Mike Vradenburg

Anglers experienced another good week of fishing with calm cool mornings and strong winds hitting hard midday.

Most anglers had a good week of half day fishing with many smaller fish being caught and a limited amount of larger fish being taken.

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Lots of fish are coming into the local sporting good stores to be weighed. Bass, catfish, crappie, and trout were biting good in the early morning and evening hours.

Crappie are continuing to be caught around the submerged trees, rocky shorelines, and in the coves. Fishermen are catching numbers of smaller crappie in the ½ lb. to ¾ lb. range.

Larger crappie are being caught in the same areas in deeper water. Most crappie fishermen are anchoring to the exposed submerged trees, and fishing straight down with jigs and minnows. Baits working the best are jigs (yellow/white,red/white), meal worms, minnows, and p lastic minnows.

Jig or grub fishing is one of the most challenging ways to catch crappie. In a boat the technique to jig fishing is to let the jig slowly sink to the bottom keeping your line free of slack.

Then pull the fishing pole in a slow short upward movement pulling the line and jig, then lower the pole keeping the line free of slack, it is during the down movement that the crappie normally hit the jig. Continue the technique upward until the crappie school is located.

Once the school is found, concentrate the jigging motion at that depth, when a hit is felt a slight upward pull of the fishing pole should set the hook. Another effective way to catch crappie is to troll 6 to 10 feet down using a plastic minnow simulating bait fish or a game fish.

Catfish are biting real good on hotdogs, shad, clams, minnows, liver, and nightcrawlers. The best places to fish are in the coves, off the dams, and points around the lake. Catfish are biting throughout the day in deep water, and around the submerged trees.

Trout fishing is still going strong with good size trout being caught in the river, around the lake, and in the flume. The best places to fish are at the north end of the lake, along the dams, Piney Point to Red’s Marina, and in the flume.

Baits producing the most action are floating baits, salmon eggs, and nightcrawlers. Floating bait is a very productive way to fish for trout along the shore or in the coves.

Powerbait or a nightcrawler with air in it floating 18 to 24 inches off the bottom works the best.

Bass fishermen report the fishing is real good. In the cool early morning hours, bass fishermen can be seen working the hotspots.

Bass anglers are catching fish along the rocky shorelines, points, islands, and drop-offs. Artificial bait is the preferred way to fish for most bass anglers. This time of the year rubber worms, rubber grubs, and swim bait/rubber fish are the preferred artificials to use when fishing for bass.

The most productive colors to use are red, brown, motor oil green, and salt/pepper. Steve Davies caught a number of good size bass this week with the largest weighing 13 pounds with a red rubber worm off a rock outcropping in the morning hours.

Bass fishermen fish with rubber artificials in the same manner as a jig/grub would be fished.

By casting the rubber artificial towards shore and slowly reeling it in as it works its way along the bottom structure moving up and then down as it is retrieved.

The bass usually strike on the down movement as the jig/grub, swimbait/fish, or worm is retrieved. Rubber artificials work best from spring to fall.

Jason Reins from Lake Isabella Supermarket had a number of good size fish brought in to the store to be weighed. Randy Howard caught a 6lb. 3oz. catfish, Jackie Pierce 5lb. 8oz. catfish, Ed Stafford 5lb. catfish, and Stephen Connelly 8lb. bass. Erin Vradenburg caught several crappie with the largest weighing two pounds.