San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Haven't taken the boat out for a while so off I went to Murray this morning. Greeted by bustling bass and of course Dannicus out there as it was going off pretty good. The madness was trying to catch the bass that were 98% focused on live shad. I thew so many reaction type baits and top water baits that in the past I would have landed easily a dozen. Dannicus picked up some bass on top early before I arrived at the lake, but I was landing baits dozens of times right near and even right on top of busters and could not get even a tap. Only highlight of the busters was a bass leap right over my Gunfish.Spent too much time chasing those bass.....I finally headed to some points to toss some worms. Working a little deeper water I landed some bass on senkos and Texas rigged worms. Went to the tulles and landed a small bass flippin. Back out to deeper water and a bass kindly ate my jig with a craw trailer. Worked worms some more and despite missing 4 opportunities, was able to land 11 bass, mostly small, but topped by a 4.25 bass. Still thinking about those busters in the morning.......It was maddening!

A few pics:

Most bass were clones Flippin' 7" plastic worm Jig crawdad trailer 4.25lbs on 7" plastic worm

That big one is a beauty! Rattlesnake Bass!

Nice Size bass 4.25 It seems like you got to have the exact match the hatch for top water fish busting.

Nice fish!

Purty fish!!

TIM wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2026 3:55 pm Nice Size bass 4.25 It seems like you got to have the exact match the hatch for top water fish busting.

I threw so many different baits to try to match the shad from small top water baits to larger ones, various sizes of spoons and blade baits to small jerk baits, different sizes flukes, small plastic bait fish like Basstrix and fly lined them out and the bass wouldn’t even touch them. Thank goodness the top water action died and went to throw plastic worms.

Solid angling Vinny! I need to travel to that other madness place to get quality fish.

Great job on finding them after the morning commotion, how early did you get there?

Like one of those close games. More exciting to have it all come together in the end. Frustrating though

vito1023 wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2026 7:29 am Great job on finding them after the morning commotion, how early did you get there?

I arrived at Murray just before 7 am.

Learning to fish wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2026 7:43 am Like one of those close games. More exciting to have it all come together in the end. Frustrating though

Yes! Like shooting a basketball so many times and just missing....so close, but no dice.

Awesome as always Vinny!

Good luck matching 1" threadfin. It gets frustrating at times.

Try a small water bubble, 1/2 or 1/4 filled, with a 2 or 3 foot light leader, and a small 1.5" Basstrix behind it.

Dannicus wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 7:55 pm Awesome as always Vinny!

Glad you were able to pick off a few on top before I arrived. Maybe I jinxed the topwater bite...ha ha
Just kidding! Tight lines buddy!

DarkShadow wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 4:12 pm Good luck matching 1" threadfin. It gets frustrating at times.

Try a small water bubble, 1/2 or 1/4 filled, with a 2 or 3 foot light leader, and a small 1.5" Basstrix behind it.

I’ve been thinking the same on the water bubble, you can at least be able to cast for some distance with a small fluke from shore.