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THE LAKES ARE ON FIRE!

By: Ron Wilson

March 25, 2004.... What a weekend. On Saturday I took my cousin Blaine Wilson to Lake McClure to show him  some great spotted bass fishing.

I found the turkeys that I heard gobbling last weekend. They were right in the middle of the road strutting their stuff and in no hurry to get out of my way.

There were five of them, they would walk a few feet, stop and gobble and then take a few more steps and repeat the whole process again. It sure was neat to watch.

They all looked like young jakes as their feathers were not well developed and I didn’t see any long beards on them. Blaine snapped a few pictures with his film camera, but wouldn’t you know it, I left my digital camera at home.

We finally made our way down to the lake and launched the boat to do some fishing. I started out catching fish right from the get go with my dartheads.

Blaine didn’t watch me catch fish for very long before he tied on a darthead also. The key for numbers is a 1/16-ounce dart head on a 6 inch 082 red and green flake Keeper worm. This combination has a slow fall and the bass just suck it up and swim off with it!

We never went any further then middle marina and the south ramp at Barrett’s Cove, where we launched.

The bite was off and on, the fish were schooled up, so either you were on them or they were nowhere to be found.

 figured we had well over fifty bass by the time we hit our last spot of the day, a rock pile that was loaded with spots. We managed another dozen or so at fire drill pace before we called it a day at 3:00 pm.

The spots are great fun to catch and they taste good on the dinner table. With the slot limit at McClure, taking home a mess of 11-inch bass for the fry pan is a real treat. The meat is firmer than the bigger ones and my taste buds just like the flavor of the smaller fish.

The contention of the slot limit is for anglers to also remove the smaller fish. Taking home a few of the smaller spotted bass helps promote a healthy fishery.

Sunday my web partner, Tim Paes, and I went to Lake Don Pedro to catch a few black bass. I caught my first grand slam on these little green fish. 2 Spotted bass over 14 inches, one muley over 3 pounds, a small mouth close to 3 pound and a regular old chunky largemouth in the 3-pound class.

Our day started off in the Ramos/Rodriquez area, where on my first cast I caught a black bass. They say its bad luck to catch a fish on your first cast but I think it’s a great way to start the day!

Catching a limit of quality bass like this one is the norm at Don Pedro right now!

Tim was the next to score with a nice bucket mouth in the 3-pound plus class. Tim was using a jig, with Super Pork. I followed quickly with my next one; heck we almost had a double.

We covered water and fished the area thoroughly, catching a fish here and there for our efforts. I could see fish flashing near the bank telling me that the spawn was on or getting real close to being on.

I heard anglers were having success up in the Woods and Moccasin, catching some huge fish in the 10-pound class, but my little boat wasn’t running all that great and it’s a long run for a small boat.

We headed back to the 5-mile an hour buoys in Rogers arm and started fishing just inside them. Fishing was slow with just a couple of fish for our efforts.

We headed back and hit some steep rock walls where we picked up several smallies and a few largemouth. From there we headed to the Big Creek area.

We stopped at a cove that I hadn’t fished for a couple of years. I threw out a 6 inch Keeper 082 red flake bait on a red dart head. I was just telling Tim, “The last time I fished here I caught an undersize spotted bass.”

As I was telling the story I noticed my line started moving off, I set the hook and informed Tim, “This is a spotted bass.” “How do you know,” he said. I said, “heck I have landed so many in the last couple weeks I can tell by the fight.” I soon boated a 14-inch spot.

We continued around the cove and on the next point I nailed a real nice fish. “It’s a huge smallie,” I said. I looked down in about 10 feet of water and not only could I see the fish I hooked but I could see three more as big or bigger trying to take the worm out of its mouth!

I boated the fish and it was in the 3-pound class. Tim said, “That’s a nice smallie.” I said, “take a closer look, that’s a cross bred fish.” We call them mulies in Lake Camanche. Unfortunately the spots are starting to take hold in Don Pedro and they have started cross breeding with the smallies in the areas they are becoming prolific.

I usually keep a few small bass for the dinner table and I always keep the spotted bass. Obviously a few uniformed anglers think they can make our lakes better by planting spots illegally. However, all they are doing is screwing up one of the premier black bass fisheries in the state of California!

Tim and I had a great day. The fishing is red hot and we had well over 40 fish, of which close to a dozen were smallies. If you’re a bed fisherman you should be able to find a big old female setting up house. But please release her so she can help restock the lake and be caught again on another day.

There are tons of fish just cruising the banks looking for a mate or food or both! NOW’S THE TIME TO GET ‘EM!