Save
Our Stripers!
www.saveourstripers.org
We need our chamber members help to defeat proposed legislation to deregulate the striped bass. A Kern County assembly woman has introduced legislation to open them to unlimited take, no size limit, commercial fishing, etc. as retaliation to our efforts to protect our delta water. If you feel this will affect your members businesses please visit the site and sign on in opposition: www.saveourstripers.org.
If you have more questions, write or visit the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance at www.calsport.org. Note that all fishing organizations in our region and our state oppose this legislation. Our Department of Fish and Game disagrees with the premise of this legislation and is currently fighting a similar attack on our striped bass fishery in court. Your support in opposition is CRITICAL in helping to crush this legislation before it has a chance to ruin our fishery and harm your business!
FishDelta.Com - Fish Reports
FishDelta.com is a new Delta Chambers member. We will now be adding the link to their fishing reports each week on this page. Some of the reports are duplicates. CLICK HERE to read the FishDelta Reports.
Also, for those missing the old Delta Chambers Fish Forum, you can now go to FishDeltaBuzz and participate in their fishing forums. Click Here
Delta
Bank Fishing
by Roland “Innovate”
Aspiras
No report submitted this week.
Roland
“Innovate”
Aspiras
Roland's Fishing Blog
Email
Isleton
Area
by Can Nguyen -- Bob's Bait Shops
It was cold and windy last weekend. The Isleton boat racing event is over. This was the first time Isleton had boat racing but it was very organized and people lined up along the river banks to watch the boat racing show.
The Rio Vista Striped bass derby will be in this weekend. It’s the big event in the fall in the Delta where thousands enjoy parades, music, and fishing seminars from expert fishermen in the Delta. To learn more about trolling techniques, and sturgeon bait fishing, please check the events in the Rio Vista striped bass derby website.
October is normally good to fish for striped bass and sturgeon in the Delta. This year is different. The fall run for striped bass has not started yet. It could be a weather problem. It is also because the water temperature is still high at around 70 degrees. The cooling off last week could help to spark the striped bass run to it peak level. Fishing for striped bass was good last week although it was not as good as usual. Many keeper striped bass were reported from Sherman Island, Decker Island, Rio Vista Bridge and Isleton Bridge. Striped bass baits are frozen shad, sardine, anchovy, blood worm, pile worm, or even ghost shrimp.
The popular set up striped bass rig is using slider sinker with the leader about 2-1/2 feet to 3 feet long attached to the hook size from 4/0 to 7/0. Trolling is a very popular method to catch striped bass in the Delta. Fishing lures are tied up directly to the fishing line or using duo-lock snap swivel for convenience changing to different lure. Boat is running slow with speed of 2 mph to 4 mph. Lure distance from boat is from 80 feet to 150 feet.
There are three different manufacturers of lures that are used by boat anglers in the Delta as Yuzori, Broken Back Rebel, and Bomber. These lures were made to dive as deep as 17 feet. Shallow diving lures are made to dive as deep as 7 feet while the deep diving lure was made to dive deeper. For more details about trolling technique, please consult with Delta bait stores.
Sturgeon fishing has improved. There were some keeper sturgeon reported in Sherman Island and Decker Island on ghost shrimp or pile worms.
Black bass fishing was very good in the Isleton area from Vieira's Resort to the wind mills. Most black bass were caught on live minnows, live mud suckers, or artificial lures.
Catfish fishing was fair in the Mokelumne Rivers, Old Sacramento River, Steam Boat Slough, and Cache Slough. Good luck to you and have a nice coming weekend.
Antioch-Oakley
Area
by Chris Lauritzen -- Lauritzen Yacht Harbor
It’s beginning to feel like Fall or maybe even winter here at the West Delta. The evenings are beginning to cool down and the days are pleasant. Now the north wind has picked up a little just to let us know that winter is not all that far away.
Last Friday October 2nd was one of our best Fridays in a long time from the standpoint of being busy at the launching ramp. That is always a good gauge of what is going on out on the water. The front row of our launching ramp parking lot it full today (Tuesday) and we’ll take the business, thank you. Of the fourteen boat trailers in the parking lot only four of them are black bass fisherman, the rest are striper fisherman. Last Friday and Saturday were very good days for us from a launching standpoint. It was great to see all of the fall fisherman and it reminded me of the day or two before an opening deer or elk season out of state because there was that kind of frantic fishing movement.
Scott Snyder caught a nice 10 – lb, 25 inch striper on Saturday September 26th in the San Joaquin River as he was trolling during an incoming current.
On Friday October 2, Paul Wong and Steve Kowalewski went plugging early in the morning. Paul lives in Antioch and likes to get out way before daylight. Steve lives in Castro Valley and has to drive a distance so it takes him a while to get out here to get the very early morning bite. On the first round of fishing they caught a total of nine stripers to 29.5 inches. The big guy only weighed 7.5 lbs. They also caught three largemouth bass. All fish caught were caught using rattle traps close into the weed beds in Sherman Lake. The stomach of the stripers that were caught were completely empty so they might indicate they could be fresh run stripers passing through. Paul had to go to work so Steve went out by himself and headed up to Franks Tract where he fished the tract checking only dink stripers the rest of the day.
On Monday of this week October 5th, Walt and Paul Wong headed out to do a little fall striper fishing. They came back with glows. Walt had a hit using a top water bait that broke his line ts the spooled the reel on the way to the weeds. I believe they were somewhere in Sherman Lake.
From what they tell me they hooked up 8 or nine fish in the 10 lb range being the biggest. They were using a combination of top water bait and rattle traps (Paul Wong’s) tried and true bait of choice.
I had another boat on Monday fishing the San Joaquin River and the Sherman Lake area. On the San Joaquin they were fishing the breaks around Donlon Island and then in Sherman Lake. They picked up several nice fish to 10 lbs. They were plugging as well.
This weekend is the Rio Vista Fish Derby the oldest derby in California. The derby starts this Friday October 9th and runs through Sunday. We are getting lots of calls about berthing for the weekend so the interest is there.
The wind that I spoke about earlier in the report has now died. If we have the weather we have right now it is going to be a great weekend of fishing. I don’t expect wind but have not heard a weather report for the weekend. There is no fog in the west Delta because it’s pretty dry, with that said the mornings are much cooler.
I’m told Jolly Jay is fishing the barges at False River so you might start there and try Santa Clara and San Andreas shoals to see what jumps out at you. See you on the water.
Chris Lauritzen
Lauritzen's
Yacht Harbor
Website