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CA DELTA REPORT
Updated - 5/06/2008
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Spring on the Delta Bring Sunscreen Dan Mathisen Outdoors

From the Rio Vista Area Hap's Bait owner Audie Urbano from reported the Sacramento River and the Rio Vista Bridge have been good for stripers. He recommends Pile worms, blood worms, sardines and anchovies. Try early mornings and late afternoons.

Fishdelta spies have had a few reports of BIG stripers making appearances for trollers in Grantline Canal and Old River. Reportedly stripers to 34 pounds have come through River’s end Launch ramp

Ron Halverson from Jolly's Bait confirms the numbers of Stripers in the area saying “stripers to 8 to 10 pounds are being caught at Clifton Court Forebay near Tracy on shad and anchovies”. The biggest surprise is sturgeon to 70 inches on ghost shrimp and mackerel.
Tong from the Outdoor Sportsman said the hot bites are largemouth and black bass in the Delta, and stripers on the Mokelumne River near Mossdale.

"The reason is that the recent flows are pulling the fish into the fresh water," he said, "and probably that's where all the bait is.''

MacLean also said a 42-pound striper was caught at O'Neill Forebay near the pumps. On the average, they're catching fish to 30 pounds.

For me it was a week of waiting as the next cycle of black bass move up to spawn. Still there is a top water bite on Nip-a-dee-dees and frogs. While yet another frog has burst into the market from River 2 sea. Still Make mine Snag Proof , might as well they continue to support our industry.
Rio Vista - Isleton

Bob’s Bait Report www.themasterbaiter.com

Bob’s Bait Report
This May is very much different with previous years when it was rain and very windy. The temperature varies in a big range from mid-60 to 90 within a couple days. Since the change is too wide that causes very strong windy days following it.

The windy days were not good for any outdoor activities and it brought very dense grass pollen to make people who are allergy more suffer from this.

Of course fishing activities were slowdown to the windy days like this. In some areas that are covered by high levees can be fished otherwise it was tough in most areas in the Delta.

Fishing for sturgeon were fair to good in Sherman Island, Antioch Bridge, and Rio Vista Bridge with anglers caught very nice size of sturgeon on lamprey eel, pile worm, and ghost shrimp. Grass shrimp is good bait for sturgeon but it was very hard to get in last four weeks. Hope thing will improve in the coming week. Now should be the peak time to fish for sturgeon from Rio Vista Bridge down to Pittsburg area since sturgeon are on the way back to the Bay after a long journey upstream for spawning.

Striped bass fishing was good even there were a lot small striped bass in the water ways now. Small striped bass are the number one bait destroyers at this time. Cut anchovy or cut sardine can only feed for small size of striped bass. In order to have more change to get big striped bass, sardine or anchovy should be used as a whole with the head off. The big hook should be used to avoid killing small one. In case the fish swallows the hook deeply, using hook retriever to take it out and save the fish.

Trolling for striped bass is a fun way to fish even it requires a lot of attention on the fish finder in order to avoid snagging the bottom objects as trees, cables. If such objects appear on the screen of the fish finder, turn your boat away from the bank until the lure passes the objects. If trolling closes to the bank, Bomber lure should be used to avoid snagging. Broken Back Rebel can be used but don’t let the line out more than 90 feet from the boat and trolling with slower speed below 3mph GPS speed.

For bait fishing, pile worm is the best bait this year for both striped bass and sturgeon.

The incoming days will be hot and this is the best time to fish for catfish in Georgiana Slough and Mokelumne Rivers. The good bait for catfish are chicken liver, anchovy, crawdads.

Best luck to you and have a nice coming weekend.

 

 



Hook Line And Sinker Report
Robert from the Hook in Oakley reports.
Black Bass:
The bass seem to be starting to wake up from their winter slump with some BIG fish being brought in this past weekend. There was tournament out of Russo's in Bethel Island this past sunday that took 33LBS. FOR 5 TO WIN! Also, there was a 15LB BASS weighed in at the marina on Sat. Jigs have been the top producer of both numbers and the bigger fish right now with Black/Blue being the above and all choice of most anglers. There also been an increasing crankbait/rattletrap bite starting to pick up with any red or craw pattern being top choice.

