I hear it's bad up and down the state and then I Saw The Casitas results and they are consistent with what I am now experiencing. I fished all day two days prior from 5:30 launch time until I gladly pulled off at 4;00. The main obstacle as I see it is the fact from 42 feet deep to the bank has submerged growth on steroids. There might be 5 feet of clearance surface to top of structure in some area that grew prior to going from 29% to 73% .
At first light pretty much everywhere there is water you will see 1 inch to 4 inch bass fry flying through the air. If you had the notion you could catch bass fry with ease all day long. Our temperature jumped 5 degrees in the last 2 weeks. It was 83 when I left main lake for home. I am told that there is still a red ear and bluegill bite going on.
In the last 3 weekly trips I have taken. I have managed two fish on the first trip two days before the last full moon. I had 5+ pounds and had no idea that was killer as I was off the water for 5 weeks with two broken ribs prior to this trip(Hope your feeling better WRB!) I had to go down to a 2.8 keiteck on my bladed hook. And caught them on windswept main lake points. Then the wheels fell off the cart.
I have a fairly vast amount of tackle and options x 10 so the next two educated blanks= 20 hours on the water with absolutely not a tap or more importantly a follower I am very perplexed.
I have found bass fry all the way down to about 35. I have spawning/active bluegill/redear. I have threadfin in 15-30.
I don't have any type of reaction bite going on. I cannot buy a fish on plastics in any form except...The Small Keiteck. I have not been rewarded with the same thing in any larger size. I have only seen one fish in 30 hours on the water silhouetted in the bright green slime that has coated the entirety of the shallow structure.
Things I wish I could do are flat out overridden by the facts of the fishery. For example there isn't anyway to throw a big ol' crank. If it's not a squarebill you'll be using a plug knocker. For Me the keitech was the answer once I found the right combo of bladed hook for my swimbait. But it certainly does not explain … the zero's. I have fished the shallows top to bottom for zip. I won't bother you with all the different techniques or baits. Yes, I tried it/that/those/there.
I don't have bells and whistles for electronics but I have enough to see enough to just flat shrug as to what I need to be looking for. I have gone down many rabbit holes when it comes to the fishes diet for naught.
All that being said I was surprised that the ABA tournament wasn't a night thing because my next trips will be from noon until 7:45 to find out if the evening mud lines are where I need to be. I hope it's that simple but I doubt it. Beyond a doubt the toughest summer bite in my life.
LET'S GO BRANDON
Remember ...What the Dormouse said...Feed your head!
Congratualrs you now hold the lowest weight limit ever in a Castaic tournament. Chris is your brother Joe still fishing?
Turn 80 today, how time flies
Tom
PS, Kelly, I am nothing broken, guess I am missing anything on the lakes.
Happy Birthday WRB Glad your on the mend as everything now takes longer yet now goes by in a blurr.
I can remember a night WON tournament maybe 12 years ago...maybe 60 boats or so...I put up a ten pound+ fish for my big fish before our 5 combined got weighed and Ron Cervenka looked at me and said...Oh yeah... we're not going to weigh it for big fish. Why Not? I replied. There where so many 12-14 pound fish it wasn't even close....Well Tom at least we caught some when we could back in the day. All of this years water didn't hurt the fishery...Just the fishing.
96 hours for 2 keepers.
LET'S GO BRANDON
Remember ...What the Dormouse said...Feed your head!
The 90’s Both Castaic and Casitas were world class bass fisheries, DD bass were a giving now a 2.38 wins a tournament..... yes we enjoyed the glory days.
Stay safe my friend,
Tom
Casitas opened in 1958. FLMB introduced in the early 70’s or 50 years ago now. During that time span Casitas was basically neat or at full pool with excellent prey to predator ratio and good water quality. The 80’s were Casitas prime big years with bass over 15 lbs, Ray Easly’s 21.3 giant caught.
The drought, quagga mussel fear and crazy environmentalist management preventing Ventura River water diversion resulted in the big bass population demise.
The Thomas fire and others during the low water levels created contaminated water shed. The rains came flooding decades of brush growth with ash and retardant run off water. The ecosystems of both Casitas and Castiac is very fertile, the bass need prey sources added like crawdads and trout plants to restore the big bass population.
This will not happen on it’s own without angler demand.
Tom
It will be a replay of Cachuma IMHO. In 7-10 years it'll be okay but not great because there won't be trout plants.Next year we go to full pool also.There were 8 boats in the tournament Tom. What anglers can do is very limited here and you see the results They wouldn't listen if we set our selves on fire in protest. The stewards of this ecosystem could give a flip...It's all about the benjamin's now. 3 days a week it's $20 bucks for day use only.
Last edited by Kelly Ripa on Tue Jul 18, 2023 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
LET'S GO BRANDON
Remember ...What the Dormouse said...Feed your head!
Is anyone throwing live threadfin? I don’t do it, but a lot of my friends are the guys that pioneered this technique at Casitas and Castaic. If they still won’t bite that, you really have a problem. I think the fish population is down everywhere they have had lower water. Clear Lake is so fertile that it is the only place that I know that bounces back from low water very quickly. Yes, there is a ton of factors causing fishing to be difficult, but they really get tuned into small bait this time of year, and I can remember many years when shad was the only thing that could catch fish this time of year.
That little keitech at 2.8 is as small as I'm going. I don't know about the shad bite that's never been my thing even when I was a guide. That is Marc Matrani's deal( ojai angler) but I have not heard of any bite according to the boys at the gate...and they fish. I always catch fish in the summer here on one bait and it is hammered by small 3 inch fish all the way to 45 feet now and nothing else. That's why I go to Clear lake 4 times or more every year.
