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FISH IT DEEPER,
Story & photos
BY ANDY “COOCH” CUCCIA
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O
ver the years, I have discovered through
many hours of fishing the California Delta,
we have far better success fishing deeper
than up in that shallow box most anglers rely on. We tend to forget the fact a bass is a bass,
no matter what neighborhood they live in, they still
all have tendencies that are predictable. Their life
cycle is based upon reproduction and foraging.
During the spring, the bass want to be shallow
and in the bed room. That is such a simple fact none
of us can argue or discount, and our success at
catching them consistently during that time is always
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better suited to look for them shallow during that period, be it on a lake, pond, river or tidal system like the California Delta. Yet, due to the success we tend to have catching them shallow during the spring, we tend to make the mistake of always fishing in that same shallow zone, throughout the year.
That 0 to 6 ft depth is most angler’s comfort zone here on the Delta, simply because it is where most of one’s success has been experienced on their best days. Yet due to a wide array of circumstances that force a bass to change his habits, they are forced to make changes in their