Most of the water on this side of Discovery Bay runs 15 to 30 feet deep and I have found a slow presentation is most effective when working water this deep. Vertical jigging is the most popular method for targeting fall and winter stripers here, but I prefer to crawl a Fish Trap or Zoom Fluke along the bottom.

While things looked very promising on the electronics, neither one of us managed to scratch a bite during the first hour, but this is typical of winter striper fishing on the Delta. Windows of opportunity are brief this time of year, but the bite can be tremendous at the top and bottoms of the larger tides.

We were fishing a big incoming tide that topped out around 10:00 am and as expected our first fish came just after 9:00 am. Chris hit the fish on his Hopkins Spoon while slowly jigging it off the bottom in 26 feet of water. It was a respectable fish measuring 24 inches and weighed just under five pounds. A few minutes later, Don had a grab on his live shiner, but didn't connect.

Over the next hour, we each missed several bites and then Chris managed a solid hook-up on a big fish that instantly ripped a good 30 yards off his reel. I wondered if he had snagged one of those big carp that tend to run into our spoons every now and then, but knew better from the tell tale head shakes that he was tied into a big striper. Chris kept pressure on the fish while I kicked the Minn Kota trolling motor into high speed and chased it down. After the initial run, the fish began to settle down, turning small circles around the boat while holding close to the bottom. A couple more spirited runs and the big fish was worn out and sitting patiently in the bottom of the net. "That might go 18 to 20 pounds," I shouted in excitement. Not bad, considering Chris' biggest striped bass to date was a 21 incher.

After closer inspection, I knew it didn't have the girth to break the upper teens and the fish pushed just over the 15 pound mark on the Boga Grip scale. We snapped a few quick pictures and safely released her to fight another day.

By now we were looking at a slack tide and I decided to run west to Mildred Island and catch the beginning of the outgoing tide. Mildred Island is a flooded island off Middle River that remains clean throughout much of the winter months. The plan paid off as we quickly hit four fish in the four to six pound class while tossing Fish Traps and Zoom Flukes along the edge of a small flooded orchard. We put a couple of the smaller fish in the livewell (can't beat stripers for fish tacos) and decided to call it a day.

Striped bass will remain plentiful in our Delta waters over the next two months. Just find a good concentration of bait with relatively clean water and slow down your presentation.