Delta bass

[Darian]

ssy,.... You can buy Rainy's Foam Diver Bodies from The Fly Shop in Redding or other Internet websites (there're several). If you're in the Sacramento area, you could have Kiene's order them for you. Kiene's carries Rainy's foam products. If in an other area, try your local fly shop.

[mar]

Darian was kind enough to let me field test his black foam-head diver. I finally got a chance to take it out for a spin this morning. Short 1-hr north delta smallie session before going to work.
Third cast into the drift, nice blow-up but no hook-up. Things are looking good. Further downstream, a small lmb hammered it. Next cast, it was this smallie’s turn:


On to the next rockwall. Only had one blow-up and I expertly missed the hookset. At the end of the drift, I noticed some commotion on the opposite side and I thought it was an otter. It turned out to be a fish feeding on small baitfish right up against the rocks. Side-arm cast into the overhanging branch and the diver gently landed right up against the rocks. A couple of pops and it got blasted.
My biggest smallie so far:



A nice session with the ‘DuB’ (Darian’s ugly Bug)
Thanks again Darian!

[Darian]

Hey Mar, you da man!!! Those're some good looking smallies.... The "Dub"!!! Good name for that bug. Glad it worked so well for you....

ps: Forgot to mention that when retrieved with the tip of the pole in the water and a short, snappy retrieve, da Dub will walk the dog....

[mar]

I had the pleasure of fishing with another board member TPO a few weeks back. He was kind enough to let me take a couple of his beautifully-crafted bass bugs after our nice fishing session. I fished one of the bugs in the south delta and had some success. Got a few smaller lmb's early in the day.

Fished waters like this:



The calmness and silence were interrupted by the awesome gurgling sound of TPO's bug. This fish attacked from an angle, blasting the bug and launching itself a foot off the water. What an awesome take.

4.5lbs on the boga:



TPO's beautiful bug:



Thanks again Tom! I might be begging you for another one

[TPO]

Mar, great post, and great fish! That 4.5 lb'er is a beaut! I was out last weekend in my float tube and the fish were active on top. I caught four in a few early morning hours but nothing of any size. I've caught some fish in the past on the pattern you used above, basically a sculpin shaped head (broad, fairly flat) with some red in it and a rabbit strip tail. I have it in brown/tan, green, and olive. It's more of a slider pattern, it doesn't move water like a popper or diver but the fish seem to like it just fine. Thanks again for the kind comments about the flies, I get a kick out of tying and its great to see they worked for you. Keep the posts and pictures coming!

Tom

[Darian]

Beautiful photo's. You're really catchin' 'em. I gotta get back out there. I sure do like a good looking deer hair bug. My only objection to 'em is that that soak up too much water and become submarines. I'm still gonna use 'em tho.

[Spicytuna1]

Got out for an hour or so Friday night. Had a Dan Le Count huge streamer pattern still on my intermediate rod from a trip with him a few weeks back and decided to see what what would eat it. I went 1 for 2 in an hour on the water and was very happy with the result even though it was not on top.

[Darian]

Kinda looks like a Sculpin pattern you were using. Must've been just what the doctor ordered.... Good looking Bass. Keep those reports/photo's coming....