Stories:
This
is a picture from Lytle Creek, California. A lake stocked
with Trout only. I was the only guy out there catching
Large Mouth Bass. The first would have been the catch
of the day if it were only Trout weighing in at 5lbs 3
ozs. The second was a solid three pounds and the third
Bass, 4lbs 6ozs. After that I stopped weighing them. These
fish were all caught on shad pattern crank bait. I was
using 6lb Berkley big game line and a Shakespeare rod
with Diwa reel. Everyone wanted the scoop; they had never
seen Bass caught in their Trout only lake before.
My
cousin and I recently fished a private lake called Peter's
Canyon. It is full of slab, crappie, huge blue gill (bigger
than hand size) and a good population of very large bass.
What made this so very unusual was that this small lake
is located in the middle of a large housing tract, yet
gets very little fishing pressure!
The water is very clear so you would think it would be
tough fishing, thinking the fish may be spooky, but we
could throw about anything and get hit - even the large
crappie and blue gill hit our small (1/4 oz. and 3/8 oz.),
craw-colored crank baits. We later found out the lake
has a large population of them. We often had double hook
ups. Even with clear blue skies and high air temperatures,
the bass chased large, noisey top waters.
My point is that
we all chase fish in the "hottest" lakes. These
receive intense fishing pressure and the fish have seen
all the lures in your tackle box a hundred times, so don't
overlook nearby city lakes and other water impoundments.
For example, I caught one of my top five bass in a lake
a stone's throw from a freeway.
So research the city lakes in your area. They hardly get
noticed - most people drive by them every day.
You just might catch some nice fish and they are good
places to try some new methods.
Good
luck and as always: Catch and Release!
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