By Richard Alden Bean

Somebody once said of California, "Whiskey is for drinkin' and water is for fighting over." That's truer of southern California than most people think and maybe especially so this year.

Despite a good rainfall total for the state, many of southern California's bass lakes are in need of additional water for both the survival of their fisheries and a successful fishing season for bass anglers. A number of water fights over water from the Salton Sea are shaping up, and this can have an impact on at least some good bass waters in San Diego County, which desperately need water. Still, the news isn't all bad. There are some good days ahead for bass enthusiasts from the Southland.

The big news for 2004 concerns two of southern California's most interesting bass lakes. One, Diamond Valley Lake, in Riverside County is brand new, having opened to the public in the fall of 2003. This huge lake represents the newest body of water in southern California since the California Aqueduct system came on line in the early 1970s. That's when the region's other Aqueduct-fed reservoirs - Castaic, Silverwood, Pyramid and Perris - opened.

Diamond Valley isn't just new it's big too. It has a surface area of 4,500 acres, making it the largest stillwater in southern California. It's 4.5 miles long, more than 2 miles wide and reaches to a depth of 260 feet. When you combine all that with a maximum elevation of just 1,756 feet above sea level, you can see this will be a year-around fishery that's cold enough for trout and warm enough to be a major bass and panfish fishery.

The only drawback to this opening is that only a small percentage of the fishing craft registered in southern California will qualify to be launched on Diamond Valley. The Metropolitan Water District has insisted on stiff regulations, which require the use of modern four-stroke engines or the latest in efficient fuel-injected two-stroke technology. Older motors simply won't be allowed on the water. These rules also apply to Lake Skinner, a Riverside County park lake a few miles south of Diamond Valley. It too is owned by the Metropolitan Water District.

Spring fishing in 2004 should be fair to good at most southern California lakes. This chunky bass hit a jig in cold, shallow water during pre-spawn. Photo by Richard Alden Bean

According to DFG biologist Mike Giusti, who has managed Diamond Valley's developing fishery from the get-go, the new reservoir ought to be outstanding in its first years of fishing. "Diamond Valley is going to be a little different," Giusti said. "The fish will probably be a bit deeper than bass anglers might expect.

"During the winter we get really clear water here, perhaps 25 feet or more. The bass tend to hang below that, so most of the bass will be in 30 to 50 feet of water."

Giusti also noted that most of the bass are now 15 inches in length and weigh 3 pounds. That's the average. He also said they were seeing 8- and 9-pound fish left over from the initial stocking of bass. Giusti said he expects to see larger fish in the next few years. With the lack of fishing pressure from the tight motor restrictions, the lake's size, and the presence of huge quantities of food, including catchable and sub-catchable trout, Diamond Valley may well produce record-caliber largemouth bass in a relatively short time - perhaps just a few years. The lake opened under a five-fish, 12-inch limit, but there's a proposal to impose a 15-inch minimum for keeper bass, with zero catch on smallmouth bass.

Part of the California Aqueduct system, Castaic became famous throughout the bass fishing world a decade ago for producing the second-largest largemouth bass ever taken by a sport angler, a fish that missed the world record by less than a half-pound. Since then, heavy fishing pressure by bass anglers and the growth of the lake's striped bass population have, seemingly, resulted in less of a trophy fishery.

Castaic remains on the list as a major destination for trophy bass anglers in southern California - provided it remains open to angling in 2004. Los Angeles County budget woes threaten to force the county to turn management of the lake back over the its owner, the state of California, whose budget difficulties are now even more world-renowned than Castaic's bass fishery. While many lakes in the region need water, what Castaic needs is an infusion of money to keep it open.

It's anyone's guess just how the budget shortfalls will be handled and how they will affect Castaic this year, but even if the lake is closed to fishing, that could be a good thing for its bass. One bright note is that more than one biologist we talked to suggested that a year or two of no fishing pressure could revive Castaic as a major trophy bass fishery. The only problem with this view is that once something is closed, it's often impossible to get it opened to public use again. Stay tuned for more on this.

On the plus side, every time Casitas goes through one of these low-water periods, brush grown along the exposed banks contributes to much better fishing in the years after the water levels come back up.

According to Randy King, marina manager at Casitas, there's some ongoing concern for what might happen to overall water levels because of an endangered run of steelhead in the Ventura River. A fish ladder is being constructed as part of the project to save these fish, and water requirements to maintain reasonable flows for the steelhead might have some impact on Casitas, but it's not likely it will cause significant problems for the bass fishery.

Things are shaping up for a good season at Lake Piru and especially so if Castaic Lake is not available to angling. Situated west of Castaic off Highway 126, Piru is a long, slender canyon reservoir with lots of structure and coves to hold bass and panfish.

With a mixed population of northern-strain and Florida-strain fish, it hasn't produced a lot of trophy fish, but with a lake record of just over 15 pounds and a healthy population of chunky bass, the potential always exists for an outsized fish to be taken. Most Piru bass range from 12 inches to 3 pounds. A good bass spawn last year, plus equally good spawns of threadfin shad and panfish should make Piru a great place to spend a day fishing in 2004.

The other "P" lake in the area north of Los Angeles is Pyramid Lake, another California Aqueduct reservoir with a good bass population that includes smallmouths.

