I need some help...

[jurupakid]

So I went to Diamond Valley yesterday with high expectations. I fished the shore from 7-11, and I wish I would of brought a machete to guide me through all the overgrown brush. Luckily didn't step on any rattlers. Any way, It was an amazing day, any bass fishermen's dream, fish were boiling everywhere, killing the shad. I tried topwater, purple robos, swimbaits, rapalas, lucky crafts; but i could not manage to catch a single fish. I ended the day with a big fat goose egg. I hope I am just using the wrong patterns/colors/baits. Im going back next week for a rematch, and I don't plan on being skunked. So does anyone have any advice?
I could really use the help,
Thanks

[fish ful]

what size line did you have? during the day the fish can see very well. i would recomend 6# floro unless you are toosing big baits. but always use a floro leader etc. those fish can see good in that clear water.

only other tip i got is work your baits SLOW.

Please C&R the bass at DVL. Number seem to be going down in last couple years.

[Lunker1979]

Hey bro...the key is you want your bait to look like the bait fish at DVL. Go buy some scroungers and throw some flukes on there......white / pearl is the ticket. You want the small ones though about the size of the baitfish. After they are done chasing bait, go to plastics. I like senkos. Fish the bottom with light line. The bites at DVL are very light so you have to pay attention when doing so. Best of luck!

[jurupakid]

Thanks guys, and yes C & R always, no exceptions.

[kwin]

"Thanks guys, and yes C & R always, no exceptions."

There is nothing wrong with harvesting fish within the legal size and bag limit. that is why the regulations are there. managed harvest is a tool we use to manage a fishery. if the regulations are not utilized by the public, including the harvesting of legal fish, than the regulations cannot work. LMB anglers @ DVL C&R 95% of the total LMB caught....these fish are green more than in color...they are recycled constantly. I believe the pendulum has swung back all the way against the old "catch & kill everything", to the point where harvest is an evil thing. C & R only leads to more but smaller fish. without harvest (within the regulations) the fish population bottlenecks and growth (of individuals not populations) slows down leading to more smaller fish. This is especially true for striped bass. Harvesting a daily bag limit of 10 per angler, per day in all lakes in Socal will work towards improving the number of larger stripers. There is NO WAY angler harvest can keep up with the breeding potential of striped bass in an large enclosed freshwater lake in socal. So especially keep the smaller ones, as there is NO size limit on striped bass in socal freshwater lakes.

"Please C&R the bass at DVL. Number seem to be going down in last couple years"

The population of LMB has dropped over the last three years due to losing nearly half of the water volume within the lake, but over the last two years the LMB population has been pretty much the same (with the stable water). This year, I would expect better than normal survival of the bass fry as the water level is increasing, flooding all of the brush on the shore. This should lead to a good year class of fish, if not more in the next couple of years with stable/increasing water levels.

Quinn Granfors
DFG Diamond Valley Lake

[Thisfool]

"Thanks guys, and yes C & R always, no exceptions."

There is nothing wrong with harvesting fish within the legal size and bag limit. that is why the regulations are there. managed harvest is a tool we use to manage a fishery. if the regulations are not utilized by the public, including the harvesting of legal fish, than the regulations cannot work. LMB anglers @ DVL C&R 95% of the total LMB caught....these fish are green more than in color...they are recycled constantly. I believe the pendulum has swung back all the way against the old "catch & kill everything", to the point where harvest is an evil thing. C & R only leads to more but smaller fish. without harvest (within the regulations) the fish population bottlenecks and growth (of individuals not populations) slows down leading to more smaller fish. This is especially true for striped bass. Harvesting a daily bag limit of 10 per angler, per day in all lakes in Socal will work towards improving the number of larger stripers. There is NO WAY angler harvest can keep up with the breeding potential of striped bass in an large enclosed freshwater lake in socal. So especially keep the smaller ones, as there is NO size limit on striped bass in socal freshwater lakes.

