I've begun looking for local lakes and ponds since I don't have much time to travel, fishing time is reduced to a couple hours every other weekend because of class =/

I used to spend a lot of time at Castaic and Lake Irvine, but both are equally far from UCLA given traffic. I'm in Huntington Beach on the weekends a lot, does anyone know of any fishable lakes within 10-15 minutes of UCLA or HB? Here's where I've been...

1. Ken Hahn State Park: caught 2 catfish in this tiny little pond. The woman next to me was fishing with a coat hanger and yarn....I ended up giving both fish to her.
2. Mile Square Park: how deep is the water here? I tried to get a crappie bite out of both lakes on mini-jigs, no takers, not even a sight of fish.
3. Huntington Central Park Lake: I would love to know if there are fish in this lake, it is a prime location and NO fishermen...saw a couple baby bass or shad swimming in the reeds...but are there fish there?
4. Del Rey Lagoon: I don't consider this a body of water. Saw it on the map, went there...there was about 3" of nasty looking water and a lot of mosquitos.

As you can see I'm desparate to find local fishing!

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated! Tight lines, Nate

You should try Eldorado Park in Long Beach. Heavily pressured water, but you can catch pan fish, cats and bass at the lakes. It's close to HB.

I'd like to know if there are any fish in Huntington Lake myself. It's been a couple years since I went by that lake (when it was very low), but I've heard the water level is up a lot higher now.

Up the 605, there's Legg Lake, Peck Road and Santa Fe Reservoir. Cerritos Park lake has fish in it too. None of these are on the caliber of Castaic, etc. - but if you've only got a couple hours - they're okay.

There are fish in Mile Square park too.

Most of these urban lakes are heavily pressured and catching can be tough.

Where are the fish in Mile Square? I know they stock it for a trout derby in the Winter but I fished the entire upper and lower lakes for panfish for a couple hours working every piece of structure and shade I could find with no luck.

If you are really familiar to the H.B. area... you might wan't to sniff around the area just south of the 605 fwy off Beach Blvd. It's a little hidden spot that I've checked out in the past (enclosed in a business complex), next to the Sports Chalet. I've never fished the spot as of yet... but I've seen plenty of decent size bass in there.. for some fun fishin. I'd advise you to first check the spot out, then sum it up for yourself -- whether it's safe or not to fish =)

Good Luck,
DaKine

Dakine,

That's actually just south of the 405 FWY and it's near BJ's Pizza and there are signs posted every where that say "NO FISHING" - I too have seen bass in there, but I haven't wet my line.

I know those signs won't stop some people.... but fishermen get a bad enough rap as it is - if they start or continue to break laws, it makes us all look bad.

(You might have already listed this spot earlier on, or know of it...) I'm not exactly sure what the place is called and it's actually been quite some time since I've been there myself... But in case you haven't already done so, I forget to mention a few things...

If you are planning to take a peek during business hours (which is prolly the best time to do so), park next to the triple AAA office and walk over to the northside of the building (or within the general vicinity facing Beach Blvd). This should give you some nice point of views of the wattah... However, you won't be able to see everything from there... and I would leave the office area alone... for later times.

I've never seen anyone fish the spot and there might be a good reason for that... but if you do happen to venture deeper into the complex (after business hours, of course) you'll see the obvious signs of fishing pounded into the poor landscaping. Be on the look out for smooshed up plants, flowers, shrubs, broken line, and beat'n footpaths where they really shouldn't be... heh. There is a bridge on the far north-eastern side that might be a good spot for "fish watching."

SJ, I didn't realize you had already replied about the spot before I posted the extra info above. Had I known, I prolly wouldn't have mentioned anything further (for the sake of those who just can't help themselves, and for those who will have to pay for their sins... heh).

Too me, it was really obvious that people were already fishing it (perhaps too much) and I figured that it might have just been the people working on the office-side of the complex who looked upon the fishermen as a bunch of pests... which, in retrospect, prolly was the case. I guess they wore that landscaping down pretty good.

Anyhow, I stand corrected... Oh, and you're absolutely right about the location being just south of the 405 and next to BJ's =)

There are fish in HB Central Park Lake. They've been stocking cats this summer. Yesterday caught some really small LMB. Huge population of carp and bluegill. Pretty fun if you're bored.

what were they caught on and where? I threw a lot of minijigs but didn't get glances from anything in the shallows. -Nate

I've fished Huntington Central Park Lake the past year with no luck. I haven't seen anyone else catch anything also but the manager in the restaurant overlooking the lake confirms the plants of trout and catfish the the different time of year.

Steve

I was fishing directly across from the restaurant. There's about 3 or 4 coves on that side of the lake. I was fishing the 2nd cove (going clockwise). The bass were caught on half nightcrawlers with a spitshot, as were the carp and bluegill (but with smaller pieces of crawler). The catfish was caught on 2 live bluegills I had caught earlier. I was having bad luck with cut mackeral. The turtles kept munching on it. But, when I first got there, there was a guy that had 3 cats on a stringer, all caught on mackeral.