The Delta Fishing Report is updated every Monday night.
Archived reports August
18, 2008
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San Joaquin, Potato Slough, Old River, Lower Mokelumne, Little Potato Slough, Little Connection Slough, Middle River, Holland Cut, Disappointment Slough, False River Water temp 71-73 Visibility 2-4 feet
LMB-Good
to very good early morning and late evening, fair the rest of the day. Fishing
continued its trend from the week before, with the exception that the
last three days, Saturday, Sunday and especially Monday were extremely
windy and made for tough fishing conditions.
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Generally good topwater action was limited to the first three hours of the morning and the last hour of the evening but a few fish could be raised throughout the day by the persistent angler. The coming week's weather is predicted to be a cooling trend with cloudy skies possible. If correct, the topwater bite should improve during the midday period and extend the morning's and evenings faster action. Topwater
- You can say it only so many ways. Use poppers, gurglers, sliders
and divers, in white, yellow green and black. Cast to the rip-wrap and
strip back to the inside edge of the weeds. Allow the fly to pause and,
if fairly open water strip over the weed barrier and stop again on the
outside. Fish every point and current break where close to shore or in
shallow water.
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Subsurface - If the cloudy weather holds true, the larger fish may move into shallower water and be more available. Use streamers and woolly buggers tied to short 20# leaders on quick sinking sink tips, type IV to VI preferred. Cast to the shoreline and walk the fly down the slope into deeper water. Tying these flies weedless will help keep them out of the rocks and help pull through the weeds. August
11, 2008
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San Joaquin, Potato Slough, Old River, Lower Mokelumne, Little Potato Slough, Little Connection Slough, Middle River, Holland Cut, Disappointment Slough, False River Water temp 71-73 Visibility 2-4 feet LMB-Good
to very good early morning and late evening, fair the rest of the day. If
you can get to the water at 5:00am and fish till 9:00am you're likely to
have a good to very good day. Same for the last hour of dusk, 8:00pm
till dark will produce some good topwater grabs. The rest of the day is
summer fishing, deep and slow.
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The best part about the morning bite is that you can find bigger fish and the bite lasts two hours longer than the bite at dusk. Topwater
- Same old three, poppers, gurglers and divers are the flies taking
fish. Grabs come frequently early in the morning and fall off as the sun
rises. Be ready for grabs when the fly hits the water. Chug the fly back
and pause at the weed line. Fish can be found all the way from next to
the rocks to well out into the channel past the outer weed line.
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Subsurface - The usually reliable subsurface fishing is tough with the fish very deep and tucked up against cover. The main problem is getting the fly down fast. Use a weighted clouser, woolly bugger or Puglisi type fly on a short leader fished on something like a Striper 250 grain if you're fishing a 7 weight. August 4,
2008
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San Joaquin, Potato Slough, Old River, Lower Mokelumne, Little Potato Slough, Little Connection Slough, Middle River, Holland Cut, Disappointment Slough, False River Water temp 71-73 Visibility 2-4 feet LMB -
Fair mornings, fair evenings. Things have really slowed down both
mornings and evenings. Morning fishing is producing three to four fish,
mostly small and evenings even less. It seems the bigger fish have moved
into deeper water and are very difficult to bring up to the top to hit
poppers and other top water baits. The one saving report is that a few
fish are available topwater all day long even if they are smaller
fish.
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Even fishing subsurface has slowed since it's difficult to target the area at the bottom just outside the weed lines. Fish can be found in areas of current along weed lines and at points and other structure along the shore line. Areas of heavy weed with little moving water seem to hold fewer fish. Topwater
- Poppers, gurglers, and divers all are producing but it takes lots
of casts for the few grabs available. Start retrieving as soon as the
fly hits the water and chug it out all the way to the weed line and then
pause. Work areas where the weed lines are farther from the shore and
pause well out into the canal for bigger fish.
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Subsurface - It's necessary to get the clouser, puglisi style fly or other streamer down deep quickly. Use type IV to VI lines with six feel of 20# leader. Use strips similar to fishing a woolly bugger and try to keep the fly just off the bottom. Weedless flies help to prevent constant hang ups. July 28,
2008
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San Joaquin, Potato Slough, Old River, Lower Mokelumne, Little Potato Slough, Little Connection Slough, Middle River, Holland Cut, Disappointment Slough, False River Water temp 70-74 Visibility 2-4 feet LMB -
Very good mornings, fair evenings. The bottom fell out of the
excellent evening fishing starting last Tuesday. While persistent work
found a few fish willing to hit a popper on top even in the early
afternoon, it was hard work bringing up more than a dozen hits in an
evening's fishing with an average of about six fish to the boat. In
addition, the bigger fish that were active topwater earlier in the month
were harder to find. A number of fish have moved out of heavy cover and
were found along the rock walls with sparse weed growth. The fish seemed
to be holding much farther out as well. The whole bite shut down at the
top of the tide and didn't start up again until some decent current flow
occurred.
