Heads Up About Rancho Jurupa
by California Outdoor Pro on July 27, 2021
My wife convinced me to go to Rancho Jurupa yesterday, because "we had not been there in a long time."
After we got there, I went to the "natural lake" with the island in it, but noticed that the water was pitifully low. I tried two spots there, but no signs of fish in the shallow waters.
I also noticed that the narrow pond by the parking lot, where I had actually caught bass and bluegill before, was completely dry and any fish in there had probably died.
Then I went to the artificial lake, which was also super low. A couple there informed me that "the pump was broken" so they had been unable to pump )well-water?) into the lakes like they normally do, and they had not been stocking them, either. (They were supposed to be stocking them regularly with catfish.) There was nothing about this on the website for the park. Ironically, it had rained the night before and there were still puddles of rainwater lying about.
I didn't see any signs of fish at the first spot at the artificial lake, either, so I found what appeared to be the deepest part of the lake on the east side of the lake, and soon started seeing large numbers of tiny bass, which was strange, since the last time I was there, the lake was full of tiny green sunfish, bluegill and baby carp, but no bass evident. It appears that bass have more or less replaced the other fish now. I ended up catching 4 of the little critters (3-5 inches long) on worms. I brought my fly rod too and tried it, but they weren't interested in my parachute adams. (I think the sunfish would have gone for the fly if they were around.) I would often see swarms of little, presumably young of the year bass following my worm. Oh well. No signs of mommy or daddy bass, catfish or sunfish.
As long at the pump is broken, I think the fishing will not be good there. By the way, the admission price seemed a lot higher than before, too. They are now charging $6 for parking, plus $10 per person to fish there.
