After the wind died down on Monday, action at South Lake returned to a wide open bite for most anglers with limits the rule. It was surprisingly quiet up at the lake until Thursday when folks started showing up in force to take advantage of the excellent fishing. The DFG stocked some real quality rainbows this week making for some happy anglers and heavier than average stringers. Best fish of the week was a 5 lb 8 oz trophy caught by Mike Goodwin, pictured above of Glendora, CA on a nightcrawler.

Nightcrawlers seemed to be the best producer for the bait n' wait folks this week but most brightly colored dough baits are working well too. Powerbait in Garlic, Salmon Peach or the new Strike Bait in red were good producers. With fishing as good as it is, bait dunkers should avoid catch and release of gut-hooked fish - the collection of floating dead fish at the dam is evidence of how unsporting this practice is - they may swim away but they're pretty much done for within a day or so.

The jig bite continues to be on fire with the pink/orange, pink/blue sparkle and grasshopper Sierra Slammer jigs doing best. Anglers reported wide open action jigging on the dam, the Rock Slide, at Roger's cove, and in the channel to the east of the island. Anglers fishing 2 to 4lb test and working the jigs really slow are doing the best. In the afternoon when the breeze comes up, folks are doing well fishing jigs 5ft or more under a bobber with a small piece of crawler or a mealworm on the jig. Yellow and pink trout worms fished on a size 8 or 10 hook with a size 7 split shot 18" above the worm are also working very well.

Thomas Buoyant and Kastmasters are also working (of course ), especially in the few days following DFG stockings.

Not a lot of trolling reports this week but the fish seem to still be up in the water column and despite the warm weather, haven't gone deep yet so trolling spoons and Rapalas on top is still the suggested tactic.

The water level at South Lake dropped about 2ft vertically this week leaving the launch ramp out of the water. Anglers with really good trailer skills can still get small boats in the water launching off the dirt but it's sketchy at best and most private boaters are out of luck as of now. No word from SCE as to the latest projections for the lake level going into late July/August.

Photo: #1 Artin Minassi with a solid 4lber caught at South Lake