This time of year, I’m usually hoping for a cooler day as 100-degree temperatures have traditionally become the norm.

Not this year.

The weather has been unseasonably cool, more like spring than summer. A lot of anglers seem to be confused. Normally by this time of year, most fish have already settled into their summer patterns.

I’ve never seen it so cool this late in the year, making it very tough to fish. My best advice for anyone going out is to keep everything as simple as you can.

I usually do this by fishing with my confidence baits — baits that I can cover a lot of water with and try not to panic if I’m not getting bit.

I really just try and go out basically fish for one bite at a time.   

Fishing has been tough on the Delta for bass. The top-water frog fishing traditionally becomes really good as the heat of the summer usually positions the fish right under the grass mats.

This year the mats are there, but the fish have yet to migrate into the mats as the temperatures have remained cool. Reaction baits are your best bet for largemouth bass in bluegill color or crawdad color.

Bluegill are plentiful, as they are in the shallows spawning.     

Kokanee fishing has been red hot lately, as anglers are doing very well catching fish up to two pounds.

Uncle Larry’s pink tiger spinners behind Sep’s watermelon dodgers trolled between 40 and 60 feet deep around the Carson Creek area has been producing well.

The bigger fish are said to be as deep as 80 feet. Bass fishing continues to be good although the size of fish being caught has shrunken. Many smaller bass can be found shallow as the bigger spawning fish have moved deeper.

Smallmouth bass have been providing excellent action for anglers fishing late and early with topwater lures. Once the sun is high try switching to small plastic baits fished deep, shaky head worms, darter heads, and drop shotted Robo Worms in either a craw or shad pattern should produce good results.

Trout and salmon fishing has slowed a bit with bites coming farther apart than weeks past. Those catching them are using pink Marni bugs or pink Apex lures behind a Shasta Tackle Sling Blade between 45 and 70 feet deep.

Trout are being caught between 20 and 45 feet while trolling Shasta Tackle’s pearl PPK hoochies.

Bass fishing has been good lately for those anglers fishing with green crawdad crank baits in 8-10 feet of water. Jigs fished down to 20 feet are also working well in brown and blue.   

There’s a good striped bass bite early in the morning on the lake. Anglers fishing the main lake from 15-25 feet deep are catching striped bass up to eight pounds. They have been catching them while rolling shad or anchovies injected with Pro-cure.  

On July 19, the 11th annual Conroy Oakley Pro-Teen tournament will be held out of Russo’s Marina on Bethel Island. The purpose of the event is to introduce teens 13 to 19 years old to fishing through a professional style tournament where they will be paired up with a boater for six hours.

Boaters are in need for the event, for those interested in participating in the event the cost is 30 dollars and for more information call (925) 684-9775.

Many rods now a day are made with cork handles. After multiple uses, handles eventually get dirty and a lot of grip is lost.

A good way to clean cork handles is by using fine grit sand paper and lightly go over the handles until they are clean. Another way is to us a dishwashing scrub pad with a little soap and water.

To contact Jarod Ballardo, e-mail jgbbass@yahoo.com.