I was a prejudiced man before visiting California. Not toward my fellow human beings, mind you — toward fishing.

Raised in Florida, I grew up convinced Sunshine State anglers not only invented the sport, but largemouth bass as well. I mean, c’mon, we have the Kissimmee Chain, the Harris Chain, the Winter Haven Chain and, for goodness sake, we have the “Big O.” (That’s Lake Okeechobee for those who do not own U.S. maps.)

Proud as I am of my black-bass heaven, I humbly admit we do not have a California Delta. Home to a vast acreage of pristine waters with lots of leeward shores and tucked-away points, this place is scary good, especially when spring finds thousands of giant female bass invading the shallows to deposit the next generation of Delta delights.

Notably, those next generations trace their ancestry back to the land of palm trees and alligators. A couple decades ago, Florida-strain largemouths known for reaching trophy proportions were stocked in the Delta. Thanks to tournament catch-and-release efforts and natural expansion, big bass now roam the entire area.

Room To Grow

California angler Mark Lassagne describes the Delta region as stretching from north of Sacramento, west to San Francisco Bay and then south to about Manteca. Locals chop that into the somewhat loosely defined West, South, Central, Stockton, Franks Tract and North regions.

“We don’t have exact boundaries or lines on a map and these areas can vary from one angler to another,” Lassagne said.

Catch-and-release efforts have allowed big bass to spread across the Delta area.

Feeding this region known as the Cal Delta is a quartet of major rivers (the Sacramento, American, Mokelumne and San Joaquin), along with dozens of lesser streams. The expansive network of aqueous arteries flows into a piscatorial paradise sporting hundreds of miles of riprap shoreline, dense grass beds, assorted aquatic weeds and verdant stands of reedy plants called “tules.”

When a reporting job took me to the FLW Series bass tournament in the Cal Delta in March 2008, I found myself right in the middle of largemouth spawning season. With a mix of fish in pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn activity, the anglers caught huge fish after huge fish.

How big? Well, when a fishing photographer doesn’t even lift his lens for a 7-pound bass, you’re having a pretty exciting day. And when a guy raises one that scales 10-plus and does not win the day’s Big Bass award, well, that’s my kind of place.

No kidding, 10-pounders were abundant, and more than a handful had broken the 12-pound mark by the end of this four-day fish fest. Brett Davies, a pro from Davis, Calif., won the Big Bass prize two days in a row. Both times, his catch bag bulged with fish over 12 pounds, the second of which weighed an astonishing 13 pounds, 11 ounces.

A variety of aquatic plants and an abundant dance of forage help the Delta produce trophy largemouth bass.

How many of us can claim one 10-pound-plus bass in our lifetime? I’m still waiting, but hope springs eternal. Truth be told, wishing, hoping and dreaming simply aren’t required in this western wonderland. Phoenix, Ariz., angler Brett Hite, who won last spring’s FLW Series event on the Cal Delta, ranks this region among the nation’s premier bass fisheries.

“It has to be in the top five,” Hite said. “If you come from February to June, the fishing is absolutely unbelievable for giant bass, and good numbers of fish. It slows down in the winter, like everywhere, but you can expect to catch good fish (throughout the rest of the year).”

Lassagne agrees, adding, “Unlike many Western impoundments, the Delta is a shallow-water fishery where you can power fish all year long. Rarely do the bass here go deeper than 10 feet.”

Plentiful habitat for forage and predators: that’s what Lassagne points to as the Delta’s perpetuating strength. “Because the Delta leads directly to the ocean, we have acquired numerous species of aquatic plants. We have weeds you can punch through, toss a frog on or crank down the edges. The weeds have really taken hold over the last 10 or so years, and that seems to be the time the fishery took off. A limit of 2-pounders used to be good, and now you’d almost be embarrassed with such small fish.”

So what’s an average day? “Most any time of the year you can catch 20-plus fish and most likely you will land one over 5 pounds,” Lassagne said. “If you fish the Delta for 10 days during the spring, your chances of catching a (bass weighing) 10 pounds-plus are  better than 50 percent.”

Tide Tamers

The best bites of the day often occur as the tide is changing, so be prepared.

Intrinsic to maximizing the Cal Delta’s productivity is understanding its tidal environment. Although much of this region is lightly brackish to purely fresh, the force of Pacific Ocean movement resonates well into this estuarine system. Every day, the water rises and falls. This fluctuation bears a powerful impact on largemouth bass.

