Castaic Lagoon, First 2010 Five pounder 4/14

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George Cawthorn

Castaic Lagoon, First 2010 Five pounder 4/14

Post by George Cawthorn »

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

Fire Ball

Castaic Lagoon, First 2010 Five pounder 4/14

Post by Fire Ball »

I definitely saw you if you said you think you saw me. I saw a guy in camo and wondered if it was you, since I remembered people saying that you fish in camo, haha. I saw you land that 3 lber. Was that 5 lber very fat? The picture makes it look fairly skinny. I noticed the water visibility was just about cut in half since Saturday when I fished the tourney. I thought it was pretty bad then, but it has gotten so much worse! Anyone know why this is happening? I didn't stay very long, but go check out my report to see how I did.
swimbait101
Posts: 377
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:56 pm

Castaic Lagoon, First 2010 Five pounder 4/14

Post by swimbait101 »

cool report, nice fishees. did u see any fishes swimming near shore?

id chuck a rock at lizard to stun it and grab it. then hook it...if legal of course.... which which it probably isnt.....

what cool to do with lizards is to get fly-fishing flys and dangle them in front of the lizards. they NEVER get hooked for some reason
George Cawthorn

Castaic Lagoon, First 2010 Five pounder 4/14

Post by George Cawthorn »

So that was you guys after all!!! The five pounder was pretty long, I think that may be what makes it look skinny to you. I wish I had measured the length I think it was probably close to 20 inches.

That 3 lber. pulled off a lot of drag too, I was trying to be careful with that one and not let it get down in the rocks. At one point I had taken off the anti reverse and was just letting the fish run our as much line as it wanted.

I tell ya Fire Ball that fiver freaked me out when it ran under the cable and my line was wrapped around the steel. Jeeezzzzzzz that was a nail biter.

Yeah the water clarity was way down today. It was pretty windy there for a few days last week and I think that stirred things up a bit. Also I have noticed that slimy algae stuff building up on the bottom and rocks again. That is inevitable as the water warms up.

I just hope they don't blue stone the lake for Memorial Day. That really freaks the bass out for a week or two.

Your boat looked kind of squarish in the front. Is that a modified V hull or semi cat? I'll bet it is pretty stable platform.
Fire Ball

Castaic Lagoon, First 2010 Five pounder 4/14

Post by Fire Ball »

Originally Posted By: geobassSo that was you guys after all!!! The five pounder was pretty long, I think that may be what makes it look skinny to you. I wish I had measured the length I think it was probably close to 20 inches.

That 3 lber. pulled off a lot of drag too, I was trying to be careful with that one and not let it get down in the rocks. At one point I had taken off the anti reverse and was just letting the fish run our as much line as it wanted.

I tell ya Fire Ball that fiver freaked me out when it ran under the cable and my line was wrapped around the steel. Jeeezzzzzzz that was a nail biter.

Yeah the water clarity was way down today. It was pretty windy there for a few days last week and I think that stirred things up a bit. Also I have noticed that slimy algae stuff building up on the bottom and rocks again. That is inevitable as the water warms up.

I just hope they don't blue stone the lake for Memorial Day. That really freaks the bass out for a week or two.

Your boat looked kind of squarish in the front. Is that a modified V hull or semi cat? I'll bet it is pretty stable platform.
I think the angle makes it look skinny, but now that I looked at it again, I can see that it would have a nice belly if I saw it at a different angle. I can kinda see it bulge out from the side. I hate getting fish out of sticky situations! The fish are fighting really well right now. Especially once they see my tube or boat, then they just take off and just take tons of line off of my reel. I love that sound! We have a tri hull and it is REALLY stable when still, but kinda bumpy if you are going at high speeds with bigger waves. It is especially awesome now that we added a deck and put the trolling motor on it. It was the first time we took it on the Lagoon.
George Cawthorn

Castaic Lagoon, First 2010 Five pounder 4/14

Post by George Cawthorn »

The boat looked cool Fire Ball. You're lucky to be able to spend time fishing with your dad.

