Help!First time at Casitas.

[Skeeterman]

My dream is coming true. On March 4th I,ll be heading to Casitas for a three day, trip never been thier finally get to fish the lake. Does any body have suggestians on what to use I know swimbaits will be the #1 go to bait is thier anythig else to use like jigs etc.?Thank guys I can not wait to put my boat on that lake.

[smittyfish]

You are going to have some trouble getting any info on Casitas right now. There is a tournament there on Saturday. People will be really tight lipped. It will probably take over 30 pounds for the winner.

It is an awesome lake. There will be plenty of fish up shallow. There should be a good sight bite. Of course swim baits ar always a good choice this time of year at Casitas.

Worms and jigs in 10-15 feet in the brush should find you some of the big females looking to move in on beds. Your timing should be perfect. Except of course for the tournament.

Good luck.

[Kelly Ripa]

Casitas is in an interesting position right now. Water temps hovering in the low 60's and Florida strain bass make for an intresting combination. The bite is really at it's best at first light and only gets worse as the day drags on unless you get some wind than you can toy with the shallow fish regardless of time of day. If you've been out fishing in the last few weeks anywhere in SoCal it seems that a multitude of the lakes are suffering from water or water temp issues and the fish are in 0-50 feet. My opinion on Casitas is that every place seems to be fishing different. I'll try my best to explain this:In shallow areas like the Wadeligh arm or backs of coves the fish seem to be shallow and in deeper areas of the lake like station Canyon/Chismahoo the fish seem to be deeper ( this excludes the bedding fish that can be found anywhere). I can shake up a pound and a half in fifty feet in deep areas yet I can catch fish the same size fish shallow in the shallow areas. There are beds and there are males and females right now doing the spring thing yet the deep fish are just as accesible to your offerings but it's apples and oranges as far as rigging and presentations are concerned. For deeper fish I find main lake long points and fish uphill starting in 55 feet and slowly working back to the shallows. I caught fish on senkos throwing tight last monday and caught fish on 3/4 - 1 0z. jigs in 40-50 feet where a big carolina rig would work also. There are swimbait fish and if that is your intrest you would need to use a floater and deadstick it to the point of complete boredom....Just remember that there are huge fish swimming around under it at any given time or place and you'll keep your intrest level up. If it's numbers you can dropshot/worm/senko fish like Richard suggests and a better place to look is in isolated tulies in the backs of smaller coves and the little cuts on the main lake. These same sized fish are also still " offshore " and will take up the spring ritual on some of the later full moons to come as as we all know all the fish don't spawn at one time in any lake. So there you go: prespawn and spawn are the choices. Color recomendations? My jigs have been brown grape or cinnammon brown. Oxblood light red flake robo or Margarita Mutilator III are two good colors for worms. My senko was green pumpkin and also watermelon. If your sight fishing than use your favorite bait but I found these fish to actually be less fickle than they appeared to be. The main constant for me at Casitas right now is that all baits needed to really and I mean really be worked dead slow and with little action imparted to the bait. The senko bite I was on last week was a wacky rig and when I lifted up the fish were just there(typical). Since you will be there after the weekend you might want to save your swimbait for the midweek as it is far and above better than the weekend. You will be on the farside of the full moon and to some degree that might take out the numbers of shallow fish but for the next three months it is a good bet that you will connect in the 10 foot range. I know this is just generalised basic information but I hope it helps you sort out your trip to some extent. I don't think that I've stepped on any toes writing this for you and all to read if I have my appologies. I hope you have the trip that your dreaming of and have a great first trip to the land of Giants!:mrgreen:

try not to let the whales swimming along in the shallows distract you to much

Rip

[Skeeterman]

Thanks Kelly Ripa and Smittyfish appreciate the help.If you guys are on the lake Sun.Mon.Tuesday stop and say high i,ll be in a red black white Skeeter.

[DougH]

Geez Rip, tell him everything why don't cha! I mean only us smart professional anglers know to fish in that 0-50 depth range with jigs, dropshots, texas, whacky, swimbait, crank, plastic, wood, and iron bite is wide open. How do you expect me to compete on Saturday now? sheesh!!

