# lake isabella cats?



## Day81 (Jun 27, 2008)

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for fishing for cats at Lake Isabella. Fished there today for first time and didn't catch didly squat!


----------



## jmlfisher (Jun 17, 2008)

yeah same story... i have gone there four times used worms and hot dogs, but haven't caught any. I don't think i'll go back any time soon


----------



## Narniafisher (Jun 24, 2008)

Yea i went with jim fisher been there 3 times didn't catch anything tried 2 completely different spots. Tried hot dogs, worms, and chicken liver no luck anytimes. I might try 2 more times and after that im done.


----------



## RapalaJ-9 (May 12, 2008)

Best times are overnight Friday and Saturday, they stock every Friday. Channels use shrimp or chicken livers and quite a few on night cralwers with a boat right accross from the boathouse on the wooded bank with a few dropdown trees. Big cats live gold fish, bluegill heads or shad heads the boathouse sells it all. many 30-40 class shovels being caught over night.

During the day if you like carp, action all the time.Tricky lake just got to know the depths and pockets around the old gravel pit. They have maps of the depths on www.greatparks.org look under resource quality section or in the fishing section underneath recreation.


----------



## Day81 (Jun 27, 2008)

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.


----------



## Narniafisher (Jun 24, 2008)

Rapala, right across the lake is good for catfish in a boat and how away from shore is good?* and what depth, location do can you catch carp in and what bait?


----------



## amazing189 (May 21, 2004)

Hey All, 
Was there Sat. didn't catch a thing. I've seen a few channels caught and a carp or two. My boy likes the row boats, though. I'm about ready to give up on the place myself. It's well kept and the people are nice. 
Thanks, 
Danny


----------



## TimJC (Apr 6, 2004)

I gave Lake Isabella my first real try Saturday and Sunday. My buddy and I were targeting carp but I managed 4 species all on the same carp bait and tactics.

The first fish I landed was was a 3-4lb channel or blue. I didn't bother taking a picture because catching small catfish on carp tackle is rather disappointing.

After that I started to get into the carp and the action got fast and heavy as the fish found my baited area.










Late Saturday night I had a row boat about 20 yards off the bank troll right over one of my lines, or at least that was what I thought it was. I strolled down down and grabbed the rod as the line appeared to be drifting to the left with the boat. I started walking up the banked to either pull free, pull the boat in, or break off. Suddenly, the line started to give and I was able to pull the log towards shore. I wasn't until the line was about 10 feet off the bank that I realized that it was actually a fish. It turned out to be my first flathead ever at 24lb 12oz. From what I hear this type of disappointing fight is pretty standard, so you guys to have to worry about me giving carp for flatties.


































The best part is what I caught the fish on. As you can see from the picture I was using a size 10 hook and small piece of imitation sweet corn, a durable rubber, on a hair rig (this is the rig minus the real sweet corn). Who says you need 4/0+ hooks and live bait to these things?










After the flathead and a few more carp I called it quits for the night and pulled my lines in. Sunday morning the action would continue. The common carp bite slowly died off since I hadn't done any additional baiting since the night before. The cool thing is that as the commons moved out the grassies moved in.

The first grass carp was quite a surprise and I failed to get a picture of it. fortunately there would be a second, third, forth, etc.










All in all it was a fun mixed bag of fish and I must of landed 30+ fish. The pictures above are pretty representative of the sizes fish caught. The carp at Isabella were on the small side, and then really didn't put up the fight that I am used to on other waters. What they lacked in fight they made up for in the initial runs they made before the drag kicked in. These fished peel line off a baitrunner like I have never seen before, but they didn't take any drag after the rod is picked up.


----------



## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

haha that's pretty crazy man! Would of never beleived someone caught a flathead on corn........ but man... I've never paylaked but I can pretty safley say wild flatheads fight damn hard. Not trying to start the anti-paylake thing either.

Good healthy looking fish too!! Enjoyed seeing how a carpfisherman handles other species too, showing it nothing but respect just like he would a carp


----------



## TimJC (Apr 6, 2004)

The strange thing is the flattie had pantyhose in its mouth after I landed it. That green stuff in its mouth in the photo of the hook was pantyhose, presumably used with chicken liver. I wonder if it might have been regurgitated after being caught. I did remove it from the fish before release.


----------



## jmlfisher (Jun 17, 2008)

Holy crizzap... Those are some nice fish. now that i see isabella actually has fish in it i'll give it another chance. Those pictures are really promising


----------



## DANNYB513 (Jun 18, 2008)

very glad to see the pic's, thats the same spot i was in about 2 weeks ago with no luck  was fairly down on the lake but as i see it was me and the bait! so i will deff be giving it another try. very nice fish!


----------



## regmiller (Aug 23, 2005)

Hey guys, Lake Isabella is all about knowing the lake and talking to the regulars that go there. I am a lady that goes to Isabella all the time with a sombrero on my head and most of the time I get in the boat. Depending on what you are fishing for, you just keep moving until you find them. I could catch carp all day long if I wanted to fish for them. Mostly, I am looking for the 1-2 pound cats and some big bluegill that are in the lake on the tree stumps. I love that lake. But you are right, you can go there and fish all day in one spot and not catch anything. In that lake, in particular, you have to know where the holes are and remember where they are. The regulars that go there always know where the fish are. I talk to them even before I take my poles out of the water.


