Me and my two boys were up in LA for 4 days and had some spare time, so I decided to run up to Lake Castaic, located just about 45 minutes North of LA. We didn't have ANY equipment along with us (all of it back home in Texas), so I found a Target and bought some ultra light Shakespeare spinning combos (those that come as a kit) for $19.99 each. These are pre-spooled with 4lb mono.
We stopped at a bait shop located on the lake and the guy running the shop suggested night crawlers fished off the bottom, set up like a Carolina rig. But here's the kicker. He suggested using a syringe type tool (he sold there $2.99) to actually blow air into the worm on one end to make it float off the bottom...I had never heard of that as I always fish plastics, but he showed me the best way to do it and so we were all set.
We went down to a dock located below the dam in what they called the lagoon (Maybe 500 acres of water). He said fishing was slow, but we might catch a striper or possible a bass using this technique. I thought to myself maybe a striper, but no "real" bass is going to mess with a night crawler.
Anyway we went down to this dock and were the only ones there fishing so my son "A" went to the right side, Stevie took the middle, and I took the left (T shaped dock). I looked over at A just in time to see him cast and let his bait start to sink. I casted out as well and looked back over at the boys only to see A's 5 foot Ugly Stik pole doubled over. I figured he had to have a striper because this fish was going deep and peeling line out of his reel. I also figured we might not ever see this fish.
He finally wore the fish down after about 10 minutes and got it close enough, so that we could see it down in the water...Big Ole Bass! He had to play it until it totally ran out of gas because the dock is 6 feet above the water. He then led it all the way around the dock like a dog on a leash to the bank. You can see the dock behind me.
We didn't have a scale of course, but I measured her with a stick and notched the stick with my knife so that we would at least have a length. Wished I could have gotten a girth measurement, because it was loaded with eggs and probably trout too.
Lake Castiac is stocked with trout yearly, so the bass eat the trout and get huge. Several over 20 pounds have been recorded from this lake as you probably already know.
I've been fishing for 40 years for bass and have never caught one this big. And "A" catches it with a cheap ultra light packaged rig to boot.
This one went a little over 24 inches and we released it back. I will probably get a replica made since this might be a once in a lifetime fish.. Especially since A caught her using a cheap ultra light rig.
Beautiful lake by the way.
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We stopped at a bait shop located on the lake and the guy running the shop suggested night crawlers fished off the bottom, set up like a Carolina rig. But here's the kicker. He suggested using a syringe type tool (he sold there $2.99) to actually blow air into the worm on one end to make it float off the bottom...I had never heard of that as I always fish plastics, but he showed me the best way to do it and so we were all set.
We went down to a dock located below the dam in what they called the lagoon (Maybe 500 acres of water). He said fishing was slow, but we might catch a striper or possible a bass using this technique. I thought to myself maybe a striper, but no "real" bass is going to mess with a night crawler.
Anyway we went down to this dock and were the only ones there fishing so my son "A" went to the right side, Stevie took the middle, and I took the left (T shaped dock). I looked over at A just in time to see him cast and let his bait start to sink. I casted out as well and looked back over at the boys only to see A's 5 foot Ugly Stik pole doubled over. I figured he had to have a striper because this fish was going deep and peeling line out of his reel. I also figured we might not ever see this fish.
He finally wore the fish down after about 10 minutes and got it close enough, so that we could see it down in the water...Big Ole Bass! He had to play it until it totally ran out of gas because the dock is 6 feet above the water. He then led it all the way around the dock like a dog on a leash to the bank. You can see the dock behind me.
We didn't have a scale of course, but I measured her with a stick and notched the stick with my knife so that we would at least have a length. Wished I could have gotten a girth measurement, because it was loaded with eggs and probably trout too.
Lake Castiac is stocked with trout yearly, so the bass eat the trout and get huge. Several over 20 pounds have been recorded from this lake as you probably already know.
I've been fishing for 40 years for bass and have never caught one this big. And "A" catches it with a cheap ultra light packaged rig to boot.
This one went a little over 24 inches and we released it back. I will probably get a replica made since this might be a once in a lifetime fish.. Especially since A caught her using a cheap ultra light rig.
Beautiful lake by the way.
