Fishing Report
Thursday, May 22nd, 2025
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Mohave Lake
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Report: Lake Mojave Fishing Report Courtesy of Fisherman's Warehouse with Luke Johns
Current Bite & Conditions:
Lake Mojave: Very clear water with roughly 25–35 ft visibility; an intimidating, forward-facing-sonar–dominated fishery. Fewer fish than many NorCal lakes, so dialing in finesse and stealth matters.
Best Techniques & Baits:
Mojave (clear-water finesse):
3" Scope Shad on a dropshot (color: green pumpkin).
Small hook sizing (Owner Mosquito Hook size #4–#6)
Line: Sunline Shooter (7–8 lb; occasionally 6 lb), braid to a long leader (~20+ ft) for invisibility.
Key Depths:
Off-bank targets where fry balls hovered over artificial cages.
Open-water/clear-water scenarios requiring long leaders and stealth.
Deep-crank range over structure (exact depth not specified).Tips: At Mojave, a simple, ultra-finesse dropshot with a tiny hook, light fluoro, and a long leader was the reliable producer in ultra-clear water. In ultra-clear desert lakes, downsize and lengthen your leader (~20+ ft of Sunline Shooter to braid) and stick with a 3" Scope Shad dropshot on an Owner Mosquito Hook (#6–#4).
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Wednesday, May 21st, 2025
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California Delta
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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
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Monday, May 19th, 2025
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Clear Lake
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Report: Clear Lake Fishing Report – May 19
Current Bite & Conditions:
Clear Lake is producing solid limits with fish holding around docks, tulles, and ambush points. Cloud cover early in the morning helped the bite, but once the sun rose, the action slowed. Protected areas out of the wind proved most productive, especially coves with multiple dock slips. Clear Lake continues to deliver mixed patterns, with docks, tulles, and shallow vegetation all producing. Reaction bites with the LV 500 and swimbaits are strong early, while frog fishing in heavy cover provides explosive action later in the day.
Best Techniques & Baits:
Strolling / Mid-Strolling with Mooch Minnow on a 1/16-oz jig head, targeting roaming fish and docks.
Drop Shot Rig near docks for key keeper fish.
Lipless Crankbait: Lucky Craft LV 500, ripped hard to trigger reaction strikes in 6–10 ft of water near tulles and baitfish ambush zones.
Swimbaits for additional quality bites.
Frog Fishing: Black and white frogs pitched into tulles, duckweed, and hitch-rich areas. Follow-up bites came on 6” Yamamoto Senko when fish missed the frog.
Key Depths:
5–8 ft around docks
6–10 ft near tulles and ambush points
Frog bite shallow in 1–3 ft vegetation mats
Tournament Spotlight:
1st: Reed Frazier & Nick Doring (Quality Control) – Strolling with Mooch Minnow + Drop Shot near docks
2nd: Drew Boles & Paul Mata (Slaughter Houze) – 101.00” (Big Fish: 23”) – LV 500 & Swimbaits
3rd: Isaiah West & Shaun Leytem (Shisiah) – 101.00” – Frogs (black/white) + 6” Senko follow-upTips: Tip of the Tournament:
When the morning cloud cover keeps fish active, rip the LV 500 hard in 6–10 ft to trigger reaction strikes. As the sun rises and the bite slows, shift to finesse presentations under docks or throw a frog tight to tulles and duckweed. Always follow up missed frog strikes with a 6” Senko — those pressured fish will often commit the second time.
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Saturday, May 17th, 2025
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California Delta
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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.
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Friday, May 16th, 2025
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California Delta
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Report: California Delta Fishing Report – Windy Wednesday Nighter Week 2
By Bearded Bassin’ – from Windy Wednesday Nighter Episode Two 2025 @BeardedBassin (Watch on YouTube)
Weather stabilized with a light breeze. Started on low tide; incoming tide expected a couple hours later.
Water temp low 60s. Water clarity “about the same” as prior outing.
