Natural Lefty
10-29-2011, 04:20 PM
Okay, here's what happened on my long anticipated first trip to Canyon Lake. Juan, whom I met at Sail Cove Pier at Perris, and with whom I have been fishing, was telling me about the excellent fishing going on at Canyon Lake for Crappies, Bluegills and Bass, so we arranged to go yesterday afternoon.
We were to meet at 2:30, but due to a mixup, we didn't meet until after 3:30. Juan brought one of his cousins, Julio, along too and off we went in my luxury Honda Fit. Juan has a friend and a cousin who both give him passes to fish at Canyon Lake. However, he was unable to get ahold of either one, so when we got there, we were turned back. I had an alternate plan to fish at the launch ramp at Perris, so I was dissappointed but okay with it. As we were driving back, a few minutes later, Juan's cousin answered him and got him a pass. Apparently, the people at Canyon Lake are pretty generous about giving visitors' passes, so we turned back and were waved right on in. The fishing spot where Juan has been fishing is just a short distance from the gate we went in. I think it's the spot where the gated community begins, at the bridge separately the gated part of the lake, from the north end of the lake which is undeveloped.
There are 3 pipes there which let water flow under the bridge, and the second and third were occupied, so we headed to the first one. It was probably about 4:15 p.m. by this time. Juan started fishing with his mealworms with a Crappie Nibble attached, and I started using a jig on one pole, and a worm on the other. Frankly, the fishing turned out to be disappointing, although I think the cool weather this week was largely to blame for turning the bite off. It was a while before either of us had a bite. Julio caught a small Bluegill quicky which he put back, but didn't catch anything else after that. Finally, Juan caught a Bluegill. Eventually, I found a 1/80 ounce microjig and tried that. I really wanted to catch the Crappies I had heard about inhabiting Canyon Lake, but nothing bit the straight Crappie jig under a bobber, so I put on Juan's Crappie Nibbles, and that triggered some bites from the Bluegills. I caught 2 average size Bluegills that way, and lost a fish that I hooked farther out, which might have been a small Crappie but I never saw it. After that, the sun went down, and the fish pretty much just stopped biting.
Meanwhile, Juan caught a couple more Bluegills. The last one was a good size, male Bluegill. I brought my camera so I went to the car, got the camera and took a picture of it. Juan said it was probably his personal best Bluegill so far although I think he will catch some bigger ones in the future. He wanted to keep it for dinner so he put it in his bucket with some water. As we were getting ready to leave, around 7 p.m., he tried to empty the water from his bucket, but he did too good a job of emptying the bucket, and the Bluegill went right back into the lake. :Confused: Oh well!
Aside from us, I saw 3 other people fishing, and all of them seemed to be regulars there. One of them, Juan told me was the local Crappie fishing expert. All he managed were 2 small Crappies of about 7 inches, maybe 8 inches max, but I wasn't getting hits from the Crappies at all on my jigs, even with the Crappie nibbles, except for that one possible small Crappie I lost, and I usually do pretty well on Crappies if they are biting much at all. Maybe I was in the wrong spot, or had the wrong type of jig. Another guy caught one bass of about 15 inches, on a crayfish I think, and put it in a basket. The other guy also caught a bass of about 15 inches on a crayfish which went into the basket -- apparently there is nothing his aunt likes better than a basket full of bass to eat. He also caught several average size (like 1/4 pound, the same as mine) Bluegills on crickets. He offered us some crickets to use but I was far more interested in catching Crappies. After all, I catch Bluegills almost every week.
The fishing was far from the quality I had heard about Canyon Lake, but all the locals had the same type of comment. I guess it was the weather and approaching winter. It was quite a dissapointment after hearing people rave about the fishing there, including all the locals we saw. I had very few bites on worms. It's strange how the fish there didn't care much for worms, but even the Bluegills were really going after the Crappie Nibbles. I was promised an evening surface feeding show too, which never took off, just a few scattered surfacings from Bluegills perhaps, and sometimes there were schools of shad dimpling the surface nearby. If the fish had been very active surface feeding, I would have tried the bobber and fly technique.
The totals for us were:
3 Bluegills for Juan on mealworms with Crappie Nibbles, 2 kept but the bigger one accidentally escaped back into the lake;
2 average size Bluegills for me on the microjig with a Crappie Nibble, both kept;
and 1 small Bluegill for Julio on a mealworm with a Crappie Nibble (I think), released.
