California Delta and Reports

Saturday, August 10th, 2024

• By ILW

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: Fished the Delta this weekend. Launched early and stayed on Main River. On San Joaquin from Ladds to the Port, the water temp was 79 - 82 degrees. Threw ChatterBaits and Whopper Plopper and caught a ton of shorts, but only 4 keepers. And oh yeah, 2 stripers. There was a lot of bait down town with mad fury’s of fish pushing bait. Tried to capitalize on that but didn’t happen. Caught all keepers on flats with sparse grass on the lower tide. The best colors were green pumpkin and red for the ChatterBait and all white for the Whopper Plopper.

  Tips: Low Tide

Friday, August 9th, 2024

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 78

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Launched 6am at Paradise; as we were cruisin' to our first set of flats for some topwater, we saw surface activity and thought there may be some stripers so we stopped and threw topwater and crankbaits; bunch of shakers but was still fun just to feel the hookup. Decided to just start from that area and crank toward our flats. In first 50 yds, Had a couple of bumps but no takers. I remembered what Steve Cooper/In Deep On The Delta, said in his latest vid that he was seeing a lot of shad bait activity and so I switched my gold/orange craw to a speed trap in sexy shad. First cast, 2lb 2oz; within the next 10 casts, hooked up 3 more in 1-2 lb range. Brother switched to shad pattern crank and buddy in the back continued with a small 75 or 90 jerkbait; all of us hooked up after switching to the shad pattern (thanx Steve). Brother and buddy also alternated with ned and 5" wacky stickbaits and hooked up, but not like the reaction bite. Finally reached our flats and threw poppers and ploppers; managed 3-4 nice blowups 12" to 1lb size; brother and buddy had same action. Moved to another rock wall and threw jerkbaits; few more 12" to 1lbers; ran to another spot we usually start at but only managed a few 10"ers and couple of 1 lbers. By then it's 9:30 and we moved back up Disappointment closer to Paradise; worked some tule points and managed a few more 1lbers and a 2lber. 10:30, backs were killin' us so decided to end the morning there. For us, it was a decent and fun day... fish on the hook, no matter the size. We're easy!

  Tips: As always, not qualified to give tips but here's what worked for us:
  - crankbaits in shad pattern (speed trap, 1.5s)
  - jerkbaits in shad and white (jackall rerange 110)
  - wacky senko/stick 5" in junebug, green pumpkin
  - ned/neko in desert craw (roboworm color - grn pumpkin/orange)
  
  I tried a free-rig using geecrack bellows shad 3.8" but I couldn't stand the slow pace so switched back to crankin and jerkbait.

Monday, July 29th, 2024

• By ILW

  Water Temp: 70s

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Hope the wind doesn’t blow this weekend for the guys fishing the frog tournament like it did last weekend. We didn’t have much success found a lot of fish, however never made the right changes to get them in the boat. We found fish in open water behind current in the soft water. We had 20-30 blow ups. The fish jumped over the frogs, and swiped at them. They missed the bait a lot. Wasn't a lot different on the tide changes.

  Tips: If the winds leave a big bow in your line, take a few back while setting the hook.

Saturday, July 27th, 2024

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 76-77

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Launched Paradise 615am...mid-incoming tide; ran down to some flats believing topwater was in order.... nada!!! One blowup the whole time we tried those flats and we've had non-stop blowups in the past. Dang!! Decided to hit a rockwall close by and switched to a jerkbait (Jackall Rerange) and danged if I didn't get 6 hookups in 10 mins, 10" rats to 2.5 lbs. Continued following the rockwall into a cove and continued to get hooked up on the jerkbait while my brudda and buddy worked wacky senko/stick baits and neds. We prolly had 20 hookups in that cove. Moved on to some other fav areas and I continued to throw the Rerange and it kept producing. The Rerange has a weird weight transfer system and it makes a funny snapping noise when you cast... made me think my line or rod tip was snapping but no issue. I'm still tryin' to get used to it. Lower backs were killin' us by 11am so off the water by noon (sucks gettin' old). Fun day though!!

  Tips: As always, I'm not qualified to give anyone tips but here's what worked for us:
  - jerkbait - Jackall Rerange 110 matte pearl white, Megabass Ito 110 perch
  - ned rig Roboworm desrt craw, MMIII, June Bug
  - wacky senko/stick bait 5" June Bug, Green Pumpkin blue, red, or black flake
  Tried my fav popper Bubble Walker but not a dang blowup... guess we were either too late or too early for the topwater bite.... dang!!