"Please C&R the bass at DVL. Number seem to be going down in last couple years"

The population of LMB has dropped over the last three years due to losing nearly half of the water volume within the lake, but over the last two years the LMB population has been pretty much the same (with the stable water). This year, I would expect better than normal survival of the bass fry as the water level is increasing, flooding all of the brush on the shore. This should lead to a good year class of fish, if not more in the next couple of years with stable/increasing water levels.

Quinn Granfors
DFG Diamond Valley Lake


tottaly makes sence to me but i cant wait to see what the bass nazis have to say about that one

[Fishbones]

"Thanks guys, and yes C & R always, no exceptions."

There is nothing wrong with harvesting fish within the legal size and bag limit. that is why the regulations are there. managed harvest is a tool we use to manage a fishery. if the regulations are not utilized by the public, including the harvesting of legal fish, than the regulations cannot work. LMB anglers @ DVL C&R 95% of the total LMB caught....these fish are green more than in color...they are recycled constantly. I believe the pendulum has swung back all the way against the old "catch & kill everything", to the point where harvest is an evil thing. C & R only leads to more but smaller fish. without harvest (within the regulations) the fish population bottlenecks and growth (of individuals not populations) slows down leading to more smaller fish. This is especially true for striped bass. Harvesting a daily bag limit of 10 per angler, per day in all lakes in Socal will work towards improving the number of larger stripers. There is NO WAY angler harvest can keep up with the breeding potential of striped bass in an large enclosed freshwater lake in socal. So especially keep the smaller ones, as there is NO size limit on striped bass in socal freshwater lakes.

"Please C&R the bass at DVL. Number seem to be going down in last couple years"

The population of LMB has dropped over the last three years due to losing nearly half of the water volume within the lake, but over the last two years the LMB population has been pretty much the same (with the stable water). This year, I would expect better than normal survival of the bass fry as the water level is increasing, flooding all of the brush on the shore. This should lead to a good year class of fish, if not more in the next couple of years with stable/increasing water levels.

Quinn Granfors
DFG Diamond Valley Lake

Hey Quinn,

Thank you for that detailed information on DVL,
Looking forward to more useful info you have provided to educate anglers
on the latest DVL conditions and fish populations.

[goldthumb]

Quinn,

Great information, and how can you argue with a paid DFG employee's input. I agree that without practiced selective harvest, us as bass fisherman are only creating mediocrity in the species by releasing every small, but legal fish we catch and we DONT want that. I am as guilty as everyone else of releasing all bass but we should probably do ourselves some favors, harvest periodically, and increase our chances of a trophy fish!!!!!!! Look forward to hearing more information from you.
Peter

[a321eric]

lol im confused on all of this. this is my first year actually bass fishing consistently and i hear that you should always C&R lmb but
then i also hear that it is good to keep some of the small but legal ones every once in a while to regulate the fish cycle. but im confused
on all of this. can some1 straiten me out on this issue. im fine with catch and releasing bass and i have yet to try one so i want to know
the history behind all of that...thankss

[fish ful]

"Thanks guys, and yes C & R always, no exceptions."

There is nothing wrong with harvesting fish within the legal size and bag limit. that is why the regulations are there. managed harvest is a tool we use to manage a fishery. if the regulations are not utilized by the public, including the harvesting of legal fish, than the regulations cannot work. LMB anglers @ DVL C&R 95% of the total LMB caught....these fish are green more than in color...they are recycled constantly. I believe the pendulum has swung back all the way against the old "catch & kill everything", to the point where harvest is an evil thing. C & R only leads to more but smaller fish. without harvest (within the regulations) the fish population bottlenecks and growth (of individuals not populations) slows down leading to more smaller fish. This is especially true for striped bass. Harvesting a daily bag limit of 10 per angler, per day in all lakes in Socal will work towards improving the number of larger stripers. There is NO WAY angler harvest can keep up with the breeding potential of striped bass in an large enclosed freshwater lake in socal. So especially keep the smaller ones, as there is NO size limit on striped bass in socal freshwater lakes.

