Pete Marino
07-01-2014, 04:47 PM
So last Saturday was the final ABA tournament of the season in the SoCal. region and since my regions, the Inland Empire region and the Diamond Valey regions are both finished for the year My partner Kevin and I decided to make the 106 mile trip to Castaic to do battle in another region outside our own.
Because of the long distance, neither of us had time to go prefish.. We just told each other that we'd fish our strengths, fish hard and stress free and just have a good time and let the chips fall where they may. And that's exactly what we did..
When may alarm went off Saturday morning at 2:45am....yes 2:45AM I was really excited to get up to Castaic because Ive always loved that lake and Love the challenge of fishing against guys on their home lake. I also love the change of scenery... Castaic is always a fun place to go in my opinion.
So went my alarm went off I jumped up, got ready and off I went...I made the 40 mile drive to Kevins house and we jumped in his truck (we were fishing his boat this time) and off we went for the 66 mile drive to Castaic.
Once there I was in awe of how low the water was... Ive never seen the water so low. As Kevin and I talked in the parking lot I said that we needed to stick to the plan and the baits we planned to throw and let the day come to us. I told him that with the water so low it shouldn't be hard to pinpoint where the bass were along the bank. I told him that we needed to concentrate on chunk rock up on the bank that led into the water. I also said that we needed to pay attention to the steep stuff as well... Our plan for the day was simple... I was going start with a topwater and an Alabama rig and Kevin was gonna start with an Alabama rig and a couple other shad baits..
So our number was called ...#6.. and off we went.
As we pulled up to our first spot I see some random breaking fish in the distance... most of the boils I saw looked like Stripers but we were about to find out for sure..
I start firing my topwater for about 15 casts with no love and Kevin is firing a crankbait. Then I make a quick change to an Alabama rig...first cast IM ON!!! But its a Striper...back it goes... 3 casts later...IM ON AGAIN!!! And I swing a 2lb bass into the boat..."COOL We"re on the board", I say.
That's all kevin had to see to change to the A-rig..within 2 casts HES ON!! But its a Striper.... then we continue to the back of the cove...No More Love!!
As we turn at the back of the cove to work our way out I see a pile of basketball sized rocks leading into the water... I grab my senko and fire out a cast at them...IM ON!!! Keeper number 2 in the box..
We keep firing back to the ARigs... We get about 1/2 way out and come upon another outcropping of rocks.... Kevin fires a cast at them with the Ika....he pops it once and HES ON!!! Keeper #3 in the well... I say..."these fish are exactly where they should be."
We make our way to the entrance of the cove and there is another pile of isolated rocks leading into the water... I grab my senko again and say..."There should be one here"..as I fire out my cast. Within seconds my line starts to move and I set the hook...IM ON!! And Kevin nets keeper number 4. "Its time for a move to an area with more rocks", I say. So off we go...
As we pull up to the next spot we are both anxious to make casts because this area looks PERFECT!!! In fact as we both fire out I say, "There has to be bass here...it looks too good. Im throwing the senko and Kevin is firing the Ika....
I see a big rock about the size of a tire in 2 ft of water and say..."Be there"...As my first casts hits the water and my senko begins to sink I feel a "tick"...and I cross its eyes!!!! Keeper #5 and that's out limit!!! Then Kevin makes a cast and I feel the boat rock because Kevin crossed the eyes of another Castaic Bass.... "Im on..and Its BIG", he says. As he plays the big bass to the boat, I net it.... I say..."THERES a 4lber...YES!!" BOOM BABY...Now we're rolling!!!
A few minutes later Im on again and Kevin nets another keeper that culls out one from earlier....
At that point I say...we're doing this all day..afterall its a shorter tourney then normal...they are only 6 hours long during the Summer instead of the usual 8 hours.
