The Fish Sniffer

(Pittsburg) With three of the West Delta’s major gamefish, stripers, sturgeon and salmon, cruising the waterways, anglers are looking forward to a super productive fall season. The only thing standing between anglers and outstanding fishing at this time is the wind.

“Man we’ve had a lot of wind recently and it’s cramping out style big time,” quipped Captain Mark Delnero of Fin Addict Sportfishing. “There are sturgeon out there, but you can’t fish for them properly when the wind is ripping. The last time I went out we ended up in Montezuma Slough to hide from the wind. We found some schoolie size bass and had a good time with them, but we would have much rather been out on the big water looking for stripers and sturgeon.”

On days when the wind backs off large stripers and good size sturgeon have been coming from the Middle Grounds and the Firing Line. The best baits for sturgeon have been eel and roe, while the big bass have gone for live bullheads and splittails.

Up river from Collinsville to Rio Vista solid striper trolling has been on tap for anglers pulling bright colored plugs at the top of the tide. Most of the bass caught by trollers are in the 3 to 4 pound class, but larger fish to 12 are showing too. 

“I’m really looking forward to taking some clients jigging for salmon this fall. I’m not a big salmon troller, but I love jigging. It’s a lot of fun when a 20 plus pound salmon inhales your spoon. There seem to be plenty of salmon pushing up the river at this point, so I expect jigging to get started in the next few weeks,” advised Delnero. 

To book a trip with Captain Delnero, give him a call at (209) 367-4665.