Largemouth bass fishing in Corvallis area?

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protossw512
I am a student at Oregon State University. I do largemouth bass fishing only and I tried hard to get some largemouth bass fishing resources in Corvallis area. I saw some posts couple years ago mentioned Adair Pond. Does anyone familiar with bass fishing there? (The one that near Fish & Wildlife Department). I went to more than 5 times in Apr and May and a week ago but caught nothing except 2 bass about 5 inches long.

Last time I visited there was Sep.19(The weather is pretty bad, windy and begun raining after 1 hour). The water level is very low, I tried senko, spinnerbait and some topwater lures, not even a nipple. I mainly came there during 4-5 pm, maybe I should go there early morning? Any tricks or tips for late summer there?

I would like to find somewhere else for largemouth bass fishing, it turns out to be so hard to find this kind of fish in Oregon.

Hult Reservoir seems to be another option(according to ODFW)? But I do not have a boat. Not sure if bank fishing would be good there.

I would like to try some smallmouth bass fishing as well, but most posts seems require a kayak in order to fish in willamette river or marys river.

Any suggestions about bank bass fishing near this area would be of great help.
 
C
colt
Go beavers!

I wish I was closer, I would definitely take you out on the boat to cure that itch you have going on. Wish I could help you. Try top water early morning and start deep diving cranks after suns up about an hour. Senkos can work too.
 
I
igquick
You mever tried the willamette from the bank?
 
P
protossw512
colt;n607106 said:
Go beavers!

I wish I was closer, I would definitely take you out on the boat to cure that itch you have going on. Wish I could help you. Try top water early morning and start deep diving cranks after suns up about an hour. Senkos can work too.

Thanks for your kind words. Yeah, I will try go early in the morning. The issue is that the vegetation under water is pretty heavy, and the water near bank is pretty shallow so cranks and jerks are not working very well. You will get a lot of grass stuck on your bait after couple seconds you reel them.
 
P
protossw512
igquick;n607112 said:
You mever tried the willamette from the bank?

Oddly, never. I tried bank fishing smallmouths at Columbia Gorge this summer when I was doing internship tho.
The main reason is I cannot find a good bank access in Corvallis area, most part of bank in city are covered by trees there is no room for casting, and out of the city the bank is covered by private properties. I think I should try some bank fishing.
 
troutdude
troutdude
Fern Ridge Reservoir, holds decent bucketmouths. As does the Long Tom River (below the dam...above is only a trout fishery). The LTR also holds smallies, carp, crappie, 'gills, cats, and cutties. Just ask land owners; before you venture out. Much closer, is the bridge at Kiger Island. There is some slackwater; on the south side that feeds into the Willy.

The Mary's holds no bass that, I've ever heard of. And the ODFW pond you mentioned, was killed OFF last year. Then replanted, this past Spring. I suspect most large fish, have been pulled out by now--if you're gettin' dinks. I'd wait; and fish there next Spring.

Also...there is the lake--farthest to the west--at Freeway Lakes, south of Albany. HOWEVER, it has POISON OAK all around it. So beware!

Good luck; and welcome to OFF.

P.S. There is plenty of Poison Oak, along those other rivers too. It's now turning dark red (the leaves, and the stems). If you aren't familiar; be sure to look it up BEFORE venturing out. I had it a few times, as a lad. And it's NO fun!
 
P
protossw512
troutdude;n607120 said:
Fern Ridge Reservoir, holds decent bucketmouths. As does the Long Tom River (below the dam...above is only a trout fishery). The LTR also holds smallies, carp, crappie, 'gills, cats, and cutties. Just ask land owners; before you venture out. Much closer, is the bridge at Kiger Island. There is some slackwater; on the south side that feeds into the Willy.

The Mary's holds no bass that, I've ever heard of. And the ODFW pond you mentioned, was killed OFF last year. Then replanted, this past Spring. I suspect most large fish, have been pulled out by now--if you're gettin' dinks. I'd wait; and fish there next Spring.

Also...there is the lake--farthest to the west--at Freeway Lakes, south of Albany. HOWEVER, it has POISON OAK all around it. So beware!

Good luck; and welcome to OFF.

P.S. There is plenty of Poison Oak, along those other rivers too. It's now turning dark red (the leaves, and the stems). If you aren't familiar; be sure to look it up BEFORE venturing out. I had it a few times, as a lad. And it's NO fun!

Thanks for the comprehensive guide! Bad news to hear that pond was killed off. But I did see 2 guys hooked up a 3-ponder largemouth this spring, and that created me the illusion that this pond has some decent fish.

I will definitely try the places you mentioned. Thanks again!
 
I
igquick
If you are willing to drive 40 minutes, waterfront park in Salem?
 
