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I will be attending a conference in Ojai Valley in January. I have the opportunity to extend my trip by an extra day and fish with a guide on Lake Casitas. I will only be able to fish a half day, say noon to dark. Could someone familiar with that area and lake let me know if the fishing there is worth staying an extra day? Being in Birmingham, I know absolutely nothing about this lake. Thank you.
Extend Your TRIP !! Lake Casitas is famous for having produced 2 of the top 15 heaviest largemouth bass ever caught. In the spring of 1980 Raymond Easley weighed a bass at an astonishing 21 pounds 3.5 ounces. The mammoth largemouth was just 1 pound shy of the current world record, 22 pounds 4 ounces, held by George Perry since 1932. In the spring of 2002, Randy Crabtree caught another giant that weighed 19 pounds 8 ounces. Lake Casitas is a widely considered by experts a contender to produce the next world record bass. Unlike other potential world record lakes, Casitas yields hundreds of double digit catches each year. Trophy bass fishing does not stop in California when the season changes and the weather is cold. Winter is prime time for trophy hunters. The three reasons that I love winter bass fishing in Southern California is because of the mild weather the small crowds and the trout plants. The Department of Fish and Game delivers approximately 30,000 pounds of Fillmore hatchery trout to Casitas each year. The plants are just about every two weeks beginning in October and ending in April. That means one thing to a big bass, dinner time. Big bass are essentially lazy and opportunistic, meaning they will do the least amount of work for the largest offering of food. Trout are the favored forage of big Casitas bass. Giant artificial trout impersonating lures. “swim baits” make up for the majority of double digit fish caught at lake Casitas each year. My 2 day swim baits 101 class at Casitas runs from October to April. (more info on swim baits 101) If you are interested in having a realistic shot at a trophy size large mouth and you like to chuck and wind, this is the trip to book!
Take your swimbaits, a stout rod and heavy line. (Flourocarbon) and band aids…youll get blisters. There is a guide out there that fishes the pro circuits…Justin Kerr. I dont know how to get a hold of him though. You will have to ride in a brand T though. Martin
Go to Westernbass.com, go to forums, ask about guides there. Im sure you will have a reply fairly quick. Look on the pictures pages, Im sure there is some pics from there posted. Sounds like fun. Good luck.
This is one of the best premier big bass lakes in the nation with the exception of Clear lake. Matt Newman is a Basscat sponsored pro fishes the lake frequently, not sure if he guides but check out this footage from the Big bait Posse video on Basszone filmed on lake Casitas..click on the sample video to these giants that come out of Casitas. Ike is in the video in a Basscat. Justin Ker is also a member of the big bait posse showed in the video. Get the video for Christmas and count down the days until you leave for the seminar. http://www.basszone.com/2008quickflips/ … tposse.htm Bring your trout swimbaits and go big or go home..LOL Im talking 8-10 inch swimbaits.. One of my sponsors AC Plugs, makes a Swimbait called the casitas named after the lake where the bait got its birth..check it out.. good luck out here in th west and have fun! http://www.acplugs.com/casitas.htm
Well, thanks to everyone for the information above. I just got back from California and was able to extend my trip so I could fish on Casitas. The weather was beautiful, just a bit on the breezy/chilly side. The day we fished was partly cloudy, water temps at 58 degrees and air temps in the mid 50s. The lake was beautiful with a stark difference from lakes in the Birmingham area. Upon arriving, the guide told me that the swimbait bite had not been productive and that we would be fishing a drop shot most of the day. We fished really hard (well as hard as you can dead sticking a 4″ worm in open water) but unfortunately we didnt boat a fish. I didnt have a hit and I think the guide may have had one. I was definately a bit disapointed after reading so much about the trophy fish caught there. Oh well, I guess that is fishing. Thanks again for the help. Chris
Sorry to hear the fishing was so tough there Chris.I didnt think they allowed anyone to fish anything other than a swimbaits on that lake. I live in Nor.Cal and the weather up here has been cold and raining and the fishing has been really tough.There is a video out right now called the BIG BAIT POSSE,and all they do is throw big swimabits all day long and are catching GIANTS at Casitas,its amazing just how many big fish are caught out of that lake.A few hours north of Casitas is Lake Don Pedro,and just a few days ago a guide down there had a client out and they caught 2 over 8lbs. and one over 9lbs. on swimbaits in one day! This place has really kicked out some huge bass the last couple of years. There are a couple of guides on this lake that are BCB owners and are very good sticks there.You can look them up on Western Bass.Com If you go to the photo section on this site you can view the pics of the hawgs taken out of Don Pedro.Sorry to hear about your luck down there. At least you had the opportunity to go after a big girl at Casitas.Maybe if you get the chance to come back to California look up one of these guys at Don Pedro,or better yet if you travel farther to Nor-Cal,the Cal Delta or Clearlake are awesome. Take care.
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