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California Delta and Reports

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Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: First day out after being out of the area for a couple weeks on vacation. Took a little time to figure out what the fish were doing but as the tide got higher the top water bite was consistent above the weeds on the flats. Fish were relating to current cuts and were subtly taking the bait vs blowing up and hitting it hard. Overall good day with about 16 pounds for the best 5. Always fun to catch them on top. TIDAL CA Delta Fishing

Saturday, May 17th, 2025

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    Report: Report by Lucca Rossetti
    27.34 with a 7.80 big ol' bass!!!
    Here's what Lucca said....
    We caught 'em on spinnerbaits, ChatterBaits, and Senkos in the trough by the tules and rocks.

Monday, April 14th, 2025

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    Water Temp: 64-66

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Today fished the outgoing tide and it was slow until the tide bottomed out. Then the topwater bite fired off. The frog bite was solid at the low switch on the weed flats near spawning pockets. The key is not to spook those fish with the TM and moving through these areas at low tide is brutal. I'd chop through to areas and then power pole down and let it settle. After about 5 minutes I'd thoroghly work the area with a buzz bait and the frog. Most fish came on the frog worked very slowly and they were all quality fish 3-4.5lbs. Missed one big bite. It is a lot of work fishing this way, but the opportunity at a big bite is there. Good Fishing to All! TIDALCADeltaFishing.

Friday, April 4th, 2025

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    Report: Started in East Delta, water temperatures rising.. Water temps range from the mid-50s to low 60s, depending on location - prime spawning temperature. Some areas are experiencing clearer water, especially on outgoing tides, while others remain more stained. High tides are pushing fish into shallow cover, while low tides are concentrating them along deeper edges. Some success has been when targeting shallow areas with tules, submerged vegetation and laydowns – less on riprap. Soft plastic have been best still. Thrown everything from Senkos, creature baits, and craw imitations rigged Texas-style or on a Carolina rig.

Monday, March 24th, 2025

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    Water Temp: 56-58

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Things are starting to get right. These next few days of warm weather will really speed up the bite. Spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday on the water focusing on central Delta (Franks, Mildred and Old River). The weather was cold in the mornings with a pretty good wind. The bite on the high tide (last part of high and the switch to outgoing) was good. Fish seemed to prefer senkos and dropshot. Tried to force feed them reaction due to the wind, but only caught smaller fish. All better bites (3-5lbs) came on flipping shallow pockets on high tide. The fish are super healthy and fat. It is getting really fun out on the river right now and will only continue to improve. Tight lines! Tidal CA Delta Fishing.

    Tips: Slow down in areas that look good. The areas where fish seemed to concentrate were pockets that had minimal weed growth surrounded by areas of thicker dense weeds. These little pockets held multiple fish and will be the same places I will start looking for the fish to spawn. When the tide drops out go look in these areas to find these pockets and then fish them on the high tide. One other area that consistently got bites was points with sparse tules and moving current.

Thursday, March 20th, 2025

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    Water Temp: 54

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched early at Paradise; long story short, only caught 2 fish; buddy's first few casts caught an early morning keeper on a 4" jerkbait; we thought that was a sign of things to come but nope, nothing for the next 4 hours, trying everything but the kitchen sink. Decided it just wasn't a good day (we blamed it on the previous night's front/rain but we really don't know), so we headed back up Disappointment back to Paradise. We stopped and tried one of our usual islands that had a visible weedline ledge; I threw a dark red crankbait along the dropoff and hooked a heavy 2lber (almost a 3lber). That at least salvaged an uneventful day. Water was heavy stained, not sure if I'd call it muddy but well, yeah, I guess it was.... lost sight of my lure a foot down. Oh well, there's always next week and the weeks to come.

    Tips: Not qualified to give tips and definitely not from today. But I guess we just kept trying with everything we had. We didn't quit and at least got an almost 3lber. Really don't know why but oh well, kicked the skunk outta the boat for me.

Monday, March 10th, 2025

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    Report: Went out on the old DirtyD this week. It was the last part of the outgoing tide and then the incoming started. The water clarity was less than a foot and the temperature ranged from 54-60.

