Diamond Valley Lake 6-24-2021 [6 AM - 10 AM]

[leeroythecat]

Went on a solo fishing trip to DVL today. Wanted to share what I used.

 

Setups:

 

1. 6'10" Medium Light/Fast (Spinning) Daiwa BG 2000

2. 7'5" Medium/Fast (Spinning) Daiwa BG 3000

3. 7'11" Medium Heavy/Fast (Casting) Shimano Tranx 300

 

Rented a Premium Bass Boat with a trolling motor.

 

I started at Rock Quarry and noticed many Largemouth attacking other fish maybe 1ft from the shore. I began by throwing my casting setup + 6in Shad colored swimbait. I would position my boat parallel to the shore and then retrieve the lure towards me. Fished from 6-6:30am.

 

Next up, I tried Watermelon with Black Flakes Senko worm + Brown colored Ika on my spinning setup from about 6:30 - 8 AM. Tried my best to throw into the areas where I saw the bass attacking the baitfish. Unfortunately, kept getting snagged and losing my Senko + hooks and spent a lot of time retying here.

 

8-9:30 AM: Moved into a deeper part of the lagoon and started drop shotting in about ~25 feet of water. Looking at the sonar, there looked to be some vegetation. Used the oxblood red flake worm as @WRB suggested in a previous post of mine. This time included transportation between the rock quarry (go straight from marina turn right at the first bathroom) AND going to the tree line/lagoon to the left of the marina. The lagoon to the left of the marina had heavy waves and I got caught up in vegetation a lot. 

 

Went home after skunk. 

 

Water temperature was around 76F and air temperature was a cool 70-80F. Unfortunately, I didn't catch any fish so therefore don't have any additional information.

 

Self Analysis:

I feel that I spent too much time fishing with the Senko in the shoreline when I should have moved to dropshotting much much sooner. The only issue was I didn't know where exactly the fish were so basically I would park in the middle of the cove with around 30ft water and then just let the boat drift around with the dropshot hanging off the side of the boat.

 

 

[TnRiver46]

31 minutes ago, leeroythecat said:

Went on a solo fishing trip to DVL today. Wanted to share what I used.

 

Setups:

 

1. 6'10" Medium Light/Fast (Spinning) Daiwa BG 2000

2. 7'5" Medium/Fast (Spinning) Daiwa BG 3000

3. 7'11" Medium Heavy/Fast (Casting) Shimano Tranx 300

 

Rented a Premium Bass Boat with a trolling motor.

 

I started at Rock Quarry and noticed many Largemouth attacking other fish maybe 1ft from the shore. I began by throwing my casting setup + 6in Shad colored swimbait. I would position my boat parallel to the shore and then retrieve the lure towards me. Fished from 6-6:30am.

 

Next up, I tried Watermelon with Black Flakes Senko worm + Brown colored Ika on my spinning setup from about 6:30 - 8 AM. Tried my best to throw into the areas where I saw the bass attacking the baitfish. Unfortunately, kept getting snagged and losing my Senko + hooks and spent a lot of time retying here.

 

8-9:30 AM: Moved into a deeper part of the lagoon and started drop shotting in about ~25 feet of water. Looking at the sonar, there looked to be some vegetation. Used the oxblood red flake worm as @WRB suggested in a previous post of mine. This time included transportation between the rock quarry (go straight from marina turn right at the first bathroom) AND going to the tree line/lagoon to the left of the marina. The lagoon to the left of the marina had heavy waves and I got caught up in vegetation a lot. 

 

Went home after skunk. 

 

Water temperature was around 76F and air temperature was a cool 70-80F. Unfortunately, I didn't catch any fish so therefore don't have any additional information.

 

Self Analysis:

I feel that I spent too much time fishing with the Senko in the shoreline when I should have moved to dropshotting much much sooner. The only issue was I didn't know where exactly the fish were so basically I would park in the middle of the cove with around 30ft water and then just let the boat drift around with the dropshot hanging off the side of the boat.

 

 

Keep after them! Try a spook or popper in that area where you saw bass attacking. The senko shouldn’t get hung up much, try burying the hook point into the worm like so 

If the sinker is getting jammed, go without one like this. Works great in the heaviest of cover 

 

[leeroythecat]

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Keep after them! Try a spook or popper in that area where you saw bass attacking 

Tried to chase. Only thing that happened was my stuff got caught in the weeds. Wanted to throw lipless crankbait but didn't think the treble hooks on the bottom of the lure was a good idea in those weeds :S

[TnRiver46]

5 minutes ago, leeroythecat said:

Tried to chase. Only thing that happened was my stuff got caught in the weeds. Wanted to throw lipless crankbait but didn't think the treble hooks on the bottom of the lure was a good idea in those weeds :S

I just meant keep after them in general, from what I understand it’s very easy to get skunked in socal. Lipless can be ripped through sparse weeds but nothing heavy and it takes a stout rod, not exactly my favorite way to fish either. A fluke and hollow body frog are better for the thick stuff 

[leeroythecat]

8 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Keep after them! Try a spook or popper in that area where you saw bass attacking. The senko shouldn’t get hung up much, try burying the hook point into the worm like so 

If the sinker is getting jammed, go without one like this. Works great in the heaviest of cover 

 

Interesting. My Senko worms looked a bit twisted and not as straight as yours...I have trouble putting on the top part on the top of the hook. It won't go past the 90 degree angle of the hook...

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, leeroythecat said:

Interesting. My Senko worms looked a bit twisted and not as straight as yours...I have trouble putting on the top part on the top of the hook. It won't go past the 90 degree angle of the hook...

I’d about have to show you in person how to hook it but there may be some step by step tutorials on here, definitely some videos by our fearless leader @Glenn. That’s just a basic texas rig but if you don’t get it straight the worms spins in circles and twists the line 

[Hammer 4]

Don't feel bad about the skunk, many a good fisherman have been skunked on DVL, it's very humbling if you don't have the know how, and have not fished it a bunch.

I always like the horseshoe at the dam..

[leeroythecat]

45 minutes ago, Hammer 4 said:

Don't feel bad about the skunk, many a good fisherman have been skunked on DVL, it's very humbling if you don't have the know how, and have not fished it a bunch.

I always like the horseshoe at the dam..

Yeah I heard it's rough. It's just a tough skunk sometimes when there's so much anticipation and you gotta wake up super early to head out.

[leeroythecat]

@Hammer 4 I've found that as the sun rises, I'm not even able to find the fish anymore. What's your best methodology for finding the fish within a lake like that?

[Hammer 4]

8 minutes ago, leeroythecat said:

@Hammer 4 I've found that as the sun rises, I'm not even able to find the fish anymore. What's your best methodology for finding the fish within a lake like that?

I've found it's best to go to the west end of the lake first thing in the morning. Water warms up faster there. West side of the island can be good, but once again the dam where all the large rocks are warms up the fastest, and holds some good sized bass, but you have to be Stealthy. Make long casts starting parallel to the dam, then gradually move out a bit further while casting toward shore. BTW, I favor swimbaits, from 6" on up.