Puddingstone Reservoir
(San Dimes CA. Frank G. Bonelli Park)
Puddingstone Reservoir is a 250 acre manmade lake just off the 57 and 10 freeways in San Dimas, located close to Orange County, San Bernardino, and L.A County. Activities included here on the water and at the park are, fishing, swimming, sailing, windsurfing, and camping. There are plenty of park benches for family picnicking and miles of trail to hike or ride to see the park from all angles. In 1923 the L.A. County Flood Control District made the purchased of a large piece of land to construct a dam to hold back floodwaters in the area which eventually became known as Puddingstone Reservoir.
Puddingstone Reservoir is great place to float tube for many different reason. 1. It holds large Mouth Bass, Bluegill, Crappie, Carp, Catfish, and stocked trout. 2. it’s not as expensive as other lakes are in the area. 3. It is fairly quiet most often, other than the skiers in the summer or Memorial Day, it stays fairly quiet. 4. Fairly easy entrance for float tubing, right on the boat ramp with no boats in your way (sail boat cove is where you launch from.) 5. Final reason it is close to me. Sometime this can be the most important reason for me, being I have small kids, it is only 30 minutes from my home. Yes sometimes it is more important to fish closer to home rather than to fish where the fish are biting. Please don’t get me wrong the fish are there and if you work hard you will find them.
I have seen some great bass fishing done there and I myself have done some pretty good bass fishing as well as great Bluegill fishing here. You must know that sail boat cove is where you as a float tuber are allowed to fish I know that there is more lake to explore but they feel for safety of the float tuber we are to stick to sailboat cove. I really feel this is not a bad location for float tubing and fishing. There is plenty of structure available to fish, i.e. sunken trees and rock piles in and around sailboat cove. As well launching is pretty simple here, with a boat ramp and some good shore line to launch from, just watch the boat ramp it can get slippery.
Sailboat cove has some great Bluegill, and Crappie fishing and Bass fishing, and in the winter months can hold stocked trout as well. I personal enjoy fishing for bass, bluegill, and crappie at puddingstone and have done some of my best bluegill fishing in this reservoir. My favorite method of bluegill fish here is fly fishing. Small hand tied flies on a light weight fly rod makes for some exciting panfish action. Bass fishing is just like any were else, bring your favorite set up and preferred lures; the rest is all about cast and retrieve until you hook up. My favorite spots in sailboat cove to fish are directly across the cove from the boat launch and deep in the back of the cove. The water directly across from the boat ramp comes right up to the tree’s some of them hang over the water or are in the water, this makes for great fish cover. In the back of the cove you can enjoy reed's sunken tree stumps and rock piles all closely located together.
I will normally get in the water and make a kick strait across the water to the shoreline across from the boat ramp which is not accessible for shore fishing, and start my day off here. I will then turn myself to start kicking to the back of the cove and fish all along this shoreline which is full of structure every were you look. I will normally pull out a few bluegill and or bass as I am moving along. Once at the back of the cove I will fish the reeds and the sunken stumps for the bass and some crappie. Finally I will turn to kick back to my launch site and fish the rock piles and point that are in this area as well as the submerge trees and brush coming back. So finally after landing fish along all these spots I will concentrate on the dock where I started out at before finally getting out of the water and completing my day.
There are a lot of people that find just kicking strait down the center of the cove to be most productive. The contour of the cove under the water is of a channel so they choose to fish the deepest parts of the cove this way. The will start at the opening of sailboat cove and simple kick slowly to the back and then turn around and return back the same way. All while jigging or dragging plastic worms set up like drop shots, wacky worm, t-trigged and or Carolina style. I have not tried this at least with any success, but I do know that it can produce and have seen some big bass caught fishing this way. This reservoir is a great place to fish and float tube, as you can see there is some great structure in the water which can translate into some wonderful fish habitats. This has always been a favorite location of mine and I don’t think that this will change anytime soon. So if you have not tried Puddingstone Reservoir before then maybe it is time you give it a try and maybe I will see you out there.
By: JBernier
Information for Puddingstone
Location: 120 Via Verde Ave., San Dimas, CA 91773 (909) 599-8411. Boat Rentals (909) 599-2667. Camping and RV Reservations (800) 809-3778
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