San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Hi all,

Here's what I found for today. Got to the lake at 0515, on the water by 0545. Decided to peek about Wilson's creek for the early session. Buzzed around with some topwaters and then some underspins, but no takers. Water was a brisk 71.4 F, I didn't notice the air temp. Finally picked up a couple nice fish on the popper. Saw some boils at 0700, which felt early for that kind of thing, but like a good little citizen, I pedaled over to the boils and started casting everything in world. Nothing happening. I brought a very light rod ( super whippy ) with 4 lb test and a #3 ( yes, #3 Rapala) and cast to the boils. Instantly I was a winner. And got a bass that was maybe 6 inches long. With my new theory in mind that these boils were the sample size fish I spent the next couple minutes catching a fish on almost every other cast. The prize was maybe 8 inches long. These fish were not counted in my daily count. But I learned some boils are just small bass schooling that you don't want to catch until next year, or later.

Moved away from that over to Becky's cove and picked up a few more decent bass on the popper and the jerkbait.

Finally moved to the back area in Hauser, saw a lot of boils ( decent size fish ) and got to work. Managed somehow to long line release 5 decent fish in a row on two different lures, so the problem was definitely me. Picked up one last fish, mostly to convince myself I could still land a fish and that was it for the day. 9 bass ( keepers) 5 or 6 sample size bass, 3 bluegills. Fun day.

Talking to a few others the numbers were in the high single digits and a couple with 15-18 fish. They are suspended in several areas at about mid depth, the picture I attached shows at 19.5 ft, they are from 10-15 feet down. The bait balls weren't really moving much either. Water temp when leaving got to 74.6 F.

Thanks Dave! This is Steve thought I'd let you know when I went to the side cove by parking I picked up 4 nice bass in 45 minutes, in fact had first one as you were hitting top road. Take care and good fishing see you next season

Thanks Dave. Sure seems like its winding down.

SjW wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 8:13 pm Thanks Dave! This is Steve thought I'd let you know when I went to the side cove by parking I picked up 4 nice bass in 45 minutes, in fact had first one as you were hitting top road. Take care and good fishing see you next season

That's great, see you next season.

Hi John,

I think my techniques are what might be winding down. I'm going to try some spybaits and sinking/suspending jerkbaits. The fish are there, they just want something different. I tried a dual rigged fluke yesterday for some time and I think I'll do that again, but not the 4 inch flukes, smaller ones. I have to say it looks great in the water, I'd bite if I was a fish. See you next Saturday for the close.

Early release wrote: Sun Sep 24, 2023 8:30 am Hi John,

I think my techniques are what might be winding down. I'm going to try some spybaits and sinking/suspending jerkbaits. The fish are there, they just want something different. I tried a dual rigged fluke yesterday for some time and I think I'll do that again, but not the 4 inch flukes, smaller ones. I have to say it looks great in the water, I'd bite if I was a fish. See you next Saturday for the close.

Posting a report next. Love that dual fluke rig but its never worked for me. Its always a code to crack. Different every day. Why fishing is so great! See you Saturday

I fish the double fluke rig a lot. One trick that works to change it up is through a bigger fluke on the back and then a micro lake fork or micro fluke (if you can find them) on a drop shot hook on the top. I’ve still doubled up that way but have got a lot on the micro bait vs the bigger.
The advantages is you can cast that micro bait very far and the big bait will give it a lot of action.

That's a great idea camobass. I have some tiny flukes and I could probably nip them a touch and they'd match those little shad I am seeing. How long do you make your larger bait leader. Currently mine is about 24-30 inches and the front one is 18 inches.

I’ve been experimenting with two swivels and 3way swivels. I like the 3 way swivel better and the only length I look at is the difference in leaders between each bait. When hanging from the top of the rod, I’ve been liking the upper bait to be about 6-8” above the bottom bait. I do run a little longer leader, probably around 2- 2-1/2’ for the long bait which would be the bigger fluke in this case but short enough I’m not winding the swivel(s) to the guide

Spro makes some tiny, hi test 3 ways. Pretty stealth and I like how the baits fall together. I think two swivels have an advantage too where one bait may stay up while the other is sinking. Speaking of the other sinking- nail weight is an awesome trick.

You need the right gear but another awesome fall time double rig is to use two super flukes. Biggest ones you can get or two of the big lake forks and fish them slow. I’m too broke to fish the double hudd rig

Great advice, I'm also using a 3 way swivel and to change leader lengths, I'm tying the leader, with rigged fluke to a small snap swivel. Then I can play with the length ( and distance between them ). I'll be a Barrett this weekend on the last day of the 2023 season, I'll try this out. Thanks.