Well, let's just say it didn't quite live up to expectations today... We started off in the east corner with big hammer, slammer, and a little jig for no bites. Then we took a pleasure cruise to the west side of the lake and Brian was able to catch the first fish of the day, a marvelous 6"er. This would be the first of many. Average fish 3lbs? Not today.... Brian had 8 fish under 10" by the end of the day. Once we realized that there were no shallow fish we resorted to worm fishing, which is something I deeply despise. First cast with an 8" purple/brown I connect and then lose a 3.5lber as it broke the surface. That of course made me throw a worm for a good portion of the day. It resulted in one more 1.4lber, and a clone for Brian also on texas rig. Once we realized that we were shaking worms in 40ft of water at diamond valley we decided this wasn't what we came for and took off at around 4:30.

Everyone we talked to on the water was reporting similar results, lots of small fish, no size to speak of. One guy had a 5lber, and Josh (Team Striper) had a decent day when we talked to him at the ramp, they had a couple 5's and a few more between 2.5 and 5. Josh's report was the best we heard all day. There were absolutely no shallow fish whatsoever. The lake has the same type of weeds as mission viejo, these kind of prickly weeds that seem to filter the water real good, so visibility was pretty good in most parts of the lake. The whole day I saw one fish in the water, and she was heading to deep water (about an 8lber). We didn't see any other cruisers or fish sitting in weeds or anything, they just weren't there. Others had similar experiences.

I guess these fish need time to adjust to all the boats, or maybe they got driven off the bank by the millionaire's open, press day, special buddies day, etc...

I think once things settle down and the fish get back on it this lake will be up to the rumors. Time will tell. Fishin is fishin and even the best fisheries are off and on, so by no means am I basing my entire view of dvl on today's trip.

The lake itself was interesting. Lots of steep walls and the banks that are less steep are pretty obvious among all the surrounding cliffs. Quite a bit of pipes and structure around, if you like to graph you'll like this lake. Water was clear, about the same as san v or dixon or poway etc. The lake doesn't seem completely over-crowded with 300 boats, but you can definitely tell there's 300 boats on the water. It's not too difficult to find a spot to fish, but most of the water gets fished over pretty quick once the fleet spreads throughout the lake. The dams are huge and have a very gradual slope, presumably to handle the immense water pressure from that amount of water. The dams are made of medium to large boulders with a staircase or two extending down the face of the dam into the water. Launching facilities were good, huge ramp, decent docks, plenty of parking. Everything went pretty smoothly considering the amount of boats.

Here's some various pics from throughout the day:
Brian with the first dvl fish, unfortunately a sign of what was to come.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1543.jpg

This is a shot across the lake, just west of the marina looking west. That strip of land waaaay off in the distance is the west dam.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1545.jpg

A closer shot of the west dam

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1546.jpg

Some typical shorelines:

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1547.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1548.jpg

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