Hey everyone, Lake Chabot, Del Valle, Shadow Cliffs, and Los Voquares are lakes near me. I was wondering if anybody else has fished these lakes for bass, and I am looking for tips on these lakes. 

There was a 19 lb+ LMB caught at lake Chabot Dec 2016 on a black/ blue jig w/GYCB twin tail grub.

Tom

1 hour ago, WRB said:

There was a 19 lb+ LMB caught at lake Chabot Dec 2016 on a black/ blue jig w/GYCB twin tail grub.

Tom

I heard about this, and I did not think such a bass could come out of that lake. 

Del Valle, Shadow Cliffs, and Los Vaqueros are primarily trout/striper lakes (all three are stocked regularly with trout).  I do 95% of my trout fishing at Los Vaqueros, have been to Del Valle once (caught my first and only smallmouth there), have been to Shadow Cliffs once (didn't catch anything).  Have never caught a largemouth at any of those places, though the only time I targeted them was my one trip to Del Valle.  For largemouths you might want to just go up and fish the Delta from the shore (look up Holland Tract - take Byron Highway to Delta Road to Holland Tract Road), or once the water clears up, drive down to Anderson or Coyote Reservoir in Santa Clara.

 

Don't forget to take into account parking/fishing fees - Los Vaqueros, Del Valle, Shadow Cliffs all are gated with opening/closing hours and charge for car parking AND a fishing permit, on top of your normal CA fishing license, so $10-12 per visit.  Anderson if you fish the south side of the reservoir off of E. Dunne near the Woodchopper picnic area you don't have to wait for a gate to open nor pay to park.  Coyote is open 24 hours a day but you have to pay for parking (honor system electric kiosk during off hours).  Holland Tract you just park on the side of the road 24 hours a day.

Have not fished at Chabot, out of the other 3 Del Valle is the best for bass. Agreed with above spend the time and hit the Delta

I actually heard Chabot is a pretty decent place for bass. Dropshots and football jigs apparently work well. I went there this past weekend but the water was muddy and didn't catch anything. The recent rains have really messed up the fishing, we should be in the prespawn now but if the water is muddy then it'll be tough. Calero reservoir is okay, it has pretty clear water now. Del Valle is a little far for me and I never have luck at Shadow Cliffs, it's a tough lake for bass.

On 3/16/2017 at 10:07 PM, blckshirt98 said:

Del Valle, Shadow Cliffs, and Los Vaqueros are primarily trout/striper lakes (all three are stocked regularly with trout).  I do 95% of my trout fishing at Los Vaqueros, have been to Del Valle once (caught my first and only smallmouth there), have been to Shadow Cliffs once (didn't catch anything).  Have never caught a largemouth at any of those places, though the only time I targeted them was my one trip to Del Valle.  For largemouths you might want to just go up and fish the Delta from the shore (look up Holland Tract - take Byron Highway to Delta Road to Holland Tract Road), or once the water clears up, drive down to Anderson or Coyote Reservoir in Santa Clara.

 

Don't forget to take into account parking/fishing fees - Los Vaqueros, Del Valle, Shadow Cliffs all are gated with opening/closing hours and charge for car parking AND a fishing permit, on top of your normal CA fishing license, so $10-12 per visit.  Anderson if you fish the south side of the reservoir off of E. Dunne near the Woodchopper picnic area you don't have to wait for a gate to open nor pay to park.  Coyote is open 24 hours a day but you have to pay for parking (honor system electric kiosk during off hours).  Holland Tract you just park on the side of the road 24 hours a day.

 

Is there really free parking on Holland Tract? I google earthed it and the road really just seems like a trail. Really wanting more confirmation because I've gotten screwed in California by parking where I shouldn't have parked before.....

 

And related question, along that road, is it possible to launch a kayak off the bank? I hate paying to launch like at Russo's or Sugar Barge, especially if it's just a kayak.

 

49 minutes ago, th365thli said:

 

Is there really free parking on Holland Tract? I google earthed it and the road really just seems like a trail. Really wanting more confirmation because I've gotten screwed in California by parking where I shouldn't have parked before.....

 

And related question, along that road, is it possible to launch a kayak off the bank? I hate paying to launch like at Russo's or Sugar Barge, especially if it's just a kayak.

