Lake Berryessa - 2-16-2014 

Nestled in the foothills of Napa Valley, home of the Zodiac Killer and some giant bass lives Lake Berryessa.  I have a strong draw toward Berry, she has provided me with some big fish and fun trips.

This weekend Mark and I plan on doing a lil scouting for our Folsom Bass Team  tournament on Feb 22nd.  With the Moon over full and the water temps setting about 55degrees on the front side of a weather system; its shapping up to be a Small Mouth Bonanza.

Of course Berryessa is a large fishery that supports Smallmouth, Spotted Bass and Largemouth. While the smallies will be up and on the prowl the Largies and Big spots are what win events.

The plan - throw reaction, and dont stop until your arm falls off or you gotta pee then throw a TNT BAITS Foot ball head jig.    Umbrella Rig? why yes I think i will - super secret bait that aint commin on the web until later in the year?  Absolutely!  Dart Head 3.5"zipper grub?  shhh dont tell but smallies HATE these things.

I love the anticipation of what the weekend will bring, catching that fish of a lifetime or just bloody thumbs from smallies.  The spring time is a special time full of mysteries and opportunities, sweet jigs love the spring!

2011 CO Pro Teen Classic Recap -CA Delta

Last Sunday July 17^th marked the 14^th annual Conroy Oakley Pro Teen Classic on the California Delta.  This year we saw more then 75 teens matched up with Local Pros take to the water for this fantastic event.  Andy “Cooch” Cuccia with Cooch’s Fishing hosted the event putting together an all star line up with Vince Harris of the Future Pro Tour being the weigh master, Scott Dipman with SC Environmental Services helped obtain sponsors and coordinate the weigh in, Roger Nelson being the computer brains and photographer, and TNT Baits provided Wadda Jigs and Claymores,  Ron Howe with RBbassfishing.net reached deep with sponsor support to bring together some of the biggest raffle packs and fishing gear for the teens raffle.

Saturday the 17^th was the Nutcase Rally, we had 20 boats come together from Westernbass.com for fishin, food, fun, and fellowship.  Saturday was an excellent day of fishing for me on the Delta, the fish were really chewing on the high low switch and I followed this tide for about 3 hrs. My starting line paid handsomely for me.  My first stop was in Franks Tract I through the Super Spook around some tulles with current and stuck a nice 1.5lb fish.    I then ran over to Lil Mandy and cought a 3.5lb fish on the Black Limit Lures Buzzbait, and a solid 2.5lb fish on the Trash Fish.  I proceeded to fish rock walls with a short hydrilla grass line and tulles in about 8’ with the Brown TNT Wadda Jig with a Double Tail Yamamoto 284 trailer and pulled 8 nice fish that averaged 2.75lbs these fish were absolute clones of each other.  The jig fish were in the hydrilla clumps and the best bite came on the High Low Switch – with current moving across the grass.  Excellent day of fishing my best 5 would have gone for 14.5 – 15.0 lbs.  Needless to say I was stoked about the possibilities        of what was in store for the C.O. Pro Teen Classic and was looking forward to fishing on Sunday.

For the C.O. Pro Teen Classic, I had an Excellent day as well, I was fortunate enough to draw a young man named Aranz, who showed up with his Dobyns Rods, Skeet Rods and was dialed into fishing. These young men have better mechanics and instincts then a lot of the guys I have fished with over the year. We met up on Saturday evening and had a care package put together of a Black Dog Shell Cracker, Miller Punching Weights, Limit Lures Buzzbaits, and TNT Wadda Jigs and Claymores - this alone had Aranz beside himself and stoked about being apart of the CO PRO TEEN CLASSIC. 


We fished our buts off Aranz cought two crank fish first thing in the morning to start us out with our first keeper a nice 1lber and a few rats then dumped a nice fish, it happens especially out here on the delta fishing structure. We through the topwater and swimbait around the flats with nothing to show for it, then we proceeded to fish the TNT Wadda Jig in the 1/2oz Brown with the 284 Yamamoto Double tail grub, for the better part of the day we caught quite a few fish on the TNT Wadda Jig but had a hard time finding the keepers. We limited out on the brown Wadda jig at about 11:30 - I looked at Aranz and I said OK decision making time - we can go fish cranks, drop shot or punch for the next hour what do you wanna do - he looked at me like hugh you want my input - YUP - the way I see it is we can catch a ton of numbers drop shotting, we can crank and stumble upon a nice fish or go punch and look for that one good bite. He asked, what would you do? I grin and said if it were me I would go punch and look for that ONE good Bite. This guy was such a sport he grins back and says LETS GO PUNCH!

