CA DELTA REPORT
Updated - 11/15/2005
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Bob’s Bait Report www.themasterbaiter.com

It’s an unusual year when the weather is continuing good with only a few raining days. The warm weather helps salmon fishing continuing well through the November month.

As long as the water is clear, salmon fishing is still good to best throughout end of season.
For the week last week, salmon fishing was steady good with number of salmon were caught by trolling boat along Isleton Fishing Pier with average weight was about 20 lb. The good spots where most salmons were caught are along Vieira Resort from the mouth of Old Sacramento River up to Isleton Bridge. Fishing in Walnut Grove was slower during the week.

The best lures to catch salmon are double blades spinner Silvertron. The Blue Fox lures with green or violet color also contributed to the number of salmon harvested last week. Some anglers mostly successful whenever they went out for fish while higher percentage anglers came home with empty hand. Even thought they were using the same lures, same fishing rod, but only just a different way to troll can be a big different result. The successful anglers are the one who willing to learn from other and always investigate how salmon behaves. Lucky is just one of the factor to be success. Fishing techniques for salmon are changing from one place to another. The good method in American River cannot be used in Isleton area and otherwise. Let start from very basic trolling technique as the speed of boat is about 1.5 MPH(GPS). Double blades spinner ties to 20 lb., 4 to5 feet long monofilament fishing line leader. It will be then tied to ball bearing snap swivel. The snap side is then snapped to one ring of the longest side of the right angle spreader. The middle ring of spreader is tied to the fishing line. The left over ring is tied to one foot 12 lb test line that is used to attach 1oz or 2oz cannon ball sinker. While trolling, let the fishing line out until the sinker taps to the river bottom then bring it up about 2 to 3 feet by reeling back about 5 to 6 turn depending on the size of fishing reel.
Check the lure every 30 to 45 minutes and remove any things that were hooked or crossing the treble hook.

Fishing for striped bass was good even the water tide was not good last weekend. Striped bass were caught from Sherman Island up to Walnut Grove on sardine, anchovy, fresh shad, pile worm, bloodworm, grass shrimp, ghost shrimp, and live jumbo minnow. Trolling using Broken Back Rebel was good along Sandy Beach, Decker Island, Isleton Bridge, Mokelumne River from highway 12 bridge up to the split into South and North Mokelumne River.
Sturgeon fishing was improved from Sherman Island up to Light 49 of Cache Slough. Best baits for sturgeon are salmon roe, grass shrimp, ghost shrimp, fresh shad, or Lamprey eel.

Our goal is to keep baits inventory high during the weekend. However, due to suppliers problem while it’s out of our control, there must be some shortage in certain kinds of bait sometimes. We apologized for this shortage.
Please call ahead when you plan for fishing to you favorite bait stores.
Best luck to you all and keep on fishing.

The Wilson Files- Mark Wilson

Dan, For the past 3 fishing trips, since I got back from my elk hunting trip in Colorado, I have been trolling Rebels and Bombers on the Sacramento River near Decker Island. The bite has been kind of slow, but I am catching some fish. Every day I have caught 10 keepe stripers, but to only 7 pounds. No large fish. A few assorted shaker stripers are mixed in. The best bite has been around the morning's low tide change, then very slow after that, with just a fish here and a fish there. The water has been a little off color with these big full moon tides. By next weekend, the tides will be smaller and the bite should pick up for stripers. At least, I'm hoping it will. That's it. Good luck. Catch you later - Mark.

October 24, 2005

Water Conditions: New Melones Lake is currently holding 1,936,800 acre-feet of water, and is at 80% capacity. The lake is full and beautiful. The lake elevation rose slightly last week, and is at 1,076 ft. above sea level and only 41 ft. from full capacity. Surface water temperatures are approximately 66-68 degrees. Water is stained. There are huge numbers of shad in the main lake, as well as upriver.

Ramp update: All ramps are open.

Gate closure: New shorter winter hours! Gates at New Melones Lake will open at 4 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. every night through the month of October. Beginning in November, gates will open at 4 a.m. and close at 9 p.m.. Some day use and campsite areas will be periodically closed throughout the winter for maintenance.

Trout: a little tougher than it has been, probably due to the changing water conditions as the lake is ready to turn over. We are still seeing nice fat rainbows, but limits are harder to come by. Fishing should pick up again in the next couple of weeks, as water temperature cools. Bank fishing has not turned on yet, but should be awesome once the lake turns over. In the meantime, the streams are still open. Trollers are having good luck during the day trolling for rainbows anywhere from 25 to 60 ft. deep in the main lake, as well as upriver. Shad-patterned lures seem to be the ticket. Try a Cop Car or Threadfin Shad Needlefish. Excel Lures have been really bringing in the limits- try a blue/silver or blue/pink, or a shad-pattern. Green or shad-patterned Apex also produced some limits. Most trollers are not using dodgers or flashers. Many successful trollers are adding scent to their lures. ProCure shad would be a good choice. George Lindsey of Murphys wins Glory Hole Sports’ Big Fish of the Week Contest and a free deli lunch, with a 4.4-pound rainbow that he caught (along with another nice fish) while trolling a nightcrawler 23 feet deep near the dam. John Darroch caught fish weighing 3.6 lbs, 3.4 lbs, and 2.8 lbs while trolling a Cop Car Apex 45-50 feet deep in the main lake. Frank Ambrosoli trolled a silver Needlefish 60 feet deep in the main lake to catch a 3.4 lb ‘bow. Joe Hallett used a red Apex trolled 55 feet deep in the main lake to land a 3.3-pounder. Richard Kowski trolled 45 feet deep with a crawler/spinner combo to land a 3-pounder. Ron Lundsted used a shad-patterned Needlefish near Rose Island with 5 colors of lead core out to land a 2.8-pounder. 6-year old Michael Dunn and 9-year old Tyler Pinckney fished at night under a submersible light. They used Power Bait and fished 60 feet deep over 100 feet of water near the spillway to catch 4 big rainbows weighing up to 3.5-pounds.