Sunday, July 21st, 2024

• By WB Staff

  Water Temp: 79

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Launched at safelight from the East Delta on a high outgo. Targeted the main river for emergent grass. Caught a couple on topwater but they were small. Tried the bends on the main river to figure out if they were set up in front or behind the current. Ran that the better part of the north to the south for a couple dozen on topwater. Bite got a lot tougher aftter the tide switch.

  Tips: Seems like every day their setup is changing.
  Whopper Plopper, Buzzbait and Frogs

Sunday, July 14th, 2024

• By sugarwhite

  Water Temp: 81

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Hi all... Launched out of Lazy M yesterday evening. Went North to Holland Cut and it was pretty windy when i arrived. Started with a white spinnerbait around tule's. ( I can't spell toolies...lol) Caught some decent fish with that. The tide was still going out around 3 or 4. So I started throwing the ol topwater.... boooooom booooom booooom....never put it down the rest of the day. Amazing topwater bite is happening now. The water is warm, the frogs are croaking at dusk. Just an amazing place to be in my mind. (most of you know what i speak of) Just amazing..!! I will be honest, when I was younger I used to follow Dee to see where he would go. He knew I was following him...But he always would stop and talk about the 'Amazing' opportunities there are to catch fish. Most of my spots are his, and I respect the fact that they were shared with me. So I owe a lot to that man. His spots will be in my Lowrance(mind) for as long as I am here. And let me tell you that they produce good fish almost every time I visit them. Thanks for the knowledge Sir. I caught some fish and remembered where I came from. Thanks for reading my banter...Love you all.

  Tips: Buzz bait
  Frog
  Popper
  Plopper
  Amazing !

Thursday, June 27th, 2024

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 75-76

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Launched 6:15am, mid-low incoming; started with bluegill pattern squarebill; brother started with plopper, lots of blowups but only boated 3 12"ers and 1 about a pound; crankin had pretty good opening bites, several 10-12"ers, then got better with a few 1 lbers up to a couple 3 lbers; slowed a bit so threw wacky stick worms and Roboworm nekos. Landed a few more 1 lbers. I wanted to try throwing an inline spinner with a 3.3" keitech; managed a couple 12"ers and then a 2 lber. First time trying inline spinner for bass, was kinda neat! Brother caught a few on the bluegill crankbait and wacky stickbaits; buddy got his on LV500, letting it hit grass tops and snapping it out. He also got a few keepers on dropshot and Yamatanuki in green pumpkin. Overall a decent day having fun just hooking up; didn't care if they were 12" or 1-3lbs, just had fun getting fish on the hook.

  Tips: As always I don't think I'm qualified to give tips but here's what worked for us:
  - bluegill pattern squarebill (Megabass S-Crank, 1.5 Secret Gill color)
  - Shad Rap 7 (also bluegill and pumpkinseed) used to go deeper fishing ledges
  - In-line spinner with 3.3" keitech (Picasso All Terrain 3/8 oz white)
  - Berkley General 5 and 6" wacky and t-rigged, Junebug and Green Pumpkin
  - 6 and 7" Roboworms neko-rigged, MMIII
  - LV500 lipless, Sexy Shad
  - Whopper Plopper 90 and 110, Loon and Bone
  - Yamamoto Yamatanuki - Green Pumpkin

Monday, May 13th, 2024

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 70-72

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Launched Paradise 6am; low incoming. Worked quad buzzbait for about 30 mins and picked up 3 decent 1 lbers. On missed blowups, followed up with a Hula Popper and picked up a few, but mostly were juveniles 10-11"ers, but followup with a popper still worked. Tried crankin' with a red/orange craw 1.5 but not a lot of takers, still picked up a couple; switched to Livetarget matte bluegill and they seemed to like that one better. Eventually switched to dropshot with 6" MMIII; after losing a bunch on the jump, I realized I was using the wrong hook because I was trying the snell method instead of palomar knot. The hook was a Hayabusa Muscle Spin wacky hook which looks like the Nishine drop shot hook I use with a snell knot. But the angle of the hook on the Hayabusa leaves it open to unpinning if used for dropshot. Once I changed to the Nishine DS hook still using a snell, no more lost fish. I did use the Hayabusa for wacky stick worm (General) and caught a few with no unpinned fish. Just won't use it for dropshot! Wind was blowin' pretty good so off the water by noon.