Sturgeon:
The delta diamondbacks have been making a showing the past few weeks although the recent McAvoy's Super Bowl Derby did not show with only about 25 fish being weighed in. Most of the fish have been reported from San Pablo and South SF bays with the Honker/Grizzly Bay area producing the best action for our portion of the river. With grass shrimp being next to impossible to get right now, anglers are turning to alternatives in bait right now with roe, pile worms and eel being top choices. With the slower tides anglers fishing deeper water have been experiencing better action.

 

Fish Hookers Report

If you can get past the windy conditions, fishing is decent. Barry Canevaro from Fish Hookers Sportfishing reports trolling for stripers is good, mostly on the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers, and it's pretty close to limit fishing. Canevaro said sturgeon fishing isn't great, but he's leading a trip to Suisun Bay on Thursday. Striper fishing is close to limits, using P-Line Predators and Bomber 16As. Also, Rio Vista and the Deep Water Channel are good for stripers.

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!

 

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

 

Spring Fun on Tap in the Foothills


Angels Camp- Many anglers are catching mixed limits of kokanee/trout. The kokanee seem to be slightly deeper- troll 30-50 feet deep with a small lure or spinner such as a Sockeye Slammer, Hootchie, Uncle Larry’s spinner or #! Apex. Fluorescent red and hot pint are the most productive colors. Be sure you tip your lure with shoepeg corn soaked in ProCure oil- Kokanee Special or anise scents are good choices right now. Use a nickel/chartreuse or pink dodger. Best kokanee action has been in the early morning in the main lake near the dam/Rose Island, 20-40 feet deep.”

The bass action is good, with plenty of smaller fish providing action- 30-fish days are not uncommon. Bigger fish are harder to come by. Big fish seem to be suspended, and not interested in anything you throw at them Most bass are in 15-25 feet of water, near structure, such as trees. Look for flats near cuts and creek arms that have structure at different depths. Coves in the south side of the lake have been good, as well as cuts and coves upriver. Senkos are the hot bait right now. Rig a 5” green pumpkin, watermelon or smoke Yamamoto Senko with a 3/0 or 4/0 wide-gap hook, and no weight. 6” worms and Zoom Baby Brush Hogs are also working well, in the same colors. Throw a top-water bait such as a spook in the early morning. Other successful anglers reported best luck with Senkos, as well as some rip baits. We want to remind you- it is vitally important to practice catch and release during the spawn, so that we can continue to have a healthy fishery in the future.

The sleeper here has been the crappie that are showing in better numbers than I can remember in recent years. Try fishing the brushy coves and creek arms, near structure adjacent to rocky spawning areas. The south side of the lake has been good. Fish 10-20 feet deep near structure with minnows or red/white or red/chartreuse crappie jigs.

There have been reports of big cats being caught on marshmallow-crawler combos in areas with running water. This is a prime spot for two reasons: the water is usually a few degrees warmer, and there are so many insects washing down the creeks into the lake. The fish in these areas are feeding aggressively. Bear Cove, Angels Creek, Mormon Creek, and anywhere else there is any run-off into the lake is a good bet. Use a rig that allows your bait to float off the bottom and be carried with the current.

New Melones Lake is currently holding 2,209,000 acre-feet of water, and is at 91% capacity. The lake is full and beautiful. The lake level rose 1 foot this week, and is at 1,071 ft. above sea level and only 17 ft. from full capacity. Surface water temperature has really warmed up, and is approximately 55-59 degrees.

 

 


Lake Pardee

 

Water conditions: The Lake remains at capacity and is again flowing over the spillway. Saw no debris around the Marina today. Visibility continues to improve and is now good to 14 feet, taken at the end of the boat slips. Water temperatures jumped up this week, 64 degrees at 20 feet and 68 at surface.

Weather: Beautiful clear skies and temps in the mid 80’s throughout the week, continuing thru the weekend.

