If you bring one in be sure to fill out the questionnaire and have your picture taken. We will put your picture on the internet for the Whole Wide World to see (with your permission)!!!!!!!!!!!

Christian's Report - July 30, 2008

Last Wednesday I had a chance motor down to San Francisco Bay from the harbor to watch the tall ships come into the bay. It started out a little lumpy in Suisun Bay but by the time my partner and I got into the bay, it flattened out very nicely and made for an enjoyable day it the bay. There was a chop to the water but not bad.

It gave me a chance to see what all of the excitement is about with regards to the striper and halibut bite at Alcatraz. There must have been twenty or more boats that were drifting from east of west with the wind and the current. I didn’t see any fish being caught, but there sure was a lot of boating activity associated with fishing at Alcatraz. I presume all of the boats are using live bait on their drifts.

Here in the west Delta, the word is more stripers are being caught for those who are plugging for stripers or black bass. Dee Thomas was pre–fishing for black bass for the upcoming Frog Tournament being held out at Russo’s Marina this coming weekend. Dee and fishing partner George were fishing in the tules west of the steam plant in Antioch when the water exploded with a striper coming out of the water for a plastic frog they were throwing. Turned out the striper was in the 12 lb range and looked to be fresh run, nice and shinny. That was not the only striper that bit the frog but it was the largest.

The big question is where are the blue gill? We had a couple of retired guys go out this morning (Tuesday) looking to catch a few blue gill for striper fishing. The report back was no blue gill to be found in any of the harbors or back slough areas where they were fishing.

On a positive note, Alex Soto continues to have no problem in catching lots of catfish with a 2 lb average or better. His only complaint was that there was too much grass where he was fishing and that he constantly had to clean his hook off.

Water temperature at the Antioch Boat Ramp on the San Joaquin River is in the 69.4 to 72.5 degree range. Water temperatures near the Rio Vista Bridge on the Sacramento River are almost exactly the same showing a range of 70.0 to 72.4 degrees.

The weather pattern has settled into a very agreeable stage, not too hot and not too cold. Currently (Tuesday afternoon), it’s 82 degrees at the harbor with a breeze (no white caps) out of the west, perfect weather for cat fishing. Enjoy what is left of the summer. Some of the kids in schools in Oakley have already gone back to school. My, how time flies. Every week there are more black berries that are ready for picking. When fishing is slow getting, pick a bucket of black berries and having a bowl of ice cream sure would hit the spot.

Boaters beware that the Ross Island Dredge #7 is currently spuded down near light 17 on the San Joaquin River just across from our harbor. They must be doing some maintenance work on the channel. At any rate the discharge line is supposed to be submerged when they are dredging. They can be reached on VHF radio channel 13 or 16 for instructions on where you can and cannot pass. Be careful around a dredge anytime but especially at night.

Chris Lauritzen

This report and many other fine reports can be found at the Delta Chambers fishing report page!

Check out the water and weather pages for conditions around the Delta. Research does pay off.