Lake Mission Viejo

[Jonas Staggs]

getting a 1 time chance to fish lake mission viejo, looking for any tips and recommendations? Also what setup should I have regarding my poles and line pound test? What baits/lures work well there, any good spots to hit, etc. thanks!

[skekoam]

I drove by that lake yesterday.  I assume fishing is reserved for residents and guests only?  Looking forward to see how the catch is there.

[Team9nine]

May not matter what you bring. Only been a few years since the big fish kill. Trout gear if they’re being restocked?

 

https://www.ocregister.com/2015/01/16/about-10000-fish-dead-at-lake-mission-viejo-after-outbreak-of-toxic-algae/amp/

[Jonas Staggs]

9 hours ago, skekoam said:

I drove by that lake yesterday.  I assume fishing is reserved for residents and guests only?  Looking forward to see how the catch is there.

yeah for residents only, i got a friend, who has a friend, who is getting me in. 

[Jonas Staggs]

8 hours ago, Team9nine said:

May not matter what you bring. Only been a few years since the big fish kill. Trout gear if they’re being restocked?

 

https://www.ocregister.com/2015/01/16/about-10000-fish-dead-at-lake-mission-viejo-after-outbreak-of-toxic-algae/amp/

 

 

yeah that d**n algae has hit a lot of places, they do stock the lake quite a bit, plus that was 2015, almost 5 years ago now. The lake produced a 19+ LMB in like 2006 i think it was. Im sure its probably not as great as it once was but I think it should still be good fishing, I expect to catch some LMB, not sure how big they will be but still fun none the less.

[OCdockskipper]

The original Golden Algae bloom & fish dieoff was indeed five years ago, but they couldn't get any hatchery trout or catfish to live in the lake for another 2 years after that.  There is still Golden Algae in the lake, but they are working full time to control it to a level where it won't bloom & kill off the fish again.

 

The only bass currently in the lake are those that survived the Golden Algae bloom or ones that were born afterwards & survived.  The HOA isn't going to try to stock bass fry until the other species show they can live without being killed off by the algea.  There are so few bass in the lake right now that the regulations have changed to immediate catch & release of any bass, where you caught them.  

 

The only fish that are being caught & reported are Tilapia, Catfish, Bluegill & Crappie. 

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it could be worse.  You could have spent 7 figures & bought a house on the water in the summer of 2014, only to see your trophy bass fishery disappear weeks later.

[camman]

d**n didn’t realize the lake got hit that hard with the toxic bloom.  My wife and I fished it a few times in the spring of 2008.  She had a friend that lived down there so would get us in.  It was like fishing in a bath tub.  Super clear water and not much cover outside of the boat docks.  At the time you could probably see 15-20 ft down.  For us we caught fish drop shotting or on a 4” senko.  Senkos worked along the docks/walls but you had to be far away and make long casts.  Drop shot worked deeper again with long casts.  My wife also caught some off of beds.  For us we were using 6lb test.  This was over 10 years ago and we haven’t been back as we moved.

[Jonas Staggs]

10 hours ago, OCdockskipper said:

The original Golden Algae bloom & fish dieoff was indeed five years ago, but they couldn't get any hatchery trout or catfish to live in the lake for another 2 years after that.  There is still Golden Algae in the lake, but they are working full time to control it to a level where it won't bloom & kill off the fish again.

 

The only bass currently in the lake are those that survived the Golden Algae bloom or ones that were born afterwards & survived.  The HOA isn't going to try to stock bass fry until the other species show they can live without being killed off by the algea.  There are so few bass in the lake right now that the regulations have changed to immediate catch & release of any bass, where you caught them.  

 

The only fish that are being caught & reported are Tilapia, Catfish, Bluegill & Crappie. 

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it could be worse.  You could have spent 7 figures & bought a house on the water in the summer of 2014, only to see your trophy bass fishery disappear weeks later.

 

yeah i noticed theres been a ton of stocking of bluegill and tilapia, most the catches reported online via pics and whatnot are tilapia as well. Still gonna go because this is pretty much a one off chance to get in and fish. Since you lived there, how much luck would I have if I tried to re-use my guest pass? hows the fishing at the lake forest community lake? RSM lake just re-opened, i have only gone at night, so perhaps its just the wrong time, but so far, it sucks. 

[OCdockskipper]

Your 2008 description is right on.  Since then, they have also instituted a rule that no angler or any portion of his gear (rod, lure, boat) can be within 15 feet of any private dock.  That kind of makes the bite tough on cloudless days, which is 98% of the time.

 

However, there is cover other than the boat docks.  Way back when the lake was being built (bulldozed), old, used tractor tires and concrete pipes were cemented into place in many of the coves.  You can find alot of them visually if you don't have a depthfinder, but they have ended up being community holes.  My experience on that lake was the other anglers have no issue horning in right on top or in front of where you are fishing.