Kokanee: Pretty much all done. Fish have moved into creek arms and a few coves, where they attempt to spawn, and eventually complete their life cycle by dying.

Bass: good, mostly for smaller fish. Bass are looking to fatten up for the winter, and are feeding aggressively. Target steep banks upriver and the mouths of creek arms, 30-40 feet deep. Wind the wind comes up, fish the banks and points that the wind blows into- the fish will move shallow to chase the bait that the wind is blowing into the shore. Try drop-shotting shad or bluegill colored worms or grubs, or dragging a Carolina-rigged 4” or 6” worm on a long (3 foot) leader. Reaction-type baits are a good choice when the wind is blowing. Shad imitation crankbaits and Rattletraps, and shad-patterned spinnerbaits are working great. Dragging a jig along rocky points in the creek arms, as well as submerged island-tops near mouths of creeks, may catch you a larger bass. You may want to try a top-water bait in the early morning. Good luck to all anglers fishing the 2-day B.A.S.S. Pro-Am on Melones this weekend!

Catfish: We are still seeing a surprising number of nice cats. Tuttletown, Angels Cove, Glory Hole Point, or under the 49 Stevenot Bridge are all good spots to try for big cats. Use mackerel, anchovies, or sardines, a sliding sinker, leave your bail open, and be sure your hooks are sharp. Night fishing is always best for catfish.

Crappie and bluegill: Slow. Try fishing live minnows or trying to entice them with jigs in red/white or purple/white. Best spots on the lake are the south side of the lake near Bear Cove, the back of Coyote Creek, Black Bart Cove, and in cuts upriver near the Parrotts Ferry Bridge that have a lot of stand-up trees in them. Fish are moving deeper, so target 30-40 ft. depths. As always, fish tight to structure.

Lake Pardee

Dropping Like a rock and Closes Sunday October 30th

Camanche Bass and Catfish Action Decent
Reports from those who have been visiting Camanche are encouraging for the Bass anglers. The bass bite continues to be red hot this week. Lots of 1-4 pound bass are being caught around the rock piles and cliffs in the Lancha Plana area. Camanche Jack's worms and leeches in smoke, green, or purple are the colors most often mentioned. The submerged island tops in the main part of the lake have been giving up plenty of bass this week. Fish 10-15 feet deep, near deeper water. Tube baits and deep running crank baits are the ticket here. The big bass for the week was caught by young Dillon Parrish, of Elk Grove. He caught an awesome 6.2 pound bass on a minnow, fishing from shore in the campgrounds at North ShoreI have been fishing topwater lures, such as Ricos or Lucky Craft Pointer minnows in Rainbow or orange are taking some good ones as well. Works areas with wind pushed current around brush and thick grass cover near the Causeway and dike #1.

Catfish action has slowed down just a little but still biting. Use Mackerel, liver or nightcrawlers from 8 to 20 deep after dark. The Camanche arm and Causeway cove are among the hottest areas to try. Don't overlook the Trout or Beaver ponds at Southshore for after-dark Catfish.

Trollers who are on the water very early, or late, report finding fish from Hat Island to the Dam, above the old river channel. Now that water temperatures have topped 81 degrees the fish are very deep during the day .between 45-65 feet. Needlefish in chartreuse color, and R-Lures and Ex-Cel lures in green/gold, and blue/gold are reported as the most successful colors this week. The bait fishing at Dike 3 continues to be great for overnighters using Power Bait, Power Eggs, or night crawlers, especially when using underwater lights at night. Anchor in about 50 feet of water, and drop your bait to the bottom. The Camanche Hypolimnetic Oxygenation System, trade named the "Speece Cone", has been in operation since the 13th of August. The H.O.S. distributes oxygen to the lower lake waters at the dam. The southern end of the dam will soon become the best place to try for Trout as the oxygen-laden water provides ideal conditions within 30 feet of the surface. The "cone" usually operates until mid-to-late October to improve the waters released into the Mokelumne river fish hatchery.

Pennies on the dollar for fishing rods, reels, baits, lures, and more? You be the judge!
Team Daiwa, Lucky Craft, G-Loomis, Fenwick, Heddon, Yo-Zuri, St. Croix, Shimano, Strike Pro
Rat-L-Traps, Lures, Bucktail Jigs, Spinnerbait, Crankbait, Buzzbait, Marine Electronics, and lots more!