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Saturday, May 12th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 63-67

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched from Holland Tract. Started off with buzz bait, got slaps and no hookups. Switched to a white spinnerbait and landed a 5 and a bunch of dinks. Found a sweet patch of slop and had some exciting blowups but no hookup! Arg! Flipped a couple 1-2 pounders and punched a striper! Senkos in pockets of calm for another 5 and couple more 1-2s.
    City: Pleasant Hill

    Tips: Junk fish and have fun!

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    Water Temp: 68

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: launched at new hope 730 and worked corner island at sycamore low tide..picked up a few 12"ers on craw rattletraps and cranks. also picked up 4 more in the 1-2lb range on curl-tail roboworms and 5"&6" senkos. as tide came in, moved to mokulemne and fav tule strips and weedlines; as tide went back out, went back to the island near sycamore and worked again; 1 blowup on my river2sea dahlberg frog but no hookup. picked up 4 more on senkos/plastics before calling it a day.
    lost what we believe was a double-digit at the boat...would have been my personal best but now it's just a memory..oh well! it hit my delta red speedtrap as it cleared the weedline, surfaced once, made a dive under the boat. when i worked it back from under the boat, it surfaced and shook the speedtrap loose...ouch! 1 other boat watched so i know they'll be working it huntin' down that pig! mostly 12"ers to 2.5lbers today... nothing big cept the one that got away! Ouch again!!
    City: folsom

    Tips: work your areas 2x-3x with various offerings...2nd and 3rd passes on each area brought in fish. today i used 5 different color senkos (6" blk/blu, 6"blk/red flk, 5" sweet tater pie, red/blk flk, natural shad) and every one of them hit. crankin' i used 1/2 oz redeye shad in red craw and speedtrap same color. buddy used roboworms, blades, rattletraps, and sm swimbait (3") working either diagonal from tules and out across weedlines or just parallel the weedline...picked up several this way.

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    Water Temp: 68-70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: worked around bethel island, launched from sugar barge and worked around the islands on sandmound and down dutch out to part of big break. really tough out there for us, only 3 fish all day but one was 4lb and the other just under 3lb, and a dink. all on swimsenko in grn/red flake. guy at the launch ramp said past day or two was slow. wind picked up in afternoon, started whitecapping at big break so we called it a day
    City: Livermore

    Tips: plastics/wacky rig and drop shot. they had lockjaw today. maybe wait a few days ?

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 70-72

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched from Ladds around 4:30ish...I'm thinking the gentleman I had a conversation with at the launch ramp was the "Valco Bass Buster"..or its captain :-)
    It was a pleasure to meet you!
    I tied 10 rods with a mix of finesse, reaction, topwater. Headed to Tiki lagoon area and fished the point from Empire cut to the bridge on Turner cut. boated 3 keepers to 2.5lb using Senkos watermelon with black flake (194). Motored to Whiskey Slough and fished my favorite points started with speed traps..caught about 6 nothing over 12"..pitched 5" senko black with blue flake zero bites.went to a brush hog watermelon/red flake..zero.back to the Senko (wacky) caught about 6 more again nothing over 2 lbs. off the water by 8:30..overall a fun day catching fish. Dissapointed in the size but happy with the qty.
    City: Ripon

    Tips: Keep a senko rod on deck...If the toads aren't biting get there children too...:-/

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    Water Temp: 68 - 73 degrees

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Luanched the Custom Valco "BASSBUSTER1" out of Ladd's today at 10:00 a.m. and was out by 4:30 p.m. Eight bass today fishing in Disappointment Slough. All my bass today were caught on 6" red Senko wacky rigged, Snag Proof Frogs, and California Swimming Jig w/5" RoboWorm Easy Shad swimbait as a trailer. Also had a few blow-ups on my Zara Spook, but missed the sets. Fish were holding close to shady areas and docks. The frog bass came from isolated patches of cheese around points. The swim jig bass were cuaght along the outside weed line of the main slough in 10 - 12 feet of water. The senko bass were cuaght along shady areas and around the docks.
    City: Stockton

    Tips: Look for heavy cover or shaded areas. Top water bite wanted a slow presentation around points with deeper water near by.

Monday, May 7th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 64 - 71 degrees

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Luanched the custom Valco "BASSBUSTER1" out of Ladd's today around 6:30 a.m. and was off the water by 4:30 p.m. Fished 14 Mile Slough as far north as I could until I got tired of the wind. Cuaght a total of 18 bass today. Red craw Bomber Crankbait first thing in the morning during the high tide. Then switched to flipping a 7" Senko on a 7/0 Owner hook and cuaght a cuople. Moving farther north while out going tide was dropping I flipping, pitching, and punching Strike King tubes and jigs around tules and riprap. Majority fish cuaght during this time were in the calmer pockets. Then got tired of the wind and started fishing marinas sight fishing with a wacky rigged Zoom Trick worm.
    City: Stockton

    Tips: During the windy conditions look for calm pockets or just try to find a calm area to fish like marinas or behind tule islands.

