Today I promised to take my wife and dog fishing. Weather has been comfortable and the fish have been cooperating. Wasn't so much concerned about my wife but the dog had me concerned. She is a great house dog and a beautiful choc. lab weighing 90 lb. When she gets outside or even suspects she is going outside she gets very excited and hard to control. She's just a teenager (3 yrs)! I have always wanted a good fishing dog so with my wife along thought it was time to start getting her out. What a mistake. Before I could even wet a line I was ready to pull the boat out and go home.
Thought I would make it a little easier on my self, so I bought 5 dz jumbo minnows ($54.00!!!). Figured it might get expensive teaching my wife how to deep fish artificial.

We hit most of my usual spots. I tried to keep the boat in 30 ft of water. I know a lot of guys are hitting the 50 to 60 ft depths but I have found the active fish are holding at about 25 ft.

Best 2 spots today:
1.left hand side of lake after the narrows where first bay starts, rocky shoreline
2.in front of spillway (right below log barrier which is sitting on shore due to low water.)

We used simple outfits, spinning reels with 8# and 6 ft Fenwick rods. A hook, minnow and split shot was all that we used. We would try to bounce the bait right off the bottom. All day long I only graphed fish 2 times and they were solitary fish (no schools) hugging no more than 3 ft off the bottom.
The bites were mixed. 1/2 were aggressive and very noticeable (hard to miss all that line ripping off an open spinning reel) and the other 1/2 were just a slight sensation of weight on the line (like some weeds were picked up).

Between the 2 of us we landed 16 or 17 bass (lost count). 3 were smallies in the 2 to 2.5 lb range. 2 largies about 1.5 and the rest were solid 2.5 to 3 lb fish. The wife's largest weighed just over 4 lb. My largest for the day was a beautiful and FAT 5.25. The fish were all large and healthy and put up a great fight. Only 2 fish broke water and the rest stayed deep.

We had several hits that we lost (dog in the way, helping wife with a tangle, etc). In fact I lost 5 in a row (2 the hook came off ( better practice my knot tying!), 2 wrapped in trees and 1 came off 5 ft under the boat. We also missed several fish on the hook sets. The minnows were probably too large and we should have let them feed some more. We wound up using all the minnows but 6.

go to www.learntotieaknotbeforeyournexttrip.net

Any word on the trout at Del Valle? I've been trying to hit the spot after a plant, if you can give some info on that also. I really question the veracity of the norcalfishing.com sight, as they misreport plants and catches frequently. You know those urban lake managers.

bass fishing has been so great I rarely have a chance to fish for trout. I can tell you that it is hit or miss at Dell Valle. When I fish for trout I either get skunked or can't keep them off the hook. My only suggestions are:
a. standard rig (swivel, sliding sinker, hook)
b. power bait or inflated nightcrawler
c. stick to gently sloping areas where your bait will sit in 25 to 35 ft
d. move every hour if no bites

I know the reports seem exagerated but at D.V. they do put a TON of large fish in there. I have seen a lot of trout at Dell valle at the cleaning station in the last few weeks. 50% large (over 4 lb) and 50% 12 inch planters. I myself caughta 9.25 lb trout a few weeks ago trolling for stripers. I personally reccomend still fishing with bait and not trolling. I have seen a few people catch them trolling but the majority are caught still fishing.

as stupid as this sounds.....try using a standard bait rig (described above) baited with power bait. Slow troll with electric motor close to shoreline. You only need to toss out about 50 ft of line (gas motor put out more line). Go as slow as u can!!! I have hammered the trout at Dell valle at times doing this (caught 15 - 25 per trip on some outings). Try this in front of the dam or at both points just before each bay (on the right hand side).

Good spots are narrows, in front of dam, right side of dam (facing the dam), and the first bay after the narrows on the right. This is a sandy, gently sloping shoreline where a lot of shore fishermen walk to.

You might want to try for some Salmon in the main body of lake (trolling) with small silver and blue Kastmasters.

good luck!!!