El Capitan on Super Bowl Sunday

Fishing Time:  10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Weather: Sunny, calm, T-75
Moon Phase: 79% Moon
Location:  El Capitan Reservoir
Best Bait:  Live shiner fished shallow (3-6 ft)
Who Went:  Dunc

Work has kept me very busy this week and more family visited last weekend, so I haven’t had any time to fish.  I was itching to go this Sunday, and couldn’t resist the idea of El Capitan.  I have fished other lakes here in San Diego and drove by others to scope them out, but unfortunately most of them are surrounded by tullies and not accessible with a float tube or by walking the shoreline.  El cap just provides the best option for a float tube, and besides, I like it the best.  It’s further away from people, has good structure, and it produces!

I got a late start on Super Bowl Sunday.  I spent the morning contemplating whether I should bag fishing and watch the pre-game shows, or go fishing and then come back to watch the game.  I finally told myself, you won’t get the chance to fish these lakes much longer, and then jumped up and walked out the door.

Once I started kicking my way out onto the lake I knew I made the right decision.  The temperature was in the high 70’s, very little wind, and an absolutely beautiful day to be on the water.  Less crowded on Super Bowl Sunday to.

I started out with a Ned rig and then a jig/trailer, working it from shallow water all the way out to 25 ft deep, watching my fish finder and trying to see what depth the fish were holding.  I saw the most fish between 10-15 ft, so I worked thoroughly worked that zone with the plastics only to get one bite on the jig.  I turned over to the live shiner and set it at a depth of approx. 10-12 ft and on the first cast I landed the biggest fish of the day at 3.5 pounds.  Thought I had it dialed in, but went another hour or two with no bites. 

I moved to deeper water and tried depths from 15-25 ft, but still no bites.  It was time to go shallow.  Again, on the first cast in shallower water my bobber immediately disappeared and I caught my second fish of the day.  However, this time it wasn’t a fluke and fishing shallow was the ticket.  I continued to catch fish, casting near brush in 3-6 ft of water.  

Towards evening the bite really turned on and something fun happened…  I saw a few fish surface, so I casted towards them.  I started having bass chasing my minnow up to the surface and hitting them like I was fishing a topwater bait.  I would see an explosion near my bobber on the surface and then my bobber would disappear.  It was a blast and lasted for about 20 minutes.

I landed around 10-12 bass today and couldn’t get myself to leave the lake until I was out of shiners.  I missed the first half of the Super Bowl, but whatever.  Just another year with the New England, Patriots defending their title.  However, there luck finally ran out and the Philadelphia, Eagles stole it from them when they stripped Tom Brady in the final two minutes to win the game.  It’s about time the Patriots lose!