Yes...It's a kayak fishing report from Lake Perris....!
Those of you familiar with my reports know that I generally like to include a few notes about the overall conditions. Well...the title says it all because the experience with other people at the lake dominated the experience itself. The culture here certainly made itself known. If you can get in and out early then you may have more pleasant and peaceful surroundings.
By mid-day along the dam, there was casting room only for most of the 2-mile stretch. Weaving among the power-bass-boaters felt uneasy. Dark stares and unsavory language from some made me suspect a history of hard-time in the "Big-House." Booming sub-woofer equipped pleasure craft (featuring profane "N-Word" rap lyrics) sped by repeatedly creating bothersome wake. Probably most surprising were the bass anglers who seemed to focus more on the "hole-shot" rather than fishing. One Ba$$hole drove to about 10-feet from me and began fishing.
I can't wait until these weekend winds die down so that I can get some "elbow-room" on the open ocean. I suppose there are strange types there too but at least I can usually find my own spot. It's just not worth the drive to the coast for me to find out that conditions are untenable as foretasted.
The good news is that I managed to get into a bite mid/early-morning. Three Bass came in relative short order with the best being 18-inches. Bait-fish inspired lures instead of usual creature imitations were the way to go today. I also managed to catch a Bluegill. Here are the pictures:
18-inch Bass. I wonder if this is male or female? I assume the spawn is over but this one is still just a little fat:
10-inch Bluegill:
To be fair, I suppose the low water levels at Lake Perris are forcing the anglers closer together over relatively fewer well-known hot-spots. The open area used by pleasure boaters is closer to some of the fishing areas too. The morning hours were nice-enough and the catch makes the time all worthwhile. Once the dam is repaired, the drought is over and water-levels return to "full" I suspect this lake will again be great fun.
Ok...swapping tackle back to saltwater now!
Matt