Sunday, May 6th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 66-67

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Great morning at the delta! Launched out of Russos and ran around a bit. It's was windy, but not too bad. First fish 20 mins in on topwater it was 4lbs post spawn, skinny fish that should have weighed 5+ easy. About 30 mins after that picked up a 3.5 on a chatter bait, same story huge head should have been 4+. Ran around some more and found a rock wall with tulles, pitched a jig and picked up a giant, thought she went close to 7 and turns out a 5.3. She had massive eye too, but once again post spawn. Couldn't really lock on to a pattern other than they were feeding on pretty much anything. Bite shut down for a few hours when the tide switched and then we fished Franks and picked up a bunch of 1-1.5's. Seen some bed fish patrolling and couldn't get them to commit. All in all good day.
    City: Delta

    Tips: Fish the sloughs like you would if it were the summer and you'll do fine.

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Hey Joe -

    I hope wasn't a slam. I for one appreciate the reports that DeltaBassBuster gives us. Regular reports from guys that know what they are doing gives us a clear picture of the action out there. Perhaps we'll see more FISHING reports from Joe in the future???

Monday, April 30th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 70-76

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: launched outta ladds round noon and ran into delta bass buster and after a short convo had a game plan. i tossed l.c. fat bds in red craw along rip rap in 14 mile and did well boating 12 with a best of about 4.5 (alot of dink bucks chasing cranks) decided to chase bigger fish and picked up the flipping stick and targeted tullies on riprap which was closer to deep water and flipped a 6 on a beaver blk/red and matching skirt then nothing. found a mat that ive punched some big ones out of in the past and punched it for a few flips and boated a nice one but she didnt make it (trie to revive her for 15 minutes).
    City: stockton

    Tips: all bass are holding super tight to cover on the shady sides. flip jigs, creatures or drop shots for the best results. not getting many big bites on cranks due to alot of em being on beds rt now and not chasing baits. if its too windy try and find cover in marinas or tullies so you can sight fish and fish effectively, fish slow!!!!

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    Water Temp: 69

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of Ladd's at ~ 9am, out at 3:30pm. Ran north towards 14 mile but got sidetracked on a nice looking spot (riprap with sparse tules). Weren't bagging anything until we started throwing a red/orange Bomber 4A craw colored crank. Probably had 25-30 fish between 2 of us, best 2 were ~ 4 lbs, few in the 2 lb range, and a BUNCH of 1 lbers/dinks. Tide was outgoing and we were picking them up casting to the shore and running the crank down to the top of the weeds (5 ft or so). Couple of schoolie stripers in the mix, but they were small. This was one of the funnest days I've spent on the delta for sure. Both of us threw the same exact crank - were hooking up every other cast at times - it was crazy fun!
    City: Sunnyvale

    Tips: Two weeks in a row a red/craw bomber crank was slaying them. Nothing off the tules, most of the riprap. Topwater blowups - my biggest came from topwater...

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    Water Temp: 68 - 73 degrees

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Luanched the Custom Valco "BASSBUSTER1" out of Ladd's at 8:30 a.m. and was off the water by 2:30 p.m. I started fishing at the Turning Basin casting green punkin and white sparkle tubes. It was junk fishing catching largemouth bass and stripers. What was wierd though the stripers preferred the green punkin tube and the LM bass were hitting my white sparkle tubes. Fished here at the basin for roughly an hour then made a run all the way to the back end of 14 Mile Slough behind LVW Marina. I started fishing at the bridge and worked my way out. With the sunny high blue skies I concentrated punchin tubes in the heaviest weed cover I was able to find. I managed 4 bass back here up 4.5 lbs and lost 2 others in the thick weed beds.
    City: Stockton

    Tips: Look for the heaviest cover you can find, it's punchin time!!!!

Sunday, April 29th, 2012

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    Water Temp: 65-73

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: worked south delta, launched from rivers end marina. very slow in the morning for me. was flippin jigs but had no takers. found a pump running and got a 21" striper, came back to same spot later in the day and got a pair of 16" stripers. around noon i worked an area i call "snag island" throwing a t-rigged brush hog and immediately boat a 4lb, 3 casts later and i hook my new PB 9.5 pounder! a 3 pounder and a few smller fish out of same area. not many fish, but quality fish
    City: livermore

    Tips: RED colors were hot today. red brush hog in the beds caught the fattys and red craw crankbait got the stripers

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    Water Temp: 69-70

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Luanched from Ladds about 9am...went straight to Ski Beach fished the point and rip rap and tuly breaks, Started with a Speed trap nada, went to brush hog nada, motored the short distance to 14 mile fished the point down to the irrgation pipes with zero hookups but a tons of short strikes.
    Headed to Whisky slough, boated 6 in 45 min largest to 3.5lbs. Again on speed traps.
    Headed back to Ladds and the Stockton Channel was congested with every boat imaginable!....
    Foul hooked a 3+ pounder on the entry Ladds. right on the top of the head!..
    City: Ripon

    Tips: Be careful, keep an eye out for the wreckless.

Saturday, April 28th, 2012

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    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Piper,a stretch in Little Franks and Fishermens cut, threw sencos and chatter bait, all fish came off the senco and none off the chatterbait, broke off four fish today on the hook set, best five went 13lbs.
    City: Modesto

    Tips: Retie and retie offten!

