CACHUMA REPORTS

calincalif50 · March 30, 2009, 10:40:44 AM

Went to Cachuma yesterday Sunday. Water was 58.5, 13-15 ft visibility....

and foggy for about an hour after getting on the water.
For a Sunday there were more boats getting inspected than I've ever seen, There must have been at least 15 boats waiting in line to get inspected. Sure was glad to just motor by and launch. There were already 9 boats in the water by the appearance of the trailers in the lower parking lot.

Anyhow got on the lake just after 7am, with lots of fog so didn't go too fast (like mine boat does) to the shelf straight across from the marina. Threw some top water for a spell with nothing, water was 58.5 there. Trolled down the bank and into Big Cachuma catching one smallie about 2.5 pounds on a wacky senko. Picked up a LMB about 1.5 on the right side of Cachuma bay in the backs of one of the coves, and pressed on, didn't catch my next one until 45 minutes later. Rounded a bend and caught a nice 3lber smallie off the point..pressed on still, went into a sheltered cove to check out any late spawner's and saw two 5 lbers sitting on a bed, couldn't tell if they were guarding or getting ready. Saw another 5lber a short distance away, none were having the treats I gave them initially, The two that were together were locked jawed, but the loner ignored my jig in a 1/2 version, so I downsized to a 1/4 ounce and a paca craw trailer and after a few minutes he sucked it in...damn those new rods are sensitive... hauled the fish in and weighed him, 5.1 ounces. Motored to the floating jon and after completing a pit stop proceded to the other side of the bay, stopped short of a point and threw a crankbait and caught another 2.5 smallie, further down the bank caught another on the crankbait another 2.5 smallie, jeeeeeeeeez where are the bigger ones.

turned into the wind and went back towards the mouth of the bay and caught just one more smallie about 1.5 pounds. That was the last one caught. I stayed in Big Cachuma pretty much the whole day. I saw huge bass just cruising the shore line with no particular place to go. Probably should have gone further back tot he shallows to look for big mamas but witht he wind up decided not to as it was blowing straight into the bay

This lake is definitely better than last year for sure. overall for the day caught like 11-12 pounds. If the wind hadn't obscured the bes could have gotten more weight, but its hard to fish when you can't see the bottom.

Mike Cork · March 30, 2009, 10:54:49 AM

Great report! I love reading about some of my old stomping grounds

Graylight · March 30, 2009, 02:23:35 PM

Nice cal we gotta meet up their some time.

calincalif50 · March 30, 2009, 02:24:59 PM

GL maybe we will after i complete the STREN series in may. Last one is the Delta, After that I'm pretty free

Dean · April 04, 2009, 07:41:25 PM

Went to this place today. Spent about 15 minutes waiting for an inspection, 10 minutes in line to pay, 15 minutes waiting for a wash... then I hear starting May 1 you will pay $30. for a wash and they wash all that aren't tagged for Cachuma. They still don't take any other tags, and when I asked, they said yes you will have to be washed even if clean and dry. Lopez and Margarita both adjusted and said if clean and dry they wouldn't require a wash, but if Cachuma wants it that way... Then May 1 the boat fee is going up to $13. so if you haven't been there in a while or are tagged for another lake even, it will cost $51. to put your boat on the lake! That is $24. more than Naci used to be!

Cachuma for me.

On a better note, I only spent a few hours and had 3 nice footballs between 2.5 and 3# and a couple little smallies thrown in. Then lost a pretty good fish in a tree that probably would have gone between 3 and 4#. Overall the lake is doing well, but not worth making it the only place I can fish and not worth $51. to launch.

calincalif50 · April 06, 2009, 12:00:38 PM

holy

batman...$51 to fish, man are they putting the hurt on boaters. Getting to where you need a boat for every lake so youdon't end up paying Thru the nose.

With the increases that means next year the annuals will go up as well. I was at SanAntonio over the weekend, didn't take the boat, but threw a lazy line in the water to try for some carp of catfish, nothing, the lake is at a level I've never seen before, very low that is.....N shore ramp is barely in the water, when you stand on the bank it looks like looking into a canyon is so far down. The place we amped this time was under 40ft of water last time, now its dry. Didn't see the second ramp. Directly across from the N shore ramp on the other side of the lake the trees that were mostly under water are now totally out of water by at least 50 ft to the water edge. The humps outside of Cemetery's creek are now islands, and the trees are dry land. The shore line south beyond the house boats are high and dry, house boats I heard are in 10 feet of water, hope they get them moved before they become dry docked.

The good news is that my disabled vet's pass let us stay camped all weekend for FREE. If I had pulled the boat it would have only cost me $18 for the weekend. Finally someplace in California I can use my pass.

Did spot the golden eagles across the lake in flight. Sure was glad to have my nocs

TomG · April 06, 2009, 05:26:36 PM

Wow......$30.00 for a wash! Even if they detailed and waxed it wouldn't be worth 30.00 Seems like they are taking a different angle than Casitas.......Cachuma will try and make it so that the tournament angler who fishes multiple lakes will not want to go there except maybe once or twice a year due to the excess washing fee.........I mean who can afford to keep going back and forth paying $30.00 for the boat wash. I knew they were going up with gate fees but had not heard about the boat wash fee being that expensive.

