BASS in vandenberg?

Angry Underpants · August 15, 2006, 02:43:18 AM

Hey all, before I get into my question about the fishing situation near Vandenberg...let me tell you all a bit about myself. I went to Cabrillo high school in Vandenberg Village during the years 1984-1988. During 1986-1989 I fished all the VAFB ponds/lakes 5 days a week. It was a passion I had and those waters were truly a home away from home. In 1990 I moved to southern california to go to CAl State Long Beach for school. That same year all of california suffered thru one of its worst droughts in many many years. The drought was so bad that it literally dried up almost all the ponds/lakes in and around the base. Let me put it to you this way...I came home to visit my folks and decided to take a drive and check out the pine canyon lakes and their conditions. What I saw that day saddened me beyond description. The two bottom and largest lakes didnt have a single drop left. You could walk every square inch of those lakes and the bottom was dry as a bone with 6" cracks in the bed floor.

By luck a game warden was out there checking on something and I stopped him to ask some questions. He told me that all the local anglers were praying for rain all that summer as the waters slowly dried up...it never came. He also said that there was a 2-4 day period when the water dropped so low that the oxygen was depleted totally and the fish all died. The warden stated that even the anglers that new those lakes back and forth stood in awe when they saw the size and amounts of the fish that rose to the surface to die in the sun. I'm sure he stretched this a bit, but he said almost every square inch of the surface was taken with a dead or dying fish and there were some mammoth fish in there that no one ever expected to see. It was obvious that he too was shaken by what had taken place. From what he said, Pine canyon 3(the top lake) had a natural spring that kept it alive but most of the other waters had met the same fate as Pine Canyon 1 and 2. At that point I knew that the fishing pressure on little Pine Canyon 3 would be so much that it too would probably get fished out. I have never fished any of those waters again.

So why am I posting here? Well, I'm curious to what the situation is like now. I still fish every once in a while and I just returned from a weekend in Mammoth where I landed a nice 18" 4lb "Alper" trout. Trout are fun...but bass will always be my favorite prize.

It got me thinking. What I was told while living in Lompoc is that those local ponds had been stocked some twenty years before I was there by what was then the local bass club. That would have made it around the 1970s-ish when it was first stocked...and never again. Obviously, the bass(and other fish) thrived and produced many others.

My parents still live in Vandenberg Village and I visit there now and then and I'd love to find out what happened post drought. Anyone know any info? How many ponds/lakes have fish? When were they restocked? Who restocked the waters? Is fishing good? Is there alot of fish? Gimme all the info you have!!!!

Because My Dad is long retired from the Air Force, I'm sure my access to 95% of those waters is forbidden

But there was one pond I loved to fish using top water plugs. Its been many years so I'm not sure of it's name but I do know that when I drove from the Village toward the bases MAIN gate...I would pass the gate and make a right(I think) some where. The pond was to your left coming from that direction and was literally right off the road. Anyone know what I'm talking about and if you do...is it still there and alive with fish? Can I access that pond without a base pass???

Anyway, thanks for reading my post with my 20 questions! Please take the time to get me up to date with my once home away from home. I'm so stoked to hear that there is fishing going on up there!!!

Take care

Jerry

Mike Cork · August 15, 2006, 05:45:04 AM

Angry, I also went to Cabrillo, graduated in 86'. I haven't been to these ponds since but I too used to love them. I have a buddy in Lompoc that kept me abreast of the demise

The are back in action again according to several folks that visit these pages and I am sure Calincalif50 or someone will be by to chat with you about them.

At first I thought the lake you are talking about is Punch Bowl $:-\$ but you have to take a dirt road down a long hill to get to it $:-\$

Stan · August 15, 2006, 10:29:41 AM

Angry, I moved to this area about 3 years ago, and joined the Vandenberg Bass Club. Good news the lakes on base are alive and kicking. All the Pine Canyon lakes are doing well and there are some nice fish in them. My best 5 fish stringer during a tournament at those lakes is close to 13lbs. Punch Bowl Lake, the other I believe you were speaking about is also doing great. As a matter of fact last year during a tournament there my 5 fish stringer weighed in at over 20lbs. I don't know who stocks them but there are definately fish in those lakes. The last 2 years have been very wet and all the lakes are at close to full capacity. I'll give you an example of how much rain we have recieved, in December 2004 Lake Cachuma was 70 feet low and by mid Jan 2005 the lake was going over the spillway and it's still a full capacity today. Since your Dad is retired all you have to do is have him go with you to the BX and sponsor you to get the base stamp to fish those lakes and of course a pass for your car.