[Rob Cummings]

Don't worry Doug, Dave and I aren't fishing the tournament so you and your girlfriend have a better chance on Saturday now

[Kelly Ripa]

I thought I'd cover it all! Heck, who knows what Skeeterman's specialty is? I can't figure out why I carry like 12 rods and umteen pounds O' tackle when I'm play'n on the water can you

Rip

[Ron C]

...if you get there on Saturday afternoon (around 3 pm), you can take in our weigh-in and awards ceremony, where the winners ALWAYS tell the truth about how they caught their fish (Har Har!).

BTW - My two favorite bed fishing baits are a white Robo Zipper Grub and a white Gitzit. I fish both on 14lb fluoro. You absolutely cannot go wrong if you were to dropshot an oxblood light w/ red flake Roboworm.

[19X]

Rob,
whats up with you guys, it was kinda like double datin, now it's just me and my girl... gonna miss ya, come by in the am before launch, i'll let ya have a little "reach around" from my girl

[Rob Cummings]

Well, Dave is out there today and I'll probably be out there this week sometime. We wouldn't want to compromise our integrity or put Ron C in the position of DQ'ing us, so we're gonna miss this one. A few other things are at the top of our priority list for right now that we're trying to finish up. I'll see ya up there, I just won't be fishin against you for $$.

Any hot spots ya want me to stay away from??

[Ron C]

Dave and I aren't fishing the tournament

WHAAAAT?

Your lake and your bite? What's up with that???

[Rob Cummings]

Ron C,

We had to make a tough decision on this one. We have A LOT on our plates right now and had to prioritize a few things. I'm sorry to say THIS tournament isn't a go for us. There are too many loose ends to tie up on our other projects and ventures right now to spread ourselves out any more than we already are. Along with that, I've been chucking one bait so much lately that I probably forgot how to stick 'em on anything else right now

I did toss around the idea of fishing it solo. However, I can only imagine the aftermath of people seeing my regular partner out during the week and I fished the tournament Saturday. I'm sure nothing would be said, unless by some miracle I got lucky and did well....then DRAMA!!!! While that may be "within the written rules" and I'm not in this game to win a popularity contest, I do wish to keep my integrity intact.

Good luck to everyone who does fish saturday!!! I'll still be up there to make fun of the clowns that I do know.

[Rob Cummings]

Skeeterman,

If you see a couple rednecks in a blue/white Legend, with a video camera on one of their heads feel free to say hello. I should be able to at least point you in the direction of some fish if you haven't found any yet.

[Guest]

Why mess around - this is an absolute perfect time to go out and land a Giant.. Contact Sean James at SoCalBassFishing.com and hire him for a day.... He'll take you out and show you how its done.. and educate you on Casitas. You'll have a great chance and landing a Giant... then for the rest of the week you will be better off as well.

[mark poulson]

Rob,
We bumped into Dave last Saturday in Deep Cat. My partner said, "Look at that guy. You'd think, if he can afford such a nice boat, he could afford a decent hat." I looked over, figured out pretty quick it had to be Dave with a camera on his head, and gave him a yell. I said, "Hey, Dave, is that you?" And he said, "It could be. Who wants to know?" I guess he must owe somebody some money somewhere.
Anyway, nice to meet him. At that point, mid-day, he said he had two swimbait fish, a 5 and a 6.
He seemed like a nice guy.
Are you sure you guys are friends?

[Rob Cummings]

Ha, no he doesn't owe anyone anything. It's just been a little overwhelming lately with people trying to scam on our hard earned fish, spots and ideas. Neither of us mind AT ALL if people respectfully ask for help or hints, it's the jackasses that are starting to follow us around that sometimes cause a less than friendly response. The ones that are even worse are like the azz clown a couple weeks ago that kept running his boat across the area we were trying to fish. The rest of the day he miraculously showed up pretty damn close to every spot we went to. We laughed at him breaking off hudds all day long though. Tournament guys have been great and relatively respectful, it seems to be the non-tournament guys that are scoundrels about it.

That's funny your partner said that about the hat, not only is a camera glued to the top but the dog had her her way with it also. It gets the job done though.


I agree with Tom Leogrande, it would be more than worth your while to spend a day with Sean James on Casitas.

[oakview]

mark,
Sorry I didn't have more time for conversation...I was in the "zone" or what some would say...LaLa Land...and who don't I owe money too..

Now that I know what boat you are in...I will stop and b/s with you next time...

The decent hat thing...LMAO...

Got some new funny video up on the website...See you on the water...

