Hey everyone,

Been fishing alot more. Went up to Santa Margarita and no bites, been fishing a few of the cal poly ponds with no bites. What are the fish eating right now? What color plastics have been working for you guys?

Also, last night at the Cal Poly ponds, just like every other night...There was tons of fish slurping on the surface. And again I couldn't get a bite from any of them. Anyone have any suggestions? Should I throw a bobber with some floating fly line and a fly at the end? I did that in Wyoming for cutthroat trout and it worked pretty well.

Evan

>I fished Santa Margarita a few day ago and caught some small
>2 pounders up shallow with a spinnerbait. The interesting
>thing is a spot I've been clobbering bass lately is now
>inhabited with Trout. I threw a crankbait and caught Trout
>instead of Bass that usually are at this spot. I don't know if
>bass are still there but the trout are the one's
>biting.....BassMan


Both times I've been to Santa Margarita I got skunked. What am I doing wrong. I've tried every worm and lure in my arsenal. deep, shallow crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, poppers, double/single blade spinnerbaits, soft bodied jigs, normal jigs, spinners, 6" red worms, some brown lizards, some garlicy ribbed worms like 6" or something, those robo worms, 4" and brown/blue/green. Rigged them weightless, with a bullet sinker, with split shot.

Fished all the spots that it looked like fish would be hanging out in. Where the rocks jut into the water, fished all the structure people put into the water. Even just fished random all without bites.

I'm fishing from the shore, what do you recommend doing? One day I fished all around the marina, the other day I parked near the camping grounds and walked the banks pretty far, way over to the flat rock walls where the lake gets all skinny. Where are some good spots?

Evan

Hey Bryan. What ever happened with you worms you ordered?

Have you tried dropshot? My confidence setup is 4-6 lb. line on light spinning gear with a 3" Meani Teeni worm. My favorite color is purple/red flake/black flake. Go to www.iovino.com and click tackle catalog. 25 worms for $7.

Jake

hey dude, overall I wouldn't stress too much about those ponds. Honestly, there are not that many fish in them, so if you catch one or two every couple trips, you're doing just fine. Quite a few people fish them, and they are super tiny, so it's the same fish getting caught over and over again :)

As far as the stuff splashing on top, I've kind of found over the years that very very rarely do you get bass activity on the surface like that. Odds are it's bluegill, crappie, or carp. A bass has a pretty distinct boil, sort of a slashing slopping boil. When bass are chasing shad on top you'll see a wake and you'll see the bass turning to the side as they splash and go back down. Bass almost always will turn as they strike which is a giveaway when you're watching boils. Bluegill and crappie will make a pop and a very round ring on the surface. Carp will thrash around or jump with their head straight up and fall on their sides. The carp especially can get you worked up because they seem like a big agressive fish on the surface. Typically the bigger and louder the splash is, the less likely it is to be a bass. Just my observations anyway :) Don't give up on Santa Margarita. There's plenty of fish there to be caught and the shore access is good with the lake down low. A texas rig 7" power worm will get you some bites there right now. My buddy who used to come with me would almost always get a few bites per trip on that in the spring. He liked the reddish and junebug type colors.

Hey Todd,

Yeah I finally got the worms.....I have caught one bass on them so far (dropshoting).....Havn't fished them that much yet. And I haven't been to Naci since the Tourney. I will have to go back there an give them a try. It was an awsome deal for those though, I have an endless supply now. Thanks again!

Bryan

Im not stressing the least bit about catching fish up there. I got two strikes today on a mini double blade spinner bait with a curly tail trailer. But both strikes were short. Caught one small bass on a gold spinner. My friend caught 5 little ones on a silver spinner. None of the fish were much bigger than our hands. Couldnt get the big ones to hit.

No way am I giving up on Santa Margarita. I have no doubts there is some monsters to be caught in there.

How would I go about catching catfish at Santa Margarita. I've never fished for catfish before. We dont have too many in Hawaii and they dont get very big. What about just a cut baitfish on a hook with a weight to drop to the bottom. Will this catch catfish? I've caught peacock bass this way, but with baitfish hooked behind the dorsal fin and put under a bobber. They're hard to catch with lures. When I fill up the rest of my camera I've got some pictures of the fish we caught this spring break.

Evan

I had a couple of good days there(Santa Margarita) a couple of years ago. Caught all of mine on 6" pumpkin with black flake lizards. I was was in a boat though. And the pattern I was on required a boat or float tube. I was letting the lizards fall weightless along the weedline. It was a pretty cool experience. It was when I first started bass fishing and I discovered the technique by accident. I was actually doing better than the guys that were tournament fishing. Is that weedline growing along the shore now? I'd like to get on that pattern again.

Hey Todd,

I was out at Santa Margarita Sat. morning in the kickboat....no weedline yet....that comes in the begining of summer. I was mostly working points...

Bryan

Hey, just thought id say that I fish those ponds quite frequently, youll probably see me out there some time. They do hold some decent fish fish, not many but they are there, ive had a few 3.0-4.0s. Bluegill softbaits, spinners, topwater, ive had the most luck on. Bluegill and Crappie fishing is incredible at times, the action on the surface that your seeing is the bluegill.

--tight lines--