Top 10 Baits from the California Delta

Western sticks mix finesse and power-fishing baits for top finishes

1. Wade Curtiss caught one solid keeper on a Jackall Iobee Frog fished on a “cheese” mat, but the bulk of his catch came on a bluegill-colored Ladies Man swim jig with a Zoom Horny Toad trailer and a Jackall MC 60 crankbait. He fished the latter two on “troughs” between riprap levees and inside grass lines.

2. Ken Mah began each day with a custom vibrating jig rigged with a Missile Baits D-Bomb trailer around riprap-lined levees. After that he threw a white tandem D&M Custom Baits buzzbait or punched with a 1- to 1 1/4-ounce weight, a punch skirt and a Missile Baits Missile Craw fitted to a 3/0 Gamakatsu flipping hook.

3. The reaction bite was key for third-place pro David Valdivia. He caught fish on a white tandem buzzbait and a ChatterBait with a Lake Fork Magic Shad trailer, mixing in a Yamamoto Senko when a slower presentation was needed.

4. Fourth-place pro Chris Parks was on the cranking bite. He used a Lucky Craft Fat CB B.D.S. 4. Other baits included a 6-inch Martens magic Roboworm Fat Worm on a drop-shot and a Booyah Poppin’ Pad Crasher shad-colored frog.

5. To catch spawning bass and bass guarding fry, Bub Tosh threw a wacky-rigged Yamamoto California Roll worm, a ChatterBait with a Lake Fork Magic Shad trailer and a Paycheck Baits The Transporter frog in the broken arm color.

6. Day-two leader Joe Uribe Jr. had three patterns and three baits in play. He started with a topwater popper during the incoming to high-tide part of the day. After the switch, he passed the middle part of the day by punching a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver 4.20 (in hematoma color) rigged with a black-and-blue punch skirt and a 1-ounce weight on 50-pound-test Sunline FX2 braid. As the tide continued to bottom out, he switched to a white River2Sea Whopper Plopper 130.

7. A black-and-blue jig, crankbait and drop-shot rigged with a margarita mutilator Roboworm worked for seventh-place pro Phillip Dutra.

8. Legendary Western pro Gary Dobyns made another top 10 by throwing a frog, a homemade tandem buzzbait, 6- and 7-inch Yamamoto Senkos, and a drop-shot. He rigged the Senkos weightless, Texas style on 6/0 Gamakatsu EWG hooks.

9. Five baits were in play for Austin Bonjour: a 6-inch green pumpkin or watermelon red Yamamoto Senko rigged wacky style, a 6-inch bold bluegill Roboworm Fat Worm on a drop-shot, a ChatterBait and two punch rigs. The punch rigs were set up with 1 1/2-ounce weights, punch skirts, and a Missile Baits D-Bomb or Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver. He threw a Strike King 1.5 square-bill on the final day.

10. Tenth-place pro Nick Nourot fished mats with a Snag Proof Ish’s Poppin’ Phattie in the Cali color for his biggest bites but also mixed in a Yamamoto Senko.