LET'S GO BRANDON
Remember ...What the Dormouse said...Feed your head!
Live shad is even sucking at Casitas. That’s how bad the fishery is this year. Most of the local,lakes are tanking this year. It’s actually not surprising, based on experiences from years passed when we got giant rains. It’ll improve.
Summer it’s all about the right biat, the right time and location.
Threadfin Shad bite coincides with the Shad spawn. About a 1 week window, it’s on if you are there. That is over by now.
Think Bass Trix Shad Bait fry and 3”-4” Shad reapers.
Tom
[quote=WRB post_id=680125 time=1689697772 user_id=35944]
Casitas opened in 1958. FLMB introduced in the early 70’s or 50 years ago now. During that time span Casitas was basically neat or at full pool with excellent prey to predator ratio and good water quality. The 80’s were Casitas prime big years with bass over 15 lbs, Ray Easly’s 21.3 giant caught.
The drought, quagga mussel fear and crazy environmentalist management preventing Ventura River water diversion resulted in the big bass population demise.
The Thomas fire and others during the low water levels created contaminated water shed. The rains came flooding decades of brush growth with ash and retardant run off water. The ecosystems of both Casitas and Castiac is very fertile, the bass need prey sources added like crawdads and trout plants to restore the big bass population.
This will not happen on it’s own without angler demand.
Tom
[/quote]
You forgot that bass anglers stopped harvesting bass about 30 years ago. That alone has caused bass growth to decline to the point which amputates any possibility of producing trophy fish.
I don't think not eating fish had anything to do with our problems personally. They broke the ecosystem with the quagga mussel deal. No more plants of anything. Before they put in trout,bass,bluegill and crayfish on a regular basis..I have no way to post a picture of the paper thin 14-15 pound fish one of my clients caught at the end of the big fish maybe 2 years after the first lock out of all outside boats. It was all head and maybe 2-3 inches thick and weighed just under 10 pounds The lake crashed hard and fast and then the drought evaporated all the cover in the lake so any fry were food for the last 12 years or so for the Larger trout and our huge crappie and every thing else in the ecosystem. even the catfish are out of the loop now. I can remember spooning up huge catfish when I first moved here 16 years ago. One even had a trout in it's throat when I brought it in.....Large predators took a hit and will come back now that there is cover.
Then you have to factor in ...when the water starts to taste bad most SoCal lakes blue stone. Here at Casitas I believe they use straight up hydrogen peroxide as it's cheaper. You can imagine what it does to the bite when they throw acid in their faces. They did it last year and a very reputable local informed me that they loaded pallets of sacks of an unknown chemical on a pontoon boat and while they did pretty much toss it in areas that had grass. He watched them as they sat with binoculars and when somebody left an area after fishing ...they went straight there and started tossing it about. With the slime we have this year I'm waiting for the fishing to get worse when they start up again this year with the chemicals.
LET'S GO BRANDON
Remember ...What the Dormouse said...Feed your head!
Growth rate of LMB at Casitas is middle of the road average when compared to LMB sampled throughout the State....which is horrible relative to what it used to be Statewide. The graph below illustrates the Von Bertalanffy Growth Curve for Casitas plotted against the vBGF of LMB collected Statewide from age/length data collected for Mercury consumption recommendations. You will notice the L inf isn't even 18". Though the sample size is <30 fish from Casitas it's pretty telling. Given all of the ecological variables that occurred and continue to occur the biggest change from "the good ole' days" is the "C&R everything" mentality.
Parameters of the VBGF for this population of fish
L inf = 437mm 17.20"
L inf= Asymptotic Size an average fish in a pop'n would reach if they lived and grew indefinitely
k = 0.272
k = Growth Coefficient: exponential rate of approach to asymptotic size
t0 = 0.000
t0= Theoretical age when size is zero
Can’t blame everything on C & R as it was at it’s height during the 90’s.
What is the problem is prey to predator ratio, bass can’t achieve exceptional growth eating Threadfin Shad as a primary food source, they need high protein crayfish a good mix of soft Ray fish.
Castiac is very similar with added Stripe Bass population to share the food source.
2 world class trophy bass on a severe decline due to,zero fishery management.
Tom
I wonder how those numbers are on Clear Lake where no one would eat a bass on a bet....DDT and Mercury locked into that ecosystem for the next 100,000 years. Remember when the fish in the Hawg Troughs in SoCal Had Casitas fish in them?
LET'S GO BRANDON
Remember ...What the Dormouse said...Feed your head!
[quote=WRB post_id=680271 time=1690043518 user_id=35944]
Can’t blame everything on C & R as it was at it’s height during the 90’s.
What is the problem is prey to predator ratio, bass can’t achieve exceptional growth eating Threadfin Shad as a primary food source, they need high protein crayfish a good mix of soft Ray fish.
Castiac is very similar with added Stripe Bass population to share the food source.
2 world class trophy bass on a severe decline due to,[b]zero [b][/b][/b] fishery management.
Tom
[/quote]
You are correct in your assertion that there has been zero fisheries management toward bass. Fisheries are managed through harvest. Size limits, bag limits, seasons, limited entry and/or open/closed zones in which fish can be harvested. All natural resource management is predicated upon take. When the user group voluntarily chooses to quit using the management tools in use, the fisheries suffer. Be it over-harvest or under-harvest, they both inflict damage. The nearly 100% exclusive voluntary C&R culture in play over the last 30 years has inflicted the damage witnessed now. Fish remain in the system and live longer, at the expense of growth rate and growth potential. So yes, I suppose there has been zero fisheries management for our bass fisheries because the anglers have largely chosen it to he that way.
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