Hey guys,
I have been doing alot of my fishing at night latley have been catching them on brush hogs 10" worms in 20+ feet of water any other bait suggestions?

Thanks

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/3029.jpg

Down(and 'over':-) ) here in the deep South, black Jitterbugs or black Buzzbaits( http://www.fishingbuzzbaits.com/home_page.htm ) like one of those Visions work well.

Dan

http://mattlures.com/images/midnight.jpg try one of these. If you look at the pics on my web site you will notice quite a few were caught at night.
My next favorite baits would be 10-12in power worms, spooks, and MS slammers and 4eyes baits. I have also caught some big night bass on tiny 3in powerhawgs

Thanks Guys,
I am really Limited Since the water is so deep and they are all hugging the hydrilla on the bottom. I really have to use something weedless. I have been pouring baits for around 10 years I have a simbait simlar to yours matt I like to throw in shallower water along w/ a colorado spinnerbait. I guess I will stick to my 10" worms and brush hog.
Taylor

Try out the Mission Fish. The black flat tail is on sale at www.tacklewarehouse.com. It fishes like a jig or worm.

You can also add weight to the Mattlures baits and fish them pretty deep. You are going to have problems with weedlessness though; I guess you could try some surgical tubing to make it weedless.

Just a few suggestions:
On dark nights try a dark rattling jig. I've done well with a black/red 3/4oz jig with rattles and a full sized black/red brush hog for a trailer.
On lite nights with a nearly full moon, try a jig/trailer combo in Pumpkinseed or brown/orange without the rattles.
Have you tried looking for rockpiles in or near your hydrilla patches? These can be the spot on the spot.
As a last suggestion, try to find a swimbait type jig head that has the line tie right at the nose, so it'll shed weeds. Use it with a large Big Hammer, Fish Trap or other quality swimbait and swim it right over the tops of the hydrilla with really long casts. This is for a slightly more agressive bite than you're likely to find in these temps.
Tight lines,
Wade

No rocks at this spot :( And the hydrilla at this spot is very deep even a 1/4oz jig sinks in it very fast :( Are you guys still catching fish on swimbaits at night when it is this cold?
Taylor

I've had some (not much) success making really long casts and kind of slow-rolling swimbaits over deep water. If you aren't hitting the cover you won't get eaten. Slider type heads are the only way to do this in weeds. To figure out how fast to go, check out what the slowest retrieve is that will still make the tail kick.
Tight lines,
Wade

Taylor,

Bass will eat swimbaits in virtually any water condition. At night in water that is mid 40's is not unrealistic at all.

Hydrilla fishing I am not very familiar with... and I don't fish very deep at night usually either. If I was going night fishing anywhere in the country though, the first thing I'd be throwing is the 9" Slammer. I'd prove it to myself that there were no fish shallow before I went deep.

My thoughts are that fish in general move shallower at night, and if they can see or sense the Slammer on top, they're going to at least come and have a look at it. If they're in a feeding mode, they'll probably bite it, and it's not like you won't catch medium and even small fish on it. It's common to catch 1 and 2lb fish at night on the Slammer. They just can't see it well enough to realize how big it is so they bite it to see what happens. If you can't get any bites on the Slammer on top, then I'd just stick with the depth range you are fishing and try to expand your baits by just trying things to see what is fishable in the grass but still gets bit.

>Taylor,
>
>Bass will eat swimbaits in virtually any water condition. At
>night in water that is mid 40's is not unrealistic at all.
>
Thanks swimbait! I have not really used swimbaits much around here, I do have quite a few but no real big ones. In Sac they are not very popular as the delta does not have trout in it. The spot I fish is very deep it is a cement canal that is 20-25ft all the way around. The only cover in it is the hydriala on the bottom, I have never cought fish more than a few feet off the bottom. I have a Mission Fish swimbait the texas rig type. I was wondering when you are fishing that how to you go about setting the hook? I figure like a worm but could be wrong any help arrpicated. Here is a pic of the swimbaits I am planning on trying, what do you start off throwing a smaller one of a bigger on?
Thanks,
Taylor

Definitely can not go wrong with the slammer at night. Especially if there is a little chop on the water. When the water is glass smooth I have gone to using the 3:16 Rising Son and have done well. I am finding that night fishing with the big stuff is either really on or completely dead. Each time out that I have caught fish it has always been more than one. To me, that is really good on the big stuff. During the day I know that if I get bit that was a good day. But at night, if I catch one I know I will get more bites. It's kinda weird. Sorry to confuse anyone if I did.

