Would you want to be Tom (WRB) back in the glory days?

[Swamp Girl]

If you could, would you want to go back in time 30-some years and fish the great California reservoirs when they were threatening to set a new world record? Why or why not?

 

I wouldn't. I prefer to fish quiet lakes and with all the powerboats that fished (and fish) those lakes, my canoe would take a beating. Now, if I could fish with Tom (@WRB) for a day back in 1991 on his boat, heck, yeah!

[Mike L]

Nope

I’d rather be and stay right where I’m at fishing So Florida natural lakes. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Fishingmickey]

I was a young buck in the Marines at that time. I fished Lake Casitas the week after a 20 or 21lber was caught (maybe by WRB).  There was myself and two of my fellow jarheads.  We were fishing out of a rented 14' jon boat with a 9.9 hp kicker on the back.

  The was boats everywhere on the lake. It was a weekend. We were fishing with a snelled #6 eagle claw hook split shot rigged with night crawlers on light spinning tackle.  We caught a bunch of small bass. I don;t think anything was over 2lbs. It was great! The looks we got from the serious bass fishermen when we caught a fish and we were hooting and hollering with each one.

     We camped out in a tent at the lake that Saturday night and I experienced my first and only earthquake. The Coleman lantern we had hanging from the tent poles was swinging and we were looking at each other saying I don't understand and it was over. I think it was the summer of 79.

FM

[Swamp Girl]

Cool story, Mickey. Thanks for telling it!

[SC53]

I grew up in south Florida in the 50’s, 60’s & 70’s.
While we didn’t have the size of Tom’s fish, we had quantities.

I fished the glades canals and Alligator Alley when it first opened. Most of the times we were the only people out there. 
And in saltwater I got to fish the Keys, Flamingo and Biscayne bay when they were still great. 
I’m good…

[Rockhopper]

Sure, why not.  I am down to try anything.

[A-Jay]

Perhaps read a copy of Sowbelly by Monte Burke.

Might not be the whole story, but it's seemed like enough to me

that I'm a hard pass on that deal.

Besides, These ARE the Glory Days.

If I can't be satisfied with the possibilities I'm surrounded by,

I need to quit the sport.

A-Jay

 

[TnRiver46]

I’d like to reel in a few 18 lb bass but I can’t afford lunch in so cal 

[Buzzbaiter]

1 hour ago, SC53 said:

And in saltwater I got to fish the Keys, Flamingo and Biscayne bay when they were still great. 

What changed?

[WRB]

8 hours ago, Buzzbaiter said:

What changed?

Castiac is a small 2 + mile 2,235 acre 2 arm V shape lake and very deep with steep rocky banks and a few humps. Being deep with cool water the lake supported biweekly stocking of hatchery Rainbow trout.

The lake to fishing in 1973 and was stocked with adult size Northern LMB from Van Norman water supply reservoir and Florida strain LMB from San Diego lakes. Lots of high protein prey and excellent fresh genetics created good population of big bass grew to be some giants. The perfect storm.

1993 MWD decided a 20 year inspection and gate repair was needed  to the Fore bay dam located at the end of the Ski Arm. The lake behind the fore bay dam (Elderberry) was used to pump water between Pyramid lake and Elderberry to manage water supply. 
The Elderberry dam repair occurred when Castiac was at 1/2 full pool. 
Releasing water from Elderberry into Castiac resulted a too much pressure on the fore bay dam the engineers decided to open the gate releasing all the Elderberry water into Castiac. The result was thousand of big Stripe bass were dumped into Castiac changing the predator pry ratio in favor of Stripers, the LMB suffered and never recovered. 

Casitas is older opened in 1958 and 2,730 acre deep rocky lake similar to Castiac with 1 big island. FLMB were introduced in 1970 and like Castiac Rainbow trout were stocked biweekly. The FLMB grew fast and 21 lb 3 oz was caught in 1982. Fishing pressure was intense at this time.
2008 Quagga mussels were discovered in nearby lake Piru and Casitas shut down stocking trout and crawdads. The state would close fish hatcheries about this time do to a law suit that only indigenous fish could be stocked.

The result without the Rainbow trout stocking the big bass didn’t survive and the population crashed.

Casitas also went into a drought and mismanaged when it did rain no water was reverted from the Ventura River into the lake. 2 years ago Casitas was 30% pool. The lake was allowed to devert water and today it’s 100% pool and the LMB are recovering slowly and could be good the next few years.

Tom

[Swamp Girl]

49 minutes ago, WRB said:

The lake was allowed to devert water and today it’s 100% pool and the LMB are recovering slowly and could be good the next few years.

