This week, we are fishing the California Delta out of Sacramento. When I started researching this place, I noticed it bears a striking resemblance to the Sabine River system we fished earlier in the year. There is tons of fishable water in play this week, and there will be some big fish caught.
Unlike the Sabine, though, this place is the land of giants where any flip could be a legitimate 10-pounder — or bigger! It’s always exciting to fish somewhere like that.
I expect most of the fish here are going to be postspawn and they should be feeding up. With so much water in play, it is just as much about where you fish as what you fish with, but one pattern that will play a big role this week is flipping and pitching. The Delta is teeming with targets to flip a bait to with several types of grass, as well as laydowns, stumps and some man-made cover. All of them could be the deal; we’ll just have to wait and see how it shakes out.
I expect to see some big fish this week, and I hope I can be one of the ones fortunate enough to find a few of those giants that live here.
I’ll start practice with two flipping setups rigged and ready. First, I’ll have an MHX-FS-904 rigged with 20-pound Vicious fluorocarbon for my lightweight flipping setup for flipping at wood and normal bank stuff. Second, I’ll have an MHX-FP-936 rigged with 65-pound Vicious braid and a big weight for punching matted grass in the Delta.
I will try a lot of different lures and, because this is my first event in California, I want to go in without any preconceived notions on what should work. At this point there’s no telling what lures will end up being tied onto my Mustad Grip Pin Max flipping hooks by the time the tournament comes around.
The bottom of my boat will probably end up looking like a mini tackle shop by the end of practice on Wednesday, but hopefully I can narrow it down to the key lures and narrow down this maze of water to the most productive areas.
That’s what it is all about, right?