Big Catfish... Divers won't go there

[gilmafam]

Lake Isabella, California. What a beautiful place to retire... It's got some low elevation snow at times, a beautiful lake, and two rivers that run into it with trout to feed the catfish. At the south fork or east end of the lake there is a long low water area in the trees.... many trees with water around them when the lake level is right. This lake is abundant with crappie and carp...and clams that are all prime catfood.
It has a great Largemouth bass population that feeds on the trout as well, and I've head it told that Divers have seen "Giant Cats" in the deep water.

The only problem with this place is where it is located. You can enter from the east from the Mojave dessert with a long up hill mountain pass, or travel up from Bakersfield on a winding road....
But the major porblem with this nice spot is the fact that many people come here to try out the rapids in the uppper canyon and get lost in some of the swirl holes and loose the battle with the upper water.

Oh......one other problem... because of the transition area that it is in, the wind comes up almost each day and the wind waves are very trecherous.

You are not sopose to be on the water when the warning lights are on around the lake, and one more thing is that you can fish from the shore at night, and camp in excellent areas.... But you can't be out there in your boat at night. You can leave the boat in the water... but no one on the water at night.

My Ole buddie from highschool retired and moved up near there fifteen years ago, and shared all the good spots with me.... Pete was one hell of a fisherman, growing up in Redondo Beach, as his mom and dad ran a local tackle shop on the Old Redondo Pier.....

Got to plan a summer "fish camp" at this place this summer iffin the water is just right.

Anyone want to go?

bayrunner ray

[plumbertom1]

I would like to fish that lake but I wont wait til summer to do it.
if you do plan something for there in the summer you can most likely count me in.

[heavyduty]

Nice pics! looks like great place to fish and camp.

[MRR]

Looks like a great spot to fish but darn it I thought you was gonna show us one of those Giant Cats that you had caught that drivers are afarid of.Whose afarid of a little ole kitty cat:roll_eyes: :lol: Thanks for sharng the story and the pictures.

[neocats]

yeah, where's the giant catfish that you caught?

[TIM HAGAN]

Giant catfish as big as cars. looks like a great place but until somebody catches one of them there so called gaint catfish it just has nice catfish.
The divers here have told me of fish just like that 65.8 is the record here until someone beats that thats as big as they get here.

[gilmafam]

Lets face it... I've caught some nice ones here, more the pan size ....
good for eaten, but if you look at all the brothers that have been comming here each year..... for many years.
They go off into the tree tops and get lots of crappie, maybe even some carp...
Most of my time is on the lake for the top water action. I have caught cats trolling for Largemouth bass with a jointed shad rap. Crappie and trout will also do the same.

We can't use live stuff, other than worms,crawdads,and maybe and other natural bait, and on top of that, we can't throw a net to get bait.....

I bet if the CA. BOC will gets together and goes for it this summer, we will get where the the big ones are....

Maybe up in the shallows where the cool water comes out of this southern part of the Sierra ....
Where the aqua duct starts "under the water in a flume", and channels the water into and out of the lake..... Where trout and crappie are the feeding forage of these monster cats....


"Come on SUMMER"......got lots of fishing to do before Isabella, and I'll need some buddies to do this thing right.

bayrunner ray

[AwShucks]

I was gonna point out that man is so stupid, he swims with sharks the size of a volkswagon... so catfish won't deter them a second.

[daystarchis]

Nice pics brother:wink: I am there this summer. You can count me in on hitting that lake with ya'll. It's been bout 3 or so years since I fished it. There are some large cats in that lake.

[catman from owensboro]

the blue water just calls a fishermen in

[plumbertom1]

the blue water just calls a fishermen in
This is the bluest water I have ever seen and there are no fish in it that I have ever heard of. This is Crater Lake Oregon

[riverbud55]

hey ray that sounds like a good one, done a lot of hunting up there always stayed at the kernville inn in kernville and at nite hung out at the Hut for a few cold ones, got some great bands in the place and hell almost worth the drive to up just to hit up the Hut. I know it can 100* + up there in the summer, other then the river its my favorite place for all thats theres to do up the their, for sure its on my list of places to retire to just not sure the fish get big enough though

[gilmafam]

Robb and Dale.... were going to do it for sure.... Ive been over the "flume" a time or two flipping for bass.... Its still there, been there for many of years, and I'm sure that it is a "catfish highway" from one end of the lake by the cemetery all the way to the dam area.... Just have to have a "good crew" on board and control the drift and watch some "good bait" working.

I didn't get up there this last summer (both knees replaced in June), but have been there three summers prior to last.... Hell, I can remember comming out of "Johnsondale" in the 50's on an ole dirt road before the lake was even built.....Iv'e camped up stream and fished for trout from the Johnsondale bridge, all the way down to civilization....Some really nice looking trout in the deep pools.... used my fly pole, spinning reel with this and that..... great camping out.... I never really fished for cats on the lake. I wanted to stay out in the primative area.... not that it doesn't have some "badbutt people" there..... My biker neighbor "buddy" has some wild stories of the weekends I'd rather not be on the KERN RIVER.

bayrunner ray

[daystarchis]

This is the bluest water I have ever seen and there are no fish in it that I have ever heard of. This is Crater Lake Oregon
Beautiful picture Tom:wink: Why ain't there no fish?

