camman

Yup just drive and pull over anywhere that looks good.

Same issue and found the best solution for me was to put a small magnet in the compartment and all the tiny hooks stick to the magnet and won’t migrate around.

Never heard anything like that before on the Delta…first guess would’ve been the otter, second maybe a sealion?

I use to throw a bass jig for them and actually do pretty well in Newport Harbor around the docks. I like a 1/4 oz jig with a big skirt and use a Berkeley Gulp shrimp for a trailer. I make my own jigs so like a big profile to slow the rate of fall. I will toss them around the docks and just let them slowly fall and get bit. As mentioned above I normally get more numbers by drop shotting eel grass patches over fishing a jig/swimbait/jerkbait

I've used Robo 6" Sculpins drop shotting in Newport Harbor for Spotties/Sandies before. I would get bit like crazy when they were nose hooked, but couldn't hook up. I switched to a texas rig drop shot and had no problem catching them. If I recall since they are relatively soft, each bait would only last for a fish or two.

You looking to get a charter or hop on a 1/2 day sport boat? What harbor are you looking to depart out of? If up out of Ventura County I used Calico Hunter Charter years ago…though not sure if they are still in business as this was probably my 15 years ago

You will be surprised how many areas have been "Stocked" by someone. Back where I grew up a water catchment pond was created by the County. Probably a year after it filled, my buddy and I were driving by and there as a guy tossing in fish over the fence into it. Maybe a few years later, my buddy and I hopped the fence to fish it, and caught a number of bass and bluegill out of there.

Its literally a film across the top of the water. I wouldn't swim in it for sure.

That and Clear Lake.... I moved from SoCal to Norcal back in 2009 and still feel like a rooking on the Delta.

For numbers I throw a lipless crank or jerks or…for size I’ll toss bigger swim baits or lrge top waters

Honestly I’m surprised they kept it out of there (at least detectable) for so long with it in Pyramid

I have a 7ft Daiwa Ardito rod as well. I also travel a little for work and found being a 3-piece it does not fit in my normal suitcase which I like to take. It will fit in a larger one but that is more of a pain to take. If you are planning to fly with it, I’d look more towards a 4-piece to fit in your luggage unless you don’t mind hand carrying it.

Yeah Disco is a good place to fish with the endless docks. In the Winter time the Stripers come in and if the birds are around its game on. My buddy and I had an epic day in there a few years ago and found a large group of stripers in the 5-10lb range. I think in 2 hours we had 10 fish over 5lbs and he had big fish at 16lbs. I'm sure Mossdale has some spots but again I'm not too knowledgeable. The one nice thing about Mossdale is that its usually not as crowded as the other places on the weekend. Orwood and Disco Bay get packed on the weekends during the summer, if you hit the weekends go early. If you can, try and hit those during the week and its empty. Lazy M usually isn't too bad on the weekends thats why I usually will launch here. I've never launched out of Tracy Oasis.

I would say the easiest place to launch and be relatively close to fishable water is Disco Bay. It’s $10 to launch and you can drive up and launch then go park your car. You can fish all the docks or go out and paddle out towards Old River as well. It’s nice as if the wind picks up the, the bay provides a lot of cover. I launch my boat out of Lazy M though I don’t think the water by the launch is that productive so you will need to paddle a good distance. Same with Mossdale, I have not found that many good spots except for some big schools of schoolie stripers

Lafayette reservoir is a great little lake but gets a lot of pressure. I’ve taken my kayak a number of times as well as rented a boat and brought my own trolling motor and battery. I’ve never fished it from shore so can’t comment though notice most people hitting up the docks. Since it gets a lot of pressure I normally use 4-6lb test on my spinning and 8lb on my casting. The most consistent baits for me were dropshotting a 4.5” Robo in Aaron’s Magic or tossing a 5” Senko in Green Pumpkin. As you know the reed line is the most predominant cover and that’s where I would fish. I remember the longer casts the better and get the bait right to the reeds. Once the summer progresses the submerged weed line becomes visible I’ve caught a few on a chatter bait on the edges and I think I’ve had 1 frog fish. My biggest fish I’ve caught there was a 10lb catfish which hit a senko. As I think about it, I’ve actually caught a fair number of catfish out of there on plastics. My biggest bass was a 6lber and I did see a guy pull a 11.5 lb one out of there on a swim bait so I know bigger ones exist.

I agree it seems to reduce line twist some but not a game changer IMO. I basically use these almost exclusively for dropshotting….I actually prefer a normal drop shot hook as I tie one palomar knot vs two for the spinshot, but I found probably 30 packs of the spinshot on clearance for $0.50 each a d couldn’t resist

Not surprising with the time of year….I’ve had some days out there where its all the 1-2lbers you want and your kicker is 3lbs. I’ve also tried to find bigger ones and blanked and gone back for the numbers game. Maybe a few times have we found a decent school of 3-5lbers. I remember one area on the Old River we had 6 fish over 5lbs in a 50 yard stretch. Probably the best 45 minutes I’ve had in terms of bigger fish

Lucky Craft 1.5

yup talk to the tackle shop now and they should be able to point you in the right direction on whats working. Its been years since I've fished DVL, but I remember doing decent in the Southwest corner of the lake as well as along the dam dropshotting and tossing a topwater in the morning.

I keep 3 on deck, everything else is put away. 1 - Square Bill 2 - Senko 3 - Chatterbait or SwimJig

Bladed swimjig

I’ve used the VMC Weedless Wacky hooks and not a fan, as I’ve had some issues with hook ups. I do use their Neko Weedless hooks and like those for fishing wacky rigs

Sorry not an expert here as I've only been up there once for a weekend a few years ago. We did well on topwaters early in the morning and in the evenings in the back of coves. As the sun came up we were able to graph fish around some of the submerged trees and would get fish to bite jigging a spoon. I would say a bulk of our fish came on drop shotting Roboworms, if I remember it was a certain depth off of areas with rock.

Its been years (probably 20+ years) since I've fished Elizabeth, Quail, and Hughes....Back then if I recalled they stocked trout into Elizabeth and Hughes...and wasn't really that worth it IMO. Quail I think I caught my first Striper there but again not much. I've fished Pyramid, Silverwood, and Perris from a boat...I'd say Silverwood is probably the nicest, though I've done pretty good at Pyramid on both Largemouth and Stripers. Off the top of my head other lakes which you can add are Big Bear, Puddingstone, Skinner...as well as the large number of urban lakes like Legg, Santa Fe, Macarthur Park, Hansen, El Dorado, Echo Park, and a lot more. Casitas use to by my old home lake so I've fished that place a lot...its a shame to see what the water levels are like now. Also use to fish Piru a lot but haven't been back since the Quagga showed up.

California gave the 2nd Rod option as a way to make more money....Its an extra $16 bucks and only works for inland waters.