Short days, cold temperatures, fog, wind, and rain won’t stop the hard-core fly fisher from chasing striped bass in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. During winter days, you can fish from sunup to sunset and not even see clear daylight. Fog can move in and out, making you feel like you’re in a bad horror movie. Water can go from clear, deep, and dark to muddy brown soup. Weed clusters move up and down the river in large clumps like floating islands. The colder it gets, the slower the fishing. There have been days when I arrived at the launch ramp with the temperature on my truck’s instrument display reading 30 degrees and my tires sliding on a thin layer of ice as I tried to back down the ramp. Yet none of this keeps me away. I would rather be facing conditions like these than stay at home and wonder if the day was worth the effort to be on the water.
Weather and Tides
For me, winter fishing starts the weekend before Thanksgiving and ends in March. Outside temperatures dropping into the 60-degree range and slow-moving clouds are the signals to begin to get on the water and fish.
I always look ahead a few days before considering a Delta fishing adventure. The main factors I consult are the weather forecast and the tides. I stay away from days when the barometer will be dropping fast, which shuts down the fishing. Windy days also are a problem. A bluebird day in the winter usually brings wind and the sunlight drives fish to hold deeper, especially in clear water. In addition, even a powerful trolling motor can’t keep your boat from being pushed out of position by a steady winter breeze. Another weather variable is rain, which can blow out and muddy up the whole Delta system, though rain also can bring good fishing, if it is not too heavy (look for farmer’s pumps that are draining water out of their fields). You just have to adapt to the conditions.
Throughout the Delta, tides push bait around, and the striped bass take advantage of the opportunity to feed, but fishing the tides deep in the Delta can be different from fishing the tides close to San Francisco Bay. There are two huge pumps in the Delta on Old River, and are located near the city of Tracy. The flows in the Middle River and Old River can be altered by these pumps, creating unnatural tidal flows. When there’s a high incoming tide, the massive gates are open, and water is sucked into a large lake, then transferred down the California Aqueduct to Southern California. On an outgoing tide, however, the water can be reversed, with the gates open and the flow going upriver and not down.
The resulting tides may be unnatural, but they still create opportunities for the angler, moving water in and out of all the cuts and tracts. When moving water pushes baitfish in and out of structure and holding areas, it’s striped bass feeding time. Small worms and bugs blowing out into the river bring small feeding baitfish, and the striped bass follow, ready to take a fly. Fly patterns tied in bright pinks, purples, or the opposite, plain black, work really well. On cold days, when the fish are less willing grab a fly, the tides caused by the pumps can make for good fishing and have saved many outings.
When heavy rains hits the Central Valley, large amounts of water flow into the whole Delta system. In the past few years, so much water has been coming downriver that boating has been limited in the affected rivers, and you really need to fish the Delta from a boat, so you need to know the current conditions in any given waterway. To cope with the muddy water that the winter rains bring, I fish dark-colored flies — purples and blacks. Big, bulky Clousers with rattles are a good option, because they push water and can be sensed by a striped bass’s lateral lines, even if the fish can’t see the fly. (See the sidebar for the pattern.) Fishing muddy water is hard, but there is just no way around it at this time of year, and sometimes it pays off.
Where to Start
Because water clarity and water temperature can vary from place to place, I like to pick a launching site where I have options to move between river systems. Tide flows and the time of day are factors in picking what river and what locations to fish. Water temperatures can be in the range of 50 degrees and lower, and as I motor from location to location, I use my boat’s electronics to keep me informed about the water temperature. When a reading is in the 40-degree range, the bite can shut down entirely, but just a degree or two warmer can make all the difference, so you always need to be checking it.
A good starting point can be on Old River in the west, or up in the Stockton area. I feel that the best all-around option is Bethel Island. After launching there, you can fish the San Joaquin, Old, Middle, and Sacramento Rivers without a long, cold boat ride. I fish different kinds of water in the morning, the early afternoon, and the late afternoon.
A couple of places where I like to launch are Sugar Barge Marina and Holland Riverside Marina. The Sugar Barge is located on Bethel Island (1440 Sugar Barge Road, [925] 684-9332, https://sugarbarge.com), and after launching from there, I quickly can be fishing Frank’s Tract, the Old and Middle Rivers, the San Joaquin River, and the Sacramento River. When I want to fish the Old and Middle River in the southern Delta, I launch at Holland Riverside Marina, which is in the Holland Tract. (7000 Holland Tract Road, Brentwood, [925] 684-3667, https://www.hollandriverside.com). There are also many more launch ramps in the area.
Tactics and Tackle
Early in the day, I fish shallow water dropping to deeper depths, as well as cuts and currents that come together and make for soft water flows. This is the hardest part of the day. It’s just the plain truth that the bites will be few and far between, threatening a skunking. But perseverance can pay off.
In the early afternoon, the water warms up, and so does the fishing, provided that the currents are not too strong or too weak. This is the time of day when I run and gun up and down the river, hitting my favorite spots and fishing weed lines. In shallow water, one to three feet deep, I fish streamers on a clear intermediate line. In water three to six feet deep, I switch to an intermediate line that is integrated with a 30-foot Type 3 head (which sinks 3 inches per second); this length of head facilitates long casts when I need them. Depths beyond six feet or so call for an intermediate line integrated a 30-foot Type 6 head (which sinks 6 inches per second). Density-compensated lines are a must, with good running lines for all the stripping you will be doing. Winter makes for cold, wet hands, and you cannot have the running line slipping out of your fingers. The key is full control of your line, and contact with the fly as you retrieve it is just as important as casting the fly.