----------



## RapalaJ-9 (May 12, 2008)

Narniafisher about 20 yards out. Carp bottom Corn,Corn,Corn and then more Corn you'll catch them all day long. I've been mainly a bass/walleye/crappie fishermen all my life. You want a fight and some fun, carp are a blast there.
Also the bass fishing is very good there as well.


----------



## jmlfisher (Jun 17, 2008)

Thanks for the carp info rapala. I'll have to try the corn out soon on a hair rig. I was just wondering about the bass there though. I have tried spinnerbaits, lipless crankbait, and plastic worms but they haven't been much use. What do you find best for the bass. I'm going to give the boats a go soon but what do you suggest as a lure/bait for the bank.


----------



## RapalaJ-9 (May 12, 2008)

jlmfisher I always use a tube goby color or watermelon. If that isn't what they want I go to a shakey head jig with whatever plastic you like. I prefer a craw.


----------



## regmiller (Aug 23, 2005)

Have you caught ant leftover trout since you have been chumming with corn?


----------



## fishdealer04 (Aug 27, 2006)

I used to fish there all the time. Started when I was 4 until I was about 20. Now I pretty much fish state parks. The north end of the lake which is the shallower section used to be covered with tons of weeds, which made excellent fishing for channels and large cats from boat. They put a weed killer in the lake about a year or 2 ago and killed most of the weeds. That same area is great for carp, which is where it looks like you were fishing by the pictures.

Trout fishing there is good in the spring, go on the days they stock and you can catch them right when they put them in.

Nice carp though and nice flathead as well.


----------



## RapalaJ-9 (May 12, 2008)

Regmiller no I've not seen any left over trout from spring, except the ones in my freezer I've been using for bait. Most of the Big Cats have them for a snack. I saw in October they start trout stocking again, but I have seen trout caught in September around the docks on a inflated night crawler.


----------



## regmiller (Aug 23, 2005)

Hey Rapala, this year some of the regulars were fishing with those inflated crawlers using a syringe to inflate them. Speaking of corn, we were out there Saturday in two boats and caught 42 in 3 hours. There were 7 of us so we gave away 7 fish so that we wouldn't go over our limit. But when we cleaned the fish, there were channels that had corn in them!!


----------



## RapalaJ-9 (May 12, 2008)

Anybody doing any good out there? I was thinking about going out sat. or sun. I haven't fished in three weeks do to my son having surgery. I have D.A.D deprived angler depression.


----------



## smokeyjoe (Jan 15, 2008)

Some of the fish I caught this weekend had weeds in there bellys?
Reg what is your favorite bait? 
Ive tried everything , i catch a few but not 42 in 3 hrs? 
I use shrimp, strawberry chicken and hot dogs..
Are you using something different..??


----------



## regmiller (Aug 23, 2005)

I've been fishing there the last couple of weeks. Friday I caught 10 by myself in a boat within 90 minutes. I brought a lot of different kind of bait, but only got a chance to use spam since they were hitting so fast. My sister and I fished a couple of weeks ago and caught 11 within 2 hours. My sister used hot dogs (Kahn's with cheese - only brand I use for cats) and I used my famous dough ball with hamburger and limburger cheese and wheaties and flour. You cannot go wrong with these 3 baits. You will find the benefit of fishing with dough ball if you are next to someone that has this dough ball and you don't. The only thing you will do is watch them catch fish and wait for them to move so that you can move in on their fishing hole. If they aren't hitting one, they are definitely hitting the other. Also, for channels, in August at Isabella, they will literally devour crickets on a float. If you find the channels and put on crickets you will catch all the fish you want. Also, Scotty, the manager, has a selection of flavors on the counter next to the cash registers. Strawberry and Vanilla are the best and it is worth the price 
(2.99) to buy them. Also, when you go there just ask Scotty where are the fish and he will tell you. With all this good advertisement, I am going to ask Scotty for a break. But really, I love that lake. They have two pluses working for them. 1. They put a lot of fish in that lake. 2. Danny from Cedar Lake hauls their fish (that means quality channels, not river fish). In fact, one year about 10 years ago Cedar lost the bid for Isabella stocking. For that one year, some of the regulars (me included) quit going because the quality of the fish went down. Hands down - Just Love that Lake!!!!


----------



## skoalnut (Apr 30, 2008)

i went last night for 5 hours. no bites at all.used chicken liver,night crawlers, hotdogs,gold fish,corn


----------



## RapalaJ-9 (May 12, 2008)

Skoal, got to know the holes around the lake hopes this helps. See attached depth map.

http://greatparks.org/rec_fishing/lake isabella.pdf


----------



## Eatsleepfish (Aug 3, 2008)

Hey everyone I'm new here. 

Anyway...2 of my brothers and I fished there last night with no luck either. Same luck as last week, but we had a boat and fished over the deep holes this time. In 5 hours time we only got 2 bites. I had one good one where the fish took the shiner and swam around with it for about a minute before dropping it. Some input would be great here, but would the fact that a cold front occurring just before (last night it went through 18hrs before or so and last week was about 2) make things down a bit. I've heard that fronts ruin fishing. Heck it was the new moon on Friday which should have helped.


----------



## skoalnut (Apr 30, 2008)

Hey Rapala! Thanks For The Map. I Will Try It Again.


Thanks!
Skoal


----------

