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California Delta and Reports

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Monday, January 18th, 1999

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    Water Temp: 40's

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I went fishing in the cold rain at Discovery Bay. Fished at the marina and caught about 10 catfish. 2 were about 18 inches and the rest were about 13. I caught them on live, jumbo minnows on a sliding, 1 ounce rig. I went trolling, but didn't catch anything. I missed a big one because my real had a backlash and did not let line go out. I trolled a rebel with a spreader.
    City: Pleasanton

    Tips: Tips:n/a

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    Water Temp: 47.7

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Went out in the rain today and had the best time fishing all year. Launched out Big Break around 8:00 and headed towards Sherman Isle., nothing. Then we headed to a little well known marina. Noticed fish busting shad and my partner caught 3 keepers right away cranking something shad color. Then he wondered if they would eat a ripbait. And eat a ripbait they did. After it was all said and done, we had caught around 50 or so (I lost count) which at least half of were keepers. We had a 4,two 2.5's, and a number of 2's. And all of these fish were caught in 1 1/2 hrs in less than 3 ft. of water. Whew, what a day!!!
    City: Brentwood

    Tips: Tips:I don't know, I guess it was because of the warm front that came through and rose the water temp. 3 or 4 deg's.

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    Water Temp: 48

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: We launched at B&W and went south fishing in fifteen to 20 ft. of water. They seem to like a dark jig fished slowly barely getting it off the bottom and draging it along they would hit it.we caught 15 stripers 6 keepers nothing over 20 in.
    City: Loomis

    Tips: Tips:n/a

Sunday, January 17th, 1999

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    Water Temp: 47

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Found fish in quiet (low current) areas on outside edges of weeds. Fishing was fairly tough, with fish caught on jigs and plastic worms.
    City: Marysville

    Tips: Tips:Fish deeper in quiet areas.

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    Water Temp: 44

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Trolled around Empire Tract all day with bombers and caught a few nice striper. Also worked deep water structure and caught three largemouth on jigs. My partner hooked what appeared to be a hog but it snapped his damaged line. Had the most luck fishing Disappointment Slough.
    City: Lafayette

    Tips: Tips:n/a

Saturday, January 16th, 1999

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    Water Temp: 45-48

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of Holland caught 4 stripers and 1 large mouth on jigging spoons and rattle traps.
    City: Bay Point

    Tips: Tips:Fish the spoons deep were there is bait fish.

Thursday, January 14th, 1999

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    Water Temp: 39-43

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished southern part of Delta. Cold morning fog with light wind. Cold. Caught 7-8 fish in different locations. Points and deep water seem to be productive 20+ ft. Fish painfully slow. Look for isolated structure away from bank.
    City: Tracy

    Tips: Tips:Split shot or drop shot 4" worms and grubs. Fish deep and slow with minimal current.

Tuesday, January 12th, 1999

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    Water Temp: 43

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I hope you all don't mind a striper report. and a negative one at that.Fished Disco-Bay last weekend during the freeze.The water temp dropped another two degrees. I was spooning at 25 ft.and never got bit.The fish and bait are still present.They just seemed to have lockjaw that day.We had been enjoying 10-12 hook-ups per day before that.By all means,don't try the Smoothie,3/4 oz.purple/silver flash.
    City: San Leandro

    Tips: Tips:Slow.

Saturday, January 9th, 1999

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    Water Temp: Cold

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Today the sky was real overcast and the winds where coming from two ways, the east and the north. It made for some real tough fishing. Slow rollin' 1/4 oz. shad/yellow scale blade with no. 5 nickel willow caught two nice keepers. these fish were two hours apart though so switched to a slower more deliberate method. A dart head 1/4oz. with a 4-inch junebug ringworm was the ticket. Through it to isolated weed beds and popped the hook out of the weeds when it got caught up. this is where i got the strikes, on the fall after the pop. This toned up the bite and took two more fish in a short hour. all fish came in 5-8 ft. of water. Fished from 9:30-2:30.
    City: Antioch

    Tips: Tips: Bundle up and stop wishin' and just go fishin'.

