Spring on the Delta Bring Sunscreen

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.

Dave’s Bass Shack in Tracy has had a few reports of BIG stripers making appearances for trollers in Grantline Canal and Old River. Reportedly stripers to34 pounds have come through River’s end Launch ramp

Johnny Cain 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.
Jeff MacLean 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.

 

Kaci Hume and her Spring Striper

Sacramento Area Report - by Jack Chapman

The West Bank has been drawing the majority of the anglers the last week. In fact it has been down right crowded there; too crowded. Remember it is a big river and there is lots of room for everyone. Last week I saw trollers cutting off trollers, running over anchored boats lines and even cutting off a fish on the hook. Most anglers are getting a couple of schoolie size fish with a 10 to 15 pounder thrown in occasionally. They are trolling shallow (4 to 7 feet of water) using Yo-Zuris, Bombers and Rebels.

A couple of our members, Bob and Mike, fished the mouth of Steamboat slough for a trio stripers from 10 to 14 pounds. They took some pictures and released them.

Another member worked the Mokelumne River in the area between the fork and the Highway 12 bridge trolling along the tulles with shallow running Rebels and bucktail jigs on a spreader for limits of schoolies for 2.

Salmon

They still haven’t shown along the coast. The average count is about ½ a fish per rod. The boats fishing out Monterey and Santa Cruz are doing the best.

Sturgeon

The sturgeon bite is pretty good. Everyday boats are coming in with a dino or two and reports of oversize fish being caught, lost and released. Anglers working in 30 feet water with eel and salmon roe are having the best luck.

Where I’d Fish

The West bank of the Sacramento River between Rio Vista and Collinsville or Cache Slough for striped bass

The Moth Ball Fleet and Grizzly Bay for sturgeon

Franks Tract or Little Potato Slough for catfish

Pitchured Below Kaci Hume with her nice spring striper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hook Line And Sinker Report


Black Bass:
The Bass continue to bite all over the delta but the size is starting to diminsh. With the first wave of spawners pretty much done the bigger fish will move off shore but there will still be plenty of smaller males up shallow guarding fry and also getting ready for the next wave of spawning. This upcoming week we'll see the second full moon stage and that means BIG , FISH TIME! all over again. Continue to flip plastics (senkos, brush hogs, sweet beavers and tube baits) and jigs up shallow to cover to get the maximum amount of bites. Stick with the darker patterns(blk/blue, watermelon/red and junebug) but also throw in some bluegill patterned baits as the post spawn fish will start feeding on the bluegills as they move shallow to spawn. Also, the topwater bite has come on strong as of late and will only continue to get better. Frogs and buzzbaits lead the way with black being the dominate color.

Striped Bass:
The striper bite has rebounded in the past 2 weeks in the west and central delta. Area's like Sherman Island, Franks Tract and Mildred Island have seen some good fish going through with the average running 10 lbs. but I've had reports of fish pushing 40! Trollers have been picking up the numbers dragging broken-back rebels and rat-l-traps behind the boat in chrome/black, gold/black, clown and hot orange patterns. The bigger fish I've heard have been coming up on topwater baits like Super Spooks and Pencil Poppers. Bone and Trout patterns have been producing. On the Sacramento side trolling broken-backs has also been putting fish in the boat from horseshoe bend to collinsville.

Sturgeon:
The sturgeon bite down around the Suisun bay/Martinez area has been on FIRE as of late with a lot of OVERSIZED fish being reported. In particular from Bouy 2 to Benicia, Big and Little Cut and the Fleet have been good areas to try. You name the bait it's been catching fish. Grass and ghost shrimp, salmon roe and lamprey eel. I have been hearing particular results on roe.

I haven't had any particular reports on any other species but the catfish, bluegill and crappie should all be pretty abundant up shallow. Try either around Franks Tract or Holland Tract for the best results on any of them.

 

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!

 

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