Early bite was slow. By 5:15 PM there was one keeper in the box and two bites in two hours. Fish were tight to the bank and often short-striking.
Techniques
Started with flipping baits and drag baits; Pops began with a drop-shot.
Missed several good bites (fish wrapping in trees / not getting hooks).
Topwater interest noted; later switched to a buzzbait (shad imitator) after seeing fish busting shad on a grass line and caught a solid keeper.
A frog also produced a keeper (“another two-pounder frog”).
Best bites came on shallow grass flats; a quick flurry put together a limit (“four fish in 30 minutes,” then culling).
Top 3
Mike & Fuge — 22.88
Rodney & Tom — 16.98
Phil & Aaron — 16.90
Big Fish Awards
1st Big Fish: AJ & Landon — 8.16 (weighed 4 fish; reported dumping another big one)
2nd Big Fish: Jake & Dennis — 6.95 (weighed 4 fish)
Bite described as tough across the field; many missed fish and short strikes.
Pops & Bearded Bassin' finished with a decent limit but no >5-lb kicker; heading back to figure out adjustments for next week.
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Monday, May 12th, 2025
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Clear Lake
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Water Temp: 62 and up
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: We pent the day on Clear Lake. We launched out of Red Bud. The water temp when we launched at 6:30 am was 62 degrees. We started with reaction baits, Trash Fish, spinner bait, and an underpin.We fished the docks to the south of Redbud for about an hour and got 3 catfish but zero bass. We moved over into some coves, throwing the same baits. The water was an off-green color, but at about 9 am we started looking for beds. We caught a couple 3's. The fish where acting really funny, maybe because they were so shallow. We could only see shallow beds due to time of day.Throwing a minnow around, we caught one around 5. WE kept fishing around and found a couple small fish on beds and left 'em. WE went around to the Rattlesnake arm and start throwing minnow baits around docks, a Sakamoto Shad and Sixth Sense juggle minnow and caught about 10 to 12 fish up to 3 pounds. When we ended the day the water temp was at 66, the water clarity was up to 3.5 ft and best five went 20 pounds.
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Friday, May 9th, 2025
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Amador Lake
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Water Temp: 73
Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)
Report: Headed up to Amador to see if the bass were ready to play. Started out with a couple reaction baits to test the water and the spinner produced a great bite in the first five minutes. Finally got the fish close to the boat and was disappointed too see a big hungry 4 pound catfish. Worked all the local hotspots and deep cover to shallow shaded areas. Ended up with five total fish for the day. Bass were not aggressive as all were caught off slow fishing soft plastics. All fish were in the 2-3 pound range. It was a grind in the heat.
Tips: Bring sun screen, something to drink, and a lot of patience. Hopefully the bite will pick up as the temperature increases over the next week or two.
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California Delta
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Report: California Delta Fishing Report – May
By Bearded Bassin’ – from Windy Wednesday Nighter Episode One 2025 @BeardedBassin (Watch on YouTube)
Calm at launch despite a forecast for 15 mph winds.
Less than 1.5 feet visibility in some areas.
Tough fishing. Anglers noted long stretches without bites and needing to slow down presentations.
Techniques
Spinnerbait and Texas rig were in play, along with the “donkey slayer” setup.
Early action was slow — it took nearly an hour before the first bites.
Fish were tight to the bank and short-striking baits.
Reports of needing to drag baits slowly out from the shoreline to get consistent hookups.
A limit eventually came, but overall size was small.
Notable Catches
Pops and Bearded Bassin’ managed five fish for under 9 lbs — one decent fish but mostly small keepers.
Biggest fish weighed at the event: 9.80 lbs by Phil & Aaron (part of the winning 20.22 lb bag).
Second biggest fish: 7.60 lbs by Crowley & Crowley.
Tournament Spotlight – Top Weights
Phil & Aaron — 20.22 lbs (Big Fish 9.80)
AJ & Landon — 18.30 lbs
Austin & Nico — 18.21 lbs
David & Steven — 17.72 lbsTips: The bite was described as one of the toughest in a long time — far fewer fish than just days prior when 20–40 fish per trip were possible.
