Bay Area Freshwater

Lake Almaden

by Ed Hood October 16, 2013

Apologies for the long layoff… let’s get a couple of local bass posts out of the way that have been sitting on my computer for a while.

Lake Almaden, situated at the northern end of Almaden Valley in south San Jose (Almaden Expressway and Coleman), is a manmade lake that I basically grew up on. This is a lake that I like to hit for a few hours after work to get a change of scenery from my usual stomping grounds at the Campbell Perc Ponds. This lake is home to some decent carp and largemouth. Like the Campbell ponds, the lake is circled by a pedestrian trail that many people frequent, especially in the evenings… watch those back-casts!

Courtesy of: http://almadenwine.org/images/almaden-lake-map.jpg

The lake is a fattened portion of Los Alamitos Creek, a tributary to the Guadalupe River just south of downtown. In fact, the Guadalupe River is created at the confluence of Guadalupe Creek right at the Almaden/Coleman intersection (for those who are interested).

Anyway, the usual access point to this lake is along Winfield Blvd. There is a parking lot that requires a $6 (as of this writing) day-use parking fee that has an automated machine. If you don’t feel like paying, there is street parking and you can walk in either through the parking lot gate or a entrance at the corner of Winfield and Coleman. You can also enter through the parking lot along Almaden Expy., however, the Winfield entrance will give you access to much more and better water to fish… this is the side most people fish.

I usually like to start my evening off by walking all the way to the Coleman bridge and fish back towards the parking lot. Probably the most productive fly I’ve used out there has been the olive/white Clouser Minnow. Fish this with quick strips with the occasional pause. 7.5′ 3x tapered monofilament leader will allow you to horse the fly out of snags as usually happens with bass fishing.

Some good stuff lurks under the bridge, but a very tight spot for a back-cast.

As you work your way back towards the parking lot, there is a lot of good structure for bass to hang out in along the Coleman side of the lake. Find the trees and bushes that line the shore and work your fly through them. Also blind-casting as far as you can into the lake is also a technique used. As the sun starts to come off the water, switch to dahlberg-style divers and frog patterns. These flies in a size 2 or 4 seem to get their attention the most. Fish poppers when the water is choppier (this lake does occasionally get a stiff evening breeze). You don’t have to fish deep here — it is usually around 5′ deep in most places.

Just down from the parking lot and to the left, where the creek enters the lake is a large gravel bar. If the lake is low and the bar is exposed, walk out on it and fish along it. This is good structure and one of the deeper spots in the lake. However, every time I fished this lake this summer, it has been submerged.

Don’t expect a lot of tranquility, especially during the evening commute. This is the definition of urban fishing, but a pretty cool little lake in the middle of a city of a million people.