Delta largemouth and striped bass gear guide

Rod: 7- 9wt, 9 ft, 4 pc fast action rod. I use and recommend Thomas and Thomas fly rods. 

Reel: matching reel with smooth drag, with a large arbour to pick up line quickly. I use Abel and Ross Reels. 

Fly Line: Floating line with a short front taper to cast heavy flies with ease. I use AirfloCortland Line

Leader and tippet: 7 1/2 ft. tapered knottless leader in 16-20 lb test (when using a tapered leader, it is tapered into the leader. It’s a good plan to have an 0x tippet on hand if you're re-tying a lot of flies for these bass. 

Flies: Good top water flies Include: Goodale – Frog-Leg Diver/Swimming Frog, Charlie Bisharats Pole Dancer Fly, large popping bass bugs, gurglers, Dahlberg divers, clouser minnow,

Flys should be de-barbed and when fishing the heavy top water vegetation mats, tie your flies with extra heavy weed guards.

Bring plenty of UPF clothing, sunblock, hats, buffs, and polarized sunglasses (I highly recommend Costa’s). It can get extremely hot in the Delta, so come prepared for hot to warm temps (stay hydrated). And prepare yourself for "bass thumb" x1000!! Striped bass are exceptionally fun as they leap and dive like tuna on a bait ball. I quickly stopped casting to the large mouth spots and targeted the boiling turmoil of the striped bass, and instantly hooked into them! It’s addicting, and we caught heaps of them (released), and at the end of the day, our thumbs were something to be proud of.