Bassing The San Joaquin Delta   By: Cal Kellogg August 10, 2006 More Articles by Cal

Bass anglers that were around in the 80’s remember the television shows. You know, the host looked to be about 6’6”, with a full beard, big stomach, patch covered shirt, and a man size hunk of Redman bulging his cheek.

“Howdy folks, I’m Deke Buckskin,” he’d drawl. “Today on Fishing the Bayou we’ll be traveling to eastern Mississippi to fish the Achahulaconda River at its junction with Quicksand Swamp. We’re gonna be flipping 10 inch Wiggly Toad Crawworms on 30 pound monofilament. The water is stained (looks like pure mud…) so I’ll be putting a glass bead behind the sinker to make a little extra noise.” Before you know it ‘ol Deke flips his bait into a tangle of tulles, moss, and sticks, heaves back on the rod with all his might, and quickly drags 6 pound largemouth to the side of his boat.

Man, when I was growing up I loved watching those shows, but there was a problem. I’m from California and we have a surprising lack of swamps out here. All the bass fishing I did was at lakes that had no weed, very little wood, and bordered on being crystal clear. I spent most of my time throwing grubs and 4 inch worms on 6 pound line. To me, a big bait was a 6 inch curly tail worm!

When I was a kid I used to dream of traveling to the southeast to sample the bass fishing available in the cover chocked waters I’d seen on T.V. Well, I still have not made it back east, but I did get to fish the type of water that I’d long been dreaming of last week in the south delta.

The delta represents one of the most remarkable fisheries in the lower 48, boasting more than 1,000 miles of waterways, and an array of gamefish including white sturgeon, striped bass, black bass, crappie, bluegill, and channel cats. As you can image, due to it’s large size the face of the delta varies with location, but generalizations can be drawn. The northwest delta is centered around the Sacramento River and is known as the Sacramento Delta. This area is known for it’s big water, heavy current and big fish. There are black bass and other warm water species in this section of the delta, but it’s the sturgeon and stripers that draw most of the attention here.

The southwestern section of the delta is formed around the San Joaquin River and is properly called the San Joaquin Delta. This half of the delta features less big water and less current. The San Joaquin Delta is made up of a myriad of small sloughs dotted with all manner of cover including tulles, weeds, pilings, fallen trees, small islands and sunken barges. Due to past levee breaks there are flooded islands that feature shallow lake like waters punctuated with stumps from old orchards, fence lines, submerged irrigation canals and other unique features.

In this part of the delta black bass and other warm water species are the main attraction. Sure there are stripers to be had, but most of the anglers you see on the San Joaquin side on any given day will be chasing black bass or catfish, this is especially true in waters east of Franks Tract.

I’ve done a fair amount of fishing in the Sacramento Delta over the years, mainly while chasing stripers and sturgeon. Up until last week I’d spent little time fishing the San Joaquin Delta. I’d only targeted black bass on the San Joaquin side once and that was from the bank.

On Thursday March 23, I got the opportunity to target black bass in the San Joaquin delta with one of the region’s best black bass guides, Randy Pringle of The Fishing Instructor Guide Service. Like other knowledgeable delta black bass guides Pringle stays pretty busy, so we planned our trip for the afternoon after Pringle got finished fishing with a client.

Around 2 o’clock Pringle pulled up to the boat ramp at Ladd’s Marina in his white bass boat. After exchanging introductions, I stowed my camera bag and we cruised out of marina and down the San Joaquin River toward Turner Cut. We hadn’t gone far when we came to an ancient sunken barge with a pair of houseboats lashed to its backside. The houseboats were the residence of a delta old timer named Dave. The barge offered the bass a thousand hiding places. Pringle started off flipping and pitching a Gulp creature bait, while I slowly worked a weightless 6 inch Texas rigged Gulp worm. “I haven’t hit this spot so far this season,” related Pringle as we probed the barge. “I hope we can find some active fish. The cold unstable weather we’ve been having is making things tough. A couple days ago the action was pretty good. Then this front moved in and things slowed down.”

We spent about 30 minutes fishing the barge. Pringle had a couple hits, but couldn’t make a connection, so we headed down river through Turner and Empire Cuts on our way toward flooded Mildred Island. When we stopped at an area outside the island a small largemouth inhaled my worm and we had the first fish of the afternoon. Once we arrived at Mildred Island the wind started blowing and the sun went behind the clouds. Pringle maneuvered us behind some large islands to escape the wind. For the rest of the afternoon and into the evening we alternated between throwing worms, Persuader spinnerbaits, Persuader jigs and Strike King crankbaits. Pringle nailed a small bass on a spinnerbait, while I missed a couple strikes on the worm. It was nearly dark when Pringle nailed our biggest bass of the day, a 2.5 pounder that grabbed a black and blue jig tipped with a Persuader Craw Claw trailer.