  Tips: As always, not qualified to give tips, but here's what worked for us:
  - quad prop buzzbait - white with white spunk shad trailer.
  - 1.5 squarebill in red/orange craw (just a couple on this one)
  - 1.5 livetarget squarebill matte bluegill (they seemed to like this one)
  - dropshot with 6" MMIII - only 6" from sinker to hook length.
  - wacky stick worm - 5" General in junebug and green pumpkin

Monday, May 6th, 2024

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 61-63

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: On the water 6:30 launching from Paradise. Cold morning with medium to strong breeze and current (high outgo). Initially started with jointed wakebait; 1 hookup, 10"er, plenty of little "nips" but could tell they were just little juveniles. Switched to red craw squarebill and two 8-10"ers immediately grabbed it. Buddy also hooked up 17.5" striper; we thought it was on but we were wrong. Nothing else for next couple hours of kitchen sink junk fishing. Brother finally caught a keeper on wacky senko. Nothing else after that. When fishing plastics (dropshot and stick worms), got lots of little bait-stealer taps but nothing sizeable. Wind died down by about 11am but we were through; I'm sure if we stayed the whole day we would've eventually gotten a decent bite window but we don't have options to choose and come at different times of the day/evening; early morning is what we can manage and it's always our luck that the morning we get follows a cold front as was this past weekend; this early morning didn't pan out. Hoping for steady warm weather and I believe our fun will happen.

  Tips: As always said, I'm not qualified to give tips, but here's what we tried:
  - jointed wake bait (Mikey Jr. / Bomber ) = 1 juvenile and plenty of subtle nipping but no real takers
  - 1.5 squarebills in red craw and shad = couple of juveniles and striper
  - wacky rigged 5" stick bait The General = 1 keeper and lots of bait stealer nips and taps, nothing of any size
  - dropshot 4 & 6" roboworms, MMIII, Junebug and Aaron's Magic = goose egg but alot of tiny taps, no take
  - 3/16 and 1/4 oz underspins with 3.8" keitech and horny toad = goose egg
  - black frog = goose egg
  - bladed jig in both shad and red/orange = goose egg
  All the above is what we've done well with at this time of season but obviously not every time :) ... again, my belief is that we were limited to a cold morning and I'm pretty sure if we had the whole day to get to that few degrees of warmup later in the day or late afternoon, we would have encounted the bite window(s). Just sayin'.... still have plenty of warm days/weeks comin' and lookin' forward to it! Tight lines/bent rods everyone!

Thursday, April 18th, 2024

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 62-63

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Tough but fun day. On the water at 6:30am... already dropping high outgo.... Started out just south of Frank's. Not a lot of bites but decent fish when we did get em to chew. Nothing on topwater (popper, plopper) Went to red craw squarebill and inline spinners (just wanted to try alternative to chatterbait) .... white w/shad Keitech trailer.... managed a few keepers to 2lbs plus a nice 20" striper...kept that one! Paralleled outside weedline, nothing inside the trough so paralleled outside the weedline since the tide was dropping. Also managed a few on red craw and shad squarebills; buddy also managed a few in fairly deep ledge (12-16 sec countdown) on his shad pattern LV500. Brother hooked up a few 1-2 lbers on junebug Yamatanuki. Lost a nice one on dropshot...was taking line fast and broke off at the leader after a couple mins of playing it....never tied on another one and just put the dropshot rod down. Nothing on my 5" General..... had to really work for the bites but they were fun once they hit.

  Tips: Not really qualified to give tips but here's what worked for us:
  - red craw and shad pattern squarebills
  - white inline spinner with shad Keitech 3.3"
  - junebug Yamatanuki
  - shad pattern LV500 (12-16 sec countdown)

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 58-60

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Launched 6:15 Paradise, low tide; ran down to Mildred area; tried spook and plopper, only a couple blowups, no hookup. Went to spinnerbait and bladed jig, zero. Tried crank, brother tied on shad pattern, I tried green tomato (red-orange, chartreuse belly)... zero for me, 3 for brother. Ran same rockwall again changing to red. Managed a few barely keepers on the red, brother got 1 more on shad pattern. Went to plastic, 5" wacky and t-rigged stick worms. Picked up a bunch of barely keepers to 1lb, nothing bigger. Was gonna go to 6" but forgot em at home... I've caught 5-7 lbers on 5" so I wasn't too upset about it. Worked a rock wall leading to Columbia Cut and threw my red squarebill... picked up a bunch of 15 to 17" stripers...lots of fun... fulfilled my craving for crankbait hits even though they weren't the bass I was hoping for. Fished Disappointment heading into Paradise and managed only a few more 1-lbers. Dropshot also got us a couple 1 lbers. Somewhat slow day but better than our previous trip, managed only 2 bass in the boat a couple weeks ago. Hoping the crankbait bite turns on for us soon. If it already has for others, that's great!

