Diamond Valley Lake 5/1
In my last diatribe I was saying for largemouth bass success we need a hot spell in April to warm the water and overcast skies above the lake in the morning in May and June to keep the fish close to shore while they hunt. We didn’t have our annual two-week heat wave last month, only a few days were over 90, which nonetheless was good enough for lake warming purposes. A peek out the window this morning at three revealed the marine layer had rolled in overnight, exactly what I’ve been waiting for.
The gate at Diamond Valley Lake opened at six, Silverfish and I were third in line. Lake employees drive out to the line fifteen minutes beforehand to sell fishing permits and parking passes, which saves critical early-morning fishing time, as now you don’t have to wait in a second line at the entrance kiosk to fork over the $12.
I was at the main point past Third Cove making my first cast by 6:35. I started out with my four-inch purple Power Worm on a 1/8th ounce Carolina rig. Now that the reservoir level is fifteen-or-so feet low, this rig works well when there are no submerged bushes for it to have to crawl through. The problem today was thick mats of blue-green algae lining the bottom. I ended up reeling in clumps of that crap clinging to my egg sinker and worm.
Next I tried the drop-shot rig, which allows the worm to drift in above the algae as the weight rakes through it. Better, but that technique ended up sucking too, as the sinker became massively covered after each retrieve.
I retied Texas style using a 1/64th ounce bullet weight, which worked perfectly. I didn’t reel in any weeds the rest of the day.
Starting at the end of the point and working my way into the cove, the bite was slow. In the first hour I felt only two tap-taps of my line resulting in no hook sets.
Approaching eight o’clock I finally hooked up to a smallmouth bass that came off right when I reached down to grab its lower jaw. It looked to be pushing two pounds.
A few minutes later I was on again to a one-and-a-half pound largemouth that spit out the hook while leaping out of the water. One of the paradoxes of bass fishing, it’s always exciting to watch your fish jump but in mid air they vibrate their heads so fast the hook always comes out. When you guess they are about to jump, you’re supposed to stop retrieving line and dip the rod tip into the water. I did that, dam thing jumped anyway.
In the next two hours, while slowly walking the steep slope back into the cove, I caught three more largemouth, two were one pound and the other one weighed in at two. As I lifted the fish out of the water they felt warm compared to the ambient air temperature.
I don’t remember seeing so much algae in this lake but I’m pretty sure what the cause is. Something else I don’t remember seeing here: carp. I’m talking fifteen pounders and hundreds of them up against the shore in spawn mode. They stir up the dirt and lake sediments, releasing nutrients into the water that the algae mats thrive on. In a smaller lake the algae can cause a lack of dissolved oxygen in the water, killing all the fish. With DVL’s enormous size, the fish here won’t suffer that fate.
At eleven the overcast burned off in ten minutes. This is the point in the day when I’m ready to pack it in and head home. But first I wanted to cast to some deep spots on the way back to the parking lot. I walked around Third Cove to the points and small inlets between there and Second Cove. At the very farthest point sticking out into the lake I cast to a deep spot and hooked up to a fighter, pulling drag out left and right a few times over. I was thinking five-pounder but once I picked it up it was only three pounds. Again, the bass at DVL prove themselves pound for pound to fight harder than the same species elsewhere. I was totally faked out.
More fan casting to this deep spot of thirty feet was unsuccessful. I moved along the shore finally finding another small stretch of shoreline that took twice as long for my bait to hit bottom. After two twitches of the rod tip while slowly retrieving, I felt a big tug and set the hook. This one felt even bigger than the last. I couldn’t believe I was reeling in the biggest bass of the day at noon-thirty in bright sunshine! After a five minute drag-burning tussle I lifted out another largemouth exactly the same size as the previous fish, three pounds.
The carp really took over this place, especially at the back of the coves with mud flats. Seems the bass were trying to avoid the invasion and were hanging over rocky bottom off the points. Also the normally crystal clear water of this lake contained a lot of particulate matter of which I’m positive was caused by the carp tearing up the bottom.
Today, Thursday, as I write, we are beginning what appears to be a Santa Ana heat wave. In two weeks when the next marine layer blows in the action should pick up.
*****
Fished Diamond Valley Lake 3/20, my buddy caught 2, I nothing.
Joshua Tree run 4/3 photos.
Summited Mt. Baldy 4/11 photos
Bros Brad and Doug did well at a secret river somewhere in North America:
Hey Mike,
My brother Doug and I went to
($)*_&# for my birthday and did some fly fishing
on the lower &**#()*%^ river. We went April 15th with a guide and the next day
by ourselves. As you can see we did pretty good! Biggest trout I ever
caught. We got most on #28 nymphs. I'm getting too old, I could barely see
the eye to put line through to tie on! So it's mid April and as you can see
it's kind of cold. It snowed on us all day both days, pretty cool though.
Big rainbows and browns side by side in the river. I'll be back out there
this summer, I might have to hit these spots again. Hope all is good in
SoCal. Talk to you later.
Brad
*****
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