The smallmouth start biting on the columbia when the main river hits 46 degrees. Usually around mid march. Crankbaits are the only thing they will hit until the water reaches 52. Rattle traps and rapala dt6s and dt8s work. They'll prestage in areas where they will spawn. Like the inlets around...
Went out past the dalles on 4/19. Got on the water around 3 pm. I got 20 something bass and got 1 18 inch fish and 2 17 inch fish. a lot of 14-16 inch fish. All caught on crankbaits in shallow water. The water was 55 in the backwater and 49 on the river. On 4/20 I went out chasing largemouths. I...
Went there today in my kayak and got kicked off the water 30 minutes later by a cop. I was fishing the east lake. Are boats not allowed there? I saw no sign anywhere around the parking lot and the cop had no real answers he really wanted me to leave. He said I needed to launch in a designated...
I dont want to give out my exact spot but look for back water bays with rocky areas and points. Shallow rocky areas next to deep water are always good places to look. If the fish arent shallow you can fish the deeper area with a jig or a dropshot slowly.
Went up to the gorge today to see if I could get into some early bass. Got instant action off of a rocky island. Ended up with around 30 bass and didn't get any dinks. The best bait was the plastic shad rap and a jig. I got them between hood river and the dalles. The columbia river bite is on.
The bigger bass were right by structure. Most of the smaller ones were more spread out and making surface splashes. I had to kind of call in the bigger ones by ripping the bait real hard and letting it suspend for a few seconds.
Looks like some tasty dinner. Nice to see some trout being caught. I haven't seen anyone getting fish hopefully this fool weather will get them moving.
I got off work at 2:30 and decided to go try hagg for the evening bite for bass. I got there at 3:30 and started casting out my old reliable xcalibur jerkbait. I got a couple cookie cutter largemouth and then switched over to a senko. I got 4 on that twitching it on the bottom deep. The shade...
Use a weightless senko and twitch on the edges of the grass or weeds. You can also use stickbaits reeled in slowly. I use a 2inch rapala balsa minnow and a 4 inch x rap these lures drive bass nuts.