Monday, January 4th, 1999

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    Water Temp: 47

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished around Empire Tract most of the day for largemouth with no luck. Got a few hits but no ripped lips. In the afternoon we started trolling bomber crankbaits and caught several keeper size striper and a lot of undersized ones as well. The fog never lifted and it was a very cold day.
    City: Lafayette

    Tips: Tips: Dress warm!

Saturday, January 2nd, 1999

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    Water Temp: cold

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of the Break, fished the coves by the Minnow, then inside Dutch Slough. Not a bite in 4 hours, using Spinners, Worms, and Jigs. Where are all the fish????
    City: antioch

Friday, January 1st, 1999

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    Water Temp: 45

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Eleventh Annual New Years Day Tournament put on by the Delta BassMasters of Stockton had 72 boats entered and 1/3 of the field weighed in with 7 fish limits. The following teams placed in the money. Jim Soden & Rich Wyman, 1st place with 23 lbs 11 oz. Steve Sapp & John Varanai, 2nd place, 23 lbs 8 ozs. John Harper & Terry Swanson 3rd place & 1st big fish, 20 lbs. 3 oz 9 lb 10 oz. Bill Jeffers & Elmer Meier, 4th, 20 lbs 3 oz. Jeff Wright & Rick Kraft, 5th, 19 lbs 8 oz. John Mills & Walter Coyle, 6th, 19 lbs 7 oz. Ivan Hendricks & Stan Lafever, 7th place, 19 lbs 2 oz. Dennis & Mark Ding, 8th place, 19 lb 1 oz. Mike Delnero & Bret Sapp, 9th, 18 lbs 8 oz. Jim Gentry & Kevin Looper, 10th, 18 lbs 5 oz. Dee Thomas & Craig Miller, 11th, 18 lbs 0 oz. Jerry Peterson & Dave Tencati, 12th, 17 lbs 7 oz. Bud Porter & Mike Ney, 13th & 2nd Big Fish, 17 lb 1 oz & 6 lb 9 oz. Jim Mickelson & Mike Rold 14th, 17 lb 1 oz. 3rd Big fish, 5 lb 8 oz. Mike Hara & David Low.
    City: Stockton

    Tips: Tips:n/a

Saturday, December 26th, 1998

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    Water Temp: n/a

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Disco-Bay on 26 Dec, we got 10 stripers spooning at 25 ft.before 11 am,then the bite shut off.Just look for bait.about noon we worked the rocky banks in one of the baysand 4 black bass 13-18 inches, Then went out to Woodword cnal and flipped only one, but it was a 4 pounder,I think it was a great day.
    City: n/a

    Tips: Tips: n/a

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    Water Temp: 42-45

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Wentout of Orwood's and fished Disco Bay and points thereabout. Water was a frigid 42 degrees and we couldn't buy a bite. Fun day with good friends, but no fish.
    City: Soquel

    Tips: Tips: Dress warm if you want to stay comfortable.

Wednesday, December 16th, 1998

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    Water Temp: 44-45

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished in and around Frank's Tract. Caught and released over 50 Stripers in the 2 to 6 lb. size. Used Hair Raiser and Roadrunner lures. Made for a very exciting day.
    City: W. Sacramento

    Tips: Tips:

Saturday, December 5th, 1998

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    Water Temp: 51

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: American Bass Anglers Club launched out of Orwood resort. Me and my no boat headed north aroudn quicmby island and he boats a 3+ which is big fish for the tourney. Hampton comes in and wins it with a small limit, he's throwing bomber crankbaits workings his boat paralell real tight to the bank, I hooked what appeared to be a hog in moving water but I must have damadged the line on a snag prior to that, my crankbait broke and the fish was gone, fish were also being stuck on plastics. The typical delta pattern "there isn't any". Looking forwrd to the coming year. For more info on American Bas anglers club refer to the organizations listing. Happy Holiday :-) Pete
    City: n/a

    Tips: Tips: USe whatever you have confidence in..

