| Welcome to The California Delta. You are in for one heck of an experience on this River system out here. The big thing to keep in mind is the Delta fishes shallow like many of the impoundments we have in the southern portions of the United States. 8-12 feet is considered deep on the Delta. We have very large and power fish on the River. Toss in the wide variety of cover, obstructions, rocks, tulles, barges and such, you need to be prepared and come west with stout equipment.
Under most conditions, you should bring nothing less than 15# test line for plastics, cranks and topwaters and 20#+ test for blades, jigs, froggin and buzzers. I personally only use 16# & 25# Sugoi Fluorocarbon line. The fluorocarbon with it's low stretch, high sensitivity and low abrasion resistance will out perform any line on this river. With the exception, I would highly recommend one reel spooled with heavy braid in the event ya do some froggin.
As for rods, leave the light stuff and spinning tackle at home! There truly is no place for light tackle on the Delta. 6'6" & 7' heavy and Medium heavy action rods are required. You'll also wanna bring a couple of glass rods for potential crankin and blade bites. A 7'6" telescopic flippen stick would be recommended also.
As for baits, it's very simple. And I highly recommend that ya keep it simple, there's no need to carry a wide variety of colors. As for plastics, Junebug, Green Pumkin, Black w/blue flake, black w/red flake, earth tone browns and watermelon. Senkos are the rule here dude! Both the 5.25" Yamamoto 9 series and the 6" 9L are the ticket. You only need a couple of colors 021, 208, 213, 222, 297, 301 & 302. T-rigged plastics are next and you only need two baits at this time of year. Zooms 4" brush hog in Watermelon red and a 6" Iovinno Spade worm in S20! That's it, keep it simple. The trick with these two baits, is to fish them with as light of a bullet weight as you can possibly stand! I use 1/16th weight with a RED!, glass bead (Very important!)and fish it very slow through the grass pockets.
For cranks, Red craw is a MUST! Chrome and fire Tigers are the back ups. Lipless cranks, especially the 3/4 oz Rattle Trap in Red Texas craw will draw strikes from some of the River's biggest bass if you find yourself in the right kind of area.
No trip onto this river system can be made without a jig! It is my number one bait out here and will produce the kind of 30#+ bags a day that most guys dream of. Again, I can't emphasize enough ta keep it very simple. Black jigs & brown jigs, period. Ya don't need ta git into all the fancy coloring shades of black & brown. Two trailers are required, either a chunk of black/blue pork frog or a 5" Yamamoto single tail grub in 164, 209 or 213. If the water temp is above 65, I'll strictly use the grub trailer as it is the perfect bait to imitate the gills and various bream that are swarming the nests.
Spinnerbaits are simple, 1/2 & 3/4 oz double willows. Either white or chartreuse or a combo of these two colors. Sometimes if'n yer in stained water a few strands of either orange or blue with these two will make a difference. As for Buzzbaits, stick with black! Ya want a buzzer that has a high pitch squeak and or a clacker prop. Have a red buzzer as a back up!
You will have fish during the period of March through June in all stages of spawning! Most of the really giant bass, those over 9 pounds, will already be done. The really giant bass will spawn in late February and early March. But it's not uncommon to stick a post spawn double-digit male or female during April and May. The watercolor of the Delta will limit sight fishing in 90% of the River. Unless ya hire one of the local western anglers, it's very unlikely that many guys are gonna find the back water clear areas to be able to sight fish. Although, there are places such as Franks Tract, Little Mandiville and some of the other larger and more popular flooded islands that do have very clear water and are easy to locate. The fish will be all over the shallows and ya gotta cast and fish to what looks like a likely spawning bed area. The T rig and Senko are perfect for this approach. The Senko has caught everyone's attention out here and really produces lots of fish and I do mean a lot of fish. The current record on the Delta is 18.65 which was caught last February on a 9L 021 Senko. If I was fishing a Pro-Am event as an Am, the Senko very well could be the only bait I would take as it allows you to fish it from every angle and position while your pro is concentrating on his stuff up front. I have been guiding on this river for 10 years and fishing it for more than 25, I have never seen a bait that puts so many fish in the well from both the front and the back seat like the Senko does.
Good Luck & Keep A Tight Line!
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