  Tips: Not qualified to give tips but here's what seemed to work for us this time out:
  Wacky and t-rigged stick worms - 5" junebug; If I hadn't forgotten them at home, I would have used 6".
  Shad and red craw pattern squarebills and speed traps
  Dropshot using MMIII 8-10" above the sinker

Monday, November 6th, 2023

• By WB Staff

  Report: Got out on the Delta this weekend to introduce a new teen angler, Kayden, to fishing from a bass boat. Hit the water from the East Side of the Delta at about 7am. The tide was just starting to come in and I thought I’d go see if there was any stripers in this far. So we started at the mouth where the San Joaquin River comes into the Turning Basin. I used my Lowrance Active Target to search around all the pilings and found a bunch of bait balls and active fish at about 12 to 15 foot depths. I tried a spoon, ripbait, LV500 and a rig but couldn’t get bit, We made our way down the river. Having the teenager on his first trip, put the pressure on to get bit quick.
  So we targeted some wood on and around the main river. We picked up a drop =shot and we immediately put 3 in the boat, so that was fun, But it’s fall on the Delta so I tied on old faithful, the 1/2-ounce Jackhammer and added a Missle Baits Spunk Shad trailer, seems like thats the one to fish this year. I went to work while Kayden threw a white and nickel spinnerbait.We ended up catching about 15 fish and I would guess our best five would of went 14 lbs.

  Tips: Take aways:
  1) Find some colored water. The fish were way easier to catch when there was some color in the water.
  2) The fish were shallower and not as aggressive.
  3) You had to make really good casts and make sure you were reeling your bait thru and on top of the grass as slow as possible.
  4) The water temp was 59-61

Thursday, November 2nd, 2023

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 60-62

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Another zero-dark-thirty launch from Paradise; a lot of floating patches of hyacinth everywhere, no matter where we were, and pockets of surface fog made for tough visibility in the dark. Went to our first location and still had an hour of darkness before daybreak so we power-poled down and started with dropshot...zip, zero, nothing. Then tried throwing ploppers as it was low tide and I thought maybe they'd be up shallow feeding while still dark; amazingly enough, we were getting blow-ups and caught a few, nothing sizeable but some keepers. Feels funny casting in the dark and sometimes I had to turn my headlamp on to work out a minor backlash. But it was weird catching on topwater in the dark ... we'd hear a splash followed by a tug and that's when we'd just start reelin'... no hookset until I knew the fish was on. When that bite slowed, started throwing a donkey rig but then I took the slider off and just started fishing a single fluke (easier to manage). Hits came on the slow fall, twitch twitch pause and majority of hits were on the pause.. As morning turned to light, started throwing a shad pattern Little John 50 and worked the ledge/dropoffs in 9-12 ft due to the low/incoming tide; picked up a few 10-12"ers; alternated with underspins which picked up a few more but again, not much size. Started heading back to Paradise and decided to work some tules; I saw a hen coot jump out of the water and take off fast and then noticed swirling and splashing where she took off from; threw a craw Little John to the spot and a 4lber smashed it on the first turn of the reel. Finished the morning with that one.

  Tips: As always, not so qualified to give tips; here's what worked for us:
  - Choppo / Ploppers in 90 and 75 size
  - Shad / Craw Little John 50 cranks (worked reeeally slow just touching weed tops)
  - Keitech 3.8" on 1/8 and 3/16 underspins
  Hope everyone continues to get time out there!!

Friday, October 13th, 2023

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 68-70

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Usual early start from Paradise in the dark; idled on down Disappointment to our usual starting spot; couple of blowups on plopper and popper but nothing pinned. When daybreak came, the bite window opened up... this time out, not as many dinks or 10-12"ers but a few. Probably 90% boated were keeper size up to 2.5 lbs and were upchuckin' white baitfish so we stayed with shad colored shallow cranks (white w/blue or blk back), ploppers and poppers. Buddy also caught a few on ned/TRD; Ended early cuz I forgot my cellphone in the truck and headed in to get it. Out of the water by 11am. Nice early start back home, we like it that way.

