I'm a new member but have read some of the posts on hawg catchin' you guys have put up here. But I need help on my local lake in Palmdale that i fish. It's private(2,000 members) and is about the size of the Castiac Lagoon. Of the members, maybe 150 guys fish here for bass, & out of that only about 30 of us fish it regulary. At times it recieves some moderate pressure but in general it's pretty quite. There's plenty of cover; we have almost 100 docks or more & the shoreline is just filled to the brim with wood(even full grown trees!), weeds and tons of tullies. There's some rock on one side & near the dam, but there's only 2 or 3 points. Hence my probelm. At it's deepest the lake is about 30 ft, so very few of the docks extend rapidly into deep water. But it is chock full o' forage. Trout(80,000 lbs. of it in the winter & spring), threadfin, crawdads, perch, bluegill & more. What should I use once I find the key areas; big swimbaits & jigs? And at what time in the season; its hard to fish in Feburary for about 2 weeks 'cause every dock is filled w/ trout fisherman but the bass don't seem to mind everybody bangin' around( i got a nice keeper the other day on a dock where my entire family had just walked on.) i know a guy pulled a 12 lber a few years back on a swimbait & I've heard rumors of larger ones being pulled in regulary. any suggestions?

let come in and i will show you how to fish it }(

Throw swimbaits on a regular basis and try different patterns until you find the bite. If you can fish it at night do that. Usually night time can be better for bigger fish especially if the water is really clear and sees some pressure.

magmaster,
Thanks for the advice. Unfournately, the lake is only open to a half-hour after dark because it is the water supply for Palmdale & is therefore owned by the Palmdale Water Association. since the club that owns it rents out the lake, they can't afford any mishappenings or accidents. that one of the reasons why all trout that are caught MUST be kept or else you can be kicked out of the club. Like you said, it does have clear water; the other day I dropped my brown Roboworm down to 3 feet(over a weedbed, too!) and was able to see my bait without my polarzed sunglasses perfectly well! it might also help to mention that it's an old lake by California standards; it was constructed in the late 40's, making over 60 years in age.
If you guys want some pics of the lake, i'm headin' out tomorrow for a trip. I'll try to get some of the lake from different angles.

Do you have access to the water via a boat, kickboat or float tube? I think that fishing different angles, other than what all the dock guys are doing might help you. It would also let you fish outside the weedlines that guys from the shore can't get to.

If most of the guys are fishing for trout, that's a huge advantage for you :-) Concentrate on swimbaits and jigs near the areas that they stock the trout. Throw some big topwater as early as you can and again just before the sun goes down.

Yeah, everyone mainly goes for the trout during the first 3 months & then all you have left are the bassers and castfisherman. the season ends early though; I think it's Oct. 1. That sucks because the fall bite has just started right then & it doesn't reopen for fishing until the 1st saturday of Feburary. By then the fish are well accostumed to the trout stocks because they start stocking in like November to raise larger trout for the members. I do have a 14 ft. boat, it's just the fact that I can't tow & drive it for another 4 years. In fact, there are actually somewhere around 20 bassboats on the lake from different guys, so not everybody fishes on a dock. I'd love a small kickboat or tube but the Palmdale water association won't allow any craft under 12 feet in length .I know some guys throw the big wood around the lake, but not many. Recently i tried a 4" castiac(the last stock is usually right before Memorial) and got a a nice hit by the dock I was fishing.

I normally fish out of a 10X4' Basshunter here in the South but I have caught Bass from it and from the shore with one of http://mattlures.com/bluegillswimbait.htm Matt's swimbaits. He's coming out with a new Baby Bass soon.

Dan