Dean · April 06, 2009, 05:55:18 PM

I'm thinking the smart thing is for teams to use one boat for Cachuma, and the other boat for Lopez, Margarita, etc. That is how lots of guys are doing Casitas now. If you keep your boat tagged for Cachuma it is still $21 (unless you have an annual) but at least you don't deal with the wash charge and all that cr@p! I don't want to tie myself to Cachuma, and don't plan to drop $51. for a day on the lake so that is probably my last time on Cachuma until they start taking other lakes' inspections. They still say they are working on the linked database, but that won't help if they don't accept inspections done somewhere else anyway! Cachuma won't even accept one done at Casitas... that is just crazy.

TomG · April 08, 2009, 10:20:42 PM

They are not charging $30.00 to wash a boat. I was reading a post of an e-mail of the head ranger I beleive who stated they did increase the boat launch fee by $5.00 which will pay for those who do have to get washed but they are not charging $30.00 Bye the way Margarita charges $5.00 to wash your boat, I didn't know that until today Stan said he saw it on one of the signs at the gate. So somewhat good news but it still stinks that they went up $5.00 on the boat launch.

Dean · April 09, 2009, 10:28:49 AM

I read on a thread on westernbass where the head of parks said they won't make you get a wash if its clean and dry. That is BS because they DID make me get a wash even after the inspection, and specifically stated that next month they will be charging $30. for the wash. I then asked if they would require the wash if the boat was already clean and dry, to which they said "Yes, any boat that is not already tagged for Cachuma will have to be washed." Hopefully that guy is right that said the extra $5. would cover that required wash.

As a side note: Margarita set the same wash everything policy, and then ruled that, if clean and dry, they wouldn't require the wash. Great idea!

Most guys are showing up with their boats all wiped down and dry, so how would they move a quagga anyway?

TomG · April 09, 2009, 09:03:53 PM

Yea, Cachuma has never been on the side of common sense.

skeeterchris · April 14, 2009, 04:27:59 PM

Just got back from the sand box and boy am I ready to fish. So what is the deal with the lakes and all these fees for washing boats? For 30 bucks they better wash my truck and my wifes car.

TomG · April 14, 2009, 05:17:30 PM

Welcome home Chris.........Cachuma is going up $5.00 in entry for the boat only to offset the cost of spaying boats down. They will also be offering to wash your hull for $30.00 don't think people will take them up on that. I was just telling Stan the other day that you should be back soon.

I saw your buddy towing your boat a couple months back I figured you had him take it out and either run it at the house with a hose or take it to the lake.

ABA Pacific coast has a tournament on May 2nd at Cachuma then the Central coast starts there Cachuma series in June.

You should try to fish 5 and make it to the TOC at Clear Lake this fall, that is the goal for me and Stan.

Stan · April 21, 2009, 05:41:21 PM

Welcome home Chris its good to hear your back.

calincalif50 · April 22, 2009, 10:00:16 AM

Welcome back Chris, good to have you back.

calincalif50 · April 22, 2009, 10:03:41 AM

ABA Pacific coast has a tournament on May 2nd at Cachuma then the Central coast starts there Cachuma series in June

Tom,
You and Stan doing both or one or the other.

TomG · April 22, 2009, 11:24:51 PM

Yea,

We are fishing the May 2nd with Pacific Coast and then switching over to central coast for June, July, and August. We are going to go through the travelers for TOC qualifying.

In fact we went out and pre-fished today and had an outstanding day but nothing over 4lbs but lots of fish.

calincalif50 · April 23, 2009, 03:14:04 PM

Stan...how many brownie points did you have to earn to get both our Saturday and Sundays as trnys days for Jun-Aug?

Well Tom good luck to you and Stan in the runnings. Next year I plan on more trnys closer to home...just have to find a partner

skeeterchris · April 26, 2009, 11:56:37 AM

I will be hitting the lake sometime this week. I also will hit the tourny this weekend, but i think I will be solo because my partner used his kitchen pass on this past weekend for the Anglers choice at Marg. Hope to see you all soon.

skeeterchris · April 27, 2009, 09:00:44 PM

Just got back from the lake. Didn't know the water leverl was down the way it was, so it was a new lake for me. It ended up being a good day. Didn't set the hook on to many fish trying to save that for this weekend. Ended up having 21 bites, hook set 3 of them to see what they looked like and 1 of those 3 was 4 1/2lbs. Found some bedding fish, played with them for awhile and then moved on. Didn't find a strong pattern it was pretty much junk fishing all day. The wind was cold and strong, water temp stayed at 61 all day. Hope it works for this weekend.

TomG · April 27, 2009, 09:44:01 PM

I will be heading out tomorrow to pre-fish.

skeeterchris · July 31, 2009, 01:49:15 PM

How is the lake level?

Stan · October 15, 2009, 10:28:39 AM

Did you hear that the pass got 10.32 inches of rain? I bet the lake has come up at least 10 ft in the last couple of days, The bite should be on fire in the creeks right now. Anyone going?

calincalif50 · October 15, 2009, 12:45:20 PM

I may go this weekend, if the deep sea one dosen't pan out, its looking not too good as the winds are expected to be 15-20 knts with gusts up to 25knts on sunday, the day I want to go. need to fill my yrly stock of fish

Stan · October 27, 2009, 05:45:29 PM

Went to Cachuma to get tagged today and the lake is 30 feet low. Gonna be some good spots to fish if it stays at that level, right Tom!