BY MIKE STEVENS
WON Staff Writer
ESCONDIDO — The season opener at Lake Hodges got off to a sluggish start, but things have been trending in the right direction ever since. Fishing is still fair at best, but numbers are getting better and there’s already a double-digit bass on the board.
Most reports following the February 5 opener were of slow fishing on the bass side of things, but in the fishing days (Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday) in the weeks that followed, things seemed to be improving. Laina Ruiz who manages the concession/boat rentals said the bite has been picking up, and Rat-L-Traps and crankbaits are leading the charge.
“The bass have started showing up, and we finally have a lot of people catching fours and fives,” said Ruiz.
There was one bass of note to say the least. NorCal crappie specialist Jerry Yang was working one of his crappie jigs on 6-pound J-Braid in 8-feet of water when he connected to a 10.25-pound largemouth. He only makes one trip to Hodges per year, and it’s to pile up slab crappie, but it did get him on the cover of WON a couple years ago.
There are other species that are cooperating at Hodges topped off by crappie. Ruiz said that bite has been “fantastic” and some legit slabs are being reported. There was also a 51-pound catfish landed by a shore pounder, and panfish anglers working from shore are doing pretty well on good-sized bluegill.
As it stands now, rental boats need to be back in by 2 p.m. due to an apparent staffing issue. The water level is low and the conditions are muddy. Lake Hodges is open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday but is closed the third Wednesday of each month.