Postspawn conditions left many fish skinny and reluctant to chase reaction baits.
Key to success was securing one or two big bites on top of a solid limit.
Pops’ pre-event prediction of “20 lbs to win” proved correct, with the winners being the only team to break 20.
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Monday, May 5th, 2025
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California Delta
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Report: California Delta Fishing Report – May
by Bearded Bassin' From Big Girls up Shallow and First Frog Bite of the Year
Weather: Stable, with air temps in the high 60s to low 70s. Light breeze tapering off in the afternoons.
Water Temp: Around 69–70°F.
Tides: Low tide in the morning shifting to an incoming tide through the afternoon.
Observations:
Grass growth is improving, creating more cover.
Many shallow beds are currently empty — likely one big spawning wave already passed on the recent full moon.
Clear water in many areas; fish often hard to see when buried in grass.
Noted a lot of “dead water” — areas with no activity if fish don’t show quickly.
Best Techniques & Baits
Frog: First solid frog bites of the year, including blowups and one landed fish. Fish are beginning to show interest in topwater.
Bed Fishing: Sight-fished a pair (male ~3 lbs, female 6.15 lbs) using a glide bait after working them carefully.
Soft Plastics:
Wacky-rigged Senko — produced bites when pitched to empty beds, cruising fish picked it up.
Weightless dart/fluke — worked well blind-casting through grass, produced a solid keeper.
Punching: One solid fish came on a punch rig in the grass.
Reaction: No real chatterbait/moving bait bite established yet.
Notable Catches
Multiple fish landed, including:
A female bed fish weighing 6 lbs 15 oz.
Several solid keepers on plastics and punch rigs.
First frog fish of the year.Tips: Bite is improving: Delta is “starting to turn on” with fish being caught on a variety of techniques (frog, punch, glide, plastics).
Key right now is mobility — many areas are completely dead; move quickly if bites don’t come within 10–30 minutes.
Spawn activity is tapering; most productive fishing should soon shift toward pre- and postspawn reaction bites like chatterbaits and faster frog action.
Tournament prep note: current patterns likely won’t hold for two weeks, but conditions signal the Delta is ready to fire.
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Sunday, April 27th, 2025
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Berryessa Lake
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Water Temp: 64-68
Report: I have made a trip a week for the last month. The fishing has been very good, 20 to 30 plus fish a day. Have caught fish on just about every thing you can tie on. With plastics being the method that has been catching the most fish, there are times when I’ll get fish on a crank bait 2-3 cast in a row, then nothing for a while. Pick up the plastic though and bam. The tough thing has been, how many small fish to get to a 3lb plus?
Tips: Dead sticking has been almost essential at times, wacky rig has been very good.
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Thursday, April 24th, 2025
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Pine Flat Lake
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Report: by basstrophy
The best deal is to use a slow-moving lure and a presentation that is much like a finesse tactic with a bucket full of patience. There are still fish in all the different stages of the spawn during this time of the year so fishing shallow and deep come into play. At Pine Flat Lake, most of the fish were in the post-spawn stage, but the later spawners were still willing to guard their nesting areas. Pine Flat Lake is dominated by the spotted bass population and accompanied by some big largemouth bass. This lake is known for numbers of spotted bass willing to bite but because most of the fish were in the post-spawn, the fish seemed not willing to bite and a little harder to entice a bite.
Angel Sanchez found the best recipe to capture first place with a total of 81.00”. Sanchez use the Mid-Strolling technique to catch his winning limit. He practiced two weeks before the event and found that the main lake points had roaming fish out deep.
“I went to Pine Flat with a buddy and found that the points were holding roaming fish way offshore.” stated Sanchez, “I used the strolling technique to catch the fish.”