From an angler’s standpoint, tidal fishing is all about opportunity and access. Incoming tides scatter fish, while falling tides concentrate them around whatever low-water structure they can find. High water enables anglers to chase fish into spots they’d never reach on low tide.

Similar to an impoundment periodically freshened by current from a hydroelectric dam, tidal fisheries see increased feeding when tides flow. Delta fish know the food is coming, so they stake out their ambush spots relative to current direction.

The difference is predictability. Dam current varies, while tides bring the chow line every single day. The first half of the incoming sees aggressive feeding as bass are eager to reach the crawfish and baitfish they can pin against shallow vegetation and riprap. The last half of the outgoing sees another spike because the fish know their bounty is waning.

“It doesn’t matter what the weather is doing; the fish are going to bite at least twice a day. The tide makes them bite,” Hite said. “With the tide moving, it’s rich in nutrients, and there’s a lot of flooded grass.”

Flooded on the high tide, that is, but drained on the outgoing cycle. This can prove very important to fishing activity, especially on windy days when shoreline vegetation filters the falling tide. The result is cleaner, oxygenated water packed with baitfish-friendly nutrients rushing outward. This favorable flow perks up the fish and often stimulates the day’s most  aggressive bite.

Top Tactics

Western anglers love their big swimbaits, and the Delta offers prime opportunities for all varieties from soft plastics on weighted, wide-gap hooks to molded baits in single or jointed body styles. Holding the requisite heavy-action rod and heaving hefty baits will give you a serious workout, but the prize justifies the penance. When a big swimbait finds a Delta taker, it’s usually the one you dreamed about the night before.

Monsters – topping 13 pounds in spawning season – can be caught in the Delta.

Early mornings and late afternoons offer good topwater bites that may also appear during the day if cloudy or rainy conditions prevail. Crankbaits ticked over riprap or zipped along tule edges see plenty of tonsils. In thick grass, chatterbaits offer a good alternative to crankbaits, however some anglers intentionally snag their crankbaits in the grass and then rip the bait free. This sudden burst resembles a crawfish scooting through the stalks.

Favoring an up-tempo search, Delta legend Dee Thomas sticks with the flipping tactics he’s credited with pioneering. Rapidly probing grass lines or tule edges with dark-colored jigs enables him to cover lots of water while thoroughly working each spot he targets.

On the soft-plastic side, drop-shots can be remarkably effective, particularly for picking apart the various dips, points and irregularities in a tule line. Oregon    angler Chris Ricci beefs up his drop-shot from the standard finesse worm to an eye-catching, 10-inch job. His philosophy is simple: Large bass would rather spend less energy on one big meal than chase down several smaller bites. “I throw that 10-inch worm into the tules, and those big fish can’t resist it.”

Occasionally, the elephant wants a peanut. That’s when traditional light drop-shots with a 4- to 5-inch worm do the trick. Wacky-rigged worms also fare well here, either in free-lined or drop-shot form. A shaky-head worm will charm indecisive bass, as will a green-pumpkin tube.

Stating that you can catch bass on anything you throw probably falls short of accuracy. However, during the spring spawn especially, you’ll probably find more items in your tackle bag that work on the Cal Delta than do not. Just make sure you’re holding on tight, or you’ll donate your gear to the beasts that rule this phenomenal fishery.

Largemouth Love Shack

Bass lack not for structure in the Cal Delta, but none stands more emblematic of local fishing than the tules. Pronounced “too-lee,” this giant sedge has thick, rounded green stems with long, grasslike leaves topped by clusters of light-brown flowers. Tules grow to about 10 feet along creeks, but reach twice as high in marshlands. Important ecologically, tules minimize erosion by buffering shorelines from the full force of wind and waves.

The word “tule” comes from the indigenous Mexican Nahuatl word tullin, which early settlers from New Spain used to compare the marsh plants of California’s Central Valley to those in the marshes around Mexico City. Seventeen species of tule grow in California, but the common tule (Schoeunoplectus acutus) is most abundant in the Delta.

Generally occurring in densely packed formations known as “tule berms,” this vegetation sees much of the largemouth-bass spawning activity, with wave after wave of huge females moving up to the sandy stretches flanking the tules.

California’s Native American Indians harvested tules and fashioned shelters, boats and sleeping/sitting mats from the durable stalks. Grinding dried tule yielded flour, while various preparations of this plant held medicinal properties. Stoic, historic and subtly inviting, tules are a year-round good bet for Cal Delta bass action.