Field scouts continue to report that limits of striped bass are still being caught on both the Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers. Both bait dunkers and trollers are having success with fish averaging 5 to 8 pounds, up to 12 pounds along with an occasional larger fish. The best bait continues to be fresh threadfin shad which is now available at some of the local bait shops. Trollers are dragging Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows with a white worm trailer and anglers are having success on both the shallow and the deep-diving models.
Reports indicate that many of the stripers have yet to complete their annual spawning ritual, and many that have completed the cycle, have made it back to the waters of the San Francisco Bay. The striped bass fishing out on the Delta should remain good through the month of June.
There have been occasional big fish caught lately with one weighing over 50 pounds, landed by John Blim of Volcano, California. After a quick photo shoot the trophy bass was released. John was using ghost shrimp. The sturgeon action remains solid in and around the Suisun Bay area, despite windy conditions. Captain Zach Medinas of Gatecrasher Fishing Adventures found decent action for sturgeon.
In two days they boated 7 sturgeon and the next day they boated another 5 on salmon roe. All of the sturgeon were on the big end of the slot or over-sized.
On the upper Sacramento River at Freeport Bridge the American shad fishing remain solid with shoreline anglers getting into the action drop-shotting Shad Darts or grubs with most color-patterns working. Most of the shad are small males in the 1&1/2 to 3 pound range. The larger females, in excess of 4 to 5 pounds, will be showing up in greater numbers in the month of June.