  Tips: As always, not qualified to give tips... but here's what worked for us today:
  - Shad colored shallow cranks (squarebills, Hybrid Hunter, R2S Biggie)
  - Whopper Plopper and Choppo in 110 size - changed colors from usual Blk / Loon to translucent (Abalone and Ghost Bluegill)
  - R2S Bubble Walker - Powder
  - Dropshot with 6" Margarita Mutilator
  - Ned / TRD - Green Pumpkin, Roboworm - Desert Craw

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 68

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Launched zero dark thirty at Paradise, low incoming tide; hate casting in the dark so just worked dropshot along Disappointment tules and rock wall. Picked up a few 10"-12"ers as we waited for daybreak. As our eyes got adjusted to the dark and oncoming daybreak light, started throwing black Choppo 90 and Plopper 75 in white. Again, a few 10" - 12"ers; Did get one big splash heavy puller but got unpinned a couple secs after reeling, dang, never even got to see it. Worked our way to usual spots; managed a couple 1lb to 1.5lbers on craw and shad (white) colored squarebills (Little John and Frittside). Crankin' slowed to zip as we moved from spot to spot. As we moved around, we'd pick up only a couple and had to keep moving around. Eventually went back to our starting spot since the tide was now higher. Picked up a couple of 1.5 lbers on 6" weightless t-rigged Senkos. Boated nothing over 1.5 lbs. Had the one possible "big one" but came unpinned. Off the water by noon.

  Tips: Never qualified to give tips but here's what put put fish on our hooks:
  Craw colored squarebill - Little John
  White and shad colored squarebill - Frittside 5
  6" T-rigged weightless Senko topped with skirt cut from hula grub and a red bead pegged with a bobbert stop above the skirt; looked weird but it caught some fish.
  Choppo 90 - black
  Whopper Plopper 75 - white
  Ned head with MMIII 6" worm
  Oh, one tip I can give: Check out Steve Cooper's latest In Deep vid; always very informative... some of it we experienced today (the part about not catching as many as we did previous weeks but we didn't really figure out their transition) ...his vid would've helped us!

Friday, September 22nd, 2023

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 68-69

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Launched early at Paradise. Low outgoing and bottomed out at 7am, then incoming, but water was colder and very low. Idled down to our usual spots and waited for daybreak. Threw topwater (Plopppers, Choppos, frog) and managed a few juveniles but no keeper size. Water was 68 degrees and ambient air was much cooler than it's been. Was wondering if this might affect the bite (windows). Long and short of it is that despite all the positive reports, we only caught 3 keeper size and many many 8-12"ers on ploppers. A couple on dropshot, a couple on stick worms, nothing on Ned, a few on squarebill cranks in shad, pumpkinseed (Livetarget), and flatside craws. All of our favorite spots were not producing. Chatted with a couple other guys in bass boats and they said same; speculated the cooled weather change and dropped water temp may have locked their jaws. By 10am, I was still alternating and throwing a plopper 90 and squarebill and hooking up with 11"-13"ers and only a couple that were 14"+, but far and few between. It was not the hotcakes all the youtube reports are pushing, but I'm not doubting them, today was just not like it's been the past couple weeks. Maybe it's US and where/how we chose to fish.... I wouldn't doubt that one bit. Still had fun catching the ones we did, but was expecting a better day based on previous reports....always our luck we go out when weather/water temps or something drastically changes; well, that's just my theory. Off the water by noon and glad of it!! Oh, and we did see spraying on Disappointment just outside of King's. Everywhere we fished, there were A LOT of floating hyacinth mats in varying sizes, some 10-12 yds in diameter or larger, some just 3-5 feet diameter. Oh well.

  Tips: Not qualified to even breathe a tip, but here's what put fish on the hook for us: Ploppers and Choppos in 60, 75, 90, and 110 sizes. Nothing on the frog. Livetarget Pumpkinseed (matte) squarebill; nothing on red craw. Dropshot MMIII and Morning Dawn.
  Stuff we tried but no takers: chatterbait, spinnerbait, misc plastics. Water seemed colder than usual and I never took off my sweatpants over my shorts... I just felt like the cooler ambient and water temp locked their jaws and I'll bet the afternoon bite probably will turn on; we can only fish the mornings til noon. Oh well.

Saturday, September 16th, 2023

• By WB Staff

  Report: by ILW » Sat Sep 16, 2023 1:08 am
  
  Was on the river couple days this week. Spent 2 days on the East Delta fished it all, :shock: :shock: White's and Disappointment and 14 mile and everything connected. Disappointment has been heavily sprayed but stil caught a few small fish on worms on the breaks with current pushing on them.
  
