Well, let's just say it didn't quite live up to expectations today... We started off in the east corner with big hammer, slammer, and a little jig for no bites. Then we took a pleasure cruise to the west side of the lake and Brian was able to catch the first fish of the day, a marvelous 6"er. This would be the first of many. Average fish 3lbs? Not today.... Brian had 8 fish under 10" by the end of the day. Once we realized that there were no shallow fish we resorted to worm fishing, which is something I deeply despise. First cast with an 8" purple/brown I connect and then lose a 3.5lber as it broke the surface. That of course made me throw a worm for a good portion of the day. It resulted in one more 1.4lber, and a clone for Brian also on texas rig. Once we realized that we were shaking worms in 40ft of water at diamond valley we decided this wasn't what we came for and took off at around 4:30.

Everyone we talked to on the water was reporting similar results, lots of small fish, no size to speak of. One guy had a 5lber, and Josh (Team Striper) had a decent day when we talked to him at the ramp, they had a couple 5's and a few more between 2.5 and 5. Josh's report was the best we heard all day. There were absolutely no shallow fish whatsoever. The lake has the same type of weeds as mission viejo, these kind of prickly weeds that seem to filter the water real good, so visibility was pretty good in most parts of the lake. The whole day I saw one fish in the water, and she was heading to deep water (about an 8lber). We didn't see any other cruisers or fish sitting in weeds or anything, they just weren't there. Others had similar experiences.

I guess these fish need time to adjust to all the boats, or maybe they got driven off the bank by the millionaire's open, press day, special buddies day, etc...

I think once things settle down and the fish get back on it this lake will be up to the rumors. Time will tell. Fishin is fishin and even the best fisheries are off and on, so by no means am I basing my entire view of dvl on today's trip.

The lake itself was interesting. Lots of steep walls and the banks that are less steep are pretty obvious among all the surrounding cliffs. Quite a bit of pipes and structure around, if you like to graph you'll like this lake. Water was clear, about the same as san v or dixon or poway etc. The lake doesn't seem completely over-crowded with 300 boats, but you can definitely tell there's 300 boats on the water. It's not too difficult to find a spot to fish, but most of the water gets fished over pretty quick once the fleet spreads throughout the lake. The dams are huge and have a very gradual slope, presumably to handle the immense water pressure from that amount of water. The dams are made of medium to large boulders with a staircase or two extending down the face of the dam into the water. Launching facilities were good, huge ramp, decent docks, plenty of parking. Everything went pretty smoothly considering the amount of boats.

Here's some various pics from throughout the day:
Brian with the first dvl fish, unfortunately a sign of what was to come.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1543.jpg

This is a shot across the lake, just west of the marina looking west. That strip of land waaaay off in the distance is the west dam.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1545.jpg

A closer shot of the west dam

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1546.jpg

Some typical shorelines:

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1547.jpg

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/1548.jpg

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You know what the problem was, you didnt throw the senko or salt stick:P . Can you blame those fish though, theyve had a complete transition from absolutely no pressure to a &*^# load of it. Im sure it will be awesome when and if the fish get less scared.
Daniel

~ )*))Oct. 3, We got to the lake at 5:30am on the lake at 8:30am. Fished a cove above some weeds about 15ft. deep, my buddy Jim was using swim bait 4” and crank baits, I was using a 7” robo worm in oxblood, Jim caught the first it was about 6” long on the crank bait, a short time after that he caught another about 10”. I was having no luck at all so I switched to a 5” Senco in oxblood and my first cast hooked one that when he jumped looked about 5lbs. but I lost it when he made a run for the rocks and my line broke or got cut. Continued fishing and kept getting small bites so I switched to a mini jig thinking the bites were Bluegills and caught a 6”er. Moved to a point about half way to the far dam and caught a 2lber on a purple with blue flake Senco in about 20ft fishing up hill. Moved to the rocks near the far dam and caught three 2 to 3lbers on the Senco casting over the rocks and up the other side. On the way in we fished the side of a steep point where there were some rock piles and caught the best one of the day a 7lber on the oxblood Senco, same thing fishing 20ft deep uphill. Jim never caught anything else but he did lose two good fish fishing the crank bait.
Quantity wasn’t what we wanted but all fish were good looking and fought hard. All fish were released. I did take pictures but used an old fashioned camera with film, if I get them developed before DV is old news I'll post them. I am sad to report I did see a lot of good fish being caught on bait and kept, but I guess that's there choice and they have the right to do so.

There’s my DV Report,
Brad
))><

Great description of the lake Brian. I fished with SOCB Prez on Sunday for ok fishing. We ended up with 28 hard fighting fish all between 2-4lbs. Ended up having to dropshot (which I'd rather not do, but had to resort to it) out off the bank in 35-40 feet. We graphed alot, finding highspots loaded with fish but were only able to get 2-8 per spot. Looked through the aquaview also...pretty cool to see the bass down there....I saw one up close with a ripped lip!! They have been hammered!! Lot's of fun to hit new water, but it will become just another high pressured So. Cal lake....maybe not worth changing out my 2-stroke.

