Every week, before the weekend I will try to sort out and post all the fishing stories and gossip I hear in the shop so everyone can get some timely information on fishing conditions around the area. For more information people can call me at the shop (805) 489-9417 or e-mail me at petesusieskarda@aol.com.
Lopez Lake has been hot and cold recently with some really good fish caught on the weekend and some really good anglers getting almost shut-out on Monday. Gold Coast Bass Team had a tournament there Saturday with a 6 fish limit and it took over 28 pounds to win! 2 fish over 9 pounds were caught, 3 fish over 7 and a good number of 5’s and 6’s. Spinnerbaits, crankbaits, worms, and jigs were used all over the lake all day for some really good fishing. Local “good guy” Phil Van Zee landed a beautiful 8 pounder Sunday on a Senko. The color and location will remain secret! The big ones are moving up and can be caught. The water is low and stained in the arms but the fish are there.
Santa Margarita has seen some good fishing over the past couple of weeks with some good fish caught. Several fish over 7 pounds have been reported and even one of 11 pounds has been rumored. Trout baits are catching some fish, good on some days and not so good on others. Spinnerbaits in the river and ‘chute’ along the shoreline and brush hogs and jigs on the humps. When the weather is right some good numbers of fish have been caught on LV 500’s in the American Shad and Chartreuse Shad colors. Last year Lopez Lake big fish record holder, Paul Pierce, clued me in on a great Senko bite that lasted all spring and I'm sure it will be good again this year. The water level is quite low which doesn’t leave much stuff to flip but don’t overlook any wood.
Cachuma Lake hosted a southern ABA tournament last weekend and all but one of the top 5 spots were filled by teams that were dropshotting and dragging small jigs. The one exception, Jared Lintner, caught reaction fish early and his partner, Tim Sharpe, flipped 3 good fish for the third slot. It only took 18 pounds to win, a weight that will look puny when the big ones come back. Before that there was a good crank and blade bite with some good fish caught. Lots of smallmouth bass were caught on the Ayu Pointer 100.
The report from Nacimiento is about the same as it has been; lots of fish on worms and jigs. Steve Collop reported that he and buddy Bruce Caston caught and released about 75 fish last Friday.
Lake San Antonio hosted the Bass Ambushers tournament last Saturday where it took 14 pounds to win caught by Steve Bereda. He wouldn’t divulge too much information since he plans to fish the WON tournament there this weekend, March 9th. He did say he had fish going on only two small spots and most of the field found fish in the river on blades and jigs.
I hope this helps everyone catch more fish but in order to sustain this level of pressure in our lakes please release the fish you catch so they will be there when you go again! Check out the schedule for the tournaments on our website, centralcoastbass.com and plan to attend one of the weigh-ins, held around 3:00, to see some of these good fish and talk to some of the guys who catch them.