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

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    Water Temp: 68 - 73 degrees

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Windy, Windy, Windy!!! Best to describe the morning today. Fished with reaction baits until I reach the refuge of LVW Marina. Then started working my tube baits in the calmer water. The bite did not start for me until after 1 p.m. punchin a tube in the cheezy slop growing in the back corner of the marina. At the pump station on the way did find a school of stripers willing to hit my crankbait near the pump house while water was being pumped out into the slough.
    City: Stockton

    Tips: Look for calm protected water. The bass bite was light for me today and water clarity was an issue with the wind.

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

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    Water Temp: 65-70

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched from sugar barge, worked around franks tract. Started flipping jig n pig, had one taker. Switched to wacky rig in grn /red flake and hooked into a pig! Up tight the the tulies during high tide. Was between 6-9 pounds but she broke my 12lb flouro at the knot! Would have been my PB . After tide changed the bite really died. Couple dinks here and there but nothing substantial
    City: livermore

    Tips: Wear sunscreen

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    Water Temp: 72 +/-

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched the Nitro from Whisky Slough @4:00m(low tide)
    Headed to my spot. First fish went 2 plus pounds on a speedtrap, nothing for the next hour. Wind was kicking pretty good. About 7pm the bite seemed to get better. Caught a bunch of smaller fish again on speed traps. Switched up to double willow blades and nothing, headed to the launch ramp and the bite was on. My wife boated 5 on our way in( 2+ lbs) and I hooked arguably the strongest 7 pounder I have ever had the pleasure of catching. Absolutely inhaled the speed trap..
    As we waited for all the Ski Boats to load up it was almost dark the top water action looked promising. Threw and XPS poper, several blowups 1 hook up...
    City: Ripon

    Tips: Speed traps..slowly becoming my fav! All our fish came from Speed traps..3 trips in a row.
    Back at it friday eve and sunday afternoon
    late.
    The incoming tide seems to work for us..

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    Water Temp: 65-73

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched New Hope and made our way to our usual Mokulemne tule strips, fully expecting a good reaction bite. Zip except a barely keeper my buddy hit on a craw/chartreuse belly rattletrap. So changed to plastics and brother hit a 1.5lber on junebug senko. I missed 3 hits on a watermelon/red bass patrol jig...I think I was waiting too long to set the hook. Nothing for the remainder of our time on that strip and on two other favs. Moved to White Slough and worked the shaded edges of laydown tules...picked up a 3.5lber on black/red flk senko...this time as soon as I got the familir "tick tick", I hit it hard for that first 3lber. Bro and another buddy picked up a couple more dinks. Then moved to our frog island just north of Sycamore...worked the tules/laydown tule edges and picked up another 3lb-12 and barely 2lber. Called it a day at 4pm. For the guy in the older Ranger fishing with his wife/gf, I tried to wave and say thank you for skirting around us as we were drifting and working the tules but you didn't see me. I was in the deepv Tracker with my bro and buddy. I was gonna do the same thing but you beat me to it and I didn't want you to think we were bullin' our way through. THANX!
    City: folsom

    Tips: Have none. Coudn't figure it out today. But with the heat and the water so stained, I stuck with black/red flk or black/blue flk on a flick shake 1/16 oz jig hook. I'd throw to edge of shady laydown tule mats and then just start shaking....hits were just a couple light tic-tics and I'd set immediately. Both 3lber hooksets were just inside the upper lip. Guesstimate on the water depth was probably 4-8feet.

Saturday, April 21st, 2012

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    Water Temp: Upper 60's

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Whisky and Mildred Island an hour into outgoing tide in am. Slow start with senkos, differnt cranks, and then I switched to a Bomber Crank in Apple Red Crawdad and it was ON! Not many biggies, mostly dinks and a bunch in the 1.5-2.5 lb range and a couple solid 3's. Wasn't getting much off the tules, but when I started working the rip-rap it was on! Fish were in about 5-7 ft of water and they were hitting about 5-10 ft off the shoreline.

    First cast with the bomber - fish on! Second cast over the same area - fish on! I worked the same area for 3 passes and pulled 8 fish in 20 minutes. Maybe 20 casts in all... Moved on as it started to slow - threw the same bomber and seemed to connect only off the rip-rap or on rip-rap and tule edges. Tide dropped to much to crank so I switched to a Sweet Beaver in California 4:20 and pitched to tule pockets. I was getting better fish with this - about 4 more over the next 2 hours then called it quits.
    City: Sunnyvale

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    Water Temp: 65

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Started in Whites got one 4lber and a 2lber on the tule islands, moved to Mildred got a some small ones, seen some giants patroling a small area so we pulled off the area anf fished it back and fourth but couldnt get em to go, left there hit an oxbow off thw main channel and got some top water fish best going 5lbs.
    City: Modesto

    Tips: Bite seemed to be tough today, we spent too much time on that group of big fish we seen. Was throwing sencos and jigs, low tide throwing frogs and buzzbait, biggest fish came off the frog, smallest fish off the buzzbait.