Gerryjig out

Nice Report Brian! Pretty much summed it up.
We ended up with around 20 fish on fri. mostly between 2 & 3.5 lbs. with a 3 or so larger. We did lose a lot of fish early when they jumped until we started putting the tip underwater when we saw the bass coming up. 2 of the lost fish looked to be in the 5 to 6 lb. class. I talked to as many people as we could: One group said they had 3 over 7 dropshotting another group told us they caught 35 fish between the 4 of them. Most were very disappointed with 10 or so bass. I tried throwing topwaters & big swimbaits for a good part of the morning but gave up without a follower. Watching Karl hooking up, swimming a silver jig drove me to work the Hammers. All my fish came on 3" to 5" Big Hammer's worked more like a jig than a swimbait.

Karl with one of the nicer fish:
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=54244

The result of our only double of the day:
http://www.momentoffame.com/snapshot.html?id=54243

Sat. was downright brutal! I cought 3 bass & a 6 or 7 lb. carp that ate a 3" pearl Hammer while I was dealing with a tangle. Karl missed his only 2 bites during our short stay sat.

Josh

Oh man, saturday sounds rough. We bailed and crashed at my house. Who's this crazy guy? http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/outdoors/20031004-9999_1s4lake.html haha, too funny

We should have followed your lead & blew off sat. but I was haunted by the BIG one that got away. I also believe this place has been pounded pretty hard. Most of our fish showed obvious signs of being caught recently, even one with a gill hanging out.

As long as that reporter hung around us waiting for our lobster's to cook he probably didn't get many pics of anything else.

I can't believe it took 3 hours to get out on a lake! Then you have to deal with 300 boats. WOW! You guys need to move. I know you can't just up and move but my condolences go out to all of you guys. My lakes are drying up as yours are too, no doubt. That makes a lake even smaller for that many boats. It must be real frustrating to have lake management like that. I hope you all can get out there and catch bigger bass next time and you should go over and tell people to protect the resource not consume it........BassMan

They at DV are considering changing the already 12" 5-fish limit to Perris's 15" 2-fish limit....I too saw tons of fish taken...along with a 9lber., that was "free-netted" by someone because it was "floating" alive!....c'mon guys....use the needle!....that fish went to the table because somebody didn't go the right route....shame.

Gerryjig out

DVL wasn't exactly what I had anticipated but it was still some of the best fishing I've had in awhile. Friday was off the hook. 120+ fish up to 7 lbs. Saturday was the toughest day but my bro and I still had 50+ fish. Sunday was a little better with 65 or more. I figured fishing was going to be much easier. The quality is the best I've ever seen. I thought San V was good, but this place is better. Maybe we were all expecting too much about this place. One thing I have to say is that these bass are the hardest fighting fish I've ever caught out of freshwater. Seriously, these bass pull like albacore. Lots and lots of people are complaining about the lake. I've heard stuff like, the lake is too deep, the fish are small, there aren't many bass here, etc, etc. This lake is going to be absolutely awesome for some time. I think it's a good thing the bite is tough for the opener. All the boners in the runabouts and sailboats will never come back after they caught nothing. Did you guys notice how many people were trolling? By November, the crowds should be way down and the lake will be left to us. I think that within two years, trophy fish will be everywhere here. After fishing DVL, I have no desire to ever go back to Perris again. This lake is a real lake with sh@tloads of structure and fish. Even with 300+ boats, the lake still wasn't too crowded. Thank God we have somewhere else to fish.

Right on Kev, sounds like the place is pretty legit, I talked to Tim and Jim and they knocked the piss out of them too. Ive heard all the good stuff as well as all the complaining. Im looking forward to fishing the place. Seems like from all the info ive gathered up fishing deep is the best bet. Oh well, im gonna be heading out there in the end of October. I hope those rental boats are good cuz thats what im gonna be using. Thanks for the report. Late

Tsunami

The rental boats are pretty killer. Don't listen to all the negative talk about this place. It's the best lake we'll have for the next 10 years.

im headed out tommorow, anyone else out there?
ill report tommorow :)

Shane

pretty slow for us. Started out by the west dam. Found some schools of bait on our fish finder. Did some jigging spoons for a while but couldnt get bit. My bro got the first fish nice 2lber on d shot. Left that spot and started heading torwards the island on the other side of the lake. Went into the cove by the island and saw some trees in the water. Had my pig and jig tied on. Saw one sitting right by the tree dropped it behind him, dragged it up and he slurped it. Took drag right back into the tree, only to shoot back outa the tree and snap me off before i knew he came out. 2 minutes after my bro hooked and missed one that we sat and site fished by the bushes. this bass wouldnt go anywhere, just sat there. We pulled off from the fish, he casted on it and this thing shot out of the tree and slammed his drop shot, right back into the tree and snap. Next we headed back to the other dam near west dam, forget the name. 2 or 3 oclock and the wind was blowing us like a rag doll, could barely cast out. So my uncle was using a blue twin tailed grub and caught 3 fish in less than 10 minutes. And my bro was hooked on another one on d shot. My uncle had just casted out and i looked back just in time to see his rod completely hammered. Peels drag and he brought in a nice 3 to 4 lber. The lake has some awesome structure down there.

good luck guys! :)

Shane