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Seattle light is currently drawing down the level of the lake, which will make using the boat launch pretty much impossible to use through mid November this year!

That being said, we decided to take a 3 day camping trip to one of Diablo's boat-in camp sites.
We arrived early Saturday morning, packed the gear in the boat, and fished our way to our site in Hidden Cove.
The third cast of the day yielded a nice 17.5" pork chop of a rainbow, casting home made spinners to rising fish. We managed to hook into a few more, including one dolly before reaching our site.

After a quick setup and a snack we returned to the thunder arm portion of the lake to continue our hot streak. By late morning the bite slowed down. The avg. fish dropped to the 8-10" range. On to deeper water!

We worked our way toward the long boom near the mouth of the thunder arm, fishing in water between 60-80ft deep.
We marked a few fish around 18-20ft, so we set our down riggers to 15 and 20ft. One rod running a small silver Seps dodger with a red/silver wedding ring, the other with a Macks DD and a small rainbow trout patterned spoon.
Bouncing between 1.5-1.9mph we hooked into several more 12-16" rainbows before the wind picked up in late afternoon (typical for this lake).

Day 2 was full of action on the thunder arm until mid-morning when wind and rain picked up and cut our day short. Nearly 2" of rain fell, keeping us under cover back at camp.

The 21st was an entirely different story!
The heavy rains turned the thunder arm into a mess of murky water and leaves/debris floating on the surface.
On to plan B!
We powered across the lake to the narrows just downstream from the Ross Lake Damn. You must be careful here as barges, ferrys, and jet boats are common and the canyon walls come in tight leaving little room for passing. Be courteous to these guys--they have a job to do! My experiences show they are very friendly to fisherman!

The water was much clearer here and we hooked into several nice 12-14" fish in the 15-18ft range. Bluebird skies and calm weather gave for awesome scenery. As the day progressed we dropped depths to approx 22-24ft to keep on the fish, with a few 16"+ rainbows being the reward. There wasn't much we could throw that these fish wouldn't take, but we did find anything red and silver to work extremely well.

All fish were caught and released unharmed!

Mike Carey

9/22/2015 8:15:00 PM

wow, that looks like a fun adventure. How's the boat launch normally? OK for an 19 foot boat to launch?

JoshH

9/22/2015 9:11:00 PM

Very cool to read a report from there. It's one place I have always wanted to fish.

Bscman

9/22/2015 9:47:00 PM

I've seen a few 16ft boats use the launch when the lake is at full pool, but It is a fairly shallow launch.
I have to dip the rear tires of the pickup into the lake when launching my 14ft tin boat.
There is a dock adjacent to the launch. Depths were about 3.5ft at the end of the dock this weekend, with water 5-6ft deep for the first 100yds or so...meaning the launch will look more like a creek at the end of the week.

You can check current water levels on the USGS website, but even at full pool a 19ft may be pushing it for this ramp.

Ratherbefishing

9/22/2015 10:18:00 PM

Love Diablo nice report. Mike I wouldn't launch a big power boat unless water is at full capacity. Last year saw a guy tear up his boat. Also water level fluctuates so even when you launch it might have been ok but could change by the time you take out.

fishwrangler

9/23/2015 9:34:00 AM

Nice report. I use to canoe with friends up to the Canadian Border and then back, throughout a two week period. I recognized your camp I think, is that little or big beaver? Awesome place to fish! Homemade spinners and small caddis flies were the ticket behind the boat. Very nice bow!

cwbraue

9/23/2015 12:38:00 PM

I was there in July and only had one bite, I am so jealous! It's nice to know that there's still fish in there though.

tyee4me

9/23/2015 12:48:00 PM

Awesome report as a kid my father and I would fish this lake in the summer and fall. Diablo Lake can produce some LARGE trout but you need to spend some time learning the good areas. As a kid my father was teaching me fly fishing and the Thunder Creek was absolutely awesome for beginners. It didn't matter which fly or how good or bad your cast was. There was always a beautiful 10"-13" trout ready to hit anything that hit the surface. Specially if you walk further up the creek / trail where the large boulders and falling tree's were. As a kid my father said they would use just a little split shot and a single salmon egg and they would get his limit in 20 mins. Thank You Bscman for bringing up such fond memories.

Bscman

9/23/2015 5:35:00 PM

Diablo is one of the coldest bodies of water in the state, being directly fed by a multitude of nearby glaciers.
I have found the best time to fish it is Sept/Oct. With some patience and trial and error it is a great place to fish, and the hue of the water and surrounding scenery is hard to rival.

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