Don't need trout for swimbaits to work. I toss a Slammer out at the Delta all the time and it does get bit. In weedy lakes at night I also love big worms. 10 inch power worms and power sand worms have been my favorite.

Tm,
Forgive me for saying so, but a long cement canal 20-25' deep with Hydrilla growing to say 2-3' off the bottom for the only cover doesn't sound like all that great of Big Bass habitat(especially for the Delta). Are you sure there are big girls in there? Would you be comfortable with posting where this is? I don't know the Delta wonderfully well and am trying to figure out where this would be.
Or am I not getting the full picture and this is just a small wintering area connected to better water for other seasons? Can this canal be floated and if so have you tried metering it and marking the location of anything good?
Tight lines,
Wade

Taylor,

Yeah your spot doesn't sound like a Slammer spot really... Strike zone too small if it drops right into 20+ feet.

You can probably get bit on the mission fish. Landing fish on the mission fish is tough. I lost 3 fish over 10 this year on mission fish, two of them that I saw and one of those was pushing 15lbs x( . The bait gets bit good but it's just really hard to get them on and land them. If you can get away with fishing straight braid (meaning you get bit on it unlike me lol), I'd go 65 or 80lb braid. If not, 25lb mono.

The Okuma extra heavy swimbait rod is the rod style you want on mission fish. And the hookset should be a monster neck breaker hookset. It's your only shot to pop that huge hook into the fish. I'd also consider swapping the hook for a straight shank superline and fishing it exposed if the weeds aren't too bad. TW just got them in and they have them up to 6/0. 6/0 is still a little small, but then again, I'd go with the 6" Mission Fish in general, 7" max. The 8" gets bit good but the percentage of catching fish on it just breaks your heart. Plus the 6" won't dive in the weeds as hard which sounds like an issue for you. Here's the superline hook

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage-GSWH.html?from=calfish

PS - You don't gotta give Wade your honeyhole, he'll survive on the spots he's got ;-)

Wade-
The spot I am taliking about is not in the delta it is a irrigation cannal. It may not sound like the best spot but it has plenty to offer! I have had several bass 15+ follow lures right up to the bank, not sure why the wont hit? In the summer it seems like everytime you hook a good fish 4-5 follow him up trying to get the bait out of the hooked ones mouth, anyone have this happen often? I have cught a 8+ there and 5's I have only been fishing it for a few months, I have seen some monsters there! Hopfully I can get a good one in the spring! It doesnt look like a good spot so no one fishes it mabey thats why it is so good? Where do you live maby you wanna try this spot sometime (I am in Sac)

Rob-
Thanks for the tips I am going to get out there saturday night so I will give the mission fish a try, I only have one it is an 8". Another thing I am thinking of doing is on my handpoured swimbaits which are rigged w/ the line going through and a treble on the botton is cutting the bottom hook on the treble and using a double hook, you think that will work? I need to get a 10+ havent landed one in a while and I would also like to beat my PB 14.2, so I am gonna throw these big baits around awhile and see if I cant get one.

