A Summertime Option: Topwater Bass in the Southeastern Delta

flies flies
YOU NEED ARMORED FLIES TO SURVIVE THE ROUGH DELTA ENVIRONMENT. ON THIS BALSAWOOD POPPER, NOTICE THE HEAVY STEEL HOOK AND 30-POUND MONO WEED GUARD. THE TAIL INCLUDES HEAVY, THICK HACKLE. THE BODY IS COATED WITH EPOXY, AND THE TIGHTLY TIED THREAD WRAPS ARE COATED WITH CEMENT.

I’ve fished the southeastern part of the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta near Stockton for over thirty years, and I’ve found that fishing the twisting side channels and structures there is a great way to target of bass on a fly rod. This is urban fishing, not fishing in a pristine wilderness. Stockton is on the west side of the Central Valley, with Interstate 5 cutting through it. When on the water, you can often hear freeway noise rumbling in the background. Stockton is also a major shipping port, with large vessels that slowly pass in the main part of the river, but the side channels are filled with boats, docks, and covered boathouses — all prime bass habitat. It’s true that you can encounter homeless camps and litter dumps along the banks in some spots, but I always find someplace to cast a fly, hoping for a fish. Along the shoreline at any given location, you might find sailing clubs, duck clubs, a golf course, downtown buildings, and big cargo ships moored to tall piers.

Getting there is easy: just take Interstate 5 to Stockton and then March Lane to the Buckley Cove Boat Launch. The California Delta is a huge place, with twelve hundred miles of shoreline, and as with the rest of the Delta, a boat will maximize your ability to find fish.* I mostly avoid fishing the main river, with its big ships, and travel up the many narrower channels, where there’s less wind, the water tends to be clearer, and I know from past fishing where productive structure is to be found. That means I can get newbies into fish. The southeastern Delta is a great place to take someone who’s new to fly fishing for bass.

It’s true that the farther you go up the smaller waterways that flow into the San Joaquin River, the more junk you will encounter — shopping carts, old boats, garbage, and the presence of the homeless population — and all that can be heavy on your eyes. If you can deal with it, though, you can locate fish in this apparent wasteland. Sometimes, hefty bass are found amid the trash.

It’s during the long summer days of July and August, with their friendly morning temperatures before the onset of the day’s heat, that my largemouth bass game goes into high gear in the southeastern Delta. When planning for an outing, the first thing I do is make sure I’m prepared. Each night after work, I tie some sturdy, durable flies, so when I’m on the water, I’m not worried about losing a few. I also clean my fly lines, lay out my leaders, and retie my knots. I would hate to lose the bass of a lifetime by not being prepared.

For a fly rod on these waters, I generally prefer a 9-foot 8-weight loaded with a heavy-headed floating bass line. As an alternative, short rods help cast heavy, wind-resistant flies, but for hanging bass on a balsawood popper, a 7-weight 9-foot rod gives me a lot of pleasure. I use a leader of 6 to 7 feet. Twisted monofilament leaders — basically, heavyweight furled leaders — are great for turning over flies, but the Delta’s mossy weeds bond to them like a nail to a magnet, so a simple leader in level 15-to-20-pound mono gets the job done. Sometimes I change to a shorter leader, based on missed strikes. If I don’t get a good hook set or start missing fish, I shorten leader a foot at a time. I will also sometimes let the bass take the fly down and count one-thousand-and-one before setting the hook, which can help secure the fish. In really heavy cover, I might tie on 30-pound mono. I don’t want to lose that big hog when the opportunity comes around.

structure
EXAMPLES OF THE BASS-HOLDING STRUCTURE FOUND IN THE SOUTHEASTERN DELTA. YOU’LL OFTEN BE FISHING IN A RELATIVELY URBAN SETTING.

Your f lies need to be strong and durable. Some days, the bite could last only 45 minutes to an hour, so you don’t want to be tying on a new fly after every fish or because the fly is waterlogged and sinking. I’ve been fishing with a friend who had purchased high-volume, low-cost production flies only to find out that after a few casts and a bass or two, the fly would come apart. If you tie your own flies, use top-quality materials. Deer-hair divers tied with tightly packed hair heads will hold up to casting into rocks, weeds, and wood, and they don’t fall apart after several fish. Poppers need to be carved out of a lightweight, dense material such as balsawood and coated with a strong epoxy. For tails, a strong feather such as Whiting’s American rooster hackle will last cast after cast. It’s always good to use cement between every step when tying in each material. I use a combination of Shoe Goop and Softex.

Tides are important. I avoid very low, dropping tides as well as very high tides. High tides mean that whether you’re fishing a popper or a sunk fly, you’re probably presenting the fly above the structure where f ish are holding. On the other hand, during a very low tide, the fish push out to deeper water, and again, they are less likely to take a top-water fly.

Fishing should be fun, and I like to be comfortable. I look forward to summer, because you can get by with shorts and T-shirt. I believe that if you are comfortable, the fish probably are, as well.

Getting out early in the cooler summer mornings is a plus for comfort. Launching in the early darkness is best. (I stay away on nights with a beaming full moon.) In the summertime, I usually launch before sunrise, fish the morning bite, and am back at the ramp by 10:00 a.m. I like to fish the shoreline in the main river channel early, before major boat and ship traffic starts, when all you might encounter is the Stockton Rowing Club, and then work an incoming tide up the river. I use the flow of the tide or current for propulsion. I’m just moving with the tide, keeping the boat aligned with the shore using the trolling motor.

author
THE AUTHOR WITH AN IMPRESSIVE SOUTHEAST DELTA LARGEMOUTH BASS.

To find fish, study the shoreline on an extremely low tide and make notes. Look for fallen trees, pilings, weeds — and people’s junk. There is a good chance that where you caught a fish the last time, a fish will be in the same location the next time. Bass love a good hideout. Boathouses, docks, and large old boats are great places to target for slinging flies. Some old dusty, crusty houseboats look like they have been stuck there for years. People are still living in them, and I’ve even had one guy stick his head out a porthole and check out my catch. When fishing among these structures, it helps if you know how to maneuver well with a trolling motor. Just when you think you are lined up for the perfect cast, the boat’s position might be shifted unexpectedly by the current and even a slight breeze.

Also cast into cover such as weed beds and the open areas in the weeds.

Let the fly sit for as long as the rings are visible, then give the fly a slight twitch and hold on for a grab. It might be an explosion or a large “chug” sound. Sometimes, though, you don’t see the strike. Many times, I have been trying to control the trolling motor while looking down the bank and managing my fly line when a bass hit the fly. Staying in the game is what will put more bass on the line. Soft and late strikes won’t set the hook in Mr. Bucketmouth.

One of the best features of the southeastern Delta is that it offers so many places to fish. It may be an urban setting, but the multiple channels and all the boats, docks, and other artificial structures provide plenty of places to find fish.

As the sun rises, you can target the shadowed side of the bank. As the sun rises higher in the morning, you can fish the shade provided by docks, trees, and other structures on west-to-east channels. If you fish for bass and believe that the point of fishing is catching fish, then give the southeast Delta a try.