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    Water Temp: n/a

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Stripers are on the move. Catching plenty of keepers. launch from whiskey slough. head thru turner cut. start trolling 13/15' of water.
    City: n/a

    Tips: Tips: Water is about 54 degrees. in the active spots. Use 1 oz cordels's or rattle traps. Troll fast about 4-5 mph, lead core line is good. Use Mono Leaders/30 lb. test.

Sunday, November 22nd, 1998

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    Water Temp: 59-62

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fishing in the Delta has moved strongly towards the winter patterns. With the effects of El Nino and the latest weather patterns of the last two months, the Delta bass really never got into their normal fall, slam bam thank you mam fall feeding frenzies. Best results have been found out of the major tributaries with minimal current. 4 weeks ago I made a major change in my jig fishing from plastic to pork and it really put some big fish in the boat. I truely believe this gave me an edge in tournaments when most folks were still tossig plastic. Concentrate on areas with big rocky levee banks and depper water close by. By deper water I means as low as 12 feet but as depp as 25 ft. Locate wood in these areas that are isolated and you have a fish magnet this time of year. Find areas that would most resemble conditions in a like where fish can live all year long. This will help to isolate and locate concentrations of fish. In these areas I have been most succesful with a brown or black jig and working it methosically on the bottom. Have both tied on and ready to go, the fish will indicate which they like best. Also tossing a red 7a bomber or small speed trap will produce some excellent fish first thing in the morning. The key is to work thses cranks 10-15 feet off the bank in 8-12foot of water, and work it very slowly. Also take close note to where you can catch the bigger fish, especially those over 4lb.s. Those fish will tell you wht every other 4 pounder is doing.If your stuck on 2 pounders and are happy, duplicate that anywhere on the delta and you'll catch two pounders all day. But if you catch a 6 pounder on a piece of wood, on a bank, in the middle of tules, hit a hundred spots like it in a day. If ya can catch an 8 pounder next to a dock pilon with rippin current, fish every dock you can find. This is one constant variable the winter time bass on the delta will follow. What one size group is doing and how they relate to habitat, is a pattern that can be repeated.
    City: n/a

    Tips: Tips: Soon the ater temp will beign to drop int he mid 50's. As thi begins to take place, look for fish to start to stack up in locations. One of my favorite techniques to catch winter bass on the delta is to toss either a lipless crankbait, Manns BB Shad or a Rodstrainer Single #8 colorado SpinNee spinnerbait. I work both lures very slowly in 6-10 feet of water over the tops of the raminaing grass beds in the middle of sloughs. You can't work that spinnerbait slow enough. If you were to see me out there doing this, at this time of year, you would think I was striper fishing.

Sunday, November 15th, 1998

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    Water Temp: 56

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: The club had it's last event of the year on Sunday out or Orowood. Fished Italian, Victoria and coney all day and used crankbaits and jigs. At 12:00 only had 3 small fish, but ended up with 5 for 14.75 with a 6.75 lb. kicker. Cranked 4 little one a flipped 2, 2,25lb. fish and the big one.
    City: n/a

Saturday, November 7th, 1998

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    Water Temp: n/a

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: weather very wet and windy from 30mph winds and light rain mostly and few down pours. I was told to expect a great crankbite, but nothing? as soon as we started flipping brushhogs WHAMMO. the fish easily caught. 4" watermelon w/splitshots and yamamoto spiderjogs in a green weenie color were the lure of choice. soory to say no spinner fish??? hopefully they will turn on soon again. launched from big break and then headed to frank's near the broken docks
    City: n/a

    Tips: Tips:4 to 6" brushhogs watermelon and junebug w/large split shot 3" yamamoto spider jigs.