Submit
Report

El Capitan Lake and Reports

Limit:

Monday, July 25th, 2011

  • By

    Water Temp: 78

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: The fishing is still really good here. It's normal to catch 10-20 fish a day. There is a good reaction bait bite in the morning and also a worm bite in the afternoon. The main lake points and the creek channel bends in the back have been the most consistent.
    City: lakeside

    Tips: Look for the white birds stop there in the morning and throw a top water or jerk bait.

Monday, July 4th, 2011

  • By

    Water Temp: 78

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: The water is clearing up, and it's falling fast. The fish are moving into there summer pattern. The fishing is still great just like it has been all year. This place is a little fish factory, it seems like there's always a way to catch em.
    City: Lakeside

    Tips: I haven't spent much time in the very back, but on the main lake check the points. Keep a eye out for the breaking fish also. If you can't get a bite try a drop shot, with a Robo worm.

Monday, June 27th, 2011

  • By

    Water Temp: 74

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: This lake is on fire!! The water is dirty, and the spinnerbait bite is on. It's very rare that you can use heavy line and blades in San Diego and mop em up. I think El Cap is the best thing south of Diamond Valley. Myself, and some friends had over 20 fish by 9:00 am that were all in the 2-3 pound range.
    City: Lakeside

    Tips: Get there early the bite is best before 10:00 am. Make sure you fish your spinnerbait slow and keep it in contact with the bushes that are submerged. Try a LC BDS 3 crank if they slow down on the spinnerbait. Best of luck.

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

  • By

    Water Temp: 73

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: The fishing at El Cap continues to be very good. The numbers seem to be down a little bit but the quality is still there. I had a guide client catch a 7 yesterday...his personal best. The lake has a strong allege bloom so be ready for pea soup conditions. The worm bite seems to be the best, with some random topwater bites to be had if your out early. We caught 12 fish with or five best around 18 pounds.
    City: San Diego

    Tips: Fish a drop shot in 10 feet of water on points. The key is very slow and big rock and brush mix on those points. The afternoon worm bite was better.

Sunday, March 16th, 2008

  • By

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: 2" smoke pepper/green flake reapers, 6" brown xmas tree or black chartreuse tail, 8" fire purple neon blue vein all worked for fish 2-3 lbs.
    City: OB

Saturday, March 10th, 2007

  • By

    Water Temp: 58 to 60

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Went for the 1st time in 10 years to fish .Last time there, 3 years ago, I bought a boat from Ron stoll
    The fish were up on the bank and down to 8ft.
    It was overcast in the morning and my dad caught fish on nightcrawlers one after another. He ran out of 25 worms in 2 hours.
    I caught fish on 4 1/2 in. robo peoples worm on a spot remover. I flipped it into the big brushy bushes and the big ones ripped them apart.
    went to the larger worm and they didn't want it. went back to small worm and got fish.
    tried crappie for 1/2 hour canned that idea and fished 1/4 oz brown /purple jig with yamamoto, cin/purple flake 4" twin tail. 3 more fish. Closed out drop shotting 4 1/2" prism craw the rest of the day. Finished with close to 20 fish. 15 inch and better were in the bushes. lots of 2lb. bucks in the open shore line water.
    Going back next week to flip again.
    City: los angeles

    Tips: Quiet water was better early in the day.
    Brown worms. Try the bases of brushy bushes.
    If you just want to have fun with the family or friends and you want to get bit...... fresh, frisky, nightcrawlers.
    6lb. flouro, Gamakatsu weedless octupus hooks.
    Toss them close to or into the short scrub brush and hold on.
    Im sure that the reaction bite will happen for some. I just feel they're cruising for a meal and defending their new nest territory

Friday, January 5th, 2007

  • By

    Water Temp: 54 degrees

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: awsome day on the rocks. I fished a proline jig with a yamamoto twin tail grub as a trailer. smelly jelly the pink stuff cant live with out the pink stuff.I fished mostly rocks in the 25-30ft the larger the rock pile the better any virtical drop off I fished mostly in the back an with a slow crawl on the jig any time I could slige my jig up an down a few times on a large rock is where I caught the larger fish. I use a black jig with a smoke an blue trailer the big fish was a 4lb in the area by the back ss relief.
    City: lakeside

    Tips: dont fish unproductive water

Saturday, September 23rd, 2006

  • By

    Water Temp: 76-79

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fishing was excellent for deep water worming all day long. Morning reaction baits worked well until around 10:00. Fishing a texas rigged worm from 15'-25'brown/blue vein on top of rock piles was the ticket.
    City: Baldwin Park, Ca

    Tips: Find the rock piles and you will find the fish. All of our bites came on top of or next to rocks. We both had 15# limits in practice and on tournament day. A few bigger bass came in on the cranks and top water.

