Balboa’s kicking out plenty of spring bass, although mostly skinny 1–2 pounders. Bigger fish have been hard to come by. Swimbaits and craw-style plastics are getting bit, especially when worked very tight to the shoreline. Water’s stained, so stick to dark, high-contrast colors like black and blue. Catfish are showing here and there, but the tilapia bite has been very good on nightcrawlers.

There’s a lot of bass action at Balboa right now, and not just for dinks. Within the last few weeks, 4, 5, and 7+ pounders were all pulled out of the lake. The cooling water temps are firing up these fish. Crawfish are a major forage currently, so slow-dragging jigs and/or soft-plastic craws has been excellent. Fish are also consistently being caught on a variety of other baits: rattle traps, Keitech swimbaits, drop shots, square-bill crankbaits… and the list goes on. The excellent bite should continue until the first big cold front.