So we continue grinding and catching keeper after keeper.....But the further we got from the best rock the slower the bite got... So I say "100 more yards and we're moving"... Then I pick up MY IKA and I fire out a cast...I pop it once and "THUMP"...my IKA gets smoked...And I cross its eyes...and the fight is on.. "NET, And its a giant", I say as Kevin jumps up with the net... I work the fish next to the boat and pull it up to the net and Kevin nets it.... 5 lb CATFISH!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!:Shocked: You have to be kidding me!!!!! Back into the drink it goes... I thought I had a nice bass... :Embarrassed: Oh well keep firing...
We get to the end of that 100 yards and I say "lets move" and Kevin asks where we should go....I tell him that because its 10 am I think we should go back and start on the good rock we started that stretch on about a 2 miles back.. Kevins response.. "LETS DO IT"!!! And Off we go..
As we pull up to the area we shut down the big motor early and slowly cruise up with the troller.. I have my senko in hand and Kevin is armed with his IKA... Both baits had produced great numbers to that point no need to change it up now. Out in front of me is that tire sized rock in 2 ft of water and next to it about 12 feet away is another good looking rock that I threw to on our initial pass but nobody was home... I fire a long cast to it anyways... my bait lands right next to it on the shady side....within a second..I feel "tick" and I reel down and cross its eyes.... "IM ON AND ITS A GIANT", I say. All I have is deep headshake and it slowly swims to deeper water..."PLEASE DONT BE A FREAKING CATFISH, I say...as I lead it out to deeper water. Then it makes a run and takes line towards the bank..then it turns and surges towards the surface..."We're about to see what it is", I say... as It comes flying out of the water....Its A BIG BASS!!!!
I take my time and lead it back out deep and get over it...finally I get it turned and tired and she comes to the net and Kevin scoops her up....BOOOOOM!!!!
My hands are shaking.... I live for that moment, that's why I do this... Kevin quickly takes the bass to the back of the boat and culls a fish from the livewell and puts her in..."How big is it?" I ask??? And Kevin responds..."Its bigger then mine"!! NICE... I figured his was 4lbs so mine must be close to 5 lbs or over... High fives are flying!!!!!!! :Beer Toast:
"I want another one", I say...so we get back to work.... In the next hour and a 1/2 we catch about 4-5 more fish culling up a few ounces at a time but no more big ones.......
With about 30 minutes left in the day we make a move closer to the check in site.... but the water was muddied up from the breeze and that hurt the bite because as soon as I saw some cleaner water, I made a cast to it and I was on again but it wasn't a keeper.. " I wish this was an 8 hour tourney", I said... but it wasn't and with about 10 minutes to go we headed in to weighins.
Once there I asked the tournament director what was leading and he said 10 lbs..:Shocked: and I think we have a shot at a win because only 4 boats were left to weigh in and I knew we had over that and I knew 2 of those boats had a tough day..
So up to the scales we went...Our big bass weighed 4.62 lbs and our total weight was 14.70 lbs...now we're in the lead with one boat to go.....The last boat comes up and they have a big limit...15 1/2 lbs which over took the win.. But we were 2nd.... not bad for not prefishing and I haven't been to Castaic since last year. It was a fun day fishing and we had a blast, got 2nd place and also got some valuable points towards the Travelers region race..
Our only reaction bait bass came in 5 ft of water on the ARig... also got 2 Striper on it as well... One catfish on the IKA..
The other 20 or so keepers we had were caught in 1-5ft of water on medium and large chunk rock along the banks on both the IKA and Senkos...
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd134/TeamMarino/5159_2nd.jpg (http://s221.photobucket.com/user/TeamMarino/media/5159_2nd.jpg.html)
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd134/TeamMarino/5159_bf2.jpg (http://s221.photobucket.com/user/TeamMarino/media/5159_bf2.jpg.html)
Even though the water is down alot at Castaic the bass bite is AWESOME guys...go check it out for yourself...The bass are so easy to find..look for exposed rock and fish it...they are there.
As For me, Ill see Castaic again sometime later in the summer maybe for a night tournament maybe since the day season is officially over... but for me its back to the grind at Perris and DVL...
If you are ready for a trip to either lake the bites are heating up at both lakes with Perris getting the nod for the better bite right now and that should stay like that most of the summer..
