BBL 08-20 Early Morning Bass and Late Afternoon Trout

[etaggart]

Had to do some more work on the landscaping of the house today and the wife had to work, so it was just me and the dog. That means I can try to squeeze in a little more fishing time than usual.

Inspired by Joe's Bass-Attack a few weeks ago, I was determined to pick up at least one bass on the jetty east of Grout Bay. Launched the tube at Dana Point park about 5:30 and kicked out to the jetty.

Picked up a few crappie on the fly along the way, but worked the plastics for bass once I got to the rocks.

I picked up my first and barely new it was on ... 32454

I was hoping that wasn't going to be it for the day, and continued to work around the rocks. No bad weeds on the south and east edges for about 20 feet, so it looked good for going wacky-rigged.

I was trying to channel Joe - flyline a work wacky and deadstick it at the bottom, only moving it to reposition. I finally started getting some good taps but they wouldn't suck it up. Finally picked up this one, not huge, but it counts ...
32455

Picked up another similar size but didn't take a picture.

After a while longer ... 32456

Not a monster, but it didn't want to be caught - fought for long enough for be to snap a pole bendo pic, then I stopped messing around and brought it in ...

3245732458

Both pix of the same fish - 17" easily and I weighed him in at 2lbs 4oz before letting him go to grow.

Feeling a little more confident, I eventually picked up two more ...

3245932460

And once the wind picked-up, either the bass bite shut down or I just couldn't keep the worm still enough to entice. As you can see from some of the pix, they were sucking that 5" worm far down - had to cut-off a few hooks so I didn't mangle the poor fishies.

Decided to end early (about 10am) so I could get some work done and maybe work-up an evening session, so I switched back to the fly rod for the kick back. Picked up a few more crappie, then this feisty little stocker struck hard and fast.

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Worked for some more crappie at the very end of the bay by the road and chatted with a few carp bow hunters who I think said they scored 60 carp on Friday!!! Not as good luck today, but I'm sure they found them.

After powering through my landscaping work and taking a nap :) I headed out to try for some trout at the west-end. Hit the water about 5:30. Got two different sets of hard taps pretty quick, but didn't snag-em. Then picked up three within about 45 minutes. Two small one's (less than a pound), and one very healthy 2lbr. Sorry no pix, forgot the camera.

After that nothing at all until I got off the water at 7:30.

Hoping to try for some more bass early Sunday morning.

Cheers to all!!

Eric

[jmytuna]

Nice.
May have to show them something different the next day. Or rotate spots.

[mytyt]

What fly are you using for the crappie? Trout? Sinking line?

[etaggart]

Woolly Bugger - full sink Type IV line. Steady retrieve - crappie seem to prefer slow and steady.

[fishmounter]

etaggart- You said you launched your 'tube at "Dana Point Park"? That's at Big Bear Lake? What's involved to launch a float tube on Big Bear Lake? Can you just drive up to a spot and put your tube in the water or do you need to go to a certain place and get a permit or what? Been wanting to go up there and fish the bass.

[Kelster]

etaggart- You said you launched your 'tube at "Dana Point Park"? That's at Big Bear Lake? What's involved to launch a float tube on Big Bear Lake? Can you just drive up to a spot and put your tube in the water or do you need to go to a certain place and get a permit or what? Been wanting to go up there and fish the bass.
I would like to know also, it's been three months since I've been up there. I've only fished trout there at grout bay and would like to tube it also.
Looks like the wife will be gone next Saturday so it's either shorts at Perris, or waders up in Big bear.

[seal]

Woolly Bugger - full sink Type IV line. Steady retrieve - crappie seem to prefer slow and steady.

That's my FLY rig for BBL, good job we got into the crappie last week also with some trout mixed in, only one LMB but I thought about that jetty but couldn't convince my buddy to kick over there from the other side of Grout, time limitations.

[M@M]

Nice report etaggart, I'm going Monday to try my luck on the BBL crappie:Smile:

[etaggart]

@kelster - the water's 68 degrees to 70 degrees, so I bet you could tube in shorts in BBL with no problem ;)

@fishmounter - Dana Point Park is by Captain John's in Fawnskin. I think the park-part is a city park (not much of a park).

For the where to launch info, I just PM'd mytyt with some info and I'm happy to share:

Hey Mytyt,

You can launch a tube (or kayak) from any open shoreline spot you can get to. There are a few of my personal favorites depending on where I'm looking to fish - Boulder Bay, Metcalfe Bay, Mallard Bay, Observatory, Grout Bay, East End, West End. Each of these have at least one relatively good spot to park and launch.

Tubes and Kayaks do require a lake permit. I think it's $15 for one day or $45 for the remainder of the calendar year. I think $45 is well worth it since they do work hard to maintain a good fishery. You will likely get stopped by Lake Patrol at some point while you're in the water. If you don't have a permit "yet", tell them you launched at 5:30 when no one was at the public launches. You can either buy a permit on-the-water from their boat, or they can put your name on a list and you can get one later. Please don't cheat or give them a hard time - they're just doing their job, and they're really nice if you're nice to them.

I think that this time of year the trout seem to be closer to the west end. I like to launch by the big red house near the boom line on the north side. There's a big parking area there and a number of easy access points. Personally I like to work the North shore and let the wind blow me east and then kick back up wind to the west, repeat. When I'm fly fishing, I usually keep another spinning rod in a rod holder with powerbait under a slip bobber.

I've never hit a bass on the wooly bugger. I tried some bass flies at one point, but no luck. I *think* BBL bass like a more-still bait - unless they're really chewing and then they'll hit on poppers, cranks, etc - maybe even a big-*** fly!

Also, I made a leash holder for my fly rod after losing and old one :(. Some day I'll try to take a picture, but you can YouTube fly rod leash holder and I think you'll find lots of videos of people making them from old coiled cell phone charger cords.

Best of luck and post reports with pix!!!

Eric

[Flying]

[QUOTE=etaggart;571990

I've never hit a bass on the wooly bugger. I tried some bass flies at one point, but no luck. I *think* BBL bass like a more-still bait - unless they're really chewing and then they'll hit on poppers, cranks, etc - maybe even a big-*** fly!



Eric[/QUOTE]

Are all those SMB or some LMB? And what would you say is the majority of the bass in there?


Don't give up with the bugger on bass. Just because you haven't caught one yet doesn't mean they haven't hit it. The smaller ones will generally hit it like a trout but the majority won't. I also use the same setup as you and just use a #8 bugger for everything. With 60+ feet of line out you won't feel too many ticks or bumps like fishing plastic. When you feel like you picked up some grass give it a tug. You'd be surprised how often that grass fights back:Wink:

I haven't fished BBL but if you think they like it still then just do a very slow kick with no twitch on the line and if you aren't hanging up a few times you're not deep enough. If catching bass is you man concern then stick with plastic. I get out fished all the time at Perris but I also don't change flies. If they don't like my color then F'um:LOL: I'll just wait till they like what I got.

[seal]

Big black bugger with a red head seems to do the trick for me on LMB's but it's really all about how active they are and where they are at in the water column.

[2jackedLUNGS]

great report. ill be up there all weekend. we have a lakeside cabin in metcalf bay for the weekend. im hoping the fishing from the shore of metcalf will be good. any tips would be greatly appreciated. im bringing trout and bass gear. i really want to catch something for the kids.

[etaggart]

Thanks for the info Flying! Bass on the fly would be lots of fun!!! Most of the bass I catch are small mouth (and I think that's the biggest bass population in BBL), but I've caught LMB's before. There are also spotted bass and maybe one other kind. Look for jmytuna reports and you'll see the range of bass being caught in BBL.