del valle stripers

In most years it seems that from November until the big rains there's a lot of bait (threadfin shad & silversides). Bait balls everywhere on sonar, grebes and cormorants as well.  My hohum-ineffective method it to paddle around and casting on (in order of preference) for 1) stripers on sonar 2) baitballs that look broken up 3) baitballs underneath birds and 4) inevitable desperation on the biggest bailtball I can find.  The problem often seems to be that there is too much bait around and the fish get all they want in a short time.  The fish are fat, and upchucking bait often when landed. Very infrequently the fish will be busting bait on top,  usually right before boats have to be off the water at dusk (5PM currently)

This year there is very little bait, and almost no birds either. I paddled to the dam, nothing in the usual spots. I saw one dead 6lber on shore, it looked pretty skinny. At the last hour by dumb luck I paddled over some bait, and then a school that lit up my sonar. I quit fishing when I finally got one dinner-sized fish, but I had to go thru  a lot of sub-legals (I'm not really complaining). 

Anyway, my advice  for Del Valle stripers this year is keep hunting until you find bait on your sonar. It might take a long time, but the fish don't have very many baitballs to choose from. I was fishing in 25-30'; despite being a sizable school on the munch, these fish never showed topwater. I was doing about a 20 count on a T11 head, with small sparse ~2..5-3" flies.

MC

Great info!!! I've been itchin to try DV lately. Is it a far paddle to good fishing grounds?


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It's not a far paddle to some spots. But 90% of the time I don't mark any fish at any "good" spots, near or far!

The stripers seem to move all the time, from dam/Heron Bay, and back to the swim areas. Often I stumble on them in an area that was empty a few hours before, . Right now I think parts of the southend aren't so likely, because I like water > 10'; that doesn't keep me from checking there anyway.

Good to hear. What is the water level like? Way to go Mike!

Great info Mike. I'll be out there before the years out hopefully. Can't wait to give that place a try.


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The water's not too low, the island in front of Tarantula Cove isn't showing for a few feet yet.

I remember one Valentine, Joel and I fished there and limited out. When we posted it up here we told everyone that we caught the fish at Valentine Cove I remember that sitting off a bit of a buzz with a few of the guys.
Mike weren't you the winner of the Storm Trooper tournament we had there? I think you were the only one to catch a fish.

I remember winning the Barbie/Batman pole limited-entry with a 10" planter, and I remember wondering if I should put on my PFD in my tent during the storm.

Quote from Mikechin
I remember winning the Barbie/Batman pole limited-entry with a 10" planter, and I remember wondering if I should put on my PFD in my tent during the storm.

 

I remember that too!

Wtg Mike.  Thanks for the report.

I got in 3 hrs of striper harassment yesterday, here's a picture with a pretty slow chart speed and using the 83kHz freq:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4OfKNb-R4kzV05hZWlSYTlRNjA/edit?usp=sharing

The top picture is the normal down-image, the bottom half is a side-image out to 50' showing fish at top left, and a few off to the right mid-water column. These fish were sortof sulky, and had to be coaxed into biting.

Just for comparison, here's picture from a few years ago with bigger school and more active fish, using the 200kHz freq and fast chart speed:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4OfKNb-R4kzN0Z6dkt1Yzlyamc/edit?usp=sharing

A mystery that needs solving:
At about 4PM, all the cormorants and pelicans that have been sitting on the mud at the south end take off and fly north towards Heron Bay or the dam (as best I could see from Swallow Bay). This happened last week as well. If you were sitting at the north end of the narrows at 4PM, you could probably figure out if they're on bait and/or stripers. You have 1 hour to chase the birds down, getting the stripers to eat, and sprinting ~3-miles back to the marina by boats-off at 5PM.

Mike

I remember, I think it was Zeelander, and I in the narrows when the water exploded around us. It was amazing could have caught stripers on a safety pin.Couldn't get a lure in fast enough and limited out in like 10 min.
When the stripers are turned on there it's hard to keep them off the hook.Mike right time of year too.