About ten years ago, I started a fishing club at the school where I work. We practiced several times of the week while I taught them how to cast, tie knots, spool their reels, and anything else that I thought they would need to know to get them started. In order to keep them interested, we scheduled a few trips out to some of our local lakes and had little competitions amongst each other to see who was going to catch the first and biggest fish. The club ended up being a huge success but unfortunately after four years my other commitments caused me to have to shut down the club. Recently, I was contacted by Alejandro Ramos from Sierra High School. Alejandro is the founder and President of a fishing club there at Sierra High. He heard about my club and had a lot of questions about starting a school fishing club. Like me, one of his biggest obstacles is having enough equipment for his members. I told him that I’d mention his club’s need for fishing equipment in my next column. After talking with Alejandro, I was reminded of just how great the sport of fishing can be, especially for someone growing up. He’s obviously obsessed with fishing and unlike a lot of his peers; he’d rather be fishing more than anything else. He kind of reminded me of someone I knew 23 years ago who started his own fishing club about 10 years ago. I was truly impressed with Alejandro and really hope that we can all help his club out. If any of you are willing to donate to his club you can bring it by the office there at Sierra High or mail it to the school addressed Sierra High School Fishing Club, 1700 Thomas St., Manteca, CA 95337.

Delta Report:

This past full moon has surely brought a lot of bass up to spawn. Look for clearings in the weeds where the bass have cleaned out for spawning and toss Senko’s in those clearings and hang on. Remember, if you can see the fish it can see you. For those that like to toss crank baits, you can’t go wrong with a Lucky Craft Spring Craw Big Daddy Strike 3. It swims at the perfect depth and is a great bait for this time of the year. There is also a good top water bite on weedless frogs as there are bass guarding their fry all over the Delta right now.

New Melones Lake:

Trout fishing is still pretty slow on the lake right now. There are signs of Kokanee being caught but they are far and few right now. Once the weather warms a bit more the Kokanee bite should drastically improve. Right now there are just not enough of them being caught to get too excited about. Bass fishing continues to be good as a lot of bass are up shallow spawning or defending their fry. Pretty much everything is working right now. Anglers targeting trophy bass are still tossing large swim baits around main lake points.

Lake Don Pedro:

King Salmon and Rainbow Trout are biting right now on the lake. The bite isn’t wide open but it’s definitely improving. Anglers targeting trout and salmon are fishing as deep as 35 feet while rolling shad or using spinners tipped with night crawlers. Bass fishing is great right now as there are plenty of fish to be caught up shallow. You can either bed fish for them right now or work small plastics from the bank down to 20 feet deep. There is also an improving popper bite for those top water enthusiasts out there.

Lake Pardee:

Trout fishing is good on the lake and in the ponds right now. Anglers fishing the lake are trolling around the dam areas and around Hat Creek. Bass fishing is good right now as anglers are reporting a good top water bite. The bass are surely on their beds right now making them susceptible to any slow moving bait.

Lake Amador:

Lake Amador continues to be planted weekly with large trout. Anglers are catching them both off the bank and while trolling. For those fishing off the bank most of the bites are coming early in the day. Anglers fishing off the bank are using Power Baits Mouse Tails and those trolling are trolling Rapalas.

Tip of the Week:

For those boat owners out there, it’s important to check your boat’s fire extinguisher every year. After a while they lose their charge making them useless in the event of an emergency.