Looking at a chart of the delta

[Matt Frey]

All this talk of BASS is making me want to explore the delta a bit in my float tube. I am not looking for anyone's secret spot. I have a very detailed chart, a delorme, and google earth ... I figured I could find a few places where I wont get run over by a boat!

I was wondering what sort of things i should be looking for. Depths, structure, etc ...

Still have to figure out how to spin and stack deer hair .. but thats for another day.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Matt

[JerryInLodi]

Matt, for your first tries you might want to launch at some of the marinas. Lots of structure, a safe place to park the car and a 5 mph limit. Take a look at Tower Park off Hwy 12. You can fish the rock wall on the west side for a mile! Also look at Paradise Point off Eight Mile Road. A very large marina at an intersection of Dissapointment Slough and Bishop Cut. Lots and lots of water with all kinds of delta structure.

[Matt Frey]

Thanks Jerry. I have a boat that I can stay on a little farther south of where you mentioned. It is a bit south of McDonald Island so I was thinking of exploring that area out of convenience. Maybe I will just try the area around that marina. Although, I dont recall ever seeing anyone fishing around there. What am I looking for? Should I just be trying my luck along the rock walls and the tules?
Anyways thanks again.
Matt

[JerryInLodi]

Yes to both, the rock walls and the tules. I talked to some bass fishermen today. They caught a number of males with worn tails showing that the nest building has begun. The fish are moving from the deep water to the shallows, about 3 feet deep at low water. While you may get some takes by fishing topwater, the water is a little cold right now for consistant action. Try subsurface with weedless woolly buggers or bluegill flies. Move them slowly near the bottom fished on a type III or IV sink tip.

I'm still fishing stripers and haven't really started working on the LMB but I will when the water temperatures climb to about 60 degrees.

[Matt Frey]

Thanks Jerry

[Mike McKenzie]

Matt,
If you are that far south in the Delta, You ought to check out Trapper Slough. No worries about gettin' run over by boaters also very little current to deal with and some of the best bass fishin' as anywhere on the delta..
Mike

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Hey Mike

Is Trapper Slough along Hwy 4 west of Stockton?

Is that the one people float tube?

[Matt Frey]

Sounds good Mike. I will have to check it out on a map. Thanks a lot.

[Mike McKenzie]

Bill,

Yep thats it. I started fly fishin' for bass there back in the mid 60's when you could launch a car top boat there off the hiway. It was a heck of a place back then for top water bassin' with 3-6 lb fish common. Then came the Hyacinth in the early 80's and choked up the place and changed the fishin' somewhat by makin' most of the water inaccessible. Times like now right after a pretty cold winter most of the Hyacinth is killed off and more water is available to fish, so it should be good till the summer growth covers it back up!

Mike

[Hairstacker]

No question Trapper Slough is one bassy-looking place and, like Mike said, you definitely won't have to worry about boats. If you study a good map, there is a road on the other side of the slough that runs parallel to Highway 4 -- you'll want to get on that road and park on it near or at the end before it curves away from the slough. It offers easy float tube access and gets you off of Highway 4 and all the cars/trucks buzzing past you.

With all that said, as bassy as it looks, Trapper Slough isn't a sure thing -- I fished it like crazy one day last summer around mid-morning in my kayak and actually got skunked. Of course, that could just be me, ha.