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Thread: Trolling Big Bear 4/14

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Riverside
    Posts
    62

    Default Trolling Big Bear 4/14

    I took my son up to Big Bear to troll the lake for some trout. I hadn’t been up there to fish, since the DFG started stocking the 6” little **** bag trout, a few years back. And the lake is crazy low. But we decided to take my boat up there, since it was suppose to be in the mid 80’s at DVL today. I was talking to the guy working at the West launch ramp and he was telling me DFG was suppose to stock trout the week they opened the launch ramp back up, but they never stocked it.
    We trolled needle fish and Rapala CD-3’s and landed 4 decent fish and got 3 or 4 good hard hits. My son landed a nice trout at about 8:30 on a CD-3 in trout color, just trolling out in front of the West ramp, in about 20’ of water. We were metering a ton of fish at about 15’ to 25’ of water, but didn’t get a lot of strikes. We then moved down to the dam area and trolled the south side back to Papoose Bay and back to the dam and just made laps. We started getting good strikes on the Frog colored needle fish trolled 4 colors down. There was a nice area from the dam down to Papoose Bay that starts at about 45’ and as you troll east it get to about 36’, there were a lot of fish through there. There were a lot of people fishing the north shore and a lot of pontoon boats out, but I really didn’t see anybody catching anything.
    I also talked to the guy that worked at the launch ramp about the hatchery, he said they were still getting all the permits and funding in place, and it hadn’t been started yet. Man I hope that lake gets some water soon.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Beaumont, CA
    Posts
    503

    Default

    Doghunter,

    A great report. I haven't taken my boat up to Big Bear and am curious at to how much it costs. Don't you have to buy a lake permit. How much to launch?

    Thanks for the info,

    Don

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Chino, Big Bear Lake, Ca.
    Posts
    43

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BassinPLS View Post
    Doghunter,

    A great report. I haven't taken my boat up to Big Bear and am curious at to how much it costs. Don't you have to buy a lake permit. How much to launch?

    Thanks for the info,

    Don
    http://www.bbmwd.com/boat-permit-fees/

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Riverside
    Posts
    62

    Default

    $25 a day or $110 a year. It's crazy how low the water is.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Beaumont, CA
    Posts
    503

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Doghunter View Post
    $25 a day or $110 a year. It's crazy how low the water is.
    Doghunter,

    Thank you for the reply. I noticed on the link provided by 5shot, (Thank you by the way), the statement "*Quagga Prevention Program Surcharge is waived for California registered vessels when grant reimbursement is received." What exactly does that mean? Do the change for Quagga Mussel inspection in addition to the daily permit fee? Just curious. My bass club has considered having a one day tournament at BBL; but one of the members said it is too expense. I wouldn't think it can be any worst than what they charge for DVL....which is way too much!
    Last edited by BassinPLS; 04-16-2018 at 08:41 AM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Riverside
    Posts
    62

    Default

    I don't think they charge to launch your boat at the 2 public ramps if you already have a lake permit. I think they just charge for a permit. The guy had told me they would put a band on it at the end of the day if I wanted one, to avoid an inspection next time. But I didn't bother, since I'm gonna go back to DVL this weekend. I will tell you he was very thorough on the inspection, in looked in every compartment, had me drop the motor down, he checked all the compartments and carpet for any moisture. At Silverwood all I ever have to do is drop my motor down, if I don't have a tag, and they look in the livewell.
    I'm not really sure what they mean by: **Quagga Prevention Program Surcharge is waived for California registered vessels when grant reimbursement is received.**
    The amount of a single daily permit may be applied towards the purchase of a seasonal permit.

    I really hope the lake gets back to what it was like, 20+ years ago. I remember trolling around the lake and the poles were getting non stop hits and the fish were all decent sized trout.

  7. #7

    Default

    Thanks for the great report! I haven't fished BBL in about 4 years, basically when I learned about the fingerling stockings instead of catchables, I didn't want to waste my time and drive up the hill any longer. I know the holdovers are there and are great when you can catch them, but the last year I fished there were hardly any holdovers.
    Also, just because you see loads of fish on your finder doesn't necessarily mean they are trout. There are buttloads of carp in that lake and will never be eradicated. I have snagged them by accident when trolling before, big ones too. 4 lbs and up. They are packed so thick they're hard to miss!
    The annual pass is the way to go, I used to decide if I was going to do BBL or Silverwood for the year and buy one pass for either. BBL was my first choice, but switched to Silverwood after BBL got way slow. Tight lines!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Riverside
    Posts
    62

    Default

    Jag107
    I know there are a ton of carp in the lake. We have snagged them while trolling also, it's a bit of a disappointment when you reel it up and it's a carp. The annual pass is definitely the way to go if you plan to go back 5 or 6 times, but I don't see myself going back there, more than once or twice this year. I typically buy the annual pass for BBL but I don't plan on it until the lake turns around, if it ever does. I have been fishing at Silverwood quite a bit this year also, but I think my last 7 or 8 fishing trips have been to DVL for bass and striper. At DVL you don't have all the lake lice to deal with.

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