JerryInLodi
08-12-2007, 06:25 AM
My wife and I packed a dinner and planned a nice quiet evening fishing the back sloughs of the delta on Saturday night.
Wrong!
We were on the water about 3:30 and I stopped along the main San Joaquin to fish a small section that usually holds lots of fish. The wind was blowing and the boat traffic, especially heavy cruisers, was heavy. The banks were totally muddied up and the incoming wakes made it impossible to hold position or cast.
We reeled in and headed for the entrance of Disappointment slough. At channel marker eleven we saw the bow of what must have been a 25-30 foot cruiser sticking up out of the water with boats circling. It appeared that it had sunk within the last 5-6 hours. Jet skies, ski boats, cruisers and run-abouts were going in every direction. We felt like we should have turning signals on the boat in order to maneuver.
We tried to fish up the slough. More boat traffic, more huge wakes, more muddy banks. We finally found some quiet water in the 5mph zone in front of King's Island Marina but the water was so muddy the fish would have to use sound to locate the poppers.
We tried White's, Little Potato and Potato Sloughs. No use, boats, wakes and mud everywhere. We took in the trolling motor and headed for the dock at 7pm, all ideas of a quiet evening destroyed.
The fishing was the absolute pits. I'm not sure whether it was the boat traffic, change in weather that brought in the wind and cooling temperatures, the muddy banks, or something else but the total for the day was one small bass landed and seven missed fish between the both of us.
Of the seven fish, we only felt two on the line meaning that the other five could have just missed the fly in the muddy water. Another cause could have been that I was experimenting with a new up-side down fly and the fish were just missing the hook.
Because of the conditions I'll try the fly again during the week when I can really evaluate its effectiveness in hooking fish. It's flawless in avoiding weeds, at least it's half right!
Wrong!
We were on the water about 3:30 and I stopped along the main San Joaquin to fish a small section that usually holds lots of fish. The wind was blowing and the boat traffic, especially heavy cruisers, was heavy. The banks were totally muddied up and the incoming wakes made it impossible to hold position or cast.
We reeled in and headed for the entrance of Disappointment slough. At channel marker eleven we saw the bow of what must have been a 25-30 foot cruiser sticking up out of the water with boats circling. It appeared that it had sunk within the last 5-6 hours. Jet skies, ski boats, cruisers and run-abouts were going in every direction. We felt like we should have turning signals on the boat in order to maneuver.
We tried to fish up the slough. More boat traffic, more huge wakes, more muddy banks. We finally found some quiet water in the 5mph zone in front of King's Island Marina but the water was so muddy the fish would have to use sound to locate the poppers.
We tried White's, Little Potato and Potato Sloughs. No use, boats, wakes and mud everywhere. We took in the trolling motor and headed for the dock at 7pm, all ideas of a quiet evening destroyed.
The fishing was the absolute pits. I'm not sure whether it was the boat traffic, change in weather that brought in the wind and cooling temperatures, the muddy banks, or something else but the total for the day was one small bass landed and seven missed fish between the both of us.
Of the seven fish, we only felt two on the line meaning that the other five could have just missed the fly in the muddy water. Another cause could have been that I was experimenting with a new up-side down fly and the fish were just missing the hook.
Because of the conditions I'll try the fly again during the week when I can really evaluate its effectiveness in hooking fish. It's flawless in avoiding weeds, at least it's half right!