A very timely post...

I got into big bass fishing at Casitas from 94-98. Back then quality fish were had on crawdads (can't do that anymore) and slow fished plastics. Watched swimbaits blow up but never tried them at the time. I did, however, pick up some old AC's, TNT's and one of the first Castaic trouts..which I lost during a move! Moved away in '98 and have only fished it a few times since. Did O.K. considering the time I put in, but no lunkers.

In 2006/2007 (I no longer have a boat at this point and fish from shore) I started fishing Huds at San Pablo and had a fantastic spring...a very good number of 5-12lb fish. It seemed almost too easy. Got a few 10lb + fish on plastics too boot. In 2007/2008 hit it hard after lake opening expecting similar results and basically got blanked in 12 or so outings and gave up fishing big baits for the year. I also fish small plastics for...well...smaller bass. And 2007/2008 proved a very tough year for that too. In spring 2008/2009 I went out 8 or 9 times: the 1st trip on a rainy morning got a 5 and an 8 on a Slammer. And that was it for the year. Did a few finesse trips in the summer with very poor results. I plan to hit it again seriously this spring but it doesn't look good. The lake is still low, the water still muddy, and most fish I've caught since 2006 have red sores on them. I keep marine aquariums, and in aquariums a fish with a big red sore usually expires if not treated with antibiotics.

Have also tried Lafayette, Chabot and Vaqueros with pretty sorry results. Vaqueros looked and was fishy when the water was up, but the water has been low for some time and the reports for bass are dismal. Which I don't understand as it is a young and clean lake. Perhaps the stripers are eating everything.

I'm sure there are decent lakes within 2 hours of where I live, but it takes time to find out how to produce from shore on new lakes, and I don't have that time. So most of my fishing is now down from Baja and out of San Diego on long range trips.

As a Socal native I can honestly say that fishing up here sux...no more Salmon, Rockfishing is terrible, bass fishing in my immediate area is awful...even the halibut and striper fishing has been off for the last few years.

San Pablo went downhill quickly because of of water quality...the rest of it, I think, due to poor fisheries management. In particular I think salmon has gone downhill because of the stipers, but that is another thread...