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View Full Version : Lake Cahuilla crappie - my first crappie



Geraldlim
11-23-2010, 08:32 PM
Trout were planted by both the county and the DFG last Friday. I was tied up coaching a swim meet all weekend, so I just had to go before work today for a little while to try to pick up some trout.

I showed up at 6:00 AM at the gate, but there were several cars already in and setting up near the outlet. I parked and started throwing a bubble and bead head woolly bugger on a 6 ft long 2 lb flouro leader. After an hour with no bites, I switched to a mini jig with a power worm teaser on the same rig.

I had one hit right at my feet with no hookup after a half hour. 15 minutes before I had to leave for work I got a hit. I thought it was a trout. When I pulled it in I was surprised to see a nice 13.5 inch crappie! Cool beans! My first crappie ever, and my first fish from Lake Cahuilla.
27184

I kept trying until I had to leave. The folks next to me in the background did good - caught 4 trout on Powerbait while I was there.

Had it for dinner tonight - simple chinese steamed fish with ginger and sesame oil. Delicious! Almost as good as redear sunfish or bluegills.

smokehound
11-23-2010, 08:46 PM
way to go on the slab. Crappie has a nice delicate flavor.

Natural Lefty
11-24-2010, 02:58 PM
That's a great crappie for Lake Cahuilla. My wife and I have caught a few there, but always little 6-7 inchers. Maybe we need to get back there again -- haven't been there for quite a while.

I agree about Crappies', Redears' and Bluegills' flavor. They are among our favorite fish to eat (with Redears being tops but only by a small margin). I also like cooking them Chinese style with ginger and sesame oil sometimes, especially the big ones.

troutdog
11-24-2010, 04:24 PM
Congrats on your first slab, good eatin right there!


TD

Catrack77
11-24-2010, 09:01 PM
Nice crappie. Certain times of the

Natural Lefty
11-26-2010, 10:08 AM
I know exactly where that is, too. I usually fish the other side of the outlet.

I wanted to add that your fish looks like it might be a White Crappie, which is much less common in SoCal than the Black Crappie, and they also grow larger, I think. It's hard to be sure which kind it is though from the picture.

Geraldlim
11-29-2010, 05:23 AM
N Lefty, I think it's a white crappie too from pics I have seen of both. Black crappie seem to be much more colorful with more blue and gold. This one was silver rather than gold, and the flecks were more gray than blue.
couesdeer77 I will have to try it out in the spring. A stringer full of those would be fun.

Catsfordays
11-29-2010, 08:23 AM
I caught some big crappie in there, a few years back.

P1M
11-30-2010, 03:47 PM
That explains it. Last year my 4 yr old tied into something off the sand beach that tired him out and I had to finish & bring it in. Right when I pulled it up on the beach it spit the hook and took off. I saw it and had no idea what it was! I'm guessing it was a white crappie. Never new there was such a thing.

Thisfool
11-30-2010, 05:30 PM
congrats on your first crappie and first fish out of that lake. ive only caught two in my short fresh water career but they are good eating for sure

fishmounter
11-30-2010, 05:57 PM
No mysteries... It's a light colored Black Crappie. I see them looking like that all the time when the lakes get cooler water temps and especially if the lake is murky or muddy. In all the years that I have done fish taxidermy in southern Calif. I've only seen a couple of White Crappie caught from our lakes.

crappiemike
11-30-2010, 07:37 PM
nice catch man...


here's a catch i did like four years ago
up at piru, there are the wht's with the
vert bars that you can see and there
snouts are a little longer to, these fish
have a black dot on their gill plate to,



this should help....



http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y363/crappiemike13/05-27-09_1148.jpg





bucket shot,,





http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y363/crappiemike13/05-27-09_1152.jpg





been fishing alot lakes lately but only
caught them up at piru, heard the pudd
had some awhile back but there all gone;




crappiemike

Geraldlim
11-30-2010, 10:45 PM
Ahhhh.... I see the difference. Thanks for the fish ID lesson Fishmounter and Crappiemike.

gletemfeelsteelgary
12-06-2010, 12:37 PM
congrats ...saweeet : )

have you tried for the stripey in there...looks good !

Geraldlim
12-06-2010, 02:45 PM
Nope. Have only fished there once.
Seems like ALL the canal stripers would end up there, with no way out. There apparently is a population of shad there too, so they won' starve like they appear to be in the canal. Should get my kayak in there and scope out all the bottom topography.

