Western Division back on familiar waters of California Delta to close season

The Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title and spots in the Toyota Series Championship will be on the line as the Western Division pros take on the labyrinthine California Delta. Photo by John Zeolla.

June 5, 2024 • Mitchell Forde • Toyota Series

OAKLEY, Calif. — It’s only fitting that the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse will wrap its season on the California Delta. The vast maze of tidal creeks, sloughs and estuaries around the convergence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers has hosted more Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats events than any fishery other than Sam Rayburn Reservoir since the Western Division was formed in 2011. Western anglers have visited the Delta at least once every year and twice each in 2021 and 2023.

While last year’s events occurred in March and April, this time around, the 64 pros and Strike King co-anglers will have to endure triple-digit temperatures with the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title and spots in the Toyota Series Championship on the line. While the conditions might make for a tricky bite, a few of the best in the West think we’ll see plenty of keepers brought to the scales, plus some of the lunkers the Delta is known for.

Tune in for the weigh-ins, which will be streamed live at 2 p.m. PT each day on MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Find the grass, find the bass

Finding the stretches of grass that hold bass will be key for Ken Mah and the rest of the Western Division field on the California Delta. Photo by David A. Brown

With sunny skies and highs in the mid-90s to 100s in the forecast, it will certainly feel like summertime to the competitors. Despite the warm weather, though, local anglers think the Delta bass are a bit behind their normal seasonal progression.

Oakley native Beau Joudrey believes that, while the majority of bass have finished spawning, a lot just recently did so, and there will still be some fish on beds. If the wind isn’t too strong, a few anglers should be able to sight-fish for those spawners, particularly later in the day as the sun gets up and the tide drops. Ken Mah, meanwhile, thinks some bass still have yet to spawn.

“Typically, this time of the year, the fish are predominantly postspawn, but I feel like the system is running behind and we’re still seeing a lot of prespawn fish being caught,” the Elk Grove, California, native said. “So, the weights are going to be a little bit better – slightly higher than we normally see in June.”

Regardless of what spawning stage the bass are in, anglers agree that they can’t be caught just anywhere. Both Nick Salvucci, who won on the Delta last year, and Joudrey remarked that there’s a lot of “dead water,” which will likely prompt many in the field to make long runs. Joudrey believes that’s due to a lack of healthy grass in the system. He thinks finding the right grass will be key to finding concentrations of fish.

“The Delta is lacking a lot of grass,” he said. “The grass that was here three weeks ago is gone. So, we’re missing the cheese mats, we’re missing a lot of the hydrilla. That’s probably relocating these fish, making it a little hard. It’s a little hard for me to find these fish, to find where they relocated.

“And not all the grass that has them,” he said. “It’s just certain stretches that are holding these fish.”

What to expect

Already with one win and three Top 10s on the California Delta, Nick Salvucci will look to add to that total this week. Photo by Rob Matsuura

Finding populations of bass will be the challenge. Once anglers do so, there likely won’t be a lot of mystery as to how they’re caught.

In 2022, the last time the Toyota Series came to the Delta in early June, Stephen “Bub” Tosh won by frogging and punching. Those two techniques dominated the top baits along with vibrating jigs. Salvucci expects more of the same this week.

“It’s the Delta: Every rod I’m going to have is going to have braid on it, pretty much, except my ChatterBait rod,” he said. “Flipping and frogging, ChatterBaiting and maybe a little bit of crankbait mixed in.”

Joudrey largely agreed, noting that topwaters could be a good way to generate some bigger than average bites. If the wind doesn’t blow, he thinks the heat will force anglers to abandon most moving presentations and either punch through thick grass or turn to finesse tactics.

“If the wind lays down, I think the reaction bite may take a dive,” Joudrey said. “I think the topwater bite will pick up. The finesse bite will probably stay the same if not get a little bit better.”

Joudrey, who only got one day of practice due to outboard issues, thinks the bite will be tough for most of the field. Mah and Salvucci seemed a bit more optimistic that anglers will see consistent action but said catching bass in the 4-pound range and above could be tricky.

“There’s definitely fish biting, it’s just trying to get five of the right ones a day is going to be tough in my mind,” Salvucci said.

Noting that it took more than 25 pounds to win a recent one-day team tournament, Salvucci expects to see some bags in the low- to mid-20s. However, replicating that success across all three days will be a challenge. Ultimately, both he and Mah think an angler who can average 19 pounds a day will have a chance to hoist the trophy Friday afternoon.

“I could absolutely see someone winning with 65 pounds,” Mah said. “But I think if a guy can catch 19 pounds a day for three days, then I could see them being right there at the end with a chance to win.”