Vail Lake

[bendopolo2004]

Hit it my my good friend since fifth grade, Eric. Up at 3 am out the door by 4am and at the Lake by 6. After the $150.00 entrance fee for two guys and a fishing boat we hit what was left of the lake. The water was 58 degrees to start and the two fish we managed in the morning were cold to the touch. Both were dropshot fish in thirty feet of water. We hit all the main lake points and slid into the deeper coves. No bites. They have to bite for us to play. With two rods shifting between a 3/16 oz. jig, and a dropshot we methodically worked the living hell out of the lake. The wind started up pretty good by 11 am. By noon there were wind rips and gusts blowing down lake. Following the "imprinted on my brain" book on Bass fishing, we went to the windward side of the lake. Points along this side of the lake had a good current flow developing across them. Starting on the up wind end of a long bank punctuated with points, we went to work. It looked really good but we could not get a touch much less a bite. Reaching the fifth little point, we noticed a little cove carved into the downwind side. I put that jig into the middle of that spot and got nailed. I missed the bite and right then a Grebe comes out of the water as I lift my jig for another cast. Must of been that Grebe I told Eric. I flipped another cast in there and got nailed. Long story shorter, we stayed on that spot and got 23 more Bass topped off by a solid five pound fish, the very last one. All the rest were cookie cutter two pounders. If a big wind gust didn't blow us onto the spot we probably would have caught even more. I rarely pay a fee to fish and $75.00 dollars is a lot of dough but it turned out to be a fantastic day. Winter fish can be hard to find, but when you do they are usually stacked up. This is my third double digit (More then 10 in a session) trip of the year. Thank You Vail Lake.....Jim

[etucker1959]

[QUOTE=bendopolo2004;757878]Hit it my my good friend since fifth grade, Eric. Up at 3 am out the door by 4am and at the Lake by 6. After the $150.00 entrance fee for two guys and a fishing boat we hit what was left of the lake. The water was 58 degrees to start and the two fish we managed in the morning were cold to the touch. Both were dropshot fish in thirty feet of water. We hit all the main lake points and slid into the deeper coves. No bites. They have to bite for us to play. With two rods shifting between a 3/16 oz. jig, and a dropshot we methodically worked the living hell out of the lake. The wind started up pretty good by 11 am. By noon there were wind rips and gusts blowing down lake. Following the "imprinted on my brain" book on Bass fishing, we went to the windward side of the lake. Points along this side of the lake had a good current flow developing across them. Starting on the up wind end of a long bank punctuated with points, we went to work. It looked really good but we could not get a touch much less a bite. Reaching the fifth little point, we noticed a little cove carved into the downwind side. I put that jig into the middle of that spot and got nailed. I missed the bite and right then a Grebe comes out of the water as I lift my jig for another cast. Must of been that Grebe I told Eric. I flipped another cast in there and got nailed. Long story shorter, we stayed on that spot and got 23 more Bass topped off by a solid five pound fish, the very last one. All the rest were cookie cutter two pounders. If a big wind gust didn't blow us onto the spot we probably would have caught even more. I rarely pay a fee to fish and $75.00 dollars is a lot of dough but it turned out to be a fantastic day. Winter fish can be hard to find, but when you do they are usually stacked up. This is my third double digit (More then 10 in a session) trip of the year. Thank You Vail Lake.....Jim[/QUOTE
Great report!!!!! Can anyone just show up and pay the $75.00??????

[Stray Cat]

Thanks for the report So do you pay extra to take a bass boat there, or do you have to be a registerd camper? I was under the impression only shore fishing was allowed if you weren't camping there.

[bendopolo2004]

The answer is anyone can pay the fee. We brought in a "fishing boat" plus a truck and two fisherman. $ 75 each. Sorry about the lack of pics but the website pic loader won't take my pics even after compression. But they are nice pics....

[Stray Cat]

Cool, thanks.

[QB7940]

It is a flat $150 to launch a bass boat period. Doesn't matter if it's one person or two people etc.

[muskyman]

Wow Jim, that was pricy dude. But I hear ya, I remember the 80's and that place was cool man. Jim, we had some good times on the water at Irvine dude. I miss those days at times. I will hit you up next time I am in O.C.

[Fishbreath]

Don't go Feb 23rd, 24th, or 25th. I just got a call that the only remaining launch ramp will be closed for repair.

[carpanglerdude]

What's the fee to fish the shore? Is it open access like lovely Silverwood or (two thumbs down) restricted like Diamond Valley?

[bendopolo2004]

Two people and a fishing boat $150. You can fish from shore but I don't know if you can access much of the lake that way without meeting some nasty critters.