March 27, 2009 at the California Delta. It was a warm early spring day. The 4th day in a row with no wind and temps in the mid 70's. Ideal conditions for catching a big Delta bass. I stayed in the south end and targeted both pre-spawn fish, as well as bass just moving up to make their nests. The first bass in the video was caught on a snag proof frog. Notice, I am fishing a dead end slough. Because of the lack of current, Delta bass will use these sloughs in the spring to spawn. The next spot was very similar to the first, but this time a 1/2 ounce flipping jig, with a sweet beaver trailer did the trick. The last fish in the video was a 7 pound monster, caught on an injected Lunker Punker Jr. This pre-spawn bass was chilling right around the corner from a big protected bay. I landed another nice 5.5 pounder this day, but unfortunately the video camera turned off, and I didn't capture the footage. Had about 25 pounds for my best 5 fish. Not a bad day since I only had 6 bites all day. |
Lures used in this video
December 8, 2008, an awesome day of striper fishing out on the California Delta. My friend David and I launched out of Orowood Marina. It was a cold foggy morning and fish everywhere seemed to be in a feeding frenzy. If you look closely you will notice birds diving everywhere while I caught the first striper on a fish trap swimbait. We stayed in the southern part of the Delta, and the next spot we stopped at was stacked with stripers. We timed it perfect and arrived just as the tide was beginning to come in. Throwing poppers and Lunker Punkers we caught lots of fish in the 8-15 pound range. David caught his personal best that day, which he was pretty excited about. The largest one I hooked was close to 20 pounds. Unfortunately the big fish broke my line because I forgot to retie. This was the last time I ever used mono with the Lunker Punker for stripers. I switched to 65lb braid the very next trip, and I have never gone back. Only when fishing really clear water with very little cover, I will use the 20lb mono. What a day to remember. Sure glad I brought the video camera, and I have to give props to David for grabbing the camera at just the right time in order to capture the footage of the stripers hitting those topwater baits. |
Lures used in this video
October 14-15, 2008, a two day adventure out on the California Delta. We were right in the middle of a heat wave with temperatures near 100 degrees. The first day I launched the boat out of Rivers End Marina at around 2pm. I stayed nearby and fished around Widow Island. The stripers were keying into the areas with lots of current. Lucky Craft LV500 worked well, and allowed me to cover a lot of water. Once the sun went down a bit, there were a few nice shadows of the water. Using a Lunker Punker I caught a healthy 4lb. largemouth in one of these shade pockets. The next day I went out west and fished the Big Break area. The morning was slow, but as soon as the tide started pushing in at around 1pm, I found an active school of stripers. The action was fast, but short lived. I caught about a dozen fish in an hour period on white hair jigs with a 7in ribbon tail worm as a trailer. Things slowed down a bit right before I picked up a couple friends from the boat ramp. We were hoping to get back into them right when we got out there, but that wasn't the case. Finally right as the sun began setting behind Mt. Diablo, a few schoolie sized fish started chasing our topwater baits. Definitely a good time out on the River. |
Lures used in this video
September 20, 2008 in the San Francisco Bay (San Rafael). Good friend Paul Wolter and I have been striper fishing this area since we were 14 out of his small fiberglass boat and my zodic raft. Paul moved out to Florida about 8 years ago to experience some new fishing, and was excited to come back out here and hook into a few stripers. The days are few and far between when you can get a bass boat out on the bay. The whole day the wind never kicked up, and the low cloud cover kept the bite consistent. I was surprised to see the first fish was a halibut. Of the hundred of stripers we have caught throughout the years here, we have only caught a couple incidental halibut. This trip alone we ended up with three of them. Hair Jigs, Fishtrap Swimbaits, and Rat-L-Traps accounted for all of our fish. Towards the end of the video we are fishing right behind San Quentin Prison. At 7:00 if you listen carefully you will hear the prisoners chanting. |
Lures used in this video
2-29-08 Clear Lake Bass Caught on a Weed Slinger The Clear Lake hitch is a common baitfish which bass feed on heavily, especialy in early spring before bass start to spawn. Because of their size, 6 to 8 inches long, larger swimbaits like the weedslinger resemble the hitch quite well. The weedless design allows this swimbait to be retrieved through the tules without getting hung up.  |
When the sun gets high and the wind lies down, bass often go search for shade. At ClearLake docks are the obvious form of shade, but often over looked are the thousands of flooded trees. Many of these trees have an under cut bank beneath the roots which supply an excellent form of shade on the hot calm days. Dead sticking top water baits is a great way to catch bass in these conditions.  |
Another short clip of a Clear Lake bass smashing a wakebait. With the combination of the hot weather and stained water, those bass were sitting really shallow up against the trees. |
3-22-08 Clear Lake Bass Caught on a Weedslinger |
2-29-08 Clear Lake Bass Caught on a Bass Trix The basstrix hollow bodied swimbait has been one of the hottest lures to hit the market in the last several years. A big part of this lures success is due to the fact that you can easily vary the amount of weight and the way it is rigged, making it a very versatile bait. In this video I'm using a 5in blue herring basstrix, rigged with a 5/0, 1/8 ounce weighted Falcon hook.  |
Clear Lake Bass Caught on a 7" AC Minnow April is a great month to start throwing wakebaits on Clear Lake. Here I am throwing a 7" AC Minnow between the docks in Holliday Harbor. Bass move back into these harbors and sloughs as the water starts to warm up in the spring. Because these areas are protected from the wind, it makes it a prime location for bass to spawn.  |
