CA DELTA REPORT
Updated - 11/22/2005
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Bob’s Bait Report www.themasterbaiter.com

It was warmer in November and the raining season starting late this year. It’s really cold in early morning the clear blue sky through the day is best for outdoor activities including fishing, walking, running.
This time of the year when the fall run for striped bass and salmon reach to its peak, the change to catch for striped bass and salmon is still high. Since most anglers for salmon moving up to Freeport area where number of bright fresh salmons were caught during the week from Walnut Grove up to the mouth of American River. The number of salmons reported in Isleton declined due to less fishing activities latterly. In the meantime, striped bass fishing activities were picking up and there were very high number of striped bass was caught in the Delta overall increased. Striped bass hot spots are Broad Slough, Montezuma Slough, Sherman Island, Decker Island, and Along Highway 160 from Brannan Island State Park up to Isleton Bridge. The best bait for striped bass is fresh shad. Using fresh shad in proper way is very important to catch more fish. Butterfly, or cut the head off before hooking to let the bait spread the scene in the water to attach the fish. Beside, proper sinker size is very important to contribute for more fish catching. The less water current flow, the less sinker weight would place on the rig to make bait bouncing slowly with the current but it’s not completely stationary in one place.

Trolling for striped bass is very much fun and skillful technique to catch the fish. Broken Back Rebel, or Bomber lure can be used depend the water depth. Broken Back Rebel is tied directly or tie the fishing line to Duo-Lock swivel then snapping it to the lure. Trolling at the speed of 2 to 2-1/2 Mph (GPS) and let the line out up to 120 feet away from the boat. The lure should tap the bottom once awhile. Check to be sure any leaves, weed, and clam do not cross the lure. Decker Island, Sandy Beach, North of Rio Vista Bridge, Long Island, Isleton Bridge, Mokelumne River from highway 12 Bridge up to the split of the river into North and South Mokelumne Rivers are the good place to troll for striped bass.

Sturgeon fish is fair at Bay Point up to Rio Vista Bridge. Some sturgeons were caught last week at Light 42, Light 44, and Light 49 in Cache Slough. The best bait for sturgeons can be grass shrimp, ghost shrimp, lamprey eel, and salmon roe. Sturgeon was also caught on fresh shad, sardine.

The long weekend holiday is approached. It would be very busy weekend in the late fall. The demand for baits would be very high and number of baits store in the Delta couldn’t handle with that huge demand. For that reason, if you plan for fishing trip in the Delta, be sure to call to your favorite bait store to check for the bait you prefer to. The bait stores information can be found in the www.californiadelta.org or www.fishdelta.com.
Good luck and wish all of you and your family having wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

The Wilson Files- Mark Wilson

Dan, Another good day of catching. Khoa Tran went striper fishing with me today. We trolled Rebels most of the day in 12' to 14' of water between Decker Island and Collinsville. We found one good school of fish that wanted to bite. 3 shaker stripers and 13 keeper stripers bit our Rebels. Khoa caught the big one at 43" and 34 pounds. Pictures taken then the fish was released. The rest of our keepers ran between 18" and 13 pounds. We kept fish at 13#, 12#, 8#, and 6#. We even caught another shaker striper and 8 more keeper stripers to 9 pounds on butterflied shad. A good bite today for us, thanks to a "hot" tip from Barry Canevaro. All of this in sight of Mt. Diablo. Home early before dark. 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!