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PYRAMID LAKE FEATURE -- Mike Bennett-ons 11dec02
LAKE PYRAMID -- With a flick of the wrist, the Pop-R went slicing through the early morning haze. The lure landed with a small splash in the distance. I popped the lure once. Blurp!
No other cast in a fisherman's day holds as much power and mystique as the first cast. All the planning, all the money, all the hopes come together as the line arcs out over the water. Will today be the day that sparks tales of giant fish and gallant battles to be relived by campfires for years to come? Will today be the day that future bites are compared to, but never equal?
While I was deep in thought pondering these ideas, a striper decided that my Pop-R would look better at the bottom of its gut than jittering across the surface of the water. As I set back on the rod, the 14-inch Lake Pyramid striper went ballistic. A fish on the first cast. Was a sign of the day to come?
Quickly scoring fish on my second, third, fourth and fifth casts, what had started as a cast into uncertain waters, turned into a solid, red-hot striper bite on fish from a 1/2-pound to about a pound each in matter of seconds. Who knows how long the streak would have lasted if I didn't build a bird's nest fit for a pelican atop my baitcasting reel.
My fishing partner Shawn Kittrell of Chino scored four quick fish in as many casts on a shad-colored Slug-Go. We were in a thick school of small fish, hitting them every cast with top water plugs and swim baits. But then the greener-pasture syndrome set in. We were looking for some bigger fish, so we decided to leave the little guys biting like mad and head toward the dam in deeper water to check things out.
As we launched that morning, the Sheriff that checked us for a valid driver's license said the bigger fish were in deeper water. We had been in 90 feet of water and catching dinks. How much deeper could these fish prefer? As we motored toward the dam I noticed the lack of fisherman and boats. There were a few bass boats working the steep walls of the lake for largemouth bass, but where were are all the striper fisherman? As we came up to the dam and rounded the island, that question was quickly answered for us.
We quietly pulled up on about a 11 boats, tightly packed together drifting in 256 feet of water. Who would have thought a bass boat could float on water that deep. Coming from largemouth bass fishing, 50 feet was pretty deep; 256 feet deep that was just mind-boggling. As we were still assessing whether to fill out the fisherman 12-pack, we noticed almost all the boats were hooked up on nicer fish. So we slid right in, I mean we couldn't let a 12-pack be one short now could we?
Quickly, a whole frozen anchovy was flung over the side with a size BB split shot two feet up the six-pound line. As the bait drifted down about 30 feet, a fish picked it up and ran with it. I set the hook on a quality three-pound striper that pulled harder and longer than I expected. These fish are not like largemouth once you have them next to the boat. They don't just open their mouths waiting to be plucked from the water. They streak around, never sitting still, making them hard to get even with a net. After getting a nice picture of the fish we let it go.
We never moved from this spot of fish all day as the stripers readily ate all the drifted anchovies we offered them. This was more like it. A wide-open bite on 14-inch fish is great. But a wide-open bite on three-pounders, that makes the hour drive to the lake worth it.
There were a lot two- to three-pound fish with enough quality fish pushing six to eight pounds mixed in with them to make it very interesting. Boats that were anchored in the deep water could drop a bait straight down with a one eighth-ounce sliding weight and put it at any exact depth they wanted. While drifting an anchovy, smaller fish would sometimes attack it before you could get it down to an appropriate depth.
The key for targeting the nicer grade of fish was to get your anchovy about 30 feet down. Any shallower and you were in the 12- to 14-inch fish. The stripers had tons of shad balled up in about in about 15 to 20 feet of water. The small stripers were keeping the shad corralled and the bigger fish were hanging about 10 feet below them picking off injured baits so they wouldn't have to fight the speed of the smaller fish that were beating them to lunch.
Drift your anchovy too shallow and you quickly stuck a small fish that eagerly smashed your bait. Drift it just deep enough (30 to 35 feet on this day) and you had a shot at a real nice fish. Drift it too deep and you were wasting your time.
One tip that we found out the hard way was to keep the anchovies as frozen as possible and to make sure the ones you get are fresh and shiny. Our bait became soft and dull and did not produce half as well as people with fresh frozen bait.
Last cast time. It's difficult to quit a good day. You want just one more. Can you stop on a cast that doesn't produce a fish, but should've anyway? So about 24 casts after "My final and last cast no matter what," we called it a day.
The final tally for the day was two burnt-out anglers catching and releasing 45 stripers to 5 1/2 pounds.
