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CA DELTA REPORT
Updated -4/19/2007
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What A change This Week

Dan Mathisen Outdoors It must be spring in Northern California as Gortex one day to shorts and T-shirt the Next. Frustration of having the wind blow the past few days nd the BASS events. Yes I did to head for Clear Lake for a couple of weeks of rest. I owe my readers an appoligy as with some health problems ( started radition treatment) and the forced move of the fishdelta.com headqaurters things have been crazy. finally getting caught up and hope that we will agian be able to provide the best updates possible foe the Delta angler.

Most of the Bass fishing , Wow! The blacks are still staging and were providing for some Huge limits. Prior to this lastest pounding raing we had decent limits but not since the winds blew the river out!

Stripers yepper very many incidental stripers while tossing swim baits around Francks Tract his past week. One Day I personally released five to almost 20 pounds while Blackie fishing.

ALERT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Coast Guard Auxiliary will be holding a boating safety course on Saturday, May 19, 2007, from 9 am to 6 pm, at the Granite Bay Activity Center, Folsom Lake.  The America's Boating Course is a highly interactive class covering subjects such as the introduction to boating, boating laws, personal safety equipment, safe boat handling, navigation, trailering and protecting your boat.  The one day cost is $50 per person with discounts for additional family members.  For more information call Gwendolyn Savage at (916)723-6757.


Rio Vista - Isleton

Bob’s Bait Report www.themasterbaiter.com

The weather last week was not as good as previous week with raining in the weekend and very windy on Sunday. The windy days will continue in the coming days due to the temperature vary day by day.

Fishing for sturgeon last week was fair with most sturgeon were reported from Rio Vista Bridge down to Antioch Bridge. Most sturgeon were caught on pile worm and ghost shrimp. Grass shrimp is good bait for sturgeon but due to the weather and the tide changed, it’s hard to get grass shrimp during last week and the coming week. However ghost shrimp and pile worm are very good baits at this time for both striped bass and sturgeon.

The new rules for sturgeon fishing has been changed, it required anglers for sturgeon have to have a sturgeon report card. It’s free and can be obtained in any bait stores if available.

Fishing for striped bass were very good in most of the Delta channels including San Joaquin River, Mokelumne Rivers, Georgiana Slough, Sacramento River, Steam Boat Slough, and Cache Slough. Pile worm seems to be good bait at this time for both sturgeon and striped bass. Fresh shad is not available at this time but frozen shad should be good to if it was used in proper way. Butter fly or breaks folding method are working very well for frozen and fresh shad.

Trolling for striped bass in Isleton area was very good through May and Broken Back Rebel is always the good lure. However, it depends on the brighter day or less brighter day, proper color should be used to have more bites.

Best luck to you all and have a nice coming weekend.

 

 


The Wilson Files- Mark Wilson

Catching we did! Tuesday, April 18, 2006...Fred Hicks went sturgeon fishing with me down in Montezuma Slough. It was not as good as last week, but we had 4 opportunities on salmon roe today, resulting in 2 missed fish, 1 lost fish, and 1 landed at 70". Jack Thomason and Ron Retzlaff had a similar bite day, and landed one at 53", one at 70", and one at 73". They also broke one off. The highlight of the day was to see how CalTip worked in action. A bankie caught an oversized sturgeon and hauled off with it. We all screamed at him to put it back, but he kept heading for his vehicle. I called CalTip and they responded with a warden in 15 minutes. The warden gave the man a ticket and gave us the fish to take out into the slough and try and revive it. It took about 20 minutes, but the fish revived itself and swam off to live it's life out. The sturgeon was 73" long and weighed between 90# and 100#, or so. Thank you Warden Jeff for getting there in time. That's it. Good luck. Catch you later - Mark.

Sacramento Area Report - by Jack Chapman

No report this week. I should be back on the water this week though with a new report on Monday.

Lovely Linda Sportfishing

Captain "Jack" Chapman

5042 Caviar Ct.

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

Bus: (916) 863-6285

Cell: (916) 730-5417

E-mail: Lovely.Linda.Sportfishing@comcast.net

Hook Line And Sinker Report
Robert from the Hook in Oakley reports.

