Jay’s Delta Fishing 05/09/18 Courtesy of the River News Herald and Ceci Giacoma
DELTA
The spring striped bass action is in full swing, especially on the San Joaquin River where good numbers of fish averaging 5 to 6 pounds are being caught trolling. Some of the best action is taking place off the Old River Flats, mouth of the Old River and the Peacock off the berms near Bradford Island. The best lure is the deep and shallow running Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows with a white worm trailer. Finding the school is the secret and when you do the action is non-stop. Most of the fish are males yet to spawn. Striped bass showing on the Sacramento River off Decker Island, the Old Dairy and the West Bank with Yo-Zuris on the troll working best. The sturgeon fishing is still good off the Mothball Fleet and the Pittsburg area. Some six pack guides experiencing 8 to 10 hookups daily using salmon roe, eel strips and the basic shrimp baits. If interested in striped bass fishing now is the time to venture out on the Delta waterways.
American shad making an appearance in the Sacramento River. In the Freeport area shoreline anglers are casting Shad Darts or pink/champagne curly tailed grubs on a drop-shot rig.
LAKE CAMANCHE
Trout limits have been the rule for experienced trollers. The best lure continues to be the Speedy Shiner at depths to 25 feet. The best action is taking place near the dam. Largemouth bass are available. Most are moving into shallower water on their spawning beds.
AMERICAN RIVER
American shad making an appearance in the system along with some striped bass. The action should improve on both species as we move into the month of May.
FEATHER RIVER
American shad and striped bass showing in the Thermolito Forebay. The river is running shallow and if you consider fishing the area you might want to use a jet boat up past Boyd’s Pump due to the low water conditions
SAN FRANCISCO BAY
The potluck fishing out on San Francisco Bay has been solid for halibut and striped bass. Most of the party boats out of Berkeley are putting their clients into some quality halibut along with good numbers of striped bass while drifting live anchovies off the Berkeley Flats and Angel Island.
OCEAN
The rockfish and lingcod fishing has been excellent off the coast of California. Most part boats skippers putting their clients over limits of rockfish and some quality lingcod to 16 pounds, up to an occasional fish going 20 pounds. The salmon fishing has been hit or miss with the best location out of Half Moon bay where Capt. Dennis Baxter of the new Captain Pete putting his 15 passengers onto 13 salmon south of Pigeon point. There are signs of life on the salmon fishing scene. Over on Monterey Bay it was reported that they had three hook-ups on salmon but all were lost at the boat by a group of hungry sea lions. If you are into whale watching, now is the time to go. The bay houses good numbers of the huge mammals.
SAN LUIS RESERVOIR
Anglers are casting lures from the shoreline in the early mornings when the top action is taking place for striped bass. Tossing big topwater lures such as the Dunker’s Magnum Flukes or Big hammer swimsuits working well. This next week the local bait shops will be receiving shipments of live jumbo minnows which are an excellent bait for striped bass. The stripers are scattered throughout the im-poundment with water levels dropping to 87 percent of capacity.
LAKE AMADOR
The trout fishing still remains good, especially for shoreline anglers near the launch ramp. Tossing Berkley Power Bait working best. Trollers dragging Rapalas are taking a few nice rainbows in the dam area. As an option you have some of the best largemouth bass and cat fishing taking place there as well.
LAKE PARDEE
Trout plants totaling 1,000 pounds are being placed into the impoundment every Friday. The best fishing has been up the river arm. The bass fishing is best in the river with plastics on the drop shot or jigs. Pardee has risen back to 100 percent of capacity.
Until next tide stay safe along with good fishing.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.”
… Aristotle
JAY’S BEST BETS
Amador Lake – trout, catfish,largemouth bass
American River – striped bass, American shad
Feather River – American shad, striped bass
Camanche Reservoir – trout, largemouth bass, crappie
San Pablo Bay: striped bass, sturgeon
Montezuma Slough – sturgeon
Ocean- Dungeness crab, lingcod, rockfish, salmon
Sacramento River – striped bass, sturgeon
San Francisco Bay – leopard shark, halibut, striped bass
San Joaquin River – striped Bass, sturgeon, largemouth bass
UPCOMING EVENTS
KOKANEE POWER WHISKEYTOWN LAKE TEAM CLASSIC
June 9, 2018 – Big trout, kokanee along with some awesome prizes and a free dinner!
