Will it be the same?

[laserbrn]

With the water levels so low at Castaic will it ever be back to a great fishing spot? I've noticed that most of the reports are from Pyramid so I have to assume that most fishermen are giving up on Castaic Lake for now? I know that fish can still be caught, but when the water levels return to normal with the fish population just be devastated by this?

I don't really fish the lakes anymore because it got so bad and I opted to switch to saltwater, but I sure would like to still have the local lake for days of striper-slayin.

[seal]

The same eventually, probably but impossible to say. Every lake goes thru cycles whether they be caused by drought, die off's or just natural cycles of life. The low water may contribute to the loss of structure which will more than likely expose bait fish and fry to more predation from the stripers and other adult predators but the stripers are going to be just fine and eventually everything will even itself out I'd think but the experts like Kwin, one of the DFW biologist, are much more equipped to answer this question than us yokel's.

[tpfishnfool]

Large mouth will never be the same. Mr stripey will make sure of that.

[flyhigh123]

Large mouth will never be the same. Mr stripey will make sure of that.

With the low water levels i think the strikers will have a harder time reproducing as the suspension time for the eggs and larvae are shorter. This could be a good thing in terms of quality fish and allow the current stock to grow larger.

Let's hope.

[koifish]

Here is what I heard
"The CA Department of Water Resources is the responsible organization for all of the State Water projects water allocations. And it is because of the drought that the majority of the reservoirs are at extremely low water levels. The 2 exceptions are Pyramid Lake on the west branch and Silverwood on the east branch. Both of these lakes are used to operate hydroelectric power plants. In very general terms water from the 2 lakes is used to generate power. Therefore, the water levels must be maintained at higher levels."

[karalm]

So much for Silverwood. Was there Sunday and its down over 15' due to work on the intake tower. All the grass that was there was going to die due to it getting cold but the receding water made it happen faster. Now I hear blue stoneing tomorrow - Friday. Brutal. Blus stone canceled for today, now happening next Tues!!

[seal]

The topwater bite has died down at Silverwood, died early due to lack of weedbead/grass cover I'm assuming. It's gone from tons of bait and fry in shallow to little being seen and water temp is not that low yet. It was a slaughter with most fish that I heard kept had many fry in them, more fry than baitfish. It was a horrible time of the year for the water to be drawn down, it's been down for over a month now. Didn't hear about the bluestoning, guess I'm happy I'm headed to Mead for a couple days. Not whining, I understand it's gonna happen but doesn't make it any easier to take.

[stoned-trout]

I quit freshwater and went purely salt..i can stand on ground where I used to catch fish at most lakes...recovery of such lakes will take years...I have fished most lakes from la area down at one time or another also some by the sierras

[Mister Twister]

Yes, We caught fish too! Might try the salt also. El nino will be a traffic night mare will have little effect on water levels. Tried wood, not a bite. I hate sand,and the smell of a dirty ocean. Good Luck!

[karlow]

Might try the salt also. El nino will be a traffic night mare?
Someone has been sleeping under a rock.

El Nino has resulted in the best local saltwater fishing in 20 years!
Traffic nightmare, you bet at the bait receiver, and on the water.
I was so bad I had to give up fishing out of Dana on Fridays!
You needed to be their at 3AM to get in line to get bad bait. There was no parking there at 7AM.
On the other hand we were catching 25 YFT four miles from the harbor in July. There was a solid YT bite in Box canyon in January, these were 25lb toads all on the iron. FYI, that's the dead of winter.Then there was a month long YT bite out of Long Beach again on the iron.
This year has been a PB wonderland. You did not need a great boat, but you did need a very good bait system to keep the party going!
Anything that floated was out in the chase, fricken trout and bass boats on the 14 I sht you not! It was great weather for small boats most of the year.
Yep you might want to give salt a shot, ps the party is over.... or is it?
Now the weather is not so good, and I'm looking for some lake action, here Mr. Strippy.