Laguna Niguel Lake 3/15
On the to-do list for this year was trout fishing at Laguna Niguel Lake. This is one of those fisheries where you don’t need a license; the $20 permit pays for the stockings from private hatcheries. To make the effort worth the bucks you better catch the allowed limit of five.
Years ago I fished there with Breakwalls Tim and Robert following their plan. You park on Yosemite Road off La Paz Road, walk under a giant culvert tunnel to the east shore of the lake. You stake out a likely clearing and have Tim’s ten-year-old nephew pedal his bike over to the concessionaire to buy tickets. The objective is to get a good spot before anyone else and you don’t have to pay for parking.
I followed that plan today. With my bicycle in the truck bed I picked up Breakwall Dan at 5:30 so that we could stake out a portion of shoreline and make it to the sales office by the six o’clock opening.
Problem was trying to find clear shoreline on that side of the lake. In the dark we could only find a couple of openings in the weeds ‘n’ reeds and they all had large trees overhead. Seems lake management is keeping this side overgrown to discourage anglers from using free street parking. Shore fishing was a lot easier back in '01.
I pedaled over to buy the permits and upon returning to our camp there was enough light to see the plan wasn’t going to work very well today as anywhere we would fish the reeds would pose a barrier.
This was evidenced by the only hook-up between the two of us all day, when Dan hooked a big one on Gulp trout dough. He fought it gently on his four-pound outfit until he had it at his feet. The lunker darted right for the reeds and broke off.
I tried a few openings, near the dam, between the island, and right next to Dan, who said a float tube guy a hundred yards out caught two nice trout on nightcrawlers. I said dam, that’s what I been using all morning on one of my poles, an inflated ‘crawler and on the other various turns with PowerBait, Gulp, Troutkrilla and Nitro.
Earlier I was fishing where a gaggle of geese were dabbling on the hillside and when they decided to return to the water they paddled off with both my lines around their ankles. I see my dough bait rod yank down violently then go slack as if I snagged something before the birds broke it off. Not exactly. I start to reel in some dead weight and land my only hook-up of the day, a plastic cup.
The other two hook-ups broke me off. Those would be the two times the wind blew my line into the trees upon casting.
As noon approached we scratched Laguna Niguel off the to-do list and also that other sheet of paper, the ever-to-do list.
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From Dougfish:
Whats up Dufish, If you want to catch a limit of trout go back to Diamond Valley, third cove on the right and fish the shallow water near the big cement pilings in the back of the cove. My son and I limited out there 2 weeks ago on worms and power-bait. Then I saw the picture you posted of that guy who caught the 4 pounder. My son caught 2 fish right there at that exact same spot as well. Another guy and his 2 kids showed and they were catching them too, right next to us.
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Took the 400 up the Coyote Canyon staircase in Anza-Borrego 3/13. Having the bike up there, I was able to investigate all the bloom around Middle Willows and the upper canyons in less than half the time it would have if I were to have driven the trails with the 4x4.
All of the lower elevations were blooming nicely but still it looks like another week before the peak. Walking south across the creek from Middle Willows the slopes were decked in brilliant blues, reds and yellows. I could find only 1 beavertail and 1 fishhook cactus blooming. The hedgehogs have a month to go.
Up into the higher elevations of Indian and Sheep Canyons the only thing going were a few dandelions and a lot of chuparosa. The brittlebush has a couple weeks to go, many buds but no bloom.
Spotted a couple of chuckwallas running around but they're tough to get close to for a shot.
Henderson Canyon still has vast Panamint daisies.
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Took the 400 to highway 177 north of Desert Center 3/9. The bloom everywhere was spectacular. The MWD maintenance road heading west along the south slope of the Coxcomb Mountains had the no motorcycles sign but it was well maintained and was not bumpy at all for the 10 miles I drove it with the bike in the truck bed.
Across 177 is the desert lily preserve but nothing was blooming there. The lilies in the pics are about five miles south on the west side of the road.
In the afternoon I rode the bike on Palen Pass road east to the pass. That road is way rough, about 3 miles of deep sand then 4 miles of of rocks, washouts and staircases. It was more a Jeep or YZ dirt bike road than a pee wee DT enduro road. Bike ran great but got shaken up more than I wanted it to. The thing is 31 years old and I just restored it. A lot of interesting geology back in there with some old mines and such and also very green. Still might have a couple weeks of bloom left.
