Largemouth & Smallmouth Bass:

Bass fishing was pretty solid again this week with lots of one to two pound Bass being caught. The bigger fish seem to be in a post-spawn funk and are hard to come by even with live Shad for bait. C3 Baits Shimmys in the Neptune Shad color fished on a light Carolina Rig or a dropshot rigged with a 4-1/2″ RoboWorm are getting plenty of bites as well. Productive dropshot colors are People’s Worm, Christmas Green Weenie and Aaron’s Magic. Some quality Smallmouth are hitting ned rigs in watermelon and green pumpkin patterns fished a little deeper on points and bluffs.

Striped Bass:

There is some smaller schools of Stripers blowing up on Shad in the first hour of the day in a few select areas. While these are smaller fish the quality four to five pound models are in the area and can be caught on pearl white Zoom Flukes fished a foot or two under the surface. There has also been a few bigger fish caught on live Shad for the few boats able to get them. Trolling with the fly-coring/Producer Fly technique is getting a few strikes but it’s not as consistent as we would like to see. This bite should improve dramatically as we pass the new moon and the Shad continue to head for the coves.

Rainbow Trout: 

A 3000lb plant of Trout slated for Lake Casitas was re-routed to Castaic for the holiday weekend. This included some bigger fish to four pounds and over. The marina area has been best despite the big crowds. Typical Trout baits and lures are working but the hot setup has been big red worms or baby nightcrawlers on a light line dropshot rig.

Castaic Afterbay:

Good Bass and Bluegill fishing continues here with the tried and true finesse Carolina rig catching more Bass than any other technique. The hot bait continues to be the C3 Baits Shimmy in Neptune Shad. Senko’s will also get some attention on a long cast and lighter line, 6lb mono or 8lb flourocarbon. Bluegill are around spawning beds in the shallows and can be caught on mini jigs tipped with a meal worm or red worm.

Castaic Lake Conditions:

Water Temp Surface:

65° – 71°

Water Temp at 25′:

60°

Water Clarity:

15′ visibility.

Mainly clear

Water Level:

8’ down 

Jim – 661 Fishing