Paul Clouse of Lafayette and Al Hurwitz of Saratoga trolled Lake Del Valle extensively on 4/14/22. Regrettably, after 4-5 hours of trolling all sections of the lake, we caught no fish and had not one bite! Most unusual, particularly since we caught some nice Smallmouth Bass and a good size Rainbow Trout last week at the lake. Today we trolled a variety of Panther Martin, Spinners, a Panther Martin Sonic Streamer and a different colored Jointed Husky Jerk Rapalas. We used both flat line and lead core line techniques at a variety of depths. We fished open bays, points, rocky shorelines, timber, and a grassy vegetation, all to no avail. The most likely explanation for the slow fishing has been a low pressure system that has recently moved in the area and seems to be hovering in place for a while. We experienced overcast cloudy skies, variable breeziness, and mile rain. The water is very clear.

Fishing action should picking ups s soon as this weather system moved out. I anticipate excelled fishing for smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and striped bass in the weeks ahead, with an occasional Rainbow Trout thrown in.

Weather: Weather at the lake has been much cooler this week- ranging from the mid 40s to about 66 degrees. The water surface temperature in the marina area is 69 degrees.

Clarity of Water:  The water has been clearing up around the marina and clarity will increase as you get closer to the dam. The water level is higher than normal for this time of year.

Hot spots: The hot spots have been the Narrows and South Beach and Swallow Bay.

What Bait to Use:

Stripers- Anchovies

Catfish- Chicken Liver, Anchovies, Sardines and Night Crawlers. Catfish tend to not be interested in any lures.

Trout- Power bait, night crawlers have been working well. Trout also love lures such as Panther Martins, Kastmasters, Rooster Tails and all types of small spinners, Atomic Tubes.

Largemouth/ Smallmouth- Plastic Worms have been a good choice, another good choice is Jigs or Drop Shots, various spinners.

Crappie/Panfish-  Night Crawlers, Redworms, and little Micro Jigs have been working good as well.