Fly Fishing in the California Delta

Black Bass, Striped Bass, Catfish, Blue Gill, and Crappie

When the movie A River Runs Through It, based on Norman Maclean’s famous memoir, came out in 1992 I think a lot of people like myself suddenly took up fly fishing. Though I’m originally from Washington State and had spent some time on rivers and streams like the ones featured in the film at that time I didn’t fly fish.

So, in 1992 when I decided to take it up I had to make due with the California Delta. Eventually, when I really got into it I think I probably tried every river, creek, drainage ditch, reservoir, and body of water I could roll cast a fly into between Walnut Creek and Stockton, but at the time, and to this day, the California Delta, specifically Discovery Bay, was my go to spot. Before I started fly fishing in the CA Delta I had bait fished and lure fished a lot for Black Bass, Catfish, and Striped Bass. Though never caught any, I also tried for sturgeon on a few occasions because I’d heard stories about people catching them in Discovery Bay. At the time I didn’t have a lot of money and knew very little about fly fishing. This was long before I learned the famous names in the industry like Sage, Orvis, and others. I bought my first fly rod, rod and reel package actually, for about $40 from Big Five Sporting Goods. I think it was a 6 weight rod and reel made by Eagle Claw. It came with a few gaudy looking dry flies. Knowing I would be fishing for Bass I also bought a small plastic case of poppers. Despite my lowly beginnings I was able to at least start catching a few Blue Gill and Crappie right away with the poppers and an Elk Hair Caddis pattern. Later on when my casting skills improved and I started learning to read the water better (especially the tides) I could catch Black Bass, Striped Bass (residents mostly), occasionally Catfish, Blue Gill, and Crappie almost every time I went fishing. I also started learning how to tie flies as well. I eventually narrowed my selection down to a handful that seemed to work the best. For Black Bass in the Spring and Summer when the water is warmer I use white poppers from size 12–4 hooks. White marabou tails with a tiny bit of black mixed in work best for me. Deer hair mice also work very well. For Striped Bass White Clousers, White and Black Wooley Buggers and White Poppers. I’ve always had the best luck casting the Poppers into bait pools and trolling the White Clousers and Wooley Buggers. Catfish are always a surprise, but they seem to hit darker weighted bait patterns like black and purple Wooley Buggers fished around structure most often for me. Most of the time when I’m trying to catch Black Bass. There have been several times that I was sure I was about to catch a record-sized Black Bass on my fly rod when I ended up landing a 10 to 12 pound Channel Catfish instead. Since most of my experience consists of fly fishing between Pittsburg and Discovery Bay for Crappie, Black Bass, and Striped Bass, I encourage you to check out videos like the one below that gives a much better overview of the amazing opportunities the California Delta provides for those wanting to give fly fishing a try. There are well over a thousand miles of waterway that stretch from north of Sacramento to south of Tracy, so I highly recommend videos such as this if you want to learn more. Several species of bass, trout, salmon, carp, and many others are all possibilities you can target with a fly rod.