April 3, 2011 - Delta - White's Slough with the kickboaters

With a week of warming prior to our cloudy, overcast, and windy conditions on Saturday, my expectations were sky high for some big fish on the CA Delta’s White Slough! I would be fishing from my kickboat for the first time in months which both excited and frightened me (being out of shape!). The big fish would show but not at the end of my rod!

I had what I thought was a solid game plan going in. In the morning with a high tide (3.6), I would pound the bank I fished last year for my 23.01 lb limit. The fish should be moving up to feed throughout the day and I was hoping for that big bite. My afternoon low tide plan was to hit the island across from where we launched and hit the fish which had to be moving up to spawn.

The morning plan flopped. Although I ended up catching a 3+ lber and another keeper, no big ones came up and I ended up burning my legs out from going back and forth for four passes (about a ¼ mile stretch). The bluegill patterned 1/2 oz chatterbait produced the two keepers and another two short fish came on a craw colored chatterbait along with a dropshot.

Discouraged but not willing to give into the cramping in my legs, I started with my afternoon flipping plan. This went much better with my first spot producing 3 fish in 5 flips although only one fish was over the 13” minimum size. It still felt good to catch a few quickly!

It did slow down after this initial flurry but I still thought I could pull something good out with a couple hours to go. I believe I missed a couple light bites along with bringing a fish to the surface before even realizing I had something on (didn’t even set the hook on it!). Eventually with 45 minutes to go I found a nice pocket within the tulles with laid down tulles covering the water as well and I immediately got thumped! The fish rockets out of that pocket and surfaces with a great headshake and dang, why don’t I have a net! The fish ended up being hooked very solid and I was able to quickly grab her. 5.22 lbs was her final weight. Nice solid fish!

Unfortunately I was not able to muster any additional fish so was content to weigh in 4 fish for 10.69 lbs. A surprising 4^th place out of 19 kickboaters! Mike Ayers was the man of the day bringing in an 11.60 lb beast to go along with a 25+ lb limit. Way to go Mike!

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