By Paul Lebowitz

BARRETT LAKE – On Saturday June 28 the wind was fast enough to roll a high chop across the main lake, so it was something of a surprise to see how easily Nancy Ortiz and Richie Hodge held their positions in tight to one of the Hauser arm’s rocky points.

The pair was fishing on Hobie Mirage Drive kayaks, the pedal-powered versions that run around practically hands-free. Kicking gently into the wind, rods always in hand, the kayak anglers only had to drop their off-hands to the hand-operated rudder control every so often. And all the while they were bumping baits down the steep underwater structure just below the surface.

Ortiz smiled and hefted a perfect Barrett bass, not large at about a pound and a half, but healthy – well fleshed out and not a scale out of place.

“They started biting around 9. We’ve been getting them all along this shoreline,” said Ortiz, a self-described former tomboy who’d grown up fishing the Imperial Valley’s canals and ponds. Now a member of the Abu Garcia Kayak Fishing Team, she was quietly showing up – my words not hers – many of the Hobie Kayaks staffers out for a day at this special lake.

“Man, she was a firecracker on Saturday, a real hot stick,” said Drew Clark later. A member of both pro staffs, Clark organized the Barrett trip along with OEX Oceanside general manager Nate Clookie, a Hobie dealer.

Once joined by Hobie riders Forest Talbot and Alan Marcy, the stage was set for a friendly bass-off – heaviest single fish, just one per angler, wins.

The morning started out slowly. Marcy found one on the dropshot off a weed line, but that was about it, so the Hobie staffers scattered. Ortiz and Hodge turned right; the rest continued up the Pine Creek arm.

It was peaceful up there, with the lake’s green, murky water set against a pale blue sky. The steep hills, dried to a sere brown except at the lake’s edge, soaked up the hot sun.

Clookie stopped to lather on the sunscreen. Marcy glanced his way, shock in his eyes.

“What’s with your sunscreen? It turned your face purple!” Marcy said in astonishment.

Clark pedaled alongside to check out the situation.

“What’s wrong dude, what did you put on your face? Strawberry Shortcake!” Clark teased.

“What the… did you know that was going to happen?” said Clookie, voice rising several registers in concern, his face now self-consciously flushed red but looking nothing like the purple Roboworm tied onto one of his rigs. Only later did he realize he’d been had. Known as easy-going and quick to laugh, Clookie will undoubtedly savor a future – and funny – revenge.    

Clark’s group finally found a few fish hanging on a rock wall, but it wasn’t until they’d pedaled past the narrows that Talbot hooked a worthy bass, a 3-lb something unit that hit a red jig.

The pedal-powered anglers continued to the back of the arm, where the lake follows the old Pine Creek channel. With the overhanging trees shading the water, it felt like a river somewhere other than Southern California. Constant casting accounted for a few smaller bass.

The story was decidedly different on the Hauser arm, where Hodge and Ortiz enjoyed steady action including a deuce of cookie-cutter 3-lb’ers. Hodge let the wind pin his Hobie Revolution against the bank, then pulled bass in one after the other by thoroughly working small worms uphill.

A beaten man at least in the bass sense, Clark conceded the friendly fish-off victory to Hodge and Ortiz.  

“Nancy and Richie found the pattern, the location and the fish. They schooled us,” Clark said.

As the group gathered on the sand by the launch ramp to give Ortiz and Hodge their due, Clark and Clookie discussed the benefits of bass fishing from a Hobie kayak. Both spent years in paddle kayaks before hooking up with Hobie.  

“That wind would have been a nightmare in a traditional kayak. I’m not just saying this, I know this sounds like a cliché; in this Hobie I didn’t notice it,” Clark said.

TEAM HOBIE HOOKS UP AT BARRETT – Alan Macy gets things going during a recent Hobie pro staff bass-off at Southern California’s prime numbers lake.

TALBOT WITH A BARRETT ‘BEAUT – Fishing was slow (for Barrett) on the Pine Creek arm. Hobie rider Forest Talbot did convert on this 3-lb and change bass, a big one for Barrett.

KICKIN’ IT AGAINST ON SHORE – Richie Hodge reels in another one on the Hauser arm. His Hobie was easy to work in the wind; he just pointed his noise at it and kicked the pedal drive gently to hold position to intensely work the structure. At other times, he laid the boat against the bank and fished uphill.

ABU GARCIA’S ORTIZ FISHES CLASSY – Abu Garcia Kayak Fishing Team staffer Nancy Ortiz shows off another of the bass that earned her Hobie bass-off bragging rights at Barrett.

Barrett Lake is located in San Diego County. This unique fishery is operated as a limited access, catch and release only fishery by the City of San Diego Water Department. The lake produces unusually high numbers of hook-ups, especially for anglers used to Southern California's highly pressured, gin-clear reservoirs. More information is available at the Water Department website. Tickets are sold through TicketMaster.