San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Does/has anyone fished for bass in Lake Poway? I was thinking of a shore pounding exploratory mission, any thoughts?

Used to fish there all the time years ago......but usually rented a boat(the best days was when you could bring your own trolling motor...ha ha). I Have gone up a handful of times just to mess around from shore but not recently. When I did fish from shore I caught fish over at Jump off point. Most of the bass I have caught from shore there was there because there are huge boulders/rocks etc off that point but you have to cast pretty far out to reach them. but should be able to reach some of them if you fan cast that point. Work baits slow. If you have want to go further then that shoreline between Boulder Bay and Hidden bay produced bass for me also, but I was in a boat but not that far off shore and seen guys catch bass along there. The only other spot from shore would be to make a few casts off the fishing pier(towards the boat dock seems to be the best side) or walk over near the buoy line and make some casts over there. I used mostly senkos, but imagine drop shots could be deadly also. Caught many, many topwater bass in the 80's and 90's up there when there was tons of shad in the water. Recent years just bass on plastic worms. Some other guys may have some tips too....but if I was going there to fish from shore.....Fishing pier for a few minutes and then right over to Jump off point. Tight lines if you head up there. ps. Water is very clear so I used light line and there's lots of grass/weeds on the bottom like Lake MIramar so weightless senkos or maybe
with a small nail weight is what I would be tossing to skim slowly over the grass .

From the website it looks like the rental boats have trolling motors...Maybe I'll give Hodges a rest and try it over there. Thanks for the tips.

tomnilll wrote: Mon Sep 18, 2023 2:09 pm From the website it looks like the rental boats have trolling motors...Maybe I'll give Hodges a rest and try it over there. Thanks for the tips.

Yes...they do have trolling motors. I was just reminiscing about when you could bring your own motor and battery and save lots of cash in the old days by just renting a row boat. It is not a big lake, but a trolling motor is better that rowing.

The water is high which is not a normal occurrence in the summer so the weed line is very thick and extends pretty far out. Your best bet is drop shot on rock piles if you know where they are.

Otherwise don't bother going, they don't care much about the fishing aspect of the lake anymore

Thanks to both of you for the advice. I gave it a shot today ($3 why not), but it was not epic. Got a late start, there by 10 am which may have led to what followed. I walked about half way around the lake casting a variety of soft plastics and even tried the frog a bit with only one strike on the soft jerkbait (missed it). Near end of my day...around 4pm...whew...I did bag a wall hanger, no skunk and PB for the lake anyway...
Aggressive little guy hit a swimbait same size as him/her

Caught 2 more exactly the same, hit the dock for about an hour with the entire tackle box and went home with my tail between my legs. Not sure if I will go back, but the $24 boat and the $3 fishing ticket may lure me back (maybe I'll get my ass out of bed a bit earlier).

tomnilll wrote: Wed Sep 20, 2023 8:47 pm
Caught 2 more exactly the same, hit the dock for about an hour with the entire tackle box and went home with my tail between my legs. Not sure if I will go back, but the $24 boat and the $3 fishing ticket may lure me back (maybe I'll get my ass out of bed a bit earlier).

Keep going back, the more you learn the more you should catch. Trout season is around the corner and the lake will be a lot more packed soon.

foulhook wrote: Thu Sep 21, 2023 6:42 am

tomnilll wrote: Wed Sep 20, 2023 8:47 pm
Caught 2 more exactly the same, hit the dock for about an hour with the entire tackle box and went home with my tail between my legs. Not sure if I will go back, but the $24 boat and the $3 fishing ticket may lure me back (maybe I'll get my ass out of bed a bit earlier).

Keep going back, the more you learn the more you should catch. Trout season is around the corner and the lake will be a lot more packed soon.

Yeah, the best part of fishing that lake is dealing with grumpy trout fisherman that want to fight you because you're catching all the trout with jigs and not powerbait