This epic striper bite at Pyramid Lake started in the beginning of August and has gone strong ever since. The only reason anglers didn't catch fish for a while was because the lake was shut down while the Angeles National Forest was closed due to fire danger.
Every day since the reopening of the lake the fishing has been wide open again.
"On weekends we are running out of boats and frozen anchovies. By the end of the day, the walls of the bait shack look as barren as a Death Valley flower garden in September," said Lynn Macaluso, who works at the marina. Supplies at the lake are restocked every day. But if you get a late jump getting to the lake it would be wise to stop and pick up bait on the way.
Now that trout plants have begun this adds another weapon to your arsenal: Big trout swim baits. Stripers are smart and will catch on to a stocking schedule very quickly. They will be lying in wait just like eager trout fisherman lining the shoreline when they see the truck pull up.
One of the most magnificent things one can see is about 50 stripers in the 10- to 20-pound class going raging through the frothy water where the trout are gushing out of the truck. It looks like a school of bluefin tuna tearing through a sardine bait ball. It will truly take your breath away.
But don't get caught staring to long. Throw the trout plugs on boils and hold on. Or slow troll big trout plugs around the marina (or wherever the stocking occurs) on the day of, or the day after a trout plant, and you have a much better shot at nailing a wall-hanger.
The greatest tip for fishing big trout baits is this, if a striper hits your trout plug and misses it do not wind it in fast to recast, or stop the bait to cuss about missing one. Keep the bait swimming at its original speed like nothing happened. A lot of times a striper will roll on a trout and use its powerful tail to smack it, causing the fish to become disoriented and slowing it down. If your trout keeps swimming like nothing happened it really makes them mad, and they will charge at your bait with their mouth wide open.
This is definitely a boat only bite, so if you don't have one Lake Pyramid has a full line of gas-powered rental boats for your use. These boats cost $55 for all day, with an additional $30 security deposit required.
Don't forget you need to have a California Striper Stamp on your license if you plan to have any stripers in your possession. This $3.70 stamp will save a lot of headaches and money if the Department of Fish and Game happens to check you and your catch.
Remember the limits on stripers at Pyramid are 10 per person with the stamp. So when you are done you can have a giant fish fry, and see why stripers are almost better eating than catching. For more information on park hours and fishing hotspots, call the Lake Pyramid Marina at (661) 295-1245.
LAKE PYRAMID -- With a flick of the wrist, the Pop-R went slicing through the early morning haze. The lure landed with a small splash in the distance. I popped the lure once. Blurp!
No other cast in a fisherman's day holds as much power and mystique as the first cast. All the planning, all the money, all the hopes come together as the line arcs out over the water. Will today be the day that sparks tales of giant fish and gallant battles to be relived by campfires for years to come? Will today be the day that future bites are compared to, but never equal?
While I was deep in thought pondering these ideas, a striper decided that my Pop-R would look better at the bottom of its gut than jittering across the surface of the water. As I set back on the rod, the 14-inch Lake Pyramid striper went ballistic. A fish on the first cast. Was a sign of the day to come?
Quickly scoring fish on my second, third, fourth and fifth casts, what had started as a cast into uncertain waters, turned into a solid, red-hot striper bite on fish from a 1/2-pound to about a pound each in matter of seconds. Who knows how long the streak would have lasted if I didn't build a bird's nest fit for a pelican atop my baitcasting reel.
My fishing partner Shawn Kittrell of Chino scored four quick fish in as many casts on a shad-colored Slug-Go. We were in a thick school of small fish, hitting them every cast with top water plugs and swim baits. But then the greener-pasture syndrome set in. We were looking for some bigger fish, so we decided to leave the little guys biting like mad and head toward the dam in deeper water to check things out.
As we launched that morning, the Sheriff that checked us for a valid driver's license said the bigger fish were in deeper water. We had been in 90 feet of water and catching dinks. How much deeper could these fish prefer? As we motored toward the dam I noticed the lack of fisherman and boats. There were a few bass boats working the steep walls of the lake for largemouth bass, but where were are all the striper fisherman? As we came up to the dam and rounded the island, that question was quickly answered for us.
We quietly pulled up on about a 11 boats, tightly packed together drifting in 256 feet of water. Who would have thought a bass boat could float on water that deep. Coming from largemouth bass fishing, 50 feet was pretty deep; 256 feet deep that was just mind-boggling. As we were still assessing whether to fill out the fisherman 12-pack, we noticed almost all the boats were hooked up on nicer fish. So we slid right in, I mean we couldn't let a 12-pack be one short now could we?
