A little El Cap action....

[Mcfish]

I haven't been to El Cap in quite awhile, been waiting for my favorite time of year! I started out throwing a small jerkbait, picked up 5 or 6 fish not far from the launch. When it slowed, I moved up to the north arm in search of breaking fish, but it was all quiet when I arrived! I worked some shoreline, throwing some different topwater baits, but couldn't get any reaction bites. I continued to keep an eye out for busters out deep and they finally came up around 9:00! I chased them for a couple hours, boated 6 or 7 more school fish, mostly on small flukes! Once the topwater died off, I threw some spoons for another 3 fish. After that I spent an hour or so dropshotting but came up with nothing. The fish really seem to be keying on baitfish. I finished the day with 16 fish, nothing big but all fun. This time of year it's all location, location, location, to connect with the busting fish!

[CorsoEnthusiast]

I haven't been to El Cap in quite awhile, been waiting for my favorite time of year! I started out throwing a small jerkbait, picked up 5 or 6 fish not far from the launch. When it slowed, I moved up to the north arm in search of breaking fish, but it was all quiet when I arrived! I worked some shoreline, throwing some different topwater baits, but couldn't get any reaction bites. I continued to keep an eye out for busters out deep and they finally came up around 9:00! I chased them for a couple hours, boated 6 or 7 more school fish, mostly on small flukes! Once the topwater died off, I threw some spoons for another 3 fish. After that I spent an hour or so dropshotting but came up with nothing. The fish really seem to be keying on baitfish. I finished the day with 16 fish, nothing big but all fun. This time of year it's all location, location, location, to connect with the busting fish!20231003_074742.jpg20231003_070101.jpg20231003_082321.jpg20231003_090403.jpg

Yup, the shore bite there is all but dead right now. No bait up shallow = no fish up shallow. The place to be is out in open water on those schooling fish. Nice work!

[VinnyBass]

Thanks for posting a nice fish report @McFish. Great to see you out exploring. You even went to Murray recently. I have held back
from posting Murray reports lately as guys are probably saying...."geez another stupid fish report from Murray from VinnyBass."
Your persistence paid off as so often this year the bass at a number of lakes have been finicky at times. Seeing the word "spoon"
in your post was unusual and the day you post you caught some bass and use the word "Tokyo rig"...I will be shocked and amazed!
Nice job out there at El Cap.
Tight lines always.

[Mcfish]

I haven't been to El Cap in quite awhile, been waiting for my favorite time of year! I started out throwing a small jerkbait, picked up 5 or 6 fish not far from the launch. When it slowed, I moved up to the north arm in search of breaking fish, but it was all quiet when I arrived! I worked some shoreline, throwing some different topwater baits, but couldn't get any reaction bites. I continued to keep an eye out for busters out deep and they finally came up around 9:00! I chased them for a couple hours, boated 6 or 7 more school fish, mostly on small flukes! Once the topwater died off, I threw some spoons for another 3 fish. After that I spent an hour or so dropshotting but came up with nothing. The fish really seem to be keying on baitfish. I finished the day with 16 fish, nothing big but all fun. This time of year it's all location, location, location, to connect with the busting fish!20231003_074742.jpg20231003_070101.jpg20231003_082321.jpg20231003_090403.jpg

Yup, the shore bite there is all but dead right now. No bait up shallow = no fish up shallow. The place to be is out in open water on those schooling fish. Nice work!

Yep, the schooling fish are eager and willing..the shore fish were nonexistent where I was sure they would be! Fortunately, I set my goal to chase busters and schoolies!

[Mcfish]

Thanks for posting a nice fish report @McFish. Great to see you out exploring. You even went to Murray recently. I have held back
from posting Murray reports lately as guys are probably saying...."geez another stupid fish report from Murray from VinnyBass."
Your persistence paid off as so often this year the bass at a number of lakes have been finicky at times. Seeing the word "spoon"
in your post was unusual and the day you post you caught some bass and use the word "Tokyo rig"...I will be shocked and amazed!
Nice job out there at El Cap.
Tight lines always.

Put your Tokyo rig away til March..it's time to chase busters! I'll warn the fish that you're coming with your topwater and metal! No forward scanning allowed.....!

[Fisheromen]

El Cap was a quandary for me early in the year. Have not been back.