For more information call Gary Coe at (916) 985-4943.
Take time to enjoy the great outdoors. Stay safe to fish another day. Until next tide good fishing.
COMMERCIAL SALMON FISHING SEASON OPENS OFF THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA
The commercial salmon fishing season opener took place out of Monterey on Tuesday, May 1 for only a 7-day season.
The commercial salmon fishing season above Pigeon Point will take place on June 19 and will run through June 30, 2018 for only a 12-day season. This reduction in the commercial as well as the sport fishing season announced on April 10 amounts to cuts of about a third for the sport fishing season and over half of the commercial fishing season, compared to a regular season. The drastic deductions are due to relatively few adult Sacramento Basin fall run salmon, which constrains the season this year. That forecast comes from the National Marine Fisheries Service based on a weighted return of subadult salmon to the Sacramento Valley in 2017. The number of adult Sacramento River salmon the ocean are believed to be fewer because of an estimated 95 to 98 percent of the natural spawned eggs died in overheated river beds during the drought in 2015. This left very few surviving
natural origin baby salmon that year. Those adults would have returned this year as adults. This year you will notice a significant price increase at the local marketplace and restaurants.
NUTRIA SPOTTED ON DELTA ISLAND
Full-grown nutria weigh about 20 pounds and have the
appearance of a beaver except that they do not have a flat tail,
the tail is thin and rat-like. They are extremely prolific and can
become pregnant within 48 hours after giving birth. Nutria give
birth to twelve or more per litter.
Invasive specie poses critical threat to levees, ag economy and ecosystem. A nutria, an invasive species from South America was found dead on Roberts island west of Stockton several weeks ago. The 2 1/2 foot long, 15 to 20 pound mammal that looks like a beaver but is smaller and has a rat-like tail and white whiskers was spotted on Andreas Island between Andreas Cove marina and Easy C marina on Brannan Island Levee Road by a berther as he was leaving for work early in the morning last week. The incident was reported to Basil Rudnick owner/operator of Andreas Cove Marina. The biggest problem with Nutria is that they destroy vegetation and undermine delta levees by burrowing under them. Tim Pelican, the San Joaquin County Agricultural Commissioner said, “ we certainly don’t want them digging into the levees, even though they look like a beaver or a muskrat, they don’t build dens. They are burrowers.”Sightings have been reported in 5 counties that include Sacramento, Stanislaus, Fresno, Merced and San Joaquin County. With the new nutria sightings state officials are asking for help and have set up a hotline at: (866) 440-9350. The public is asked to reporting nutria findings by calling the hotline. The last thing we want is people killing them and disposing of them. The authorities want to know where they are a located. “We want people,
if they see something out there, we want to know about it.”
CDFW NEWS
FILLMORE TROUT HATCHERY TEMPORARILY CLOSED TO PUBLIC FOR SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW) Fillmore Trout Hatchery in eastern Ventura County will be closed to the public approximately four months beginning May 4, while the facility undergoes maintenance and repairs. All of the rainbow trout normally raised at the Fillmore Trout Hatchery have been moved to the Mojave River Hatchery in San Bernardino County to accommodate the necessary work.
The Mojave River Hatchery underwent extensive maintenance and upgrades in 2017 and is now open to the public. The hatchery is again growing and stocking trout to approved waters in Southern California. With the Mojave River Hatchery back online, trout production and distribution is forecast to improve significantly for Southern California in 2018. It is now the Fillmore Trout Hatchery’s turn for facilities work and the Mojave River Hatchery has adequate room to raise fish for the Fillmore Trout Hatchery for the next few months.
As with the Mojave River Hatchery, the maintenance scheduled for the Fillmore Trout Hatchery will result in increased efficiencies and better trout production. The Fillmore Trout Hatchery has been in service to the public for 78 years. The maintenance and repairs scheduled include improving capability of the aeration tower, pressure washing and epoxy coating of the rearing ponds, plumbing upgrades, water and electrical use efficiencies, enhanced public outreach and educational materials for visitors and grounds work.
During the closure, Fillmore Trout Hatchery staff will perform maintenance and repairs to the raceways, buildings and equipment. Once the repair projects are complete, the hatchery will begin to receive fish and will again open to the public. CDFW estimates reopening in September or October.
