Lake Isabella Trip

An old friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in quite a few years recently emailed me wanting to fish Lake Isabella. I felt that my new knee was steady enough to take the Champion out and since Mark is a fellow Champion boat owner I felt comfortable enough that if I needed him to take over the navigation of my boat, he would do a good job. Seeing how he was coming from Dana Point we agreed to meet at the lake.

I’m considering fishing an upcoming tournament at Diamond Valley Lake, even though I have only fished it once, and since I knew that Mark had fished it quite a few times I took along a topographical map of the lake to ask him to share some spots with me. I also knew that Mark had the Lowrance HDS unit with Structure Scan and seeing how mine is still very new to me I thought I could get a “Tutorial” from him on some of tips and techniques with the system so I was looking forward to the day on the water with him.

I checked the early morning weather temperatures 2 days prior and it was very cold in the mornings, well below freezing. I also checked the hourly forecast for the day we were meeting and it was going to be just as cold as it had been so I made sure to pack the cold weather gear.

As agreed, we met for breakfast at 0700 at The Dam Corner restaurant. When I arrived in the parking lot I looked at the temp gauge on my mirror and it read 25 degrees, yep it was cold. Seeing Marks vehicle in the parking lot, I knew he would already in the restaurant instead of freezing in his truck.

We placed our orders and I broke out the DVL topographical map and proceeded to pick his brain about the lake. After advice on several spots several of the locals that I have known for years came in for breakfast. I asked how they were doing and what they had been up to. I also inquired about the bite on the lake. Of course they said that before the cold front came through the previous week the bass were starting to get active and stage on outside points but after the past front they moved back out deep and shut off, just like I figured. We finished eating and said good bye to everyone and proceeded to drive to the launch ramp.

5 minutes later we arrived at the ramp. As I crest the hill I notice that there are no other vehicles in the parking lot, hmm. According to the temp gauge on the mirror, it had gotten warmed. It was now a warm balmy 29 degrees outside, burrrr! The sun was coming up over the mountains and starting to warm things up as we prepared the boat in the parking lot. I have to admit it was a little difficult hooking up the electronics while wearing gloves but I got it done.

Backing the boat down to the water the outside temp had made it up to 36, yeah buddy, that’s more like it, HA! I hop into the boat and Mark splash’s the boat. Of course the Mercury Opti Max fires right up, its gonna be a good day! As Mark is parking the truck I put on the balaclava and beanie on my head, step into my foul weather bibs and zip the legs closed. Of course I have my thermals on under my jeans as well as under my shirt and sweat shirt as well as gloves. I then put on my Gortex jacket followed by the Oakley H20 goggles. All bundled up and ready to go. The funny thing is Mark was not nearly as prepared as I was for the cold as I was and he chuckled at how I looked as we idled up to the end of the no wake zone. Got the Champion up on plane and headed out to Rocky Point and he very soon learned that there was a good reason I dressed the way I did. Yes, it was cold!

As we pulled up close I got off plane and turned on the Lowrance HDS-8 and Structure Scan to see exactly what the structure was that I have been fishing all these years. Let me tell you what, I’m very impressed with the unit. It’s almost like having an under water camera. After a quick on the water tutorial we were ready to fish.

The bite was very slow, I got 3 bites all day, landed 2 of them, 1 about 4 pounds and the other about 3, I dont bother taking pictures of bass if they are not at least 5 pounds because anything smaller than 5 looks tiny when I’m holding them, HA! Mark got 3 bites and missed all of them. All bites came on slow dragging Custom made Yamamoto jigs and Ikas in 25-35 feet of water.

We talked to 4 other boats and nobody else even got bit so we did pretty good for as slow as it was. I figure, give it a few weeks of stable weather and the bite should take off.

While scanning an area I’ve fished for years to see what was actually down there, I had the Down and Side Scan windows up and the down scan showed me what looked like a big rocket standing up, HUH??!!!! So I proceeded to drive around the area to get a side scan view of it. As it turns out it’s a bass boat standing upright. It appears that the motor is sitting on the bottom and I’m guessing that there must be air trapped in the front to make it stand up like it is. Of course I marked it as a waypoint so once I figure out how to do screen shots I’ll show it to you. Pretty cool stuff!

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon.

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!