Delta bass

[mar]

Tides looked good in the south delta yesterday so I went on a last-minute striper trip. First stop was a dinkfest.




Got buzzed by a few wakeboats so I bailed. Headed to a secluded slough and had the place to myself. Started chucking the little Kiene-purchased froggie and had a very nice topwater session.

The tiny one are fearless, attacking the frog violently:



Got some slightly bigger ones as well:






Missed some huge blow-ups and had some nicer fish on for a few seconds then popped off.
Then there was that one toilet-flush blow-up that almost made me soil my pants. I’m still thinking about that fish. I’ll be back…..

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Great post MAR......

I think the Delta fishes well for LMB/SMB in any warm month.

Your pictures are tops and very inspiring.

I love top water and I too like to use that Umpqua Swimming Frog.

[mar]

Thanks Bill. Might need to stop by the shop and pick up a few more frogs. I'd like to take credit for the pics but that's all due to a better camera i'm afraid. Learned a lot from all the fine pics posted by some fine photographers here. Having fun with that aspect of this crazy sport.

[TPO]

Thanks for the post and the great pictures. Glad to see you had a good day out. I was out there early Sat morning myself. I had high hopes after having a lot of hits the week before, but it was a bust for me. Pitched topwater, my own deer hair poppers/divers mostly, for a few hours for only one dink landed and no other hits. I tried subsurface for a little while too for nothing. Oh well, not sure why the bit was off for me but that's fishing. Still enjoyed getting out there.

Tom

[mar]

Got off work early and hit the evening topwater bite with the little one.
Got some really nice blow-ups on the swimming frog.

Little bass for the little dude:



Good eat at the edge of a weedline. I did the hooking, he took it the rest of the way:



Nice chunker to hand:



Can't get enough of the delta sunset:



What a kick-a$$ way to fish. I gots to do more of this.

[mar]

Some more Delta bass. North Delta smallies this time.
Cooler, clearer water. You can actually see these buggers come up from the depths and attack the frog kamikaze-style.

Some are dark-colored:



Some are lighter-skinned:



They eat the fly with gusto:



Not a bad way to spend a 'sick' day

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Very nice...thanks.

[TPO]

Nice fish, and nice photos. I've never fished for smallies in the Delta, or anywhere else for that matter. Looks like a great time, thanks for the post.

Tom

[mar]

Can’t tie a deerhair swimming frog to save my file. But I still want to catch some bass on topwater bugs of my own creation. Found some foamheads and gave it a shot. Tie on some fluff on the tail end, add a weed-guard and shove the foamhead on top.

Took it out for a spin and the bass seemed to approve.

Second cast and this little guy charged it after a couple of pops.




Got some slightly bigger ones:




This one really liked it:




A nice session with my ugly fly. Need to tie a few more.

[Darian]

Those are some good looking Smallies!! Ugly bug?? That's a great looking fly!!! I have a few of those myself. Charlie Bisharat designed a similar bug that Kiene's carries called the Bubbleicious(?). Now produced by Umpqua. I like the traditional deer hair heads but when they get soaked up, I switch to the foam heads, too.

Thanks for sharing....