Castaic Lagoon, Saturday 8.30.08

[George Cawthorn]

After fishing the upper lake yesterday I decided to make one of my typical very early morning trips up to Castaic Lagoon.

Before I left my house at 3:45 AM I checked the barometer. It was holding steady from the night before at 29.70. I pulled into the upper parking lot at the Lagoon at exactly 4:15 AM and made my way down around the Moonflower in the dark with my lantern.

All the while keeping my radar on for any big cats or rattlesnakes that might be around. Didn't see any snakes this time but I did hear one going off with it's rattle in the bushes as I walked around the south end. It sounded like a small one.

Got down to my favorite spot and nobody was on it. I was the only guy south of the fishing pier and for the most part you could say the entire south end of Castaic Lagoon was mine.

Air temp was a cool 62 and the water was 72. I started off fishing a 4" black with holographic flake senko that I had rigged up on 8 lb. P-Line mono. It was still pretty dark, no moon and I could see the milky way real clear and a whole bunch of shooting stars were zipping overhead in the clear night sky.

Lake was dead calm and glassy.......... I saw some action on the top. A couple of fish had breached the surface making splashes in the dark and leaving swirls on the water that I could clearly see even though it was so dark because the water was so glassy.

Switched over to a baby bass popper that I had rigged up and stuck with that for a while but had no takers.

I'll tell ya I just love being out at the lake at this time. It is so quiet and so peaceful. I especially like the time of day when it seems like every ten minutes or so you are in a different place because the lighting is changing. There is one time when it's clear that the sky begins to shimmer from the corona of the sun, almost looks like it's vibrating. That is my favorite time to be at the waters edge waiting for a big strike. Makes the hair on my arms stand up just thinking about it.

Here's a pic I took of my most favorite place to fish at exactly 6:00 AM. You can see how glassy the water was..... just beautiful to be there and have the whole place to yourself.


For you guys that don't know Castaic, here's a locator with a red dot making the area I was in.


I also like being there to see the water come alive with action at the shoreline. I'm always looking for spots where I see a lot of baitfish in the water and also insects floating on the surface.

As the light began to come up I could see a lot of baby bass schooling around the rocks..... so I guess my kids are not the only ones going back to school.


I got some nibbles and a couple of bites but did not get a hook on two of them. There was beginning to be a lot of activity in and around the rocks and things were waking up. I finally got a decent one on and it made a strong run to my left and sawed me off on the steel cable that holds the buoy markers in place.

Man this was getting a little frustrating..... three bites and three misses.

Finally did get one small one on the light rig DS with a Zoom Tiny Fluke, watermelon. Seems like they've been biting pretty good on that lately.


The air temp was getting up there pretty fast..... my reptile pals were watching and letting me know that they could not believe I missed those other three. Well heck since he saw me take the pic of bass.... I didn't want him to feel left out.


Pretty good camo job that lizard's got going there..... he actually blends in better than me.

Well I managed to get some more bites but I was completely surprised that I also missed on them.

All in all I had eight bites and was only able to land one of them. I was shaken off, sawed off, broken off and just plain missed getting a couple of good hook sets. This was not my usual self but mama said there'd be days like this..... man this was one of them for me.

At around 11 AM I was beginning to feel a little worn out... I had been at it for about seven hours straight by that point.... and when it comes to fishing... sitting down is like not my style. I stay on my feet at all times.

I wanted so bad to catch just one more.... I was giving it my last cast at 11 AM. Dang!! I got another bite and was shaken off by that one too. As a result I fished on till noon without another bite trying desperately to land another one but did not get another bite.

I packed it in at noon. Air temp was up to 94 and water was up to 76. I was pretty much worn out and running low on water. When I split conditions were still glassy calm and it was another bluebird day at Castaic Lagoon.


On my walk back to my car I was thinking over exactly what went down. I only caught one for all those bites I had. Well what I came up with is "that's why they call it fishing and not catching." After all this is a sport and there are no guarantees.

I learned today that I'm not exactly as good at fishing as I think I am sometimes but I did have a whole bunch of of fun learning it the hard way.

I'm looking forward to doing better next time.

Good fishing to you guys, later............... geobass

[brendanc]

Man that is frustrating... Not sure if you keep any with you, but you may want bring some type of scent next trip. I have had days like you described when fish just wouldn't seem to get hooked and stay on. I found that by using scent when this occurs, the bass will take the lure better (regardless of type of lure) and hold on for just a little longer... as a result, you will get a better hook set and this should increase your catch ratio. If you haven't already, give it a try...

Nice Report and great photos (as always).

Brendan