San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Headed over to Murray this morning with my kayak and finally on the water around 7:15.
Glassy surface and a few random jumps but not much happening on top. Then started
to pick up some bass on topwater as when the wind came up the bass started hitting the
surface more. Cruising around looking for shad down deep or high on the water and
on a small crank bait picked up a bass, Then in between that I worked plastic worms in
the grass and started picking up bass. I rigged a Googan craw and my biggest bass of the
day gobbled that up. Back and forth between top water and fishing plastics was
the pattern. I lost a very nice bass right next to my kayak but that is part of fishing
and even though 5 or so came unbuttoned, I had a very nice time landing 14 bass.
Some of the smaller bass were pretty solid, probably from eating the endless amount
of shad in the water.

A couple of my healthier ones: Sample of some of the clones:

Awesome!

I almost went today but my knees were screaming at me! Sorry I missed you buddy. Great job as always, and I hope to see you on the water soon. I'll probably be back out tomorrow.

I agree, even the smaller fish are fat, feisty, and healthy. They have plenty to eat there right now!

Dannicus wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2026 10:06 pm I almost went today but my knees were screaming at me! Sorry I missed you buddy. Great job as always, and I hope to see you on the water soon. I'll probably be back out tomorrow.

I agree, even the smaller fish are fat, feisty, and healthy. They have plenty to eat there right now!

That’s funny. I was thinking the same thing as I looked for you today and thought it would’ve been nice if I was there yesterday after reading your post. Anyway, my right knee hurts a little bit from peddling around, so I probably will have to see you next week. Tight lines always my friend

Solid angling again Vinny!

You guys are crank bait masters. I have a lot to learn.
On Sunday, I tried a crank bait for the first time. It was a Rapala Balsa Extreme (depth of +-5ft). Didn't get anything with it. I only got a few with the Texas rigged worm too. The conditions were super calm so they didn't seem to want to chase anything, but I'm probably no good at enticing them either.

Mark_Nilsen wrote: Wed Sep 30, 2026 9:04 am You guys are crank bait masters. I have a lot to learn.
On Sunday, I tried a crank bait for the first time. It was a Rapala Balsa Extreme (depth of +-5ft). Didn't get anything with it. I only got a few with the Texas rigged worm too. The conditions were super calm so they didn't seem to want to chase anything, but I'm probably no good at enticing them either.

I do not throw cranks that often, but there are times when it is just a tough bite and not much works. That is why sometimes if you look through a number of my posts you will see I have caught bass on lots of different baits. I like to mix it up at times
just to see how many bass I could catch bass on different baits and then there are times when I am just trying everything I can just to get a bite. Sometimes I waste too much time trying to catch bass on top and overall just do better when I fish plastic worms or creature or craw baits. Murray can be fun and two days later slow as heck. A Neko rigged senko, or a 6" Margarita Multilator on a drop shot or a Texas rigged worm with a light weight so it does not sink the worm too far in the grass are
3 things I would try to stick with if the bass on top are not biting. Dan does a great job with cranks but he is not fishing in one spot and covers the whole lake in his motorized float tube sometimes twice. So the more area you cover the better the odds of finding bass to cooperate during tough times. So if you are in a tube kayak or boat and not getting
bites....move to the next point or spot and hopefully it will pay off. Best wishes and tight lines.

Big C wrote: Wed Sep 30, 2026 2:53 am Solid angling again Vinny!

Benjamin Franklin once said
"Diligence is the mother of good luck."

For me, I just fish a lot at Murray and some days are better than others.


(.....and some days just really suck!)

[quote=VinnyBass


Benjamin Franklin once said
"Diligence is the mother of good luck."
[/quote]

Name dropper!

Chunks