Cal Delta Top 5 Patterns Day 1
A mixed bag of strategies are working right now on the Delta
Changing conditions were the name of the game on day one of competition for the Costa FLW Series Western Division on the Cal Delta presented by Power-Pole. Like the previous Clear Lake event, cloud cover and wind replaced the sunny conditions of practice. Also like last event, bass are participating in all phases of the spawn currently and Mike Birch hauled in a 33-pound bag to claim the day-one lead.
Despite the large opening lead, Birch knows it isn’t safe as the size of bass in the California Delta means no lead is secure.
A mixed bag of patterns worked for the rest of the top finishing anglers. Some covered water junk fishing, while others slowed down in big bite areas.
Here’s what worked for those behind Birch.
2. Sean Minderman – Spokane, Wash. – 22-9 (5)
Sean Minderman is doing what can only be described as junk fishing.
“My three biggest fish came on three different baits,” he says. “I caught them on a frog, a Senko and a punching bait.”
Minderman is in shallow, flooded backwater areas targeting specific vegetation.
“It only grows in the right areas,” Minderman adds. “I only found it in three certain areas and that’s where I fished today.”
3. Mike Iloski – Escondido, Calif. – 22-0 (5)
While many anglers are trying to cover a lot of water, Mike Iloski is slowing down and thoroughly working two main areas trying to time the tides right.
“I caught my big one right away in the morning when the tide started dropping a little bit,” he explains. “After that I really had to work for them.”
Iloski essentially made a large loop, hitting spots then coming back to them, in an effort to time the tide properly. He found as the tide dropped, the fish repositioned themselves. His main approach was slowly flipping and pitching throughout the two areas.
4. Jim Lyon – Reno, Nev. – 21-13 (5)
At the beginning of his practice, Jim Lyon saw a few beds but they didn’t have fish on them. He found by the end of practice many fish had moved up to spawn.
Unable to sight fish for the bedding bass, Lyon is slowly working four places he feels holds bigger fish. He worked through 20 to 30 keepers today in search of the bigger female bites.
“If I take my time and meticulously fish the areas, I’m going to catch the bigger females,” Lyon says. “I’d throw up there and feel a little bit of movement then keep working the area until I made them angry enough to bite.”
“I’ll have anywhere from 11 to 25 pounds tomorrow,” Lyon predicts. “It all depends if I can get the females to jump in the boat.”
5. Jim Moulton – Merced, Calif. – 21-10 (5)
Fresh off a top-10 finish at Clear Lake, Jim Moulton kept the momentum rolling on day one of competition.
Moulton didn’t practice in the days leading up to the event, but instead came to the Delta two weeks ago. Doing so meant his practice tide charts would match with competition days. That practice paid off as his bite revolved around timing the tides correctly.
“I caught them when the tide started to swing – right between high tide and low tide,” Moulton explains. “I have a lot of spots that I ran to but we started catching them when the tide got right.”