Good news bad news

[Stumpknocker]

Due to boat problems and then a switch to a new tow vehicle (which had its own issues that gobbled up time) I hadn't been on Castaic or fishing stripers in two months...so this was more a shakedown cruise than a fishing trip...the good news was that everything mechanical worked...boat, truck, etc...the bad news: one schoolie striper on a boil first thing in the morning and that was it...I saw a bunch of birds north of C point in the ski arm on the way out and swung over to check it out...saw a couple of scattered boils, and got the one hit...then the fish and birds just left...I looked around for more, trolling the u-rig...plenty of marks on the meter up above Necktie, but no takers on the u-rig...saw a couple more boils, threw on them for nothing...I eventually set anchor in about 60 feet of water amid a bunch of marks and started soaking sardine chunks...tried for over an hour and got not one hit, even though good striper marks were under the boat much of the time. Gave up on that and went to the fish arm, where I dragged the u-rig around a bit through striper marks for nothing. Left at noon, glad to be back in action but evidently needing to figure some stuff out...

[Bassfan]

Thanks for the report. Seems like most people have been going to other lakes or the ocean now that Castaic is so low. I have been thinking of giving it a try again soon but the last time or two had poor results with few hits trolling through marks just like you described. Last time I also set a personal best for getting the u-rigs snagged on stuff that was never in play before the draining got this bad. Watching the website I see its still going down a couple feet a week. Please let it rain!!

[shinbob]

Yes, thanks for the report! -- good to see one from Castaic finally. Weird that the striper fishing isn't better. With literally more than half the water drained, I would have thought that the fish would be more concentrated and easier to catch. Maybe the loss of water just concentrated the shad so that the stripers have easy meals and aren't hungry anymore?

[fishinone]

Thanks for the report. They should be going off. They must be eating something this time of year.

[Stumpknocker]

Thanks for the report. Seems like most people have been going to other lakes or the ocean now that Castaic is so low. I have been thinking of giving it a try again soon but the last time or two had poor results with few hits trolling through marks just like you described. Last time I also set a personal best for getting the u-rigs snagged on stuff that was never in play before the draining got this bad. Watching the website I see its still going down a couple feet a week. Please let it rain!!

Gotta admit I've been chasing yellowtails too lately...it is tough trolling through unfamiliar terrain...for so many reasons, I hope it rains this winter...

[Stumpknocker]

Thanks for the report. They should be going off. They must be eating something this time of year.

That's what I thought...maybe it was just one of those days...shoulda been here yesterday/tomorrow...

[Stumpknocker]

Yes, thanks for the report! -- good to see one from Castaic finally. Weird that the striper fishing isn't better. With literally more than half the water drained, I would have thought that the fish would be more concentrated and easier to catch. Maybe the loss of water just concentrated the shad so that the stripers have easy meals and aren't hungry anymore?

I saw shad everywhere...maybe the stripers are stuffed?

[cutbait]

Ditto on thanks for the report. Good to see someone pounding it! Glad you boat handled it

[Stumpknocker]

Ditto on thanks for the report. Good to see someone pounding it! Glad you boat handled it

Based on your recent reports a smarter guy would have gone to Pyramid, but Castaic is closer and I have a year pass for it, so I was thinking with my wallet

[cutbait]

Based on your recent reports a smarter guy would have gone to Pyramid, but Castaic is closer and I have a year pass for it, so I was thinking with my wallet

Were all glad you didn't. A rare castaic report was nice to see