Are you fishing Saturday?

D.

[oakview]

Skeeterman,

I don't think there is any tournament on Casitas on the sunday the 4th...but the lake will be beat up a little from the Saturday tournament...

What to fish...if you like swimbaits...they stocked trout on Tuesday at the Coyote marina...mainly 8" stockers but also a few bigger ones..as for what baits...8" floaters or slow-sink...

The lake has been getting blown out the last 4 days...20 to 40mph winds...so the swimbait bite was early for me...did manage to miss a few after the wind came up....

There are a bunch of bed fish up in certain areas...with a few "donkeys" ready to lay their eggs...

Caught a few on spinnerbaits and few more chickens on small crankbaits...

The jig bite for me is there but slow in some areas...
If the wind comes up and causes a mudline...start flipping a jig or drop--shot in the brush...

If you need more info...pm me...

D.

[swimb8]

you guys are funny.

[mark poulson]

Dave,
I'll be fishing Piru Saturday. Casitas will be too crowded with the tourney going on. I fished there the last time they had a tourney there. Boats on every point, in ever nook and cranny.
I'm trying to arrange a hookie day next week. I was going to go tomorrow, but I put my boat in for it's annual service today, and won't get it back until Friday.
Hope to see you out there.

[S. Bailey]

funny huh, people complain about being followed, dont be mad,thats just the way it is sometimes huh. I didnt get mad when you guys were following paul, matt and myself for that whole year. Thats just the way it is sometimes when your new. See everybody on Sat, wish me luck !!!

shaun bailey

[Rob Cummings]

Uh-oh, now I'm confused if I'm fishing on Lake Casitas or Lake Bailey. The way you guys own that place maybe they should change it! I've personally never followed you anywhere. I've been trying to learn the lake by myself and maybe that's why my learning curve is so SLOW. Now that I'm getting a taste of the following around thing, it really sucks and I can only imagine how bad it is for you.

[S. Bailey]

no its not all that bad really, it never really bothers me , I guess you just get used to it with cameras in the boat so often . And no its not Lake Bailey its Lake Casitas. I just call it my lake cause its my HOME lake. And I dont really know anybody else who spend 4 or 5 or 6 days a week on there for 10 years. Im just like you bro. In love with the place. It will always be my home lake.

[Rob Cummings]

I don't blame ya. Once in a while we get burnt out up there and decide to hit another lake. Once we get there, it's like "there's no place like Casitas". What sucks is that by the time I learn it well enough to be dangerous up there I have to leave and move to who knows where.

[S. Bailey]

well just keep on fishin it while you can. And you can always come back, thats what im bankin on when i cant compete back east anymore. Theres no place like home. Cant wait for Sat to be home, not like im gonna catch em good or anything, it will just be really cool to be on that pond again. I really do miss it !

shaun bailey

[Guest]

Well if Casitas isn't Lake Bailey....

Havasu certainly is turning into Lake Bailey/Rooke/Goodwin.

Hey Shawn - How are you liking that Legend?
Give me a call sometime and tell me about it!

[Rob Cummings]

That's what I'm trying to do, learn as much as I can here. Back home for me will be Lake Erie, that's intimidating at times! I haven't fished there since I was about 15 yrs old. I see your modesty about Saturday, but I guarantee a bunch of guys just got knocked one spot down the results page!

Actually we won't be up there Saturday, it will be crowded enough without sharing all the spots with guys in the tournament. We're gonna hit some water that neither of has fished before to try something new and leave all you guys fishin for the $$$ alone. Friday and Sunday though....

[DougH]

Dave, just to clear up any confusion you seem to be trying to build, YOU are the "She" in this relationship, and quit asking me to buy you new perfume and lipstick!

[Rob Cummings]

Dave, just to clear up any confusion you seem to be trying to build, YOU are the "She" in this relationship, and quit asking me to buy you new perfume and lipstick!

Doug, just put some red food coloring in your tube of MegaStrike and kill 2 birds with 1 stone....lipstick and perfume all in one tube!

[S. Bailey]

Tom,
Im loving the Legend, its a great boat. Thanks for everything Tom. Im sure I'll see ya at the Delta , right ?

[Guest]

Yep - I'll be right behind you all tournament! Tell your Am not to cast into my boat! ha ha ha

See you up here! It should be a slugfest!