Been fishing the Delta for a few seasons now and I'm still figuring out the best pattern this time of year. Water temps are warming up but we're not quite into the full post-spawn period yet.

Welcome to the boards!! If you want to keep it simple, it would be tough to beat a wacky rigged senko flipped along the tules and weedl ines. Be sure to post pics of your catches in the latest catch thread in the fish reports forum!

similar answer. I think Senko, weightless, rigged TX works better for me. it darts thru the weeds all sexy like.

and this time of year, best to have a drop shot with something like a lizard ready.

This time of year I would start with moving water and cover that gives you two chances, first females sliding up and second fish already easing back out. A weightless Senko absolutely plays, but I would not make that the whole plan. Keep a bladed jig or swim jig for active fish around tules and outside weed edges, then slow down with a wacky or Texas-rigged stick worm when you get a follow or miss. One thing I'd watch for is tide, because the same stretch can look alive on one swing and dead two hours later. Are you fishing mostly lower-water current windows, or more protected cleaner water?

Senko, definitely but don't count out flipping jigs with craw trailer!

Long live the Delta Rats!!!

Weightless Senkos are always a top option on the Delta all year. You need something weighted in the neighborhood of 3/8 to half for high tidal coefficients. I have a red bladed jig specifically for March, April, and some of May. I use to throw a jerk bait a lot this time of year, but my aging hands prefer that I didn’t. Sometimes I will switch out the Senko for a fluke, either weightless t-rig or nose hooked if I am wacky rigging.

my friend just got an 8 punching.

fish in the mornings or evenings. Frogs are awesome at this time. Topwater anything really.

California routinely stocks thousands of catchable rainbow trout into lakes that also contain aggressive bass populations. This overlap acts as a natural feeding cycle, fueling the growth of massive largemouth and striped bass.

The intentional introduction of large "swimbaits" by anglers to mimic these stocked trout revolutionized bass fishing in California."

Bass fishermen have long noted that in California the state regularly dumps fingerling trout into reservoirs with genetically modified bass waiting to feed on them. Quite often as the trucks are opening up their valves to dump those trout into various waters the bass are trained to it and arrive and start their feeding frenzy as the trout are being dumped into a reservoir sometimes.

The bass out there are trained repetitively to slam fingerling trout.

And so many bass fisherman duplicate this by using trout swimbaits. Good luck!

OP

Search on here for posts of a long time member WRB who unfortunately just recently passed.

He’s was a true master of the waters over there.

There were none better

Mike

Nobody is stocking the California Delta w trout. Just saying.

However, my bud annihilated them on a buzz bait yesterday. It’s fishing really good now. But as a kayaker I cannot handle the winds.