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Jigs, Senkos and Ikas on the California Delta

Thanks for writing, Eli. Some of your choices are "right on the money", and a few of them might have a little room for improvement. The Delta is one of my favorite haunts. So, here goes...

My all-time favorite big fish bait on the Delta is a 1/4 ounce black/red jig with a 5" double tail grub in 208 (watermelon with red flake). The last three fish I caught in a row on that combo went 7.66, 6.80 and 5.80. It's best fished as a drop bait next to big wood or  pilings in deeper water. This is more of a late spring and summer bait.

In early to mid spring I prefer a 5/16th or 3/8 ounce brown jig with a 5" double tail grub in any of the purple colors...especially 164, 198 or 213. These are fairly well known brown/purple combos that  work year after year.

Now, for the new stuff. Senko's and Ika's. 

First Senkos...over recent years, Brush Hogs and Zippers (both fairly new baits too) have dominated the plastics scene in Delta flipping. They still produce good weigh-in bags but they have certain limitations. First, they don't fish very well when rigged weightless...they just don't have the right action. Second, it is difficult to cast them weightless on baitcasting gear - especially into the wind. So, to solve the action problem, a few of the better anglers are pitching Super Flukes up into pockets or under docks where weightless presentations make sense. Course, Super Flukes are pretty light too so that's not easy to do on baitcaster setups with the big line needed to horse good fish out of heavy cover. That's where the Senkos come in. These baits are denser than Super Flukes and sink a little faster when fished on big EWG style hooks. But, one little twitch of the pole and the Senko dances around like a struggling bait fish (like the big Flukes). Their greater density, however, makes it possible to work them very effectively on heavy line rigs. You can easily pitch a big Senko 25' into small pockets between tulles and then work it all the way back to the boat as a topwater bait over weed beds at low tide. As you know, a lot of  the anglers in the Bassmasters Invitational at Clearlake (Spring 2000) took advantage of these casting and weightless characteristics to land impressive bags during tough conditions. 

What caught the staggering heavy bags of fish at the Bassmaster on Clear Lake? The hot bait was the size "9" Senko in color 194 (watermelon/black flake). Most guys fished it weightless on 12-16# line with EWG hooks. Most guys also fished them almost dead stick and they watched their line until it started moving off. Don't forget, there was a cold front that moved in and forced those fish out into the deeper tulles (off the beds). Most of them were throwing #194 (watermelon/black flake) during a windy cold front. The bass had moved off the shoreline a bit and were holding in the deeper tulles. If the weather changes back to sunny/warm, I would throw Big Ika's on beds (T-Rigged) and use the Senko's for staging fish in the tulles.  Senko's were the perfect fall rate and color for those conditions. I personally believe a red flake is more effective than other flake colors under most conditions and especially so at the Delta. My favorite colors for the Delta are 194 and 237. I use 194 in most applications but when working docks around Big Break or Disco, I like to skip 237's way up under docks and let them sink slowly like dying shad or Delta smelt.

Now for Ika's. Everyone knows about Senko's now that Clear Lake demonstrated their prowess. But, Ika's are still one of those little "secret" baits that most anglers haven't discovered yet! Everyone knows the #1 forage for big bass in the Delta has historically been crawfish. But, the better anglers also know that big bass have started including mitten crabs as a regular part of their diet. It is not uncommon to land a few big fish and have them cough up several dead mitten crabs in your livewell by the end of the day. These crabs live just below the low-tide water line and are the perfect depth for flipping along deep tulles and muddy drop-offs. The Big Ika in blacks or dark browns are good mitten crab simulators. I've been flipping colors 021 and 051 (black/blue and black/red) with success this spring. I usually fish them T-Rigged with a 3/16 ounce sinker unless I am working heavier current, then I will go to 1/2 or even 3/4 oz bullet sinkers if I need to. 

I've been flipping them to the back of sparse tulle beds and working them all the way back to the drop-off on the outside. The fish will pick up these Ika's anywhere along the way... including after they drop off the edge into deeper  water... and the fish WILL NOT let go of these baits! 

As far as spawning beds, I haven't been working bed fish in the Delta yet this year...haven't found them yet. But I am looking forward to throwing these Big Ika's on beds very soon. These baits look so threatening that I expect the bed fish to go ballistic when these things crawl into their nests! I also plan to switch to 208 (watermelon/red) for the summer months.

One more little point...Bubba (Jerry Puckett) told me about this and I wouldn't have believed it if I did not see it myself. Before you fish ANY Yamamoto bait, take your finger nail and rough up the surface of the plastic. These baits are so full of salt that I don't even use RealCraw scent like I used to. I used to use RealCraw on every couple casts to get the bass to hang on for that extra second for a good hookset. If you rough up the Yamamoto's plastics, the bass just won't let go!!!

Hope these ideas give you some idea where to start in the Delta, Eli.

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