CA DELTA REPORT
Updated - 12/14/2007
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Bob’s Bait Report www.themasterbaiter.com

Bob’s Bait Report

It rained for a couple days last week but overall, there was not much raining comparing to other years. The coming week will be cold but very beautiful with temperature is about mid 50 degree during the day and low 30 during the night. Christmas holiday is at the corner. People are normally very busy for shopping in the coming week and getting ready for Christmas and New Year.

Fishing activity is normally slow during this month and the months ahead due to cold weather and there are not many fish in most of the Delta channels except for sturgeon.

Fishing for striped bass was slow and the change to catch striped bass this time is less than previous month. The cold water push many bait fish to either in very shallow channels like Sycamore Slough, Miner Slough, Potato Slough, Georgiana Slough, or upper stream of Cache slough. Striped bass would follow the bait fish to these areas. Striped bass can also found in deeper area like Sherman Island or Decker Island at 25 feet or deeper hole in these area since the water temperature seems to be higher in deeper areas where the bait can also be found. In shallow water area, live mud sucker or live jumbo minnow are best to fish for striped bass. In deeper areas, grass shrimp is the best bait to catch either striped bass to sturgeon.

Sturgeon fishing was good so far along highway 160 from double power lines in Sherman Island up to light 51 in Cache Slough or up to Courtland Bridge in Sacramento River. Night time fishing for sturgeon is more productive than the day time.

Catfish fishing was slow in most of the Delta channels. It was also slow for small mouth, large mouth bass fishing.

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

Now is the time to fish in the delta. All the conditions are just right for striper and sturgeon fishing. Our two boats the Fish 'n' Fool IV and the Fish 'n' Fun have been out with groups catching some nice striped bass.

The Fish 'n' Fool IV had a sturgeon trip on Sunday and picked up three keeper sturgeon from 49 inches to 56 inches and a ten pound striper while releasing 11 shaker sturgeon from 39 to 44 inches for four people.

The stripers seem to be in many of the spots in the delta right now. The Mothball Fleet, Seal Island, Suisun Bay Grizzly Bay, Honker Bay, Montezuma Slough, Chain Island and below the PG&E Plant at Pittsburg are just some of the places to catch some striped bass. Bullheads and shad have been the best bait. This is the time of the year that the bullheads get to be one of the best baits in the Pittsburg area. Patience is the name of the game when fishing with bullheads.

The sturgeon fishing has really been good this last week. Suisun Cut, Middle Grounds, between Roe and Ryer Island, Broad Slough, by the PG&E plant at Pittsburg has been some of the hot spots for catching sturgeon. This should be a good season for sturgeon. The weather continues to help the fishing conditions in the delta.

This is the time of the year that we have been looking forward to and all the conditions are right, now. This holiday season should be one of the best times to fish in the delta area. Give us a call for information or let us take you out. We have put the heaters aboard for the cool weather.

Hook Line And Sinker Report
Robert from the Hook in Oakley reports.
Black Bass:
The bass bite has seemed to pick up a little in consistent average weights as some of the more recent tournaments have seen a 3 lb. or better average to win. The crankbait bite has busted wide open with Luhr-Jensen Speed Traps and River2Sea V-Crank 60 being the top producers. Both in shad or red craw patterns will produce big numbers of fish and size as well. Look for the fish to be moving into areas where they can corral baitfish. Also, if you get bit in one area continue fishing it thoroughly because will be schooled up and catching multiple fish in one area is not uncommon right now.

Striped Bass:
With the recent rains and winds of the past 2 weeks the river has started to muddy up which has scattered the fish off the main rivers and into more protected areas that are holding cleaner water. Try heading further east into the delta to find this. Disco Bay has turned on as of late with fish to 27lbs. being reported to me. Most people are waiting to find busting bait then catching them on topwater baits, swimbaits and rattletraps. When the fish are so closely schooled up colors of the baits don't really seem to matter but anything in a shad pattern will get eaten!

Crappie:
The crappie have seemed to turn on big time around the whole delta. Mostly marinas and areas with wood seemed to be holding the most fish and I have had a lot of reports of BIG crappie being caught right now. Try crappie jigs in red/white, chartreuse or brown, red worms or small minnows all fished either under a bobber or off the bottom will draw strikes right now.

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!

Capt. Steve
Flash Sportfishing