Trolling: Sources all agree that the fishing has been great this week but the catching leaves a lot to be desired. The general consensus is that warm surface temps coupled with the very cold influx of snow melt runoff has given the fish a severe case of lock jaw. Folks are still getting Rainbows in and around the Mouth of the River and the face of the Dam but they are working hard for what they put in the box. No word on any Browns or decent size Kokes this week. Fishing depths are all over the chart. Equipment and methods are unchanged; try flashers followed with a night crawler, small lures or bugs tipped with anise or garlic scented corn or grubs behind cop car dodgers or sidekicks. Fire tiger and tire track and patterns in red, pink and fluorescent orange are still the most productive.

Check out this 7.2 pound smallie caught by Vince Borge of Team Fishdelta.com with Bettencourt Bluegill.

Shore Anglers: The bite has been better from shore lately. The Launch Ramp, Rainbow Point and the lagoon behind the EBMUD boathouse are still good. White processed bait and eggs are still the planters’ snack of choice. Those chrome/blue casting lures and black and green wooly flies work well now that the water has begun to clear up.

MARK YOUR CALANDERS-THE PROJECT KOKANEE MIKE CARRINGTON MEMORIAL LAKE PARDEE FAMILY FUN DERBY IS SATURDAY MAY 20, 2006. FOR ENTRY FORMS AND MORE INFORMATION CHECK THE WEB AT www.kokanee.org

Good Luck—Tight Lines

For information or reservations call (209) 772-1472



CLEAR LAKE LARGEMOUTH BASS...

"Spring has finally arrived , after snowing to near lake level just a couple of weeks ago", we are in a nother chapter of as the bass cruise. ! The big bass are moving up shallow and a lot are on near the beds, however I saw very few "locked-on" which could change in the next few days. Clients this week did very well on minnows, catching bass to 9.7 pounds. The lure bite seems to have slowed down quite a bit from last week from reports from other fisherman. There are just literally hundreds of cruising bass in the north end of the lake but try to catch them is very, very hard, senkos may be your best bet... Enjoy!

Dan Mathisen Outdoors is now booking Dates for Clear Lake Trips.

 



Big Bass Highlight catches


Wallace- Nor-Cal Bass club for held their tournament here at Lake Camanche on Saturday. They had 29 boats go out, and we congratulate Deacon Fernandes for his big fish of 7.81 pounds, and his winning weight of 20.45 pounds. Fish were caught on purple worms, jigs, brush hogs, and spinnerbaits. Dana Valdez, from Elk Grove, caught 2 beautiful bass this week on green worms. One was 8.34 pounds, and the other was 5.75 pounds. Steven Ritchie, from South Shore Camanche, caught a huge 9.49 pound bass on purple worms this week.

Trout continue to be found 20-30 feet deep on bright sunny days and closer to the surface on 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 also 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 FireTiger Apex lures, Rapalas in silver/black, and Rainbow Runners. Another group of fishermen were catching their limits of trout trolling Uncle Larry’s spinners with a piece of nightcrawler. They were trolling from South Shore Harbor to the dam, in 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. The 3 biggest fish weighed in so far for our trout derby are a beautiful 6.26 pounder, caught by Joe Vanich from Sacramento. He was using Rainbow Rapala in the main lake. Second place is a 4.42 pound rainbow, caught by Jim Welch, from Sacramento. He was fishing with Power Bait in the South Shore Pond. Third place is a 3.53 pounder caught by Ted Chapman, from San Bruno. He was fishing with Power Bait in the South Shore Pond. Please remember to enter the Annual Charity Trout Derby. A one time $3.00 entry fee is good until May 14; you can win wonderful prizes; and it benefits The American Cancer Society. Details are available at both North and South stores and gates.

The crappie bite continues to get stronger, with anglers reporting fish being picked up around docks, submerged trees, and brush stick-ups. Causeway Cove, Camanche Arm, and Oregon Gulch are all great places to start, and minnows or mini-jigs are the best baits to use.

Lots of catfish are being caught right now. Jim Murray,from South Shore, reported a 25 pounder, and 2-15 pounders last week. Josh & Jake, from Stockton, caught a stringer of cats last week weighing 26 pounds. They were fishing with mackerel at the North Shore Day Use Area.

Lake Camanche’s current elevation is 226.96 feet above sea level, a drop of 2 vertical feet since last Sunday. We expect the lake to continue to drop slowly this coming week. Water is currently flowing into Camanche at 4,006 c.f.s. and water

 

 

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

 


 
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