Rancho Jurupa Park question

[fishmounter]

I have not fished this park for several years now, and I just wondered if there is any kind of Bluegill/sunfish bite here in the spring and summer? I think I heard there was quite a few Bluegill in the lake but they don't bite good until the weather warms up. Anyone know about this?

[carpanglerdude]

I have not fished this park for several years now, and I just wondered if there is any kind of Bluegill/sunfish bite here in the spring and summer? I think I heard there was quite a few Bluegill in the lake but they don't bite good until the weather warms up. Anyone know about this?

I believe there is a small warmwater population there, including bass, but I am not an expert on it.
The creek that flows out from the ponds, and eventually connects to the Santa Ana River, through the old (now closed) nature center used to have a robust green sunfish population.

[Natural Lefty]

I used to fish there for panfish, but it has been a few years for me too. The best pan fishing there was for Bluegills in the back, natural lake with the island in it, in the spring. I also caught some good sized Bluegill even in the small, narrow natural lake at times. The fish there bite on flies or worms, or maybe jigs too. There were some Crappie in the back lake, but later on, I could no longer find them. Once, I did catch a large Bluegill-Green Sunfish hybrid in that lake, but I suppose the hybrid occurred because Green Sunfish are scarce there. There is also a decent population of bass in the natural lakes, which keeps the populations in balance. The manmade lake surrounded by cement, seems to have no bass (at least none that I can see). Consequently, it is full of tiny Green Sunfish and Bluegills that only grow to about 3 inches and will bite on practically anything they can fit into their mouths (at least that was true the times that I fished there), which can be fun but the size is obviously lacking. There are also schools of small carp there, which are superabundant too since there seem to be no predators.

[sodapop]

Last time I was there the other lake was dried up, that was last year. I did catch lots of baby bass panfish fishing

[fishmounter]

Natural Lefty..Sent you a PM..

[Natural Lefty]

Wow, it wasn't completely dry was it, Sodapop?

[sodapop]

Wow, it wasn't completely dry was it, Sodapop?

Yes it was

[Natural Lefty]

Then all the fish must have died and they would need to restock it once it had water again.

[castle]

There used to be some small bullhead catfish in the natural lake also, but that was back around 2004 or so.

[fishmounter]

With all this rain, I wonder if the dry pond filled back up? If so, they should just put in baby Redear Sunfish. They don't over-populate like the Bluegills do, so there won't end up being a bunch of little fish to catch like so many other lakes and park ponds. Redears grow fast and get pretty big. Put in 100 fingerling bass, and in two to three years, the pond would have some good fishing. And they should make the bass catch and release only.

[castle]

With all this rain, I wonder if the dry pond filled back up? If so, they should just put in baby Redear Sunfish. They don't over-populate like the Bluegills do, so there won't end up being a bunch of little fish to catch like so many other lakes and park ponds. Redears grow fast and get pretty big. Put in 100 fingerling bass, and in two to three years, the pond would have some good fishing. And they should make the bass catch and release only.

Out of curiosity I went to Rancho Jurupa lake today to check out the back natural lake. It does have some water in in now because of the rains, but is still really low. The long drought did a number on it. Nothing but a lot of bass fry along the edges that seem super hungry. I did manage to catch a small carp less that 6 inches though.Nothing else. No bluegill or sunfish to be seen. May take a couple more seasons of rain to get back to normal