Hunting at Fairmount Park

Night fishing has proven to be a tricky beast for me to tackle. I only have the confidence to fish a select few lures, mostly topwaters. I desperately need to branch out and try some other approaches, but the excitement of late night surface explosions keeps bringing me back. It's hard to beat the rush from a massive strike when it's pitch black outside.

(More after the jump)

Fairmount is a real pain of a park to fish at. It's pretty much guaranteed that I'll run into some very strange characters or equally suspicious activity while I'm out fishing this park in Riverside, especially at night. Secondly, the bass are usually too smart for me, I've been skunked most of the times out at this SoCal fishing spot. Lastly, the water quality is abysmal. It's almost always super murky and techniques suited for highly-pressured waters (i.e. ultralight) don't seem to get the fish's attention. On the flip side, the poor visibility helps keep the fish away from your usual city park trash (snaggers and netters). Still, I love this park, because it's free, it's relatively close, has some interesting cover, and there is a lot of water (three interconnected ponds).
Back to the subject of topwater at night-catching toads like this quality fish keeps bringing me back, especially when it's from a hard place like Fairmount. Had one of my best nights at this park last week, with three hooked and one landed, all on the same topwater lure. The funny thing is, I went back two other nights, with very similar weather and water conditions. Tried the same tactic, same general area, couldn't get a single splash or strike.