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View Full Version : Lake Piru, 4/23/09 - On FIRE despite overcast conditions


fisheromen
04-23-2009, 09:22 PM
After a long hiatus, I finally got the chance to do some fishing! :Smile:
Decided to go to Lake Piru and see if the recent hot weather had turned on the Bass and Crappie bite.
Got to the lake at 6:30am when it opened and was 3rd to get the boat in the water.
Air temp was 57 degrees and water temp was 65. Most of the lake was 65 degree, but some areas went as high as 68!
I was excited to see the water that warm, for you know what that means! :Wink:

However, there appeared to be a serious cold front moving in and there was some servious overcast! :Angry:
In fact, the cold overcasted sky lasted most of the day.
Here's a shot of the sky at 9am...still overcast.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/am.jpg

Water level still very low...check out the ski-school sign...yes, way up there!

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/lowwater.jpg

Unfortuantely, the bass were not interested in playing in the early morning. I was only able to land one that was about 8 inches. I tried some topwater sammys, crankbaits, senkos, spider grubs, various plastic worms, but they just weren't interested. :Explode:

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/lmb1.jpg

However, at around 10:30am, either I finally found the right bait, or the bite just seemed to turn on and the bass were on the chew. For the next 2 hours, I landed about a dozen, half were of which were less than 12 inches, and the rest were 13-16 inches and up to 3.5 pounds. These were all taken on 4 inch roboworms.
Here are some pics of some of the better ones:

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/lmb2.jpg

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/lmb3.jpg

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/lmb5.jpg

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/lmb6.jpg

Then , I turned my attention to try and get in some Crappie action. After drifting for a little while, I was finally able to get in on some of the action. I'd find one here and there but just couldn't find the whole school of them. However, about half of the ones I caught were HUGE (at least from my standpoint) and by far the largest I ever caught here at Piru! They were all carbon copies of each other. Either they were about 13 inches long and about 1.5 pounds, or they were about 8 inches long. There were no medium ones.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/c1.jpg

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/c4.jpg

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/c3.jpg



Here's a shot of the live well with the slabs!

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/c67.jpg

While Crappie fishing, I was plesantly suprised to see that I was able to entice quite a few bass as well! In fact, I ended up getting my largest bass on a tiny crappie jig.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/lmb4.jpg

Wind was not really a factor today, but the weather stayed cool all day long, and even when I left at 1pm, it was still overcast.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll3/stankyu/leaving.jpg


Overall, it was an awesome day on the lake and I was reminded of one thing....
You don't need to have the most expensive gear and tackle to catch the most fish. :Wink:
Case in point...today, I caught most of my fish and my largest one, on my least expensive rod and reel setup and a bait the cost me about 25 cents!

Until next time,
Fisheromen
basscatcher
04-23-2009, 10:53 PM
good job on the fish and nice report.


God Bless

basscatcher
cjschock
04-23-2009, 11:28 PM
Good job out there, nice bunch of slabs and bass
BUDdhaBIG
04-24-2009, 12:18 AM
perfect timing on this report. i'm heading up there for the weekend for some camping and fishing...hopefully have my first report up soon. great job on the slabs....any tips you can pm will be greatly appreciated.

Brandon K
Red Drum
04-24-2009, 01:05 AM
Excellent day on the lake, thanks for the report. WTG!!
Seng90806
04-24-2009, 01:15 AM
do i see slabs being caught at piru? man i use to fish that lake alot back when the water was very high...thanks for the report...im pretty sure crappiemike will be out there very soon...lol...those slabs are huge man...great going out there bro....
troutdog
04-24-2009, 01:54 AM
One of my favorite lakes to fish when I lived in the Valley, thanks for the report and pics.


TD
GeordyBass
04-24-2009, 07:13 AM
NICE!!Well done seems like old action is starting back up even with lower water levels,,,I was going to that lake consistently for about 7 mos. in 06' and tons of bass were caught!Me and My Dad used to catch about 70+LMB a day and 106 was the most we caught.....We also used to catch(kill) tons of Redear and Crappie at that cove that dried up...Keep them reports comin'!!!
thepuma
04-24-2009, 07:25 AM
Awesome report.... So funny to see the picture of that Giant Crappie compared to the LMB. WTG!!!!!
Thanks for sharing.
fishincrave
04-24-2009, 07:45 AM
Nice report thanks for sharing can't wait for that lake to fill up.
Piru crappie do get big you just have to find the school, the water being that low doesnt help either .
you did better then most ppl are .

Sean
AnglerBob
04-24-2009, 02:18 PM
Awesome report, I had a great day out there a couple of weeks ago and it looks like it's only gotten better. Nice big crappie, must have been a great fight on a minijig rod. You hit a perfect day, water still warm from the weekend's brutal heat, and didn't have to bake yourself. WTG
lurk 182
04-24-2009, 04:53 PM
i knew that guy that said the lake was 20 feet from full pool last month was smoking rocks, good to see i'm not crazy. well done, any of those panfish live up to their names?
Hitts0n
04-24-2009, 05:21 PM
You did a very good job out there ! Congrats !:Wink:
mpmayhew
04-24-2009, 08:45 PM
Great day at Piru for you, great work! I went out there for about an hour last Friday right at sunset on the shoreline outside the front gate. That was a hike getting to the water! Caught only one tiny bass, no crappies. Those slabs are something else!!!
crappiemike
04-24-2009, 09:00 PM
great report and pics!!!! piru is always good at certain time of the year...

cm
Ifishtoolittle
04-24-2009, 09:23 PM
Nice job on the Slabs and bass!
fisheromen
04-25-2009, 10:07 PM
Thanks to all for the kind words, and I think I replied to all the PM's I received as well.


Awesome report.... So funny to see the picture of that Giant Crappie compared to the LMB. WTG!!!!!
Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, I could just imagine those large Crappies terrorizing the baby Large-mouths all over the coves!!! :Shocked:


do i see slabs being caught at piru? man i use to fish that lake alot back when the water was very high...thanks for the report...im pretty sure crappiemike will be out there very soon...lol...those slabs are huge man...great going out there bro....

Thanks Seng! I'm looking to match those slabs that you caught recently, but I couldn't imagine catching them over 2 pounds, as these 1.5 pounders seemed plenty big!


NICE!!Well done seems like old action is starting back up even with lower water levels,,,I was going to that lake consistently for about 7 mos. in 06' and tons of bass were caught!Me and My Dad used to catch about 70+LMB a day and 106 was the most we caught.....We also used to catch(kill) tons of Redear and Crappie at that cove that dried up...Keep them reports comin'!!!

I agree. I miss the good ole days! Those large Redears were certainly fun to catch on light line! Where'd they ll go????


i knew that guy that said the lake was 20 feet from full pool last month was smoking rocks, good to see i'm not crazy. well done, any of those panfish live up to their names?

Well, if the lake is not 20 feet low, it's at least 10-15 feet!
And yes, those panfish certainly lived up to their name!!! YUMMY!!!


:Cool:
FOM