Delta fall striper fishing tips

SET UP RIGHT FOR STRIPER SUCCESS

BAIT FISHING IN THE DELTA CAN BE A GREAT FALL OPTION FOR LINESIDES

By Cal Kellogg

Picture the scene. You’re in Montezuma Slough; or at the Power Lines on the Sacramento River; or the Firing Line in Suisun Bay; or any one of a thousand other striper haunts in Suisun Bay, the lower Delta or the central Delta.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner and the hills already starting to green up from recent rains, the heat of summer has given way to chilly mornings and mild afternoons. The water temperature is hovering at 57 degrees and mist hangs over the surface. As is often the case in the late fall, there is almost zero wind in the forecast and you’ll be able to fish both the top of the incoming tide early and the beginning of the outgo right after lunch.

Cruising along slowly with your eyes locked on the sonar unit, you watch the bottom. As you navigate a deep hole and track the bottom coming up, you observe a series of arches scattered from 10 to 18 feet deep. They are right near the bottom on the upward slope of the hole.

“Let’s set up here,” you tell your partner, and he scrambles up to the bow and readies the anchor.

You come around and the anchor goes into the water. The boat drifts back and in a few moments, you are sitting steady in 6 feet of water with the edge of the deep hole 100 feet off

Author Cal Kellogg hoists a limit of quality eating-sized stripers he caught during a November outing in the California Delta. This month can be a great time to bait fish for these tasty and hard-fighting bass. (CAL KELLOGG)

Threadfin shad are the No. 1 bait for tempting Delta stripers during the fall and winter months. (CAL KELLOGG)

the back of the boat.

You and your partner bait up two sliding-sinker-rigged rods with fileted shad, toss them out and set them in balancers with the clickers on and the reels out of gear.

Minutes pass and you both sip coffee as the level of expectation grows. Suddenly your partner’s rod dips down, pops up, dips again and stays down. A beat later the line starts screaming out of the reel against the light resistance of the clicker. You both jump to your feet. Yes! The bite is on.

CHOOSE YOUR METHOD

Golden State striper fishing is such a multifaceted sport. In the Delta you can troll, plug, jig or soak live or dead bait for them. During the spring and summer, you can drift live bait in San Francisco Bay and along coastal beaches, or you can hike the beaches with a surf rod and look for bass blitzing bait. When you find them, you’ll toss big plugs and spoons into the fray.

I’ve battled stripers using all these methods and more. Heck, I even hooked a 15-pounder once drifting roe for kings way up by Red Bluff, but my all-time favorite way to target them is bait fishing in the Delta.

Call me old school, but I enjoy sitting on anchor in a Delta backwater on a crisp late-fall or early-winter day, listening to the radio and watching the ducks and other wildlife as I wait for that first twitch of the rod that signals the start of a bite.

My dad was a union carpenter for 35 years and he had a saying about cutting a long straight line with a hand saw. “It’s simple but it ain’t easy until you get the hang of it,” he’d laugh.

Well, that’s a good description of bait fishing for stripers. It’s simple, but there is a learning curve. That’s why about 20 percent of Delta bait anglers catch 90-plus percent of the stripers!

If you’d like to be a 20-percenter, keep on reading. I didn’t invent anything I’m about to share, but I had the opportunity to learn the ropes from the late great Capt. Barry Canavero, one of the godfathers of Delta bait fishing.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

One mistake anglers often make is working water that is too deep. Sure, stripers hold in deep holes and sometimes you can get them deep, but if you come across a bass in shallow water – say, 8 feet deep or less – that fish is likely looking to feed.

I like to look for stripers in a couple different basic areas. When I’m out scouting for bass, I try to locate fish holding in deep to medium-deep water and then set up in shallow water adjacent to the fish I mark.

You’re looking for multiple arches holding on or near the bottom. Fish cruising the middle of the water column may or may not be stripers, but it’s fish holding along the bottom that are likely going to feed.