You will be on a rocking boat, moving in the river current, and fighting some wind. A balanced rod-and-line combination is a must — it needs to be able to cast a heavy Clouser-type fly. My favorite rod is an 8-weight. For fishing in the early afternoon, I always have three rods rigged up, one with an intermediate line, one with the Type 3 head, and one with the Type 6 head. For a leader, you can choose a specialty Striped Bass tapered leader, but in reality, five or six feet of straight monofilament in the 15-to-20pound-test range is all you need. I always buy brand-name mono in a fly shop or a sporting goods store, so I know it’s fresh. When fishing, always check your leader for abrasions and cuts, and it is good practice to replace the leader after a number of days.
Later in the day, as the sun goes down, things start to cool off in more ways than one. To the west, Mount Diablo looks dark and cold as the light begins to fade. The wind bites a little harder, and the water looks deep, dark, and cold, too. I still want that one last bite, though, and in the late afternoon, a good plan is to fish your way back to wherever you launched. Fishing in the dark isn’t recommended, but the opportunity to get that last grab is worth the effort. Some of the best action can be an hour or so before sunset. Fishing shallow weed lines and drop-offs where the current slows down is a good way to find waiting fish. Scoping out these locations earlier in the day helps. Keep handy two freshly rigged rods, one with the Type 3 head, and one with the clear intermediate line. The bite can last only a few minutes, so by the time you rerig a rod, it could be all over.
I always say that the day that you did not go fishing is a day you don’t get back to fish. This is truer than ever in the winter. So even if I can get out for a just a few hours, I want at least to have a shot at a fish or two. The California Delta gives me a chance to feel a grab and land a feisty striper. When that happens, however cold and foggy it may be, the winter conditions don’t matter.
The Flashtail Rattle Clouser
Bob Clouser’s baitfish imitation is justly famous, having taken almost every species of fish that swims, but for fishing in the conditions of the California Delta, there are improvements that make it even more effective. The addition of a flashtail, developed by Dan Blanton for his Flashtail Whistler and other flies, helps it get seen, and a rattle helps a striped bass find it in the winter Delta’s muddy waters.
Materials
Hook: 3/0 heavy-gauge jig style
Thread: Flat waxed nylon, white for the body, red for “gills”
Flashtail: Pearl Flashabou
Eyes: 7/32-inch chrome/red barbells
Rattle: 5-millimeter Pyrex glass
Rattle sack: Nylon or Mylar
Underwing: White Slinky Fibre
Overwing: Light gray Slinky Fibre topped with hot pink Flash ’n’ Slinky
Epoxy head: Gorilla five-minute epoxy
Optional: Softex cement for tail and rattle tie-in points
Notes on Tying
The advantage of a jig-style hook is the hook point rides up when weighted with heavy barbell eyes, and my catch rate has increased when fishing this style hook. Use a jig hook made from heavy-gauge wire, which means you will also need a tying vise capable of holding the hook without motion. Tying in materials with tight thread wraps is key, and if the hook is moving the tie-in won’t be tight.
Start by laying a thread base with a large saltwater thread. Danville flat wax nylon is my choice. Next comes the Flashabou. I like to add support by applying an inch of Softex to the Flashabou after the back of the hook to stiffen it and help prevent fouling. Next, tie in the eyes. After the eyes, tie in the rattle. The second advantage to a jig hook is I can bury a fish-attracting rattle on the “top” side of the hook when the fly is hook-tip up.
With most high-quality jig hooks in the size of 3/0, there is still enough gape for a good hook set even with a rattle in place. I first tie in the rear side of the tubing for the rattle, then add the rattle and tie in front end of the “sack” directly behind the eyes, placing a small amount of cement at the rattle’s front and back to keep it in place.
Finish the fly by adding the underwing and overwing, When tying in the overwing you can get a larger profile by tying in at the right side of the shank, then doubling over the material to the left in a V shape, pulled back over the hook point. Finally, harden the head with epoxy.
Fishing Tips
When retrieving this fly, the colder the water, the slower the pause-and-strips should be. Keeping in touch with the fly and feeling the line is the key. Keep the rod tip down to detect every little tick, stop, and a slight pull, because strike detection can be a problem in cold and muddy water. When you are getting soft strikes, try trimming the length of the fly — many times, I have trimmed the wing material down just short of the hook.
You can tell if you’ve been missing soft strikes because when a fish inhales the fly and spits it out, the wing gets pushed around the hook point. I call this “geeking the fly.” On many cold winter days, I have cast the fly, let it fall, and felt nothing at all, but on inspecting the fly discovered that the winging material has been altered and pushed over the hook point. That tells me that there are fish down there and that I have to be more attentive to get a good hook set. Maintaining direct contact with the fly helps, as does setting the hook whenever something feels different in the retrieve. Sometimes just blindly setting the hook on a hope is all you need.
— Ben Byng