    My plan was that I would take advantage of the low water and look around in the marinas as the full moon was coming soon. I wanted to see if there were any fish that had moved up. well after viewing 5 of my favorite spawning areas, I seen only 2 little bucks as I was pulling out of one of the marinas. I found a pretty good school of stripers on my Lowrance FFS so I spent about a hour catching them on a ripbait.

    Back to the bass. I threw a chatterbait and a crankbait where I thought they where gonna be but nothing happened. I started throwing a 5inch wacky rig Senko and caught one little guy. I made a run West where the water was higher and found a tree in the middle of the slough with the FFS. I caught 2 bass,1 stripper and a crappie all out of that same tree. The Delta is pretty tough for me right now.

Saturday, March 8th, 2025

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    Report: by Mark Lassagne from BAM » Sat Mar 08, 2025 7:25 pm
    Super fun day on the Delta yesterday- 25-30 with a few good ones mixed in. River2Sea biggie, Chatter and Senkos did the damage. Different area today so we’ll see how different it is.

Sunday, March 2nd, 2025

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    Water Temp: 57-58

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished central delta and found the best quality fish holding in sparse tules on the flats. Today we caught fish with spinnerbaits and senkos. The spinnerbait is perfect for this time of year when the fish love to stage in the sparse tules before moving shallower to spawn. The spinnerbait is awesome to bounce through the tules and most the strikes come after hitting the tules. The chatterbait is good too but gets hung up a lot more and the spinnerbait rarely gets snagged. The 6" senko caught the biggest fish which was a 4.8. Fun fishing right now! Tidal CA Delta Fishing

    Tips: Today the key was sparse tules on flats.

Friday, February 28th, 2025

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    Water Temp: 55-57

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Never left Franks Tract today and slowed way down. Caught 17-18lbs with all fish coming on 6" Senkos. Started the day targeting outside edge tules thinking the big girls would be feeding up in preparation to move shallow. Caught a few fish on the outer edge, but the quality was not great. Low tide hit and decided to move shallow to look around. Water was still too stained. to see any beds, BUT long casting the Senko to the edges of old dormant mats started to produce regular bites of quality fish. As the tide switched and started to come in the bite was consistent flipping to the old edges. These bass were in pockets with sand and hard bottoms. These areas are easy to find when you notice the weed growth at low tide goes away and leaves clean pockets. Wishing you good fishing! Tidal CA Delta Fishing.

    Tips: Get behind the tules and look for shallow pockets with harder sandy bottoms. The bass will move into these pockets over the next couple months and they will provide a consistent bite. Start on the outer staging edges and move shallow until you find the fish and then SLOW down and pick apart the areas. There's a real chance of hooking a giant.

Tuesday, February 25th, 2025

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: So as always the Delta is a fickle place, and going out to try and duplicate the outing can be a challegne, but had to give it a go. Fishing was tought. It was a small tide and started fishing all the same areas as last time. Besides a couple days difference, so a little change in the tide timing, there was warmer water temps. Flipped a jig most of the day. I know this time of the year it should be a great bait to catch a giant on, but it did not pay off today. Started tossing around a Senko when the water got up, later in the day to save getting skunked! Got a couple no more than 3 pounds.

    Tips: Takeaways - don’t get stuck on a technique! Water is warming. Starting to see a couple of blooms, so we all know wat that means the fish will be on the move.

Thursday, February 20th, 2025

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    Water Temp: 55 give or take

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Spent part of the day on the Delta. When I went out, he tide was high and water temps varied from 52 to 57. The water clarity varied but the Central looked the best and it’s where I caught all my fish. I flipped a jig all day caught 6 fish all over 3.5lbs and the big going over 5 pounds. All fish came in the first row of tules. It was actually the furthest tully point sticking out. The high water seemed to be the key for me because after the tide moved out about 1/2 way, I could not buy a bite. I targeted outside of spawning areas where they will be.

    Tips: Jigs, jigs and more jigs.

