It's been a while since I've posted a fishing report. Mostly because I've been out of action since around Dec. 1.

But traditionally I've set the date of Feb. 15 as the time I begin my yearly attack on the Lagoon. So besides the cold weather forecast I was determined to give it a shot and get back into action today as planned.

Man was it cold. The website I always check the weather on, weatherforyou.com, ( http://www.weatherforyou.com/cgi-bin/hw3/hw3.cgi?nc=config%2Cforecast%2Cpands%2Ccountry&forecast=zandh&pands=Castaic+CA&submit=Go ) said the wind chill was 32 and there was slight 3 mph wind from the north, barometer was 30.03 and falling. When I got out to my car at 5:30 AM my windshield was completely frozen over.


OK, I know you guys from the North and East are probably laughing pretty good right now but hey man!!!! This is LA I'm talking about here.

Anyway, since my defogger on the '92 Bonneville was disconnected a ways back I knew I was gonna have to drive 20 miles, all the way to Castaic with the windows rolled down.

But what the heck, I wasn't gonna let a little detail like that stop me from opening my season on schedule. So off I went.

When I did get to the Lagoon I was fairly wide awake, got my gear out of the trunk and made my way down to my spot... yep the air temp was 32 alright. Threw the thermometer in the water and began casting out my cinnamon purple flake Bass Pro Shops Tournament Series worm on my baitcaster rig.


I was fishing this on a 6.5 ft. Medium Hard action rod, Quantum reel, and 8 lb. Maxima fluorocarbon line. Spent most of my time with this rig today.

When I finally went to check the water temp it was 48.

Wow, I could tell it was gonna be a tough one from the shoreline today. But not to worry, it was just the start of my season and I've become used to these sorts of little setbacks at the Lagoon.

My friend the crane didn't seem to mind the cold. Although I noticed he wasn't fishing, just collecting nest building materials today.


A while back I had met up with Butch Brown and I got my daughter to take this pic of me and Butch at the launch ramp.


Butch was showing us some nice sized crappie that he had caught.


While we were conversing there I asked Butch if he had been fishing with the new weedless model Huddleston. He said yeah but that most of the time he was fishing with the big ROF12. He asked me if I had tried them yet and I said no... I was just curious if he thought they were good.

Being the nice guy that he is he gave me one to try out which I was fishing with today. And as always when you see this guy in the neighborhood you know you're in the right spot to catch some big bass.


So I got to try out the new Huddleston weedless today. I rigged it up on the same rod I had been fishing the BPS worm on.


The lure makes a great imitation of the typical stocker trout. This one is the 6" size.


The way it's designed there is a pretty much hollow spot up at the top where the hook is hiding.

And the tie on eyelet is also buried into the nose of the lure so you have to push the plastic of the lure back to tie it on. After you tie on, it sets back into the plastic of the lure for a very natural presentation.


While testing it out today I did notice that it does swim along the bottom and it is quite easy to keep it going just fast enough to keep the tail in action and go along bumping off the top of the rocks without snagging up.

I can see that the lure does have a lot of potential and I'll be spending a lot of time with it on my next outing.

Sorry to say I didn't get any bites today but at least I got out there and gave it my best shot.

It was a good thing that reason got the better part of me and I left the Jack Daniels home and opted for the long thermal underwear. You know, the ones the hunters prefer with the hatch in the back and two more layers of thermal shirts on top of that.

I had to split around noon with a big fat zero. By that time I was beginning to feel some lower back spasms due to standing in the cold for so long. The temperature had clawed it's way up to 52 and the breeze had picked up to about 10. The water was still a chilly 50 when I left.

But come to think of it, after spending half an hour on the freeway at 60 MPH with the windows rolled down, 32 didn't seem to be that cold at the lake after all.

I'll get 'em next time. Good fishing to you guys, later

Nice stuff Geo. Those are some big crappie!!! I heard that you just got snow to make that cold snap even worse!!!!!!!!!!! I think the trailer was delivering some new hudds to you.

Nice report Geo. That's really nice of Butch to give you one of those Hudds... They really do look awesome.

Nice to see that even you guys get some cold weather once in a while...

BC

Thanks guys, yeah Butch is a super nice guy.

I've been very fortunate to get to know him over the six years I've been fishing at Castaic. When he starts talkin' fishing, especially about the Lagoon and trophy bass I am ALL EARS!!

Talk about dedication to the sport and catching huge bass, and on top of it all the guy is so humble. In my opinion he is probably the most likely guy to become the next world record holder for LMB. I will not be at all surprised when that happens.

I see him there all the time, and I have heard that Butch fishes the Lagoon about 300 days per year.

Talking to Butch, sometimes the stories he tells makes the hair stand up on my arms. He has been very encouraging to me, and I have definitely been inspired by him.

Later.......

Way to get out there Geo...I got out for a few hours to the local pond a few weeks ago...Ya Butch is a good guy from everyone who has talked to him...I have yet to talk to him on the lake. But that's awesome he gave you that swimmie...now make it payoff and stick a fish on it.

Take care Brotha...

If I ever make it out to the Castaic I will be looking up all you guys. You all are a terrific and friendly bunch of fisherman. It would be great to meet you all.

You gotta love these videos that Butch made:

If those vids where given to bassmaster magazine, it would be the cover title and the lagoon would be full of non-local fisherman

Geo, keeep that hudd in shape, dont let the line tie area get ripped up like mine

Do you guys want me to remove those videos? I don't want to promote over fishing on your home waters... I just liked watching Butch catch those pigs. I figured because they were on YouTube, what harm could it do posting them here. We only get about 45,000 unique vistors a month here...

Everyone in the area where i live has seen the fish that i have put in the ponds . And asked me where i caught them .Before i knew it 2 of my 4 fishing holes with big bass is alwayz bein fished hard . Before nobody fished it . I'm not mad about it , but i will keep my fishin holes to myself and to out of town friends . Man those are nice fish .