The Bass were banging at Barrett lake.
The scene was Barrett lake in San Diego county May 21, 2016. If you're not familiar with Barrett lake it's one of the most unique lakes in all of Southern CA. It's an C&R fishery only with huge Crappie, big bluegill and a pure strain of Northern LMB. I've been fishing this lake for over a decade but I've been absent for the last 2 years because of chasing those #20+ Costal Yellowtail instead. (the seasons overlap) This year the Coastal Yellowtail haven't shown up yet, so going back to Barrett made a lot of sense. I know the lake is way down but how much will be determined when I see it for myself. When I arrived with my 2 fishing companions I was in pure distraught when I saw the lake. The lake is less then half the size as it was 3 years ago and they doubled the amount of people they let on the lake each day. (they did drop the $20 fishing permit fee) It looked like the old Corona lake on a weekend now during Trout season. There was someone fishing on most good looking spots. The kicker was people were anchored on the same spot for hours. A few of them even yelled at us for encroaching on their spot. (complete losers that know nothing about how to catch a Bass) We drifted in the wind working the banks or casting into the open water. I did do a little fact checking before we went. There is this other web site with Full disclosure on it on what they are biting. (too bad FNN people aren't that open) It wasn't anything I didn't already know except maybe the colors. (solid white is the way to go) Either a hard bait or a plastic in white and you're good to go. Most people were complaining on the website how slow the fishing was for Barrett lake. (slow for Barrett is wide open for anywhere else though!!!) lol
On to the fishing.
I always had my best luck fishing Barrett with Senkos or Rattle traps. I did get some 3 inch white Senkos and some white rattle traps from my good friend Jason at Bob's tackle. My two companions on this trip were Dan and Smitty. Dan just got back last week from Argentina were he shot 5,000 morning doves in 3 day's of hunting. (that's not a typo) So I thought he would be on fire. How wrong I was on him!!!! (he was sleprock city on this trip) Smitty was a great guy and a good Saltwater fishermen but his freshwater skills were badly lacking. Dan wanted to run the boat and I was given orders from the cheap seats. lol I told him to head up one of the 2 fishing arms that still have water in them. (we headed up the Hauser arm has far as we could go) Along the way Smitty caught a #2 Crappie trolling my white rattle trap. He asked me if that was a decent size for a Crappie??? I said, "heck yes" and you should take a picture of it. Once we got to the end of the Hauser arm I immediately got 2 Bass on my white rattle trap. Smitty caught a couple of Bass on my other white crank bait I had rigged up on my other pole. We then drifted the east bank for nothing except getting yelled at by other fishermen for getting to close to them. We then shot over to the West bank and started a drift on a rock pile. All 3 of us got bit immediately!!!! We found a real good area holding fish but my 2 companions completely fell apart!!!! They couldn't do anything right!!! Dan's rod and reels he brought were complete garbage and Smitty backlashed his poles to the point they wouldn't work. In the mean time I'm catching fish after fish on my white rattle trap. I was getting 3 fish on every drift and giving Smitty one of my poles with something that would work. (a green rattle trap) After awhile Dan just gave up after catching only 1 or 2 fish. Smitty fared a little better and caught about 10 fish on my spinning reel set up. In the mean time I'm spanking the Crap out of them, I've got well over 20 Bass. Then Sleprock Dan breaks the main motor!!!!! We still got my trolling working but it's kinda tough in 13 knots of wind!!! So what does Dan do???? He leaves this area completely trying to find something better. (which he does not!!!) I caught 5 more Bass and 2 Monstor Crappies and those 2 guy's caught nothing more. (those 2 Crappies would have made Crappie Mike proud!!!) and that basically ended our day very early. Had I had better companions it would have been an epic day!!!!! Laurie at the boat dock asked how many Bass we caught and said we did better then most people. After telling her about our motor problem she offered us a half price deal next time we come back. To add insult to injury she started the boat on her first pull of the motor. Sleprock Dan had a kink in the fuel line!!! Me and Smitty both offered to play with the motor but Sleprock Dan refused to allow us to even try. I really can't complain I had a real good time but it could have been even better!!!!!!! Thanks for reading my story!!!!