If you were tackling a body of water like that Gary, how would you approach it?
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=lake+cahuilla,+ca&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLD_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Lake+Cahuilla&gl=us&ei=cGf9TOLaC470tgOJppC_BA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q8gEwAA

gletemfeelsteelgary
12-06-2010, 03:54 PM
Nope. Have only fished there once.
Seems like ALL the canal stripers would end up there, with no way out. There apparently is a population of shad there too, so they won' starve like they appear to be in the canal. Should get my kayak in there and scope out all the bottom topography.

If you were tackling a body of water like that Gary, how would you approach it?
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=lake+cahuilla,+ca&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLD_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Lake+Cahuilla&gl=us&ei=cGf9TOLaC470tgOJppC_BA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q8gEwAA
Hard to say for sure w/o being there but I'll take a stab, if you can take your yak out there, I'd w/o question start near where the water comes into the lake, Particularly where there is current, even if it's minute current...better than dead water....then I'd seek the deeper regions where any sort of rapid depth changes and or deviation in bottom contours...

Maybe flatline troll from your yak as you make a mental map of the lake and it's bottom contors...

throw lures off the rapid slopes (if there are any)

that area in the top sector of the pic you attached seems to be deeper but it's hard to say for sure from my perspective but even though the fish would have to steer around the long point that extends almost the whole run of the lake...if it's deeper, I'd certainly put some time into the exploration of that region.

Graph it out and let the fish activity determine where you fish for the better part....I wouldn't even be above suggesting flylining some anchovies or dines on a #1 or #2 mosquito hook with 6-8 lb test....or use as little weight as possible for an ultra sensitive attack..

Fish your flukes and gulk jerkshad on a 1/4 oz or 1/2 jighead....cast and jerk retrieve or even vertical jig them, I've had great succes vertical jigging gulp alive 4" minnow's at pyramid so I guarentee you stripey like that presentation...

Of course a KPN skinny shad...will get them dependent upon depth of the lake and depth of the fish...

last but not least, if it's deep in any region, try vertical jigging a hopkins spoon or some sort of ice jig...

I have considered heading up that way to explore things and when I did I had planned on tapping that lake, it has to have a healthy population of stripey, it's almost impossible not to ......

question is whether or not theres any decent population of pigs...

I hope that helps....thats about what I would do....certainly the yak will help..

I get an impression that the water may be low in that pic but thats a huge speculation.....current will do you the best regardless as long as it's deep enough where the water comes in..


Good luck....
Keep me posted..I'd love to hear about your success : )

Gary

P.S.

I might add that the fish you are targeting may not always be "FISH" per say that made their way into the lake as fish...where you'll find the largest populations will be from the fertilized eggs flowing downstream and hatching in the lake where theres flow...

of course I'm sure fish make it through but one must not only think that way, I guarentee you that theres major portions of water throughout cali that no sizable striper has made it's way through...it's the eggs....think about the pump plants and all the water below them for miles...most likely sizable fish did not make it through turbines....eggs : )

food for thought..

OnShore
12-06-2010, 04:55 PM
Its a fun little lake to yak. Park down on the beach to lauch. You wont find much on the bottom as in drops or anything like that. All man made reefs, mostly tires. This site has alot of good info on this lake even a thread with a pic of it empty, just search it. I've caught LMB on just about every rig there and a great place to start is at the inlet. I would recommend your yak or get there early, it fills up fast with trout hunters. I also do well along the rock jetti. Some big fish in there for sure, I've seen many lost rigs from big kittys and my buddy still might hold the trout record at 12lb something.

gletemfeelsteelgary
12-06-2010, 05:29 PM
Its a fun little lake to yak. Park down on the beach to lauch. You wont find much on the bottom as in drops or anything like that. All man made reefs, mostly tires. This site has alot of good info on this lake even a thread with a pic of it empty, just search it. I've caught LMB on just about every rig there and a great place to start is at the inlet. I would recommend your yak or get there early, it fills up fast with trout hunters. I also do well along the rock jetti. Some big fish in there for sure, I've seen many lost rigs from big kittys and my buddy still might hold the trout record at 12lb something.

Luv ta see the pic of the lake empty if anyone finds it : )

Gary

P1M
12-07-2010, 09:58 AM
The lake is only about 8 or 9 ft deep most of the time. I have found a spot that I caught several micro stripers from shore about the size of my hand. I don't understand stripers enough to target them. It was a complete accident when I caught the micro's. I am sure there has to be some bigger ones there because I don't think anyone targets them.

Everytime I go to this lake it seems the hot spot that day will not be hot the next week. I do recall a pic of a 7.5 striper that was posted at the gate coming in. But I think that was a few years ago.