Tackle Express Castaic Fishing Reports

Lots of wind lately as the Fall transition begins. Cooling water temps have the fish scattered anywhere from the shoreline to thirty feet deep. Senko’s, dropshot rigs and Carolina rigs continue to excel with just about any finesse plastic bait getting the job done. There has been a pretty good jig bite along the rocky dropoffs and a few swimbait fish for those putting in the time.

Good to excellent bite on fish averaging two pounds. Fewer dinks in the mix this week. Wacky rigged Senko’s, dropshot rigs and light-line Carolina rigs are all getting bit. The topwater bite is ok with small walking baits, poppers and flukes the best bet. Netting Shad is very inconsistent, they are there one day and then gone for a week or more, but there is a developing algae bloom which could keep them shallow this Fall.

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.