Pyramid has much less shoreline access than most southern California waters, and only limited access for float tube anglers. It is, however, a great lake for boaters. Seldom does Pyramid suffer from low water. Its best fishing occurs in spring and fall.

"The fish in Isabella are in very good condition," Houk said. "The fish are quite large and very healthy. The crappie population is going strong also. We've been doing a lot of water quality monitoring because of the ash input from the fires, and we see little impact on the bass."

To the east of Los Angles, Silverwood Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains is shaping up to be an important bass lake again. In the years following a major water drawdown for construction, Silverwood is again showing some good bass. No really large bass have been reported recently, but there's a fair population of fish in the 3- to 5-pound range.

Big Bear Lake, also in the San Bernardino range, is more than a trout fishing destination, as most anglers believe. It has a fine bass population that doesn't get as much pressure as other lakes. Water levels are lower than normal but are still high enough to provide excellent action. Despite the 6,700 feet of altitude, Big Bear bass can go on a solid jig bite as early as late February.

Lake Perris east of Riverside is always interesting. This big reservoir gets trout through the winter months, and spring pre-spawn activity starts early, so February is both a month for jigs and crawdads, and for throwing big trout-imitating swimbaits. Experts say to not be surprised if Perris produces some near-18-pound bass this spring.

Among the best of the bunch are Otay Reservoir and San Vicente, both of which have respectable water levels despite the shortfall of water to the rest of the system.

"I've never seen our lakes this low," said Larry Bottroff, fishery biologist for the San Diego City Lakes. "Morena is something like 9 percent of capacity. Sutherland is 10.5, and launch conditions are marginal. Hodges is 17.3 - you can't see a sign of water from the freeway bridge - and is only open to shore fishing and float tubes. Barrett is down to 20.2 percent, and El Capitan is 23.2 and dropping.

"The two best lakes as far as water levels are San Vicente and Otay. San V is 77 percent, and Otay is 55. They are still able to launch at El Cap."

Despite dismal water levels, it isn't all bad news. Otay and San Vicente look fairly good for the season, and non-city waters like Dixon, Wohlford and Cuyamaca could have fair to good fishing. There's always the silver lining of brush growth above the current water levels to consider for the future.

"I think it would help if we get water from Imperial Valley. We've lost Colorado River water and Feather River water," noted Bottroff. "The thing that carries us is catch-and-release. We've had tremendous growth of the riparian habitat in the transition zone between low and high water. When we do get wet winters, it should result in some outstanding fishing."

Lake Havasu is nearly 45 miles long and covers some 20,400 surface acres at full pool. Shallow by most Western reservoir standards, it averages only 50 feet in depth, with much of the lake 30 feet or less; that's excellent for bass anglers.

Havasu sits amidst some of the West's most beautiful desert country. The river marks the convergence of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts, and creates a spectacular riparian zone that turns to a seemingly sterile wasteland only yards from the water's edge.

Known as a major striped bass fishery, Havasu is also a fine black bass lake. Recently completed, it is one of the largest bass habitat restoration and enhancement projects ever done on the lower Colorado. A consortium of wildlife agencies participated in this landmark program. Thousands of artificial bass habitats were installed in coves all over the giant lake and added to a number of other enhancements. Havasu's bass fishing is good and getting better.

One of the more surprising things to occur in recent years is the appearance of smallmouth bass in Havasu. Probably illegally introduced by local anglers, the smallmouth have prospered beyond the wildest imaginations of fishery managers.

"Smallmouth are taking over Havasu," said local guide and tournament angler Ed Legan. "The fishing for smallmouth right now is better than for largemouth. You would think they would just be up in the river, but they are not. They are using the whole lake. Actually you can find them from the dam all the way up to Needles now."

Legan said that many bass anglers don't bother to target the largemouth any more in tournaments because the smallmouths are easier to catch. "It's hard to tell where aggressive ends and stupidity begins with these fish," Legan said with a laugh. "You can find a smallmouth on a bed and catch it five or six times. It's just unreal. Drop-shotting is a major method. I was fishing with a friend and he caught a 3-pound smallmouth off a spot, and we went away for a few minutes, came back and caught that same fish again."

Of course, you can also find plenty of smallmouth bass action in the Parker Strip area south of Lake Havasu, all the way down to Blythe. This section of the Colorado has been home to smallmouth for many years, and there is a robust fishery for these fish along the major river channel. Largemouth bass can be found in the side channels and backwaters.

Farther south from Cibola Wildlife Refuge south to Imperial Dam, the majority quarry is largemouth bass. This area is home to hundreds of tule-ringed backwaters and pothole "lakes" in side canyons off the main river. A recently completed enhancement program in the area around Martinez Lake did much to open water inlets and outlets to many of these potholes, which had been nearly closed by sediment deposits. This has added to an already fine bass fishing area. About all that remains to be done is to open the upper end of Furguson Lake on the California side to increase the flow. These dredging operations will benefit not only native and endangered species but it will also have a positive effect on bass angling and angler access in this area.

The upcoming season looks to be better than average for southern California bass anglers. While water levels are low in places, there's plenty of good bass fishing to be had within reach of most people. If you can't find what you want on the big reservoirs, try tackling your local park's ponds and lakes. Biologists working on the Fishin' In The City program say they have discovered some good - and under-fished - warmwater opportunities in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas worth taking a look at.