Summer Fishing Report #1: Bass Fishing Overview for Foothills Park

Running at my summer camp

My last post from Foothills Park was during the pre-spawn bite in mid-April. After the crazy pre-spawn bite at Lake Boronda the anglers of Foothills park experienced a lull in the fishing. The spawning bass were far and few between, the ones that were easily fooled had already been caught. After the spawn the large-mouth retreated into deep water where I couldn't reach them. My dad and I managed to pick up a few here and there on plastic crayfish and #10 wooly buggers, but for the most part fishing was fairly spotty. Since then my father and I have been hitting the post-spawn bass hard. However, between the months of July and August we experienced some great fishing at Boronda Lake.
The bite started after the heatwave that hit the bay area in mid-July. I was attending a summer camp in the high sierras, but my dad decided to give the lake a shot. When I returned from my week-long camp he recounted the muggy nights, temperatures near the 95 degree mark, and the dozens of bass he had landed. I immediately demanded that we drive to the lake. After arriving my dad hopped out of the car, sauntered down to the dock and began to cast into the lake with his fly rod. He began to land twelve-inch bass on almost every cast.

A fourteen-inch bass (roboworm)

The rest of July passed much like that day, with four to five bass devouring our lures just as the sun slunk below the grass covered hills. My dad landed most of our ten to twelve inch bass using a #8-10 sliding popper and a #12 bluegill special. He would stand out on the docks and whip his five-weight fly rod back and forth before placing the six pound leader gently on the water. I stayed with conventional equipment using a spinning rod spooled with fifteen pound braid. My lure of choice was an arrons magic roboworm, rigged up with my fathers "Oda Rig". This technique was responsible for landing many of our bass in the fourteen to sixteen size range. Between the two of us we landed nearly seventy bass in about a month. Most were between ten and sixteen inches, but my dad fought a seven pound bass right to the dock, only to have it shake the hook when I attempted to net it. In addition to the action earlier in the year, this season was our most productive expedition yet.

Another bass landed on the roboworm

However the action died as soon as it started. The stifling hot nights faded and gave way to chilly autumn winds and early nights this week. And just like that, the bass stopped their evening feeding frenzy. This is the dynamic change that fisherman face every year. Although the bass fishing is tapering down here at the Foothills I will continue to pursue other species in different locations. Maybe hunting wild trout in a shallow brook, or braving the salty spray of a rock-fishing boat, but I always intend to continue fishing. However the end of this bass season marks something a little different for me this year. I begin high school in two weeks, and there is a lot of change I will have to go through. It may be the end of my childhood, a time where I have to start planning ahead in how my decisions will affect me later in life. Through it all I intend to keep going forward and fish as much as much as time allows.
    --KidFishRelease

Boronda lake