Awesome report fishing queen. I always enjoy your pictures and the details of your adventures. I was up at Big Bear on the 5th so I missed you by a day. It was my first trout trip of the year. I was up there for about 5 hours and managed 4 small stocker trout.
How disappointing to have such poor fishing at BBL. It's a good thing that fishing is about more than catching fish, and you have such a supportive family.
Hoot951, Glad that you enjoyed the report and thanks for your kind words! I was disappointed about the fishing when I was there. 3 out of the 5 days were very windy down by the lake..... I wonder if they stocked trout on Thursday or Friday (10/3 and 10/4) for the Saturday tournament.
I am glad to know that you caught some trout when you were in Big Bear. Big Bear is a nice lake, if this was your first time fishing there, I'm sure it won't be you last trip.
Robert, you're right! Even though I didn't do good with fishing, I can't complain too much about this relaxing vacation. It was wonderful to be there and I enjoyed to have an entire condo just to myself...lol...
If you are planing come up to the mountain and fish on Saturday, we can meet and I'll be happy to introduce my family to you. I'll double check with you on the other website.
Ya know I guess I picked a good year to take off from fishing Big Bear Lake. Seems a lot of these slow days this year even the LMB chasers aren't posting too much. Weird? Any thoughts Queen? Love those holdover trout might have to chase them one time before it gets too cold to tube.
Great vacation you are lucky with the blessing of a family that allows you to take some alone time in such a great place!
Seal, I have no clue why. Big Bear was a big surprise to me on this trip, I usually do good there, I caught some nice size trout in the past, but not this time though. I had a few friends from FNN that I chat with online and they've been very helpful in giving me some suggestions for trying different techniques and different locations. Nothing worked for me. I stopped at Big Bear Sporting Goods and talked to Steve (The shop keeper). He told me that by the dam was the only place that people were catching trout these days. After my skunk, I went back to him and told him that I was fishing with Rudy ( a local fisherman that I met by the lake who fishes 3-4 time a week). Steve said fishing must be bad since even Rudy got a big skunk as well.....A friend had mentioned that barometric pressures were all over the place and that might be the reason that trout fishing was tough for shore fishermen. He even suggested that I get a boat or kayak and try to fish in the middle of lake. But I decided not to do it since I was fishing alone and didn't feel comfortable to rent a boat. I did see a couple who had a boat and they both managed 9 trout with trolling (4 rods with lures). So you might have luck with your float tube. Just stay near the dam.
And thanks for the nice words about my family, we are strongly bonded and we have great understanding for each other's needs.
Awesome report as allways FQ....i allways used to do half way decent the the damn this time of year.
Yes. I agree. Like many of the posts, it was tougher fishing this year. But I will say this...if you catch one it is a trophy in my book because you really have to work and earn it. And fish here just taste much better than trout in other lakes. It may be all in my psyche, but that is what I believe. It will probably and hopefully pick up again. Think the lake needs to be reset with a cold winter, kill off all the weeds, and start all over next spring. Fishing will pick up this winter...at least I hope so.
Jenks has been hot and a lot of action. There are still a good amount of holdovers and planting continues...the last stock was this week according to the website. I am going to try and head up to Jenks over the next week! The lake is closed so won't be too many anglers.
Last edited by Troutin Man; 10-10-2013 at 10:44 PM.
Thanks Chris! The temperature is getting cooler now in the mountains and I think Big Bear trout fishing is going to pick up again. Can't wait for them to stock trout at my local lake.
Me too, I favor the holdovers from BBL over other lakes. They are the best tasting trout that I've had from SoCal lakes. The trout with pink meat tastes very tender almost like salmon.
Jenks Lake is another of my choice. I like the scenery and I had pretty good luck over there as well. I only fished with my Tenkara rod and I caught a lot of panfish and some trout on flies. I like to hike in and fish during the winter when I've almost had the entire lake just for myself....ha, ha...