San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Last Monday when I was at Miramar I saw a few rumbles on the surface but had no topwater baits with me as I packed mostly worms and craw baits. A buddy also recently told me he caught a few on top this trip I packed a few topwater baits in my kayak. It was a little foggy when I arrived and headed across the lake when I heard a few splashes in the distance. I threw out a small popper and minutes later a bass slammed it. Not big...but out in deep water the bass sure put up a fight. A bit later another bass grabbed the popper and on the way to the kayak jumped and came off. I alternated with the popper and a Sammy and landed another bass on the popper. It was pretty exciting fishing topwater as normally I just fish worms. I then landed a healthier bass on my Sammy which was fun. I decided to grab my other rod and try a small underspin (Dimiki rig)for a bit and had 2 straight bass hooked, but came off on jumps even with a tight line. They really were fighting for their lives and proved it by shaking the hook.
As the sun broke through, I decided to toss a few worms and began to pick up some smaller bass. I used senkos and had more luck with the old split shot up the line with a plastic worm(Old school Carolina Rig). I was surprised when I heard a few splashes behind my kayak, but quickly grabbed the Sammy rod and landed my 4th topwater bass. I was pretty lucky as the surface action died a few hours before. I continued to work plastic worms and between catching bass, I had at least 5 come off deep in the grass or on the surface. Anyway, it was a really fun morning as I landed 13 bass.
The bass are really feisty up at Miramar probably due to the lack of fishermen and fishing pressure and I honestly feel many have never been hooked and go berserk when they do get hooked. (Hmmmmm...Can Miramar be the New Murray for me?..ha ha).
Tight lines
Lots of clones And had to post this dink as it looks like a bass
tried to have him for dinner based on the marking
on the side.

Awesome report Vinny bass, looks like you found the right bait to fool the bass.can’t wait to get out to Miramar and fish in the tube.

Got one on your new worm! Must have been fun! Bet attendance picks up!

Hey Vinny,
Great job at Miramar. A few of those bass have big shoulders. Once again, the Sammy performs in your skilled hands.
Joe.

Miramar can fish alot like Murray, not surprised you do well there also! The attendance may pickup, but most people will probably have a tough time getting the better fish! Lots of tulles and some deep water is not most people's expertise!

Mcfish wrote: Wed Aug 02, 2023 4:36 pm Miramar can fish alot like Murray, not surprised you do well there also! The attendance may pickup, but most people will probably have a tough time getting the better fish! Lots of tulles and some deep water is not most people's expertise!

I am guessing that the attendance will pick up meaning that you may be out there soon...ha ha.
The thing I learned about Miramar at an early age is there is a ton of weeds/grass on the bottom when you get away from the tulles and shoreline and you have to fish a little differently than most other lake bottoms. If you toss a jig or a Texas rig with a heavy weight it will just get lost down in the weeds. That is why my father and I used to put a light split shot up the line so that the worm falls slowly and stays on top of the weeds a little better. Yet it still will bring in weeds when you are working it, but you have better chances of a bass seeing it skimming on top or through some of them.
That is also why if you free-line a senko and work it very slowly(I have a hard time doing that...especially in deep water) or throw a drop-shot rig with the worm up high, you usually have pretty good results. I am not a snob, but do not use the drop shot that much but I know that when you hit Miramar you will be having lots of action on your DS rigs with you secret worms and all....ha ha Tight lines when you do make it out there.

