Delta Fishing Report

Do at Dockside Bait in Pittsburg said the triple-digit head has slowed down the number of fishermen interested in sitting on the anchor and broiling. The good news is the wind was down which is the reason for the heat but as fog moves into the bays the winds will ratchet back up. A few stripers in the 19 to 21-inch range have been landed on frozen shad or grass shrimp. The best sturgeon areas have been either Buoy 2 or in Broad Slough with private boats reporting a few fish on Friday 7-16.

Jay Sorensen of Jolly Jay’s Guide Service and long-time reporter for the Rio Vista News-Herald said there have been some larger stripers taken on the San Joaquin River on fresh or frozen shad. Chris Gulick of Eddo’s Boat Harbor landed a 38-inch/19-pound lineside on shad at the Stucco House in False River on the outgoing tide, and there have been some large fish taken outside off Eddo’s in the San Joaquin River on the outgoing tide, as well.

Stan “The Car Man” Koenigsberger went out for a few hours on Wednesday to try a new technique of drifting minnows in the San Joaquin River off of Three-Mile Slough, but he was unsuccessful. Perhaps he should book a trip with Bob Wright who has now taken the measure of blindfolding all passengers so they can’t identify his spots on the central Delta. I think he allows them to take off the blindfold, but I am not sure.

Hap’s Bait in Rio Vista has obtained some fresh shad, and this is news since there have been only a few pounds of fresh shad available for the past several months.

It's that time of year that we stow the keyboard and get serious about fishing. We are packing up the kids, extended family and friends and headed north to our vacation home on the Kenai peninsula for the next two weeks. This is our annual family trip that we look forward to all year in a place where they still value salmon and manage their fisheries for sustainability. (Cal fisheries managers could learn a lot by visiting) We will be targeting sockeye and kings in the local rivers, chasing halibut and lings in the salt, clamming along the local beaches and not typing reports (we have a no computer rule when in Alaska). We still have one week available in the cabin this season, August 22-29th and we are taking bookings for 2011.
Reports and updates will resume here on July 31st. In the time being please contact our sponsors or visit their websites for current reports, information and bookings. Many of them do have updated fishing reports.
Until then... good fishing!
Mike Aughney

Sturgeon fishing is the best option throughout the Delta, but there have been few anglers interested in chasing the diamondbacks during the summer heat. For some reason sturgeon fishing during the summer makes as much sense to anglers as would be duck hunting in July. If you aren't freezing your ass of in five layers of clothes it's not sturgeon time. Curtis Hayes at Benicia Bait said there were only 4 boats on the anchor at the Mothball Fleet on Tuesday 7-13. He recommended working the incoming tide for the best conditions since the wind and tide would be moving in the same direction. Grass shrimp, pile worms, and eel have been the top baits. He added that bank striper fishermen are just starting to pick up a few schoolie stripers.
Warren Howe at Bay Tackle said sturgeon fishing has been “wide open” near the Eckley Pier, Ozol Pier and Port Costa with ghost shrimp, pile worms or eel, since grass shrimp has been hard to obtain. The best action has been in the deeper water.
B and S Bait at McAvoy’s Harbor in Bay Point said a 29-inch striper was taken on a live splittail in the Big Cut. They have not got in on the fresh shad supply, but they have all of the other baits, including: bullheads, mudsuckers, ghost and grass shrimp, and pile worms.

CSPA, AquAlliance and CWIN Sue U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Today, AquAlliance, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and California Water Impact Network (CWIN) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). The action, filed in federal District Court, alleges the USBR failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the transfer and export of almost 400,000 acre-feet of Sacramento Valley water to subsidize urban sprawl and irrigate crops in the desert. The USBR issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and refused to conduct the required analysis under NEPA that would have analyzed and identified impacts and alternatives.
The proposed new water transfers come at a time when the fisheries and aquatic ecosystems of northern California rivers and the Delta estuary are in a state of collapse.
"The Bureau's fallacious claim that massive serial water transfers from the Sacramento Valley to irrigate the southern desert have no significant impact on the farms, communities, fish and wildlife of the Sacramento Valley and the Delta Estuary evidences either a breathtaking incompetence or a flagrant contempt for the law, the environment and the people of the Sacramento Valley and Delta," said CSPA executive director Bill Jennings. "We sue to compel compliance with that most basic of all environmental laws; i.e., the requirement to adequately analyze and disclose the impacts of a project," he said.
For more information contact Bill Jennings at the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance , 209-464-5067