Black Bass:
The spawn is in full swing despite the high winds and constant cold fronts.  A lot of big females haved moved shallow and anglers are picking them up with just about every technique.  Standing out from the rest however, are senkos, swimbaits and rattletraps.  6 and 7 in. Senkos in junebug, watermelon/red, PB&J and black/blue have been top choices.  Swimbaits like 5 and 6 in. mission fish, ospreys and mattlures bluegills have all been producing in white or bluegill patterns.  As for the rattle baits, Lucky Craft LV-500, LVR D-7 and 10 in any red or orange craw patterns are producing.
 
Striped Bass:
Stripers are real slow around this part of the river but down around grizzly bay and from Rio Vista and above have been producing decent sized fish.  With the recent winds keeping the waters dirty stick to bait like sardines, shad, anchovies or pile worms.

 

Fish Hookers Report

Will this rain ever go away??? The Fish 'n' Fool IV was out last Saturday and Sunday for sturgeon and did quite well. On Saturday his goup of 3 people caught a 66 inch sturgeon and 85 inch sturgeon, of course, both were released because they were too big. On Sunday the group of 4 fishermen caught a 6 foot sturgeon, a 7 foot sturgeon, a 59 inch sturgeon and finnally got one that they could take home at 50 inches. The sturgeon fishing has been very good. The water temperature is right and the sturgeon seem to be hungry. All the fish hit very aggressively. The best bait has been salmon roe. Most of the sturgeon were caught in Montezuma Slough but there seems to be sturgeon in many areas.

The striper fishing has been slow because of the bad water conditions. This is usually the time of the year that we are gearing up to catch the spawning stripers on the troll. The river is way too dirty to think about trolling. Baits are hard to find for striper fishing with the conditions. You could take some sardines, bullheads; alive or dead, shad; if you can find some frozen, or ghost shrimp are some of the baits that you could try in these water conditons to attract some of the stripers that are making their way up river. Hopefully, in a week or so this rain will stop and the river will begin to clear. This spring run of stripers could last through June this year because the water is warming very slowly. We will have to see what the next few weeks bring to the river.

The sturgeon fishing should remain as good as it is now through the spring. Some of the big sturgeon are making their way up river to spawn. The water color and clarity is not very critical for the sturgeon fishing and catching. The good baits continue to be the lampry eel and salmon roe.

Both of our boats will remain at The City of Pittsburg Marina through the month of May, for sure, this year. I will keep you informed here when the Fish 'n' Fool IV will move to San Francisco Bay for live bait fishing and the ocean salmon.

Give us a call if you would like to try some of this fishing!

Flash Fishing Report www.flashfishing.net


A bit about Captain Steve, Captain Steve fished the San Francisco Bay since 1970, when his grandfather would take him out to the old Berkeley pier. He bought his first boat in 1980 and got his Captain's license in 1997. He enjoys small groups (no more than 6) and gives personal attention to all. Having 2 young daughters himself, he is especially patient with children on the boat. Bring your own equipment or use Steve's top of the line equipment. Steve has impressive state of the art commercial electronics on the boat to optimize your fishing experience! And yes, we went to the same High School, Welcome Capt. Steve!

I just finished 3 charters of sturgeon fishing. Over all it was tough due mostly to the weather. We fished mainly Montazuma and Suisun sloughs to get out of the wind. The water temps were 59 to 61.5. The best bait is still salmon roe. Yesterday we were able to fish down by the fleet. Rick Dubin from Fremont landed a sturgeon at the first row of ships. The fish ran like a mad dog. I had to pull anchor and run after him as my fisherman was close to getting spooled.
The bad news is the fish was 1.5 inches over. I have 5 more trips over the next week ( Good Tides ) and then it is about 2 weeks of boat maintenance, painting and dry dock. I will then move back to Fishermans Wharf for the saltwater season. I am looking forward to fishing on the bay and ocean again. Enjoy the photos.

