If you want to find a place to catch really huge largemouth bass, you need look no farther than the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Only a few places in the world can lay claim to an 18 pound or larger black bass, but San Pablo Reservoir, Lake Del Valle and Shadow Cliffs Reservoir in the East Bay Area and the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta have each produced monster bass this size and larger. That's right, all four locations have produced bass over 18 pounds!

Galen Jensen fishes on the California Delta near where he landed the new record bass for the Delta. Photo courtesy of Ray Rychnovsky.

Don't think it is easy to catch large bass in any of these waters. For every 10-pound bass caught there are several hundred smaller ones landed. A few anglers that catch the larger ones are lucky, but most are highly skilled and use special techniques to catch the really large ones. Here is where to catch them and how to go after these overgrown fish.

These gargantuan bass are Florida strain bass that are not native to California. They are here thanks to plants by the State Department of Fish and Game and by the vendors of these lakes.

Big Bass Waters, When and Where
San Pablo Reservoir is on San Pablo Dam Road east of Berkeley north of Lafayette. It, like he other lakes mentioned, has heavy plants of hatchery-reared trout that make easy meals for savvy resident bass. This reservoir is a wildfowl sanctuary and prohibits people activities from mid November to mid February, but it is in full operation when the largest egg laden bass are caught in the late winter and early spring. It has a large rental boat facility at its northern entrance and a multi-lane boat launch at its southern gate.

The Delta consists of more than 1,000 miles of waterways in a triangle formed by Sacramento, Tracy and Martinez. It is one of the most productive bass fishing locations for all sizes of bass in the world. The Delta is an excellent bass fishing area, but is noted more for the number of bass caught rather than super-large fish. The Delta food for bass is all natural -- crawfish, threadfin shad, panfish and other bass. There are no planted trout here that plump up the bass. Launch facilities and tackle shops are found throughout the Delta.

Lake Del Valle is a large artificial reservoir five miles south of Livermore off Mines Road, and Shadow Cliffs is a large depleted gravel pit converted to a park south of Stanley Boulevard between Pleasanton and Livermore. Both have boat ramps and rental boats. Del Valle has a large four-lane boat ramp for all sizes of boats and rents a variety of gasoline engine powered craft. It also has a well-stocked bait shop. Shadow Cliffs has more limited facilities with one small boat ramp that is open all year, and only electric motors may be used. It rents small boats with electric motors during the summer, but closes its shop and suspends rentals the rest of the year.

TACTICS
Knowing where to catch big bass is only part of the equation. You also need to know how to hook that linker.

Deep Water for Big Bass
"Big bass are in deeper water, so I usually fish the deeper water a little outside the weed line," Galen Jensen who caught the large Delta bass said. He caught his record bass pitching a black six-inch long 9L-05-021 Yamamoto Senko lure with large blue flakes.

Heavy Tackle for Big Bass
Big Bass are often found in heavy cover which requires heavy tackle to pull them out of their lairs. "I use heavy rods, heavy line -- 40 pound or heavier spectra line -- and a conventional revolving spool reel with the drag set tight and a heavy Owner hook and I don't lose many fish," Jensen said.