Bass fishing in California

[Dylan33]

So, I recently got a new job which will have me traveling to southern California a handful of times per year. If anyone has ever bass fished in SoCal, could you please let me know any good guides/lakes etc that I could look into? Thanks

[TR21HP]

Only been out there once four years ago and I hooked up with Troy Folkestad and fished Castaic. Unbelievable country and pretty good fishing, threw large swimbaits all day and caught quite a few 6 plus pound fish. There are a ton of lakes around there. I'd look up western bass fishing - that's how I got Troy's name.

[delcecchi]

You might find the article in new in-fisherman interesting. I don't know if that lake is open to public, or if anyone guides it.

[RebelSS]

My cuz lives in Pismo beach, Ca., and bass fishes with his buddy on the circuit. He said some good lakes in central/southern are Castaic (#1 for bass) Big Bear, Pyramid, Hodges, Silverwood, and Lower Otay, to name a few that he hits.

[bobbymalone]

I spent some time in southern california for work, no bass fishing, sorry... I will say, if you're down there for a bit you should hit up one of the many piers sticking out into the Pacific and give it a try.

You should be able to find a place to rent you some equipment for the afternoon if you wanna go big, but I caught tons of strange fish with a medium heavy spinning outfit and 10lb line.

[ozzie]

screw the bass fishing I would look for the crappies in the upcoming months...was it Al Linder that did a show on crappies out there after they were looking for bass and found the crappies. that is one of my favorite shows as the fish were big!!!

[mrklean]

There is awesome bass fishing in California, its not in downtown LA you have to get out of the city head toward San Diego or out toward the mountains. The good thing about cali is the weather stays warmer all year so they have a longer growing season and many of those lakes are stocked with trout and the bass feed on trout all year. Up north where i work the guys hit the deltas a lot not sure how good the fishing is but that seems to be the popular area. Dixon lake down by San Diego was the lake where Dotty the bass, would have been the world record bass was caught

[TR21HP]

You don't consider 10-15 lb. bass big? There's a few guides that specialize in catching 18-20 lb. bass on Castaic and another lake that I can't remember the name of. Hmm a 3 lb crappie or a 15 lb. bass -no brainer.

[ozzie]

yep no brainer...3 lb crappie!! to each their own