California Delta BASSMASTER

I started where those spinnerbait fish were, but the tide was way too high and I couldn't see the grass like I needed to see it. I went to the spawning area I'd found, and I was really surprised: only one boat was in there, but all the females had left. I stayed in there anyway, and caught the buck off the bed that had that big fish on it. I stayed in there about 3 hours and never caught another fish.

I was working two fish that I probably could have caught, but my partner was really getting upset with me and I don't like to do that -- that's a big reason I don't like fishing for spawning fish. So I ran back to the spinnerbait spot, but the wind died and it was slick calm. It wasn't spinnerbait weather. I really didn't have anything going after those spawning fish, and after those spinnerbait fish fell apart.

I didn't catch a whole bunch today. I had 4 bites and caught a pretty good fish on a spinnerbait, about a 6-7 pounder. Looks like bed-fishing will be important. The tide will be high in the morning, so I'll hold off and go to that big fish I found later, and hope no one's caught her. I'll fish that spinnerbait first. Everybody's talking like they'll whack them pretty good off the bed. Tomorrow will tell the story.

It was tougher for me today. I pitched a jig pretty much all day and had 5 bites. I set on two, and one was a 3-pounder and one maybe a 2 1/2. But I talked to a few guys who really found them today. Big ones too. One guy said he got 25-30 bites and could've caught 30 pounds. It's just a matter of running into them, I guess.

It cleared up and got cold, and now it's supposed to get overcast and rain, then get cold and clear up again. The surface temperature's dropping so that might hurt the fishing. Today it blew 15-20 all day long from the W/SW and it's supposed to do the same thing tomorrow. I chose the wrong area to fish today because of the wind. I got messed up.

I haven't seen that many boats so maybe I'm in the wrong areas (laughs). I think the fish are definitely in the backwaters, and I think you definitely have to cover a lot of ground. When you get in an area they're in, they're aggressive.

I'm undecided right now about what I'll do. I don't think I could catch a good stringer right now so I really need to find something else. I saw a few big fish on the bed, but I know everyone's seen them so getting them probably is the luck of the draw.

I have another area I've been looking at on the map that I haven't been to yet. I'll go in there tomorrow. I'm trying to stay relatively close to those spawning fish. I'm trying to find something else to fall back on if that area is too crowded, or if they're not in there or I can't catch them. I went west of it today, and I'll stay east of it tomorrow and try to find some more fish.

I didn't catch very much today -- a couple of 3-pounders and 4-5 smaller fish. I saw a giant on the bed. It looked to me like a 14-pounder. It was huge. I know it was over 12, and she had a 5-pound male with her. I saw several fish on the beds, but there's only about an hour when you can do that with the tides. It will probably play a major role anyway. I did find a dead-end canal that had some spawning fish in it -- 6-7 pairs. I don't know how many other people will see them, but I know 2 boats saw them. I'll look for that kind of stuff I guess.

I think it will take a lot of weight, the way these California guys talk, probably 17-18 pounds a day to be in the running. We will have a high outgoing tide and won't see low tide until about noon. When the tide is up you can't see the beds, so you have to remember where they were and pitch around there to try to get them to bite.

I've never fished here before. It's an interesting place to fish. It has a lot of cover, a lot of everything. If it wasn't 40 hours from my house, I'd probably enjoy fishing it (laughs). If you compare it to the Louisiana Delta, you can't run as far but there's a maze of canals and idle zones that can eat up a lot of time. But there's still a lot of water to fish.