Winter in California

Well the summer has officially left us here on the West Coast of the USA and the winter is drawing in. The temperatures have dropped…but the palm trees still have their leaves …;-)

It's probably my favorite time of the year out in California as the air is fresh and the sky is clear and somewhere there is a lump of a carp worth catching. I haven't had that much time as of late to wet a line out here as I've been traveling across the country to various places with Wayne and Dave of ACS ( www.americancarpsociety.com ) and what with the preparation for the 2005 WCC on the St. Lawrence, its left me little time for the local spots….Perris being one of my favorites for a big hit in the ‘Winter' but more of that in a bit…

There are a number of lakes in the area that hold some lovely fish; Wayne and I have just found an old gravel pit with some nice carp in not twenty minutes away and we had one session that produced a few fish (as well as an abundance of catfish !) …it's really snaggy but there are some good fish in it and no-one else fishes the place. I'm hoping to get a session in there over the next few weeks as I think a lot of the weed that was present a few months ago will have died down (what with the plummeting temperatures from 80 to 69 degrees ! ;-), we'll see.

So back to Perris and those winter session big hits…a great venue for the winter months as I've previously mentioned…a lot of nice fish out there that are munching away on the bottom. You do have to locate them though as its quite a big place and plonking your ar#e down just by the car park will not give you a true sense of what the lake is capable of….it's 2,600 acres….so locating some of the larger fish or larger shoals is key for a productive session and though I've fished the water a number of times I will always take a day to walk around (it takes that long at 2,600 acres….literally ;-)) and try to see any fish movement at dawn before fishing….Plus it truly is the best part of the day…just being there with a cup of coffee and a pair of binoculars is enough…never mind the rods

Anyways…Perris in the Winter…the dawn hours have been for me very productive as well as the after noon hit when the sun has raised the temps slightly…most of the fish have been caught fished to some sort of feature, either the top of a ledge or clear patch around weed. Visually it is a spectacular time of year and just being bank-side is a gift unto itself. The air is clear and when the sun warms your face…. catching a carp is just a bonus.

Baiting at this time of year really isn't that different from anything I'd do in the summer with the slight exception of the quantities. Slightly less though nothing significant…there are large shoals of carp and when they move in will hoover up a great deal of bait between them.

Perris has some excellent facilities and does allow night fishing (with some restrictions) so it's an ideal place for the traveling angler to visit from overseas…it has some lovely carp in it and a Perris mid thirty will pull your arm off !

The potential for some very big fish in this water has not yet been explored fully to my knowledge… I believe there are some monsters towards the damn end where the depths reach 100+feet but most of the anglers tend to fish close to the carp park etc….Never could understand that ! ;-).

There are a few other venues here that are definitely worth looking into such as Santee Lakes in San Diego so if any carp.com readers are ever out this way be sure to drop me an e-mail and I'd be more than happy to let you know of the different venues and facilities available for carp anglers in Southern CA..…It is obviously quite a popular holiday destination what with Disneyland and Hollywood etc and a few people have visited and wet a line whilst over here in the past.

It really is one of the best times of year to be fishing here…this time last year Wayne and I had a few overnight sessions that resulted in some stunning fish that were really in excellent condition…long full commons that went off like torpedo's. The winter time will also see a much more bearable noon day temperature unlike the height of the summer where the temperature's can soar into the 90's, and though the action can be spectacular at that time of year there are more problems with boat traffic and such.

California is truly an untapped paradise for carp anglers and I think that there could be some very big fish out from over here in the next few years.

Anyways, I hope that you guys are out there catching a few in various places around the world…Have a great holiday season and be safe by the banks.

Cheers

Sean Manning

American Carp Society