Capt. Steve Talmadge


Same details as above.

Capt. Steve
Flash
Sport Fishing

 

 

FishDelta.com now brings you out of area reports as well!!!!!!!

 

Melones Trout Bite After The Storms

Angel Camp-The bite seems to turn off before a storm, and pick up again right after a storm. Bank anglers are still out-fishing trollers, since the trout are in the coves. Many of the trout that are caught are ready to spawn and full of ripe eggs, or are post-spawn. Trollers had best luck in the main lake, or in major coves such as Angels Cove. Trout seemed to have moved slightly deeper- most are being caught at 25-40 ft. deep. Shad-patterned or firetiger Apex or Needlefish are working well, or tie on a crawler/spinner combo during or after a storm. Use a shad scent on your lure, or try the new Pautski’s Krill scent. Use Sep’s Sidekicks or a dodger, but not flashers.

The bite has been very good, with 2-4 pound spotted bass, as well as some quality largemouths being caught. Many anglers report 20-40 fish caught and released in a day. With the water temperature warming up, bass are moving up into shallower water, especially the spotted bass. Major creek arms with running water are a good place to look for actively feeding fish. Carolina-rigged Zoom Baby Brush Hogs in green pumpkin or watermelon/red flake, brown jigs with brown or purple trailers, and spinnerbaits are all enticing bites. Many trout trollers are picking up big bass in the main lake, where they are chasing feed, and not oriented to structure. Dragging a rainbow trout #12 or #16 Huddleston Swimbait over the top of long points in the main lake can catch some of these larger bass. Please remember to practice catch and release always, but especially this time of year, when bass are preparing to spawn. Removing a pre-spawn bass removes thousands of potential fish from the lake. The Department of Fish and Game does not plant bass, so it is up to us to maintain the bass fishery!

New Melones Lake is currently holding 2,041,200 acre-feet of water, and is at 84% capacity. The lake is full and beautiful. The lake level held steady again this week, at 1,056 ft. above sea level and only 32 ft. from full capacity. Surface water temperatures have warmed up a little, and are approximately 52-55 degrees. Water is clear to slightly muddy in the creek arms.

 


Lake Pardee

April 12, 2006 VOL 06/12

Fred Dorman, Staff Writer e-mail lakepardee@volcano.com

<*(((---<

Water conditions: The water is still going over the spillway and heading for Comanche by way of the Mokelumne River. Not as much debris in the Recreation area today but I would still be very careful in the Lake proper. Visibility improved slightly to 7 feet at the Marina. Water temperatures are 52 degrees at 20 feet and 54 at surface.

Weather: Don’t let the premiums lapse on your flood insurance and keep working on the Arc!

Trolling: The fair weather last weekend encouraged a few hardy souls to drag some lead core or monofilament around for a while. Sounds like most had to work hard to put them in the box, limits were tough. The poor water visibility probably has a lot to do with the slow bite. If we ever get a break in the rain the water clears quickly once the sediment settles out. The white buoy outside the Narrows and the area right in front of the River Mouth are a good place to start. Trout are still taking the bait near the surface at 5 to 20 feet. Equipment and methods are unchanged; try flashers followed with a night crawler, small lures or bugs tipped with scented corn or grubs behind dodgers or sidekicks. Most are paying out 75 or 100 foot of line behind the boat and trolling slow. Seems red and fluorescent orange lures are more visible in the murky water.

Recent success: Rocky Green (no info) got a 5.57 lb German Brown this weekend. I met Randy and Bob this afternoon and included their picture just because they looked like they were enjoying themselves and they didn’t think I’d do it!

Shore Anglers: Quite a few anglers working the lagoon behind the EBMUD boathouse this afternoon. The Launch Ramp and Stony Point landing have both been good lately. Chartreuse and rainbow processed bait and eggs cast out about 30 feet should work. If the water visibility improves chrome/blue casting lures and black and green wooly flies also do well.

As of 04/12/06 a total of 20,000 lbs of trout has been planted by Lake Pardee and the California Department of Fish and Game.

