Bass in the Canoe Today

Bass in the kayak yesterday and in the canoe today. No motor is required to fish in the Delta although it does help to have one.

The topwater bite was down from yesterday but we did get some to come up. We also got a striper to grab the minnow fly and got a couple of nice bass to bite the worm fly. One of the bass jumped a couple of times and spit out the worm fly before we could get him in the net. The other one was hooked well and not able to escape the net. No bird pictures today but I figured I would get a couple of fish pictures after not getting any yesterday. I also got a picture of the flies that got grabbed. That is how it went in the Delta today.

Stay positive, go fishing.

http://i.imgur.com/RFruCsR.jpg
Topwater fish

http://i.imgur.com/jJl7u19.jpg
Worm fly fish

http://i.imgur.com/HcF8XZW.jpg
Flies that worked today

Fine fish and photos John!

Years ago when I was the only person in the small fly shop I would tell new people that you need to put the spinning rod and golf clubs

away for a while and just go fly fishing as much as you can.


I use to tell people that about ever 6 trips out fly fishing you should get some action.

We tried to help people to be successful as much as possible.

We drew maps on brown paper bags and helped people with destinations, time of day, techniques and flies.


If you can afford it, get some FFing education and go out with guides before you spend money on more tackle.


If people did not have some success we would loose them.

____________________________________

Right now Andy Guibord @ Kiene's is probably one of the best guys to get next to so you can become a better fly fisher.

Andy has mentored hundreds of people over the years. He is an amazing, knowledgeable fly fisher.


Before he got a boat and started catching Stripers in the lower American river he spent ~10 year on the lower Yuba river.

He knows fly tying and the hatches better than most.

If you need help with straightening out your fly tackle or buying a new outfit I would go see Andy on the weekends.


He has fished all over the world too so he can outfit you for almost any destination.

He fished the Amazon for Peacocks, Alaska, New Zealand for big trout, the tropics for permit, bonefish and tarpon, plus Christmas Island.


He can pick the right rod, reel and line for you and put it together right.

I saw a guy in a boat who was a pretty serious gear striper fisherman. He had a topwater plug that was about the size of a '2x4'. He was trying to start fly fishing for stripers because he saw a fly guy catch a 42 pounder at the Toe Drain. The fly guy said he had caught 5 over 30 pounds in his life. Not a lot of fly guys with credentials like that. I am guessing he saw Mike Costello.

The gear guy said everybody told him if he wanted to learn to fly fish for them he needed to leave the gear rods at home. I told him a 42 pounder was unlikely coming his way on a fly rod and he should be prepared to be happy with a ten pounder.

30 years ago 40 pounders where not that rare in the Delta or lower American river.



20 years ago we had a lady walk into our shop and she showed us a picture of a 44#er she caught in the Delta on a fly.

It was her first day fly fishing for Stripers and I think she was with Mike Costello.



I did not land them but I believe I had two ~30#ers on in my life time. Both on flies with top guides.


Not exactly sure what happened but today a 10#er is a big deal and a 20#er is 'over the moon'.



50 years ago a guy brought a 54#er into the bait-n-tackle shop I work at in West Sacramento.

He won a boat, motor and trailer in a Striper Derby.

Speaking of big fish from the old days - I talked to a guy who had lived his whole life next to the Trask River in Tillamook, Oregon and he said he had caught two 50 pound salmon in his life but it would not happen again because they don't exist there anymore.

Yesterday I dropped my camera twice while taking a fish picture but both times I was able to grab it before it sunk out of sight. This motivated me to attach a float so I can now drop it all I want. The float fits in the case also which is nice. I had been resigned to the fact that I would someday drop the camera and lose it and that that was just the price of taking fish pictures. My friend told me adding a float might be a better plan than losing the camera. Seemed like solid wisdom so I did it.

http://i.imgur.com/KRwK61w.jpg

Man those are some nice largemouth you get in the delta John. I’ll occasionally hook some that big on clousers and poppers in our local sonoma co ponds but its a ton of 1-2 lbers in between you have to weed through. i should make the trip out to the delta. Sad to hear that about the Trask but not surprised, from my understanding even in AK chinook over 50 lbs are nowhere near as common as they once were. Tillamook is a place ive been intrigued about maybe moving to one day. Dont know if the winter SH is still decent on those rivers, but mostly for the cold weather. Also cool to see your camera set up

I like your floating rig!

J - There are big fish in the Delta but you have to spend some time on them especially if you want to get them on the fly rod. Look at the bass n fly results from last week on their Instagram and you can see what is reasonable to expect. Those guys are fly rodders who are pretty good bass anglers and know the Delta. They work hard for a full day of fishing in a nice boat and if two guys can combine to get five two-pounders they are pretty close to winning the event. Put in some time and expect to take plenty of lumps and get blown around by the wind.