Delta Blues - updated 2/13

Well there were some reports that sturgeon were coming out of Cache slough and the Sac river, so got up early and launched off Liberty Isle near Lindasy slough on Saturday. Its deep (65 feeet) in the channel. Marked some fish and trolled for stripers for a while but they were holding deep. With water temps hovering around 48 deg, and the low pressure system I didn't expect much. Soaked some shad and explored for a while near the mouth of the DW shipping channel, but the currents started to get real strong with some boiling/ spin your yak action, so I decided to bail. Grabbed lunch and re-launched just above Rio Vista near the clam shoals. It warmed up considerably, so I decided to jig and pig the tulies until the tide got going. There were aboout a half dozen boats in the area. I heard one "Whoo-Hooo!" but that was it, paddled over to the shelf, anchored, tried it all, shad, anise, eel, pile worm, grass, ghost. Saw some sturgies go by, but no bite.

Beautiful pics, at least you didn't go home skunked. Thanks for the report and pics

Jeff

nice pics diroblo - i heard of some stripers getting caught in the delta and wanted to take a shot at it..but I will hold off for now and maybe chase some trout this weekend.

Nice effort and a great report.   

Thanks for the report. I've never fished the Delta, but I have a pretty good map and I was wondering, can you generally launch from just about anywhere there's access? I'm thinking about Miner Slough (Highway 84) Any general rules I should know about to keep out of trouble in terms of launching\parking??
Thanks in advance.

There are lots of places to launch in the delta depending on the tide, but parking can sometimes be tricky. I use Google Street View to find pull-out areas, it has worked pretty well.

WTG on the LMB Diroblo. Thanks for the report and pictures.

Jedmo

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Beautiful pics, at least you didn't go home skunked. Thanks for the report and pics

Jeff

hey what more can you ask for

Nice LMB...the pre-spawn bite is starting to turn on, and its only gonna get better.

Thanks for the pics&port D! Hookin one is always BETTERthanHOOKIN'none! and being on the delta to take those NICE SHOTS was the HIGHLITE of the report.

I'm tryin real hard to reach that zen of enjoying the beauty when I am not catching fish. I am definitely fishing bipolar. I can be a  when I am not catching fish, but once I'm hooked up 

I know that feeling, it will come and go as the hunts compile...but keep it in perspective. It will always be better than sitting around the house, wondering what could have been, or even worse, SHORE FISHING the Delta!   talk about blues!
Keep it up and REMEMBER~~ wise words from Mooch, my brutha from anutha mutha'

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE FISH, IT'S ABOUT THE FISHING!   
 

"IT'S NOT ABOUT THE FISH, IT'S ABOUT THE FISHING!"

Keep telling yourself that Adam...

Freddie

"IT'S NOT ABOUT THE FISH, IT'S ABOUT THE FISHING!"

Keep telling yourself that Adam...

Freddie

i do.....when i get skunked!!

Studied my map of the Delta and thought the Toe Drain near Lisbon Weir might be a good place to catch dinos since they likely cannot negotiate the weir unless the water is really high. The Toe Drain starts at the northern end of Prospect Slough and continues up to Fremont Weir near Knights Landing. I launced at the Yolo Bypass and from there it was a 3.5 nm trek south with the current but against the wind at 9 knots,  the wind was winning! Its an all around hard place to access I am guessing looking at the map, but there were the usually signs of bank anglers. Regardless, I don't think many people get to it. Right now its about 12 - 14 feet deep.  I trolled all the way down for stripers as there were shad breaking at the surface. I passed up some deeper 15-16' foot holes holding fish, which were empty on the return, doh! The weir has a mini bypass, maybe for fish, but very swift, and it was sketch, but fun slaloming down it. Once below the weir I anchored up and 20 min got a catfish on shad. Did see one very large dino cruise by on the ff but that was all I saw. I don't think this is an area they would ever feed in and they may even be stressed if they can't get over the weir. My decision was made for me when the clouds began to darken and forecast called for t-storms so I bailed. Saw some carp jumping on the way back.