Stan Kaplun's San Diego California Trout Report

We each caught four of our five fish limit very quickly as we found a large school that were aggressive and looking for a meal. Most of our fish were in the 1lb-3lb range, so we decided to take a walk and try to find some of the trophies that we knew were around to top of our respective limit.

Mike was the first to find one of these beauties. He hooked a monster, probably pushing 10 lbs. Unfortunately, after a long fight on his casting gear, the fish snapped his 2lb and that was that. We continued to cover ground and stumbled upon another big fish. This time, I was able to hook up, and after some time, I landed this hefty fish.

The fish above is my biggest of the year and was just over 6 1/2 lbs.

The retrieve was relatively quick. In some cases, the trout will hang around the bottom, at which point it is in one's best interest to work the lower water column, essentially bouncing the bait off the bottom. However, that day, the trout were hanging around the surface, and the bait had to be worked in the upper water column. Keep in mind that sometimes color does play a factor, whether it is a darker color, lighter color, or even a natural color.

What made this catch special for me was not the fact that it was my biggest trout of the year, but rather that I had caught it on a SPRO Baby Bucktail. These baits not only catch bass, as Bill Siemantel has demonstrated many times via the Float and Fly approach. Using this bait, one can also target trout, and all types of panfish as well. They come in 1/16oz and 1/8oz, in addition to several different colors.

The set-up I used was my Cousins RSP 651, paired with a Shimano Sienna 500, spooled with 2lb Fluoro, and a 1/16oz SPRO Prime Baby Bucktail.

Special thanks to Kevin Bridge for finding this bait!

Check back in soon for the next report!