gulfcaptain

Forgot to add, if there are yellow perch, the larger fish maybe targeting them in the deeper water, so you may have to locate the perch and fish out there with bigger cranks, jigs, etc.

I'm gonna guess you may have yellow perch as well as several sunfish populations. Like the post above, weed breaks, points, two kinds coming together....etc. Look for the bluegill beds in the summer. Odd are there are fish outside. Look at Siebert Jig's website and look into some tungsten punch jigs 3/4oz and read up on fishing and punching grass beds. The heavier weight and compact size of the tungsten will help get through the grass to the fish below. You want a compact bait so a 4" creature/craw style bait will work best as well. Then next year look around. Most fish will move just outside where they spawned, so if you found an area with lots of spawning beds, then look to areas around there for key breaks in the weeds (bends, points, holes, two kinds coming together). And fish in the middle of the nasty stuff. For some reason they just don't like it when you drop that bait into their front room and under the mats. Take notes on where the grass grows up first as well. And if you have lilly pads, bass really like that area to spawn in so there's an area if you have them to take note of in the summer to look at in the spring. And if there's a break just outside (could be a small ledge of a foot) that they will stage prior to spawn in the spring or point near by. Hope this helps some.

Just got back home from working in the Gulf of Mexico for a month and found surface temps here in S.Cal ponds I fish in the high 60's/low 70's (afternoon). Guess we just had our first cold weather front come thru last weekend, but the fall topwater bite is on now. Be it later in the afternoon (brite sunny days in the 80's) and in the dying shallow grass. Fish are all over the frog in the afternoon, and managed to pick a nice fish up on the punch jig in the earlier days fishing the grass that is still green and heathy. Need to watch temp's to target the fall feed pattern. Watch the temps, when the water drops from summer time temps say 76-85 down to 65-70 the fish will turn on. I'll throw a topwater up until the water hits the low 60's. One of the most useful tools you can have fishing is a thermometer. I fish ponds from shore and always have one on me to check water temps just to get a good idea what activity level the fish may be in.

No problem, glad I could help.

Which one are they reopening? May have to go check that out even though I rarely go that far but it may be worth it.

I would suggest a 7'3" H for pitching and light flipping. If you're wanting a MH I would go to a 7'6". If you get to the point where you want a dedicatied flip/pitch rod for heavier cover, I'd look into a 7'10 - 7'11 H. The longer rod will help move the fish out of the cover a bit quicker.

Hudd 68 is a good bait warmer waters above 55 it seems, the regular ones excel in cooler waters below 60 (cool for S. Cal where I fish) and the Savage Gear Line Thru I have found works good in both, but I choose the floater. Any hard swimbait I have all float. But mainly throw the 8" hudds, line thru's, and this year the MattLures 10" dead twitch and a couple triple trouts(8-10" all floaters)

Well everyone fishes finesse baits where I fish, so I went the other way. Jigs, swimbaits, and the umbrella rig.

Well if it makes you feel better S. Cal will hit lows in the 50's and highs in the 80's all week........fall topwater fishing oh yeah.

or a turtle. Ripped the skirt out of the only frog I had of that color and that was the end of that days fishing.....stupid turtles.

I throw 30lb and haven't had any issues. Most I would go up to would be 40lb pp or 832.

yes, it's almost time for the swimbaits on the west coast as well. Well it's always time but time to throw them more consistantly.

The voices tell me too, and since I have just decided to listen I do. Plus it keeps me from laying on the couch and gets me out of the house when I'm not working. It is my decompression time, takes my mind off of everything else and gives me piece and a time to be stress free.

Rayovac is $500 co-angler $1500 pro. I was refering to the Rayovac regional series on my cost break down.

Falcon's Bucco 7MH Mod/Fast may work for you and is about $100. Then you have the Black *** but it's a 7'1"M Fast action for the same price. I have 2 of the Falcon's and have the 7'3"M Black *** but love the action of it and has some backbone to it as well.