We ran down to Sandmound and started punchin Aranz had a fish just blast him and just couldn’t connect, about 5 minutes later he gets doubled up - GOT HIM! now how do we get in there - I tell him you just do what you do and I will do what I do keep that fish pinned up in the grass and Ill go gettum - unfortunately when we pulled pu to the area the fish was no longer there - it happens and we both were but this young man never gave up, kept a smile on his face and we had a great day. We ended up with a limit for 7.87 but this day has filled my spirit for the rest of the year ----well until my first born arrives in December

Big Thanks to Cooch, Scott Dipman, Roger Nelson, Ron Howe, and Vince Harris and ALL OF THE BOATERS for stepping up and making this such a successful event - I am sure that there are more people that worked behind the scene's and I am sorry if I missed your name.

CA DELTA C.O. PRO TEEN CLASSIC and RALLY

July 17th will be the 14th Annual C.O. Pro Teen Classic  put together by my good friend and Delta Guide  Andy "Cooch" Cuccia  there are two events that I just CAN NOT MISS throughout the year and one is the CAST for Kids Event hosted by Folsom Bass Team and the other is the C.O. Pro Teen Classic.  There is just something about being a small part of a young persons development in this sport that really completes me for the rest of the year.  If you EVER have an opportunity to take a young person fishing, please do for the future of our resources and heritage depend upon it.

Saturday the 16th is the Nutcase Rally - where us Westernbass.com Nutcases get together fish, lie, and eat this is a fun no cost rally for braggin rights and ball bustin - we're going out of Russo's Marina  around 5:30am so if your in the neighborhood come on down.

Ok so I have not been on the Delta since my Hero To Zero Day but as always I am pumped up for the POTENTIAL that this fishery has to offer.  The REPORTS are in and it sounds like the bite could be poppin down on da river, so here is the starting line up for Saturday:

Super Spook

Blade Runner Swim Jig

Trash Fish

Senko (Black Blue / Green Pumpkin)

TnT Wadda Jig   Starting off with The Brown Jig and a Purple Trailer



LIMIT LURES Buzzbait

Fishing Folsom in the Summer

Fishing Folsom Lake in the summer can seem tough - most fisherman like to get there EARLY in the morning fish from 5 and off the water by 9:30 10am - or go out at 5pm and fish until they kick you off around 830 -9 - either way you beat the heat, minimize the experience with the wake boats, jet skiers etc... and enjoy some quality time on Folsom. 

First there is a ton of water still in this lake and fishing the trees that are in 12' is still a good bet a senko pitched directly onto the main trunk or on the shadow side of the tree - keep you boat at a distance 15' away is ideal and pitch nice a quietly - Greens work well - green pumpkin or watermelon seed.  for the daring a wacky rigged.

The other thing to consider is that there is Current on this lake right now and the main river arms have unseasonal cold water still coming through - I would focus my efforts on the South Side of Main Lake Coves, points and secondary points.  I havent seen or heard of a shad spawn yet, but keep an eye out for the dimples in the backs of coves first thing in the AM - A nice topwater bait like a Gun Fish would be my first choice to pull the bass out first thing in the am - keep an eye and  a nose out for the shad, when the spawn it smells like anise or fish oils.  

The old trusty for me is the Jig or spoon bite once the sun pokes up and the topwater cant be found - I tend to focus on the 15-25' zone and will prod deeper with my graph until I see fish activity - a great way to minimize the search is Steep Walls and Large Rocks I like 5% to the mouth of the North Fork for my jigs and spoony love - once the sun comes out the fish will have a tendancy to be on the shaded side of the structure - so a good rule of thumb is keep the sun at your back and cast forward.

Dont forget the sunscreen - Be safe and let me know how you did!