Wednesday, January 8th, 2025

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    Water Temp: 49-50

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Updated: Started early at Paradise; only came down to get an annual pass and test my new cluster gauges; outgoing low tide at 6am, very calm, not as cold as we thought we'd be. Idled around close to the marina waiting for it to open. Threw jerkbaits (90 and micro size), nothing. Senko/stickbaits/shakeyheads, nothing. Dropshot, nothing. Spinnerbait, nothing. A-rig, nothing. As it got lighter, we realized the water was really stained. Got my annual pass and ran down to main channel; water was just as stained ... about a foot visibility. Tried everything again, nothing. Duck hunters were having a great morning though! Brought back memories. Rode around looking for clearer water but all the same. Ran up to King's but fog was rolling in thick. Worked our way back to Paradise on the inside rockwall of Disappointment...water all the same, stained. Still, I accomplished what I came down for, annual pass and gauges confirmed. Still had a good time just being on the water and casting lures! Went home, flushed the motor/boat, livewell (didn't fill with delta water but still flushed it anyway), and bilge (ran pump with fresh water). Will do exterior next day..kinda tired.

    Tips: Not qualified to give tips, but I'd say if you're hankerin' to fish, just go if the weather's decent. We figured we just didn't have good conditions and timing in the areas we tried. But we'll still keep trying. Never know what the next trip's conditions will be. You likely will do better!!

Thursday, November 14th, 2024

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    Water Temp: 52-54

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Usual start out of Paradise 6am; heavy fog (got passed by a boat with no lights), please be careful. Mid-high-outgoing to low tide. Only had the morning so fished our usual spots. Nothing on crankin' and only tried topwater briefly; A few 10" to 12"ers hooked on dropshot and senko working outside weedlines and first ledge/dropoff. Went to 100 size jerkbait with 3-5-7 second pauses. Started catching but only up to 12"ers. Speedo and trim gauges were acting screwy so off the water by 11am.

    I'm sure plenty others are catching as they probably know a lot more productive spots. (As seen on some latest vids from In Deep on the Delta/Steve Cooper and Blanchard.) I really believe our spots aren't always producing and/or we're not at a good bite window (early morning's been tough).
    So that said, I guess we'll venture out and explore more and hopefully find some new and productive waters...but that may not be til early new year.

    Tips: As always, not qualified to give tips, here's what worked:
    - Dropshot - 6" Roboworms in MMIII, Junebug, and Green Pumpkin
    - Stick Worms - 5" Senko in Junebug and Green Pumpkin
    - Jerkbait - downsized to 95-100 size - Clown, Pro Blue, BE Gill (3-5-7 sec pauses..all hits on the pause)

Thursday, October 3rd, 2024

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    Water Temp: 70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched usual time 6am at Paradise; anticipating high tide at 7:18, ran to one of our fav flats areas to try some topwater; soon as we got to our starting spot, saw that a sea lion was feeding right in the flats we wanted to fish; we watched him dive into tule clumps with his back and tail above water. Then he'd come up with a bass, tail and half the body sticking out, then in a second, chomped and gulped down. He worked both the inside as well as perimeter of the flats. In 25 mins of watching, we watched him come up with a bass 9 times, and some of those bodies and tails looked pretty sizeable. I've always seen the sea lion(s) on the move but never really saw them feed in an area. We tried to move away from him but he'd work as close as 10-15 ft from our boat, coming out of nowhere. We finally got fed up and gave up on that area. We could only imagine how many fish he ate before we got there.
    OK anyways, we moved across the flats to a rock wall and started crankin' both shad and red craw crankbaits, they were taking both. Managed many rats but also several 1 - 1.5 lbers and an occasional 2lber. Since I had a choppo tied on, I threw into a tule cut up against the rock wall. As I waited for the "circles" to dissipate, I saw my choppo just go under so I set the hook and boated one. So I started working the choppo slow, not reeling it in but subtle twitches like a popper. This worked for a bunch more takers, no real blowups, just inhaling it down. I did get a choice few reeling in for the next cast and they came up and hit it, those 3 or 4 x were the only actual blowups I got. My brother was deadstickin' a worm on a shaky head and got his that way and on a dropshot, same type of worm.
    Ended early and off the water by 11:30am... short but fun morning, other than watching the sea lion munching. Nothing over 2lbs but still fun!!

