Did I ever tell you that the month of October is my most favorite month of the entire year?

I like October the most because of all of pretty leaves on trees announcing that fall is coming. I like the warm days and the cooler nights for sleeping.

I like the fact that on most days the wind dies down to barely a breathe of air movement both at the coast and here in the west delta.

I like putting on a wool shirt, it kind of gets me excited at the possibility of driving to Utah this time of year to look at the fall colors and do some great ATV riding at 8,000- ft.

I like October because between now and November 15th depending on weather we will have some of the best fall fishing that the west delta has to offer.

I like October because I can remember as a kid of fourteen years old or so going out in my dad’s skull boat skulling from our harbor to little break to jump a few mallard ducks out of one of the back ponds and then skull home in the fog.

When I was skulling some mornings the river was so still that I could hear guys in a boat that was anchored out in front of Little Break talking as I skulled by.

They were always a little surprised to see me gliding by so quietly through the water. I guess that is why they call it a sneak boat?

That was forty years a ago but who is counting.

There are a lot of stripers showing up right now but the school that is in the west delta this week is a little on the small size, stripers up to 24 – inches at the moment but a lot of dinks as well.

Paul Wong of Antioch went out fishing with buddy Tony Demaso and Tony’s son – in-law Brain this past Friday. It was a little winder then they would have liked but they were still able to each catch a limit of stripers even if they were a little on the small size.

Paul and Tony prefer fishing Sherman Lake this time of year but it was just too windy so they were on the lee side of Sherman Island fishing with live blue gill. The river is still warm enough that there are a few blue gill around.

Bill Goin of Oakley has been retired for five or six months now just loving life. He retires and his wife went back to work full time to give him sometime to adjust to the good life. Bill was out fishing several days this week enjoying Sherman Lake before the wind came up on Friday afternoon. On Wednesday and Thursday Bill was averaging catching and releasing 40 – 60 stripers a day. Most of the fish were dinks but every so often a nice 10 – lb fish was in the mix.

Bill shared with me that two weeks ago he did catch a very nice 10 – lb salmon in two feet of water in Sherman Lake on one of those windless days.

Pat Jones and his brother Brian went out fishing this past Saturday from our harbor. As reported earlier in this report it was windy in the morning but by mid day the winds died down and it turned out to be a decent day for fishing.

Pat and Brian fished along the tulles from our harbor up to Big Break picking up both black bass and a few undersize stripers.

In the afternoon after the wind died they tried fishing in Sherman Lake. Pat reports they limited on salmon with salmon caught up to 14 – lbs using a Rat-L-Trap. As Pat and Brian continued to fish, there were several other salmon that were chasing the lure. Pat and Brian thanks for the pictures and report as always.

For the past month or so guys that hae duck blinds in Sherman Lake or Big Break have started the annual chore of rebuilding their standing duck blind or brushing them or all of the above.

There are a lot of healthy beavers in Sherman Lake and they enjoy nothing better then eating through one of the support post on any of the standing blinds in Sherman Lake. I guess it is pay back time for making all of the extra noise during the fall and winter months that duck hunters make.

If you are not a duck hunter then you could be looking through you Dunginess Crab pot gear making sure your crab pots are in good repair and ready to go for the November 5th opening state wide.

As of right now it looks like we are going to have an opening at 0001 hrs on Saturday November 5, 2016.

There are several new sport crab regulations in place this year so make sure you are up and legal. Perhaps one of the most important things to remember is that you can not put your crab pots out a few days early like we have all been doing for years.

I would not be surprised if there was a warden or two at Bodega Bay watching those sport skiffs going out the day or two early just saying.

One of the new regulations that will be enforced this year has to do with placing of the crab pots/trap out prior to the start of the season at 0001 hrs on Saturday November 5th. The new regulation reads that no one will put out their crab pots/traps seven days prior to the opening or after October 29th and the seven days leading up to the opener on November 5th.

Don’t forget this weekend is the 69th running of the Rio Vista Bass Derby and Festival starting this Friday at 6:00 am and ending at 3:00 pm on Sunday. Even if you are not fishing in the derby it will be a very busy weekend on the water with weather reported to be in the mid 80’s by Sunday.

With a higher demand for all kinds of bait this weekend hopefully all of the local bait shops will be busy. Please do your part!