6/14 Salton Sea report (sorry, no Yak action)

[Limits]

This is a report (cut n' paste job) I posted on another fishing site. Excuse the obscure references....




If you're not a frequent viewer of the non-surf fishing reports board, you might have missed one of the best, most informative reports on the Salton Sea you'll find on any fishing site; maybe even the internet in general.

Dan (aka TrabucoDan) posted the following gem, that provided every bit of information you'd need to successfully fish the Salton Sea. He's done all the research and leg work (literally); all you have to do is follow his lead and go catch fish.

I hadn't been to the Salton Sea in over 30 years and when I saw Dan's report, it brought back memories of WFO tilapia harvesting we had of yester year. (not fishing. back then, I would wade out into knee deep water and the fish were so abundant, they were bumping into my legs. I was catching them by hand because oxygen levels was so low, they didn't have enough energy to swim away from my hands! NO JOKE)

Needless to say, the thought of making a trek out there before the peak of summer was on my mind and in speaking with a few fellow SCers, it seemed to be a common goal.

A few calls and PMs later, Dan and Ron (aka: hammr) were down for the road trip.

I left my house early to meet the boys at designated pick up spots.



Once we were on the road, with the good convesation, it seemed like a very short ride before we were pulling up at the Sea (total distance from my home to the state park area was 165 miles)



It was barely 6:30 and there were a couple of cars already there with anglers on the shoreline.

As Dan mentioned previously, the air was far from disgusting. There was definitely an air of saltiness and the slightest hint of rotting fish, but after a few minutes, it wasn't even noticeable.

While we geared up, a group close by would start pulling in fish. A good sign, but as we would soon find, its basically a gimey that there would be fish.

As I walked up to the waters edge, there was plenty of catch and release casualties. However, the fish are so abundant, we could keep hundreds of pounds of fish each and NOT make a dent in the population.


My first cast with the 4# test ultralight outfit would get hung up but as I would tug to free it from the structure, I'd get a 'thump' and wouldn't you know it; lost my sinker, but it was fish on!

It was fish on from the first cast with the benefit of no "first cast curse".


Some more pics for your viewing pleasure:

Ron (hammr) going bendo. It was that wide open!



Dan with a 12+ inch model.


The smaller ones looked a lot like bluegill. So we'd catch either 10+ inch models, or smaller ones like this guy. He's definitely a tilapia, but we'd refer to them as 'bluegill' because of their appearance/size similarties.


The first ice chest was quickly filling up. The fishing was so fast and furious, I started to impose a 'slot limit' with fish needing to be at least 12 inches to keep. Yeah, we were jaded...


Ron was raiding the nursery for most of the AM so Dan and I took to loading up the coolers.

Here's a video of Dan showing how WFO the bite was.



Ok, that didn't go over as well as the action had been so here's take 2.



The bite on the larger models started to slow around 10 AM but the fishing was still hot.

A lot of fish were culled, with tons of 'bluegill' sized models to be had.

We finally called it a day at 1:30.

Some side notes:
I don't know if the fishing gets better when it gets hotter, but from our experience, it seems the bite was much better first thing in the AM.

Nightcrawlers were the ticket, but they would hit a plastic worm if you dangled it in front of them long enough. I think some scent would help but we didn't bother going that far into the plastic worm experiment.

I used an ultralight, 4# outfit and it was a blast. Although you do get hung up on occassion and the bigger models will pull you into some kind of structure. If you use 8+ lb test, you can easily horse 2 fish in at a time.

I tried a 2 hook, high-low combination and had several doubles before I switched back to one hook. It is like fishing at a fish farm there.

The DFG did make an appearance and checked licenses. So you poachers out there, you have been warned.

Dan noticed that there were probably 4 times the number of people he saw the week before. Hmmm....makes you wonder....





Anywho, thanks to Dan for making the trek out there again and Ron for the company (and beer!). I might try to make one more trip out there with the family. I'll keep you boys posted!

See you guys Saturday.

[maui jim]

SWEET....Wide open Talipia...Nice...any sign of those orange mouth monsters?....

[DESTROYER]

No more Corvina? Almost 12 years ago a friend of mine went out there on his kayak and nailed some 20lbers. I've heard they are no longer. Just wondering what you hear?

Matt

[wolfman]

I used to catch huge corvina when I was a kid! I wonder if theres any more to be had.

[maui jim]

Catching mudsuckers to catch croaker to catch corvina..... the good old days....

[addicted2sp33d]

How do these things taste? Are they any saltier than normal Tilapia?

That's some pretty cool color - I've never seen Tilapia that color at the fish market. They're all dull grey.

[Limits]

Originally Posted by maui jim

SWEET....Wide open Talipia...Nice...any sign of those orange mouth monsters?....

Unfortunately no. According to research that Dan did, the last corvina bites may have been back in 2003ish. The salinity levels are making it difficult for certain species to breed let alone survive. We saw some fish boiling but could not confirm if they were corvina.

Originally Posted by DESTROYER

No more Corvina? Almost 12 years ago a friend of mine went out there on his kayak and nailed some 20lbers. I've heard they are no longer. Just wondering what you hear?

Matt

They were definitely still around as late as 2003 (8 years ago) but unfortunately, might now be gone for good.

Supposedly, the salinity level keeps going up year after year, and estimations are that by 2017, the tilapia won't even ben able to survive, basically turning it into a giant brine reservoir.

Originally Posted by addicted2sp33d

How do these things taste? Are they any saltier than normal Tilapia?

That's some pretty cool color - I've never seen Tilapia that color at the fish market. They're all dull grey.

I'll let you know Sunday. My In-Laws are coming over and I'm having a fish fry.

They are definitely much more colorful than I've seen at any market.

[FishinReelDeals]

Always wanted to go their. Thanks for sharing your report. Im gonna have to take my GF for some of that wide open action. How do those taste out of their?

[xpresso2am]

The bite is still good. I took my son there so he would for sure catch
Something. The smell was not so bad but the dead fish floating around
had me concerned.

My group loaded a cooler and called it a day 5 hours. When it came time to clean
dear god the stench nearly killed me. I gave them all away. As
for a fun fishing spot, it is a gimme for sure. My son 2 1/2 he is now
Hooked on fishing.

Go while you can because it will be gone one day!

[Regor]

Looks like you had a great time

[dick fabulous]

Giant 2lb+ bluegill are served in orange and some purple. Somewhere north of San Diego.

[dick fabulous]

Aquarium type waters 2 . It is very clean. I'd say super fishery. Not salt but Socal fishrag worthy. Chunky freshwater offerings 2 abound.

[ful-rac]

Fishn at the salton sea on my kayak....im in! Looks like it would fun wfo tilapia....