BY MIKE STEVENS
LAKESIDE— It seemed to happen overnight. Reports picked up by Western Outdoor News seemed to go from “winter mode” to “pre-spawn” in various lakes as if Mother Nature was taking the light-switch approach for spring bassing in 2025. Among them was Lake Jannings which recently kicked out a four of double-digit largemouth in short order.
Lake Jennings staffers posted the first two to social media, a 13 pounder that ate a swimbait in Half Moon Cove for Mike Walsh, and an 11 caught in the same Cove a day later by another angler (name not available). As if that wasn’t enough, news snuck in of a 12-pound bucketmouth that was caught by “Jason,” a friend of Walsh, who was also fishing on Sunday.
WON was able to connect with the angler who caught the 10 pounder and unlike the other guys, he was fishing from shore.
I was fishing Lake Jennings with some friends throwing swim baits,” said Shane Roland. “We found a male and female largemouth bass on a bed in 5 to10 feet of water and spent hours trying to catch the female. We threw the Huddleston and Tyrant 10 at the fish missing the male and female a couple of times, and both the fish began to become skittish, so we decided to move to a different part of the lake. When we came back a couple hours later, the female was very aggressive. My friend threw the Tyrant and the female ate the bait and spit it before he could set the hook. I then threw the Huddleston on top of the bed and slowly rolled the bait on the bottom with two small pops. The bass nosed, and eventually swallowed the swimbait. I set the hook and reeled in the fish which pulling drag from my Shimano DC even when it was at max drag.”
Roland’s fish was caught on Saturday, February 22 and the other two photos were posted on the Lake Jennings Instagram account on February 21. So there is a very real possibility Jennings could have kicked out three double-digit bass in two days.
Trout season is well underway at Jennings which happens to stand among the most regularly stocked lakes in San Diego. That of course helps the trophy bass fishing, and the apparent arrival of spawning season is what has the big ones willing to bite.