PM me or call me and Ill give you all the details on my trips...LETS GO HAMMER SOME SUMMER BASS!!!!
Pete:Cool:
PeteMarinoGuideService.com
Office (909) 510-5679
Because of the long distance, neither of us had time to go prefish.. We just told each other that we'd fish our strengths, fish hard and stress free and just have a good time and let the chips fall where they may. And that's exactly what we did..
When may alarm went off Saturday morning at 2:45am....yes 2:45AM I was really excited to get up to Castaic because Ive always loved that lake and Love the challenge of fishing against guys on their home lake. I also love the change of scenery... Castaic is always a fun place to go in my opinion.
So went my alarm went off I jumped up, got ready and off I went...I made the 40 mile drive to Kevins house and we jumped in his truck (we were fishing his boat this time) and off we went for the 66 mile drive to Castaic.
Once there I was in awe of how low the water was... Ive never seen the water so low. As Kevin and I talked in the parking lot I said that we needed to stick to the plan and the baits we planned to throw and let the day come to us. I told him that with the water so low it shouldn't be hard to pinpoint where the bass were along the bank. I told him that we needed to concentrate on chunk rock up on the bank that led into the water. I also said that we needed to pay attention to the steep stuff as well... Our plan for the day was simple... I was going start with a topwater and an Alabama rig and Kevin was gonna start with an Alabama rig and a couple other shad baits..
So our number was called ...#6.. and off we went.
As we pulled up to our first spot I see some random breaking fish in the distance... most of the boils I saw looked like Stripers but we were about to find out for sure..
I start firing my topwater for about 15 casts with no love and Kevin is firing a crankbait. Then I make a quick change to an Alabama rig...first cast IM ON!!! But its a Striper...back it goes... 3 casts later...IM ON AGAIN!!! And I swing a 2lb bass into the boat..."COOL We"re on the board", I say.
That's all kevin had to see to change to the A-rig..within 2 casts HES ON!! But its a Striper.... then we continue to the back of the cove...No More Love!!
As we turn at the back of the cove to work our way out I see a pile of basketball sized rocks leading into the water... I grab my senko and fire out a cast at them...IM ON!!! Keeper number 2 in the box..
We keep firing back to the ARigs... We get about 1/2 way out and come upon another outcropping of rocks.... Kevin fires a cast at them with the Ika....he pops it once and HES ON!!! Keeper #3 in the well... I say..."these fish are exactly where they should be."
We make our way to the entrance of the cove and there is another pile of isolated rocks leading into the water... I grab my senko again and say..."There should be one here"..as I fire out my cast. Within seconds my line starts to move and I set the hook...IM ON!! And Kevin nets keeper number 4. "Its time for a move to an area with more rocks", I say. So off we go...
As we pull up to the next spot we are both anxious to make casts because this area looks PERFECT!!! In fact as we both fire out I say, "There has to be bass here...it looks too good. Im throwing the senko and Kevin is firing the Ika....
I see a big rock about the size of a tire in 2 ft of water and say..."Be there"...As my first casts hits the water and my senko begins to sink I feel a "tick"...and I cross its eyes!!!! Keeper #5 and that's out limit!!! Then Kevin makes a cast and I feel the boat rock because Kevin crossed the eyes of another Castaic Bass.... "Im on..and Its BIG", he says. As he plays the big bass to the boat, I net it.... I say..."THERES a 4lber...YES!!" BOOM BABY...Now we're rolling!!!
A few minutes later Im on again and Kevin nets another keeper that culls out one from earlier....
At that point I say...we're doing this all day..afterall its a shorter tourney then normal...they are only 6 hours long during the Summer instead of the usual 8 hours.
So we continue grinding and catching keeper after keeper.....But the further we got from the best rock the slower the bite got... So I say "100 more yards and we're moving"... Then I pick up MY IKA and I fire out a cast...I pop it once and "THUMP"...my IKA gets smoked...And I cross its eyes...and the fight is on.. "NET, And its a giant", I say as Kevin jumps up with the net... I work the fish next to the boat and pull it up to the net and Kevin nets it.... 5 lb CATFISH!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!:Shocked: You have to be kidding me!!!!! Back into the drink it goes... I thought I had a nice bass... :Embarrassed: Oh well keep firing...
