Lake Nacimiento | Santa Margarita Lake | Lake San Antonio

Lake San Antonio

Lake San Antonio, named after Saint Anthony, a generous Franciscan monk, can be a generous provider of fish and is the northernmost of our 4 Central Coast lakes. San Antonio, as the locals call it, is 17 miles long, has 65 miles of shoreline and holds 5,720 acre feet of water when it’s full. It was dammed in 1964 by Monterey County and planted in 1966-67 with Northern-strain largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, black crappie, white catfish, channel catfish and threadfin shad. In 1971 the DFG added striped bass to Lake San Antonio. Recently, someone has taken it upon themselves to add spotted bass, presumably from Lake Nacimiento, just 5 miles south, into Lake San Antonio. There is no way of knowing how this illegal act will affect the fishery at San Antonio but hopefully it will not be negative.

San Antonio fishes like 2 lakes; there is the west end or the “river” end, which is full of brush and willows. This end has lots of productive shallow water but also lots of offshore channels, humps and shelves which originally put Lake San Antonio on the “bass fishing map” back in the mid 70’s. This end is a flipper’s paradise and also a great area to throw spinnerbaits and shallow crankbaits!

The east end, or the dam end, starting at the South Shore Marina, is deeper and has more rock and variety of terrain than the river end. Stripers are usually caught off of the points in and around Harris Creek and Bee Rock Cove. There is nothing more thrilling than watching a shad leaping for it’s life as it’s being chased by a 3 foot long black and silver torpedo more commonly known as a Striper!

Lake San Antonio smallmouth is an especially mean strain of fish. They will respond to a well placed jig or plastic worm but readily attack spinnerbaits, crankbaits and in the warmer months, a large variety of topwater lures. The lake record smallmouth is only 3 lbs 14 oz and since records are made to be broken, why don’t you break it soon?

The largemouth at San Antonio love to eat plastic worms, tubes and creature-baits flipped into the willows and buck-brush which lines much of the shoreline. They are also suckers for a topwater bait anytime the water is 65 degrees or warmer. There is a crankbait bite in the summer on the long taper points and offshore humps that will convert the most steadfast finesse fisherman into a reaction bait freak.

Lake San Antonio is 40 minutes north of Paso Robles and can be accessed by traveling up Hwy 101 to Jolon Rd which takes you to the North Shore, or by taking the Interlake Road from Lake Nacimiento to the South Shore Marina.

For those interested in things historical and picturesque, the Hearst Ranch House, where William Randolph Hearst used to spend time during the yearly cattle round-up, is located inside Camp Roberts and offers rooms for the night. There are several herds of the Magnificent Tule elk on the property and it is only a 15 minute drive from the lake. You can make reservations by calling: 831-386-2511

The San Antonio Lake Resort (south shore) has a restaurant and lodging with commanding views of the lake: www.lakesanantonioresort.com