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Del Valle Lake and Reports

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Monday, January 21st, 2013

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    Water Temp: 52

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: On the water at 9am caught one at Swallow rock then moved to sloping gravel bank and put 4 more in the boat by 10am. Hit many spots in the next 4hrs working my way up to dam without a bite. Caught 4 more to the right of the steep rocks by the dam. Good Jan day for me at DV.
    City: Brentwood

    Tips: Fish were in the 2 to 2.5lbs range including 3 chunky smallmouth. All were caught on 4" light colored worms rigged on a 1/4 darthead in about 20ft. Bottom contact was a must.

Monday, January 14th, 2013

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    Water Temp: 48

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Hit my DV winter average of 1 bass, a fat little 2# smallmouth, I'm embarrassed to report. Fished jigs almost exclusively again but haven't had a bite on one at DV all winter. Nice day. Only had to wear a glove on one hand for a few minutes a couple of times. Still muddy - no change - same lake level.

    Tips: Caught the sm near a steep bank with rock and wood in only about 10' of water on a crank. Soak bait and catch trout - those guys always catch them.

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

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    Water Temp: 48-52

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: The lake has come up about 10 ft. or so and muddy,like the last report indicated. There's still a decent jig bite, just have to slow down the presentation. Tried dropshoting,crankbaits and spinnerbait with no takers.
    City: Bay Area

    Tips: Slow down and cover water 20-40 ft.rock banks. Goodluck and keep warm. Burrrr!

Monday, December 31st, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Lake level has risen considerably but not quite up to the tules yet. 3 launch ramps again available. Water is muddy and gets worse heading towards the dam. Lots of floating debris including big logs so watch out. Lots of guys fishing. Heard a guy say it wasn't easy fishing but he caught a few sm and I saw him catch maybe another in the south narrows. I caught a 2# sm 10' off a shallow cove bank near stick debris on a spinnerbait. Couldn't get bit on a jig but had 4 bumps on a Mann's 30+ crankbait trying to go over rock piles/drops. Saw the trout guys nailing them shallow and close to shore.

    Tips: Fish for smallmouth? I usually don't because of the bigger and heavier baits I like to throw because of the wind you often see here.

Saturday, December 15th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 54-56

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Cold front came through and seem to have affected the bite. Had too work the jig fish harder and really slow down. Got about 10 bites to 3 lbs. early and shut down later when it started raining. Brown 1/2oz. jigs did the trick,quit around 2pm.
    City: Bay Area

    Tips: Be prepaired for the weather and bring good raingear.

Monday, December 10th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 60.5

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Threw ripbaits till sun came up-nothing. Moved to Swallow rock and caught 2.5lb on a dropshot. Switched to brown/purple 1/2oz jig and it was on. Caught three more 2lbr's and my DelValle PB of 9lbs. Fished my way toward the dam concentrating on steep rock only to catch a few under sized fish. All fish were caught at 20-30ft. Picture of fish in photo section.
    City: Brentwood

    Tips: For me it was a brown/purple jig right after the sun started warming my hands up. Fish hard in the morning. Afternoon slows down.

Wednesday, December 5th, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Got out on the water around 11 when the rain started to die down. Water wasn't as clear as it usually is so I fished shallower than I have been using 1/2 oz jigs. Caught 2 right off the bat in the 3 to 3.5lb range a rock wall. Went to the dam area and got a 4lb smallie on a shallow point and a 3 lb smallie on a steep rock bank both on the same 1/2 oz jig. Worked the area a while longer a got a couple more more lm. Jig bite started to slow so I found some deeper water and worked a drop shot and a spoon. Got one lm on a drop shot in 30 ft of water and got 2 catfish on a spoon is 60 ft of water. Overall great day, first time I had felt I had something worthy to post. All though I do appreciate when others post despite not catching g anything.
    City: Livermore

    Tips: I think the weather had more to do with the bite being on. All the fish were extremely healthy and plump with very sharp teeth. I went out the previous week and got skunked during a day with bright blue skies and light wind. The rain really helped the fish start to feed.

Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Threw 1/2 and 1oz. jigs with just the beaver tail plastics on them most of the day all over the lake where you think they'd be this time of year (more vertical stuff) but didn't get bit. Beautiful day except for about 4 hrs. of wind. Guys throwing trout type baits and soaking anchovies caught a sm and some trout. The regulars said they got skunked the last time they were out, too.

    Tips: Find the guys that are catching them out of here and hire them to guide. The last time I caught a 10+ lm out of here I had maybe 30-40 bites that day, but for me, those days are very rare. Fish for sturgeon-a 100+ was caught recently and a picture of it will be in the newspaper.

Tuesday, November 20th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 58-62

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Lake seem to have turned over, much more consistant bite than last week. We got 1 bite last week on a crankbait, a nice smallie 2.5 lbs. Yesterday we got around 20 bites all on 1/2oz. jigs. All solid 2.5 to 3 lb. LG and 1 nice Smallie 3.5. They all look healthy and ready for the next years spawn.
    City: Bay Area

    Tips: We moved around some but when we got bit we worked the area. Concentrate on rock walls, wind blown banks 15 to 30 ft. Feel the bottom and be ready when you come over a rock and it starts to fall, that's when we got bit. They hit it Good!
    Go fish and post. Goodluck!

