When it comes to delta striper fishing, Rio Vista, the quaint old city on the Sacramento River, is ground zero. The Rio Vista Bass Derby is not only the Golden State’s oldest fishing tournament. For many anglers, particularly those that spend their days plying delta waters, a win in the heralded Rio Vista Derby is the California fishing scene’s most prestigious title.

Going into this years sixty-first annual derby, clients fishing with delta icon, Captain Barry Canevaro of Fish Hookers Sportfishing had claimed the tournament title twice, so it really doesn’t come as a big surprise that Eileen Brown of Isleton, fishing on Barry’s boat the Fish ‘N’ Fool IV, took top honors in the 2008 derby with her 32 inch 13.10 pound striper, adding another highlight to Canevaro’s already impressive delta resume.

“Winning the derby is so exciting,” exclaimed Eileen. “I’ve fished in the derby a bunch of times, but I don’t usually have much luck. In fact up until this year I’d never caught a fish while competing in the derby.”

“The bass hit shad and I could tell right away that it was a good fish. It made a strong run with the bait and put up a great fight. At one point it headed for the tules and I was really scared that it was going to hang up on a submerged log or tree branch,” she explained.

Barry measured the fish four different times, and it measured 32 inches matching the target length for the derby. “However, the excitement didn’t really hit me until the fish registered 32 inches at the official weigh in station in Rio Vista,” said Eileen.

Conditions during all three days of this year’s derby were tough with strong winds that hit 40 miles per hour at times. With his four decades of experience fishing delta waters the conditions really played into Canevaro’s hands. Most areas of the delta were rendered unfishable, but his knowledge of delta waters allowed him to locate a fishable area that held a concentration of quality fish.

I touched bases with Canevaro a number of times in the week leading up to the derby. My plan was to start the derby by exploring the upper end of Montezuma Slough and Nurse Slough, while fishing from my Willie Predator with my good friend Jim English. Canevaro’s strategy was to start out in Suisun Slough. The night before the derby I told Canevaro that I’d give him a call if I encountered good fishing and he said he’d do the same.

Jim and I had no problem finding fish, but we did have a great deal of trouble finding bass holding in a spot that we could fish effectively in the howling wind. Around lunchtime on Friday, October 10 I got a call from Canevaro.

Barry told me that he’d located a sheltered bank next to a 5 foot deep sand bar bordered by a shelf that fell into deep water. He related that one of his clients had nailed a 32 incher, matching the derbies target length.

As it turned out Canevaro was only about a half mile away from the area where Jim and I were trying our hand at trolling with shallow running Yo-Zuris. Having trolled for over an hour without results, we wasted no time motoring down Montezuma to Canevaro’s location.

The spot provided good protection from the strengthening north wind, so I pulled the Willie into the tules about 100 yards from Canevaro, pitched out the anchor and we got our four rods into the water. Three of them sported shad, while one was baited with a frisky live bullhead.

Within minutes I caught a shaker and Jimmy got a bite that also appeared to be the work of an undersize bass, emphasis on the word “appeared.” When Jimmy set the hook, his rod doubled over and it was obvious that he was into a good fish. After a spirited fight, Jim brought the bass to the net and the tape revealed that it was 28 inches long.

We were just about to put the bass in the cooler when Canevaro pulled up beside us and announced that he was going to troll his way back up Montezuma and then head for his slip in the Pittsburg Marina. But before he left he wanted me to take a photo of Eileen and her striper for the Fish Sniffer.

Within an hour of Canevaro’s departure, Jimmy and I boated and released stripers measuring 27, 26 and 25 inches. Clearly this was the spot where we were going to spend the night! Just before sundown, Canevaro called me on the phone and announced that three 32 inch fish had been weighed in, but that Eileen’s bass was in the lead, since it had the heaviest weight at 13.10 pounds.

The question was whether or not someone would catch a heavier fish during the next 40 plus hours. Little did I know that my boat would end up making a serious run at the 32 inch mark.

After a delicious dinner of barbequed steak, potatoes and carrots, Jim and I settled in for a long night of fishing. We had steady action all night long, catching shakers, keepers and a couple large catfish, but none of our bass were over 25 inches.

Just after sunrise on Saturday, we motored down to the Montezuma Slough launch ramp and pick up my dad who’d driven down from Auburn to join Jimmy and I for the day. With the wind still blowing and our options somewhat limited we headed right back to our honey hole and pitched out our rods once again.

We’d been chatting and watching our rods for about 30 minutes when a fish took off with one of Jimmy’s shad baits on a clicker screaming run. Jim grabbed the rod, set the hook and passed the rod to my dad. Dad told Jimmy to fight the fish, but Jimmy wasn’t about to take no for an answer.

The striper was hot, making several runs and boiling to the surface multiple times. The fish appeared to be in the 30 inch class and once I scooped it into the net we all realized that it was going to be very close to the magic 32 inch mark. A careful measurement revealed that the bass was 31 inches long exactly. We’d come up an inch short!

By the time we called it a day at 2:30 Saturday afternoon we had 4 stripers in the box measuring from 25 to 31 inches and the three of us had caught an even dozen keepers. While we didn’t place in the derby, we’d done very well despite the horrific windy conditions.

Everyone at Fish Sniffer headquarters sends out their sincere congratulations to both Eileen and Barry on a job well done!