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Hot-Bites Fishing Report By the Fish Sniffer Staff	October 7, 2008 Updated Regularly

WEST DELTA
Striper action in the West Delta seems to fluctuate with the weather. A couple weeks ago when we experienced a cool down the bite improved. Last week when temperatures soared the bite backed off, but was showing improvement as of press time.

“The striper fishing started picking up again for trollers on the Sacramento side yesterday after it had been slow for a few days,” disclosed Captain Barry Canevaro of Fish Hookers Sportfishing. “Bait fishing has been slow overall, but from what I hear some of the guys fishing bullheads down toward the Firing Line have been picking up some pretty good size stripers. I haven’t gotten any good reports about sturgeon fishing. It seems to be really slow overall.”

“I think the sturgeon bite has picked up a little, but it is still a pretty slow soft bite these days,” reported Kevin Yost of Lucky Strike Charters. “I’m fishing in deep water that is from 75 to 100 feet deep. There are a lot of fish holding in the deep water. For example, I marked between 35 and 40 fish laying in the hole by the Pittsburg PG&E Plant in Pittsburg the other day.”

“We are getting our bites on roe, grass shrimp and eel. On September 27, Grant Kruetz of Napa was out with me and landed his first ever keeper sturgeon. The fish was 50 inches long and it took him 15 minutes to get it to the boat,” said Yost.

Black bass remain on a good bite in the West Delta. For numbers of fish, it is tough to beat a shallow running crawfish pattern crankbait. For a chance at a larger fish, working jigs or soft swimbaits is the way to go.

EAST DELTA
The good news is that black bass anglers plying East Delta waters are catching plenty of fish. The better news is that the fishing should get even better as the fall season progresses. In addition to black bass, east delta anglers are also tangling with stripers.

“The fall transition has began out in my part of the delta,” related Randy Pringle of The Fishing Instructor Guide Service. “The fish are still biting, but the intensity of the bite has been affected by the dropping water temperatures. At this point the fish are seeking out deeper water areas because that is where they can find more stable temperatures. The larger fish will be found holding in close proximity to current.”

“At this time of the year, you can use a lot of different lures with success and that has been the case with my clients recently. Our top lure has been the Persuader E-Chip black and blue or brown and purple jig in the 5/8 ounce size. We’ve also been doing very well on the No. 4 Strike King crankbait in the Sexy Shad color,” said Pringle.

“Early in the morning Persuader spinnerbaits have been taking fish. In stained water the chartreuse and white models with matching blades are working well. If the water is clear the white and chartreuse skirt will still work, but you’ve got to team it with the gold and silver blades. If you want a big bite try throwing the Optimum OB Minnow in the 7 inch size,” continued Pringle.

“We’ve been working a new slim profile topwater bait from Ima called the Skimmer with very good results. The bait is very subtle, so we concentrate on using it when the surface is calm. If there is some chop you can tie on an Ima Flit jerkbait and it will put some fish in the boat for you,” disclosed Pringle.

There are now some large striped bass moving into the East Delta. Pringle was recently out testing a prototype Ima topwater bait dubbed the Big Stick when he nailed a 25 pounder. “The striper bite is good some mornings, but I expect the bite to get really consistent soon,” predicted Pringle.

RIO VISTA
While the intensity of the striper bite in the Rio Vista area fluctuates from day to day, the consensus among knowledgeable anglers is that the striper fishing is poised to break loose.

Despite the fact that the fishing slowed down over the past week with high daytime temperatures, there are a lot of bass in the system and a cooling trend will prompt them to go on the bite.

“I ran my first bait fishing trip of the fall on September 24 and the fishing was pretty productive,” related Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan’s Guide Service. “I fished with Jason and Ron Becker of Wilton. We hooked a total of 8 fish and they ended up taking home limits of schoolie size stripers. The tide was slow that day and the water temperature was in the high 60’s. We got out bass while fishing with fresh shad.”

Audie Urbano at Hap’s Bait in Rio Vista described the striper fishing in the Rio Vista area as “very good”. “Trolling and bait fishing are both producing a lot of fish. With bait you still have to deal with a lot of small fish, so trolling might be a better option at this time. If you want to go with bait shad is probably your best bet. There have been some large fish landed recently. I’ve heard about bass weighing 17, 20, 27 and 31 pounds.”

Paul Cunningham at Rio Vista Bait agreed with Audi, reporting that the striper bite is good in the Rio Vista area. “Trolling is working very well these days for stripers up to 16 pounds. If you want to fish bait, I’d recommend going with shad. We haven’t had any reports of sturgeon recently, but the catfish bite has remain good to very good,” said Cunningham.

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Area Fishing Maps West Delta Lower Mokelumne River

The Delta, comprised of a hundred plus year old system of levies and canals built to control flooding from the Sierra spring snow melt run-off, is the confluence of the Sacramento, Mokolumne, and San Joaquin Rivers. All the anadromous species pass through the area during their migrations. Permanent residents include sturgeon, largemouth & smallmouth bass, big channel cats, and carp.