Tackle Express Castaic Fishing Reports

Good Bass and Bluegill fishing continues here with the tried and true finesse Carolina rig catching the most fish. C3 Baits and Senko’s will get consistent grabs. Use lighter line here as the water is clear, 5 pound mono or 6 pound flourocarbon. Bluegill are shallow and can be caught on mini jigs tipped with a meal worm or red worm.

A 3000lb plant of Trout slated for Lake Casitas was re-routed to Castaic for the holiday weekend. This included some bigger fish to four pounds and over. The marina area has been best despite the big crowds. Typical Trout baits and lures are working but the hot setup has been big red worms or baby nightcrawlers on a light line dropshot rig.

We are starting to see mainly smaller fish showing up as the Shad have continued their migration shallow bringing the Stripers with them. Trolling with the fly-coring/Producer Fly technique is getting a few fish early. Big KastMasters and 3″ swimbaits have also been effective on the troll. Look for this bite to improve as we approach the new moon next week.

Striper fishing was slow again this week but we are starting to see the smaller “Schoolie” size fish showing up on our Largemouth baits. The bulk of the Shad have continued their migration shallow bringing the smaller Stripers with them. 

The 5″ Senko and the Carolina rigged finesse plastics continue to be the hot presentations. Between the two we can target fish anywhere from 2′ – 25′ deep. The East-facing drop-offs and ledges are a good place to start as there are fish all throughout the depth range.

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