CA Delta bassin'

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Tom

Tom

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I was a little concerned that the recent "big name" bass tournaments on the CA Delta might have depleted fish from their normal locations. I read/heard that 4,000 fish were taken from various areas of the Delta in one of the tournaments and all were "returned" to the water in a small area known as Frank's Tract. However, I suspected that the fish take was a small percentage of the total fish population.

This morning's fishing proved that there is no shortage of largemouth bass. I hooked and released a number of fish in areas a long way from where the tournament catch was released.

If you're not familiar with the area or the fishery, here are some of my prior writings:

Fishing the CA Delta

The CA Delta experience.

RV parks on the CA Delta.

Keep on bassin'
 
We met a guy at Lake Mead this winter whilst staying there. There was a bass tournament going on there....made for a quiet campground during the day but a bit noisy at 5 am. This guy made a living as a bass fisherman....enough of a living to buy a new $100,000 boat every 2 years. He was thinking about buying a motorhome to travel in....said his cabover camper was just getting too small. Who knew there was a great career to be had fishing/catching?
 
Wendy,

Most of the top notch bass fishermen/women don't pay for their own boats - they're provided and replaced by sponsors &/or won at tournaments. Pro fishing is a big money maker for the serious guys. Prize money at the smaller of the two local tournaments was $1M, although they did a good job of spreading the money around so it didn't all go to the top few.

Can you imagine paying $100K for a boat without a head/bathroom?
 
I sometimes wish I was good at it and that I'd gone into that 'line of work'  ;D
 
BTW Wendy, I should clarify that I didn't pay $100K for my bass boat, more like 1/10th of that. I also chose an aluminum hull because of the fragility of gel coat on fiberglass and knowing the environment in which I'd be fishing. Not as fancy, but functional. It gets abused and has some minor dings and scraped decals, but I'd be crying if this was a fiberglass boat.

Here's a photo Chris took of Jim Dick and yours truly coming back into port.

BTW I shopped and drooled for 5 or more years before buying that boat  ;D
 
Tom  In Illinois I have a find in the parks  field that fishes tournies in 5 or 6 states and in the past 4 years  addition to prize money, he has won 3 fishing boats completely rigged out  and he isn't a pro.  Just does it for the fun of it.  I wont get in the boat with him cuz its embarrassing for me.  I have trouble drowning the worms  LOL
 
He sounds like a serious amateur fisherman Shayne. Must be darned good if he's won 3 boats.

When Chris' Dad comes fishing with us, Chris has to put his worms or shrimp or whatever bait on the hook for him. When he catches a fish, one of us has to take it off the hook for him. One day while staying our place he was fishing on the dock behind the house. Figuring I'd better check on him, I looked out and saw him waving feverishly. When I went down to the dock he said he'd been waving for a very long time before getting my attention. His problem? He had a fish on and wanted me to unhook it  ;D
 
LOL  and he thought his Son-in-law was good for nothing  LOL  Yea my buddy takes his fishing pretty seriously.
 
Shayne,

I have to admit that bassin' is not my first choice of fishing. When I can get to good streams, I prefer to cast a fly to trout. When we go to the mountain lakes, I switch to my other RV and waddle around the lake tossing a fly.

But, since there's no good trout streams or lakes within several hours of here, I'll settle for what we have. Can't complain though because we get decent seasons of largemouth, black and striped bass, catfish and sturgeon. If we decide to head out the Golden Gate we can pick up salmon.
 
I just wish I could fish.  I told a guy one time that I was a lousy fishermand and brought bad luck to all around me.  He said Bull.  Well, fish biting like crazy in Carlyle Lake ILlinois and He insisted I go with him.  The commercial fishermen were having a field day.  So I unhooked our boat in the water and off we went .  Within 3 hrs he and all the fisherman were calling me a #@*&#@% Blact Cat and get off the Lake and never come back.  Hr and half after I left the fish were almost jumping into their boats.  So Now last year when I went back they wouldn't even let come to one of the fish frys. LOL I'm barred from the town and every time the have a bad day fishing my ears ring as the are yelling  the Dirty ()() Shayne must be around here some where.  So  as a fisherman I make a dang good ditch digger with a bad back LOL
 
The FLW Outdoors tournament from the California Delta is on TV today. There are several showings on FSBA, DTV channel 654, or search for 'FLW outdoors'.
 
Tom, when we went to M&G for the brake installation, we spent the night at the Athens Lake Marina and RV park.  It is next to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries facility where the lunker bass are taken to spawn.  Athens lake is loaded with big bass.  Walking along the shore behind the park restaurant revealed a lot of big bass in 1-2' of water.

You might stop there sometime and wet a line when you pass through Texas.

Don
 
Don, I chatted with a neighbor who fishes Athens Lake and he confirmed that the bass fishing is very good there.  It's also good at Cedar Creek just 20 miles away, and a much bigger lake.
 
I learned a few tips from the pros on the tournament during the show. Went out yesterday afternoon armed with my new knowledge and caught several large bass. Definitely more consistent results.
 
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