Good Luck—Tight Lines

For information or reservations call (209) 772-1472


CLEAR LAKE LARGEMOUTH BASS...

A strange thing happened Thursday, there was no wind or rain and the sun was out! However that's over now, back to the abnormal weather. The bass are still biting and the water temperature is all the way up to 50 degrees. Ugh! Bass are on hold for the spawn which will start when the water gets around 60 + degrees.

Clients this week did very good catching bass to 6.10 pounds. Most were caught on minnows in the north end in water around 4 to 10'. Thursday's "sun" brought a lot of 3 to 7 pound bass up closer to spawning areas and my clients caught 31 bass with the best 5 weighing in at 30.4 pounds! I talked to some other fishermen and they were doing well on swim baits and another was getting them on spinner baits. Water clarity in the north end is ok in most areas and in the south its very good. All-in-all the fishing is very good on most days, just keep at it, it's bound to break for the better in the next week or two? "Set the hook" and keep a tight line! Richard Pounds

As of 04-05-06 Lake level is just 6 inches below flood stage at 8.5 feet

Dan Mathisen Outdoors is now booking Dates for Clear Lake Trips April 17th through 27th.

 

Bass Bite Picks up!

Wallace- The bass bite has definitely started to pick up again after all the stormy weather in the last few weeks. Robin Mourse, from Alameda, reported catching 11 bass on Thursday, 14 on Friday and 7 on Saturday. He was fishing near the Narrows and also near the dam, using chartreuse/white spinner baits, hula grubs and plastic worms. He reported that most fish were in the 10 - 20 foot depth, and the big fish for his weekend was a beautiful 5 pound largemouth. Another group reported catching numerous bass in the Lancha Plana area, up to the highway bridge. They were finding fish in 15 - 20 feet of water, and bass were taking Baby Brush Hogs in green pumpkin color as well as on black/brown jigs.

After another week of mixed winter weather, spring sunshine arrived on Sunday along with plenty of fisherman. Trout continue to be found 20 - 30 feet deep on the bright sunny days and closer to the surface on the cloudy overcast days. On Thursday one group of fishermen reported catching limits of nice trout up to 3 1/2 pounds. They were trolling at 20 - 25 feet deep between Hat Island and the dam, using orange grubs behind a dodger and black Power Worms behind a dodger. Another group reported limits of trout along with a couple of big crappie. They were trolling near Hat Island in 30 feet of water using Fire Tiger Apex lures, Rapalas in silver/black and Rainbow Runners. Another group of fisherman were catching their limits of trout trolling Uncle Larry's spinners with a piece of nightcrawler. They were trolling from South Shore Harbour to the dam, at about 25 feet. Bait fishermen are starting to catch trout at Dike 3, south of the spillway. Anchor in about 30 - 35 feet of water and drop Power Bait to the bottom. Due to the stormy weather this week, reports from the south shore pond and north shore day use area have been scarce. Power Bait and Power Eggs are always one of the best baits to use when shore fishing at Lake Camanche. Cripp lures, Panther Martin spinners and Magic Bullets are your best choices of lures to try.

The crappie bite has been slow to take off this spring due to all the storms and cold weather. We've had a few reports of fisherman catching crappie around docks, submerged trees and stickups. Minnows and mini-jigs are the best bet for bait, and Camanche Arm, Causeway Cove, and Lancha Plana are great places to start.

We encourage all anglers to stop by either marina and share their experiences or comments, let us take your picture, or put your story in the weekly Fish Report. We encourage e-mail questions, or comments, and I will reply to all e-mails that I receive here at North Shore Marina.

Lake Camanche's current elevation is 221.28 feet above sea level, a rise of 2.36 feet since last Sunday. The lake should rise slowly this week Water is currently flowing into Camanch at 3120 c.f.s. and water is flowing out at 900 c.f.s. Surface water temperature at the dam is 55 degrees. The water is clear with a Secchi reading of 15 feet.

 

 

Pennies on the dollar for fishing rods, reels, baits, lures, and more? You be the judge!

 


 
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