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When all else fails, go with your gut
Fishing report pic
Randy Blankenship recently snared two bass at the Delta. - photo by Photo Contributed
There aren’t too many bass fishermen I admire more than professional bass angler Rick Clunn.
His track record speaks for itself, as he’s managed to win four Bassmaster Classic titles and nearly $2 million dollars in his illustrious career.
What I admire the most about him is not his fish catching ability, but his intellectual approach to fishing. He once wrote “fishing is unlike most sports because you cannot see the target.”
Recently, I watched a show of him where he stressed the importance of being an intuitive angler. Intuition was defined by him as a “gut feeling.”
He went on to explain that the most intuitive anglers are often the most successful. His way of thinking really makes a lot of sense to me, as some of the most successful anglers I’ve ever been able to fish with weren’t necessarily doing things that I’ve never seen done before.
What they did exhibit was extremely calm behavior, and regardless of the situation never seemed to get rattled.
Next time you’re out, try to be intuitive and allow your senses to take over. In the long run you’re surely to be more successful.   
Delta Report    
Bass fishing is at its best on the Delta.
The biggest factor plaguing fishermen is the wind. A lot of prime spawning areas have been muddied up due to the wind making it difficult for some. For numbers of fish with the possibility of catching a large fish weightless Senko’s in watermelon black are hard to beat right now.
Rattle traps have also been working really well for anglers casting across spawning flats. Once the wind picks up try tossing a Chatterbait along weed flats and edges.
Bluegill and crappie have started to make their way shallow as anglers are doing well while fishing around boat docks with worms and minnows.    
New Melones Lake:
Trout fishing continues to be slow; anglers trolling for trout are having the best luck while trolling down to 50 feet. Kokanee are finally starting to show for anglers fishing 20-60 feet deep in the main lake.
Bass fishing continues to improve as there’s an increasing amount of fish being caught shallow. Topwater baits are working during the morning hours. Once the sun is high, switch to soft plastics and work from the bank down to 20 feet deep.  
Lake Pardee
Bass fishermen have been trying to keep this lake quiet lately, as the fish are locked on beds throughout the water.
There is currently a group of trophy bass hunters who are pounding the lake, as they believe that this is where the next world record smallmouth bass lives.
Huddleston swimbaits continues to be the favorite of many of these guys. Weightless Senko’s fished around wood and shad imitating crank baits are catching numbers of fish.
Lake Camanche
The trout bite continues to be good lately at Lake Camanche. Trout are being caught from the surface down to thirty feet by anglers trolling Ex-Cel lures and those off the bank are using Power Bait.
Bass fishing has really picked up lately for anglers tossing small plastics. Anglers are reporting catching between 20 and 50 Bass per outing between one and two pounds a piece.
New Hogan
There is an increasing amount of bass making their way shallow to spawn. As the winds are forecasted to be dying down this weekend, the opportunity to catch fish while they’re on beds should be prime.
Please remember to practice catch and release as spawning fish should always be returned.  
Product Review
The Chatterbait has begun to replace the spinnerbait in many anglers tackle boxes. The Chatterbait can be fished a variety of different ways besides just reeling in.
 It’s great over submerged grass and can also be fished as a jig. A variety of different trailers can be added in order to increase the profile of the bait and the skirts can be changed to fit the conditions.
It’s really a great bait that is now made by a variety of different manufacturers. From my experience with several Chatterbait knock off’s none have performed as well for me as the original Chatterbait made by Rad Lures.

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