Pringle is a talented and knowledgeable guide with a patient relaxed attitude that makes him a good teacher. “When I take out a client of course I want them to catch fish, but I also want them to learn a skill or technique that will make them a better angler,” related Pringle.

As we fished I asked Pringle to speak about the habits of the bass and the most effective approaches to use throughout the year. “Lets start with the winter,” said Pringle. “In the winter the bass will usually be holding outside the weeds in water as deep as 20 feet. Winter fishing can be very good, but you’ve got to work very slowly. The bass will be lethargic and won’t chase the bait very far. Bass feed less in the winter and the period of time that they feed becomes very short, so you’ve got to be patient. Jigs and worms are good choices during the winter. A suspending rip often works well for me. I like to work them in about 6 feet of water, making only small twitches and letting the bait set for several seconds at a time.”

“When the water gets into the mid 50’s and low 60’s during the spring the fishing can be really fun as the bass move toward spawning habitat,” continued Pringle. “Temperature is important during the spring. Equally as important is the weather. To have a really consistent bite the weather must be stable. The weather we’ve had so far this March with one or two warms day followed by several cold rainy days represent the worst possible spring situation because it never allows the fish to get into a routine. When it is warm they move up. Then a cold front comes through, the water temperature drops and the bass move deeper again.”

During the spring, reaction baits like spinnerbaits, jerkbait, and crankbaits produce well during periods of relatively warm stable weather when the water temperature is above 58 degrees. When dealing with spring cold fronts, slow down and revert back to probing the outside edge of cover with jigs and worms. “In the spring delta bass tend to be spread across depth ranges. In a lake a lot of the bass will spawn at the same time and relate to fairly uniform depths. In the delta the spawn is more prolonged. In a single day of fishing between April and June it is very possible to catch, prespawn, spawn and post spawn fish,” tipped Pringle.

If there is one thing that black bass fishing in the delta is synonymous with it’s frog fishing, so I asked Pringle when the summer topwater action kicks in? “Shoot, you can catch bass on frogs all year long to some extent, but the best frog action takes place when the water temperature hits its peaks in August and September. In the summer bass behave a lot like people. We don’t like to stand out in the sun. If given a choice we’d much prefer to set in the shade of a beach umbrella. Well the bass are the same way. Their umbrellas are the mats of weeds and moss that form around shoreline cover. They’ll lie under those mats and wait to ambush anything that comes within range. When your frog swims over them they pounce,” exclaimed Pringle.

Fall maybe the most exciting time for targeting delta bass. The post spawn doldrums and the dog days of summer are a distant memory. Cool crisp nights drop the water temperature and instinctively the bas know that the shortening days mean winter is soon to arrive. The bass react by coming out from beneath the weeds to feed heavily before cold temperatures slow things down. Top water baits such as Persuader single and double prop buzz baits draw violent strikes from these aggressive fall bass. When top water baits fail to produce spinnerbaits and crankbaits are also great fall choices. As fall progress and water temperatures drop an ever slowing presentation is required.

Matching the speed of your presentation with the activity level of the bass is one of the keys to success during both the fall and spring seasons.

San Joaquin Delta Facts

Location: Mildred Island is located west of the city of Stockton. The area around the flooded island features a number of medium to small sloughs the most prominent of which are the Old River and the Middle River. All these waterways provide prime habitat for bass and other warm water species.

Camping and Lodging: Motels and R.V. camping facilities are available in Stockton and Lodi. For information contact the Stockton Chamber of Commerce, (209) 547-2770, or the California Delta Chamber, (916) 777-5007.

Boat Launching: Ladd’s Stockton Marina, (209) 477-9521; Turner Cut Resort, (209) 465-4129; River Point Landing, (888) 550-4144.

Fishing Information: Hook, Line and Sinker, (925) 625-2441; Extreme Outdoorsman, (925) 679-3115; Valley Bait and Tackle, (209) 367-4516.

Bass Fishing Guides: Randy Pringle, The Fishing Instructor Guide Service, (209) 499-3341; Bobby Barrack, Back To Class Guide Service, (925) 684-9904; Don Paganelli, Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience, (916) 427-0374.