[Mcfish]

El Cap was a quandary for me early in the year. Have not been back.

Most of the lakes were a puzzle this year...but they're starting to come around! There's no quitting now!!

[Early release]

I was going to go to San V this weekend with my son, so we'd be renting a boat. I haven't ever been to El Cap though. This is a great post to inspire a trip to El Cap. But, on the SD website there's no information on boat rentals. Does anyone know that they do rent boats ? I did try two different browsers and a couple different searches for boat rentals, but they all seem to be very old and the phone number I found is disconnected.

[HawgHustlers]

No boat rentals at El Cap.

[CorsoEnthusiast]

I was going to go to San V this weekend with my son, so we'd be renting a boat. I haven't ever been to El Cap though. This is a great post to inspire a trip to El Cap. But, on the SD website there's no information on boat rentals. Does anyone know that they do rent boats ? I did try two different browsers and a couple different searches for boat rentals, but they all seem to be very old and the phone number I found is disconnected.

No concessions or boat rentals at Cap. I would hit San V and rent a boat. My last couple of Cap shore trips it has felt like everything up shallow was dead water.

[Early release]

Ok, thanks for the help, I'll head to San V. Haven't seen a lot of postings on San V on this site though. Doesn't anyone go there? And, yes, I know I am guilty of not going there.

[VinnyBass]

Hey guys, since you are on the subject of El Cap, just a friendly reminder that the lake is closed the first Friday of the month….which is tomorrow(Oct. 6).
Just in case anybody was planning to head out there tomorrow.

[CorsoEnthusiast]

Hey guys, since you are on the subject of El Cap, just a friendly reminder that the lake is closed the first Friday of the month….which is tomorrow(Oct. 6).
Just in case anybody was planning to head out there tomorrow.

I am taking a break from Cap till I have my tube gear and can get off the shore lol. Normally I’d be heading out Friday after work but the bite there lately hasn’t been worth it from the bank. Gonna be focusing on points east of SD county for the coming months, methinks.

[KillinTime]

I was looking at windy.com and it looked like the Santa Ana winds were hitting head on with the on shore stuff right over the Alpine area. I said to my wife, looks like a great day to be on El Cap. How was the wind?

Looks like a fun day!

[JWall]

Hey guys, since you are on the subject of El Cap, just a friendly reminder that the lake is closed the first Friday of the month….which is tomorrow(Oct. 6).
Just in case anybody was planning to head out there tomorrow.

I have made that mistake…once. When I realized there was nobody ahead or behind me most of the way out El Monte I had that Oh S*** moment. Turned it around just in time for the V though.

[JWall]

Ok, thanks for the help, I'll head to San V. Haven't seen a lot of postings on San V on this site though. Doesn't anyone go there? And, yes, I know I am guilty of not going there.

Light line and small finesse baits. Sometimes up tight but many are found above the structure/cover (aka trees) out in deeper water. Without your usual FF, look for guys fishing a bit farther out and try their depths.

[VinnyBass]

Hey guys, since you are on the subject of El Cap, just a friendly reminder that the lake is closed the first Friday of the month….which is tomorrow(Oct. 6).
Just in case anybody was planning to head out there tomorrow.

I have made that mistake…once. When I realized there was nobody ahead or behind me most of the way out El Monte I had that Oh S*** moment. Turned it around just in time for the V though.

It's good that those lakes are fairly close to each other.
Years ago I joined my buddy Tim to head out to San V.. I believe on a weekend. When we arrived in the dark, the line was all the way back to the Moreno Ave... well before the lower level lot. There was a huge tournament that somehow got re-routed there that was supposed to be at Otay I believe. The line was unbelievable and now we were boxed in as trucks and boats were behind us and my buddy Tim was getting upset. It was crazy as there was no way to make a u-turn on that small road. Tim jumped out of his truck, unhitched his boat went back and forth a bunch of times and somehow made a u-turn with his truck. Then we both guided the trailer to the left and then made a u-turn with it and he hitched it up and off we went to El Cap.
It was pretty wild, but took a bad situation and made it better as we ended up having a great day with lots of topwater bass(nothing big) including some double hook-ups.

[RamonaAngler]

16 is a very good day IMHO @Mcfish Great to hear they're starting to bust. I haven't been to El Cap since early spring. I'll be hitting San V instead. Thanks for the report and hope to see you out there.