Is it just me or has the bite been really slow lately?? Once again I spent almost two hours trying to catch the same huge bass that I could see beneath the tree along the path. I have tried everything in my bag, senkos, soft plastics, swimbait, top water lures, etc rigged all different ways and they want nothing to do with any of it. Has this happened to anyone else? I've been going around 730am until noon. I did try some afternoons too with very little luck. Very frustrating.x(

Typical SC. They have a lot of food in that lake and are very smart.

It's not just you. The big ones never bite. Lately the small ones don't even bite. I'm still scratching my head that I can't get any of the small ones to eat a triple trout or some other stupid swimbait. I blame the weed spraying. Doesn't seem like there's as many 2-5 lb fish in the lake anymore since they killed off the weeds.

I absolutely 100% blame the bad fishing in the main pond on lack of weeds. The lack of small fish is also compounded by catch and keep fishing during the spawn, which used to be very prevalent in past springs (those people don't come any more because there are no small fish to catch).

I talked to EBPARKS fisheries manager Pete Alexander about this several years ago when they were spraying the pellets from a fan boat. The rationale for the spraying of the weeds is that they are trying to kill off a species of small snails that contain the parasites that cause swimmers itch.

I've inquired with the park rangers at the lake as to how many people have actually reported swimmers itch and been able to confirm that they got it from swimming at shadow cliffs. The answer was 1 or 2 two people and they weren't totally sure they got it there.

It might seem more logical that people came home a little itchy because on any given weekend in the early summer there are upwards of 500 people swimming (and peeing) in the lake. But that is just my uninformed opinion!

So, because of a few maybe cases of swimmers itch, they killed off the majority of the good leafy pond weed in the lake. What is left is what we call "snot pillows" which is more of a tall algae which is worthless as fish habitat.

Pete's take on this was that they were only spraying the swim beach area and thus the rest of the lake would still have some nice weed growth for the fish. The reality is that 80% of the weeds are in the areas they sprayed. In addition, all of the weeded areas are upwind, so it would seem (again my uninformed unscientific opinion) that the poison drifted down the lake and killed off most of the weeds in the rest of the lake.

To my knowledge they have not sprayed for weeds in the last 2 years. However weed growth is still minimal in the areas where weeds were once prevalent. It's a shame. I tried to get them to not spray in the first place, but they did it anyway. Now you have no small bass to catch.

By comparison, the back ponds are filled with leafy weeds and filled with healthy bass. But we can't fish there any more because of the steelhead that might, maybe, some day, swim in to those ponds. There are of course none now, and no hope of them ever getting there now. That's our other issue that I continue to work on on a regular basis. If you hate it like I do, write a letter, find the right contacts and work the issue.

Thanks for the info as I have been very frustrated there recently. I keep wondering if I am totally messed up or if there are some other factors at work as well.

This was on the heels of a crummy day I had at Del Valle too! I hiked over the mountain behind Wente from the Arroyo staging area. Found a great spot in the back corner of Heron Bay where I could spot fish some really nice bass that I lured out of the weeds. However, it was virtually the same experience that I have been having at SC. I tried everything in my bag and they wouldn't bite. They would follow my soft plastics and watch my texas and carolina rigged senkos, but would not bite. I have had my best luck with spoons at both places, but I can't figure out why the bass in the weeds want nothing to do with my plastic worms (of which I have tried all different colors, sizes and styles). I know I am not the best fisherman, but I am not totally clueless either and would think I have to just get lucky every once in a while. I really like the Del Valle spot, but it is quite a hike to get there. Any ideas?

When the going gets tough, the tough use 5 inch wacky rigged senkos on 6lb :) Seriously though, fish suspending in weeds are probably not in feeding mode. You may have better luck at Del Valle fishing a little deeper and fishing structure. Carolina rigging, or split shotting main lake points in 15-25 feet would be my first thing to try.

Have you tried Los Vaqueros? I want to get into the shoreline striper action there this fall, but I've only been there a few times.

Man Nico, quit giving away all the secrets :) Really though, Nico routinely schools me from the back of the boat with a 5" senko on 6lb. It's hard to beat.

My experience at Del Valle in the summer time has been that it's not an easy lake during that time of year. Like Nico mentioned, fishing in 15 to 25' with finesse approach will usually get bites (1 to 3lbers). A drop shot 6" robo on a rebarb hook for weedlessness would be a good start. From shore you might look for the steeper sections like near the ramp and more toward heron bay (before it).

Del Valle is pretty good in the fall. In my opinion it's one of the better bay area lakes in October (one of the toughest times anywhere else). You can start fishing jigs that time of year and actually get bit. Swimbaits of course are our preferred offering :)

Right now let's face it, it's August. The Delta, even in it's bad-fishing mode the last few years, is still probably the most interesting place to go daytime fishing in the summer time around here. Grab a float tube and fish middle river or white's slough. Talk to the guys on the b-n-t forum, they'll get you out there.

Nico, thanks for the advice! I appreciate all the tips I can get. I have been to Los Vaqueros about five times in the last month and caught some really nice trout there. I would really like to catch some larger fish there too. I may end up renting a boat there and trying for stripers soon.

I am going to do the Del Valle hike and fish thing next week so maybe I will have better luck.

Oops, I forgot to thank Ron also. I appreciate all the tips! I will definitely try all of your suggestions.

Vaqueros is a nice looking lake. It's too bad they don't have a boat launch. I'm sure it's a threat to national security or something to have a private boat on there :P I walked the shore there last summer trying for striper but didn't see anything. There were a lot of fish eating birds out in the middle which seemed interesting. Going in a boat seems like a good plan.

I went to Los Vaqueros today and fished from shore. The guy next to me caught a beautiful striper around 15 lbs. I was really hoping he would catch and release it, but he had no intention of doing so. I caught a small striper on a Kastmaster then, unfortunately, they planted trout and it became a zoo. I left because I felt bad. It was too easy catching really nice size trout as they would hit almost anything. I suppose it is good for kids, but everyone started showing up and there was no sport to it at all. If I used one of my Kastmasters I could have caught trout every two minutes and I don't really see the fun in that. Maybe that is just me.

Nice! Sounds like there's some action happening there. How clear is the water right now? Last time I went to Vaqueros the visibility was only 2-4 feet, which killed my hopes of pencil popper fishing.

The visibility wasn't much better, but casting anchovies from shore with a weight heavy enough to get out to good depth seems to be catching some great stripers. I was messing around with swimbaits, but kept catching fish with my Kastmasters. If my son could have gone today (he's 8) then I would have stayed and caught more trout with him.

Up next: Del Valle while trying the tips you guys all mentioned. I think I will do the hike and fish the back corner of Heron Bay. Good luck all!