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The morning bite is red hot from well before dawn (5:00am) to about 8:00 and then starts slowing and is pretty much over by 10:00am. If you're fishing mornings DON'T stop for breakfast on the way, you'll miss the best action. Topwater
- Medium sized poppers in forest green through yellow rule in daylight
to dusk with darker poppers producing in the late evening. The fish are
holding close to the rocks in the morning and much farther out from the
bank in the evenings. Chug the fly well away from the bank and be sure
to pause it for as long as you can stand it in open water near weed
cover. If the shad fry are jumping at dusk, try a very small crease fly
in white or silver.
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Subsurface - The bright sunlight has moved the fish even deeper during mid day. I've gone to a 250gr Rio Striper Express on my 7 weights and work the walls where I find openings in the weeds or parallel to tulle banks. A chartreuse and white Puglisi fly or woolly bugger or clouser will catch fish. Olive woolly buggers about size 2 to 0/0 also work.
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July 21, 2008 San Joaquin, Potato Slough, Old River, Lower Mokelumne, Little Potato Slough, Little Connection Slough, Middle River, Disappointment Slough, False River Water temp 68-72 Visibility 2-4 feet
LMB -
Good mornings, good to excellent evenings. Last week's fishing
continued at the outstanding rate four out of five nights, the ringer
being Thursday. It seems that there's one night each week that's sub
par.
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Fish are moving from the very heavy cover to lighter cover. Areas of weeds, tulles, and other cover close to passing current seem to hold the greatest percentage of fish. The bogs have slowed down slightly. While not completely shut down, the early afternoon bite is slow with action starting about 5:30 and continuing until dark. In addition to LMB, I'm picking up a few stripers each night on poppers, the fish anywhere from 12 to 22 inches. I'm becoming more and more convinced that the fish are keying in on trolling motor sounds. I'm finding that if I back way off and cast over 50-60 feet with the motor off or barely spinning, I bring up the bigger fish. That's a problem given the late afternoon winds. It certainly improves your casting! The winds have been horrible lately with four out of five nights being real rippers. The fish don't seem to mind though. Boat control is probably as difficult as the casting. The almost constant winds have also caused a significant drop in water temperatures. On Monday night the temperature in mid channel in the San Joaquin was a chilly 68 degrees! Topwater
- Medium sized poppers in forest green through yellow rule in daylight
to dusk with darker poppers producing in the late evening. Try making
some of the foam poppers detailed on this website. You can fish the same
popper all day without worry of it becoming water logged. Medium to
large sized divers work as well. What ever you're using, fish it on 20#
leader. You'll loose fewer flies and the fish don't care!
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Cast as close to the shore or cover as is possible. Start chugging the fly at splashdown with the smallest strips possible while still producing good action with the fly. Important! Stop the fly at the weed line and let it sit as long as you can stand it and as long as boat movement allows. Both the biggest LMB and the stripers are slamming these still baits. Subsurface - Work the rock walls or cast parallel to the tulles with woolly buggers or Puglisi style flies. When working the walls, cast perpendicular to the wall and "walk" the fly down the slope using strips and pauses. You'll need a type III or IV sink tip to do so. When working the tulles, cast parallel as close as you can to the weed edge. Use a count down similar to fishing for stripers and then strip in. Whether working the walls or tulles, be prepared to pick up some small stripers as well as LMB. July 14,
2008
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San Joaquin, Potato Slough, Old River, Lower Mokelumne, Little Potato Slough, Little Connection Slough, Middle River, Disappointment Slough, False River Water temp 73-76 Visibility 2-4 feet LMB -
Good mornings, good to excellent evenings. Things started out fast
and furious Monday through Friday with willing fish feeding almost all
day. The heavy smoke haze produced low light conditions that kept the
bite on all day long. Fish were hitting both surface and subsurface and
could be found from areas of heavy cover to light cover, with a few fish
found in more open water. The larger fish, three pounds and more were
much less spooky than normal and made up a good portion of the fish
hooked on each session.
