Delta Skunk--gone

[Mike Churchill]

Spent Saturday afternoon and evening fishing Sycamore Slough. Saw some jumping carp and, later in the day, what looked to be bass feeding on top.

Caught one fish--a bit of a surprise: biggest crappie I've ever seen-- 15 or 16 inches--took a 2/0 Clouser near the bottom. :shock:

Unfortunately, it wasn't much of a fight on my new 8-wt--I thought he was a small, cold, LMB until he hit the surface.

Water temp varied from 57 to over 62 on top of some weed beds.

Stayed late because fish were swirling. Had a bit of an adventure running down the Moke in the dark. Surprised a couple of hundred rafted up ducks running along at 19 mph. :shock: :o No harm done, but it sure made me appreciate having a hand held spotlight.

I'll catch a striper one of these days...

Mike

[JerryInLodi]

Mike, I also caught a huge crappie recently but on Hog rather than Sycamore. I've caught them in the past as well.

I've graphed large schools of fish on both sloughs that just REFUSE to take a fly and in the past wondered what the problem was. Catching the crappie gave me the answer.

Right now, you need to cover LOTS of water to find fish on the delta. They are NOT reluctant to strike a fly when found. Spend very little time working a location that seems void of fish. It probably is!

[Mike Churchill]

Thanks for the advice Jerry. I probably worked too few places yesterday.

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

Well, Mike you did better than we did.... I would've taken a 15" sucker last night! :shock:

We wondered how long you stayed out. We didn't head back in until nearly 8 pm. We got to watch an incredible moonrise. Took nearly 45 minutes to get all the way back to Kings Resort from Sycamore.

We tried top-water for both LMB AND Stripes, but to no avail. Two of us each got one bite and both of us missed them LATE in the evening, mine being almost completely dark. I could hear it, but couldn't see it, and I had a coughing fit right at the same moment. I was not a very happy camper to miss the only bite I'd gotten all day long, as we started about 12:30 or so. :oops:

We went through Honker Cut, White Slough, Potato and Little Potato, finally giving up and catching up with you in Sycamore. We tried bubbleheads, frogs, clousers. We tried fishing from the bank with long pauses, we tried fishing in the middle over submerged islands. We tried fast retrieve and slow ones. NOBODY wanted what we had. OR they all went on vacation. SHEESH.

Saw LOTS of turtles though, LOL :lol: .

Well, maybe we'll have better luck next weekend. :?

[Ed Wahl]

Hah! In your face Mike. This is my first and largest Bass of the year. Too big to fit the whole thing in the frame.

see what I mean.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Picture002.jpg

Caught dozens of these.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/edfish333/Picture001.jpg
The larger Bass were in shallow water looking to spawn, they totally ignored my offerings. I watched as my fly rolled off of the back of a nice 2 pounder. Ed

[Mike Churchill]

Ed, that just means you should have taken a 3-wt. :D :D

Was that success at C.P.? I need to get the kids out for a successful trip soon.

Robin, I kept fishing until about 7:30--beautiful sunset. Then it took me about 15 minutes to get my previously untried portable running lights figured out and mounted. The 25-minute run back to Tower Marina would have been shorter without the wrong turn around an island in the dark. When I saw the radio towers ahead of me I realized I was going the wrong way. :shock:

Mike

[Ed Wahl]

Naw, didn't have time for a C.P. run today, these monsters came from a pond over by David's house. Just ran out for a "one hour tryout". Four hours later I got to wondering what time it was. Luckily, my wife knows me better than I know myself. :P Ed

[roostersgt]

Ed,

You're lucky to still have all your digits after those fine early season catches! Although, I didn't see your left thumb in any of the pics. Good job. What did you use for the sunfish/

Steve

[Ed Wahl]

Steve, I intentially kept the bloody stump out of the frame, just a little too graphic for a family board like this.
I used a #14 Hare's Ear and a #14 brown wet fly. The panfish would readily hit a #10 bugger but the poor things just couldn't get their lips around it. Ed