Weather: Weather at the lake has been ranging from the 60s to about 88 degrees. The water surface temperature in the marina area is 76 degrees.

Clarity of water: The water has been clear 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 near the dam.

WHAT BAIT TO USE!!

Stripers - Anchovies, Sardines

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, Kastmaster, 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.

Don’t forget that to fish at Lake Del Valle, everyone ages 16 and older must have a Lake Del Valle Fishing permit and a California Fishing License. The Lake Del Valle permit is $5.00 per day. They can be purchased at either the entry kiosk or the Marina/Bait Store. The California Fishing License is $17.54 per day or $54.00 per year for a Resident of California. The California Fishing License can be purchased at the Marina/Bait Store. Also, a reminder after all fish plants please make sure you wait 2 hours before fishing the plant.

The fish are biting! We got this fantastic write up from Paul Clouse –

I trolled Lake Del Valle on September 23, 2022, targeting Smallmouth Bass and had another very productive day as the excellent Smallie bite continues. A total of ten Smallies were landed and released, and all were quality fish weighing from 1.25 pounds with the largest weighing 2.35 pounds. (See photo below). All the fish hit the lures like “freight trains” providing a hard fight all the way to the boat. The fish were caught in various locations inclusive of in the flats off the points and rock wall of Heron Bay and Swallow Bay, the eastern rock wall in the narrows, and the “avalanche rock wall” area on the western shoreline. I trolled various colored silver bladed Panther Martin spinners with feathers 20 feet below the surface in water columns 25 to 35 feet. The fish seemed to lurk a bit deeper this week versus last week. Various scent gels were applied to the spinners to provide a very enticing presentation for the fish. The surface water temperature dropped to 71.5’ with the continued cool weather from last week. The weather was very warm with a light comfortable breeze. Another great day of fishing at Lake Del Valle and looking forward the next outing. As always, Kenny and the marine staff were very helpful in getting me on and off the water.