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protossw512
igquick;n607130 said:
If you are willing to drive 40 minutes, waterfront park in Salem?

Oh yeah! That place look nice with tons of bank access. Thanks for advice!
 
troutdude
troutdude
Or Minto Brown Park, on S. River Rd. in Salem
 
P
protossw512
troutdude;n607134 said:
Or Minto Brown Park, on S. River Rd. in Salem

That also looks promising! I will need a fishing tour to Salem.
 
W
Willerman
If I am not mistaken... the pond that was killed off was EE Wilson, a few miles up the road - not Adair pond. It is actually currently empty I believe; it sprung a leak this summer.

Before I got my boat last year, I was a frequent of Adair. I have been there a couple times this year and I can tell you it has bass. I caught a 5 pounder last year, a couple 4's out of there.

I have had most of my luck along the west and south shoreline. The west shore line is shallow with weeds, so I like throwing big spinnerbaits and big jigs (careful - there is a sunken pipe over there that has claimed like 10 of my jigs). The south shoreline is deeper and lipless cranks and squarebills work well for me.

Aside from that - there is a nice little pond over by crystal lake apartments in south town that has nice bass. It's probably super weedy right now though. Kiger island also holds nice smallies and largies. I like fishing on the lower marys, and the mouth for smallies too. The mouth can be good, but the company not so much. Let us know how you do!
 
E
Emvalleybassman
Little muddy creek across from the golf course east of town has LMB in it. I have caught quite a few really nice ones out of there. Also if you can make it down to the Eugene area (go ducks ) there are four really good lakes down here fern ridge, dexter, dorena and cottage grove
 
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Fishwhisperer44
Fishwhisperer44
You might want to invest in a float tube. They are portable and inexpensive.. it will allow you to fish more of those ponds...
 
S
steelbassin
Corvallis is limited when it comes to bass. Head over to Albany and you'll find bass ponds all over. Freeway Waverly timberlinn swan Simpson bowers rock truax island grand prairie periwinkle all have good bass and don't forget the rivers. Get a raft or inner tube and float down to Albany this summer stay on the Corvallis side you'll have about 5 hours of fish catching Texas rig Senko black with red flake 2/0 gami with 1/8 oz bullet
 
L
LingFace
There are a lot of Large mouth, bluegill, and brown bullhead at cheedle lake in Lebanon. The weeds get overwhelming in summer though.

EDIT: tons of bank access.
 
troutdude
troutdude
Willerman;n607234 said:
If I am not mistaken... the pond that was killed off was EE Wilson, a few miles up the road - not Adair pond. It is actually currently empty I believe; it sprung a leak this summer.

Sorry, but that ODFW office is a client of mine. They told me it's the pond, right there by their office. EE Wilson, has not been touched. And it's never had a population, of bass anyway.
 
G
govallis
Adair pond by the ODFW office is not touched in 2017 and 2018 and it now has a good population of large mouth bass, many of them are not too small, 1 lb is easy and 3-4 lb are not seldom to catch if one knows the spot with the right lures and techniques. Using nightcrawlers is a challenge though, because bluegills steal them in no time. Winter is also a huge challenge.
​​
 
W
Willerman
troutdude;n609482 said:
Sorry, but that ODFW office is a client of mine. They told me it's the pond, right there by their office. EE Wilson, has not been touched. And it's never had a population, of bass anyway.

I would be surprised if Adair has been killed off recently. I have caught quite a few nice bass there over the past couple years. I guess it would be possible if they killed it off and re stocked it with nice fish. I do know that EE Wilson has been drawn down a couple times recently. The most recent time being a leak a few months ago - I actually got in contact with ODFW about the bass population after they drew it down in 2016 and this was their response:

Hi Mike, Here's what our warmwater species biologist said - A lot of warmwater fish were salvaged and transferred to other Willamette Valley ponds as EE Wilson Pond was drawn down, including to Adair Pond located just a few miles down the road. However, the pond was not completely drained and although the water was very low for an extended period of time, our sampling this last summer showed - not surprisingly - that quite a few fish survived including a number of good-sized bass. Warmwater fish can be very prolific - that is, it doesn't take many adults to spawn a large number of juveniles, and we're certainly seeing that at EE Wilson. In fact, we found so many juvenile panfish this past summer that we stocked additional largemouth bass in the fall to boost the predator population. The pond will soon again be a good warmwater fishery. Good luck! Tim Akimoff
 
troutdude
troutdude
Thanks for the update. I haven't been out to Wilson, in a long time (hence my comment about it containing no bass). It's a great idea to add bass, to Wilson. So when the heat of summer kills OFF, the trout. There's still something to angle for!
 

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