Found myself driving by Echo Park Lake today with my gear in the car and figured I'd try a few casts.
My weapon of choice was a yamamoto grub t-rigged on 6 lb test. Started walking up along the bank and saw lots of bass fry and quite a few baby bass; looks like the post spawn.
Maybe ten casts in, my rod loads up on the drop. I Set the hook and fish on. Good fight and I pull in my first Echo Park bass! CPR'ed him quickly and kept fishing.
I just noticed my date is wrong on the camera, this was caught today.
Well now that I had that bass confidence in me, I figured I'd walk around the lake. I lost one near the boathouse, but it felt like a dink.
Then I managed a mean little bluegill who decided to mess with the grub. Released him, no picture; only about 7 inches or so.
Then as I'm working my way around enjoying the beautiful day, I feel like I'm hung up on a shopping cart. Give it a little pull and my line starts pulling hard to the right. I set the hook and this thing doesn't move at all. After a few minutes I managed to reel him in a bit and saw one ugly catfish. Big catfish, 10+ easy. I walked my way down the bank about 50 yards trying to find a place to land him; as I walked around a tree near the bank I almost got pulled in. Finally, found a suitable place and slide him up on the bank. Bink! Line breaks, and I made no attempt to catch him as he slid right bank into the water and back into the depths of the Echo.
My PB catfish as I rarely ever fish for them. I wish I could've gotten a picture of the beast!
I worked my way around the rest of the lake for nothing. Although, I briefly thought about trying for one of the large carp that I saw swimming around.
It turned out to be a great Cinco De Mayo for me. A Three species day at Echo Park with great weather, little fishing pressure, and lots of pretty girls walking around the lake.
Hope you liked the report. See you out there soon.