Lytle Creek Lakes 11/25/09
Been fishing Lake Mission Viejo the last few days since the trout opener on Saturday. 10,000lbs of trout were stocked last Thursday and the big bass are having a feed day on them. Saw 4 big bass 10-13lbs looking for a few trout to eat on Saturday. The fish stocked from Mt Lassen were not bigger than 2lbs so I didn’t take any pics but slammed the fish each time. I wanted to try something different so got an invite to fish Lytle Creek Lakes on Wednesday. I will say that this place was very impressive. It has all the amenities that you can think of. I mean everything!! Rv hookups, 2 stocked fishing lakes, pavillions for bbq, lots of shade from trees, game and arcade for kids to play in, and an adult place for people 21 and over. Gotta get more info on this one! The membership to this recreation area is $500.00 per year.
My twin brother and I got to the lake before 10am and started fishing after 10am. We were to meet a friend (who got a late start) and his dad there but his dad's cell phone doesn’t work in the area. My brother didn’t remember what his dad looked like (even after fishing 1 saltwater day this summer) as we circled around both lakes for a while looking for his dad's white suburban. I talked to a guy about the fishing in these lakes and it happened to be him. My brother didn’t know it was him til later on. Go figure!! So we just went to fish on our own as the friend showed up almost 2 hours later.
We fished at the end of a long dock extending out into the catfish lake. Both lakes were stocked on Tuesday with about 600lbs each. Not much action going on at all as fish were being caught here and there. I made a mental note about what happens at Lake Skinner when trout are stocked into the launch ramp #2 area. The stripers chase the trout into the back of the cove where the tullies are. Never fails as the trout stay there!! I told my brother you see those tullies? I bet the fish are over there! We saw a group catch 3 or 4 trout from the right corner by the tullies.
I throw over there from the dock and was immediately hooked up to a nice 2lb trout. The fish went airborne twice. I could have had my 5 fish limit easily but missed quite a few fish. The poweregg has the tendency to slide down over the hook after a trout grabs it. The trout grabbed the bait then slowly took off with it. My brother then tosses out with a white on white powermouse coated in Crave garlic scent and caught a catfish. We released the catfish. He also had a few trout short bite the powermouse too.
In order to catch those fish up against the tullies, repeated casts were needed. I didn’t figure that out til later on as the bait kept getting wrapped. It was pretty windy and the powermouse would get wrapped around the 4lb main line during the cast. If it weren’t bit in 10 minutes then I’d wind it in only to see the bait wrapped up. What did work well was using the 6lb line. For some reason it got less tangles from the wind. On the cast it was noticeable how the bait tailed away from the 6lb line as the wind pushed it threw the air. I then changed to a bigger swivel size but it still wrapped on the 4lb line.
I tossed the powermouse a few feet or sometimes inches away from the center gap of the tullies. The fish were there but it slowed down at mid day for a few hours. Yawns!! The color choice used were chartreuse powerworm, chartreuse poweregg, an Owner #8 mosquito hook, #10 barrel swivel, Maxima 4lb leader, on 4lb or 6lb Trilene main line, short 10-11 inch leader, 1/2oz egg sinker, Shimano 6ft Clarus and 6ft Compre rods. The other rod with 4lb main line had the sherbet color powermouse. A white poweregg and an orange powerworm. Both colors worked well but the chartreuse was easier to see in the murky water. The water was really cold and it was chilly out but with lots of sunshine. It seemed we dominated the lake with more consistent bites than anyone!! No takers on the kastmaster either as the fish seemed scattered. It was a bait and wait day.
Later on this old lady comes on the dock and asked how many fish do you have? I said 3. She says no! Not ahhaa! You guys have more fish than that! I pull the powermouse out of the water and she looks at me with this look that I’ve never seen before. The look on her face was like what the phuk is that? I wanted to say this is a 3 inch powermouse. It’s been a long time since you even had a worm this size huh? I was laughing and looked at my brother. I told him you gotta take a picture of her face. Dude!! She looks so confused right now? This powermouse setup looks so foreign to people outside of the Orange County lakes area. I tell ya! Nobody knows what it is as they stare at you from missing fish.
Other anglers would come on the dock and ask whatcha guys using? My brother would say powerbait. What color they ask? Chartreuse. They say oooh ok! Then they walk away with the days secret. Well not exactly! Come on everyone! This is trout fishing! Do you think you’ll ever get the right answer from asking someone? Observe and you’ll get the answer.
I’ll be going back to these recreation lakes this season. We’re gonna try and go more often. Membership has no limit on how many guests you can bring in each day. We gotta check out the 21 and over bar or whatever it is next time. We wondered if it has dancing ladies!
Lake Mission Viejo will be stocked next week with 4,500lbs of Nebraska between Tuesday-Thursday. It’s a 24 hour truck drive as weather permits the route they take. The lake is still loaded with Mt. Lassen fish as the opener was not crowded and the days following it.
Here are the pics!! It was a fun day for fishing and trying something new.
We fished from the end of this dock casting to the tullies on the opposite right side of the lake.
Here is the catfish lake. Didn’t get pics of the other lake yet. These lakes are about the same size as the small lake at Mile Square Park.
We had to make a far cast to these tullies to get bit. It was a long cast in the wind.
My brother on a bendo. He only caught a catfish and missed a fish as well. Fish were biting lightly and or dropping the bait as well.
This place is so peaceful. Just looking and observing the tree colors made it such a serene day. Way cool place!! It does get snow as the place was pounded with snow in January from looking at the pics in the office.
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Originally Posted by usmcfisherman
