have the bigger fish moved up shallow on the delta?

[balaba]

went out the last 2 sundays and only caught small ones. i was thinking that the water may not be cool enough yet. what temp do you guys consider when the fall feeding frenzy starts?

thanks daniel

[Cooch]

a lot more active! Today fishing with Roy Brace, we had a 40+ fish day. The vast majority of those fish did come shallow, 3-8 feet, and were between 2-3 pounds. Plastics in Green Pumkin and blades were the prefered baits for us today. We also caught a 7, two 5s and two 4s, but all five of these fish came out of 10-12 foot of water. These five, all, came on a jig!. We saw very few of the 6-12" fish that have been so active the past four weeks.

I don't believe the fall bite has busted on the River yet. Water temps are still hovering around 60-61 degrees. 58 and below is my target zone to start looking for the bigger fish in 6-10 and to really consider it a fall big girl bite. I attribute the good bite today to the front and overcast more than anything else today. Just an absolute gorgeous day on the river with the perfect tides! Let's hope it stays like this, we'll be in fer a monster fall and winter bite if'n it does! The last three weeks, the blue bird days have been kinda tough for me, where as the overcast days, like today and last Saturday, seem to offer much better fishing right now.

[Ken C.]

Can you elaborate? What makes for good tides? I noticed todays tides didn't fluctuate much, but what is it you are looking for in this type of situation that made this tide work better for ya than say a bigger change?

[BassinRob]

I was under the impression, that the cooler the water gets, the deeper the fish go? Suspend. Were they in the weeds when it was warm, and now they are moving out? Why would they go shallow?

Just trying to understand

Thanks

[Cooch]

Yesterday's tide provided the optimum amout of water in the system from sun up to sun down. In other words, we had a slow incomming that peaked around 11:30a(in my selected area), minimal slack tide at it's peak(5 minutes was all the top of the tide stood still), then a slow falling outgo tide the rest of the afternoon.

I have found that in the fall, my best fishing occurs when there's a lot of water in the system, AND, there is some level of slow current all day. The fish on the river are attempting to move out of their deeper, burried in the weeds, we love to suspend and aimlessly wander, summer patterns. The temps have dropped very slowly this month. Toss in the facts we've had a lot of blue bird skies, AND the lack of winds, much of the river is clearing up quite nicely. This infact will slow the migration of the better quality fish running to the bank and frequenting shallow water on a regular basis. Yet their biological clock is ticking, with the falling temps, their clock is telling them to feed more. So they are becoming more active in their deeper haunts, where they still have the comfort of water over their heads. It's still too warm and too clear, for them to move shallow on these bluebird days through out most of the system right now.

So, given the fact we had a slow incoming, then a slow outgo all through the day yesterday, toss in the overcast, it provides me with the optimum situation that puts those fish in a position where I can catch em real good, tossing my #1 confidence bait. I spend 80% of my fishing time on this river, in 8-16 feet year round, pitching and bouncing a jig around the bottom. Those higher tide days, provide me with more water that is at that starting 8 foot level, so my percentages of finding active fish go WAY up, especially at this time of year, when the vast majority of the river bass are in these depths.

Of course, if yer a stained water river rat, this is all a moot point. We still have shallow areas like Sherman, Big Break and areas to the south, where the water is dirtier, it's a little warmer still, and when the tide falls out, the fish are forced to congregate in specific areas, making them easy targets. It's one reason why guys excell in Sherman this time of year. They understand this, yet they don't like to fish the deeper clear waters of the main and central system, it forces them out of their 0-6 comfort zone. Yer not likely ta catch the kickers with any regularity in these shallow areas(well, except Big Break, but this has been diminished due to the lack of replenished fish coming in from the tournaments), but ya will git solid keepers that out weigh the vast majority of what everyone else is catching.

For me, more water in the fall, provides exceptional days. Much like the opposite is true in the spring and summer, where the fish are all shallow and we like to have the water falling out to be able to locate em better.

[balaba]

*NM*

[Ken C.]

That's the kinda stuff that makes this a great site, and I wish there was more of this type of exchange going on once again!

Thanks for your time!

[rickyshabazz]

I have fished the Delta for the last 11 years and I have never paid much attention to the tide or running the tide. I also never fish deeper than five feet of water. In fact, I prefer to fish extremely shallow, like 1-2 feet, year round. I have caught 10-15 fish over 10 pounds from the Delta all of them have come from flipping or top water extremely shallow. My largest is 13 and it came flipping in less than a foot of water.


My suggestion would be to learn an area and master it on every tide. Much different than Cooch, I prefer an extremely low tide because I feel like the fish are a lot more predictable allowing me to focus on pockets or drops that hold better fish. I feel like the higher tide allows the fish to spread out more. Water color is never a issue for me either.

I guess the moral of the story is different strokes for different folks. Fish your strengths and learn a technique that fits your style and build some confidence. There are always fish in every water column and a shallow fish is a bighting fish.

PS-I once over heard Dee Thomas say that fish will never swim over shallow water to get to shallow water-think about it.

[Calistar]

I just want to echo what Ken C. said....great stuff guys. Thanks for sharing. You gave me and others lots of stuff to think about.

GregH.