaha motors although there haven’t been as many motor failures as years past. The staff at the lake do a great job with fleet.

Great report and thank you for sharing!