Marley
02-02-2009, 08:13 PM
Spent the morning at SARL. Got the itch, had to scratch and SARL was the closest skinny finger I could think of. Set up on (or near) La Palma Point. I’ve never really known just where exactly that is, but it was in that general area.
Lake personnel opened the gates at 05:45 for the ten or so cars waiting to get in, so it was a fumble in the dark at first to get set up and baited with ye olde garden hackle, aka herbed wigglers.
Got picked up pretty quickly in a classic ‘crawler bite, in tight and everything. Heft and heavy headshakes announced the surprise of a bigger fish, so I was a little frustrated when I pulled the hook. A second fish followed soon after, this one with bigger shoulders and as it took air for the fourth time, it, too, spit the hook. You might have heard a little rumble at about 6:45 this morning….
It wasn’t until just before 8:00 that I dropped my first fish into the basket, a nice 3-pound Nebraska beauty. No skunkage today, Pepe!
I didn’t get my second fish until almost 9:00, but I was off the water with a limit and three more farmed fish at 9:55.
All of my fish came on the blown half-crawler, fished a relatively long distance off shore. I always tell folks to “hang one in tight,” and I did get bit three times in tight, but all three fish came unbuttoned. All of the fish that made it home were caught 75 feet out.
The water was quite cool at 54 degrees and carried minimal stain, even in the moderate Santa Ana wind. What I thought to be a prevailing morning breeze turned out to stay the entire morning. Not an uncomfortable day at all, and not at all unfishable.
I saw fish caught all around the lake, including a pair of 5-plus pounders on a stringer in one of the corners.
The dynamics of the lake have changed, what with the pipes shut off, and it fished very much like years ago when the “Bubble Hole” was where the water entered at the bottom of the lake, not spilling in as it does now. Folks have become used to fishing one of four or five moving-water spots for sight-caught DD’s, becoming, I think, spoiled to that kind of action. The fish are definitely there and definitely hungry. One of the smaller fish I kept had been feeding on shad, and the voraciousness of the strikes was impressive.
Marley’s Spot
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/100040DSCN20507154-med.jpg
A lake covered with diamonds.
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/100040DSCN20517155-med.jpg
One happy basket!
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/100040DSCN20537156-med.jpg
edit: if you were the guy at the Sandy Beach with 7 rods out and two more at the back of your van, a total shame on you. If ya can't catch fish any better than that, just quit.
Lake personnel opened the gates at 05:45 for the ten or so cars waiting to get in, so it was a fumble in the dark at first to get set up and baited with ye olde garden hackle, aka herbed wigglers.
Got picked up pretty quickly in a classic ‘crawler bite, in tight and everything. Heft and heavy headshakes announced the surprise of a bigger fish, so I was a little frustrated when I pulled the hook. A second fish followed soon after, this one with bigger shoulders and as it took air for the fourth time, it, too, spit the hook. You might have heard a little rumble at about 6:45 this morning….
It wasn’t until just before 8:00 that I dropped my first fish into the basket, a nice 3-pound Nebraska beauty. No skunkage today, Pepe!
I didn’t get my second fish until almost 9:00, but I was off the water with a limit and three more farmed fish at 9:55.
All of my fish came on the blown half-crawler, fished a relatively long distance off shore. I always tell folks to “hang one in tight,” and I did get bit three times in tight, but all three fish came unbuttoned. All of the fish that made it home were caught 75 feet out.
The water was quite cool at 54 degrees and carried minimal stain, even in the moderate Santa Ana wind. What I thought to be a prevailing morning breeze turned out to stay the entire morning. Not an uncomfortable day at all, and not at all unfishable.
I saw fish caught all around the lake, including a pair of 5-plus pounders on a stringer in one of the corners.
The dynamics of the lake have changed, what with the pipes shut off, and it fished very much like years ago when the “Bubble Hole” was where the water entered at the bottom of the lake, not spilling in as it does now. Folks have become used to fishing one of four or five moving-water spots for sight-caught DD’s, becoming, I think, spoiled to that kind of action. The fish are definitely there and definitely hungry. One of the smaller fish I kept had been feeding on shad, and the voraciousness of the strikes was impressive.
Marley’s Spot
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/100040DSCN20507154-med.jpg
A lake covered with diamonds.
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/100040DSCN20517155-med.jpg
One happy basket!
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/100040DSCN20537156-med.jpg
edit: if you were the guy at the Sandy Beach with 7 rods out and two more at the back of your van, a total shame on you. If ya can't catch fish any better than that, just quit.