Summertime LMB Fishin'...

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

Shouldn't they be on FIRE this time of year??? :-k

Hubby and I FINALLY got out yesterday afternoon. As late as it was, we stuck to the North Delta, and headed up into Lost. Looked like PERFECT LMB conditions.... Water temps 76-78 degrees (could this be TOO warm?), Air temps 95+, Delta breeze WNW 3-10 mph, high tide comin' in around 7 pm, plenty of cover and rocky banks with lots of shade. I think I got ONE bite, and missed it (little guy couldn't get the hook in his mouth), and hubby caught about a 10 incher. Carp were rollin' all over, and stripes were jumpin' full body out of the water, and I couldn't catch a one of 'em!

Frustrated, we made a last ditch attempt down the other way, and ended up getting many more bites with hubby picking up a couple more little guys + an 18-19 stripe. Some of the bites I was getting were 5-8 feet OUTSIDE the weed line (cause I fish it all the way to the boat, don't ya know:nod:)! But, that nice Delta breeze turned into West 20 mph gusts... Couldn't believe how much slimy moss there was!

Hadn't been fishin' since the Bass N Fly - and boy did my casting show it! Hooked myself about 3 times and beat the hell outta the motor, LOL :lol:.

Ah, well, at least I got my casting practice in.... 8-)

[Jay]

Common misconception that the warmer the weather, the better the bass fishing. In my experience, the bass fishing is the best in reservoirs in March-April and best in the delta in April-May

[BillB]

Around here they start releasing the water behind the dam(n)s the 4th of July. The fish tend to head for deeper water and suspend which makes them a little more difficult to say the least. We have really good top water action until draw down. I'm going to investigate further this week!

[Hairstacker]

Robin, it sounds like you and Hubby just ran into one of those days.

I like June through 1st half of October best for topwater Delta bass. April is iffy because of water temps, May is often really windy, in October the water temps start to drop off in the latter half.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks Robin

HairStacker....do you like AM or PM better in the summer for top water LMB?

[Spicytuna1]

Robin,

This has been a tough year trying to find consistent fishing. Don't get discouraged though](*,) , because one of those days you are on water it could be EPIC\\:D/ the Delta like's to kick you around a little bit then reward you.

I snuck out for a couple of hours Monday night and found some fish in a 3 foot weed flat right at the top of the incoming tide. We managed about 10 blow ups with four landed and two good fish missed. They were slurping the flies instead of slamming them making it tough to set the hook. Hot fly was the Fruit Cocktail deer hair popper.

Keep it up out there you never know when or where you're going to get into good fish.

[Darian]

Pardon my ignorance but what is a Fruit Cocktail deer hair popper :?: Is that a reference to a color pattern :?:

[Spicytuna1]

Darian,

No problem at all it is in reference to the color but its a typical deer hair popper style fly rather than a deer hair diver style fly. It creates a little more comotion than the divers. I like the popper syle when there is more wind chop on the water.

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/6523/fruitcocktailbass.th.jpg (http://img826.imageshack.us/i/fruitcocktailbass.jpg/)

[Hairstacker]

Bill -- I think I like evenings best. Even though the time window is relatively short, I get pretty excited with anticipation when I'm out there just as the sun drops below the horizon and the water turns to glass, as I think that's an especially good time to get into a big one. I've noticed some of the big girls prefer to come out on the shallow flats to play at that time. I've also noticed the fish are particularly susceptible to a Tap's Bug deer hair popper.

With that said, I rarely get an opportunity to fish at that time and just go whenever I can. Fortunately, the Delta is kind of unique in its ability to provide great topwater fishing throughout a summer day, as opposed to many lakes that shut down after 9:00 a.m. until evening.

Darian -- the Fruit Cocktail is a specific-colored, rubber-legged deer hair bass popper originated by Dave Whitlock. This was my attempt to use the same colors in the same order to come up with a diver version without the rubber legs:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/DSCF1245.jpg

[Hairstacker]

Oops, sorry Spicytuna1, didn't realize you were posting at the same time.:oops:

[Spicytuna1]

No worries that was a little more detail than I could offer, good work.