Lower Otay 29 Jan 23 report

BassmanRudy · January 30, 2023, 08:17:24 PM

Fished the CBF District 6 tourney on Lower Otay Sunday. 25 boats ish and half had co-anglers. Day started off low 50s and spitting rain and stayed that way for most of it. We did have a few sunny patches and also some heavier rain and wind at times. We stayed in our bibs and added the rain coat as needed. Lake water temp was low 50s(boaters graphs weren't working) based off of what I heard from others. Boater caught a bass almost immediately on a crank and I thought it "game on" but then whew became few and far between after that. He managed 4 bass for 5+lbs and caught 12 total on the day including a Big crappie.

I zeroed though I tried literally the whole tackle box!! 40 or so lure/color changes at least. spinnerbait/chatterbait/topwaters/cranks/jerkbait from 1.5 to 6xd/and all sorts of plastics on t rigs/shaky heads/carolina rigs/punch rig. The lake is ringed with reeds(tules?) and I was more than happy to punch most of the day hoping for the big ones.

Winner on boater side had 9+lbs and co had 11+lbs. Not sure what all they were doing as I left fairly quick with the 3.5hr drive back still to go.

Really really enjoyed being back on a boat!! Had been since May when I fished a tourney last and I had blast. Would love to fish the lake again when warmer as those reeds look so good.

Saw a redtail that looked cold and also an osprey. Border patrol was sure working an area over near the lake. We saw him there almost the whole day. Saw several F-18s from the navy base going around as well.

BassmanRudy · January 30, 2023, 08:22:36 PM

Some pics from Saturday when it was Sunny!

BassmanRudy · January 30, 2023, 08:24:02 PM

Couple more. Water sure was CLEAR to me but they called it dirty!

Pat Dilling · January 31, 2023, 08:29:47 AM

Sounds like a pretty typical winter time bite. Glad you got on the water. What I have learned about West coast winter fishing, when it is tough, slow down and downsize. The Ned rig with a ZMan TRD is our Winter staple.

Mike Cork · January 31, 2023, 03:34:00 PM

Tough fishing for sure. From what I remember of Otay, 30 years ago, big bass could be those entire stringers. As Pat said, west coast lakes are no different than Louisiana lakes, when it's tough, it's just tough... Thanks for the report.

BassmanRudy · January 31, 2023, 09:54:45 PM

Wellp found out the drop shot was key for the boater winner. I need to work on that for sure...

Mike Cork · February 01, 2023, 07:45:44 AM

Super finesse techniques are generally solid out west. We used to fish a root hawg (3 inch worm) on 4 pound test line in 40 ft of water... Brutal... Wish we knew about the drop shot back then. We did fish a lot of split shot, which is a mini Carolina rig if you will. I also caught a lot of fish on a creme spinner worm, no one is throwing it

BassmanRudy · February 01, 2023, 08:44:35 AM

Quote from: Mike Cork on February 01, 2023, 07:45:44 AM
Super finesse techniques are generally solid out west. We used to fish a root hawg (3 inch worm) on 4 pound test line in 40 ft of water... Brutal... Wish we knew about the drop shot back then. We did fish a lot of split shot, which is a mini Carolina rig if you will. I also caught a lot of fish on a creme spinner worm, no one is throwing it

That sounds horrible!! But whatever it takes I guess!!

Mike Cork · February 01, 2023, 02:43:02 PM

That's one side, the other is all the giant swimbait techniques were niched out there too... Just gotta find your groove and work with it.