I am moving to Vandenberg AFB in September even though I will not start fishing until next year sometime. I am moving from Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, home of the mighty B-52's. The fishing difference from the states I will get use to but I have a few questions. I own a 17ft aluminum bassboat with a 50hp motor. Is that big enough to handle the water out there? From the messages I have read, the lakes seem to be pretty much open water with skiers. Do I need to upgrade boat size and motor? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Drop it deep and yank it hard!!!

Welcome to California! You are moving to a great place to fish. All or most of the fish that you fish for are here. If money is not an issue as far as upgrading your boat then go for it. On the other hand, many successful fishermen just work their way around the crowded lakes with their little boats. Last weekend, I had my float-tube surrounded by swimmers, boaters, skiers, babes, you -name-it, and they were all there. Didn't seem to bother the fish because I caught lots of them. I think our fish become much more accustomed to crowds and noise better than many of us fishermen and women. Anyways, welcome and good fishin'.

777

Your local lakes will be Lopez, Santa Margarita and San Antonio, all great for bass fishing. Your current boat is perfect for these lakes, none of them are overly huge so you can certainly fish them quite well with your boat. The only reason you might want to consider upgrading is for more speed or comfort, but you'll be just fine with what you have now. Your first order of business should definitely be learning how to throw swimbaits and trout plugs once you get out here :) Santa Margarita and Lopez are two of the premier lakes in the state for swimbaits.
-Brian

When I first went to this sight I read about the swimbaits and did not have a clue what they were until I saw a picture. Could you please fill me in on the techniques, brands, colors etc. I know Storm Baits makes something similar that I use for stripers down here. I have never seen a trout bait though.

Drop it deep and yank it hard!!!

Alright, lemme break it down for ya. Swimbaits in their truest form are saltwater lures that look like this-

5" Big Hammer (rainbow trout)
http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1406.jpg

These alone will still catch fish in freshwater, but they're not really considered the trout imitating swimbaits that most folks use. These are best for imitating bluegill, shad and crawdads. However, this is kind of the history of freshwater swimbaits, the ones we have today kind of originated off of this type of design.

Folks use the word swimbait to describe really two different lures, swimbaits and trout plugs. Trout plugs are made out of wood, swimbaits are made out of soft plastic (for the most part). The best trout plug available has to be the M.S. Slammer. One of these baits in 9" will make you a believer. Excellent choice for Santa Margarita and Lopez especially. Rago baits also makes some high-dollar baits that are proving to pay for themselves. The most popular wooden bait would be the Generic Trout with a retail of $100. Kind of hard to come by now, he hasn't been making them in awhile. Currently he has a Generic Rat on the market which has a similar action to the Slammer and is flying off the shelves of tackle stores.

The soft plastic swimbaits are a lot more diverse. Rago also makes soft plastic swimbaits which are excellent. 3:16 Lure Co also has some awesome "concept baits" not to mention their standby mission fish bait. Osprey was early on the scene of soft plastic swimbaits and they still catch fish. The Stocker Trout is unique and accounts for a lot of toads, but be sure to rig it with an extra treble hook if you decide to fish one. Another one worth mentioning is the Castaic Soft Trout. This bait's been around for a long time and has caught many a toad over the years. Fish Chris has single-handedly proven this much.

Rob has written up a very insightful article on swimbaits located here- http://www.calfishing.com/freshwater/big_wood/index.html

And most if not all of the baits I mentioned can be purchased here- http://www.calfishing.com/tackle_warehouse.html (going through the link helps support calfishing rather than linking directly to tackle warehouse)

And for the Ospreys and soft plastic Generic Swimbaits it's best to buy them "pro-rigged" from Bass World West- http://bassworldwest.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=BWW&Category_Code=1500000000

I think I covered the basics, let me know if I can be of anymore assistance.
-Brian

Fellow Air Force member..

I was stationed there for four years..Great place to fish..also don't forget about the salt, you have 35 miles of beach! There are four ponds on base that hold bass...Send me an email to mark.caldwell@netzero.com to discuss further...

Welcome to the area. Your closest and best lake for finding quality fish is going to be Cachuma located just outside of Santa Ynez. You are looking at about a 30-40 minute drive from the base. Your boat will be fine for Cachuma. There are no water sports outside of fishing allowed on Cachuma so you don't have to put up with the raging watercraft. You will have some good quality ponds on the base from what I hear, I've never fished them, but word is that they are good. Lopez is good but the wind can be an issue on the lake. Santa Margarita is the best I've found yet as far as quantity. Most are smaller spots and largemouth, but I've had several hundred plus fish days in the early spring on that lake. Fresh or Salt, your going to a prime area. Shoot me a line when you get ready and we can set up a day to meet on Cachuma. It can be a tough lake if you don't know the prime spots to fish. I have no secrets and will show you some good areas. I check the board every other day.

mak

Let me know when you get ready to fish! I'll show you around Santa Margarita. I work at VAFB on the Titan rockets at SLC4 and live in Santa Maria. Drop me a line!

Ken

krandersons@msn.com

Mak
Thanks for the reply. I have been looking at the websites for some of the lakes and I really like the not skiers, jet-skies and swinning lakes. I wish I had something like that on some the lakes here. I am beginning to realize that moving to that area will not be half bad. On my hundreds of dollars on fishing equipment, I see there is much more I will have to get once I get there. I guess I better start looking into saltwater gear also. Some of my bass gear doubles for inshore waters in the Gulf of Mexico. If you have never caught a redfish, you have to put that on your list. However, I don't think the gear I have now will work for saltwater fishing there. Where should I start. I will keep in touch because will need so help getting use to California water.

Drop it deep and yank it hard!!!