1. OK, itís time to start heading out to the Salton Sea for tilapia. The rain forecast for this weekend might slow this bite down, but the warm days have warmed up the sea enough to kick this bite into gear early. This same thing happened three years ago, and the action never slowed down. Anglers have been reporting 15 to 40 fish days and the fish have been running up to 1 1/2 pounds. Most anglers are fishing the Salton Sea State Recreation Area headquarters jetty or the jetty at the refurbished Salton Sea Yacht Club (just north of the state park headquarters). The bite has been exclusively on small nightcrawler pieces fished right on or near the bottom. For an update on the action, call the newly open Visitor Center (open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) at 760-393-3810.
2. Trout action is universally good throughout Southern Californiaís planted lakes, but the two top picks are Laguna Niguel Park Lake and Corona Lake. Laguna produced a new lake record at 17-10 and Corona cranked out a 21 1/2-pounder. The usual array of small trout jigs, trout plastics, and floating dough baits are working at both lakes (all the SoCal lakes for that matter), but there are still people who donít use light enough leaders to entice strikes. Think two to four-pound test, with lighter being better. For an update on these bites, call Laguna Niguel at 949-362-3885 or Corona Lake at 951-277-3321.
3. Diamond Valley Lakeís largemouth bass bite is staying in the top picks this week because the fish have continued to move up as though the spawn is about to being. The fish are showing in the backs of the coves on swimbaits, and then out if 18 to 25 feet on four-inch drop-shot plastics that sort-of imitate the sculpin in the lake. The biggest bass are coming on the bigger, trout-like swimbaits. Check with the staff at Last Chance Bait and Tackle in Hemet for an update on this bite at 951-658-7410.