2weeks ago the fish were busting in front of MO’s hole
Everywhere I fished the Ima long cast from shore and had 5 smaller
Next morning a big school of 3-5 lb fish going crazy
I had 14 all were nice and not the normal size
By far the absolutely best day of Topwater ever at Miramar

Dmm wrote: Wed Aug 02, 2023 8:54 pm 2weeks ago the fish were busting in front of MO’s hole
Everywhere I fished the Ima long cast from shore and had 5 smaller
Next morning a big school of 3-5 lb fish going crazy
I had 14 all were nice and not the normal size
By far the absolutely best day of Topwater ever at Miramar

That is awesome!!! I saw a few over near there this morning but it ended pretty quickly as I arrived near there
as I stayed out in the middle west of the boat dock mostly. Lots and lots of clones out there, but one that came off today
was pretty nice. It sounds like an amazing day to pull in that many bass from shore. Heck I bet you were stoked
especially pulling in some fatter ones......dang! I only usually fish Miramar 2-3 times a year and have caught mostly
clones over the last 3-4 years up there. I remember catching a 3.50lb bass on Fathers Day and it looked huge in comparison
of the ones I usually catch. Hope that you have lots more fun topwater fishing days in the future to share with
us all.
Tight lines always.

Nice Report!
You said you got lucky, is that why you throw Lucky Craft? I know dumb Dad joke=)

Of all your posts, Miramar just seems bleh. Hard to believe that it once held some of the biggest bass ever caught.

That looks like a great morning. Topwater is my favorite ( I think that's a popular statement ), so it's nice to see topwater rewarded. It speaks to your skills though, to go from topwater to finesse so easily and keep landing them.
Tight lines,
ER

Neuroshima wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2023 11:05 am Of all your posts, Miramar just seems bleh. Hard to believe that it once held some of the biggest bass ever caught.

Those were the days of plentiful trout stocks for the bass to fill up on and years of mostly trout fishermen also. Oh and lots of red ear sunfish fishermen too. Yeah, there was bass fishermen, but during trout season decades ago you were kind of the oddball if you weren't fishing for trout. I fish year-round for bass so it is safe to say I have been an oddball for decades....ha ha

Neuroshima wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2023 11:05 am Of all your posts, Miramar just seems bleh. Hard to believe that it once held some of the biggest bass ever caught.

I also believe that all of the pure strain Florida bass ave died off and their offspring have a mixed gene pool with northern bass, that don't grow nearly as large.

Trout = Steroids Bass

KillinTime wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2023 1:49 pm

Neuroshima wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2023 11:05 am Of all your posts, Miramar just seems bleh. Hard to believe that it once held some of the biggest bass ever caught.

I also believe that all of the pure strain Florida bass ave died off and their offspring have a mixed gene pool with northern bass, that don't grow nearly as large.

Trout = Steroids Bass

I believe you are right.
I read they used Upper Otay as a hatchery for the Florida bass in 1959 and that by the mid-60s the fish were 6 to 8 pounds….. so you know the rest as lots and lots of huge Florida bass were caught over the years. As a kid I would lay on my stomach on the fishing piers at times at Miramar and look at the huge bass underneath. Sometimes I would even go over on the boat dock and look underneath the dock and see lots of giant bass….it was pretty amazing.

Tubed Miramar Saturday morning in hopes of some top water action. Did not disappoint after about 2 hours after we launched we proceeded to kick across. About half ways across the water all around us began to boil and then all hell broke loose. Fired my Gunfish just over the boils and worked it back and got slammed every cast. But then after that flurry they must of moved off to another part of the lake. These guys had some shoulders and went straight down after the felt the hook set. Definitely had a blast for that bit of time!

858NOVICE wrote: Mon Aug 07, 2023 9:02 am Tubed Miramar Saturday morning in hopes of some top water action. Did not disappoint after about 2 hours after we launched we proceeded to kick across. About half ways across the water all around us began to boil and then all hell broke loose. Fired my Gunfish just over the boils and worked it back and got slammed every cast. But then after that flurry they must of moved off to another part of the lake. These guys had some shoulders and went straight down after the felt the hook set. Definitely had a blast for that bit of time!

Heck yeah!!!!
I knew there had to be some healthier bass than what I caught on the surface my last time up there. So glad
that you had lots of fun with that type of topwater action. When the bass head deep, I bet that was really exciting.
Yeah...there are times when the water on the surface just goes off and that is where you need to be as later everything
goes pretty much back to calm and time to worm fish. Thanks for sharing and tight lines always.