Built in the saddle of two mountains, Diamond Valley Lake—Southern California’s newest and largest reservoir—is a vital link in the regional system that’s brought water to Southern California for the past 60 years. The lake nearly doubled the area’s surface water storage capacity and provided additional water supplies for drought, peak summer and emergency needs.
Water began pouring into the reservoir in November 1999 and the lake was filled by early 2002. Diamond Valley Lake holds 800,000 acre-feet, or 260 billion gallons of water. By comparison, Lake Havasu, on the Colorado River, holds just 648,000 acre-feet or 201 billion gallons.
The lake was practically groomed to be a world-class fishery. The Department of Fish and Game began stocking the original "pond" with the best largemouth bass specimens they could find, many coming from Lake Hodges. The growth rates of the fish at Diamond Valley are unparalelled by any other lake in Southern California. The lake opened to fishing and boating in October of 2003, and has quickly become the premier bass and trout reservoir in Southern California.
Diamond Valley, as mentioned earlier, is arguably the premier fishery in all of Southern California for many species of fish including largemouth bass, rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, and striped bass. The bass fishing is normally very good, especially for largemouth bass and rainbow trout. The lake record largemouth bass was caught on March 16, 2007 by Mike Long which weighed 16.43 pounds. Many believe Diamond Valley may be the odds-on favorite to produce the next World Record largemouth. While there are always several ways to catch a good bag of largemouth at Diamond Valley, one of the most consistent producers is drop shotting off deep points using the "Morning Dawn" colored Roboworm with a drop shot rig.
The rainbow trout fishing at Diamond Valley is also fantastic. Generally the fish caught there are among the hardest fighting, healthiest rainbows in the region. Fish in the 6-10 pound class are common, hold over trout feast year-round on the lakes abundant shad population. The cool deep water available allows the trout to survive the warm summer months of Southern California. The lake record rainbow is 11.30 pounds caught by a shorefisherman. Anglers such as trout guide Mark Franco, have had great success using deep trolling techniques using lead core line and/or downriggers to get down to the fish.
One of the other unique opportunies available for anglers on Diamond Valley is the striped bass fishing here. Large striped bass have become more and more common, and growing to very healthy sizes. The striped bass enjoy an endless supply of panfish, trout, and shad and can be caught on large topwater baits and swimbaits. The lake record Striper was caught by Art Berry of Hemet on November 11, 2005 and weighed in at 29.77 pounds.
