Afternoon bite at Boronda Lake
17 Aug 2025
I was originally planning on heading down to Carmel today, but the waves looked a little rough so I decided to sleep in and head somewhere a little closer. Boronda Lake was picturesque as always, and there were a lot of fishermen out enjoying the afternoon sun. Unfortunately, as is also typical of Boronda, the lake was filled with thick vegetation thanks to its shallow depth. Make sure you use a weedless setup if you plan on fishing here.
In general, the bite was pretty slow until sunset, which is when the fishing picked up. We ended up catching a bunch of nice sized redear sunfish, casting from the fishing dock into the deeper parts of the lake using a weightless nightcrawler under a bobber. We also got two small bass on a classic Senko and a Z-Man Slim SwimZ. Not many bigger fish here, but it’s nice to have a fishing hole like this close to home.
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| A nice redear hybrid (I think) | A small bass caught on a Z-Man Slim SwimZ |
Recently, I’ve been experimenting more with the Z-Man Elaztech soft plastics, like the aforementioned Slim SwimZ. So far, I’ve found them pretty appealing for a couple reasons. First, they have a bit of natural buoyancy to them, which makes them float off the bottom a bit like a real minnow even if the lure is sitting still. Second, they are practically invincible compared to the durability of a traditional soft plastic, at the cost in some action — they’re pretty hard to rip off the hook, and you can fish all day with a single plastic. Finally, they are in theory nontoxic: most current soft plastic lures are made using PVC combined with a pretty significant amount of phthalates, the latter of which is quite well known to be a health risk. In contrast, most Elaztech plastics are made with some form of thermoplastic elastomer which should not in principle need the phthalates, making them a much more health-conscious option. Jury’s still out on whether they catch as many fish as the Senko or Keitechs, but so far results have been promising.
Check out our fishing guide for this spot.