We get to the end of that 100 yards and I say "lets move" and Kevin asks where we should go....I tell him that because its 10 am I think we should go back and start on the good rock we started that stretch on about a 2 miles back.. Kevins response.. "LETS DO IT"!!! And Off we go..
As we pull up to the area we shut down the big motor early and slowly cruise up with the troller.. I have my senko in hand and Kevin is armed with his IKA... Both baits had produced great numbers to that point no need to change it up now. Out in front of me is that tire sized rock in 2 ft of water and next to it about 12 feet away is another good looking rock that I threw to on our initial pass but nobody was home... I fire a long cast to it anyways... my bait lands right next to it on the shady side....within a second..I feel "tick" and I reel down and cross its eyes.... "IM ON AND ITS A GIANT", I say. All I have is deep headshake and it slowly swims to deeper water..."PLEASE DONT BE A FREAKING CATFISH, I say...as I lead it out to deeper water. Then it makes a run and takes line towards the bank..then it turns and surges towards the surface..."We're about to see what it is", I say... as It comes flying out of the water....Its A BIG BASS!!!!
I take my time and lead it back out deep and get over it...finally I get it turned and tired and she comes to the net and Kevin scoops her up....BOOOOOM!!!!
My hands are shaking.... I live for that moment, that's why I do this... Kevin quickly takes the bass to the back of the boat and culls a fish from the livewell and puts her in..."How big is it?" I ask??? And Kevin responds..."Its bigger then mine"!! NICE... I figured his was 4lbs so mine must be close to 5 lbs or over... High fives are flying!!!!!!! :Beer Toast:
"I want another one", I say...so we get back to work.... In the next hour and a 1/2 we catch about 4-5 more fish culling up a few ounces at a time but no more big ones.......
With about 30 minutes left in the day we make a move closer to the check in site.... but the water was muddied up from the breeze and that hurt the bite because as soon as I saw some cleaner water, I made a cast to it and I was on again but it wasn't a keeper.. " I wish this was an 8 hour tourney", I said... but it wasn't and with about 10 minutes to go we headed in to weighins.
Once there I asked the tournament director what was leading and he said 10 lbs..:Shocked: and I think we have a shot at a win because only 4 boats were left to weigh in and I knew we had over that and I knew 2 of those boats had a tough day..
So up to the scales we went...Our big bass weighed 4.62 lbs and our total weight was 14.70 lbs...now we're in the lead with one boat to go.....The last boat comes up and they have a big limit...15 1/2 lbs which over took the win.. But we were 2nd.... not bad for not prefishing and I haven't been to Castaic since last year. It was a fun day fishing and we had a blast, got 2nd place and also got some valuable points towards the Travelers region race..
Our only reaction bait bass came in 5 ft of water on the ARig... also got 2 Striper on it as well... One catfish on the IKA..
The other 20 or so keepers we had were caught in 1-5ft of water on medium and large chunk rock along the banks on both the IKA and Senkos...
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd134/TeamMarino/5159_2nd.jpg (http://s221.photobucket.com/user/TeamMarino/media/5159_2nd.jpg.html)
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd134/TeamMarino/5159_bf2.jpg (http://s221.photobucket.com/user/TeamMarino/media/5159_bf2.jpg.html)
Even though the water is down alot at Castaic the bass bite is AWESOME guys...go check it out for yourself...The bass are so easy to find..look for exposed rock and fish it...they are there.
As For me, Ill see Castaic again sometime later in the summer maybe for a night tournament maybe since the day season is officially over... but for me its back to the grind at Perris and DVL...
If you are ready for a trip to either lake the bites are heating up at both lakes with Perris getting the nod for the better bite right now and that should stay like that most of the summer..
PM me or call me and Ill give you all the details on my trips...LETS GO HAMMER SOME SUMMER BASS!!!!
Pete:Cool:
PeteMarinoGuideService.com
Office (909) 510-5679