O'Neil Forebay Lure and Live Bait question

I have fished the Forebay for years with fly from a float tube and a kayak (kayak more recently) so I know it pretty well and had some great days there--especially top water off Madeiros in the evenings. I have never tried conventional tackle there let alone live bait. There are lot's of Threadfin Shad there I am told (which is why Clouser Minnow flies work so well), so it only makes sense to try it (once I build my bait tank/live well or a bait tube). So the questions are this:

1) what conventional lures and techniques seem to work there?
2) any tips on making bait there: cast net, Sabiki, other and how to fish live bait there? and where one of the Checks or where?

The reason I am considering conventional tackle is the wind--fly fishing in a kayak becomes very challenging when the wind get's above 6 knots or so so I can choose my weapons at launch based on conditions.

BTW, I've seen shore fishers take nice Black Bass there on plastics and I need to try that also.

Castnets are a no no at San Luis/Forebay.
I've seen shad caught on snag rigs, three treble hooks about four to six inches apart and a sinker on the bottom, work it like a Sabiki rig. Or you can use a Sabiki. Maybe tip the small hooks with small pieces of nightcrawle or redworms. As for fishing I've only fished there from the bank, so sorry I can't help in that department.

I've been meaning to fish the forebay from the yak, but it gets too hot down there.
Do you know what time the rangers kicks you off the water?

I've read a few reports of people drifting live minnows and doing pretty well.

Good luck...

My tried and true method is trolling either a rattletrap or a smithwick rogue. See this thread:

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/bb/index.php?topic=457.0

I have never had any luck with bait there. During the fall you can get some good top water action and nice boils. Mendo style but with much smaller fish. I love fishing that place from around Oct until Mar.

Thanks for the tackle tips.

Oct-Mar is the ticket there: winds calm, great top water in the evenings. Fly rodding (9wts/sinking shooting heads) has been great fun at Check 12 and 13 as well as the Madeiros flats and the channel there. Looking forward to this fall and trying conventional tackle.

kayaks work great--I've never been hustled off the water and have float-tubed into a full moon because teh fly rod kept beding and that top water hit on a fly is addictive. I imagine August in a kayak would be a bit hot, but there's lots of water around to cool off with

Speaking of Stripers, were are they in the Bay for August. have never tried the Bay or Marin. Isn't the Summer the time before they move into the Delta in the Fall? Or do I have the migration wrong?

If you can find the threadfin close enough to the surface, you can dip net them.

I think the forebay is the owner of the the world record fly rod striper.....something like 54 pounds right?

I bet you could do OK on shiners (buy at any bait shop) there.  The LMB would sure eat them.

MolBasser

I seem to recall one can buy minnows in Santa Nella ( a 5-minute drive from the Forebay). I checked the regs--cast nets and Sabikis are prohibited in fresh water by Cal DFG, so dip nets or traps or handlining one at a time are the only options. I might pick up a dip net just in case the opportunity come by while there. You are right about the fly rod record--in fact the Forebay holds I believe the top five records for fly-rod Striped Bass. I know the guy who has a one of those at 48 pounds (Lee Haskin). I have fly-fished the Forebay for a few years now in a float-tube and a few times in a kayak and I'll still take my nine-weights just in case. The wind is why I stopped using the 'tube'. The biggest fish I've heard of in recent years though is a little over 30 pounds. Fishing pressure and a lot of people keeping the big ones has lowered the average size significantly it seems. On a side note, I'd like to see DFG institute slot-limits for Striped Bass, but I have been told they don't care about the Forebay and San Luis--no commercial interests and benefits (always important in political/government bureacracies--that's why they stock trout where they don't belong naturally) and they view the Stripers there as accidents anyway--non-native. In any event, I'll be spending a lot of time there starting in September or October depending when the winds die down. Nothing like the strike of a Striper--reminds me of the East Coast Bluefish of my youth. Given we can camp there, I think a tourney there would be a great idea in the Fall after the Bendo II in late September.