Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass:

The bass fishing slowed a little this week as the fish are starting to key on the abundance of shad showing up in the shallower areas. The usual wacky rigs and dropshots have been less effective as the worm profiles become less appealing. The go-to plastics rig is without a doubt the splitshot rig with a reaper style bait that mimics the small shad in the water column. Our best depth has been anywhere from 5-20′ on main lake and secondary points. The water clarity remains excellent at twenty feet plus with little to medium amounts of algae bloom. Water temps are holding steady at 75 and the lake remains at full pool. Fishing jerkbaits like the Lucky Craft Pointer 78 and 100 in Ghost Shad or Aurora Black patterns on windswept points has been effective in the afternoon. With daytime temps over 100 degrees we should be seeing a topwater bite at any time.

Striped Bass:

Striper fishing continues to get better every day. This week we saw our first boils of the year with big schools of 4-6 pound fish crashing small shad in the main lake over deep water. We are using Lucky Craft Gunfish in any color that has a white belly for the surface attack. When we don’t see fish on the surface our best approach has been trolling with our Producer Fly / Fly Core rigs in 10-30′ of water. We are also getting bit on 1oz. 661 KastMasters and pearl white Zoom Flukes rigged on a Kietech tungsten ball-head jig.

Rainbow Trout:

We are no longer fishing the Rainbow Trout. The remaining fish have started feeding on the small schools of shad and are hard to keep near the boat. They have been reluctant to hit live worm offerings which makes them even harder to catch. If you put in some time and are patient you can still make a day of it but our clients don’t want to sit still in the heat for that long and we have moved into Striper mode.

Castaic Afterbay:

The lagoon continues it’s good fishing pattern with the morning being the best window of opportunity. Quality bass are being caught on the finesse Carolina Rig / C3 Baits Shimmy combo. 5″ Senko style baits are also worth throwing. The water is in great shape and there are plenty of weeds growing unlike the main lake. Small shad and baby bass are abundant and the topwater bite is developing. Not a lot of pressure during the weekdays and those in the know are tight-lipped.

Jim – 661 Fishing