“I was using a 3/16-ounce jig with a 4” Mooch minnow paired with 8-pound test line to a 15- pound braid.” enunciated Sanchez, “The bite was best in the morning compared to the afternoon bite, after 11 AM the bite really slowed down.”
“I was fishing in 60 to 80-feet of water but the fish were suspended in 20 to 30-feet of water." exclaimed Sanchez, “I would shake the minnow over the top of the fish, and they would come up and eat it.”
“I Mid-Strolled all day long for my limit.” said Sanchez.
ohn Myers came in second with a total of 80.00”. He ran the bank using a Senko and a Ned rig to catch his fish.
“I covered a ton of water for the fish I had caught.” remarked Myers, “I found that the grassy areas did not hold fish compared to the areas that had red clay or the smaller and larger rock.”
“I was using a Neko-Rigged Senko and a Ned Rig with a big TRD in Peanut Butter and Jelly color to catch my fish.” mentioned Myers, “The fish were from the shore down to about 20-feet of water.”
“I had a small limit of spots early and saw some larger rock across the cove that I was fishing." articulated Myers, “I made a short run across the lake and started to fish the larger rock when I felt a bite. I gave her the bad news and caught a 19” largemouth, it jumped 4 times before I was able to net her.”
“I worked that area over thoroughly in hopes to catch another nice largemouth bass but was only able to catch the same fish a second time. This time when I gave her the bad news she only jumped twice before I was able to net her. It was a bummer to catch her twice because two 19” fish at Pine Flat is extremely difficult to accomplish.”
“In the same area, there were some large boulders offshore and I was able to catch a 15” largemouth in the shade of a rock.”
“I practiced for two days before the event and found that both days were frontal conditions and fishing was good.” pronounced Thao, “The fish were in all stages of the spawn, and I was able to catch them from 8 to 15-feet of water.”
“Once the tournament day started the conditions had changed to post frontal conditions to blue bird skies.” replied Thao, “The fish were not as active and when I got to my first spot, I had 4 bites on a swimbait but was not able to hook up.”
“I struggled throughout the day but was able to get enough bites Mid-Strolling.” voiced Thao, “I was sitting in 80 to 100-feet of water and target fish suspended in 5 to 10-feet of water.”
“There were one or two fish that I targeted and most of the time they would follow the bait to the boat and not bite.” expressed Thao, “I had to jig the lure up and down next to the boat to get them to bite.”
“This is pretty much what I did all day long. I did go to the bank, but the fish were un-scoreable so I would go back out deep and catch scorable fish." explained Thao, “I was using a 1st Gen Jaw dropper in the ¼ ounce paired with a 4” Mooch minnow.”
“I was fishing a cove near a spawning area and the fish that I was catching were trout eaters.”
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Saturday, April 19th, 2025
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Folsom Lake
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Report: by dfishing1 » Fri Apr 18, 2025 6:22 pm
Here is my experience. Went to Beals Point at 5am. Was the 14th one in line. At 630 gate opened w the rangers. The line is split into 4 lanes, each has an inspector. At 930 inspections start. All compartments open and inspected. Done in 10 mins and on my way. Now, your quarantine is 30 DAYS from your inspection date. Mello Marine does them by appt for $50 BUT state parks is free for now. When quarantine is up you can launch after inspection and removal of quarantine tag. They say there will be inspectors at ramps during PARK hours to give your green tag at take out. Decon stations are pending and will cost upwards of $100 or more depending on your boat but will be by appointment. Be patient with the inspectors and they will get u in and out.
Top
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Wednesday, April 16th, 2025
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Mead Lake
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Report: California Delta Fishing Report April 16
Current Bite & Conditions:
A big wave of fish has moved shallow and the Delta is “really fun right now.” Expect roughly 15–20 keepers a day, with some days 25–35 keepers and fish up to 7–8 pounds. Fish are in the 1–6 ft range. The grass is “nice and crispy.” Morning water temps start 56–58 and can warm to ~64 by afternoon (generally 57–62/63). There are spawning fish and plenty of pre-spawn.