Quickly, a whole frozen anchovy was flung over the side with a size BB split shot two feet up the six-pound line. As the bait drifted down about 30 feet, a fish picked it up and ran with it. I set the hook on a quality three-pound striper that pulled harder and longer than I expected. These fish are not like largemouth once you have them next to the boat. They don't just open their mouths waiting to be plucked from the water. They streak around, never sitting still, making them hard to get even with a net. After getting a nice picture of the fish we let it go.
We never moved from this spot of fish all day as the stripers readily ate all the drifted anchovies we offered them. This was more like it. A wide-open bite on 14-inch fish is great. But a wide-open bite on three-pounders, that makes the hour drive to the lake worth it.
There were a lot two- to three-pound fish with enough quality fish pushing six to eight pounds mixed in with them to make it very interesting. Boats that were anchored in the deep water could drop a bait straight down with a one eighth-ounce sliding weight and put it at any exact depth they wanted. While drifting an anchovy, smaller fish would sometimes attack it before you could get it down to an appropriate depth.
The key for targeting the nicer grade of fish was to get your anchovy about 30 feet down. Any shallower and you were in the 12- to 14-inch fish. The stripers had tons of shad balled up in about in about 15 to 20 feet of water. The small stripers were keeping the shad corralled and the bigger fish were hanging about 10 feet below them picking off injured baits so they wouldn't have to fight the speed of the smaller fish that were beating them to lunch.
Drift your anchovy too shallow and you quickly stuck a small fish that eagerly smashed your bait. Drift it just deep enough (30 to 35 feet on this day) and you had a shot at a real nice fish. Drift it too deep and you were wasting your time.
One tip that we found out the hard way was to keep the anchovies as frozen as possible and to make sure the ones you get are fresh and shiny. Our bait became soft and dull and did not produce half as well as people with fresh frozen bait.
Last cast time. It's difficult to quit a good day. You want just one more. Can you stop on a cast that doesn't produce a fish, but should've anyway? So about 24 casts after "My final and last cast no matter what," we called it a day.
The final tally for the day was two burnt-out anglers catching and releasing 45 stripers to 5 1/2 pounds.
This epic striper bite at Pyramid Lake started in the beginning of August and has gone strong ever since. The only reason anglers didn't catch fish for a while was because the lake was shut down while the Angeles National Forest was closed due to fire danger.
Every day since the reopening of the lake the fishing has been wide open again.
"On weekends we are running out of boats and frozen anchovies. By the end of the day, the walls of the bait shack look as barren as a Death Valley flower garden in September," said Lynn Macaluso, who works at the marina. Supplies at the lake are restocked every day. But if you get a late jump getting to the lake it would be wise to stop and pick up bait on the way.
Now that trout plants have begun this adds another weapon to your arsenal: Big trout swim baits. Stripers are smart and will catch on to a stocking schedule very quickly. They will be lying in wait just like eager trout fisherman lining the shoreline when they see the truck pull up.
One of the most magnificent things one can see is about 50 stripers in the 10- to 20-pound class going raging through the frothy water where the trout are gushing out of the truck. It looks like a school of bluefin tuna tearing through a sardine bait ball. It will truly take your breath away.
But don't get caught staring to long. Throw the trout plugs on boils and hold on. Or slow troll big trout plugs around the marina (or wherever the stocking occurs) on the day of, or the day after a trout plant, and you have a much better shot at nailing a wall-hanger.
The greatest tip for fishing big trout baits is this, if a striper hits your trout plug and misses it do not wind it in fast to recast, or stop the bait to cuss about missing one. Keep the bait swimming at its original speed like nothing happened. A lot of times a striper will roll on a trout and use its powerful tail to smack it, causing the fish to become disoriented and slowing it down. If your trout keeps swimming like nothing happened it really makes them mad, and they will charge at your bait with their mouth wide open.
This is definitely a boat only bite, so if you don't have one Lake Pyramid has a full line of gas-powered rental boats for your use. These boats cost $55 for all day, with an additional $30 security deposit required.
Don't forget you need to have a California Striper Stamp on your license if you plan to have any stripers in your possession. This $3.70 stamp will save a lot of headaches and money if the Department of Fish and Game happens to check you and your catch.
Remember the limits on stripers at Pyramid are 10 per person with the stamp. So when you are done you can have a giant fish fry, and see why stripers are almost better eating than catching. For more information on park hours and fishing hotspots, call the Lake Pyramid Marina at (661) 295-1245.
