specreck

It was a tough bite on the Umpqua today, only caught 18 smallies with prob. a dozen shakers, managed two trout too. I say it was a tough bite because everyone talks about how they have 50-100+ fish days. Then again I was only there a half a day. It was my first time there, had a blast, plenty of fish to be caught. Sometimes you could see clouds of smallies but half the time they wouldn’t even look at my bait. I caught a fish on just about everything though; just nothing was consistent for me. I was throwing poppers, spinners, divers, rattlers, downers, uppers, zigzaggers I even saw some waterdogs/salamanders and went back and got my Lg mouth gear and tried some soft plastic lizards...only had one nibble. Tried worms for a little while. On a bobber, and the bottom, free floating, you name it I tried it. They could care less about my worm. I think a part of my problem was that I was easily visible to the fish. Once I started casting further out and a bit deeper I started having a little more success. It was hard thought not to go for the fish that were right under my feet. Had the most luck with a white grub on a jig. I was able to cast it far and get it down deep, had my last 6 fish on it and the two trout.

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specreck

I would have more pictures but my camera got a little wet and was retired early in the day. The clear water can be quite deceiving.. What I thought was going to be a small step into a foot or two of water ended up being chest high with me scrambling to keep everything dry. I had my new polarized glasses and I had just put them on so my depth perception was a little off....won't make that mistake again.

SDK

Great pics and report.

I was wishing I could take advantage of that open seat!


Was the crankbait in that pic lipless (topwater)? I've been meaning to ask if anyone out here is using topwater cranks or jerkbaits. I've had good success with them on the east coast but the water gets a lot warmer there...

flippinbaits

what are these? i never heard of a topwater crank. the whole point to a crank is it's lip that causes it to dive down, or a lipless cranks, but that is still not a topwater. do you mean a wake bait??

__________________
My bass eat your trout....it's whats for breakfast!

http://albinoinferno.blogspot.com/

Basslips

that thar is one a dem rattlin rapalas. they sink, you crank, they viberaaaaate.

rattle traps are fun. burn em as fast as you can.

SDK

I know what a wake bait is but never tried one. You can work a lipless crank slowly across the surface in a similar manner to a jerkbait. Works good in clear water....

flippinbaits

i know what a rallin rapala is, a berkley frenzy, and rat l trap. just dont understand how it is topwater

__________________
My bass eat your trout....it's whats for breakfast!

http://albinoinferno.blogspot.com/

specreck

That was a rattle trap, you can fish it deep or in shallow water.

SDK

LOL- Topwater meaning up shallow. There are also crank and swim (jerk) type baits that you can float along the surface and do what's I call "walking the dog".

I think my Yankee self may just be using slightly different terminology, but you get my meaning.

What I'm trying to say is that since moving here I've found that most bassers seem to favor working jigs and softbaits deep, and I'm wondering if some of the shallow and surface techniques that worked great in warmer climates are worth bothering with in Oregon. I'm not sure if the water warms up enough to get them that aggressive

Now flippinbaits, stop playing 20 questions and give me some answers

If not, I'm bringing you along on my next trip as chum

Mustangdan23

Good report and definetaly my favorite smally spot, Grandpa owns some land on the river right above Sawyers Rapids there. Rivers is still to high and cool for the real great action but go again in Late July to early August you will slay them hard. Fun times