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

“There we go!”, and Jeff was hooked up. We’d barely got the boat into position for the first spot of the day and his fly rod was already buckled over into a big fish! I couldn’t believe it, a week later, and on the opposite tide, the same big fish my dad & I had stumbled upon were still here! …continue reading Delta, Cold Water Stripers IV

My dad was in town on business and had managed to schedule in an extra day to fish the delta with me for his first time. With the cold & dirty water typical of this time of year, our expectations weren’t high and I unnecessarily did what I could to emphasize that any fish caught would be an extreme bonus, striper or not, and regardless of size. …continue reading California Delta with Dad

The weather keeps getting nastier and the water colder. A break between winter storms finally opened a window for Jeff & I to make the first trip of the new year to check in on The Delta. The recent storms had successfully left the dreaded, gin-clear water of the fall behind us, but not without a price: cold water and the lethargic fish that come with it. …continue reading Delta, Cold Water Stripers II

It was late Saturday morning when I lazily rolled out of bed, poured a hot cup of coffee, and hopped online to check the weekend weather forecast for The Delta. The water temperatures had been down into the 40’s and the reports I’d been hearing weren’t good. I had half a dozen new flies I’d been anxious to put in the water and Accuweather was calling for perfect conditions (from a weather perspective) so despite the chilly water and the poor reports, I said what the heck, hooked up the boat, and headed over. …continue reading Delta, Cold Water Stripers I

The fact that Jose was still waiting for us at the dock, more than an hour after sunset, was surprising. When I saw the digital camera in his hand I knew why. “How big”? I asked. He ignored me and asked how we’d done. “Terrible”, I responded, “Now let’s see it Jose”. With a sly smirk he coyly responded, “See what? Why are you getting in so late? We were …continue reading Delta, Jose & Gabriel

My brother made it down from Seattle to spend a few days on the Delta with me. On the way back in from a windy first day I justified the days slow fishing to him on the water’s drastic drop in temperature last week and the windy conditions. Brandon & I have fished together long enough not to let a slow day get to us. When we pulled up to the dock and Jose & his buddy were anxiously waiting for us (digital camera in hand) …continue reading Delta with Brandon

I’d returned from up north in full blown steelhead mode. When I’d heard how well Jeff & Jose had done on the Delta earlier in the week I thought “good for them”. When asked if I was going out the coming weekend I responded, “probably not, too many things to do”. A few days later, Dave called. He was out with Jose and they’d been “into them”. OK, “good for them”, I’ve got things to do and steelhead flies to tie. That evening Dave called again …continue reading Delta with Jose Silva

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

After last weekend’s incredible fishing I invited my friend Erica out for the weekend. With her busy schedule lately I was pleasantly surprised when she accepted. We’d tentatively planned to fish both days but the place I typically stay was booked and unlike last weekend, there was wind forecast, so a day trip it was. …continue reading Delta with Erica

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

Once again some last minute changes in plans paid off with another memorable day on the water. The weather was forecast for a cold morning followed by afternoon temperatures in the high 70’s. Most importantly was the wind prediction, at a steady < 5 mph all day. When I told Dave the conditions were ideal for our “first day of the season” on the Delta he jumped on it and the following morning, early morning, we headed East. …continue reading Delta with Dave

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

With flat-calm, windless 70 degree weather, a new 12 wt floating head, a hand full of new top-water flies, and a new million-candle-power spotlight I’d been anxious to put to the test I made a last minute run out to The Delta late in the afternoon. My hopes were that the last week’s storms were far enough behind us to have a few fish beginning to look up again at last-light. …continue reading Delta, Top-Water Report

Sunny skies, little to no wind, 70 degree weather and winter water temperatures that had been steadily rising for the past three weeks from the low 40’s up into the 50’s - the perfect day to take a colleague of mine out for his first fly fishing trip on the Delta. …continue reading Delta with Kelvin

Al had to bail on another Delta trip this season, for understandable reasons, so… knowing that Jeff had recently picked up a brand spanking new 9wt Xi2 I invited him out in Al’s place for a day to break it in.

And did he ever! …continue reading Delta, Jeff’s 19.5 Pounder

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