"Rod McInnis" wrote in message ...
"mmh" wrote in message
. com...

Actually from a bunch of people, then I did a search on internet with key
words and bunch of stuff come up.

The delta water is muddy which bothers a lot of people. But they take the
water out of the delta, pump it all the way to Los Angeles and the people
down there end up drinking it, so it can't be all that bad!

LA takes what we give them! ;-)

But there are numerous parts of the Delta, particulary the south Delta
that are considered pretty polluted. Agricultural pollution mainly.
It may not be hazardous for the occassional swim, but there are folks
that recommend avoiding eating fish, etc.

Herman's Marina in Stockton. Then we're gonna tool around up north.


Good central location, now the question is do you head north or south?

I will second Joe Parson's recommendations, except that you don't want to go
up the Giorgiana Slough to get to the meadows!. The "meadows" is the
prettiest and quietest place on the delta and is my all time favorite. I
would drive on past the "ghetto" area, go on up north of the Twin Cities
bridge for another couple of miles and find a spot to anchor. You will get
boat wakes but the achorage area is crowded and not my idea of peace and
quiet. From Herman & Helens head north to Tower park. Go left about a mile
then north up the North Fork of the Mokelumne River. When you get to Walnut
Grove there will be a bridge that will have to be opened for you, which
shouldn't be a problem 9:00 to 5:00. Continue north up Snodgrass slough.

Railroad Cut is nice place. It's on the way to the Meadows. Watch
depth once passed Walnut Grove. Gotta stay along the west bank (or is
it referred to as north) between Walnut Grove the entrance to
Railroad.

The Meadows is getting a reputation for becoming to congested and
being occupied with a lot of people that "think they own the place".
EVERYBODY likes these nice quiet anchorages.

If you went up the Giorgiana Slough you would end up in the Sacramento
River. If the locks are open a small boat can cross over. The locks have
very low clearance (9 feet ?) and I doubt that any houseboat would fit and I
have seen the remains of houseboats that were destroyed when they were
sucked through by the swift current.

These are not locks. They are cross channel control gates (weirs).
Since the levee break in San Joaquin county last month, they have been
open. The current order has them remaining open until further notice.
You can get information from the central valley operations office at
http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvo/ Go to the links for the cross channel
gates.

Mildred is my usual hangout spot. 15 years ago it was a farm tract, but the
levee broke and they let it turn into a lake. Over the years the remaining
levees have been crumbing and the western side is all but gone now, but the
eastern side levee is still mostly intact. I drop anchor along the east,
inside levee and then do all the waterskiing/wakeboarding in the slough just
outside the east levee.

Where do you enter Mildred? I only know of two places that reliably
deep enough for larger boats. The one on the northeat corner, and the
one on teh south side adjacent to the "competition ski area" (that I
have not seen used in years).

I hadn't been on Mildred in over a year last weekend and picked a bad
entrance and put my props in the mud. Fortunately it was soft mud and
no damage appears to have been done. Once inside the island: "Oh
yeah... We should have come in over there!" Oh well - it had been a
couple of years since I touched bottom (while underway).

If you are the real party types then Lost Isle is worth a visit. It is right
on the main channel leading to Stockton. The rules change year to year but
the last time I was there they didn't allow anyone under 21 on the island so
if you have kids its not a good place to go.

Now that they have their liquor license back... ;P

I am sure you will have fun, wherever you go.

You gotta love this place!