 

 

The Google Earth overhead map is crazy old, check Google Street View for a more up to date picture -

 

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x80900109fd8b9493%3A0x7d656290fef79aad!2m19!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m13!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!3m1!7e115!4shttp%3A%2F%2Fhollandriverside.com%2Fphotos%2F!5sholland riverside marina - Google Search&imagekey=!1e2!2sIgXwphwzWQVMfX6e07PlDg&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjAtffFx_zSAhUJ62MKHX4VDMYQoioIajAK

 

When you drive down Delta Road the green circle is where you'll cross a bridge.  You won't be able to make a left turn because it's blocked by a gate but the road will go counterclockwise almost all the way around until you hit another gate at the purple circle.  Red has no car access but I have walked past the gate, though not sure if I was trespassing (didn't stay long, didn't find any interesting fishing spots).  The orange line is all 2-lane paved road (there's a small marina/launch ramp(Holland Riverside Marina) near purple circle) and sides of the orange line has places to park, though most are on the southern section of the road.  The east and north part of the road has some houseboat residential areas and no place to park.  Do NOT try to create your own parking spot in the grass on the side of the road even if you have a 4x4 AWD truck.  It's all sand/silt - I once saw a Tacoma 4x4 bury itself up to it's exhaust pipe when the driver parked in the grass and kept burying himself deeper and deeper trying to get out, and ended up having to call a tow truck to winch the truck out.  Parking is completely free you'll see cars all along the side of the road starting early morning.

 

As for launching I'm not familiar about boat launching/inspection rules but in California I always assume there are restrictions because of the quagga/zebra mussel deal.  You might want to call the marina there for kayak launch questions.

Wow that was a QUALITY freaking response. Thank you so much and good heads up about the sand/silt (I coincidentally drive a 4x4 Tacoma lol). I would ideally want to park on the north west part of the orange circle you drew, but I will take anything.

 

The marinas i've launched out of don't have any restrictions on quagga mussells, so it should be fine. I'm thinking about heading up to the Delta this weekend. Company is always welcome!

Green circle and purple circle are where I found the most parking.  Green circle though is probably the most popular place on the tract where people park because the shore area by the bridge is pretty open for bait fishing (I'm guessing lots of striper fishermen).  Shoreline around purple circle is rocky, but that's also where you'll find some docks to fish.  Just north of the purple circle there's a dock you can fish off of.  Lots of hyacinth patches and I have to warn you that the water there is chock full of Brazilian waterweed.  So topwater or whatever weedless presentations you have if you go.

 

This next part is going to sound like a sales pitch but it's seriously the tackle-kid-in-a-tackle-store highlight of the year for me where I can geek out on fishing -

 

This Saturday you should come down to Coyote Bait and Tackle in Morgan Hill for their annual mega sale.  Pretty much 15-20% off everything with no sales tax on Saturday, including some really nice freebies (like buy any Powell rod get a free Diesel rod), and vendor reps will be there as well.  Check their posts on Facebook for the past month to see some of the deals announced that wasn't on the original announcement, and check out the sale flyer.  The owner from Black Dog Baits(Jeremy) had a table last year, and the owner from Phenix Rods(Vince) was there as well, along with some of the local area pros like the Borofkas and Elrite.  Just a good time with a bunch of fishing geeks and the best store staff around to hang out and talk fishing.

Ok the first response wasn't as quality as you might have hoped.  Something didn't feel right with the distances and I was totally thrown off by the scale of the zoom on the map.  Below is actually the correct fishable area -

 

 

So that orange section is there you can park to fish, everything else unmarked is gated off/private.  I knew something was off when that first purple circle I drew wasn't near wide open water where boats were going in and out.

 

Please like this post or post a reply so I know you read this bro, I don't want to see you go out this weekend and think "that crackhead can't read a map" lol, sorry man, but yeah, the orange section you're good, and that first stretch of road from the green circle to about 2/3 until the first turn is where most of the spots to park on.

 

8 hours ago, blckshirt98 said:

Ok the first response wasn't as quality as you might have hoped.  Something didn't feel right with the distances and I was totally thrown off by the scale of the zoom on the map.  Below is actually the correct fishable area -

 

 

So that orange section is there you can park to fish, everything else unmarked is gated off/private.  I knew something was off when that first purple circle I drew wasn't near wide open water where boats were going in and out.

 

Please like this post or post a reply so I know you read this bro, I don't want to see you go out this weekend and think "that crackhead can't read a map" lol, sorry man, but yeah, the orange section you're good, and that first stretch of road from the green circle to about 2/3 until the first turn is where most of the spots to park on.

 

 

yoooo no worries man you helped me out a bunch. I google street the area and there are definitely places to launch a kayak. My starting place will depend on where the current goes I suppose. It's either this area or calero. Might hit up Chabot on Sunday.

 

And you don't need to plug Coyote Tackle to me. Those guys are awesome. Most likely this weekend they will be getting my tax return money lol.