Just getting back briefly to matching spots with Southland waters (May 11): those who responded in the comments were pretty much on top of things. The only one that really jumped off the hook was the “Bobcat” or “Jaguar Tree.”
Formerly located in the southeast corner of the Santiago Flats (though the trunk has long since died and decayed) the tree was part of Irvine Lake lore–probably long before I arrived there around 1960.
And in fact, there is overlap on a couple of other spots/lakes. Yes, there is a Rocky Point at Irvine. But the the most prominent structure spot on the reservoir (if you don’t consider Engineer Point) is that one located between the North and South forks of the Kern River on Lake Isabella–yet another “Rocky Point.”
And while there are Red Clay Cliffs on Lake Castaic, you will also find them on the east side of Irvine Lake as well–though the red is far less prominent than it was 40 years ago!
Viewer “Ken” had most of them, (Sugarloaf & Palm Tree Point, notably) and including one that is both historic and intriguing to me: Bomber Ledge on Lake Henshaw.
It was never named for any plastic Long A or Model A since those baits didn’t come onto the fishing scene until the early 1980′s. Yet certain of you might remember the numbers, 600, 500 and 400 series, wooden Bombers–and the Henshaw specific color: yellow coachdog–seen here at the left.
Mostly used for casting, but equally effective trolling on the shallow flats and channel edges, one particular hump, located west of Monkey Island (Monkey Hill) produced so many fish by this plug, the spot kept the tag for decades.