CA Delta 04-02-2020

The Delta has had some really good fishing for a lot of people so far this year. some believe it's showing its former glory again, I personally haven't been blessed to have fished the delta my whole life like a lot of others, but if the delta is beginning to rebound to it's true self again, then we are in for some superb fishing the rest of 2020. On this Day my Buddy Mark Vis took me out on his boat for an afternoon session. keeping our 6 ft social distancing We launched out of B&W at around 1130 and fished till sun down. we started the day making a run to the Mandeville Island area. the wind was blowing strong out of the North West at 10-15 mph, and the tide was still rising so I started throwing a spinnerbait and he started with a chatterbait. I got the first fish a healthy 2.55 pound fish. Mark got a few short strikes on a chatterbait but nothing to speak of. As the tide slacked out we moved into the flooded pond and started fan casting the northern bank with senkos, Drop shots, and flukes. The water temp was 59-61 degrees so we expected to see fish on beds but the wind made it nearly impossible. Mark was able to pick up a 5.31 and a couple more dinks on the outside edge of the penny warp as we worked down the bank. We continued to fish Mandeville for a while longer with very little action so we made a move towards false river, where the tide was beginning to move again. we started flipping a pretty well known swift current bank and were able to get a lot of small bites, and when I say small I mean this years spawn small, LOL. So we made a move to go look for some bigger bites. We moved into Owl Harbor where I've seen some big ones move in and spawn this time of year, and it paid off. I was able to get 7.03 and 4.18 in there fan casting a drop shot with a watermelon red flake dream shot. we got a few more bites in there but just couldn't keep them pinned. we moved to some marina's to finish out the day where vis completed our limit with a 2.33 pound fish on once again the drop shot. We ended the day with a 5 fish limit of 21.42, if we could of culled out our 2 pounders we would of had a way better bag, but sometimes that's the way it goes. We didn't get a lot of bites but the quality was there. we just needed to execute a little better. This time of year gets tough. the fish are mostly in spawn mode so a lot people struggle to get bit, me included. That is why I start downsizing or up sizing to get bit. For me what I've noticed is its really only a two week period where the fish just get finicky. they either only want to eat something small and subtle or they go to the whole other side of the spectrum and go crazy for a fast moving swim bait, like a Glide bait or a Osprey of some sort. at least that is how it goes for the first few weeks of the spawn until fish start transitioning to the post spawn. This is just a theory of course and not an absolute but I feel like its because bass are mostly territorial this time of year, they don't have food on the mind, all they want to do is make babies. They bite the things that piss them off and interrupt there ritual and that is why one of my favorite pre spawn/spawn techniques is a drop shot. I can fan cast spawning areas and work it really slow leaving it directly in front of a bass or within its territory for a longer period of time. which for me really helps with getting those bigger bites. I think things are going to be changing soon. Some bass are already starting to transition into some post spawn habits. I will hopefully get back out there soon and break down for y'all what exactly that is but I have feeling its going to have something to do with swim baits and frogs. Until next time stay safe, from the Covid19, and keep on Livin Fast and Catchin Bass.