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TIME TO HIT THE LAKES
By: Ron Wilson
February 11, 2009.... In the central
valley the
bass fishing is getting ready to bust wide open. The unusually
warm weather has the lakes running 55 or so degrees and the bass moving
up. By the end of February I am sure you will be able to find bed fish.
For me
Lake Don Pedro is my lake of choice as the trout limits have been
fairly easy to get. All you have to do is top lining a small lure in
shad or fire tiger pattern and troll it 75 or so feet behind the boat in
the back of Rogers arm, Big Creek or Hatch Creek and you should soon be
battling one of the many plants that have been planted by the
Department of Fish and Game this year.
The reason for the generous plants in the
locals lakes and reservoirs is that the DFG got sued for not having an
environmental impact to plant highland lakes with trout so they had to
put them somewhere else.
For bass fishing at lake Don Pedro it has
been tougher than normal for many anglers as they are having to go deep.
However with the 55 degree water and the sun shinning on the rocks and
rock walls the fish have been moving up in the afternoon to sun their
eggs.
 Best
bet is rocky areas with steep drop offs nearby. I just go down the bank
tossing a Keeper 1050 6 inch worm on a 1/16th ounce dart head in 15 feet
of water. I toss it out and let it sink to the bottom, tighten up and
see if anyone is home and if not shake it a few times until its in 20 to
25 feet of water to see if they are coming up to sun themselves in that
area. Once I find the fish I just move down the bank slowly covering
water reeling in and tossing it back out again further down the bank
hoping to find more bass coming up to warm there eggs in the area. You
make a lot of cast and cover a lot of water and when you get them
patterned you can Catch quite a few fish.
Now I don’t catch monster bass, just fish
up to 5 pounds if I am lucky on the plastics I use. I guess if I was to
throw swim baits I would catch bigger fish but that’s to much work for
me to just catch a fish or two all day long as I am there for numbers
and fun. That’s why I use light line and light weight and plastics on
wimpy rods. I like to make
big fish out of little ones.
Right now the trout are on top of the
water and if you pay close attention you can see them jumping and
puddling, (making little rings on top of the water), eating things off
the top of the water as the lakes slowly rise. That’s why you now use no
weight on your lures to keep them in front of the fish that are in the
top 5 to 10 feet of water. As the water warms up more I will go to
downriggers with Ex-Cel Lures for the trout once they start to go into
deeper water.
When they go down to 20 feet I set out four rods and work them over. I
will tell you more about them when it happens.
For the bass fishermen at lake Don Pedro
don’t forget about these suspended bass, they are up there in 5 to 10
feet of water in 40 to 50 feet
deep water sunning there eggs. I know I have seen them but I am
not smart enough to catch them on plastics now large crawdads or a
minnow on a bobber might just do the trick.
After the string of storms roll through I
am sure things will change on the bass fishing but the
trout fishing should remain the same. Lake Don Pedro is really
low and you can now park your rig on the island on the
left hand side of
the ramp at Flemming Meadows. The boat ramp at Blue Oaks is still in the
water but you better be able to back up your boat good at a long
distance. |
