Cal Delta Top 5 Patterns Day 2
Junk fishing proving to be most effective on moody Delta
Despite less than ideal conditions on day two of the Western Division Costa FLW Series event on the Cal Delta presented by Power-Pole, the top anglers still did their best. A strong wind and sharp temperature decline had the top finishers junk fishing to regroup.
Mike Birch stumbled but didn’t fall on day two and heads into the final day with a diminished lead. He too took up the junk fishing program.
Here’s the dirt on the rest of the top pros from day two.
2. Charley Almassey – Oakley, Calif. – 45-00 (10)
Charley Almassy surged into second with a monster day two. A 26-pound, 6-ounce limit got him into the final day after sitting in 17th after the opening round.
His areas have four key components – tules and weeds with wind blowing on them at a low tide. In those specific spots, Almassey wants to be as shallow as possible as soon as possible. He’s using reaction baits to trigger the strikes, mainly in new water.
“I only caught one fish in areas where I was yesterday,” Almassey explains. “It seems like you can fish a spot out pretty quickly, so you’ve got to move around.”
Almassey is worried about tomorrow as his better bites came at the end of the day towards the 2 p.m. low tide. On the final day of competition low tide will be an hour later, past check-in time.
3. Robert Lee – Angels Camp, Calif. – 41-01 (10)
Robert Lee made a clutch adjustment compared to his previous day’s pattern and it paid off in a big way. Lee brought in the largest bag of the day at 26 pounds, 7 ounces.
On day one, Lee was flipping the Delta’s mossy grass.
“I got so sick of that moss,” Lee says. “I know the fish don’t mind it but it hampered my fishing by taking moss off my baits for half the day.”
Lee’s new patterned included finding areas with heavy current that held cleaner weeds. He mainly threw a wacky rig and a Reaction Innovations Pocket Rocket – he even mixed in a vibrating jig at times.
“All my fish were postspawn,” he recalls. “They were big, skinny, nasty bass.”
4. Roy Hawk – Lake Havasu City, Ariz. – 38-14 (10)
After making every top 10 this year, Roy Hawk is the 2016 Strike King Angler of the Year in the Western Division. He’ll take a $2,000 prize package, including deposits for the 2017 season, for the victory.
Hawk’s pattern has a two-pronged approach. His day started by throwing moving baits in current. He’s switching between vibrating jigs, spinnerbaits and crankbaits.
Later in the day when the tide is lower, Hawk is concentrating on bed fish. The spawning fish are not coming easy but they are big. Today Hawk spent nearly an hour and a half working on one fish, which turned out to be nearly 7 pounds.
The high winds hinder his sight-fishing ability, but Hawk believes it will help his overall bite tomorrow.
5. Harvey Pulliam – Brentwood, Calif. – 38-12 (10)
While Birch relied on his gigantic day-one bad to carry him to day three, others in the top 10 took a more consistent approach – just like Harvey Pulliam did.
Just like the majority of the top 10, Pulliam is also taking a junk fishing angle on the Delta.
Pulliam’s main bait is a vibrating jig thrown around weeds and banks. Early in the day today he used it to catch several 2- and 3-pounders. Later on after running to his best area, Pulliam caught an 8-pound kicker fish flipping.