  Got into White/s and found some super clear water with bluegill everywhere. Started punching isolated mats. Out of the 12 mats I punched I only got bit out of 1. I don’t understand?
  
  I threw a buzzbait and ChatterBait all around and nothing. It was the best looking water I’ve seen with crunchy hydrilla and good clean water. So I thought okay I’ll have to slow down. So I did and picked up the ol Delta faithful Texas rigged Trick Worm. I started throwing it and pulling it through to the edge of the weedline and caught about 10 non keepers. So I went over to 14 mile and picked up a red crankbait. I went to work and once again it was a dink fest. I found a grass line and started flipping it. I caught 2 on a D-Bomb in Candy Grass. I’m not sure but I’m hoping this cooler weather and shorter days will make the fall bite come in better. I guess I will try again today.

Monday, September 11th, 2023

• By Eric c

  Water Temp: 71-73

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Been fishing central delta lately. Fishing by 530am and the top water bite has been picking up every week for me and clients. The choppo had been my number one producer however the bubble walker has been excelling lately. I have been targeting vast flats with water depths in the 2 to 6 foot range. Vegetation growth that extends out further then the rest of growth creating points have been getting blown up. When the grass is to thick to throw baits with treble hooks i have been throwing a double buzz bait. Then later in the day frogs on cheese mats have been catching fish.
  Once the sun is up I have been targeting shade banks and feel like I can keep the top water bite going longer by targeting shade. I have found low tide to be best for punching mats. Rotten tomato d bombs been working well. Low incoming tide has been best tide for me as of late. Usually I will be fishing outside weed lines with plastic baits.
  My boat motor is good and going if anyone is interested in getting out send me a message. I'm booked up next 2 weekends but have plenty of week days open. I will be doing striper trips last week of the month.

  Tips: Have a fluke tied on when you miss a blow up.

Monday, September 4th, 2023

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 71-74

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Started early; topwater worked using Choppo 90 and buddy was killin' em on Whopper Plopper 60. Nothing truly sizeable but managed a few 1.5 - 2.5lbers. Very slow crank bite but did boat a couple 2lbers. Also managed many juveniles to 1lbers on ned and dropshot; nothing on wacky senko. Boat started taking water in the bilge so ended early at 1030am. I think my fwd livewell has a crack or leak somewhere in the line because it had water in it through the drain and I NEVER use my fwd livewell. Lots of troubleshooting ahead.

  Tips: As always, not qualified to give tips. Here's what worked: Choppo 90 - Maverick; Plopper 60 - Loon; Ned - Desert Craw on 1/8 oz shroom; dropshot - 6" roboworm MMIII & Morning Dawn. Squarebill crank in brown craw/orange belly.

Friday, August 18th, 2023

• By deepvbasser

  Water Temp: 76

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Launched early at Paradise; lots of kayak tourney guys prepping; pretty windy at 5am. Went down to main channel areas, oxbows. Nothing on topwater (poppers, frogs). Brother and buddy were getting bit on plastics. I was hoping for reaction throwing 1.5 and 2.5 cranks, spinnerbait and bladed jig. They liked the squarebills; 2.5 got more bites overall. Lots of 10-13"ers, only a couple 2lbers and one 3lber. We worked rock walls in Little Connection/Little Potato, purposely stayed away from more popular areas not to bother the tourney guys. Late morning we were gonna call an early day due to old-guy soreness (back, shoulders). Moved up Disappointment to fish closer to the ramp. Worked rockwall, nothing much on reaction but plenty on plastics, again mostly 12-13"ers. Largest boated today was a couple 2lbers and a 3lber. Off the water by noon, decent day, just fun fishin' and catchin', not carin' about size, just fun gettin' bit and fish on the hook. Spoke with one kayak tourney guy at the ramp who had nice catch lengths (largest 21") and he was headin' back out to cull a 13"er. Wished him luck and I bet he placed well. Kayakers are dang good bassers!

  Tips: As always, not qualified to give tips but here's what worked for us: Squarebills 1.5 and 2.5 in red craw and green tomato (red craw with chartreuse belly); red craw spinnerbait and bladed jig w/orange trailers; Plastics: 5" & 6" senkos, grn pumpkin and junebug. Yamatanuki, grn pumpkin/blue. Ned rig: desert craw (Roboworm). Decent fun on a moderately windy day.