Angry Underpants · August 15, 2006, 12:15:59 PM

Quote from: Mike on August 15, 2006, 05:45:04 AM
Angry, I also went to Cabrillo, graduated in 86'. I haven't been to these ponds since but I too used to love them. I have a buddy in Lompoc that kept me abreast of the demise The are back in action again according to several folks that visit these pages and I am sure Calincalif50 or someone will be by to chat with you about them.

At first I thought the lake you are talking about is Punch Bowl $:-\$ but you have to take a dirt road down a long hill to get to it $:-\$

Thanks you guys for the response! Mike...I dont know if you spent the 86 year at Cabrillo, but if you did you might remember some punk kid(me) who bought a huge lifted red toyota pick-up with a convertable top?!

I dated Tracy Duncan who was in your class...remember her?

I remember Punch Bowl well. At that time it didnt yeld the fish that the other lakes did and the lake was almost completely surrounded with cat-tails that made fishing without a boat near impossible. I did buy a small 2 man raft that worked well...but Pine canyon was far better fishing. The pond that I was talking about was not Punch Bowl, but out in that direction.

I made a small map to show you all "kinda" where it is...maybe it will help...maybe its been built on?

http://i8.tinypic.com/24oczft.jpg

Are there some lunkers in the waters and what do you usually fish with to get a bite? At that time I used plastics, top waters and rooster tails. All worked well. I'm dying to find out who re-stocked the waters! Back then there were some monster catfish, crappie and blue gill swimming around with the bass. Are the bass large mouth and small mouth?

Thanks for answering all my questions...I'm gonna look into fishing up there soon!

Jerry

calincalif50 · August 15, 2006, 02:14:23 PM

That other lake is probably either MOD 5 at north vandenberg, the El Rancho gate pond on Casmalia rd, or the one at the intersetcion of the golf course and casmalia rd. All but one are completely overgrown. F&G has done nothing to prevent the loss either.we tried as a bass club to get some things done,...but fell on deaf ears. Even though the lakes are full, we've lost a good 30% due to reeds. pretty soon there will be no lake from the reed encroachment

Angry Underpants · August 15, 2006, 06:56:00 PM

Quote from: calincalif50 on August 15, 2006, 02:14:23 PM
That other lake is probably either MOD 5 at north vandenberg, the El Rancho gate pond on Casmalia rd, or the one at the intersetcion of the golf course and casmalia rd. All but one are completely overgrown. F&G has done nothing to prevent the loss either.we tried as a bass club to get some things done,...but fell on deaf ears. Even though the lakes are full, we've lost a good 30% due to reeds. pretty soon there will be no lake from the reed encroachment

When you say "we've lost 30% to reeds" do you mean the ponds are still there but are so over grown that they dont support fish? What lake are you talking about exactly? Of those three you mentioned Mod 5 sounds familiar...is that one still full of fish?

Jerry

calincalif50 · August 15, 2006, 10:37:07 PM

Mod5 had a die off of most of the fish, soime still there but very few. Even the ACCIDENTIALLY stocked ones looks like they died as well. 30 % means the reeds have encroached so bad that the over all water acreage has decreased due to the reeds growing inwardly from the shore, still has quality fish though, but mostly only asseccible form a boat, two docks on each lake except punch bowl are the only shore means of reaching fish

Angry Underpants · August 16, 2006, 01:48:11 PM

I'm plamming on coming up there next weekend. I'd like to fish at one of the lakes while I'm there. Of all the lakes, where would you guys recommend I fish so as to give me the best chance of landing something while shore fishing?

What seems to work best from the shores now?...plastics?

Jerry

Stan · August 16, 2006, 06:53:32 PM

I haven't been out there lately but usaully the Pine Canyon lakes are your best bet from shore, because there are docks you can fish from. Plastics is going to be what you want to throw because I'm sure the grass has grown in pretty good.

Angry Underpants · August 17, 2006, 11:45:50 AM

Any of you guys have access to a map that will show where the lakes are such as Mod 5? Could you post it?

Jerry

Mike Cork · August 18, 2006, 06:00:17 AM

Quote from: Angry Underpants on August 15, 2006, 12:15:59 PM

Thanks you guys for the response! Mike...I dont know if you spent the 86 year at Cabrillo, but if you did you might remember some punk kid(me) who bought a huge lifted red toyota pick-up with a convertable top?! I dated Tracy Duncan who was in your class...remember her?

Yep I remember Tracy but having trouble placing the truck $:-\$