When it’s time to anchor don’t forget the current. The bass will move out of the hole into shallow feeding areas by swimming into the current. Therefore, you want to be sitting upcurrent of the hole in a position that allows you to drop your bait right along the shallowto-deep transition.

If I know for certain there are stripers in the location I’m fishing, I won’t hesitate to set up in nearshore shallow-water areas whether I spot bass on the sonar or not. I’ve had some of my best fishing while anchored in 5 or 6 feet of water, casting baits into water along tule edges only 2 to 4 feet deep. These are the kind of locations stripers move into when hunting and is often where you’ll encounter the biggest bass.

New Delta anglers are often intimidated by the tides and don’t understand how they affect the fishing. Just know this: The bite is always most intense during the last hour of one tide and the first hour of the next.

Incoming or outgoing doesn’t matter to me. On a good day the stripers will bite throughout the tide, but the most intense action will be when a tidal cycle starts or ends, so at that time it’s important to be anchored and fishing, not cruising around looking for fish.

TACKLE

A lot of rod-and-reel combos will work for bait fishing, but for the best results you want a 7- to 8-foot fastaction rod with a sensitive tip. The

rod should be able to handle weights up to 3 ounces.

Top your rod with a conventional reel equipped with a clicker. Most guys are running with 30- to 50-pound braid these days, but 12- to 15-pound copolymer still works very well. Stripers, even big fish, don’t make long runs, so 175 to 200 yards of line capacity is ample.

Once you thread the main line through the rod’s eyes, slip on a sliding sinker sleeve, then a bead and finally use a Palomar knot to attach a snap swivel. Your leader should be constructed of 25-pound copolymer and tipped with either a 9/0 octopus hook or a No. 4 treble, depending on the bait being used. We’ll talk more about that in a moment.

Few anglers think much about what style of sinker they use, but for my money a flat river sinker works best. They don’t offer much resistance coming through the water, but they lay flat and don’t walk around, so your bait stays put. A small selection of 1-, 2- and 3-ouncers will get the job done.

BAITS

Stripers eat a long list of prey items, including marine worms, shrimp, baitfish, bluegill, clams, crawfish and more. Popular striper baits for Delta anglers include threadfin shad, sardines, anchovies, pile worms, bloodworms, grass shrimp, ghost shrimp, mudsuckers, bullheads and jumbo minnows.

Truth be told, I’ve used all these baits at one time or another, but my hands-down most productive baits over the past 25 years have been threadfin shad and bullheads. If I can’t score bullheads, and at times you can’t, mudsuckers are a decent substitute. I feel that bullheads are superior because they tend to live longer and I think big bass prefer bullheads over mudsuckers, but if you can’t get bullheads, by all means grab a few live mudsuckers.

Fresh shad is better than the frozen stuff you find at many bait shops. If you are serious about bait fishing, find a shop that has a source for fresh shad and buy 10 or 15 pounds at once. Brine them using rock salt, ProCure Bluing, ice cubes and water.

Create a slushy blue brine and let your baits soak in it for about eight hours. Then remove them and bag them up in ½-pound batches in Ziploc bags. Don’t vacuum pack them since it will smash the baits.

When you go fishing, make a small batch of brine in a small bait cooler and put a bag or two of partially thawed shad into the brine. You’ll want a few packages of backup shad fully frozen in your main cooler in case the fish are biting well.

For your bullheads or mudsuckers you’ll want a plastic minnow bucket rigged with a length of paracord so you can let the baits soak in the river once you anchor. Just remember to haul them in before you speed off. I’ve lost a few nice minnow buckets that way!

For shad you’ll want a leader tipped with a 9/0 hook. Take a nice chrome-bright shad and filet it from head to tail, but don’t detach the filet. Flip the filet 180 degrees so that it is meat side out. This way the bait will put maximum scent into the water.