Thanks, Taylor

PS here is a pic of a pumkinseed that ate my 2oz spinnerbait at the spot (only pic I have that kinda shows the enviornment)

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/3038.jpg

Taylor,
I live South of San Jose so if you show me where it is, I won't be hitting your spot more than once or twice a year if that. I need to give the Trophy lakes near me a short rest. They seem to know me on sight and either run and hide or thumb their noses at me. The last 3 mornings that I've tried stopping by the lake before work, I've seen a 10+ sunning herself at a specific spot. She won't touch anything. Then again I haven't hooked anything much over 5# since the end of Sept.
As for why you aren't getting them at your spot, have you tried scent? I like Pro-Cure Bait-Butter in Rainbow Trout, Shad, Crawfish and Smelly Jelly's CrawDaddy and Bass Feast. I also have a tube of Mega-Strike but it doesn't seem to help me at all, rather I seem to get fewer fish with it, maybe I got a bad batch.
One more thing you might try (especially when they're more aggressive), is to get a custom deep diving 4-Eyes from Fish JC. The 1 I had would barely tick bottom at 20' on a Long cast. With the 2 trebles you might get a double.
Tight lines,
Wade

I used to have some luck in the canals around Rancho Cordova, out on Sunrise. Nothing huge but up to 5. I would swim tube baits up above the weeds in the daylight. Never got in there at night though and never saw anything of that size. Good luck to ya!

...You don't have to tell us where that spot is, but I don't think anyone would complain if you did. :D

Wade-I have tryed pretty much everything you can thing of w/ the exception of trout swimbaits since there are no trout there. At this spot unlike lakes and the delta you never really see the fish since they reside deep in the hydrilla but it is not uncommon to have a 10+ follow up your rattle trap of spinnerbait which have been the 2 best lures there this summer for bigger fish. Is it common for big fish to travel in groups, evertime I see one there are a few more a few feet out? Guess I am headed out there tomarrow it will be about 10 dregees colder since I have been there night fishing last I am going to try some swimbaits and see what I can come up with.

Nothing personal guys but your alredy no supposed to fish at this place so I dont really want to blow it up for me and the other few guys who alredy fish it!

Supermat- A note on your canals they all hold BIG fish as long as there deep I fish several of them! What you need to do is fish the ends and also find the large hydrilla clumps buy dragging a heavy bait! I have found the best baits in these canals to be 3/4-1oz spinnerbiats 1/2-3/4oz rattle traps (Lewis red craw) Brush hogs and other big 10" worms and such will really help you key into bigger fish. If the canals are anything like the ones around here there are also a ton of small fish <12" that will eat anything, I usally find one spot has a ton of these and the spots holding the biggerfish have very few of these little guys but lots of 2-3's and the occasional 5's. In the summer try slow rolling a black rattle trap at night you will catch a ton! Another good night bait I have found are the 10" ring worms in any dark color I usally rig the texas w/ brass and glass 1/4oz because of the hydrilla I have to use small weights.

Hope this info can help you make some more of your local canals.

Taylor

het guys i'm dying to fish the delta, i live just south of you(couple of hours) ,and admittley have never bagged a striper,is this the season for them or should i wait to make the drive? would anyone up there feeling like playing guide for my wife(she knows her sruff and wont ask us to tie hooks etc) and i? willing to tow my boat if necessary or pay all fuel /bait/beer/soda lunch etc.. fees occured while fishing on your boat.also Taylor are you still pouring those smaller swimbaits?
thanks brian
ebay name; justus805
Catch Alot,Photograph a few,Release them all...

Taylor are you still pouring those smaller
>swimbaits?

Brian- I dont really fish for stripers but know some guys that do they were killing them a few weeks ago I will talk to some guys around here and see if there still doing good and let you know.

On the swimbaits I am still doing them but I am having some serious nose trouble latley and am in the middle of geting an operation to correct it in a few weeks once I get it done I will be happy to make you some! They work pretty good!

Taylor

are you the deltadominator on ebay? i thought so anyhow.if not sorry for the confusion.also i'd love to fish the delta for lmb as well but a stripe would make my day and photo album
brian
Catch Alot,Photograph a few,Release them all...:)

Brian,

If you can swing it - a trip with Bobby Barrack for stripers would probably be the killer delta trip. I don't know Bobby personally, but I've talked to a couple guys who went on trips with him and had really good trips including some monster stripers. His site is:

http://www.bobbybarrack.com/

Try this place for Delta info:

www.fishdelta.com