I am attaching the photo of Juan with his larger Bluegill.
It was an interesting fishing spot, though, and I am sure the fishing must be quite good there much of the time.
We were to meet at 2:30, but due to a mixup, we didn't meet until after 3:30. Juan brought one of his cousins, Julio, along too and off we went in my luxury Honda Fit. Juan has a friend and a cousin who both give him passes to fish at Canyon Lake. However, he was unable to get ahold of either one, so when we got there, we were turned back. I had an alternate plan to fish at the launch ramp at Perris, so I was dissappointed but okay with it. As we were driving back, a few minutes later, Juan's cousin answered him and got him a pass. Apparently, the people at Canyon Lake are pretty generous about giving visitors' passes, so we turned back and were waved right on in. The fishing spot where Juan has been fishing is just a short distance from the gate we went in. I think it's the spot where the gated community begins, at the bridge separately the gated part of the lake, from the north end of the lake which is undeveloped.
There are 3 pipes there which let water flow under the bridge, and the second and third were occupied, so we headed to the first one. It was probably about 4:15 p.m. by this time. Juan started fishing with his mealworms with a Crappie Nibble attached, and I started using a jig on one pole, and a worm on the other. Frankly, the fishing turned out to be disappointing, although I think the cool weather this week was largely to blame for turning the bite off. It was a while before either of us had a bite. Julio caught a small Bluegill quicky which he put back, but didn't catch anything else after that. Finally, Juan caught a Bluegill. Eventually, I found a 1/80 ounce microjig and tried that. I really wanted to catch the Crappies I had heard about inhabiting Canyon Lake, but nothing bit the straight Crappie jig under a bobber, so I put on Juan's Crappie Nibbles, and that triggered some bites from the Bluegills. I caught 2 average size Bluegills that way, and lost a fish that I hooked farther out, which might have been a small Crappie but I never saw it. After that, the sun went down, and the fish pretty much just stopped biting.
Meanwhile, Juan caught a couple more Bluegills. The last one was a good size, male Bluegill. I brought my camera so I went to the car, got the camera and took a picture of it. Juan said it was probably his personal best Bluegill so far although I think he will catch some bigger ones in the future. He wanted to keep it for dinner so he put it in his bucket with some water. As we were getting ready to leave, around 7 p.m., he tried to empty the water from his bucket, but he did too good a job of emptying the bucket, and the Bluegill went right back into the lake. :Confused: Oh well!
Aside from us, I saw 3 other people fishing, and all of them seemed to be regulars there. One of them, Juan told me was the local Crappie fishing expert. All he managed were 2 small Crappies of about 7 inches, maybe 8 inches max, but I wasn't getting hits from the Crappies at all on my jigs, even with the Crappie nibbles, except for that one possible small Crappie I lost, and I usually do pretty well on Crappies if they are biting much at all. Maybe I was in the wrong spot, or had the wrong type of jig. Another guy caught one bass of about 15 inches, on a crayfish I think, and put it in a basket. The other guy also caught a bass of about 15 inches on a crayfish which went into the basket -- apparently there is nothing his aunt likes better than a basket full of bass to eat. He also caught several average size (like 1/4 pound, the same as mine) Bluegills on crickets. He offered us some crickets to use but I was far more interested in catching Crappies. After all, I catch Bluegills almost every week.
The fishing was far from the quality I had heard about Canyon Lake, but all the locals had the same type of comment. I guess it was the weather and approaching winter. It was quite a dissapointment after hearing people rave about the fishing there, including all the locals we saw. I had very few bites on worms. It's strange how the fish there didn't care much for worms, but even the Bluegills were really going after the Crappie Nibbles. I was promised an evening surface feeding show too, which never took off, just a few scattered surfacings from Bluegills perhaps, and sometimes there were schools of shad dimpling the surface nearby. If the fish had been very active surface feeding, I would have tried the bobber and fly technique.
The totals for us were:
3 Bluegills for Juan on mealworms with Crappie Nibbles, 2 kept but the bigger one accidentally escaped back into the lake;
2 average size Bluegills for me on the microjig with a Crappie Nibble, both kept;
and 1 small Bluegill for Julio on a mealworm with a Crappie Nibble (I think), released.
I am attaching the photo of Juan with his larger Bluegill.
It was an interesting fishing spot, though, and I am sure the fishing must be quite good there much of the time.