Santa Ana River lake

[Mr.DieHard]

Hello, it's been about three years since I've fished and was planning on going either this weekend or next weekend. I was just curious if anyone had been there lately and if so were the fish biting. Thank you for any info

[etucker1959]

Hello, it's been about three years since I've fished and was planning on going either this weekend or next weekend. I was just curious if anyone had been there lately and if so were the fish biting. Thank you for any info

It might rain next week, when it does that lake turns into Chocolate Milk. So check the weather, it could make a huge difference.

[Ornery Bob]

SAR stocks on Thursday, so Saturday would probably be better than Sunday. Here's a sonar map of the lake (https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@14&key=wcsmEz%7CdnU) to give you ideas about where to go. The ridge on the eastern side of the lake is a good spot. PowerBait mice tails are a very popular and productive bait there. Good luck!

[Mr.DieHard]

Thank you guys for the advice. I'm still not sure when I'm going but I will let you guys know how it went when I do

[FISHN FX]

I was just there for the 24 hour fishing. It's a 15 fish limit. I caught 14, but nothing spectacular in terms if size. I was using garlic dipped mice tails with white head and orange tail on one pole, and drop shotting an orange trout worm on the other. Key is very light line, i recommend 2lb flouro. Or 4lb if not brave enough. They seem to be loving the orange. If you can get a spot by the bubble hole, it would be ideal, but it's usually taken up. If not, close to the boat docks can be a good spot for big trout. My buddy was not using garlic dip at first and was not getting bit. He switched and started catching. Oh yeah, I did catch one on a gold wobble spoon. Hope this helps.

[sodapop]

I was just there for the 24 hour fishing. It's a 15 fish limit. I caught 14, but nothing spectacular in terms if size. I was using garlic dipped mice tails with white head and orange tail on one pole, and drop shotting an orange trout worm on the other. Key is very light line, i recommend 2lb flouro. Or 4lb if not brave enough. They seem to be loving the orange. If you can get a spot by the bubble hole, it would be ideal, but it's usually taken up. If not, close to the boat docks can be a good spot for big trout. My buddy was not using garlic dip at first and was not getting bit. He switched and started catching. Oh yeah, I did catch one on a gold wobble spoon. Hope this helps.

Great Advice

[thundercracker]

I was there for the tournament. Last time I fish from shore there on a weekend or go at all. Everyone was using 3 or more rods and taking more space than they should. Found a small opening for one rod. Then got called a "bad fisherman" after calling out the guy next to me for using 3 rods and taking up space. Atleast the 4 guys to my left scooted one of their 12 rods over to make me some room. That's how many rods they had in the water, they were also casting lures with other rods. Drove around twice and everywhere I stopped it was the same story.

Fish were biting, farmed the only one I had on. Orange and pink seemed to be the ticket.

[FISHN FX]

I was there for the tournament. Last time I fish from shore there on a weekend or go at all. Everyone was using 3 or more rods and taking more space than they should. Found a small opening for one rod. Then got called a "bad fisherman" after calling out the guy next to me for using 3 rods and taking up space. Atleast the 4 guys to my left scooted one of their 12 rods over to make me some room. That's how many rods they had in the water, they were also casting lures with other rods. Drove around twice and everywhere I stopped it was the same story.

Fish were biting, farmed the only one I had on. Orange and pink seemed to be the ticket.

That is a big problem at that lake. People don't care. I was fishing next to 2 guys with 8 rods. I still outfished them with 2 rods. They even came over to ask what I was using, I told them I would tell them if they followed the rules and used 2 per person. They just smiled and walked away.
"Lake patrol" don't care, which is why people also don't care.

[Ornery Bob]

I would also recommend you check the wind forecast before you go. The wind often picks up around noon and makes fishing miserable.

[Nuoc Mam]

That's the problem at that lake, patrols don't care and the anglers know that, so they keep breaking the rules. Catch and releasing was a big issue before but even then the patrols didn't care, they have their locals that fish the boat dock area. They would just catch and release trout in front of the staff workers. What kind of message does that send out to others. "No catch and release" on trout but staff just stands there and watches the group of guys catch and release. Another problem there is the "Snagging" fish. Most of the time when I fish there I witness the "locals" snagging the super trout because those fish just cruise very very close to the shore, so after they snag them and get the fish into the net, they quickly snap their lines trying to play it off that the fish snap their lines in the mouth when clearly you see their jigs on the side. One time I confronted one of the guys who did that and he said that the fish bit his jig and then the line snapped after netting it hahaha I told him, look, that's your jig on the side of the fish, he went to look and pulled the jig out of the fish and just turned around and walked away. Stupid things like this just annoys me so I haven't been back. Even with all this going on, people still fish it because their is fish to be caught. But I would rather fish elsewhere and avoid this kind of behavior.

[Nuoc Mam]

back to the topic, haven't fished there for a long time now but when I did before this is what I use.

2-4lb test, lightest weight you can use possible, cast no more that 15 ft out, and really short leader (3-7 inch) chartuese, garlic/char, rainbow/garlic, white/orange mousetail, white/pink mousetail where always the hot bait for me.

Good luck to you out there.

[Piss on Myspace]

That's the problem at that lake, patrols don't care and the anglers know that, so they keep breaking the rules. Catch and releasing was a big issue before but even then the patrols didn't care, they have their locals that fish the boat dock area. They would just catch and release trout in front of the staff workers. What kind of message does that send out to others. "No catch and release" on trout but staff just stands there and watches the group of guys catch and release. Another problem there is the "Snagging" fish. Most of the time when I fish there I witness the "locals" snagging the super trout because those fish just cruise very very close to the shore, so after they snag them and get the fish into the net, they quickly snap their lines trying to play it off that the fish snap their lines in the mouth when clearly you see their jigs on the side. One time I confronted one of the guys who did that and he said that the fish bit his jig and then the line snapped after netting it hahaha I told him, look, that's your jig on the side of the fish, he went to look and pulled the jig out of the fish and just turned around and walked away. Stupid things like this just annoys me so I haven't been back. Even with all this going on, people still fish it because their is fish to be caught. But I would rather fish elsewhere and avoid this kind of behavior.

This behavior alone is why I refuse to pay to play...ill see ya @ 10k'

[Mr.DieHard]

Looks like I'll be there this weekend. Thank you for all the advice and hopefully I'll have something to write about upon my return.