Farm ponds in imperial county

[smokehound]

Check it out, on my collecting trips, we decided to take a break and go sight-seeing around the fertile canal-irrigated farmland in the desert..

The farm manager gave us the okay to look around on the property, so we took a looksee:


unfortunately, i didnt bring a rod with me..

Pretty sweet place for bassin.. TONS of smallmouth bass and largemouth bass EVERYWHERE. They seemed pretty stupid, too haha WFO for sure!


That tiny little pond above had a massive bass in it, There's a marshy area where the tamarisk grows really dense, right out of the water, and every now and then, you'll see a little pool like that.

Canals full to the brim with enormous tilapia and a few softshells were seen poking their heads out..



And this marsh was interesting.. mixed schools of grass carp, largemouth bass, crappie, and tilapia all swimming together.. No fishing signs everywhere.. even if I gave you the actual location, you'd probably get shot. (im being serious, this is the desert, not OC.) Maybe some time in the future I'll ask the manager nicely if I can toss a creature bait around the canals and pools..




Im totally loving imperial county.. BLM lands everywhere.. free camping.. excellent fishing opportunities (all american canal right next to wonderful protected dune habitat!) And now I'm back in Anaheim.. =..(

[Ifishtoolittle]

Smallies!!! The desert is definitely a rough and tumble land compared to the OC. lol. Still, the OC has more city park lakes the SGV.

[GhettoBasster]

Wow! Nice recon! Thanks.

[bassfishing24/7]

Nice find there mr smoke!

[smokehound]

I think the most outstanding thing was.. the salton sea was RIGHT next to it!

[gcopple]

not from imperial county but grew up in blythe and we have lots of the same type of small ponds, canal's and drain ditches around. bass fishing them is usually not an issue with the people in the fields as long as they know you aren't trying to steel crops or anything. lots of people in my neck of the woods catfish in them...big flat heads int he drain ditches. bass fishing in them is awesome, i usually stick with crawdad cranks and get bit year round on them. big fish with no pressure at all, it is usally a fun time.

[DockRat]

Weist and Raimer Lake down there too Smokehound. As far as eating fish I'd stick to the fresh water supply canals.
Everybody packs guns down there due to tweezers and border brothers or drug runners.

If you see a field being picked you can ask the boss man if you can pick behind them. I used to do that a lot. They only pick #1 fruits and veggies. The smaller or odd shaped ones get plowed under.

[parkermann2]

I used to bring a few rods along when we would dove hunt in Blythe. The canals are full of bass, but mostly smaller ones

[smokehound]

these farms are huge corporate farms, and when my friend and I entered, we were immediately greeted with shotguns. If you dont get permission you are likely to get shot at lol.. this is like really close to the mexico border, too.