Monday, May 8th, 2006

  • By

    Water Temp: 68-70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Definitely a fishing day I want to forget. My partner and I finished dead last in the NBW tournament. The Friday before the tournament, I fished El Cap for the first time in months, and I got two nice fish (about 3 lbs each) on a 4.5" Senko in pumpkinseed. I was pitching into the brush/rock near shore. I cut the hook after the second fish and continued to get bit all day, but it was the only pattern I had. It didn't pan out on Saturday though, and obviously we didn't make the necessary adjustments.
    City: Monterey, CA

    Tips: After thinking it through, we stuck to that Senko pattern for too long, trying to force it to work. My partner is a good dropshotter, but he couldn't get bit either. I probably fished the worms way too fast and simply couldn't give up on the Senko (I even Carolina Rigged it to no avail). My advice (for what it's worth) is to not stick with something that isn't working! Downsize your tackle and try 4" worms in the typical San Diego colors (brown, blue, black, green, purple).

Saturday, August 21st, 2004

  • By

    Water Temp: 76 - 79

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Had 6 fish over the 15" size limit during the tournament, the biggest going 3.9lbs, for a weight of 12.69. Had 5 others that were close but close is still short. Fished between 16' and 25' ACROSS steep underwater points drop-shotting 8# Sunline fluorocarbon and 4" Roboworm Blue Crawler. Bites were few and had to make every one count but the quailty was better. Caught other fish that were out chasing shad in the middle of the lake on surface in 49' to 52' of water on Sammy's and Yamamoto spider jigs.
    City: Long Beach

    Tips: The fish on the shad are there from first light til about eleven. That's the time when boat activity is putting them done. You need to be able to make long, I'm almost half emptying an Okuma Induron 250 loaded with 30lb braid, accurate casts with the Sammy. The fish come up and go back down just as fast and you have about 10 seconds, if that, to put your bait into the fish. Another method that was working and should allow for longer casts is to throw the spider jig with a spinning outfit on a 7 1/2' rod into the breaking fish. As soon as it hits the water put it in to gear and let it fall through them. You should get bit on the fall. A WORD OF COURTESY. The fish are being put down when the "fleet" starts running all over to get to them. Everybody is entitled to fish but if you have'nt yet mastered the long, accurate cast leave those fish for the guys that have. Two other boats and myself were doing fairly well in an area away from the "fleet" when they caught on. We had boats coming within boat lengths of us and going over the top of our lines of us trying to get to fish they couldn't cast to. As a result all their running around put the fish down, ruining the bite not only for us but themselves. Once the fish go down, they go down for everybody.
    Good Fishing, Ross

Friday, July 28th, 2000

  • By

    Water Temp: 78

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fishing was pretty tough, the weather was weird. Started out clear and windy, became cloudy and windy, then cloudy and calm with very light rain, then sunny and windy again. The bite was still very tough. Fish were periodically breaking on bait throughout the day, but they are very picky due to the pressure that they are getting. You could actually watch the ish as they chased one particular shad. Caught a couple o small ish on T.D. Minnow. Missed a couple o topwater ish in the morning. Went spoonin about 10am. Only caught 6 ish on spoons. All o them were decent ish. Fishing 62mm Duh spoon and 3/4 oz crippled herring. Very large tournament coming up at the lake and ater this weekend the lake is o limits. Well good luck and good ishing.
    City: Lakeside

    Tips: Same tip as last week. No worm ish to speek o, try spoonin structure in 20 - 35 eet o water.

Sunday, July 23rd, 2000

  • By

    Water Temp: 76 - 78

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Well, got out late this morning so I went to El Capitan again. Still no marine layer. Went looking or spoon ish. Must have hit 20 - 30 rock piles beore inding a ew with ish on them. Caught several ish in the 2 - 4 pound range on 3/4 oz crippled herring spoon. Vertical jigging the spoon over rock piles in 25 - 30 eet o water. Too bad it was a day too late. Well good ishing everyone.
    City: Lakeside

    Tips: Told you that spoonin would be the ticket.

  • By

    Water Temp: 76-78

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished a club tourny at El Capitan on 7/22/00. It was very tough. Catching ish was not a problem, catching keeper ish was. The normal marine layer was missing and the breaking ish did not get going. Wormed around points and drop os in Conejos arm and Bouler Bay in the 15-25 oot zone and could only scrounge 3 keeper ish. Caught a ton o short ish. All keeper ish came on 4" worm on drop shot. Well I'll get them next time.
    City: Lakeside

    Tips: Try spoonin ish. Small schools o ish usually stack up on oshore rock piles. They are very hard to ind. You just need to jump rom pile to pile until you ind ish. Sometimes they are there sometimes not.