Saturday, November 17th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: No largemouth or smallmouth. Fished the 16th, too, using deep cranks on the shoals/breaks and jigs in the trees. Rained both days off and on. Caught a 4# striper in the narrows just before lake closing on a big shallow running minnow bait. They were boiling the exact same time the next day, too. I spent a lot of time trolling through bait schools. Throwing deep divers and big striper plugs and swimbaits will wear you out.

    Tips: None for bass. Another boater I say caught what looked to be a 10-15# striper shallow on a 10" swimbait and lost another throwing at the seagulls.

Thursday, November 1st, 2012

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    Water Temp: 64 afternoon

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: 2.5#sm and 2#lm on deep diving cranks after 1st bounce off bottom, then ripped in 9-13'. Calm off and on rain 1st half of day so I swung for the fence with large baits and wiffed. Worse, when the big stripers put on a boiling show my arm was too sore to throw but a couple casts to them. Fished 11/2, too, but bluebird calm in a.m. made it tough for me. Like 11/1 fish were feeding everywhere but they wouldn't hit even the little realistic stuff. Couldn't go for reaction bite - arm still too sore.

    Tips: That's all I got. Did raise that 10#lm again same point on big bait but no take. Tried with little bait 11/2 and no show.

Wednesday, October 17th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 69

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: 3 lm and 1 sm each 2# today. Lm on topwater, deep crank 12', Senko in 8'weed flat; sm trolling Mag Wart in 25'water. All south end. Fished 10/18, too, with 2 bites on a spinnerbait and worm. A 10+ lm followed a big minnow bait early and a 3# sm? followed up my 10" worm after I missed on the hookset. Had around 10 follows on various baits but they only wanted to see my boat I guess. Also saw around 10 in 5' of water in a small open area in the south narrows in bright sun and no wind they would not look at my Senko or worm.

    Tips: Most bites I got were where I graphed or saw fish chasing bait.

Thursday, October 4th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 73 afternoon

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: A 5 incher on a 3/4 oz. Rattletrap and a 1# on a big worm were my only prizes today. Both were taken just outside defined weedbed walls in the afternoon. Blanked yesterday so today was an upgrade for me. No wind until 11am each day and then an unpleasant and difficult howling. Tried many techniques and locations. Nothing in south end and didn't try north end.

    Tips: Yeah, tell me them if you caught them. Heard the lake is tough lately from the dock guys so I wasn't alone.

Friday, September 21st, 2012

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    Water Temp: 72 south end

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished 5 hours Thurs. afternoon and caught a 1#and a 3# largemouth on back to back casts on a crank on a windblown bank. Landed a 4# lm on a softplastic in a weedbed later. Fri. fished a.m. and only got a 1# lm on a big Senko in weeds. No other bites except the bold 4 inchers thinking big.

    Tips: I had a hard time of it generally. Going to my 1st spot Thurs. I graphed fish holding in 20ft. of water and is why I opted for the crankbait. Stuck to south end only. Worms, spinnerbait and topwater no good for me.

Sunday, September 9th, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Took the kayak out today and fished the south end of the lake from 9 AM to 1 PM. Caught a 1 lbs largemouth from a drop shot roboworm and a 2-10 largemouth from a buzzbait before the winds kicked into gear. Found the two bass in the large groups of grass in the 5-8' range. Couldn't get a bite nor did I see any activity on the lake once the winds started.
    City: Livermore, CA

Thursday, September 6th, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: The lake level is all the way up to the tules now, a rise of maybe 5 feet in the last few weeks. Fished yesterday and caught 3. A LM on a crankbait early and 2 SM later. Got a SM on the deep crank today and a LM on a worm in the weeds. The biggest was a 2# SM. Had a huge fish blow up on a Zara Spook type lure early today on a point but I missed it.

    Tips: Fish north end. All but 1 caught there.

Friday, August 10th, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Caught a 5# largemouth yesterday in 1/2 day of fishing in the middle of the lake on the south end over 30' of water on a Spook. I was following where a sea gull was chasing baitfish. Fish hit 2 pulls of bait after splashdown on my 1st cast with the topwater. Only had one other bite. Landed 3 on Thursday up to 2.75#. Biggest on the Spook, a 1.5# on a huge worm shallow in the weeds, and a dink on a crankbait. Had 2 other blowups on the Spook and another miss on the crank.

    Tips: Not many fishing for bass but guys trolling 15' deep in Heron Bay reportedly pulled in 15-20 smallmouth.

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Caught 4 LM yesterday, biggest was just under 8#. Caught 2 today in half a day of fishing. None of the other LM went over 2# and all fish caught on a deep diving shad crainbait thrown tight to shore and worked out deeper. The biggest hit on the splashdown 1 foot from the steep bank. All were caught in the shadows.

    Tips: Cover water. Tube, carolina rig, jig, swimbait all wasted a lot of my time before going for reacton strikes. North end is better than south end per my last 2 outings the past 2 months .

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 78

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got a good tan and enjoyed the bank view but caught nothing. Fished south end up to dam. Lots of surface fish but no biters. We tried everything except drop shotting. Had only one bite in some deep brush by the dam on a Senko.

    Tips: Get out and try. A largemouth nearly 11# was caught a couple weeks ago.

Sunday, June 17th, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Caught a 2 pound largemouth bass jigging a zoom super fluke with ancovy pro cure. Caught it on the drop after a few hours of fishing at the end of the narrows near the shallow bay
    City: san mateo