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Fishing fell far off the weekday standard on Saturday with an incoming front and increased boat noise. However, by Monday the fish were beginning to turn on again, even in the face of high winds and a rapidly changing barometer. I expect that the bite will continue through the week but be prepared for heavy winds in the late afternoons. While the afternoon fishing might be the more productive, the mornings will be much tamer on the water and make for easier casting. Topwater-
Medium sized poppers in yellow and green in daylight hours and darker
colors in the evening have been extremely productive. My flip-flop
poppers are producing lots of strikes and big fish. Leo's balsa poppers
are also productive but the fish are hitting so hard that they are
shattering Leo's artwork after a few grabs. Fish the poppers on 20#
tippet. Cast to the rocks and strip just fast enough to produce a
"pop". Allow the fly to rest as long as possible at the weed
line at the end of the strip. Work heavy cover adjacent to areas of good
water flow. Be prepared to drop your rod tip and drag the fish through
the algae and weed until you are in clear water.
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Subsurface- Fish are willing throughout the day to take Puglisi and other streamer flies such as woolly buggers and clousers when cast to the cleaner areas along the rock walls. Fish on a type III line and "walk" the fly down the wall, stripping just fast enough not to get hung up. A weed guard helps. July 7,
2008
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San Joaquin, Potato Slough, Old River, Lower Mokelumne, Little Potato Slough, Little Connection Slough, Disappointment Slough, False River Water temp 73-76 Visibility 2-4 feet LMB -
Good mornings, very good to excellent evenings. The fishing is much
more consistent than it was in early spring. The largest fish can still
be found in deeper cover and areas where there is a good buffer of weed
along the rocky shorelines. As the warm water continues, the fish will
start to move from the warmest water out into the channels and along the
more open areas where they can take advantage of the current and tidal
flow when looking for baitfish.
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The warm nights and scorching days limit the topwater bite to the early morning and after six in the evenings but, once started, some big fish can be found. The winds have lessened and are predicted to be light throughout the week with a cooling trend starting on Thursday. If you plan to fish topwater mornings, you have to be on the water before daybreak. The bite will slow down as early as 8:30. The evening topwater bite starts about 5:30 and goes on till dark. Make sure you dress for HOT weather if planning to fish mid day, large brimmed hat, sun glasses, sun block, light clothing, lots of liquids. Insect repellent at night. Topwater-
Poppers still rule in relatively large sizes. Fish them very close
to shore, especially where clumps of tules intersect the rock walls. If
the growth is light enough to cast over, fish past thin stands to the
band of water between the tules and the bank. When working the shore
look for areas where there is a good band of weeds providing a holding
trough for fish between the weeds and the shore. Any point, whether in
cover or exposed should be considered a hot spot. When retrieving, use
the smallest strip you can while still producing a chug. Pause the fly
at the end of the retrieve.
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Subsurface- Once the morning topwater bite slows, try a Puglisi style bluegill fly or a giant woolly bugger on a floating line cast to the shore and then stripped in in a series of jerks. As the sun gets higher, go to a type II sink tip. If you can stand the heat in mid afternoon, work a type IV with a weighted fly such as a clouser or woolly bugger. Cast to any water clean enough to drag a fly through. Fish a weedless fly if you can since you'll be working areas of heavy weed for best results. June 30,
2008
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San Joaquin, Potato Slough, Mokelumne, Little Potato Slough, White Slough, Little Connection Slough, Disappointment Slough, False River Water temp 71-73 Visibility 1-3 feet, (greater during incoming tide) LMB -
Good mornings, excellent evenings. The fish have finally settled
down to their summer pattern. They are still holding close to and in
deep cover, especially along heavy weed lines and fairly open weedy
flats.
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Fish are responsive almost all day but shut down the last half hour of outgoing and first half hour of incoming. Fish poppers early in the morning and move to subsurface as the day progresses. The evening topwater bite is starting as early as 3:30 but really gets moving about 5:00 and lasts till dark. The fish have been larger than normal during the evening, an average of three pounds. The wind continues to be a problem. Work east and up against the west side of levees, casting into the partially blocked westerly winds. Sloughs to the east in the delta are better bets on windy days. Topwater-
Foam and balsa poppers. Yellow and light green during the brighter
hours, darker colors such as forest green and black during the low light
periods. Large poppers seem to produce larger fish. Cast to within an
inch or two of shore and strip immediately. Add a long pause at the end
of the strip at the weed line. The farther you work from the shore, the
greater the number of takes, especially when running an electric
trolling motor.
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Subsurface- Once the morning topwater bite slows, try a puglisi style bluegill fly on a floating line cast to the shore and then stripped in in a series of jerks. As the sun gets higher, go to a type two sink tip and work the same water. Fish a weedless fly if you can since you'll be working areas of heavy weed for best results.
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