Looking to close the year out on a good note, I hooked up with my good friend Carlo to fish the afternoon incoming tide on New Year's eve. As we pulled around the corner to launch the boat we came upon a sight i usually don't see this time of year. Everything seemed out of place. What the.....??
It's always a good sign to see birds along the Delta's banks while you are searching for Stripers and anything else that swims out there.
Egrets standing along the rivers edge are a sure sign there are fish around, especially Stripers. It is common to see them lined up on the rocks like little soldiers during the Winter. These birds are so keyed in to what is happening IN the water it is inconcieveable to mere humans. But today they weren't waiting along the waters edge looking for baitfish pushed to the surface. They weren't waiting for a school of stripers plowing through bait against the rocks for an easy meal. In fact they weren't even close to the water! The Egrets were telling the story...
Egrets feeding on grass seed or...??
The birds were giving us a hint as to what we might expect from our last day on the water in 2009. Winter time is when much of the bait drops into deeper water. Without predator fish around these bait balls have nothing to worry about, but the birds need this bait at the surface to get their meal. Without good numbers of fish driving this bait up to the surface the birds look elsewhere. They will do what they have to do...eat. If that means grass seed..so be it. This picture told the story of what would come of our hopes for a monster striper on New Years eve.
Despite what we had seen the birds doing, we pressed on with visions of one last grab for the year. Winter on the Delta can be as much a trophy hunt as anything but this year it has come down to more of a hunt for anything at times. We did some searching and casting, and some more searching and casting. Nothing to show for our efforts. We finally pulled up to an area that was calm from the SE wind that had started to build. Within a few minutes Carlo is hooked up but not with the solid pull back of a Striper. As I watched his line in the water starting to rise, we both called out "Largemouth" and soon a beautiful New Years eve Delta Largemouth was at hand.
Carlo with a truely handsome Winter bass
Were we disappointed?....maybe just a little as we hadn't found a single Striper in the area. The birds had already told us earlier what we needed to know. Suddenly another grab, then another, and after about an hour we (mostly Carlo!) had landed an impressive number of small Largemouth Bass to about 2.25lbs from this piece of water. The slight disappointment of not finding any Stripers faded quickly as we pulled in bass after bass. Soon we had forgotten about catching a Striper. Our focus had shifted to a school of Largemouth that wanted to play and the catching was keeping our lines tight and rods bent. A pretty good way to spend the last day of the year!
Winter fishing on the Delta can be slow to good as each day is different. Stripers, Largemouth Bass, Crappie and many other species are caught during this time. Every cast is a mystery. I value the serenity found on the Delta in the Winter months and it's a great time to connect to the soul of the environment, being nothing more than another predator in search of a meal...it's a great classroom.
Winter Largemouth Bass
