The California Fishing Show

By Gordon McHenry

I always know when it’s time for more striper catching tips when the questions I get about striper fishing occasionally outnumber the questions on trout fishing. If you have that hard to scratch itch (just ask anglers who have been chasing big stripers for years without success how hard it is!) to take on the mountains biggest game fish the following information will help you get hooked up.

In reservoirs like Silverwood, Diamond Valley or Skinner where stripers can range from 15 to 40 plus pounds, Shimano 6 ½ to an 8 foot medium-heavy to heavy action baitcasting rods and wide-spool reels such as the Shimano 400 series or the Ambassadeur 6500’s spooled up with green 15 to 25 pound Big Game mono work well. Quality gear is a must because stripers can turn cheap tackle into junk in a matter of seconds.

A white bucktail jig is one of the most widely used, and versatile, lures for striper fishing. Some really big stripers are taken every year on these shad imitators by anglers casting, (you can throw a heavy 2 to 3 ounce bucktail a country mile on a big spinning outfit!) jigging or trolling them. You’ll also want to pick up some of the very productive Storm WildEye Swim Shad in a variety of sizes and colors. And don’t forget the big rainbow trout pattern swim baits!

When fishing snaggy areas like around the trees at Silverwood I use a heavy baitcasting rod and one of the above reels spooled with 30 to 40 pound mono or a tough superline like Spiderwire or Fireline. Superlines have almost zero stretch and they are very sensitive so back off a little on your hook sets to keep from ripping loose.

When you can catch them on topwater baits such as the big Zara Spooks, Redfins, or Rapalas in chrome, shad or trout it’s always a blast. Just use different retrieve speeds until you find one that works best and hang on!

Lures such as the Thundersticks, Z-Plugs, Flex Baits and the bigger Rapalas (check out the saltwater models) in chrome/blue, shad or trout patterns work well when the fish go deeper. It’s also a good time to break out the heavy leadcore trolling outfits teamed with the above lures.

So gather your new gear and get out there on our Southern California striper lakes, especially during the storm fronts. It shouldn’t be long before you actually start catching some! Good fishing.

Tiny trout baits

By Gordon McHenry

In recent years many anglers have been foregoing natural bait completely in favor of the little Berkley Power Trout Worms and the new Gulp! Earthworms. They know these tiny fake wigglers are absolutely deadly when fished in several different ways.

Steve Carson, the man to talk to about fishing Irvine Lake, has some hot tips gleaned from countless hours of fishing results at Irvine. Be sure to click on our Urban Fishing Report for more. When you combine his urban fishing tips and my Southern California mountain trout fishing tips, I’m sure you are going to catch more and bigger fish!

The easiest of the fake wiggler rigs is the "split-shot" set up. Simply tie on a #10 to #14 fine wire hook. Then squeeze on a small split shot sinker about 18 inches above the line. The secret to this method is using the lightest possible monofilament or fluorocarbon line possible. Using 4 and even 6 pound test will work if you are using fluoro, but the real trick if you aren't is to drop down to 2-pound test (I like the green) Trilene XL.

The Power Trout Worms and the Gulp! Earthworms have been phenomenal trout producers that can be fished just like a real worm (try adding a Gulp! Egg to the worm---it's a HOT set up!!) under a bobber. Use a regular bobber, and let the bait hang anywhere from 2 to 4 feet under it if the fish are near the surface. A rarely practiced trick is to use a "slip bobber" that allows the worm to be suspended at any depth, even in the deepest water.

Another hot rigging method well-known in the bass fishing world is called "drop-shotting" A hook is tied between 6 and 48 inches up the line and a sinker is added to the bottom or the end of the line, which allows a Gulp! Bait, a Power Worm or a Power Minnow to appear suspended above the bottom.

Mini-jigs, a top trout producer which are aka crappie jigs, can be fished alone or under a bobber. A hot setup is a 2-inch piece of Power Trout Worm or a Gulp! worm in a contrasting color used as a trailer on the mini-jig’s hook. The tiny tubes should also be fished on the lightest possible line.

A hot new trout catching lure, the Berkley Blade Dancer, is a hybrid metal/soft plastic lure that looks a little odd, but it’s very appealing to trou, especially the ones that have seen just about everything else. The 1/16-ounce size in fire tiger, a good pattern for stained or off color water like we often have at Irvine, Silverwood and, occasionally, especially after one of our infamous El Nino events, in many of our other normally gin clear Sothern California lakes, or chartreuse can be used as either a cast-and-retrieve or trolling lure.

Remember, with scentless lures (most all regular crappie jigs don't have sent blended in) one of the best ways to mask human and other scents that spook trout is to use Berkley’s liquid Trout Dip that comes in garlic, yellow corn or red salmon egg flavor or you can use their Power Bait Trout Attractant.

Using these baits and methods at Lake Arrowhead, Lake Gregory, Green Valley and Silverwood (trout to 6 pounds are being caught now at Silverwood!) will definitely improve your trout fishing---and catching. Good fishing.

By Gordon McHenry

I got a call from an angler who wanted to know if you can catch catfish during the winter months here in Southern California. Not only can you catch ‘em, you have to be careful you don’t wind up with busted tackle and sore arms when you get hooked up with a giant, record-size fish this time of the year.

Last year in Febuary, two catfish lake records were broken here in Southern California, a 32.80 pounder at Diamond Valley Lake near Hemet and a 92.1 pounder at Lower Otay Lake in the San Diego area.

Steve Oudomsouk caught the new CA state record blue cat, a 113.4 pounder!!, in mid ’08, out of San Vicente Reservoir in San Diego and the former 101 pound California state record blue cat was caught by Roger Rohrbouck, Alliance, CA, during the winter months--March 12th, 2004, to be exact---also out of San Vicente, which, by the way is closed for several years for repair work, so no huge San V cats for quite a while!!!

From what I recall about Roger’s catch, he was fishing a jig for bass on 10 pound Vanish line when the monster hit. Being able to catch such a huge fish on such a light line is a real testament to his fishing skill and the strength of Berkley’s Vanish line.

Over the past ten years, more than ten giant blue cats over 100 pounds have been caught, all of them holding various state and world records during that time.

The Texas record (and onetime world record) blue catfish weighed 121.8 pounds, measured 5, yes, 5 feet long and was pulled out of Lake Texoma on January 16, 2004 by 27-year-old Cody Mullennix.

Earlier in the day Cody caught a 56-pound blue catfish but released it. Lucky for the 121 pounder, Mullennix is a catch-and-release fan. He kept the hardy fish alive and donated it to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, Texas, where it became a star attraction swimming around in a huge aquarium before it later died.

Tim Pruitt, 33, of Godfrey, Ill., while casting his line in the Mississippi River on Sunday, May 22, 2005, hauled up a 58-inch long, 44-inch around blue catfish that weighed a whopping 124-pounds.To get a sense of just how big that is, the Illinois state record holder was a mere 85 pounds and the world record holder at the time (see above) tipped the scales at 121 pounds, eight ounces.

As far as how big catfish can really get, try visualizing fish that are big enough to eat people! That’s right, anglers in Taiwan caught a true monster (see pix above) that was 9 foot long and weighed an astounding 646 pounds!

Here in the So Cal mountains, all of our lakes---and even Deep Creek---hold cats. From 1 to 2 pound bullheads to the very tasty 5 to 10 pounders that are the perfect eating size, on up to 30 plus pounders, and maybe, just maybe, even bigger than that (I’ve hooked, just hooked, one and I‘ve even seen one even bigger!!) channel cats that you can catch---and enjoy eating!!---year round. Good fishing.