{http://songslinger.virtualave.net/fishing.html}
 

 Summary:  A good dose of rain is what we needed and what we received this week.  Now, if we could just get the wind to back off a little bit,  we would be set.

STRIPED BASS:  The hot spot now is Contra Loma Lake in Antioch, where anchovies are attracting some good sizes in stripers. A few big stripers are wandering Montezuma Slough. Elsewhere it's still very slow where it isn't downright pitiful.

STURGEON:  The diamondbacks are rolling all over the Bay/Delta System.  Catches are reported in San Pablo Bay at China Camp and McNear's Pier, and south between Candlestick and San Mateo.  Herring trawlers are in the south Bay and have also been spotted between Golden Gate Bridge and Paradise Cay.  Word has it that California City has a good herring spawn going on now.  Which means Paradise Pier, San Quentin Point, and possibly the long barren Point Molate in the near future.  Suisun Bay has continued its bounty for boaters--yet Martinez is still only picking up shakers. Remember, the annual Super Bowl Derby is this weekend (no comment) and that means baits like grass, mud, and ghost shrimp will be sparse and anglers will be dense.

PERCH:  Cold and windy weather really killed the perch action in the East Bay.  Sausalito is still fair for perch on the usual baits.  Same with Fort Baker, Fort Point, and Muni Pier, though few fishermen have been out in the blustery rain lately.   Forget the surf, again.

MISCELLANEOUS SPECIES:  Kingfish in San Pablo Bay, the occasional shark elsewhere.  Nothing much at all.

FRESHWATER: Trout planted at  Chabot, Temescal, Del Valle, Shadow Cliffs, and Phoenix.  The rain clouded the water and that has really slowed things down.  Catfish will hit chicken livers just about anywhere, and black bass fishing fizzled for the week.  But Contra Loma is the place to be for both trout on PowerBaits and nightcrawlers, and some good striped bass on fishy baits.

DELTA RUMORS:  The striper activity, such as it is, remains concentrated right down the middle of the Delta from Bethel Island to Discovery Bay.  Shad was the top bait, but the shad are getting scarce as they move out and eastward, with stripers trailing them.  Time to switch baits to minnows and cut fish baits, or blood worms or pile worms.  Rebels trolled have picked up some stripers on the Sacramento.  There are some schoolies lingering between Pittsburg and Antioch, so maybe they will come close to the piers there.   Sturgeon fishing is still good at Cache Slough, Sherman Island, and on the Mokelumne--and mostly out of reach for shoreliners.  Catfish are holding steady on grass shrimp in slow waters.  Black bass fishing is tough on artificials but, and this is also the case for crappies, they are hitting live minnows close to shore.