Tackle Express Castaic Fishing Reports

Castaic Lake Fishing Report – 04/04/2020   This report was made possible by Jim Taibi's 661Fishing.com Guide Service.  Visit his website here and catch more fish.   Largemouth, Smallmouth Bass: The Senko bite is improving daily as more fish move shallow from their main-lake winter sanctuaries. There are quite a few Smallmouth leading the charge as they spawn in slightly cooler water than their Largemouth cousins. Fishing the shallow drop-offs 5-10′ from the bank has been productive as this presentation “pulls” fish from the shallow and deep side of the bank. We have been targeting the East-facing rocky points and cuts as they are in the sun the longest and are the first to warm up. 5″ Green Pumpkin/Black Flake Senkos have been our mainstay color, fished weightless on a Gamakatsu finesse wide gap wacky hook. There is also a good dropshot bite in 15-25′ of water as the bigger Largemouth continue to migrate shallow. We are rigging our dropshots with C3 Baits Ice Picks in the Neptune Shad and Captain’s Magic colors. The afternoons have been more productive as the water is at its warmest and the fish are more active and likely to be shallower. Striped Bass: The Stripers have been hard to find as they are foraging on the huge blooms of freshwater shrimp in the main lake. Targeting the Stripers with the fly-coring/Producer Fly technique will be our main presentation as soon as we start trolling for them in the coming days. May is typically the start to our Striper season and we are expecting a great early summer thru fall bite. Castaic Afterbay: The Bass are moving shallow and the bite is getting better on a daily basis. A lot of fishing pressure here lately as most of the locals are choosing this small park lake over the chaos at the upper lake. Still mainly a finesse plastics bite although there has been a few big fish caught on swimbaits lately. Castaic Lake Conditions: Water Temp Surface: 56° – 60° Water Temp at 25′: 50° Water Clarity: 15′ – 20′ visibility. Clear Water Level: 20’ down  Jim – 661 Fishing

  Castaic Lake Fishing Report – 03/14/2020 This report was made possible by Jim Taibi's 661Fishing.com Guide Service.  Visit his website here and catch more fish.   Largemouth Bass: Better days ahead. Not much angling pressure at the lake this week. Heavy rain and wind kept boats off the water most days.  Striped Bass: Heavy rain and wind kept boats off the water most days.  Castaic Afterbay: No report. Castaic Lake Conditions: Water Temp Surface: 55°  Water Temp at 30′: 50° Water Clarity: 15′ visibility. Clear Water Level: 30’ down 

Ned rigs are also producing some nice fish lately although the numbers aren’t quite up to par with the splitshot and dropshot rigs. The water cleared up nicely from last weekend’s rain however there is quite a bit of rain forecasted for next week which will likely change things again.

Trolling in 25′ to 40′ of water utilizing the Fly-coring technique and Producer flies has been our mainstay presentation. Most of the school-sized fish remain in deeper water and are hard to target. The bite has been better on overcast days during small windows of activity.

Other catches were made as deep as 35′ as the fish are spread out thru the water column. Dropshots with Roboworms and reapers in oxblood/red flake and Cinnamon colors dominated the deeper bite. The big fish of the tournament at over 8 pounds was caught on a crankbait that was snagged then popped free. The surface water temp is 55 degrees with very good clarity and visibility. The jig bite is still developing as water temps continue to decline.