    Tips: As always, not qualified to give tips, but here's what worked:
    - crankbaits - bone/white Speed Trap along with Lucky Craft DRS 2.0 in TO Craw
    - Choppo 75 in bone/white, worked it like a popper, slow and subtle twitches
    - Dropshot - 6" Roboworm - MM & MMIII
    - Shaky head worm, deadstick/draggin' - MM & MMIII

Thursday, September 26th, 2024

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    Water Temp: 66-69

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched early at Paradise, outgoing lowering (low tide 9:04); started throwing white/shad pattern cranks and managed mostly rats but a few 12" to 1 lbers. That slowed down and I was considering going a red craw pattern but decided to slow down with the lowering tide and started throwing wacky senko / stick worms. I was rigged weightless 6" and my brother was throwing 5" on 1/8 oz jighead. He was hooking up 3 to 1 on me so I tied on a 1/8 oz jighead and started catching up to him. We were working shallow at rockwall/tules out to the dropoff/ledges and the holes in the weed beds in between. Fish seemed to be hunkered down in the weeds and on the outside ledge at the bottom (about 8-12 feet). My brother was deadsticking / dragging while I was working mine more. He was still getting more hookups than me but he has more patience than me for deadstick/dragging. Anyways, ended the morning early with my brother boating a 4lber (4lb 5oz).

    Tips: As always, not qualified to give tips but here's what worked and didn't:
    worked:
    - white/shad pattern cranks (I'm thinkin' red craw would have worked but I went to plastics when crankin' slowed down)
    - 5" and 6" wacky senko type stick worms in green pumpkin, junebug, and black/red flake

    didn't work:
    - topwater (white buzzbait, whopper plopper) ... actually now that I think of it, my brother did get one on a popper early on.
    - dropshot (but didn't really fish it long)

Thursday, September 19th, 2024

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Usual early start, high tide; decided to explore; tried some new and inviting areas; managed only a few rats and barely keepers; with a slow start, ran back to some usual spots but not much better, very slow, junk fished for only a couple of keepers. Some guys at the ramp said it was combination of last night's full moon and the temp drop. I honestly don't know but it sure was a complete 180 from previous outings. Oh well, try again next week.

    Tips: As always, not qualified to give tips but here's what worked today:
    - smaller jerkbaits (90 / Jr size)
    - wacky and T-rigged senko/stick worms 5" & 6"
    - shakey head 6" worms
    Everything else....NADA

Thursday, September 12th, 2024

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    Water Temp: 70-71

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at Paradise about 6:15 outgoing almost low, then low-incoming; ran down to usual spots off the main San Joaquin. First stop caught a bunch of rats and 12”ers, then 1 to 2lbers along the rock wall ledges. All mine were on a new Evergreen Wild Hunch 5 crank, in Fire Craw… I like it because even the bill is orange/red. No topwater at all so didn’t put a whole lotta time on it… tried popper (Rio Rico) Eclipse which previously got a bunch but this time nada. Briefly went to a whopper plopper and again, nada; went back to my crank and immediately started catching again. Nothing over heavy 2lbs but we’re always ok with that. Most of the crankbait fish came on the outside weed line along the ledge as we worked rock walls. We did catch a few throwing into the trough just off the rocks and really slow rolled it like a wake bait…they would come up and just haul it down. And that was at low incoming tide! My brother and another buddy caught on dropshots and neds along with jerk baits. Buddy also picked up a couple swimming a 5" swim senko. Toward the end of our morning til we quit before noon, all of us were throwing jerk baits and still catching rats and 1lbers; at this point, it was just at slack tide on Disappointment. We just worked the outside weed edge at the drop off / ledge. Decent morning...overall bite window was nice to us except topwater!

    Tips: As always, I'm not qualified to give tips but here's what worked and didn't work:
    What worked:
    • Fire craw crankbait
    • Jerkbaits in SG threadfin and matte pearl white
    • Ned and dropshot using robo ned desert craw and robo 6" MMIII
    • Weightless wacky and t-rigged senko both 5” and 6” – junebug and green pumpkin

    Didn’t work:
    • Topwater (I guess the bite window was locked closed for us) poppers & ploppers
    • Bladed jig (I’m not real accomplished fishing chatterbaits; trying to get better. Yikes
    • Spinnerbait

Saturday, August 10th, 2024

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    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

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    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.