Fished from 11:00am-6:30pm, float tubed for about 3 of those hours at the French Gulch Marina as was told that Crappie are biting. Did see several older guys on docks catching fish on small white mini jigs in about 30ft of water. Tried small minnows for 1 large carp, switched to power grubs for another large carp. Not a single crappie! Water was very cold, and full of small shad. Had Grebes all around me the entire time that I was out there. Every time they would dive down, they would come up w/ a small shad.
Gave up there and fished the aux. dam for trout. Gave it a couple of hours for nothing, and tried piney point until it was too dark to see for nothing. Can't wait for the bass to start hitting again, as I just recieved my new float tube in the mail. Will try it out on Sat or Sun weather permitting.

ds2

Hey ds2. We have a float tube club out of Bakersfield. Our first tourney is on the 28th at San Antonio. We're having a couple at Isabella this season. Let me know if you're interested and I'll send you the information. Here's our schedule for the season.

Feb. 28 - San Antonio - 5:30-2:30 - Main Ramp on South Shore
Mar. 13 - Success - Main Ramp - 5:30-2:30
Apr. 10 - Isabella - Camp Nine - 5:30-2:30
May 15 - Kaweah - Dam Ramp - 5:30-2:30
June 19 - Naci - 5:30-2:30 - Boat Trip to The Narrows
Sep. 18/19 - Success - Lure Point - 5:30-2:30 (both days)
Oct. 16 - Isabella - Camp Nine - 5:30-2:30
Nov. 13 - Naci - 5:30-2:30 - Main Ramp on South Shore

I've heard from some good friends that there has been a decent evening trout bite at Lake Isabella over the past couple of weeks. It seems that the trout are active in the evenings at Paradise cove and some folks are having success chasing them with fly rods from float tubes. I haven't had the chance yet to get up and give it a try. If you find them, let us know how it went.

Richard

That tourny in April sounds fun! Will deff. try to make that.
About the trout bite in Paradise Cove, I drove by there on my way to Isabella to get minnows and then again on my way home. There were a few cars down there. The majority of people seemed to be about half way between the point(on the north/east end) and the campground. Was planning on trying out my new tube this weekend, but w/ the wind and rain, will have to plan on next weekend.

ds2

Is there a place to buy minnows in wofford heights?

Not unless it is new this year. There is a liquer store there that sells bait, but their options are pretty generic. The only place that I have found minnows is just a little north of the McDonalds. There is a small bait and tackel store that sells both large and small minnows. You kinda have to look for it as it is set off of the street a little.

ds2

Hey have you fished hawiee which is north of ridgecrest for bass yet it is a great place to go tubing

I do!! Although lately, it has been terrible. I have not caught a fish there in over a year, and we have fished it pretty hard. My friend went a couple of weeks ago and fished all day and caught 1 smb that went close to 2lbs. That was the only hit he had all day long.
I have heard that the DWP Blue-Stones that lake heavily on occaision. And in years past, I have fished there one week catching very active aggressive fish, only to find a week or two later very lathargic, skinny fish. Very streaky lake, but one of my favorites for some reason. Have seen very large lmb, and smb caught out of there, One 9lb brown, and many large rainbows caught out of that lake. You just gotta hit it when the DWP has not blue-stoned.

ds2

Ya there are some nice bass there i have caught nice bass there. Do you fish the north or south side? I have seen a 6 1/2 and 7 pound small mouths caught out of there

I fish both, although I have done best in the North Lake. I like to fish the East end of the Canal between the 2 lakes. In the early summer, I have done very well there on smb. Non are monsters but there are times when there are lots of fish that are very cooperative on the small jigs. My fav. is a gold gitzit w/ red flake. Did you fish there last year? I did not do very well at Haiwee last year for lmb, I fished hard and caught 1 small fish. I spoke to a lot of other anglers as well who fished there and did not catch many lmb either. I only heard of 1 fisherman who said that he caught multiple fish and he was in the flooded timber using large brown tube baits tight against the trees. I went to the same place and threw the kitchen sink at them and caught 1 little one. I had a client come in today who said that they fished it all day last Sunday and didn't get a single hit, but late in the day a different person showed up and was throwing large white jigs and caught several nice sized smb. I think that he was fishing the south end of the North lake in the boulders. I think this year, I will fish Isabella a lot more as I did a LOT better there last year. Caught (accidentally) a 7lb. lmb and believe that this year will be a very good year there. There seems to be more bait than in years past, and the crawdad population last year was larger than I have ever seen it in years past. Should be a great year!

ds2