We were trolling the mouth of Indian Slough and Kellogg Creek around 4 p.m. when my Loomis rod jolted towards the water and line began ripping off the Shimano line counter reel. I grabbed the rod, rushed to the back of the boat and held on. The 20 pound test line kept screaming off the reel, with no sign of stopping when suddenly my line went limp.

"I hate to tell you this, but you just lost a very large fish," said Ray Tomlinson as he checked the line. "The fish probably snapped the line with its gill cover as it rolled over."

The South Delta is known for the huge stripers that move into the area as the shad congregate during the late fall and winter months. For example, Tomlinson had had a great trip the week before. Ken Hattori of the Boat Dock and Marvin Guigneaux of Discovery Bay landed a 34 pound striped bass, 2 stripers in the 9-1/2 pound range, one 7 pounder and 2 in the 3 to 4 pound range while fishing with Tomlinson.

However, a big cold front had moved through the day before we fished, causing a dramatic drop in water temperature from 61 to 56 degrees. "Never fish on the backside of a front," Chuck Dunham of Sacramento once advised me - and I can't ever recall when this advice hasn't proved absolutely right.

Tomlinson, Sellars, McCorquodale and I met in Tomlinson's house and then got on his boat, an 18 foot custom outfitted pontoon boat, to the "hot spot," hoping to make the best of tough fishing conditions. When Tomlinson originally moved into Discovery Bay in the South Delta three years ago, he had little knowledge that he had moved to one of the best striper holding areas in the Delta.

"It's hard to explain to anyone who hasn't experienced it what it is to leave your house any time you want and fish for big stripers. "Before I moved here, I had still planned to go out on the Mokelumne River, but I've been sticking to the South Delta since I moved here."

As we began trolling broken back Rebels and pink and green tails for the stripers from his boat, Tomlinson explained that trolling should be good until the water goes into the low fifties. The fish begin moving into Discovery Bay in late October and fishing continues to be productive through March.

"The two hottest months for size and numbers of fish are February and March, when the stripers are fattening up just before they spawn," he stated. "We often catch 15 to 30 fish in a few hours of fishing."

After about 30 minutes of unproductive trolling, McCorquodale hooked up the first fish of the day, a big one that ripped off lots of line before it came off. Sellars hooked and landed the first fish, followed by another 8 pounder. "This is a hot color pattern," Sellars explained as he put his purple and green Rebel back into the water.

McCorquodale hooked up the second fish of the day, landing this one, another beautiful, shiny 8 pound fish. After an hour with no more bites, we took a lunch break at Tomlinson's house at 11 a.m. and then resumed fishing in the afternoon.

I finally managed to a land a quality striper, as well as lose the monster fish and one smaller striper during the afternoon session. We ended up hooking 10 fish, landing a total of five fish to 8-1/2 pounds. "It was better than I expected, since the bait and fish have scattered since the storm," explained Tomlinson. The fish weren't very aggressive, as evidenced by the numerous missed "slaps" on our lures.

When the water temperatures taper off during the winter, live bait fishing with live jumbo minnows, bluegill and mudsuckers becomes a popular method, according to Tomlinson. Vertical jigging is also an effective technique for coaxing South Delta stripers, particularly around bridges.Good lures to use include Gibbs Minnows, Horizon Pirk Minnows, Hopkin's Spoons and Nordic Spoons in shad patterns.

Besides the Discovery Bay area, other good areas to fish for stripers in the South Delta this time of year include the Orwood Railroad Bridge area on Old River, Columbia Cut at the end of Latham Slough, the wall where Indian Slough breaks off Old River, Old River north of Italian Slough and the Clifton Court Forebay area, according to Sellars.

Sellars' favorite method of striper fishing in spring and fall is tossing out 1/4 to 3/4 ounce hair jigs and gitzits. He likes to fish the center of a river channel between two berms or above the berms, where the fish stack up. "It's the same principle that I use in bait fishing; you anchor on the edge of the berm facing downwards in the direction that the tide and current are running," he said.

Stripers are just one of the many species of gamefish that anglers pursue year round in Discovery Bay and other South Delta waters. Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, sturgeon, channel catfish, white catfish, bluegill and crappie are also abundant throughout the South Delta.

For example, one angler caught several big crappie while trolling small Rebels in the bay on the day we fished. Chris Anderson of Benicia also caught and released eight largemouths in the 3-1/2 to 5 pound range while fishing shad pattern flies in Discovery Bay on November 24.

For guided South Delta fishing trips, call Ray Tomlinson of Ray's Guide Service, (925) 634-4409. Fishing information is available at Fisherman's Warehouse in Manteca, (209) 239-2248, The Chandlery in Discovery Bay, (925) 634-6178, and Del's Boat Harbor in Tracy, (209) 835-8365.

Other charter boat services fishing the Delta include: The Fish Hookers Sportfishing, (916) 777-6498; Fin Addict Sportfishing (209) 367-HOOK; Steelie Dan's Guide Service, (916) 684-7148; Sacramento Sport Fishing (800) 344-4871; and S & C Guide Service, (925) 625-8718.