Best Techniques & Baits:
Bladed Jig / Chatterbait:
Sizes: 1/2 oz and 3/8.
Jackhammer with a Zaco (color: “watermelon, orange, copper”); the orange shines in stained water you can only see ~1–1.5 ft into.
Custom vibrating jig (1/2 oz) with a kamicazi swim on from Big Bite.
Line: Sunline PEX8 with a fluorocarbon leader (for long casts and solid hooksets).
Target crispy, clean grass along rip-rap banks; runs well in 3–5 ft.
Squarebill Crankbait:
SP57 (designed by Mark Daniels Jr.): honeycomb interior, thinner walls, circuit board lip, comes with EWG hooks, “sub-$10.”
Line: Sunline Crank FC (8–16 lb).
Flipping / Pitching / Punching:
yo mama (colors mentioned: green pumpkin June bug, also likes 1099).
Weights from 1/2 oz up to 2 oz; swap weights situationally (may have multiple flipping sticks rigged with different sizes).
Frog (topwater):
Mat Daddy Frog, white early (fish bedding in 1–2 ft; “water’s tainty,” can’t see them).
Work it slow; walks well in open water and over mats.
Line: 60 lb AMZ8 Sunline braid.
Expect ~4–7 bites/day, but they can be the right ones.
Key Depths:
1–6 ft (general zone for this period).
3–5 ft for bladed jig along clean grass/rip-rap.
1–2 ft for frog over bedding fish.Tips: Keep it simple: start with reaction (bladed jig/squarebill) in the shallow grass and rip-rap, mix in flipping/pitching/punching a yo mama as situations change, and have a frog ready for bedding fish in skinny water.
Begin with a reaction bait, but don’t get stuck on one bait or brand—some days they prefer a Jackhammer, other days a custom vibrating jig. Match your punch weight to each situation (swap between 1/2–2 oz as needed). For the frog, go white early over 1–2 ft bedding zones and work it slow; pair it with 60 lb AMZ8 Sunline braid. For bladed jigs, use Sunline PEX8 + fluoro leader to drive the hook home on long casts.
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Tuesday, April 15th, 2025
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Clear Lake
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Report: Spent a week on Clear Lake
Weather temps ranged from 44-78 degrees
Water temps ranged from 56-61 degrees
The fish were moving up on beds as would be expected with the big moon. Let me say hats off to all the guys who did successfully at the Open. Big fish were everywhere on the North end. I could see them in bushes and on beds, but the bed fish where super skittish due to the only ones that I could see where the ones that where less than 3 feet deep. I caught em fishing the old tule line with a 1/2 ounce spinnnerbait (white on white), a flashy swimmer with 3.8 Keitech for first hour in the morning. After the sun came up, I would start flipping a dropshot and a Missle bBait Destroyer to all the holes in the tules. After I found minor success with that, although everything seemed right, I went to forward facing mode and started catching them although it was not easy. By far, the best way to catch fish for me the last three days was throwing a Crush City boot tail strolling bait that I didn’t have to shake to get it to roll. I’m one of the guys that has fought FFS trend but it’s a dealbreaker at Clear Lake.
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Monday, April 14th, 2025
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California Delta
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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.
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Friday, April 4th, 2025
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California Delta
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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.
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Tuesday, March 25th, 2025
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Poway Lake
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Report: Bass have been eating their fill of trout on stock days, and the following days, but are still being caught with swim-baits, worms, and other standard baits. During bass spawning season (April 1st-May 31st), all bass are catch and release ONLY. The bass are mostly paired up and actively bedding, so expect more activity in the coming weeks as the water begins to warm up. A new bass lake record was caught by angler Jed Dickerson on March 25, 2025. The new record is 14lb 8oz, and was 26" long by 26" girth.
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Monday, March 24th, 2025
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California Delta
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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.
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Thursday, March 20th, 2025
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California Delta
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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.
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Monday, March 10th, 2025
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California Delta
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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.
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