THE OUTDOORS : Top Bass : San Diego City Lakes Offer Fishermen a Chance to Land Florida Largemouth

Ask the average Southerner if he’s tried bass fishing in California and he may ask you when you’re going skiing in the Sahara.

But there’s more to Golden State angling than trout and saltwater species. California bass fishermen will match their state against any other, and even a few outsiders are aware of the state’s prime fisheries for Florida largemouth that have developed in recent years.

“People from Georgia and Florida come here to get a bass for their wall,” says Jim Brown, recreation program manager for the San Diego City Lakes, a division of the Water Utilities Dept. “People fly here from Florida to fish for Florida bass.”

There may be better individual bass lakes in the state--some say Clear Lake in Northern California; others say Castaic Lake north of Los Angeles, where in January Danny Kadota of La Palma caught a 19.04-pound largemouth that could be a world record for 14-pound line. But for a group of lakes, San Diego’s would be difficult to challenge for quantity and size of fish.

Seven of the San Diego lakes, all created as water supply reservoirs at the turn of the century, are open for fishing, with Lake Hodges and Lower Otay rated the best for bass.

Actually, Lake Barrett in eastern San Diego County may be the best of all--anywhere--but local property owners have kept the lake closed by limiting access to it.

“It would be the best thing for the reservoir to open it, because those fish need to be thinned,” says Larry Bottroff, a Department of Fish and Game fisheries biologist based in the area. “There are lots of fish in there.”

Some enterprising locals have tried to do their part--illegally.

DFG game warden Robert Turner said: “They either walk in or put a bike over the gate--even a motorcycle through the fence. Some guys were even flying ultralights in there.

“We’ve written some of them three or four times. They just roll over when we catch ‘em, but the penalty isn’t severe enough to discourage them.”

Besides, Turner said, the lake has “incredible bass.”

It all started with Father Junipero Serra, founder of California’s missions. Shortly after he built the San Diego mission, he realized there wasn’t enough water to sustain it, so he moved it to lowlands near the San Diego River.

Then Padre Dam was built in 1790, creating the Western United States’ first artificial irrigation system, and Cuyamaca Dam in 1886 launched a series of reservoirs that became the current system.

The bass were imported in 1959.

“Initially, we didn’t have the results we’ve had in the last few years because we didn’t have the water,” Bottroff said. “When the reservoirs filled in 1978, that’s when our fishing was the best it’s ever been. It peaked out in 1983, and since then we’ve been in a drought condition where we’re starting to see a decline in our fisheries.”

But even in decline, they remain better than most.

“Most of our reservoirs are small and very shallow, and we don’t have as cold a weather in the wintertime, so (the fish) have a longer growing season,” Bottroff said. “We have a shad forage for most of the reservoirs and very good growth.”

Hodges, three miles south of Escondido along Interstate 15, is most accessible to the Los Angeles-Orange County area, which contributes about 40% of its business. Although it’s open only four days a week--Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday--31,000 permits were issued last year.

“It has one of the largest surface areas to the volume, and it’s spread out over a lot of shallow areas where you have excellent spawning conditions,” Bottroff said. “When these reservoirs filled, there was a tremendous amount of riparian (waterside) habitat and chaparral that was inundated, and that provides a lot of cover for fish.”

Bass love underwater cover, and Brown said that although some of Florida’s better fisheries produce one nine-pound-plus bass per 10 surface acres, Hodges yields about one every four acres. The lake record is a 20-pound 4-ounce largemouth taken by Gene Dupras of Lakeside, Calif. in 1983.

Unfortunately, much of that cover is no longer under water. When its season opened a week ago, Hodges’ level was down 15 1/2 feet below spill level, or 37% below capacity. Surface area had shrunk from 1,234 acres maximum to 870, and the new six-lane launching ramp built last year was high and dry.

Damkeeper Bill Basom, the lake manager, had extended two lanes into the water with steel planks, but a couple of fishermen trying to launch their boats the evening before the opening backed their trailer wheels off the planks. Basom, using a grappling hook from his own boat, hoisted them out by lifting the backs of the trailers as the anglers drove out.

All in a day’s work.

Basom was a local DFG warden until ’85 when he went to work for the San Diego water department. He has seen the lake’s highs and lows.

“One year it opened late because the water was too high, six feet going over the spillway,” he said.

Otherwise, the decision when to open the season each year depends on water levels and is made only about a week in advance, limiting public notice.

Still, before dawn last Wednesday cars with boat trailers were lined up for nearly a mile along the lake road, waiting for the gate to open.

“People back East ask when we’re going to open because they plan their vacations,” Basom said. “There were two guys here last year . . . rented one of our boats. First couple of days they were blanked but then they each caught a nice one. They were wrapping the fish up so they could take ‘em home and have ‘em mounted.”

Brown says that even with the water levels low, the fishing is still good by comparison to other places, and some locals don’t appreciate how good they have it.

“You talk to someone from Modesto or L.A. and they tell you how great it is,” Brown said. “Someone from San Diego will tell you all their problems with it.”

Steve Carson of San Diego had no complaints on opening day. His 10-pound 7-ounce largemouth was one of the biggest of the day.

“I’ve been fishing the lake since it opened, but we come on opening day for this,” he said, holding up his prize. “We lost a bigger one five minutes earlier.”

Basom advised anyone planning to fish Hodges: “Find a buddy who knows the lake. We’ll try to tell people at the dock. If the fish haven’t spawned, they’ll go up in the shallows. If there’s a good shad population, they could be around the docks, or they could build up in big schools in deeper water.”

Carson said he figures he knows the lake as well as anyone, but “every drop-off, every good brush (area), every good spot on this lake has somebody on it. There are no secrets on this lake.”

But the best tip: “The biggest fish are caught with live crawdads,” Basom said.

Basom said he has even caught bass with crappie jigs--and the truth comes out. Basom is a closet crappie angler.

“They’re the best eating fish on the lake,” he said. “Some people will say catfish are, but the crappie are real mild and flaky, like ocean perch. I want a three-pound crappie, that’s what I want.”

Others come to Hodges and the San Diego lakes with bigger ideas.

“The reservoirs are very warm water (with a) tremendous amount of forage for the bass and a long growing season . . . and because the Floridas are a little more difficult to catch, they have a pretty good longevity,” Bottroff said. “Some of those fish will push 16, 17 pounds this year.”

But with the drought stretched into its third year, the future of the San Diego lakes is uncertain.

“A couple of our reservoirs are down to their lowest limits,” Bottroff said. “Sutherland is down really low, and Hodges will be down quite low by the end of this summer.”

Bottroff said the best lake this year is expected to be Lower Otay.

“The water conditions are good,” he said. “We have fairly high levels and good production. That will be our best bass fishery this next year. That will probably last for one more season, and then you’ll see that reservoir drop to a low level, too, and the fishery not be as good.”

Bottroff said the lakes probably won’t drop low enough to cause fish kills.

“We have base levels through a verbal agreement we have with the city, so they’ll drop down to a certain point and they’ll hold ‘em.”

However, Basom said: “The business we’re in is providing water. The recreation is secondary.”

Perhaps, but while it lasts, the fishing is second to none.