Top Summer Lakes for Southern California Trophy Largemouth Bass

Take advantage of the awesome summer weather in Southern California to catch trophy largemouth bass in the surrounding lakes and reservoirs. Huge bass are caught in many parts of Californian, but SoCal has some of the best bass fishing in the whole nation. Try fishing these top three lakes in SoCal this summer.

Castaic Lake
http://www.castaiclake.com
32132 Castaic Lake Drive
Castaic, CA 91384
Castaic is famous with local anglers for its huge largemouth bass, often trophy size. One of the popular SoCal fishing forums, Fishing Network, has many users who frequently fish Castaic, pulling in some very impressive catches of largemouth bass. Large catfish, crappie, bluegill and green sunfish are also caught here at this SoCal fishing lake. Castaic is also one of the few souther California lakes where night fishing is allowed, making it popular with the night bass "ninja fishing" crowd in the area. Finally, a large group of bass anglers enjoy doing float tube fishing at this lake, so bring your inflatable if you like that sort of bass angling.

Diamond Valley
http://www.dvlake.com
(For directions, see website)
Diamond Valley lake is probably the best lake for trophy largemouth bass angling in all of SoCal. Few, if any lakes in the region can match the constant output of massive bass in this 4,500 acre lake, with a max depth of an astounding 260 ft. The reservoir can hold 800,000 square feet of water (about 260 billion gallons of water). Fishing is not only limited to bass, as trophy size catfish and bluegill are caught here throughout the year. Like many of the larger reservoirs in SoCal, Diamond Valley has access fees, at $7 for entry fee, $12 for launching boats, and $3 to fish. This is fairly pricey (at least in my opinion) so make sure to arrive early and stay late to get the most out of this fishing opportunity. There are several popular fishing guide services for this lake, look them online if you are interested in getting a more directed fishing trip to Diamond Valley.

Lake Perris
State Park Website
17801 Lake Perris Drive
Perris, Ca 92571
Lake Perris, slightly North East of Diamond Valley, is another wonderful artificial SoCal freshwater reservoir. It is smaller than its SW neighbor, but also offers amazing fishing. One of the most popular species of fish to catch here is bluegill and redear sunfish. The bluegill get to amazingly large sizes here, with the popular In-Fisherman magazine listing Lake Perris as one of the best lakes for trophy bluegill in all of the United States. However, the bass fishing for largemouth bass at Lake Perris can be excellent as well. Perris used to hold loads of spotted bass, but the introduction of largemouth bass in this SoCal lake cut down on the spotted population, so largemouth are the dominant bass here. Rainbow trout are also stocked in this popular lake outside of Riverside, with many holderovers being caught throughout the year.