Largemouth Bass:
With cooler temps this week we saw an uptick in the fish count as well as increased surface activity in the morning hours. Big weed beds have made their way to the surface, congregating the bait and the Bass. Topwater and dropshot remain the best ways to catch a few in the first two hours and the last two hours of the day. Thick green moss is covering the bottom in most areas making it difficult to drag a Carolina rig unless you fish it on the steeper rock walls and points. C3 Baits Ice Picks in Neptune Shad, Scuppernong and Watermelon Candy are the mainstay dropshot baits on the lake and will get some quality bites especially when fished in deep water up to 35′. We are still netting live Shad every day, leading to explosive surface “chase and conquer” sequences that are fun to watch whether you’re holding the pole or not. Most of the fish are around two pounds with a few up to five pounds finding themselves in the net before being released to be caught another day.
Striped Bass:
Fly-coring with a Producer Fly was hit and miss again this week as we are trying to nail down the best time to be out there trolling. Early in the week the huge school of six pound class fish were mid-lake between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. over 200′ of water in the area around Kong Island. By Thursday they were out between the marina and Center Point in the early afternoon in 275′ of water. The boils are diminishing rapidly making it hard to get a cast into them. We are picking up fish on the trolling fly, staying in the areas we find the quick boils. All signs point to an epic Fall bite on these saltwater transplants.
Castaic Afterbay:
The deeper water in the South end of the lake as well as the deep edge of the North end grass beds and swim beach have been the better areas to target. Dragging a C3 Baits Shimmy on a 6lb Carolina Rig is a great way to cover water and put fish in the net. Bluegill continue to dominate the shallower weedy areas and can be caught on mini jigs, meal worms or red worms.
Castaic Lake Conditions:
Water Temp Surface:
80°
Water Temp at 20′:
N/A
Water Clarity:
10′ – 15′ visibility.
Mainly clear. Light Algae
Water Level:
8′ down
Jim – 661 Fishing