San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Arrived at 4am with @RickM and we were super excited to experience the "new" lake, and indeed it definitely feels different with the water levels so high. Parking was great and the haul down with a battery and trolling motor was much easier since the dock was so close.

The boat ride to Hauser was difficult. It was dark, and although we had LED headlamps, they didn't help much because it was so foggy and we could only see 10 ft ahead of us before everything was washed out. Kept them on for safety though.

We used Google Maps to determine our location in real time and eventually blind boated all the way to the middle of Hauser.

At 5:19am, I caught my first bass, a monster 2.5 pounder that absolutely smashed a popper. Had another bite a few casts later, and I thought we were onto a top water pattern, but after 30 minutes, nothing. Like the report from the 20th, we just couldn't seem to find a pattern. A few jerkbait fish, one on the lipless crankbait, a couple on dropshot. By 10am we only had 8 fish on the boat, but everything seemed a bit random. Sonar picked up HUGE schools beneath us in the middle of the lake, and I was able to pick off one of them with a lipless crank. Again. random.

That is, until 11am when we found a pattern and the bite picked up.

After my first crappie ever (1.51 on a lipless, yay!) we ended up toward the end of Hauser amongst some trees and bushes near the shoreline, and that's where we found the honey holes. From 11am and on, it was non-stop. Rick and I doubled up a few times, and we couldn't believe how even casting into the same bush, there seemed to be a half dozen fish we could pick out of there. After it died down, we just moved over 20ft to the next set of trees, and it was on again. Here's what the areas looked like just for reference:
We tried some jigs (and caught a couple), but it was a dropshot setup with a 6" Roboworm that just smashed. By the end of the day, we caught 62 fish total, again most happening after 11am over by the trees on the shoreline. Average size was over 2 pounds, our largest being 3.5 pounds from one of the honey holes.

Also caught a couple tagged fish, which was really cool. Teardrop weights were getting caught up less on the dropshot setup, and it was the Margherita Mutilator color that was rocking all afternoon. Left around 4:30, and it was definitely THE best fishing trip both Rick and I ever had. Thank you Barrett!

Nice! I think sometimes people get hung up on covering water there. I’ve had days where making the same cast over and over produced 30-40 fish off one “spot”

StinkyPinky23 wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2023 9:37 am Nice! I think sometimes people get hung up on covering water there. I’ve had days where making the same cast over and over produced 30-40 fish off one “spot”

So true, I remember one year, the bushes at the turn of pigs point dirt ramp were so loaded with fish, we’d kick in to leave and pick up another 20 fish or so each on one bush from shore.

Nice job, beautiful crappie! Do you know how the fishing back in Pine is?

Great to see the good success. Hauser sure is fun with all the new trees in the water. I like the little "private fishing rooms" that the trees have created. I really should head down to Pine, but it's so hard to leave fish to find fish. Especially with how brutal the afternoon wind is.

@SjW We were literally going to head to Pine but then we noticed all the fish on the finder down through the middle of Hauser. That lead is further into Hauser where we got into all the fish. So we never made it to Pine.

Thanks, just curious I've always done really well back in Pines. Find out which is better Saturday

I'm guessing Pines would be amazing. I think most of us are getting stuck in Hauser, when we are on the way, which isn't a bad thing. I'm going tomorrow and I'll try to be disciplined and pedal down to Pines.

Nice report. Way to stick with it and find the fish.

Early release wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2023 8:08 am I'm guessing Pines would be amazing. I think most of us are getting stuck in Hauser, when we are on the way, which isn't a bad thing. I'm going tomorrow and I'll try to be disciplined and pedal down to Pines.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes! Tight lines.

My sons and I fished Pine on Sunday from 5:45 to 10am and pulled out 23. Most of those caught between 5:45 and 8am and all right around 2 pounds. Caught on Whopper Ploppers, underspin, jerkbait and Wacky rigged Senko. Mainly fished the area half way down on the west side where the rocky points used to be visible. Tried down at the end with all the new water and had no luck.

Went to Pine arm today. Posted as the report for the 24th. We were right. It's great back there.

That 11AM was right on. Exact same thing for me. I had not had a bite till 11AM. After 11AM caught 5 in one spot in just 10 minutes. I pity all the people that left with the notion that they were not biting that day. It was fun and worth the trip. Senkos, keitechs and Robo MM.