When the phone rang at o’dark thirty in the morning I sprang out of bed as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on me, “Crap! Sorry! I didn’t even hear the alarm clocks! Give me 30 minutes; I’ll call you on the way”!

The first mistake was not getting my stuff together the night before. The second mistake was convincing myself that if by some act of God I ever did actually fall asleep, there would be any chance at all that I’d wake up in less than 2 hours. …continue reading Delta, Spring is in the air

October, November, and December have got to be my favorite and busiest months here in the Bay Area, at least from a fishing perspective. My favorite fishing happens this time of year on my favorite waters and when the local conditions continue to be as good as they’ve been this year, I once again find the Delta taking front stage. This past Saturday was Dan Blanton’s annual fund raiser on the delta, Striperfest 2007. …continue reading Delta, Striperfest Weekend

Saturday morning was slow to say the least. The only fish I was able to find were most likely the same school of dinks that Al & I had found 2 weeks prior in the West Delta but unlike that day these guys were all sitting on the bottom and it took a lot of coaxing (fly changes & variations in retrieve) to even get a few of them to grab. They weren’t hungry, and they weren’t big, so I moved on. …continue reading Delta, Solo

My Oregon buddy Al was scheduled to be in the Bay Area for a few days on business and after hearing last weekend’s fishing report he decided to pack a few fly rods and extend his trip through the weekend to join me on the Delta. The early morning’s drive over is still a bit of a haze as is the actual launching of the boat in the dark. I think the moment I actually awoke for the day came as I returned from parking the truck & trailer to hear one of my favorite sounds coming from out in the slough, SMACK! As I approached the launch, …continue reading Delta with Al

Earlier in the week Jose and I’d decided to fish the surf together this weekend. Making an early morning run to the beach Saturday morning would leave plenty of time to hit a beach or two, hopefully get into a few fish, and get home at a decent hour, leaving all day Sunday to take care of the pile of “responsibilities” that had stacked up over the past few weeks. When Jose called me Friday evening …continue reading Delta with Jose March 2007

Brandon made a comment years ago while talking about Largemouth Bass, “If you want to catch bigger fish, use bigger flies”, simple enough. Well, with the cold water and slowed fish metabolisms this time of year you need to tempt them with a mouthful worth moving for. This means big flies. And like Brandon had said, the results typically mean “BIG fish”! …continue reading Delta, Solo

My co-worker, Jeff, joined me for a day on the water for his first shot at our West Coast’s Morone Saxatilis and it didn’t take long at all before his 9wt was buckled over and thumping with the weight of his first Delta Striper! …continue reading Delta with Jeff

Finally, the week’s end and I was able to get back for two more days. Best of all, I’d managed to talk Lee Haskin into joining me for one of them! The water temperatures had plummeted 6 degrees since last weekend and were currently ranging between 48 and 51. Not good. …continue reading Delta with Lee Haskin

Brandon had to cancel his annual trip down this weekend from Seattle, something about a mortgage, bills, responsibilities… yeah, yeah… what ever. So I downgraded the RV reservations from the big Mallard to the smaller 5th wheel and headed over to the Delta for a solo trip. …continue reading Delta, Sweet 16!

The Delta’s Fall and Winter striper season started this month and though there hasn’t been a lot of fish in the system yet, there’s been enough action between baby stripers, large mouths, a few nice stipers, and one particulary HUGE moe (that broke me off) to keep me anxious to continue going back for more. And the weather has been BEAUTIFUL! …continue reading Delta, It’s Started!

“Ting”… “Ting”… “Ting”… could be heard coming from the cab as the fully loaded Toyota quietly pulled a little aluminum boat through the early morning stillness of a silent neighborhood not yet awake. Two months had passed since the last trip together and with the wounds healed, the emotional body armor had made a full recovery. This early morning’s barrage of character attacks and insults were no match… “Ting”… “Ting”… “Ting”… …continue reading Delta with Al 2/5/06

Finally, a window between storms, and a windless forecast. With water temperatures down around 49f, the fishing went as expected with a few smaller fish here and there but not many. The real catch turned out to be the peaceful sunny day itself. …continue reading Delta with Dave 1/29/06

Despite dropping water temps already down to the mid 50’s, the first solo trip since the boat restoration was surprisingly successful. …continue reading Delta Solo 12/9/05

My brother flew down from Seattle for 4 days over the Thanksgiving weekend to fish the Delta with me. …continue reading Delta with Brandon 11/29/05

“Let the abuse begin”, was his declaration as he tossed a Sage gear bag and 2 dozen high-end fly rods into the back of the truck. …continue reading Delta with Al 11/7/05

We Done Gone Fishin This One Day by Erica …continue reading Delta with Erica 10/27/05