South Lake Fishing Report

[David A Dexter]

We fished Navaho Canyon for Stripers on Friday. There were tents everywhere on the big dune in the back canyon, probably 30 people in all with a houseboat and 3 boats. We saw the 3 boats fishing but we never saw them catch any fish. However, their focus seemed to be mountain climbing training. The fishing was not red hot. Heavy debris in the back canyon beyond the dune. I found baitfish schools everywhere from 65 feet to 25 feet with Livescope. Most of the schools had a few Stripers but the largest Striper school that I located had about 30 fish. In 4 hours we caught 37 Stripers from 2-5 pounds on Moon Eye jigs with 1/2 an Anchovies. Most of the Stripers were simply NOT hungry. I had countless times when Stripers would swim up to my bait and quickly swim away, but the fish that we did catch were all healthy and fought like hell, so it was really fun. I'd rather have lots of food for Stripers than lots of skinny Stripers and no shad. On Saturday, the weather was perfect, so we went to Last Chance. The debris was not nearly as bad. Again, lots of baitfish schools with 1-10 Stripers. The Stripers were a little more cooperative but still they really were not hungry. Most were within 5 feet of the bottom, usually at 50-55 feet. In four hours, the 3 of us caught 52 Stripers and 5 Catfish. I did have a Catfish rise 15 feet from the bottom and slam my jig. I watched it all on Livescope. I figured that it had to be a Striper that far off the bottom, but I was wrong. It was a 7 lb. Channel Cat. I did find Striper schools with 15-20 fish but they were few and far between. If you know where the two islands are in the back on the right that stick out of the water, I did locate a school of 100 Stripers that were resting on a plateau in 27 feet of water that was close to a big drop off to deep water. I spot locked immediately and we all dropped our bait straight down. The fish immediately rose to hit all 3 baits and our rods were slammed. I hooked a bruiser which made 8 strong runs stripping line off like crazy. My partners landed their fish while I continued to play mine. As we got the net ready, the fish came up and it was a Striper that we all estimated to be at least 10 lbs. but as I tightened my drag, the fish came at the boat suddenly the jig popped out, and she swam back to the depths. My personal best Striper is 7.5 lbs. and this fish was certainly bigger than that but, hey, that motivates me for next time . All of the Stripers were healthy and fought like hell and they have lots of food for the winter. Tight lines, everyone!