del valle day after Thanksgiving

Had a late start and a long drive to Del Valle from Sunnyvale via Castro Valley  to get bait. Arrived at Castro Valley and waited 10 minutes before delivey truck showed up with minnows. Picked up half a dozen then made my way over to the lake.

Got setup and got on the water at about 11:00 and started trolling a Firetiger Shad rap and a wedding ring to try my luck at trout. Nada, but marked a lot of fish in 15-20 feet of water.
I made my way back to the marina and ran into Lee and we teamed up to try our luck at striper fishing; my first time ever on a lake. We drifted for a bit and got nothing so I set up one of my rods for trout and toss in a piece of powerbait while drifting a minnow. Got a great drive by about a half hour later and missed. Felt like a good sized trout. Set up again and checked my drowning minnow. He's swimming a bit slow, but still alive so down he went. Still drifting away from the marina, I watch as my trout rod goes off and I land a 16" rainbow. Lee takes the picture. Then a few minutes later my slow poke minnow gets eaten and I get my first striper. Little short so back he goes.

Then Lee get a shorty and releases it. At about 3:30-4:00 we're sitting right next to eachother and both are fishfinders start registering fish and the fun began. Lee hooks up with a nice 22 incher then I get nailed with a keeper, then on the next drop with both of my poles set up with minnows, I get hit on one with a nice one and during that battle the other pole goes off-DOUBLE!!! Lee's coaching and telling me which one feels bigger and get him up first, which I did 20" then I went after the other one and he's the shorty. BAck he went for another day.

It was a lot of fun and as Lee say's "Kayaking is fun and the fish are just a bonus." Great fising with you Lee.

Here I am fumbling with my double.

great pics guys!! wish i was there. looks like a great time was had buy all, thats the most important thing of all.


thanks for the tips as well!!! hope to see ya out ther sometime.

Bulldog(ALEX)

Here I am fumbling with my double.

Sorry Dude. I though I captured you on your double hookup...when you looked like dancing the ballet. It was hilarious! Lots of fun. Had a great time. Keep up the light tackle.

LL

good pics fine work. clear skies, full moon rising at sundown may have something to do with good fishing later in the day?

Jon

Glad to hear Del Valle is giving up its fish. I especially liked the pic of your juggling act, Splashdown!

Janice aka "Big J"

ACTION!!  you guys had the fish coming to you!  CLASSIC fellas!  Nice Dub shot! and well reported may i add.    that lake hates me for some reason. boo-hoo!

Adam,

The lake doesn't hate you, you just need to get a depth finder and follow the contours.  Not sure if you have one or not, but it does help.

Also, big a**ed minnows seem to help too as well as time of day. Seem to be the later the better and that has been the rule since I've fished it since I was a kid. Never have got anything early, but afternoon seems to be when the lake turns on; for me anyway.

It has been 20+ years since I fished there and this was my first time out there on my kayak and the first stripers I have ever caught in freshwater.

Since  '76' when they first pumped water into Del Valle from the delta the stripers have been thriving. I marked quite a few and when the school went under our transducers they just lit up the screen.

thanks for making me feel a bit better. I did mark fish the four times i've been there, but caught only shoreline-structured LMB and a few near the Hetchy-Hetchy X-mas trees.  I will not give up!