"Please C&R the bass at DVL. Number seem to be going down in last couple years"

The population of LMB has dropped over the last three years due to losing nearly half of the water volume within the lake, but over the last two years the LMB population has been pretty much the same (with the stable water). This year, I would expect better than normal survival of the bass fry as the water level is increasing, flooding all of the brush on the shore. This should lead to a good year class of fish, if not more in the next couple of years with stable/increasing water levels.

Quinn Granfors
DFG Diamond Valley Lake

It that is the case why not make a slot limit? Also what about all the fish caught during the events? i know they will bring in 300-600 bass a event and release them. how many die from those weekend after weekend? Does that lower the number of fish? I only keep a bass if i kill it (gut hook, etc). Plus they are not the best eating fish.

[kwin]

Info gathered through various studies I have read have shown that slot limits are essentially artificial "higher" limits. Say their is a 12"-15" slot limit (fish 12-15" must be released), anglers will harvest the larger fish (> 15") and throw the smaller ones (<12") back while attempting to fill out a limit for harvest. If they can only take a bag limit, they tend to select for larger fish given the option of larger vs. smaller.

Fish caught during LMB events are REQUIRED to release the LMB "alive and in good condition" as a condition of their permit. There are many conditions that we require in order to ensure that happens. As far as the number of fish brought in in one event, the most I have seen @ DVL is around 200-225 (which is ~0.007 of the current estimated population), most events here range from 80-150 LMB brought in. The total mortality (initial + delayed) is normally 0-5%, but can be much higher if the conditions we require are not met.

My whole point to my previous post is harvest is not a bad thing and C & R only will lead to more but smaller fish. There are many other dynamics, beyond direct control (ex. size & bag limits, C&R / selective harvest, etc), to the entire puzzle of fisheries mgmt that affects how a fishery evolves, such as water level flucuations, species competition, etc. It is my job to try to put the pieces together and figure out the best way to manage a fishery so the public can enjoy the benefits our natural resources can provide.

Quinn Granfors
DFG Diamond Valley Lake

[Gobigal]

Mr. Granfors,

First, thanks for your knowledge and vast insight to the DVL fishery. I'm hoping beyond hope, you and the local biologists figure a way to make DVL the trophy fishery we were promised when it opened.

I know how difficult it is to manage a lake of this size, but in my opinion the LMB size limits and harvesting make no difference because the striped bass population is in complete control both in size and volume. Once striped bass introduced themselves, this lake was lost as a trophy rainbow/brown trout and largemouth bass fishery. The trophy holdover trout we were catching 3-years ago are gone, though a straggler shows up once in a while. The experts who said 5-10 LMB would be the norm in a few years are gone.

I was a skeptic a year ago on how bad the striper infestation would affect the LMB, but now I believe it's lost as a possible trophy LMB lake. It will probably end up like Castaic Lake when catching a 10-15 lb bass was the norm and now a five pound bass is a big deal. The two year drought and declining water levels didn't help as it eliminated the structure and cover bass fry needed after each spawn. Unfortunatley, it turned into the perfect storm for our DVL trophy trout and LMB fishery.

Is there a size to both LMB and trout that stripers don't touch? I saw huge schools of stripers busting shad on the surface over the last month, some in my estimation 10-15 pounds but no doubt some over 20 lbs. I was totally amazed how large these schools were. I'm not talking about here and there, but all over the lake. If your not a striper enthusiast or fan, then it's a sad day for largemouth bass and holdover trout officianados like me.

What is the opinion of the DFG how the striper popuation impose their will on the other fish species at DVL? I believe we must remove the striped bass take limit and have more striped bass tournaments to create some semblance of an equal LMB, trout and striper fishery. Has the DFG tried to stock rainbow trout at different parts of the lake and allow them a better chance of survival, though shore fisherman around the marina may not like this method?

Sorry for my diatribe, but it seems like almost every So Cal lake (Silverwood, Perris, Castaic, Skinner) had trophy fishery aspirations and were shot down because of the striped bass. Don't get me wrong, being an "angler" I enjoy fishing and catching striped bass, but my heart is catching a trophy largemouth, smallmouth or holdover trout.

Your opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Big Al