View Full Version : Balboa lake in San Fernando Valley
Piratepup
07-30-2015, 02:12 PM
Has anyone fished here, I have read about people cathcing fish tank type fish in here. Just wondering it it would be worth throwing a line into the lake to catch and release.
lostfisherman
07-30-2015, 02:23 PM
Has anyone fished here, I have read about people cathcing fish tank type fish in here. Just wondering it it would be worth throwing a line into the lake to catch and release.
Dont think you can catch anything in that water except dead plants and turtles
DarkShadow
07-30-2015, 03:16 PM
Dont think you can catch anything in that water except dead plants and turtles
Or huge tilapia, huge plecos, few cats here and there, and a random freight train carp....if you know where to fish. (I also think they have a bass population, but I've caught more of them in the adjacent LA river)
:-D
cambonesian
08-07-2015, 12:02 AM
15 years ago when I was little, we use to go fish there every weekend. It was full of tilapia guaranteed every cast with multiple hooks using 1" pieces of nightcrawlers. Off to the side south of the lake there is a little creek where you find some huge carp. It was fun fishing there. I revisted like 2 years back and there are still some tilapias but not as much action as before.
Piratepup
08-07-2015, 10:30 AM
Thank for the info all. I will check it out t see what I might catch.
DarkShadow
08-07-2015, 10:43 AM
Thank for the info all. I will check it out t see what I might catch.
This is a good place for bobber and worm fishing.
Get a light spinning rod, some bobbers, pick up some redworms at your local bait shop/Walmart, get a pack of size 12 mosquito hooks, and catch tilapia till the cows come home.
aramirez1988
10-14-2015, 01:03 PM
I just saw this thread...
I've fished this lake a few times since i live nearby. I've caught: 5 Tilapia and 2 big *** turtles.
The best luck I had was with flour tortilla for the Tilapia. I got 3 fairly large ones within an hour one day, pretty good fun.
Other than that I hadn't hooked up anything else aside from what I presumed are baby Tilapia. If you use nightcrawlers, those tiny guys will nibble away all of your bait fairly quickly and you won't even know it!
DarkShadow
10-14-2015, 02:34 PM
There are some 3 lb tilapia in there. Finding them is the fun part.
Cousin use to work for recs and park, he advised NOT to eat anything out of that lake
DarkShadow
10-14-2015, 04:44 PM
Would you rather eat a tilapia from Balboa, or a croaker from the Belmont Pier?
City Dad
10-21-2015, 10:40 AM
waaaaaaaay back when we started fishing there, I ate a couple of bites of a tilapia we caught. It tasted exactly the way the lake and the river smell - like a disinfectant.
still a fun place to take the kids though.
I'm waiting for the peacock bass to be introduced...
CrouchingNinjaHiddenFish
10-21-2015, 05:58 PM
i know for a fact there is at least 1 LMB in there