Hesperia Lake

[plumbertom1]

Never make plans to go fishing. I think that is going to be my new motto.
Seems like every time I try to plan a fishing trip nothing works out the way it's supposed to.
After planing to go to the Colorado River near Yuma this weekend, my fishing partners truck broke down, (power steering pump) and he had to spend his fishing money to have it repaired. As we are both on limited income that put an end to that trip.
I still wanted to get some fishing time in so I suggested we go and check out Hesperia Lake seeing as how the fish reports say it's a fair bet and it's not a long drive from his house in Riverside (about an hour up the 15 fwy)and an added plus is that no fishing licence is required (he never got one this year).
When we arrived at the lake, the time was about 1:45PM so we purchased the permits for the fishing period that runs from 1:00pm til 10:00pm and a couple of frozen mackerel from the friendly and helpful young man in the registration/bait shop and got his suggestion as to the best location considering both of our limited mobility.
We parked in the area he suggested and it was a very short walk to the waters edge where we set up and started fishing. There were a number of other individuals and groups nearby fishing also.
There was a light breeze blowing across the lake into our face but it was comfortable at the start. We had baited line for both trout and catfish out until 7:30pm and got no bites on either although I saw a few cats in the 3-5lb range caught and one person caught a trout that looked to be 3lbs my friend and I never got a bite.
Oh, remember that nice breeze? Well when the sun went down the chill factor from that breeze was very nasty, which explains why we didn't stay until the end of the session at 10:00pm.
I had on a long sleeve shirt, a heavy sweat shirt and a high quality water proof wind breaker and still got chilled from a breeze that wasn't 10 MPH, so if you decide to check out this lake for night fishing I suggest you dress warm as the high dessert gets very cold after sundown this time of year.
Right now at Hesperia Lake they are planting 4000lbs of trout and 1000lbs of catfish each week, fishing permits are $15.00 per session. Day fishing runs from 6:00am til 5:00pm and night fishing is from 1:00pm til 10:00pm, and camping is available at the lake.
Maybe nezt time I'll check out Buena Vista Lakes They are just about an hour and a half drive up the 5 from home and I hear that it's good fishing for cats and strippers
Any body Know for sure? :0a36:

[bluehunter]

How did you set up for cats and trout?

Hesperia cats bite more on meal worms and marshmellow combos as well as shrimp more so than mackeral it seems. Also the closer you cast to the island, the better there for the cats.

As far as trout, powerbait fished on short leaders with 2-4 pound test is key. But it seems those who toss jigs do better there.

[gilmafam]

Hi Brian... sorry you missed san vee....

Tom,

I have camped, fished, and caught cats, LM bass, and trout at BV lakes. What I have been doing in the past is to go in for few hours, and then finish the drive home. I would rather spend 2 hours here than on the LA freeway at 3:30 to 6:30.
There are two lakes. You can fish on both, but the south lake is the boating/water ski lake. The Northern lake is the one that is the "fishing lake". Continue to the end of the road, past the launch ramp, and this is where that water comes in.... I have seen many trout caught here.

I havent caught any stripers, here. I launched my small boat here 15 years ago, and spent several days checking it out.

As I recall, it is not to deep 6-8 with some deeper holes.

Good camping and well put together.

enjoy your trip..

bayrunner ray

[plumbertom1]

Thanks for the input Brian, I think the guys that were catching cats were using nightcrawlers dipped in some stinky stuff. I also saw that they were using slip bobber rigs and 10'-12' poles to get out to the island.
Do you suppose that there is a very soft mud bottom to that lake and the fish are staying up off the mud? That would tend to explain the success of the floating marshmallow/mealy worm combo and the slip bobber rigs.
Also I noticed a number of trout right on the surface swimming around and that would tend to indicate a soft bottom that is easily stirred up as trout do not like muddy water. It would also explain why tossing jigs would work better there.

[bluehunter]

Hesperia is a shallow lake with the deepest part averaging 6 feet. So I am sure that the water is murky and not the best condition for trout. Every time I been there the water was murky. As far as the muddy bottom for cats I do not think it reallly makes a difference too much. But I do prefer to use a dropper loop set up when I go there. Hesperia water conditions is very poor and I attribute that to how shallow the lake is.