Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass:

Make no doubt about it, Summer boating is in full swing at Castaic Lake right now. But as I found out first-hand this past Thursday July4th, there are windows of good angling opportunity available to those with a little patience and a flexible schedule. The first three hours in the mornings and evenings have been the best target windows for bass fishing. Fishing the early shade lines and the afternoon windy mud lines have proven fruitful. The water clarity is twenty feet plus and water temps are holding steady at 75. We have noticed a lot of bigger post-spawn fish to seven plus pounds roaming the bluffs and rocky areas looking for the small bluegill lately. We are still fishing with Senko and Daiwa 5″ baits in Watermelon/Red Flake and Green Pumpkin/Green & Purple Flake color schemes as our main approach early then we are switching over to jerkbaits like the Lucky Craft Pointer 78 and 100 in Ghost Shad or Aurora Black patterns for the afternoon. 

Striped Bass:

Striper fishing continues to get better with 80% of the action coming on our Producer Fly/fly-coring rigs. There has been a few topwater fish in open water this week but they are still difficult to target. We are seeing small shad lately so hopefully we will be reporting on a consistent topwater bite in the next week or two. 

Rainbow Trout:

The Rainbow Trout fishing is waning as we speak. Lots of limits have been pulled out and the remaining fish are spread pretty evenly around the lake making them hard to locate. My best advice is to go bass fishing, you’ll end up catching a few trout with your bass lures. We can still get a limit in our usual spot but it’s been taking a little bit longer than it did a few weeks ago. Mini jigs tipped with a 1″ piece of chartreuse Power Trout Worm or baby crawlers on a split shot rig have been getting quick bites once locating the school.

Castaic Afterbay:

The lagoon continues to be a good place to fish for a few hours in the morning or evening. Quality bass are still eating the finesse Carolina Rig with a C3 Baits Shimmy in Neptune Shad or Red Smoke colors. The water is clear and the weeds are growing. Small bait forage can be found all over the lake and you can pretty much catch a bass just about anywhere. The better fish seem to be on the steeper dropoffs and transition zones adjacent to the deepest water. 10′ – 20′ seems to be the best zone to cover with this simple but deadly technique.

Jim – 661 Fishing