[Memphis_Catfish_King]

Nice pics! looks like great place to fish

[plumbertom1]

Beautiful picture Tom:wink: Why ain't there no fish?
I'm not sure that there are no fish in Crater Lake Robb, I've just never read or heard of any.
Crater Lake is one of the Cascade volcanoes, Mount Mazama, that after an eruption that emptied the magma chamber, collapsed in on it's self creating the caldera that, over time, filled with water from precipitation.
There is no outlet for the water from the lake except what seeps through the ground providing spring fed streams and beautiful water fall on the outer slopes of the mountain. (see attached pictures)
The lake is extremely deep 1,900 ft, and I under stand it's slightly saline due to the geothermal vents in the bottom of the lake.

[Mark J]

There is fish in the lake.
From 1888 to 1941, the lake was stocked with 1.8 million rainbow trout, brown trout, cutthroat trout, steelhead trout, coho salmon, and kokanee salmon.
From what I read the only fish left are the kokanee salmon and rainbow trout.
Artificial bait only and no fishing license required.

[riddleofsteel]

Fish in Crater Lake In 1888 William G. Steel, considered the founder of Crater Lake National Park, made the first recorded attempts to stock Crater Lake. National Park Service researchers believe that before that time, Crater Lake contained no fish. William Steel’s motive for stocking the lake was probably to improve the lake's recreational value.
Around the turn of the century, a regular stocking program was begun. Stocking continued through the early part of the century until creel censuses showed that the fish were naturally reproducing. Six species were introduced to Crater Lake during this time. The last recorded stockings were silver salmon in 1937 and rainbow trout in 1941.
Later investigations revealed that the naturally reproducing silver salmon were actually kokanee salmon. Since kokanee were not intentionally introduced, researchers believe that one of the plantings of silver salmon fingerlings was actually kokanee. Of the six species introduced, two remain:
Kokanee Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) are a dwarf, landlocked form of sockeye salmon. Kokanee are the most abundant species in the lake, estimated to have a population well into the hundreds of thousands. An average kokanee is about 8 inches long, but some grow to as long as 18 inches.
Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are less abundant than the kokanee, but are typically larger. The largest documented rainbow trout from Crater Lake was a 6 1/2 pound, 26 inch long specimen caught by the park research team. Most rainbows average 10 to 14 inches.
Rainbow trout and kokanee salmon populations are stable in the lake. Researchers believe that this stability is due to each fish species eating different foods. Kokanee feed on zooplankton and rainbows feed on aquatic insects.

[plumbertom1]

OK, I was just using the information that I had in my head from the trip I took up there in Sept. '05 and I didn't se anything that talked about fish in the lake although I did see a info plate that said they used to have a tour boat that crused the lake. Here is a link to Crater Lake fish info,
http://www.nps.gov/archive/crla/fish.htm

[gilmafam]

Nice pictures of the Lake Tom and I'm sure you enjoyed all the other scenery on that Trip along the coast and into Oregon....
I stopped there on the way home from fishing on the rivers and lakes in Bend Ore, where my mom retired too...
Crater lake is off the main road... but well worth the time to go to see it.... Bend Ore is changing so much and so quickly...
No kidding and no "BS"...I caught a 30" plus Brown trout on 4lb line below a 15 foot water fall north of Bend at the "terrabond" Bridge... I was on the cliff overlooking the clear water and all and wondered why there were no rainbows in the water below the waterfall..... as I looked out, three "Giant trout" were crusing shoulder to shoulder .... looking like whales, well.... I could not resist the opertunity to throw the ole rooster tail (brown 1/4 oz) out to where I could position it and pull it back to the trout to see... Bamm... I was on for about 10 seconds as I yelled to my brother to go down the cliff as I was going to pull it to shore for him to get it however he could.... Isn't it the way it goes... you start thinking about landing a fish and all that and the fighting end of it is short changed...It would have been my biggest trout ever... the state record comes from the Brownlee water that is just down stream form there.... 40lbs....

bayrunner ray

[Mickey]

Brother thanks for the pics, and reminder of how beautiful that lake is . I visted it a few years ago on vacation and consider it one of the highlites of our trip.I hope to return someday.

[dakid]

great pics i wanna see how your trip turn out!

[Pastor E]

The story about giant catfish so big divers won`t dive is a old fishermans tale That has been told about every large Lake:smile2: in the country But no one has ever saw the fish or pictures of them

[plumbertom1]

I've been told the same thing about every dam I've visited. Check this out.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/lurkers/catfish.htm

[daystarchis]

love the pictures and the story of the giant catfish. 5 stars!

[gilmafam]

Tom, Thanks for the pic post. Talk to you later on next week end trip to Fresno.....

Can I pick up up buy the 405 and the end of the valley at say 6:30 am sat. morning?

I'll bring the RV and well do it in "style"

bayrunner ray

[plumbertom1]

Works for me, unless you want to leave sooner. I'll have my son in law drop me off and bring my truck home. Ill look to see which off ramp is best. There must be a park and ride somewhere around there. Or an EZ on and off with a parking lot next to the fwy.

[plumbertom1]

great pics i wanna see how your trip turn out!
Hope you enjoyed the story and mess of photos.:wink: