Castaic Lake Report 06-04-2023

Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass:

The bigger Bass over two pounds are still hard to come by. The recent weeks of cloudy air temps and dark skies have kept most of the bait fish and predator fish from moving shallow. The Smallmouth Bass are more active and can be found on rocky main lake shorelines. The most productive depths have been ten to twenty feet. Wacky-rigged stick worms like the C3 Baits Slim Pro and Senko variations are getting some play in the morning. After that, dropshot and Ned rigs are getting their fair share of bites. Any areas of rock seem to hold at least a few fish. The fish are spread out around the lake so keep moving and you’ll find some willing biters. The best worm colors have been Natural Shad, Prism Shad, Morning Dawn and Watermelon hues. The Smallmouth will hammer a Keitech Fat Swing Impact 2.8 paddle tail, Texas rigged on a dropshot. Stick with any of the Shad colors.

Striped Bass:

The Stripers are spread out around the lake and can be seen spawning on the surface at times. It may look like they’re boiling but it’s more of a swirling action than a boil. Typically they won’t bite during the spawning ritual leading to frustation from the angler. Cut Sardines fished at the Buoy line at the end of the Ski Arm is still the most consistent “bait & wait” pattern. Most of them are the smaller one to two pound fish with an occasional three to five pounder showing up. Trolling hasn’t been very effective as of yet, as the bulk of the fish are in shallow water. Surface action has come to a halt without the sun on the water, but should come on strong once the weather stabilizes and the Shad move back to the shoreline to spawn.

 

Lake Conditions:

Water clarity – 5 to 10′ in most areas

Surface temp – 68 to 71 degrees  

Jim – www.661Fishing.com