Hi,
Do any members have advice on finding a good carp water in So.Cal.? I fish my local city lake and have had fish up to 15lbs.+ but would like to catch a 20.

where in so. cal. are you?

Riverside

Thats too funny...I was born and raised in Riverside! Is that Fairmount park(browns lake) I see in your pick? for some monster carp close to home try Lake Perris, Lake Silverwood, Lake Skinner, etc. Perris is a personal favorite of mine as their are some monster carp and close to home. Try near the marina areas or the flatter,shallows on the end opposite the dam. Although some scouting should find you a spot you like. Use sweetcorn hookbait on a sliding rig bottom setup. Fish it with just a small amount of slack. Thanks for being a part of carp-usa and be sure to let us know how it goes.

Yep .. Fairmount Park ..if you can believe that.
Any suggestions for tackle / bait at Perris.
I have just acquired some Scopex boilies (hate the smell) do you think they would be successful?
I have some PVA bags also ...so maybe 2 or 3 extras might work..
What do you think?

scopex boilies shoild work fine. You can use pva with some goodies of choice. Perris has seen its share of carp pressure as Southern California Carpers Club often fish there so a bit of experimenting may be needed but you should be just fine with a simple inline lead with your hooklink being more important along with pva bag you should have no problem finding the fish. hope this helps...fairmount park is where I learned to fish...Flashback! Ive been near chicago for many years now...

Ha...we live about a mile from eachother.. Don't you use Fairmount Park as a practice area?

I am very familiar with Fairmount park and surrounding lakes. Ive fished them as a kid and adult. I have not lived in So Cal in about 15 yrs. Ive been between Chicago and Boise for quite some time now. I do keep up on Lake Perris carping tho...through www.uscarppromagazine.com and the club Southern Cal Carpers frequent Lake Perris. Check out the magazine for some great reads and aticles on So Cal Carp waters and more. Be sure to let us know how it goes! Tight lines!

OK thanks ... when you said you were in the Chicago area...I thought you meant the street ..lol

small world, I was born and raised in SoCal, anaheim to be exact, you might also try casitas and cachuma, never fished them but I have a buddy who has and has done well at both, maybe give castaic a try as well.

one other spot is Irvine lake, the record carp there is 35lbs

irvinelake.net/irv/viewtopic.php?t=87

Carpwalker is correct...Those are also some great lakes to try, but those lakes are in Orange County or LA County and would be less convenient to fish frequently...
Just a thought...There has got to be some fairly big carp in Fairmount park still. At least there used to be...Maybe try changing tactics from your waggler setup to a less familiar(to the fish) bottom bait rig and ample amounts of groundbait. You may be able to fool some of the larger carp with changing tactics and or baits!

carp walker wrote:
small world, I was born and raised in SoCal, anaheim to be exact, you might also try casitas and cachuma, never fished them but I have a buddy who has and has done well at both, maybe give castaic a try as well.

Hey carpwalker, I know all to well Orange county too. I used to live on Ball in Anaheim for a while. Too bad we didnt have the web back then huh?

yeah, whats really sad is that I did not carp when I lived in SoCal, heck I have a condo in Rancho Santa Margarita that is right across the street from a carpy lake, Irvine was one of the lakes I frequented for trout when I was waiting for the summer months then I would hit the ocean for tuna and shark.

Pretty much same here. I was all about saltwater everthing! and bass fishing at home. but the move away from the coast forced me to look for a hard hitting big game fish that was close to home and nothing beats the carp pound for pound. I do like fishing white sturgeon on the snake river, Id. when I get out there!

when I moved here to Tx it was the same thing, too far from the coast so I had to find another way to get my fix, started catfishing at a local lake that had a barge/crappie house and was fishing with cut up cheese hotdogs lol, all of a sudden my rod doubled over and the fight was on, ended up being a 9 lb carp, was hooked after that.

I hooked my first carp bass fishing with a plastic worm, thougt i had a freshwater albacore on or something! lol...thats all it took! carp junkie! Sorry to get off subject RiverCityCarp...you know how it goes...

I'm sure there are some 20+ in Fairmount, but I'm also sure that they are very wary of anything that resembles bait. My last three sessions I have used PVA bag, Scopex Boilies, Hair Rig, In-Line lead, Bait Runner Reel etc, but so far not a touch. I'm hoping that the boilies left from the pva will spark some interest over time. I've never used boilies before..they didn't have them when I grew up in England.

I do have quite an amusing true story to share with you guys though... I will just copy and paste the e-mail I sent to my fishing buddy last night...

Hey Juan

Got a crazy tale to tell you...

I was fishing down by the tank this morning and not getting any bites.
So, after a couple of hours I thought I might move.
I had been holding my pole with the bobber, and put it down for a second to close my tackle box before I moved.
The moment I got out of my chair the pole disappeared into the water ...just like last time.
I couldn't believe it ..I was so pissed.
Anyway, I went back to my car and got my red pole which now has a hair rig and my new Okuma baitrunner reel.
I decided not to move, and just put on a boilie and thew that out...
A few minutes later I spotted my bobber...
It popped up right in the middle of the lake..
Then it would disappear again....and pop up somewhere else...
I watched it on and off for about an hour, and then it popped up and didn't move any more...
I knew the fish must have thrown the hook..

I'm not sure if you know Elmer, he's one of the regulars down at the lake..
He came by and I told him about the pole...then I pointed out to the bobber...
At that time, a guy in a little bass boat started heading back towards the little cove..
Elmer whistled to the guy and he came close by..
I pointed to the bobber and the guy went out and actually found it...
He pulled it out of the water and the line was still attached...
He pulled on the line and up came the pole tip....
He grabbed it and brought it back to me....
The pole was right in the middle of the lake.
Can you believe that shit???
I have no idea how big that fish was, but it sure was a powerful son of a bitch...
The whole thing was complete....even the hook was still on there...

Anyway, having lost one pole already, I was so thankful to get this one back...
I was even more thankful that Elmer came by to help.

When are you guys fishing Fairmount again?
Hopefully we will meet up...

lol, pretty cool ya got your gear back, carp are known pole steelers, they hit so hard and fast you don't know what hit you.