Delta Tide

[Doug Hodel]

I was wondering which areas of the Delta have the least amount of tidal influence.

Thanks for the info.

[lucas boden]

I know the further North you go (Sycamore on up) there is a lot less CURRENT, but you can still have a 4-5 foot swing, it just takes a lot longer. What i mean by that is some places around Frank's you could have the current moving 15 mph and drop the water level 5 feet in a hour, but up there you'll have the current moving 5 mph or less and drop it in 2-3 hours...

just been my experience, i'd say the same thing for the WAY south delta, but there's those pumps down there that can turn on any time and screw everything up!

[jcruz]

Elks Slough in Yolo County. You can drop in at Arrowhead - too many 2-3 lbs fish to count on a good day - very little tidal influence.

[Cooch]

and the way I look at this river system, there is a two part answer to this question.

The first being the actual flow of in and out, where ya have current that changes directions several times a day. This will heavily depend on where yer at in the rainy seasons and how far back into the tributairies ya get, where the run off flow meets the tidal flows. This can vary greatly from one area of the river versus another. The radius curve to where this takes affect, can be pushed much further south as the flows from the south are not as strong as those from the north and east. If ya venture north along the Sacto River, you'll find at some point, typically up around and above Courtland, the flow of the river is constantly heading in one direction, out to sea. Later in the summer, when less flow is coming from the lakes, you'll experience some affects of the high, low tidal movement. Yet the current up there is still always going, out to sea and in one direction. So the actual push and flow of the ocean's affect inland, will vary and is rarely constant, as far as a specific point goes. As Lucas mentioned, toss in the pulls from the pumps to the south and the Oakley Water District, now ya really git some goofy stuff going on out there.

The second part of this question is in relationship to current. When we have the high and low flows through out the day, we naturally see current going one way or the other. But there are many places on this river, where you really, or the bass really, never experience a great deal if any current at all. It's kind of like a filling affect of a glass or bowl. In many of the little flooded lakes through out the system you can find this, or like in Disco Bay. Take lil Mandy fer example, the only place ya really experience much current, is at the various openings through out that pond. Yet there are many areas with in the lake, where there is no current present. Same thing in Disco, Wards, Mildred, Quinn, Widow and such. You go into the back ends of these places, and you'll find no current basically.

It is in these place, especially in the spring, that I believe there is virtually no tidal influance to shallow, spawning fish. They want to be shallow, and they want to be out of the current. Hence the tidal influence of high or low, makes no difference on they're willingness to be shallow and be catchable. Certainly on some days, they may be hard to catch on the high tide, simply because we're blind casting and not putting out baits in the precise location to draw a strike. Other times they may be skittish and spooky on the lower tides. That's a day to day thing and more dependant upon the cycle they are in, versus any tidal influence. A bass will be a lot more spooky when he first moves up, versus when he's locked. He may also be more spooky in clear water versus stained. I don't believe any of this has ta do with the tidal influence at all, because he'll have the same attitude whether it's high or low.