[Jonas Staggs]

1 hour ago, camman said:

d**n didn’t realize the lake got hit that hard with the toxic bloom.  My wife and I fished it a few times in the spring of 2008.  She had a friend that lived down there so would get us in.  It was like fishing in a bath tub.  Super clear water and not much cover outside of the boat docks.  At the time you could probably see 15-20 ft down.  For us we caught fish drop shotting or on a 4” senko.  Senkos worked along the docks/walls but you had to be far away and make long casts.  Drop shot worked deeper again with long casts.  My wife also caught some off of beds.  For us we were using 6lb test.  This was over 10 years ago and we haven’t been back as we moved.

 hand feeding bass worms, lol

 

 

[OCdockskipper]

5 minutes ago, Jonas Staggs said:

 

...Since you lived there, how much luck would I have if I tried to re-use my guest pass? hows the fishing at the lake forest community lake? RSM lake just re-opened, i have only gone at night, so perhaps its just the wrong time, but so far, it sucks. 

The gatekeepers at Lake Mission Viejo are very strict, they will not let expired guest passes in.  I never lived there, I only fished it with a guest pass, but once that expired, you would not be let in.

 

Lake Forest has 3 lakes, LF I, LF II and the community pond off of Ridge Route.  The latter most likely has no fish, they just did a renovation of it and the focus was to keep the bird population down to eliminate the massive amounts of poop.  LF I & LF II are private, but people sneak on all the time.  Since I live on Lake Forest II, I don't want any poaching on my lake, so I recommend you go to LF I ?.

 

RSM reopened, but there is no stable fish population yet.

3 minutes ago, Jonas Staggs said:

 hand feeding bass worms, lol

I believe there is a Youtube video floating around showing what used to happen when there were trout stockings.  Big (over 8 lb bass) would cruise the perimeter like sharks and when the trout went in, it was mayhem. 

[Jonas Staggs]

39 minutes ago, OCdockskipper said:

The gatekeepers at Lake Mission Viejo are very strict, they will not let expired guest passes in.  I never lived there, I only fished it with a guest pass, but once that expired, you would not be let in.

 

Lake Forest has 3 lakes, LF I, LF II and the community pond off of Ridge Route.  The latter most likely has no fish, they just did a renovation of it and the focus was to keep the bird population down to eliminate the massive amounts of poop.  LF I & LF II are private, but people sneak on all the time.  Since I live on Lake Forest II, I don't want any poaching on my lake, so I recommend you go to LF I ?.

 

RSM reopened, but there is no stable fish population yet.

I believe there is a Youtube video floating around showing what used to happen when there were trout stockings.  Big (over 8 lb bass) would cruise the perimeter like sharks and when the trout went in, it was mayhem. 

which one is the larger one LFI or LFII?  

[OCdockskipper]

LF II.  That is the one on Jeronimo & Lake Forest, that you can see from the street.  LF I is hidden from the street a bit, you have to get into the neighborhood to see the lake.

[Jonas Staggs]

4 minutes ago, OCdockskipper said:

LF II.  That is the one on Jeronimo & Lake Forest, that you can see from the street.  LF I is hidden from the street a bit, you have to get into the neighborhood to see the lake.

The residents of those community lakes tend to be pretty anal, didnt think LFI would be possible and was skeptical of LFII. Do you practice ninjutsu? I might have to shinobi LFII but not even sure if it would be worth it. 

[OCdockskipper]

Yeah, many of the residents at LF II are protective.  Funny thing is most of them don't even fish.

 

It is that old thing about a few ruining it for everyone else.  Some guys sneak in, start bombing these huge swimbaits and bouncing them off of boats & docks and when they snag on private property, they just break it off & leave the hooks & line where some unsuspecting homeowner ends up coming across them.  If they just threw some weedless lures and left no mess, no one would mind.

[Jonas Staggs]

5 hours ago, OCdockskipper said:

Yeah, many of the residents at LF II are protective.  Funny thing is most of them don't even fish.

 

It is that old thing about a few ruining it for everyone else.  Some guys sneak in, start bombing these huge swimbaits and bouncing them off of boats & docks and when they snag on private property, they just break it off & leave the hooks & line where some unsuspecting homeowner ends up coming across them.  If they just threw some weedless lures and left no mess, no one would mind.

 

 

yeah the general public has no respect, if those community lakes were open to the public, they would be ruined in one weekend and all the fish would be gone.

[Team9nine]

Found some old pics from the one time I fished LMV over 20 years ago. One pictured is the largest I got, but did get to drop a few times on a "big shadow" in about 18'-19' of water that we thought might be a late spawner that kept hanging in one spot.

 

 

 

 

[Jonas Staggs]

3 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Found some old pics from the one time I fished LMV over 20 years ago. One pictured is the largest I got, but did get to drop a few times on a "big shadow" in about 18'-19' of water that we thought might be a late spawner that kept hanging in one spot.

 

 

 

 

 

nice dude, the good old days!!!

[Jonas Staggs]

ended up not going as the time frame we were going to have to fish due to time constraints of the resident getting us in was only 2 hours of fishing, wasnt worth the drive etc. 

[bassnet]

Team9nine, were you fishing with Troy Folkstead?  Looks like him in that pic- d**n I miss that lake.  Jonas good you missed the tilapia fishing, you're not going to catch bass in there right now.  Hope they can figure out a cure for the golden algae, but those fish with the best genes in the world are gone