 

I might come fish it IF I'm the only one on the lake. Can you arrange this, Tom? 😁

[Catt]

Pretty sure @WRB would agree, only if I could bring today's tackle. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

If you could take a LVS 34 and 12" Garmin head unit back to those days, I have absolutely zero doubt that the current WR would belong to SoCal.   

 

It's actually quite shocking that a WR fish wasn't caught considering how many fish over 20lbs were caught, and then when you know fish like Dottie at 25lbs+ existed.  

 

Everybody talks about Lake Biwa, however Lake Biwa to date has produced exactly ONE fish over 20lbs (albeit the current WR), compare that to how many 20lb+ fish were caught in SoCal during the boom days.   

 

Considering I'm not currently a FFS user, my time machine trip would be wasted.   I'd never outfish guys like WRB or Butch Brown without the technology, so their actual results would likely be far better than anything I could achieve. 

 

 

[WRB]

38 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I might come fish it IF I'm the only one on the lake. Can you arrange this, Tom? 😁

IF I still had my boat it could be arrange to fish the closed area without other boats.

Need to check If that is still possible.

Tom

[SC53]

2 hours ago, Buzzbaiter said:

What changed?

Mainly Development and population but some pollution. 
Hurricane Andrew destroyed a lot of the natural habitat in Flamingo also.

The fishing pressure today is just off the charts. We went to Marathon this summer. I hadn’t been in years. I couldn’t believe the amount of people. It was unreal. We saw one sand bar that must have had 50+ boats partying on it.

 

[Team9nine]

Quote

If you could, would you want to go back in time 30-some years and fish the great California reservoirs when they were threatening to set a new world record? Why or why not?

 

Absolutely! As a bit of an angling historian, there’s so many old “hotbeds” of fishing history, conditions and fish we’ll never see again, only read about them in newspapers, magazine stories and forums. If I had a time machine, I’d probably spend the rest of my life revisiting these angling pioneers and places, and die happy 

[Tennessee Boy]

Absolutely not!   Just about all of my fishing tackle came with a warning that says it causes cancer in California.   I’ll never fish there.  😆

[Zcoker]

Nope

I’d rather be right where I’m at fishing the south Florida everglades! 

[Fyrewulf]

Each person is their own individual. For better or worse, I would never want to be another man. For me it's spiritual reasoning. I'm who and where I'm supposed to be for my eternal destiny.

[Bird]

Love seeing and hearing the stories of Giant bass being caught, really do.

BUT got so use to the clear water reservoirs here in the mountains of VA / WV that I've learned to target stunted bass. 😅

Plus I have a healthy dose of empathy and hate showing up other fisherman in their state. 😁

Jokes aside, love hearing the stories of the Ole' pioneers of bass fishing like WRB but Cali ain't for me.

 

[WRB]

I believe a Dottie size bass was in Casitas during mid 80’s and we missed the opportunity to catch her. We forget the mid 80’s was 40 years ago before swimbaits were created. A few early swimbaits were around and kept secrets.

The trophy angers back then used live crawdads anchoring on spots known to hold big bass. If the WR bass was hooked using a crawdads it more then broke the line. Casitas had areas closed off to fishing and a WR bass would have lived in a sanctuary area.

Lake Castiac had a WR bass a few anglers had a shot at catching including yours truly. Can’t make a mistake with giant bass  they will break your line and heart.

To those anglers who wouldn’t want a shot at a WR during the zoo period I understand.

Tom

[Swamp Girl]

Tom, I believe you hooked the WR, so just connecting with you through BR is such an honor. 

[F14A-B]

No, come on.. there’s only 1 Tom (WRB) he’s experienced California and its heyday of trophy largemouth bass fishing. Albeit w the help of the Florida strain Lmb. And a state stocking continual feedings of Rainbow trout. 
 

No disrespect, but I’m content with my own wild adventures not only in central Florida but In Puerto Rico too..

 

We all have shared some incredible stories on here and for that I’m grateful to hear everyone’s experiences. 😉 much respect to the Man..

[papajoe222]

Be him then? No

Know what he knows now (and be able to remember it). YES!

I know what it's like to target the biggest fish in a lake.  That said, I forgot most of what I learned then, not only about trophy size bass, but bass in general. What I haven't forgotten is the days that my efforts produced nothing but frustration and questioning myself as to why I still do (did) it? I do have plenty of memories of what I consider trophy bass from lakes in Wisconsin and Minnesota that I revisit in my dreams. Thankfully I don't have nightmares about the time I wasted chasing them.

[Alex from GA]

I was there then and fished Castaic and Casitas every couple of months but not for the huge fish that Tom was after.  Mostly fished the salt water.  I would read the reports, in Western Outdoor News, of the catches and reports that they were using live trout to catch the giants which was illegal.  Caught my PB in Castaic around '81 which was 6 lb even which I broke a couple of years ago with a 7+ in GA.