California Backwater Bass
Remember all those large and small ditches along freeways, highways and lanes all over the California's Central Valley? They hold bass. Most provide a fertile habitat with a relatively stable water level which encourages the growth of shore cover that shades and cools big bass. Most enjoy public bank access. Some offer more and bigger bass to those who float their slow moving waters. In addition to bass, a few even add salmon in season, but you can usually count on a mix of sunfish, bluegills, crappie and catfish. Don't live in California? Not to worry. You can find more bass than you'd expect in the same kind of areas everywhere in the US save Alaska, where bass aren't available.
The best known ditch bass spots north of Sacramento are in the Sutter, Yolo and Tisdale Bypasses. These areas often flood in winter, so they act as giant fish traps as floodwaters drain fish into sometimes landlocked ditches and canals. Lesser known unnamed ditches along two lane blacktop all over Yolo, Sacramento, Sutter, and Solano Counties produce bass too.
In the Yolo Bypass you can find excellent action off Interstate 80 in the canal just west of the dike which protects West Sacramento. Other prime areas extend along the dike of the Sacramento River on both sides of Interstate 5. Highway 16 connects these two areas and passes over the Sacramento Bypass just north of Highway 880.
In the Sutter Bypass, prime fishing starts just north of Highway 20. Two separate ditches run along each side of this fine bypass. Levee roads are usually open and bank fishing is most popular here for panfish and bass. However, the best fishing is only available to boaters who can reach overgrown bank sections and access ponds off the canals.
To the south, these ditches form the rough boundaries of the Sutter National Wildlife Area which, like other Wildlife Areas, is open for fishing outside of waterfowl season. Just a flycast wide, these two canals drain south. The Yuba City side canal gets more pressure and seems to offer more fish. In the spring the outflow of the O'Bannion Powerhouse where O'Bannion Road -- east from Highway 99 -- hits the levee is the hotspot for small bass. Later in the season the "fishhook" of ponds just north and east of the Powerhouse offer panfish and bass.
Locals like Craig Ferrari launch canoes at the Powerhouse and fish all the way downstream to Highway 113. Craig notes, "We get good bass on towpath plugs at dusk and use jigs and worms the rest of the day. It's possible to fish even farther downstream with minimal portages when water levels are typical.
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