Tackle Express Castaic Fishing Reports

Swimbait fish are showing after a mid-week Trout plant with fish from five to twenty pounds being landed by patient anglers. 8″ Huddleston swimbaits and Glide baits like the Baitsanity Antidote and River 2 Sea S-Waiver are getting attention. Smaller Stripers are still hitting trolled Alabama rigs and Yak Flies on lead core line. Most of the action is within view of the marina.

The overall bite slowed considerably this week with most of the fish concentrated in a small area of the ski arm and getting hammered with every presentation possible. Small Stripers and Largemouth Bass returned to chasing baitfish on the surface and can be caught on umbrella rigs, small swimbaits and Kastmasters.

C3 Baits Shimmy’s in the Neptune Shad color pattern fished on the 6lb. Carolina Rig continue their dominance. This is a hard presentation to beat, as the Bass tend to slow their activity level once the sun gets up. The outer weed edge in 20 to 25 feet of water along the Eastern shore continues to hold quality Bass to seven pounds, along with South end along the rocks. 

With the lake continuing it’s drawdown to 150 feet, we’re at the old drought line around 120′ which means the sticks and bushes are high and dry. While this is good news for our terminal tackle it also means we are seeing the lake at a level not witnessed since it was filling up in the early 70’s. The once rocky, clean shoreline has given way to 50 years of mud and silt buildup.

Striper fishing remains solid with Yak flies and Shad flies employed with the fly-coring technique, as well as umbrella rigs and small swimbaits trolled slowly in the twenty to fifty foot depth zone. The points in the Fish Arm, Center Point, and the area around the island in the Ski Arm are all holding fish of all sizes. Huge schools of 10″ Stripers are just about everywhere on the lake smashing the small baitfish, but very few of the bigger models are showing up on the surface as the Shad remain deep with the falling water.

Great Bass fishing on tap for both numbers and size despite high fishing pressure and falling water levels. The fish are holding on rocky points and bluffs closest to the main lake and the bite seems to get stronger when the wind is blowing into these areas. 5″ wacky-rigged Senkos in green pumpkin hues and dropshot rigs are hard to beat.