BY MIKE STEVENS
LAKESIDE— After standing out among the San Diego City Lakes as arguably the top winter bass fishery in the county in 2024-25, San Vicente Reservoir is transitioning nicely into spring mode as anglers pounds on pre-spawn numbers knowing the size will follow.
A good number of bass anglers are getting into double-digit numbers with “best five” totals all landing at right around 10 pounds. Lake regulars at San V are well-accustomed to runs of solid bites by “clone” fish in the 1.5- to 2.5-pound range, but smaller males biting first in early spring is pretty standard across most lakes when spawning season is around the corner.
“All of our lakes are fishing very well right now with both pre-spawn and spawn fish,” said guide Jim Hallauer (jimhallauerfishing.com). “My most recent trip to San Vicente was targeting red rock and brushy areas with a shaky head worm, free rig and a wacky rig in 3 to 15 feet of water.”
Hallauer went on to tell Western Outdoor News the water temps have been in the low ‘60s.
There has been some chatter of more of these clones being caught on reaction baits, specifically spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and chatterbaits, but for the most part the finesse thing is still tops which is pretty standard for San V.
