Fall 2020
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strikes. She did note, however, that while new sources of food may in some cases make fish aggressive, at other times the out-of-the-ordinary conditions may make fish skittish. That’s when she’ll turn to finessing soft plastics tight to cover.
“I like laydowns better than docks for consistency,” she said. “A good tree is a good tree, and a lot of times if you come back an hour after catching one another fish of the same class will have set up there.”
On the Delta, Roumbanis actually looks forward to very high tides in the fall. He’ll look for riprap banks with grass, where the excess water creates a weed line between the vegetation and the rocks.
“That creates lots of opportunities for the bass to eat,” he said. “Crawfish, baitfish and bream. The bass will stay in those alleyways as long as they can and then head out to the outer weed lines. A lot of guys live and die by a bladed jig in there. If it’s tough, I’ll go to a Super Fluke or a Trick Worm, or even a wacky rig with a soft stickbait like a Senko.
“In the fall, I like something bigger, like a frog or a buzzbait or a swimbait. Normaly you can’t throw something with trebles in those areas, but when the water gets up you can’t. We used to throw the old AC Plug or the MS Slammer, but now I really like the Toxic Baits wake baits by Ceasar Chavez.”
When the water comes in, it often stains or dirties the water, so if he’s throwing, for example, a spinnerbait, he’ll upsize the blades.
Because Roumbanis prefers an outgoing tide over the alternative, on days when there are minimal or non-moving tides he’ll look for non-natural sources that create the same effect.
“Sometimes the big ships that come through the Delta, they’ll literally suck the water out of the pockets as they go by,” he said. “That often triggers the fish to bite and I’ll follow it up the river.”
Extreme tides can screw things up, but they’re also ripe with opportunity, either for pre-fishing or on tournament day. Just be careful, and try to intersect the fish where they’re heading. Sometimes they may just relate to the same areas, and position slightly differently, but when they abandon ship altogether it’s time to move with them. •
Christina Bradley and Roland Martin
Photo: Mikey Finiguerra
Fred Roumbanis
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