Southern CA Freshwater Fishing Report

Trout still chewing and warm-water species starting to show at Jess Ranch Lakes BY BRADLEY SCHWEIT/WON Staff WriterPublished: May 16, 2012

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APPLE VALLEY — The warm weather had the trout bite fluctuating a bit this past week at the Jess Ranch Lakes, but for the fishery’s warm-water species, it was a little slice o’ heaven. “The trout bite was up and down with the temperatures this past week,” said lakes’ staffer Theresa Llao. “The best bite was before 10 a.m., with anglers using PowerBait (especially Salmon Peach, rainbow, garlic and orange), nightcrawlers, jigs and lures to catch limits and lots of fish near or over 2 pounds. Hot spots included the eastern and western shores of Lake 3, as well as the northern and southwestern shores of Lake 2.” Eugene Todd of Victorville used a white Power Trout Worm from the grassy point of Lake 3 for a 7-pound, 5-ounce rainbow. Robby Gorman of Upland scored a 4.7 pounder on rainbow PowerBait fished from the eastern shore of Lake 3. Hesperia angler, Larry Pete, also used PowerBait (orange) for a 3.15-pound trout at the eastern shore of Lake 3 near the bridge. Heidi Farnsworth of Twentynine Palms had a 3.9 pounder to cap her limit of ’bows caught on nightcrawlers from the north shore of Lake 2. Rancho Cucamonga angler, Fred Winterswyk, also had a limit of trout totaling 11 pounds and topped by a 3.1 pounder on Jake’s Lures fished from the western shore of Lake 3 near the bridge. He creeled his limit by 7:45 a.m.     “The catfish bite is good,” Llao added, “with anglers using shrimp, mackerel and nightcrawlers to catch fish up to 10 pounds. Hot spots for catfish included the eastern and western shores of Lake 2 and the eastern shore and grassy point of Lake 3. Bass are active and spawning, with anglers reporting great action on Senkos, spinnerbaits and nightcrawlers, with bass weighing up to 7 pounds. Hot spots for bass are the southeastern shore of Lake 2 and the northern shore of Lake 3. Bluegill are just beginning to move on mealworms and jigs near the wall and western shore of Lake 2.” Quoc Mai of Upland landed a 10-pound, 6-ounce catfish using shrimp from the western shore of Lake 2 near the drain. EUGENE TODD of Victorville used a white Power Trout Worm from the grassy point of Lake 3 at the Jess Ranch Lakes for this 7-pound, 5-ounce rainbow.