There's always some trade off to hull designs. If I was buying one I'd be considering stability since speeding around probably wouldn't mean that much to me.

The bumpy part.... that could be an issue especially on bigger lakes like the upper that have a tendency to get pretty rough later in the day. Especially on the weekends when all the chop from the other boats builds up. And forget about the wake boats.

Great boat for the Lagoon!!!!

This was the first time I my new Nikon camera and I was pleased with the results and how easy it was to use.

Swimbait 101, for a guy my age it's a lot easier for me to catch the plastic lizards.

I don't know if fishing with live lizards is legal or not. But I do know this, once in the water a bass will eat anything that moves if it can fit in its mouth. And sometimes small bass will stike lures that can't fit in their mouths.

I've seen one pounders come in on the trailer hooks of 10" trout swimmers.
Fire Ball

Castaic Lagoon, First 2010 Five pounder 4/14

Post by Fire Ball »

Originally Posted By: geobassThe boat looked cool Fire Ball. You're lucky to be able to spend time fishing with your dad.

There's always some trade off to hull designs. If I was buying one I'd be considering stability since speeding around probably wouldn't mean that much to me.

The bumpy part.... that could be an issue especially on bigger lakes like the upper that have a tendency to get pretty rough later in the day. Especially on the weekends when all the chop from the other boats builds up. And forget about the wake boats.

Great boat for the Lagoon!!!!

This was the first time I my new Nikon camera and I was pleased with the results and how easy it was to use.

Swimbait 101, for a guy my age it's a lot easier for me to catch the plastic lizards.

I don't know if fishing with live lizards is legal or not. But I do know this, once in the water a bass will eat anything that moves if it can fit in its mouth. And sometimes small bass will stike lures that can't fit in their mouths.

I've seen one pounders come in on the trailer hooks of 10" trout swimmers.
Thanks. It is pretty awesome. It works well on the Upper Lake and it only starts to get bumpy when there are lots of whitecaps. With a V hull it cuts though the chop well, but tri hulls don't as much. I really like the stability though when fishing. I can just stand up on the deck and not worry about falling out when someone moves around, lol. I need to fish the plastic lizards that I got a while ago. Should I be using brighter colors now that the water clarity is so poor?
George Cawthorn

Castaic Lagoon, First 2010 Five pounder 4/14

Post by George Cawthorn »

As far as the color goes for the lizards at the Lagoon..... I was using the only one I had with me today. LOL

I would suggest the water mellon for starters, try the smaller sizes. I have had some good bites on those Carolina rigged and fished real slow. Mostly in shallow water not far off shore.

The pumpkin chartreuse was recommended by one of the site participants last year, said they were doing well with this on dropshot so I figured I would give it a go at the Lagoon. I'm still waiting to score with it.

You are right, the pumpkin chartreuse would probably work better in stained conditions or when it's real low light.

That fiver was skinny and tall. She sleeps in the kitchen with her tail out in the hall!
Fire Ball

Castaic Lagoon, First 2010 Five pounder 4/14

Post by Fire Ball »

Originally Posted By: geobassAs far as the color goes for the lizards at the Lagoon..... I was using the only one I had with me today. LOL

I would suggest the water mellon for starters, try the smaller sizes. I have had some good bites on those Carolina rigged and fished real slow. Mostly in shallow water not far off shore.

The pumpkin chartreuse was recommended by one of the site participants last year, said they were doing well with this on dropshot so I figured I would give it a go at the Lagoon. I'm still waiting to score with it.

You are right, the pumpkin chartreuse would probably work better in stained conditions or when it's real low light.

That fiver was skinny and tall. She sleeps in the kitchen with her tail out in the hall!
I have watermelon red flake, which is basically my general color, if I don't know what to chose. Now that the water is so dirty, I'm not sure if it will still work.
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