Delta 05-15-2020

The Delta truly is something special. It can make the best bass fisherman on the planet scratch there heads and humble themselves. If your one of the few anglers that can day in and day out put 5 big fish in the boat, good for you. It probably took you years of time on the water and learning the subtle ques the fish were telling you to switch lures and adjust your presentation. every angler picks up on these ques but every hour on the delta the bite changes so the best anglers on the delta know how to read those ques faster than anyone else and adjust accordingly. I'm not at that level yet, but you best bet I will be. This trip I launched out of B&W at 1200 to fish the falling tide till sundown. I made a run to the Mildred area with a plan to stay put and figure out what the fish were doing as the tide dropped out. I started throwing a battle shad rigged with an owner 10/0 flashy swimmer inside the flooded pond and around some standing timber. with the wind blowing out of the WSW at around 10 mph the conditions were looking good for a moving bait bite. I picked up a couple of small fish on it within the first 30 mins but nothing big. I decided to move shallow and take a look around, working my way down a stretch of tules I noticed a tail sticking out from under a patch of floating grass. The Amphibia sunglasses were crucial to even having a chance at this fish. I let the boat float past without running the trolling motor and used the wind to push me back into position. I picked up a senko and flipped it in, right away the fish turned and thumped my senko hard. I wasn't expecting this fish to be as big as it was, I set the hook and realized I was in for a fight. bringing it driver side and seeing I had her hooked good I decided to bounce her, I will Link the Fitzgerald rod I used to boat flip her at the bottom. I got her in and on the scale she went 7.60. I'm not sure why but I've caught a lot of fish this year in the seven and a half size class. This fish was definitely a lucky fish, I mean how many people can say they just rolled up on a 7 pounder and was able to catch it first flip. I continued down this line throwing a fluke and a green pumpkin chatter bait. getting bit by a couple more small fish. As the tide dropped out I moved off trying to locate a concentration of bigger fish. I was able to get some more small fish punching the grass patches but still nothing sizable. Every fish was full of craws. I even saw a few of the craws sitting on top of the grass. They were reddish brown in color and in almost every grass patch I fished. so it makes me think there is probably a pretty good punching bite as well as a fantastic red/brown chatter bait bite somewhere right now. I fished till 7 pm the bite was very slow for me, I only managed 17.46 for 5 fish.

not a great limit especially when you have a 7 anchoring the bag. The fish are still up spawning in some areas but the bite has definitely transitioned to a post spawn bite. I recommend choosing one of two methods when hitting the delta. I would say you either stay in the spawning areas and try to catch some of the big ones that decide to stay shallow and recover. or you target points and transition spots outside of spawning areas as the fish move to there summer haunts. the water temp is still in the low 70's so top water is taking off but there are a lot of guys throwing frogs right now, I'm not saying you cant get bit on a frog, I'm just saying try throwing and alternative like a popper or a spook and see what happens! Like I said in the beginning the delta changes by the hour, and the best delta fisherman have the time on the water to put all the pieces together. Every time I hit the water I am learning something new. its a process, you just have to trust that you will eventually learn the ques that the fish are telling you. Trust The Process.

Click the pics below for links to equipment.