Just talked to my friend Larry Kurosaki, via cell phone, after hearing the news from Eric of the Artful Angler and he has a 16 lb Largemouth Bass (28") in his live well! He caught this monster a short while ago on 6 lb tippet. The fish was caught in [FONT=Verdana]Castaic Lagoon[/FONT], California. While this still all has to be officially verified, it seems he has a new world record! Larry is a fly fishing guide specializing in Largemouth. You may have seen Larry in the new film Bass: The Movie.
I will post more details when I can. I am traveling right now, I’m in San Diego. You guys are right, the big bass in California do love those planted rainbows! That’s one of the reasons the biggest bass in the world come from California lakes. And, the fly fishers here often out catch other anglers.
Many, many years ago when I worked for the San Diego Police department I worked an area that included one of the San Diego city lakes, Lake Miramar.
This lake was only open to fishing three days a week back then (don’t know about now)…Tuesday, Sat & Sun…So, they stocked the trout on Thursdays…
I had keys to the gates, so if I had the time I’d drop by to watch the stocking…
They’d back the stock truck down the boat ramp and just lift the fish out with a big net and dump them into the water…occassionally they’d use a truck that ‘dumped’ the fish…
This lake had really clear water…you could see the bottom in twenty feet easily…
As soon as that truck started down that ramp, you could see the bass coming. By the time the first trout hit the water, there were bass everywhere…many of trout never made it to the lake, they were caught in midair by the bass.
Big bass…15 pound plus fish in abundance…hundreds of fish over ten pounds…all gorging on trout. Amazing feeding frenzy. Incredible to see.
I’d estimate that only about half of those trout made it away from the ramp…
Guy named Zimmerlee caught a 20-15 out of this lake back then.
I was actually still there when the ‘big trout plug’ revolution began…
The ‘first’ guys to do this were a couple of saltwater captains that fished out of San Diego bay…this was back in the 70s…they took large Rapala minnows, I’m talking foot long things, and cut the heads off…made rubber bodies that looked sort of like a trout and glued them on, they trolled them with lead core line or downriggers for bass on some of the San Diego city lakes…I saw one of these guys bring in a five bass limit that went 70 pounds one day from San Vicente Lake back in the 70s.
The ‘Castaic’ trout was made in a similar manner, they caught a stocker trout and used it to make mold…the first ones I saw had a wooden head with a diving lip…things were 12 inches long and weighed 8 ounces…they cast them with surf gear…lots of guys tried to use flipping sticks to throw these…broke a lot of flipping sticks…
The ‘AC’ plug was designed by taking a shovel handle and turning it to shape on a lathe…it was jointed and they cut a split in the back portion and inserted a rubber ‘shrimp tail’ to add action…first one of these I saw was about 15 inches long…the face was just cut on an angle so it would dive a bit…
No question they are effective big bass lures. What I found interesting was that even the wooden AC plug, which really didn’t look much like a trout, was just as effective as the ‘life like’ imitations.
Now, they have custom swim bait makers that are turing out 6 to 20 inch long ‘trout’ and full ‘life sized’ bluegills, crappie, and shad…and they are catching lots of big fish with them…and you can buy realistic rubber trout at most bass tackle shops up to around 12 inches long…
[FONT=Verdana]I just wanted to note that I originally posted that the Bass was caught in Lake Casitas but it was caught in Castaic Lagoon which is below the dam at Castaic Lake California. I have corrected the original post. Castaic is not that far from Casitas and is also known for very large Bass. The name is one that I’ve confused before, sorry. :oops:
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I used to do that too when I lived on the Mesa…but now I have to ask…is Casitas
open to fishing? If I’m remembering correctly it wasn’t when I was there…or…am I so confused I’m thinking of Juncal (sp)… I do remember sneaking into one of those…
Casitas is open to fishing but, the Quagga mussel has made it difficult to use boats. They require inspections every time you re-enter the lake unless your boat is still sealed to the trailer with a special seal. This means there are a lot less bass boats and on the lake and the tournaments have all but stopped. The rental boats are still available. I don’t think float tubes are permitted anymore.
Juncal is a local Santa Barbara reservoir and is closed.
BTW: did you see I posted pictures in the beginning post?
I know and i still haven’t been that far south…
the road is calling me though so you never know.
Sure is good to hear from someone that knows
what I’m talking about when I mention Juncal
and the like. Yes, I see the pictures now…just today in fact.
That bass should define a new species…call 'em bucket gut !
Is the S Y worth fishing up above the boy’s camp anymore?
I used to get some good size smallies up there.
Ok, talk with you soon Joe !
I love it!! Big monster bass that eat dainty little midge sipping rainbows…being from the midwest I never understood running across state lines to fish pretty little browns and stocker bows when better SM and LM bass fishing is a pond, river or lake away.
Montana, the Santa Ynez still has smallmouth but a 12" is good sized. In the winter they stock trout but they don’t last long and, unfortunately a lot of smallmouth get taken along with them. The river gets hit pretty hard by people that keep everything they catch and, this being California,
You need to get down this way and I’ll show you where to find some fish
An interesting note for those that mention the hatchery trout as “feed” for the bass here in California. Yesterday, I went to Castaic lagoon to check out the bass fishing. It was gloomy, windy and the bass were not cooperating so I decided to head back to the ramp. When I got there I saw a fish come up. I cast out a leech pattern and caught a stocker rainbow. I made about 10 more casts, caught several more and was bumped on almost every cast. I notice a boat not far away and it’s fisherman were casting “Castaic Bait” plugs. These are realistic replicas of hatchery trout that are very effective in catching large bass. The size and color of the the fish I caught looked just like their lures. They were casting amonst the many surfacing trout in hopes of finding a feeding bass. I asked them, “where did all these trout come from?” They said the stocking truck just pulled away not more than 10 minutes before I pulled up to the ramp area. I quit fishing. Once again this proves that hatchery triout do not need any time to acclimate or recover after being planted. I have observed on many ocasions “fisherman” following the hatchery truck and catching fish even before the truck left the area. I don’t understand the thrill in this kind of “fishing.” :rolleyes:
Ok, well the pressure would keep the
size of the smallies down I would imagine.
It’s been a while since I was up there but I did
get some over 12" a few times…a lot over a few
times. When I started fishing that drainage I hardly
ever saw anyone up there accept day hikers. Now
I imagine it is a regular zoo on weekends.
Yes I do need to head down there Joe, yer right about that.
Would be a real blast from the past for sure. Will let you
know for sure if’n I do…meantime, happy fly fishing !
Oh and don’t forget about your Shasta trip !
