We fished the 1/2 mile stretch of water between the mouth of Potato Slough and the Mokelumne River with a clown colored Rat-L-Trap and a chrome/blue Rat-L-Trap. We had fished all but the last few feet of rip rap and managed to catch a few small largemouth and a 17 inch striped bass. On his final cast of the day, Jody suddenly had a big fish grab his Rat-L-Trap right at the boat.

As he reared back and set the hook, the fish made a run directly under the boat and straight for the big motor. Jody quickly jumped to the back of the boat and thrust the tip of his rod deep into the water in hopes the line would clear the propeller. The line passed under the motor and now the fish was heading for deep water, line screaming off his Curado baitcaster.

We spent the next 10 minutes chasing the fish on the trolling motor. Jody's light cranking rod with 10 pound test line was no match for the strength of the fish as it made run after run every time it neared the boat. The fish finally tired out and I gently eased our small bass net under the fish at it lay alongside the boat. It was in great shape, reasonably bright and weighed in at 14.2 pounds.

So enthused by his successful salmon fishing over the past two trips, Jody decided to fish the Sacramento River at Viera's Resort the following day. "I figured the smallmouth bite should be heating up there and I knew I would have a good chance of catching a salmon throwing crankbaits along the rocks," he explained. "When I arrived at the river, several boats were trolling throughout the area and I noticed most of the boats had a fish or two hanging on stringers."

Jordan started cranking the rip rap walls with crawdad colored Speed Traps and Hot Lips Express lures. "I caught several smallmouth in the 1 to 1-1/2 pound range during the first two hours," he said. "Most of the fish were holding tight to the rocks in 2 to 6 feet of water. When I noticed several trollers hit salmon along a short section of bank, I decided to move out into deeper water and troll a deep diving Hot Lips."

About 15 minutes into trolling, Jordan nailed a 15 pound salmon. "I was trolling on my electric trolling motor in about 15 feet of water 20 feet off the bank," he explained. I spent another hour or so in the same area, but didn't catch any more."

He did see another angler in a bass boat who stopped to ask him how he caught the salmon. When Jordan explained how he caught it, the angler rigged up a deep diving crankbait and nailed a 30 pounder not 50 yards from where Jordan caught his.

During the past week, it looks like the hot spots for Delta Salmon have been the Rio Vista area, the lower section of the Mokelumne River and the Sacramento River from the mouth to Courtland. The next time you're out on the Delta and the bass bite is tough, pick up that crankin' rod and head for one of these areas.