Castaic Lagoon, First 2010 Five pounder 4/14
Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:36 am
Got a chance to do some fishing at the Lagoon today.
Arrived at about 6:15 AM and the attendant was just opening gate to lower lot.
Air temp was 44, water 60, barometer 30.98 and falling.
It was very calm and glassy.
Started out with the Ika and Senko. Butch Brown showed up in the hood.
That's always a good sign. As he passed by my spot he waved and said he didn't see me because of the camo.
Switched over to a dropshot 4" Roboworm sculpin, oxblood and got lit up with a five pounder.
This one put up a pretty good fight and almost gave me a heart attack when it swam far over to my left and ran under the steel cable of the buoy line. I had cast off to my left when I hooked up with this puppy and the thought did cross my mind...... dang what am I going to do it it runs under the cable.
Well it did just that and as I pulled my line in the cable got wedged between the head of the fish and the line. Man I'll tell ya I was really in a fix now. After a while of realizing that unless the fish undid itself from the cable there was no way I was going to be able to land it. Ahhh unless I waded into six feet of water over the slimy and unstable rocks.
Shoot there was no way I was gonna do that so I figured the only way was to let the fish have all the slack line it need to wiggle around and get free. I let off the anti reverse and let a bunch of line out praying the fish would free itself and not get off the hook in the process.
Lucky me it did by golly and I landed my first five pounder of 2010.
Fished on with different rigs hoping for a repeat of the fiver but it didn't happen.
I spent some time with this small swimmer. One of the lures I got in my prize package for the Bassmasters Classic contest. Looked and swam pretty good on the Falcon jerk hook. Berkley PowerBait Swim Bait Hollow Belly.
Saw a guy in a nice pond boat fly fishing. Well I have seen it before at the Lagoon but it is not the usual.
Saw this pretty big lizard on a rock.
Yeah baby talk to me mother nature. Rig up a lizard was the message. I did that in short order. Put together this pumpkin chartreuse lizard on a Carolina rig Tiffany style with a Salamander sinker.
If you look closely you can see the lizard sitting on the rock just above my hand.
Let this rig fly for a while hoping to set off some smoke alarms in a bed when this number slithered through.
My time was running out cause I had to pick up my kids from school. Decided to spend my last ten minutes with the dropshot again and rigged up a 4" Bonzai cinnamon neon core worm and scored another one just before I left.
This one also put up a strong fight, just a tad over 3 lbs. on the scale.
A little side note on the set ups: both fish were taken on 6 lb. P-Line Halo, mojo sinkers and #8 Owner Mosquito hooks.
Well that was it for me today, my first five of the year and biggest to date plus a three to finish it off. It was a good day for me and the weather was very pleasant.
I also had one other strike on the Bonzai but it got off early on due to me not getting a good hook set on the fish quickly and hard enough.
The water level in the Lagoon is still very high. A lot of water is still being let in from the upper lake. There was a distinct greenish tinge to the water today and it was nowhere near as clear as it had been earlier in the spring.
When I split at 2:30 air temp was 69, water was still 60 and a slight breeze was beginning to pick up from the NW.
I will most likely be back for another session one day next week. I did see two guys in a blue boat down by the buoy line. One of them looked like he might be Fire Ball but I couldn't tell for sure.
Another good thing..... with the braces my ankles were not bothering me at all today. I hope they will be able to hold up this year.
Good fishing to you guys........ later
Arrived at about 6:15 AM and the attendant was just opening gate to lower lot.
Air temp was 44, water 60, barometer 30.98 and falling.
It was very calm and glassy.
Started out with the Ika and Senko. Butch Brown showed up in the hood.
That's always a good sign. As he passed by my spot he waved and said he didn't see me because of the camo.
Switched over to a dropshot 4" Roboworm sculpin, oxblood and got lit up with a five pounder.
This one put up a pretty good fight and almost gave me a heart attack when it swam far over to my left and ran under the steel cable of the buoy line. I had cast off to my left when I hooked up with this puppy and the thought did cross my mind...... dang what am I going to do it it runs under the cable.
Well it did just that and as I pulled my line in the cable got wedged between the head of the fish and the line. Man I'll tell ya I was really in a fix now. After a while of realizing that unless the fish undid itself from the cable there was no way I was going to be able to land it. Ahhh unless I waded into six feet of water over the slimy and unstable rocks.
Shoot there was no way I was gonna do that so I figured the only way was to let the fish have all the slack line it need to wiggle around and get free. I let off the anti reverse and let a bunch of line out praying the fish would free itself and not get off the hook in the process.
Lucky me it did by golly and I landed my first five pounder of 2010.
Fished on with different rigs hoping for a repeat of the fiver but it didn't happen.
I spent some time with this small swimmer. One of the lures I got in my prize package for the Bassmasters Classic contest. Looked and swam pretty good on the Falcon jerk hook. Berkley PowerBait Swim Bait Hollow Belly.
Saw a guy in a nice pond boat fly fishing. Well I have seen it before at the Lagoon but it is not the usual.
Saw this pretty big lizard on a rock.
Yeah baby talk to me mother nature. Rig up a lizard was the message. I did that in short order. Put together this pumpkin chartreuse lizard on a Carolina rig Tiffany style with a Salamander sinker.
If you look closely you can see the lizard sitting on the rock just above my hand.
Let this rig fly for a while hoping to set off some smoke alarms in a bed when this number slithered through.
My time was running out cause I had to pick up my kids from school. Decided to spend my last ten minutes with the dropshot again and rigged up a 4" Bonzai cinnamon neon core worm and scored another one just before I left.
This one also put up a strong fight, just a tad over 3 lbs. on the scale.
A little side note on the set ups: both fish were taken on 6 lb. P-Line Halo, mojo sinkers and #8 Owner Mosquito hooks.
Well that was it for me today, my first five of the year and biggest to date plus a three to finish it off. It was a good day for me and the weather was very pleasant.
I also had one other strike on the Bonzai but it got off early on due to me not getting a good hook set on the fish quickly and hard enough.
The water level in the Lagoon is still very high. A lot of water is still being let in from the upper lake. There was a distinct greenish tinge to the water today and it was nowhere near as clear as it had been earlier in the spring.
When I split at 2:30 air temp was 69, water was still 60 and a slight breeze was beginning to pick up from the NW.
I will most likely be back for another session one day next week. I did see two guys in a blue boat down by the buoy line. One of them looked like he might be Fire Ball but I couldn't tell for sure.
Another good thing..... with the braces my ankles were not bothering me at all today. I hope they will be able to hold up this year.
Good fishing to you guys........ later