Paul Clouse of Lafayette, Al Hurwitz and Abbey Lev of Sunnyvale fished Lake Del Valle on 10/14 and had a slow day in terms of strikes and fish landed. We trolled Panther Marin Spinners initially but caught only a single .5 lb. Smallmouth Bass to show for our efforts. We then switched to jointed Rapalas trolled 20-25 feet below the surface in 30 foot water columns and applied a variety of scents to the lures. We were winding down our day when line tore off one of our reels in the small bay on the western shore opposite Swallow Bay. Thinking we had hooked bottom, we reversed direction only to find a large striped bass had hit out J-7 hinted Rapala. The fish had then probably wrapped itself around thick underwater structure. Al eventually landed the fish ( all three of us worked together and maneuvered to land this beauty which was quiet long and weighed 9.6 lbs.). regrettably, the fish was exhausted after a long struggle and could not be successfully reviewed to eb released. It was donated to one of the staff to have a nice meal later. The photos show Al and ( left to right) Abbey, Al, and Paul with this beauty. It was a beautiful sunny day with a moderate breeze. The water surface temperature was 64-66 degrees with some algae present near the surface. All in all, a great ending to our tough day of fishing.