Pass the hook point through the rear third of the shad and bring it back through behind the shad’s head near the black dot. Finally, half hitch the leader around the shad’s tail twice and you are ready to fish. Simply tie a loop in the top end of the leader and

Rods baited with shad and bullheads sit in rod balancers with the clickers on and the reels out of gear waiting for the bite to begin and the fight to ensue.

(CAL KELLOGG)

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snap it onto the snap swivel at the end of your main line.

If fishing bullheads and mudsuckers, you’ll need a bait needle and you’ll want a leader tipped with a No. 4 treble. Don’t tie a loop into the leader until the bait is threaded.

To bait up, proceed like this: Take a baitfish in your hand and insert the needle gently ½ inch behind the head and slide it just under the skin to a point half an inch short of the tail and then pop it through the skin.

Put your leader into the needle and pull it through the bait. Once through, put a loop in the top of the leader. Slide the leader through the bait until the hook is resting right next to the bait’s head. Rigged this way the bait will stay alive and mobile. If it’s a bullhead, you can usually catch a few fish on it before it gets killed. Fishing mudsuckers, you usually need a new bait for every bass.

Big striped bass are a thrill to fight, but smaller fish are better eating, so snap a picture and let the trophies go to reproduce. The fun part with monsters like this is in the catching. (CAL KELLOGG)

SEAL THE DEAL

Execution is the final piece of the puzzle. Fish with the clicker on and the reel out of gear. Rod balancers are nice for this work. When a bass starts playing with your bait, let the fish have it until the line is streaming off the reel in earnest. Then pick up the rod, engage the reel and find out if the bass is a 24-inch eater or a 24-pound trophy. Fish on! CS

Editor’s note: Cal Kellogg is a longtime Northern California outdoors writer. Subscribe to his YouTube channel Fish Hunt Shoot Productions at youtube.com/ user/KelloggOutdoors.

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Drought conditions have taken a toll at Northern California’s Lake Oroville, but the bass bite was on for Ian Rigler and author Mark Fong during a mid-October trip. (MARK FONG)

DROUGHT BE DAMNED, THE BASS ARE BITING

DESPITE LOW WATER LEVELS, ANGLERS HAVE PRODUCTIVE DAY OF SPOTTY FISHING AT LAKE OROVILLE

By Mark Fong

After a very hot summer and early fall here in Northern California, as of late October conditions have finally started to change.

Fall is my favorite season to be on the water, with chilly mornings and warm afternoons not only making for great sweatshirt-and-shorts weather, but it also means some of the best bass fishing opportunities of the year.

But with California firmly mired in extreme drought conditions, many of my favorite fall fishing destinations have been negatively impacted by low water levels and limited boat launch facilities.

Oroville’s Bidwell Canyon Marina reflected the low water levels as fall approached. The lake was down 200 feet below full pool. (MARK FONG)

To the north of Sacramento, Lake Oroville had two operable concrete launch ramps in service, so when I found an open day on my calendar, I wasted little time in extending an invitation to longtime fishing buddy Ian Rigler to join me for a day of fall bass fishing.

When we arrived at the Loafer Creek Boat Launch, there was a chill in the air. High temperatures were forecasted to be in the mid-70s, a welcome relief from the 90-degree temps of the prior week. It had been several months since my last trip to Lake Oroville and the lake was much lower than I anticipated. On this mid-October day, the lake was over 200 feet below full pool and continuing to drop.

FIND THE BAIT, FIND THE BASS

Fall bass fishing is all about finding the bait, and when you find it the bass won’t be far away. But getting the fish to bite – well, that can be another story altogether. As the fish feed up for the upcoming winter, they gorge themselves on massive schools of bait, making it challenging to fool them into biting an artificial lure when they are surrounded by the real thing.

My game plan for the day was to run a bunch of spots looking for bait and bass. Once we were on the water, I slowly idled the boat past the 5 mph buoys. In the distance I spotted a school of bass that was pushing bait on the surface.

I quickly put the boat on pad and we made our way toward the commotion. I pulled up short of the school and used the trolling motor to position the boat. I picked up my topwater rod and began casting a walking-style bait, while Ian elected to fish a drop-shot rig.