Saturday, July 15th, 2000

  • By

    Water Temp: 76

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: It was an awesome night or ishing. Nice and clear with a very bright moon. San Diego City lakes are not normally open past dark, but this was one o those special times. I arrived at the lake at around 5 pm and began texas rigging 6" worms around main lake points in 8 - 12 eet o water. Caught a ew dinks and switched to 8" hot chocolate neon blue vein worms on a texas rig, worked around rocky ledges in 15 eet o water in the Chocolate Arm caught two ish in the 3 pound range. Just couldn't wait until the evening. It inally began to get dark and the wind died down a little I ran to boulder bay right beore dark, caught a 6 on a Sammy and two other 2 pound ish. When the topwater died o, I switched to a 1/4 oz black duh jig with a black/blue lake zoom super chunk jr. (totally coated with my secret combination scent) Caught 6 ish on the jig over the next 3 hours. Biggest ish was about 5 pounds. The bite totally turned o at about 11pm. But it was a great day. Good luck.
    City: Lakeside

    Tips: This time o year there are a tremendous amount o roving bass busting bait. I you know where the bass are busting, try a large walking topwater bait with a norman ront runner about 18" ahead o the bait. When the sun get's high, start ishing main lake points in the wind with texas rig worms in either chocolate/blue vein or dark purple (black grape). I that ails you can always split shot a crawlash reaper.

Date Unknown

  • By

    Water Temp: 60'S

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: ARRIVED AT 6:30 AM FISHED UNTIL 10:20 AM ALONG THE SHORELINE TO THE LEFT OF THE BOAT DOCK THEN TO THE RIGHT SIDE BY THE SOUTH END OF THE LAKE. IT WAS A SUNNY DAY. TEMPERATURE WAS COOL EARLY BUT LOW 70'S AS I DEPARTED.STARTED OUT FISHING WITH MINNOWS ON THE BOTTOM IN 5-20 FT. OF WATER TO THE LEFT OF THE DOCK ALONG WEEDS AT THE SHORLINE. AFTER NO LUCK BAITFISHING DECIDED TO MOVE THE MINNOW SLOWLY ALONG THE BOTTOM. WHEN I GOT A SMALL BITE. I FELT THE BASS HIT WAITED A LITTLE BIT THEN SET THE HOOK. LANDED A EL CAPTAIN KEEPER 15" (2LBS) LARGEMOUTH THAT WAS TAGGED. SO I KEPT TRYING AND SWITCHED TO NIGHT CRAWLER RIGGED LIKED A PLASTIC WORM WITH A SMALL SPLITSHOT. JUST LET IT SINK AND SLOWLY REEL AND I LANDED TWO MORE BASS 13" TO 14". I TRIED AGAIN BETWEEN LARGE NIGHTCRAWLER AND MINNOW AND NO LUCK. SO I LEFT AND WENT TO SOUTH PART OF THE LAKE AND FOUND SOME DEEP WATER WITH SOME SHALLOW WATER WITH SOME WOOD STRUCTURE. USED THE NIGHT CRAWLER METHOD AND GOT A NICE EL CAP BLACK CRAPPIE. MISSED ONE FISH THERE TOO.
    City: CHULA VISTA

    Tips: SUNNY DAYS FISH HOLD A LITTLE DEEPER. USE SUBTLE BAITS ON THOSE DAYS. OVERCAST DAY HERE MUST BE ABSOLUTE OUTSTANDING WITH RIGHT WATER TEMPS. BETTER DAYS AHEAD. THIS WAS A GOOD DAY FOR ME, AS I DID SEE SOME BEING CAUGHT IN THE AREA. FISH WERE IN THE 5-20 FT. OF WATER. LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.

  • By

    Water Temp: 79

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Once again San Diego City Lakes has let the lake open ater dark. Arrived at El Capitan about 9:15 pm. Lake looked like Calville Bay the morning o the US Open. There must have been 150 - 175 boats on the lake (850 acre lake). Fishing was slow, caught only six ish rom the time that I got there to 5:15 am. All ish caught on purple or black duh jigs in 10 - 20 eet o water on secondary rock points. Only thing I can think o is that the unusual amount o boat traic and ishing pressure had the ish completely turned o. Well I'll get them next time!
    City: Lakeside