(Pittsburg) The winter bite is on and both sturgeon and stripers are being caught by anglers slinging bait throughout Suisun Bay and the West Delta.
“The sturgeon fishing has been pretty good for me,” related Captain Chris Smith of Captain Hook Sportfishing headquartered in Martinez. “With no crabbing going on I decided to move my boat up to Martinez early this year and I’m glad I made the move. On our first trip we got two keepers, 2 shakers and an oversize fish. On our next trip we lost a keeper, boated a keeper and caught some stripers too.”
“Eel has been the hot bait for me. I think there are fish scattered all over Suisun Bay, but I haven’t been running very far. We’ve been finding plenty of action just above the Benicia Bridge,” added Smith.
Captain David Hammond of Delta Pro Fishing and Captain Steve Mitchell of Hook’d Up Sportfishing have also been enjoying sturgeon fishing success while working Suisun Bay with a combination of salmon roe and eel.
“I’ve been a little under the weather recently, so I haven’t been out in a day or two. The deep water sturgeon bite is over now, but the medium deep to shallow water bite is underway. You’ve got to use caution in those areas right now, since there are lots of duck hunters out there and you don’t want to crowd them,” said Hammond.
Fish Sniffer reader Todd Frasier and his sons Evan and Todd Jr. headed out for a day of striper fishing and ended up with limits.
“We got into a pretty good bite in Montezuma Slough,” related Frasier. “We ended up with 6 bass that ranged from 5 to 11 pounds. All of the fish came on either filleted shad or sardine fillets during the outgoing tide.”
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