I looked at joining and fishing the regional tour as a Co-Angler and fish all 3 events to see if I could make it to the Championship event. Think all 3 entry fees were $1500 total, figure lodging and food would run approx $400 each event. Then gas money for the boat owner...rough guess $30-40 a day of fishing. Then the travel costs.....probably could keep it under $100 per event. So with that said for the 3 events I'd be looking at a rough est. of about $3400 so I might as well figure $4000 for the 3 events. And if I did make it probably another 1500 for the "free" Championship (but have to fish all 3 events to qualify)

when you walk into a BPS to pick up 2 packs of plastics and some weights and when you get your total it's over $600.00. But I did justify to myself that I did need everything I picked up. I mean that reel was 40% off so had to get it and since I got a new reel I need a new rod to go with it.

Look at carrying a pond thermometer with you during the fall, winter and spring, those few degrees can make a dfference or could have a temp drop and not even realize it. I would look into fishing topwater later in the afternoon and not so much early as the evenings can cool the surface temps so warm sunny afternoons may be better. Spinnerbaits, rattle-traps and bladed jigs are a good tool to search for fish and may work better for you locating feeding fall fish.

What's your water temp? Topwaters can be good, but all depends on temp and forage base as well.

you mean a 2 bait combo? You could fish say a blade bait or swimjig, or a swmbait (hollow body 4") as your primary search bait, and a missed strike quickly follow it up with a swimming senko. I tend to use an A-rig as a search bait (from shore) and if I miss a fish or get a couple hits without hooking them, quickly follow up with a dropshot and a 3 1/2" swing impact or live impact.

I think preparing your tackle for each trip isn't a waste of time either. I tend to find I enjoy that hour or more preparing and going over what I am going to fish and rigging ALL those rods up.....sometimes I change my mind and swap out a rig last minute(which was rigged as well) to take with me. Also lets me look over my rods and make sure there is no damage to them and the reel is workig properly, if not having extras gives me the ability to swap out and not loose a set up because I only had a few. Do I need 2 flipping/pitching rods...probably not, but both have different actions and I can change on the fly without re-tying which in a tournament that 2 min could be the difference in catching a fish and making a payday or 2min wasted. Look at Major League Fishing 2 min time out rule. Those pro's don't want to sit for 2 min, they want to get their baits back out in the water and fish. I guess the hours we all fish is wasted as well, I mean I could be working, but I'd rather be fishing.

Well if you read my response in the M post, the MH rod has different applications. But that doesn't mean I change line weight. My Med action rods are softer and lend themselves to reation baits where the MH rod I use more fishing plastics or baits I'm going to try and rip through grass as well as open water frog fishing and buzzbaits(both straight braid 20-30lb) and also use it for swimjigs, so all are still running braid 20-30lb with topshots of mono or fc between 10-15lb.

When I'm home I have a minimum of 5 combo's in my car at all times (except when I have to pick up my youngest since I have to put a car seat in). All together, umm well I think I'm up to 15 I think, but I did see 3 other rods and reels I'd like to aquire this winter. And there's one I want now, but won't be back in stock till the beginning of Dec. Oh and then there is another spinning rod set up I want to get.....and yes I do fish them all sooner or later.

I know Paris had spots at one time, wasn't aware there were spots in DVL. I know they have some SM, which the one you caught is a nice one. Yes it is amazing how low all the lakes are, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that this winter we will end up with a lot of rain.....almost every time after a strong El Nino S. Cal gets hammered with lots of rain. I take pictures of the lakes when they are low like they are now, gives you a great reference when the lakes rise to what's below you.

Fat Ikas, Senkos, Chatterbaits, and dropshot are probably the most productive when it come to what I see people using and fishing. I started back into bass fishing 4 years ago and dropshotted 98% of the time. Then went to wakebaits and shallow cranks the other 2%. Now, I fish mutiple lures and techniques. S.Cal is a tough place to fish especially if you're fishing the city parks. Summer when the weeds get up a frog is a good bet. So here is what I would start with. 4" Fat Ika's 4-5" Senkos 2- Chatterbaits (one white, one green pumpkin) couple squarebill cranks 3 1/2-4" jerkbaits 4 1/2" roboworms (dropshot) couple rattletrap style baits. I'd fish your football jigs with a paca chunk (3") Send me a personal message about where you fish and if I've fished there before I may be able to give you a bit more info. Do a lot of city park fishing in the OC/LA area.