It wasn’t long before Ian was hooked up with the first bass of the morning. As he brought the fish close to the boat, it spit up a cloud of pond smelt, a sure sign it had been feeding heavily. After a spirited fight and with a big grin on his face, Ian carefully released the fish back into the water.

I continued to throw my topwater bait as Ian caught and released several more fish. I didn’t want to miss out on the action, so I decided to switch over to a spinning rod rigged with a small finesse swimbait on a darterhead jig. After about a dozen casts I was hooked up with my first fish, but it did not take me long to realize that this was not the quality of bass we were looking for.

We continued down the bank for about 200 yards, but all we could muster were a few more small fish. Suddenly the breeze, which had been blowing steadily, died; with it the fish shut down and the bite stopped. It was time to make a run.

THE MIDDLE FORK

We left Oroville’s main body and sped under the Green Bridge in search of better conditions and biting bass. At the split I made a left and headed up the Middle Fork of the Feather River. At the location where the canyon walls start to narrow up I stopped on the outside edge of a steep point and began graphing the area with my electronics. In short order I found a stretch of bank that was loaded with pond smelt.

We fished down the bank for about a quarter of a mile with more of the same – a bunch of small fish but no quality catches. Since we were struggling to find a better bite, we bounced around to half a dozen high percentage areas in the Middle Fork Feather and yet again the results – quantity and no quality – were the same. I looked at my watch and was surprised to see that the day was quickly getting away from us. By this point we had caught and released a couple dozen bass, but it was not the action we had hoped for. On the bright side, there was still time in the day to make that happen.

FINDING GOOD FISH TO THE NORTH

I fired up the big motor and we made the long run down the Feather and under the Bidwell Bar Bridge, where we continued across the main body towards the North Fork Feather. The wind was blowing again and I pulled up on a bluff bank and graphed around until I located a steep edge that was stacked with bait. Ian continued fishing the drop shot and was again first to hook up with a hard-fighting spotted bass. This was a better-quality fish, which gave Ian quite a fight on 6-pound line.

After releasing the fish, Ian quickly hooked another bass. I looked down at my electronics and the graph was lit

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up with a school of active fish.

I put down my swimbait gear and made a short cast with my drop-shot rig. With my forward-facing sonar, I watched my drop-shot rig fall toward the school of suspended bass. We were fishing in 70 feet of water and the school was suspended at 45 feet.

Out of the school, a single fish made a beeline towards my bait, and in an instant my rod began to bend and I was hooked up. We experienced video game fishing at its finest.

This was clearly a better-quality participant at the end of my line, and it made a strong run towards the depths. After making several strong runs the fish headed for the surface and I began to think that it was not a bass; for a moment I pondered if I’d hooked up with a freshwater king salmon. But when the fish came into view, it was a big spotty.

When the fish saw the boat, it made another strong run. I carefully worked it close to the boat and when it was within reach, I slid my hand under its belly and lifted it into the boat. I quickly unhooked the bass and returned it to the water. It would be the best fish I’d catch that day.

A GREAT DAY ON THE WATER

For the next hour or so I used my forward-facing sonar to chase the school of bass. We would catch a few good fish from the school and then the bass would move and scatter, so I would have to relocate them all over again.

At times the action was frantic, as we experienced a number of double hookups. Ian stuck it out fishing a small swimbait on his drop-shot rig, while I alternated between a drop shot and a jigging spoon.

It’s hard to leave with the bite still on, but facing a long drive home and an early dinner commitment, that is exactly what we had to do. Despite the drought-affected water levels, we had had a productive day. CS

Rigler and Fong caught and released plenty of fish, with some nicer spotties landed through

the day. (MARK FONG)

Searching for schools of baitfish took the guys under the Bidwell Bar Bridge to the North Fork Feather River arm of the lake, where they would find their biggest bass of the outing. (MARK FONG)